It was easy for critics and cynics, knockers and mockers to shake David Cameron from pursuing his wellbeing agenda.

Along with other fresh and enthusiastic sounding pledges, - to deliver the greenest government or to create the Big Society - once grafted from the soil of opposition, wellbeing failed to find proper root in the uncertain economic climate of the Coalition's early years.

What was the use in Government ministers sounding off on fluffy issues, discussing personal and individual happiness, in the fashion of Nigel Molesworth spouting ‘Hello trees, hello flowers', when, as any fule kno, national recovery was the only game in town?

Against this background, the recent divine intervention of GOD, or Lord O'Donnell of Clapham for the more secularly minded (see right) in making the argument there is more to life and government than money, is noteworthy.

The economy was always going to be the political fulcrum of this Parliament.  News last week the Office for Budget Responsibility has predicted the biggest upward revision for growth in three decades this year, from 1.8% to 2.7%, has put a genuine spring in the chancellor's step

But public services, and trust in running them, will remain a key battleground issue for all parties.  People's everyday experience with mainstream services such as GPs and schools, and the impalpable sense of where society is heading, can influence voters as much as hopes of future prosperity.

The Coalition's restatement of its efforts at improving things, through the Open Public Service agenda, was published to no great fanfare on the eve of the Budget.

Weighing in at a slimline 14 pages, including half a dozen of the by now obligatory infographics, the Open Public Services progress update offers a roll-call of the familiar.  Cheek by jowl we get the troubled families initiative, the New Homes Bonus, the Work Programme the Pupil Premium, the Better Care Fund, the drive to staff-led mutuals and the public service transformation network.

Never mind the quality of the initiatives, feel the width.  As the last year of the present Coalition approaches, ministers will no doubt be hoping their schemes deliver early actual proof of policy to the electorate.