What a left-wing hamster should stand for..

Over the coming weeks and months I hope to share my views on british politics, economics, finance, social justice, the environment and culture. But before I do this I should probably let you know what this particular left leaning hamster believes in. The points below highlight my key poltical beliefs, which whilst not set in stone, are the ideals I apply in interpreting the world around us.

1. Happiness - the ultimate aim of any society is happiness that is universal (for all) and sustainable (both over one lifetime and generations)

2. The role of the left - The key concern of the left should be the inequality of happiness, and not any other intermediate measure. To be of the left is to believe (i) as a society we are judged by out unhappiest individuals and (ii) should seek collective solutions where any individual is forced into unhappiness by external shocks

3. Transition - developed economies need a gradual transition to more sustainable, happier economies - which only strong state action can deliver

4. We are who we are - individuals and society as a whole arrive into this world with baggage (history, culture, identities, religions, genetics) - we should not try to deny these when we seek change

5. A limited world - we face hard resources constraints (our lifetimes, the planet) - any system of organisation needs to take this into account and ensure resources are allocated efficiently

6. Our kids - we have a duty to future generations

7. Wages - wages should be linked to productivity and not power (however that manifests itself in the modern world)

8. Absolute needs - We have two broad categories of needs: (i) base / instinctual / material - these are food, shelter, security, health, respect/power/vanity, hedonism and sex and (ii) higher / consciousness driven /non-material - these are education, employment, political freedom, achievement, feeling part of a community / family / friendship group and self-actualisation. An indulgence of (i) that does not lead to or is derived from (ii) does not in general lead to happiness or a "good life". Examples include achieving food and shelter without employment or being a workaholic who rejects community and friends in order to consume high levels of food and hedonism.

9. Our evidence base - In deciding how we should organise in order to deliver goods and services, we should use an evidence-based critical approach i.e. only scaling up solutions that have been shown to be effective. Our evidence base should be scientific and critical, but ultimately have a sense check via anecdotal, philosophical and spiritual lenses.

10. Think long term - Life satisfaction and happiness outcomes have a lot more to do with long term planning, investment and good feedback systems than it has to do with short-term stimuli, nudges and trends.

11. Political reform -  The best political system is the most accountable, local and transparent. However, a social contract needs to be in place, in particular people should accept that certain freedoms need to be restricted by the state in order for the best long-term decisions to be made.

12. Our economy faces challenges - the modern British economy faces five major challenges (i) a mass redundancy of low-skilled workers (ii) skills shortages of higher skilled workers (iii) market failures - issues of entrenched monopolistic rent capture (landlords) and financial intermediation information asymmetries (greedy bankers) and (iv) high expectations - a generation has grown up on a debt-fuelled consumer boom, low prices on the back of low fuel prices and low developing country wages and a mirage of full employment. There will be growing discontentment as this is rolled back and (v) constrained ability to borrow to invest until lower levels of consumer, industry and government leverage have been achieved.