The Play Ethic

Well beings or ethical beings?

Been fascinated by the recent convergence on wellbeing and happiness between the main political parties in the UK. This op-ed article for the Guardian comment page (here's a lovely PDF of it) explores the hidden affinities between conservative philosophy and the more normative aspects of the happiness agenda (which I've explored elsewhere in this blog, here and here and here). If you've come from reading the article, I'd love to hear your comments below.

Guardian, June 1st, 2006

If you’re happy and you’re Tory, clap your hands. So skilfully is the young pretender, David Cameron, pressing buttons on wellbeing, quality of life,and happiness that charges of superficiality and empty trendiness are coming thick and fast. But a deeper examination of his  recent speeches shows an underlying rigour that his political opponents would be foolish to underestimate

Street parties and sultan's elephants

Just received a mail from someone I came into contact with during the Bristol Ideas Festival, on his relaunched Street Party project. It’s a simple idea, but Chris executes it very well. Here’s the blurb for the umbrella site:

Streets Alive is a charitable group which promotes culturally thriving communities through traffic-free street events.

We have been working with residents and councils on street parties in the UK since 2001. We think street parties are an important way of developing neighbourliness as well as a rare chance to enjoy their street without traffic for a day.

Our vision is to make street parties widespread and a regular part of life. We are doing this by promoting best practice with communities, the media and councils.

There’s a very succinct video of one event in Bristol, and a deep cache of supplementary material, services, and methodologies. The evident joy, commitment and self-empowerment of Gittens’ street-party-goers is one route to a more playful public sphere. I’ve been contacted by a number of these ‘convivial activists’ over the years – most recently the people behind Brisbane Kids Markets, but also the social gaming of Bernie De Koven (Junkyard Games), as well as many others I’m planning to dig out of my e-mail accounts.

In London this weekend, the extended family and I went to a street event on a much grander (though arguably, less effective) scale...