christianity

PC 420 Contentious Issues in the UK for 2025

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The complete resolution of contentious issues here in the UK seems impossible, taking forever, so much so that one suspects a certain degree of wilful obstruction and reluctance in the decision-making organisations. For example, I wrote about the scandal that engulfed sub postmasters and sub postmistresses back in June 2021, in PC 235 Generosity in Government, a piece which dealt with both the Post Office (PO) Scandal and the aftermath of the 2017 Grenfell Tower fire and its inflammable cladding. Then I met Sami in The Hope Café, listened to his own experience of working for the PO, which had ended up in his bankruptcy (See PC 271 Friday 25th February 2022). The last Tory government and the new Labour one both committed to ensuring every postmaster and mistress was exonerated and given compensation, no questions asked. And some still wait, PO lawyers arguing about levels of the latter. The Post Office Independent Inquiry finished on 18th December 2024 but don’t hold your breath for criminal charges to be brought. One estimate is two years! A good example of lack of action for fear of organisational reputation.

The Church of England is our ‘established’ church and in an ideal world should not only reflect the current mores of our society but also set some standards; if it can’t I think the link between church and state should be severed. The last Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, was a political appointee, famous for asking the population before the May 2023 Coronation to show obedience to and genuflect before the new king. Shades of ‘doffing one’s cap to the landowner’; fortunately, he was put right. What it showed was someone out of touch with society and his organisation’s role in it.

This aloofness was further demonstrated by his inability to get rid of a known paedophilic priest; he completely misunderstood the public mood, its belief that the church continues to protect its own. He was forced to resign and formally leaves the role on Monday. So far, so right and proper, you might think. A good example of lack of action for fear of organisational reputation. Sadly, he added insult to injury by making light of the whole saga in his House of Lords (Note 1) final speech, neither offering an apology nor mentioning the victims. His possible successor, the Archbishop of York, has also been linked to a sexual abuse case within the church and his inaction in ridding the church of the abusive priest. Another example of lack of action for fear of organisational reputation.

The threads remain. At two of Scotland’s prestigious schools, Edinburgh Academy and at Fettes College in the 1970s, ‘Edgar’ was notorious for his sexual abuse of dozens of boys. Rather than have him investigated by the police, he was given a glowing reference and allowed to take up a post in a school in South Africa, where he continued his evil behaviour. In this case, those who ran the schools are guilty of putting the reputation of the school before the victims. Edgar did not face his victims; he died whilst the UK and South Africa were agreeing his extradition back to the UK. The only good thing to come out of this is that more and more individuals are coming forward to tell their stories; those in charge in schools must be held to account.

Sami and I chatted about the Infected Blood Scandal in PC 392 Hope Continues (June 2024). After the inquiry concluded ‘the NHS and successive governments of all colours took part in a chilling cover-up and closed ranks to hide the truth’, the government announced a £11.8 billion payout. But the compensation scheme for some reason differentiates between those who contracted HIV from those who contracted hepatitis C. Somone with HIV gets over £2 million whereas someone with hepatitis C around £750,000; now the latter group are dying at a faster rate than those with HIV. Another example of a lack of urgency and fairness to settle the matter.

I can’t finish this postcard without wondering whether the fallout of the trial of Dominique Pelicot will have any lasting effect in France or indeed over here. It was his own actions, being caught ‘upskirting’, that led to the discovery of his cache of videos, but it was the courage of his wife, Gisèle, that led to an international furore and his subsequent very public trial. The media have made much of the remarks of the mayor of their village of Mazan, Louis Bonnet: “…. after all, no one died. It could have been far more serious. There were no kids involved. No women were killed.” He later apologised but there’s a feeling that the actions of Pelicot and those men who participated merely deserved a Gallic shrug. Sadly, society has a long way to go to accept that women and men should be given completely equal treatment. This not only applies to Christian societies but also to those who treat women in an unequal way.

There are many other contentious issues for the UK, but I’ll highlight another two to finish this postcard. I mentioned the Assisted Dying Bill in PC 418 Hope Christmas News. This is such a huge moral issue its unlikely to be far from the headlines. This month it’ll start its Committee Stage in the House of Commons.

The other is a change to Inheritance Tax rules. When I die my estate will attract a tax of 40% on my assets, after a tax-free threshold of £325,000. If I leave my home to Celina, there’s no tax. If I leave it to my daughter, I have a tax-free threshold of £500,000. I suspect she would have to sell it to pay the tax. The new Labour government have said that farmers, hitherto exempt, will have to pay inheritance tax at 20%. It’s a complicated scene, with tax allowances and the value of land, generational ownership etc but it brought the tractors into London …… and the furore is unlikely to go away.

Happy Contentious Issues 2025

Richard 3rd January 2025

Hove

www.postcardscribbles.co.uk

PS Today the news is that the urgent review of Social Care overhaul is delayed until 2028. Government urgency huh!

