There are two sides to every story. The recent publication of the 26th British Social Attitudes survey is classic example.

Here is one. Britain is a more tolerant society than ever before. The number of people who accept or approve of homosexual relationships is at an all time high. Only a third of people remain homophobes. The British are also more liberal about how people choose to live together, accepting cohabitation as a valid life choice and refusing to pass judgement on people simply because they decline to adopt traditional ‘family’ values. We are tired of government intervention, fed up with tax-and-spend economics and the desperate welfare dependency it creates. We think the poor and lone parents should take responsibility for themselves, rather than wait for interfering political do-gooders to run their lives for them. Overall and overwhelmingly we are for freedom: freedom from sexual prejudice, cultural bullying, economic interference and government regulation.

And then here is another story. Britain is a more selfish society than ever before. Despite the overwhelming evidence that marriage is better for children, we still favour cohabitation because it makes fewer demands on us: no promises, no assurances, no guarantees, just the freedom to walk away when things get tough. We reject wealth distribution: we would rather spend money on ourselves than on one other. We have precious little civic responsibility: the number of people who feel they have a civic duty to vote has fallen sharply during the last two decades and is now barely above 50%. And as for traditional sexual morality… don’t you dare get caught saying that sex is for marriage only. The abhorrence that will rain down on your head simply isn’t worth it.

To ask which of these stories is the right one is to misunderstand social trends. Some judicious selection, a few changes in perspective (your glass half full is mine half empty) and a wider narrative to contextualise the data (progress or decline) and both stories make sense. Both are ‘true’.

They are not mutually exclusive. You can, for example, celebrate the British public’s rejection of an interventionist state while bemoaning its attitude to marriage, as Janet Daley did in The Daily Telegraph. Or you could regret the public’s abandoning its corporate responsibilities to the poor through tax and redistribution, while rejoicing in its acceptance of new forms of family life, as many a columnist in The Guardian might do. Whatever you do say, however, will say more about you than about the data that supposedly supports your views.

For what it is worth, I tend towards the latter story – that Britain is itself tending towards the individualistic, indifferent and selfish. But that, of course, is because I am a reactionary, illiberal, intolerant homophobe. What about you?

Elizabeth Lee is a retired civil servant.