Baptist, Methodist and United Reformed Church leaders have issued a joint statement following the General Election: We congratulate Sir Keir Starmer on his appointment as Prime Minister, and all who will now take their seats representing their constituencies as Members of Parliament in …
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Dear prospective Prime Ministers: the important issue is poverty not “welfare”
A question was asked in the prime ministerial debate about “welfare”. Much of what was said in response by both candidates was either a gross oversimplification or simply incorrect. It is telling that the only person who did not fall into this trap was the second questioner on the subject, who …
Dignity For All: Demanding Action to End Poverty this General Election
As Jesus approached the temple in Jerusalem, he had just spent time with Zacchaeus, whose life had been so reordered from his exchange with Jesus that he repaid the money he had cheated through taxation on the poor. In the Gospel of Luke’s ordering of events, it should not be lost on the reader the …
Global military spending reaches all-time high
On 22 April the global military spending figures for the 2023 were released, and perhaps unsurprisingly, spending has increased across the world, with total global military expenditure reaching $2443 billion in 2023.[1] For the first time, all five continents saw an increase in military expenditure, …
Is Britain suffering from “sick note culture” or from unhelpful rhetoric and tired old policy?
The Prime Minister’s speech and press release on disability benefits last week was depressingly familiar. The formula of “moral mission”, “unsustainable cost”, “toughen-up testing” followed by a bit of “they are gaming the system” has been used repeatedly over the past decade – a decade in which the …
Don’t use asylum seekers as a ‘political football’, warn church leaders
Senior leaders from the Baptist, Methodist and United Reformed Churches have joined Anglican and Catholic Bishops to express their gratitude for those who work alongside refugees and asylum seekers, in the face of rising hostility and unjust malignment of this support from some quarters in recent …
Is it “mental health culture” or hunger that has gone too far?
“Mental health culture has gone too far, says Mel Stride” said a headline in the Daily Telegraph two weeks ago. In the article below it the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions outlined his view that a significant factor in the post-pandemic increase in people not at work due to mental ill …
Sharpest increase in UK poverty for 30 years
The new government statistics on UK poverty make for horrendous reading. The median UK household got poorer by 1.5% after housing costs. However, behind that average hides a story of those with the most getting more, and those with the least having even less. This is a familiar pattern, however …
The Budget: a masterclass in ignoring poverty
The headline measure in the Budget was a 2p cut in National Insurance. This gives the bottom fifth of earners around £350m a year, however the top fifth of earners will receive over 10 times more – more than £4Bn. This tax cut costs £10Bn a year and is the largest financial decision in the budget by …
Ukraine – Two tragic years
We are two years on from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. We might refer to this as President Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, firstly because leadership matters in every national context and secondly because Putin has amassed power around him providing him with unchallengeable …