Note 1 The Archbishops of Canterbury and York, the Bishops of London, of Durham and of Winchester and the next 21 most senior diocesan bishops are all members of the House of Lords.

PC 419 Have you read …. (A continuation of PC 417)

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Searching for ‘Zen Flesh Zen Bones’ on my bookshelf I spotted ‘Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah’. Written by the author of Jonathan Livingston Seagull, Richard Bach’s story concerns a barnstormer working the rural communities in the Midwest of the United States. Somewhere he describes how this reluctant messiah teaches the narrator to walk on water; it’s all in the mind, of course! But more importantly Bach starts his book with this little story which is worth repeating.

“Once there lived a colony of creatures (Note 1) along the bottom of a great crystal river. The current swept silently over them all, young and old, rich and poor, good and evil, the current knowing its own way. Each creature in their own way clung tightly to the rocks at the bottom of the river, for clinging was their way of life, what they had learned from birth. But one day a young creature said he was tired of clinging, was bored, that he would let go, trust the current and let it take him where it would. The other creatures said he would surely die, smashed against the rocks but, unpersuaded, he let go and the current lifted him up and took him downstream, free. Creatures downstream saw him and cried: ‘See, a miracle! He’s the messiah come to save us.’ ‘I am no more the messiah than you. The river delights to lift us free, if only we dare to let go ……’.

Ah! Yes! If only we dare to let go ……

Then I was reminded of something I wrote over ten years ago about letting go. I had come across a poem attached to the wall of a café in Tasmania, a remote and sparsely populated island state in Australia. It was a list of such lovely exhortations with a positive spin, found in such a bizarre place, it begged to be copied and studied. There are many examples of ‘letting go’ that come to mind and those who read this column may begin to reflect on their own circumstances, their own experiences.

In the jobs we do, roles we undertake, companies we work for, we all make many and varied attachments. Since the 1990s, redundancy has sadly become a normal feature of the working environment; “Sorry, Simon, we’re going to have to ‘let you go’.” After all the emotional turmoil these few words induce has eventually subsided, you understand that ‘letting go’ is not to deny, but to accept; accept that the decision’s been made, look forward and hopefully you begin to feel free – but the key to that freedom is realistically looking at the attachments you made to that role, that job, that company, and letting them go, permanently.

As humans we are naturally driven towards establishing relationships; relationships wax and wane as sure as the phases of the moon. Sometimes ending a relationship is really, really tough. And to ‘let go’ of the relationship requires one not to judge, but to allow the other to be a human being, to allow them to affect their destinies, to face reality. Easy to say, not easy to do; it hurts, letting go, but once you do, a great sense of relief floods the body and mind.

I wanted Tom my Labrador to live forever!! He was so lovely, so gorgeous, but as he grew older and older I had to face reality; that life is finite, and in his case I’d have to decide for him that his pain-free, carefree existence was over. Letting go of the negative memories of making that final decision and agonising over whether it was the right one (the “If only …..”!) have allowed me to be thankful for the life that he had and the love that he gave.

We so often dwell in the past, where are memories are stored, and forget to try and live in the present, like in the savasana position in yoga. And there’s a tendency to sometimes regret decisions we’ve made, paths we’ve taken, – “If only I had ….”. Free yourself by ‘letting go’ and not regretting the past, but to grow and live for the future.

In 2012 Celina and I moved to our current apartment, which has little storage space. I knew I had to ‘let go’ of things. In this case not take them to some half-way stage, a self-storage unit, a sort of ‘left luggage’, but to sell them, give them away, take them to the council tip. How hard was it? In reality, not too bad; if I hadn’t used something for 5 years, it went. Furniture that didn’t fit or was wrong for the apartment got sold, given away, painted. Books I had bought but never read, some I had read and were never going to read again, went to the Charity shop. Clothes went to same way. Gradually light and air began to circulate within the enlarged space.

There are few more important guiding principles to the way we approach our lives than taking on board the exhortations of ‘letting go’. As my daily yoga practice encourages me to ‘let go’ of those attachments I’ve made to a past posture and still the mind, outside of the studio those words found on the wall of the faraway café can bring a positive affect to anyone who cares to read them. Above all try to stop being fearful, be “fear less”, learn to truly relax “and love more.”

And if you want other recommendations to engage your brain, read ‘The Tao of Pooh’ by Benjamin Hoff or ‘Who Moved my Cheese’ by Dr Spencer Johnson. The latter story revolves around four characters searching for some cheese in a maze. As the cheese keeps moving, the characters are forced to confront their fears and adapt to change; happiness and success awaits.

Richard 27th December 2024

Hove

www.postcardscribbles.co.uk

Note 1 Bach doesn’t describe them in any way, just ‘little creatures’. Your imagination will create its own picture ……