I don't think improvements' in the lives of the public can be separated from politics because they often involve choices made by governments according to their political beliefs. People sometimes say education policy should be a politics-free zone but education provision involves public expenditure (and therefore there are issues of priority which involve political choices) and political parties may be concerned as to what is taught in so far as it impinges of the validity of their political ideologies (e.g., history of colonialism, sex education, immigration history, etc.).