4 September 2024

To be honest, I don’t think Keir Starmer and the Labour Government have made a hopeful beginning. What concerns me most of all is the two dimensional approach to the problems which have emerged. There doesn’t seem to be a lot of deep thinking.

Think about the riots. People were rightly appalled and concerned. Law and order was under threat. Quick and decisive action was required. Remarkably, this was achieved very quickly but at what cost? A lot of people were sent to prison overburdening a system which we had just been told was reaching its limit.

One woman  foolishly made an inflammatory comment on  social media  and was sent to prison. She is the sole carer for her husband.  What is going to happen to him? Was there not an alternative to prison for her? Those who try to destroy our community could surely be directed to build it up again?

None of this necessary action has resulted in any changes taking place in the communities which were seriously disturbed by the riots. Who is asking the questions, ‘Why did this happen and what can be done to rehabilitate our rioting neighbours?’

The decision to cut winter fuel payments to most pensioners was another swift decision made by the Government without thinking through the implications for those pensioners who were just above the threshold for the newly ascribed payment.

In both cases, there has been a lack of deep thinking. Swift action has taken place without thinking more deeply about what was best in the longer term. Deep thinking requires more time, more compassion, more care but it is the only way to infuse our nation with hope.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

  18 August 2024 I am concerned  that when smaller charges are subsumed into larger units, ministry is reduced to  ‘needs must’ and this will prejudice the smaller rural units. They require ministers to have more time to stand and stare, to build up relationships which may or may not lead anywhere  and to work with all ages and all community agencies. The value of this work may be lost without a specialist dedicated to the task. Here are six  areas of specialist training: 1. breaking down the division between secular and sacred – in the rural charge this is much more diffuse and more in keeping with the true nature of the Gospel where God is at work in all places and all people 2. integrating  young and old – in the rural charge people are not so self-conscious of these age differences and work together in community events and initiatives 3. embracing  the pace of the natural world and nature’s discrete  modus operandi – results are not immediate nor immediately recognisable, G
Read more
  15 August 2024 David Fergusson, Regius   Professor of   Divinity at Cambridge University, and Kirk minister has just produced a series of essays on theology, philosophy and the Church. One is entitled, ‘Mapping the Church – Current Challenges of History and Mission’. In it, he tackles the issue of mission in the Church. He begins by acknowledging that mission is a constituent part of the Church’s work not least in handing on the faith to those who are coming after us. But he points out   that the ‘Five Marks of Mission’ which have been embedded into our current thinking are not comprehensive. ‘The church has many functions,’ he writes, ‘the glorifying of God in its worship, the education and nurture of its people, the pastoral care of the sick and the dying, and the bearing witness to the gospel in the life of the world.’ Mission is one of several aspects of being the Body of Christ. He recognises that there is a mistaken view in some quarters that by focusing our attention a
Read more
  10 July 2024 The Revd. Will Pearson-Gee was an Army Chaplain rising to the rank of   major in 1999. He is now the rector of Buckingham where he said that some of the services for which he is responsible were ‘overflowing with widows’. So Kaya Burgess has reported. He has been so concerned about the lack of men in church that he raised it at the Church of England Synod in York. ‘What resources has the church developed to help people think about and practise evangelism among men?’   Two facts justify his concern. Firstly, 59% of worshippers in the Church of England are women. In some kirk congregations, this would be an under-estimate. Secondly, the British Social Attitudes Survey found in 2019 that at every age men were less likely than women to say they had a religion, went to church or believed in God. In his address to the Synod, Will Pearson-Gee argued that men who became Christians were more likely to bring their whole family with them. He also argued that the language of
Read more