The Tories and the Love of Money

St Paul once wrote that “the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil” and it seems that the Truss government are determined to prove him right.

 really don’t know where to begin with my disgust at the Conservative Party and some of its policies following Liz Truss becoming party leader and especially since the so-called ‘mini-budget’ last Friday.  I use the term so called because it was, according to economic experts, a seismic shift in British financial policy.

First of all the help with energy bills.  This is welcome and I accept the reasoning that it would have been more  time consuming to introduce a graduated scheme based on income and delayed implementation.  However, I find the idea that the cost will be added to future energy bills to be unethical when it could have been covered by a price cap that would have significantly reduced the profits of energy suppliers instead.  Indeed it seems morally wrong that any profit should be made from essentials like domestic energy.

The best thing the government could have done is to nationalise the domestic energy industry (bad water whilst they are at it) and to provide our gas and electricity at cost price, focussing ever more on renewable energy rather than climate destroying fossil fuels.  We have a duty to love future generations as we love ourselves and not leave them with a polluted, dying planet.

There was some good in the ‘mini budget’, and credit where credit is due, the removal of the recent increase in National Insurance is a welcome move since it will help with the rising cost of living, though as with most Tory policies it helps the wealthy a lot more than the poor.

There can be no reasonable justification whatsoever for the proposed removal of the 45p tax band next April, especially if it is to be paid for by cuts in government spending which seem likely to be targeted, as least in part, on social security benefits.  To give those who really don’t need a tax cut more money to take home and spend, whilst denying it to the very poorest, is simply immoral, it is evil!   As Sadiq Khan tweeted today, “Balancing the books on the backs of the poorest after cutting taxes for the very richest is morally bankrupt.”

Then there is the immediate adverse effect the ‘mini budget’ has had on the economy, and when ever a country faces economic difficulties it is those at the bottom who suffer most.  The pound plummeted against the dollar and if it wasn’t for the intervention of the Bank of England some pension funds could have been decimated.

Another unfathomable move was the scrapping of the cap on banker’s bonuses, which could potentially lead to another financial crash along the lines of that in 2008 as bankers take ever greater financial risks in the hope of securing higher bonuses.  It’s also perverse in the sense that bankers receive a generous salary for the jobs they do; why should they receive extra for just doing their job?  As somebody observed on Twitter, “Firefighters don’t get a bonus for saving lives, Nurses don’t get a bonus for saving lives, Doctors don’t get a bonus for saving lives! Teachers don’t get a bonus for teaching children, so why should bankers get a bonus for making money?

Various people have suggested different motives for the Tories doing what they have, but they all have the same root, greed: greed for more money and a total lack of care and understanding for those they are effectively stealing it from, the poor and underprivileged people of Great Britain.

A Government for the Wealthy and Privileged Only!

 I’m sad to have to write this, but it appears that our nation is currently being governed by a group of extreme right wingers whose only loyalty seems to be to themselves and those earning in excess of £150,000 a year and who seem to be in thrall to the Conservative European Reform Group.

Needless to say, almost everything they do is, I believe, contrary to the example and teaching of Jesus Christ whose words I try to follow in my own life.

Let’s start with today’s so called mini-budget; which isn’t so much mini as a wholesale sweeping change that serves solely to put more money in the pockets of the wealthy, leaving a few “crumbs from the table” for most of us and nothing at all for the very poorest in society.

Kwasi Kwarteng, the new Chancellor of the Exchequer, has announced that from 1st April 2023 the 45p tax bracket for those earning over £150,000 will be abolished, benefitting those who already have more income than the vast majority, yet he hasn’t raised the tax threshold at which people start paying income tax.  It would actually have been unbelievable a few days ago that any Chancellor would do this.  In effect he is a reverse Robin Hood, stealing from the poor to benefit the rich.

Kwarteng has also announced that the 1.25 rise in National Insurance contributions will be reversed from November.  He has also announced a reduced in the basic rate of tax to 19p.  This will, according to the BBC News website, benefit somebody earning around £20,000 to the tune of £167 per annum, or £3.21 a week.  In contrast, somebody earning £100,000 will be better off by £1,470 per annum (£28 per week).  Again, those already earning decent money are the winners.

Of course, with rising inflation this means that those earning average salaries will still be worse off.  According to The Institute for Fiscal Studies median earners were expecting to see a 3% (£600) fall in real income this year.

This is not a “mini-budget” that will benefit the majority in this country.  It’s aimed at benefitting those who do not need it, those who complain about greedy workers demanding realistic wage rises and decent working terms and conditions.

As a Methodist Christian social justice matters very much to me, and the mini-budget appears to be about as far from socially just as you can get!

Moving on, we have the government’s decision to lift the ban on fracking to increase our supply of natural gas.  We are assured that fracking won’t resume without local consent, but Jacob Rees-Mogg, the living embodiment of Victorian values, won’t tell us how the government are defining local consent.  When our world is in the midst of a devastating climate crisis that is already leading to droughts, forest fires, flooding, melting polar ice caps, rising sea levels and extreme weather events, what sane individual would suggest an increase in the extraction and use of the fossil fuels that are causing this unequaled global warming?  Instead of encouraging the use of fossil fuels the government should be investing in eco-friendly energy technology and production.

Talking of energy, the governments solution to the rising gas and electricity bills is to cap them at a rate still unaffordable to the poorest, and to pay for it by adding the cost to energy bills in the future, maintains the obscene profits of energy producers.  How about a statutory limit on energy company profits, or better still a windfall tax to pay for the extra cost of energy?  How about nationalising electricity and gas and providing them at cost price?  Of course, the Tories will never do this, not particularly through political conviction but because it’s their wealthy and privileged friends and donors who benefit from those high profits.  Again, the wealthy a privileged are out above the vast majority of the UK population l

It seems that this government doesn’t care about most of us on this country, about our needs and aspirations, about families choosing between eating or hearing their homes and sometimes being able to afford neither.  All they seem to be bothered about it helping their rich friends hang onto and increase their wealth.  The Apostle Paul wrote that the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil, and it seems that this government’s love of money is at the root of obscene social injustice and avoidable human suffering and misery.

I'm Honoured to be Called a “Snowflake”

The word “snowflake” has become an insult, a derogatory term used by those on the hard right of the political spectrum of those whose views are seen as liberal, very sensitive, overly emotional, and easily offended.

 

For example, In an article from the Los Angeles Times, Jessica Roy says the alt-right in the United States pejoratively describes most liberals and those protesting against Donald Trump as "snowflakes" (Los Angeles Times, 14.06.2017).

 

The thing about being a snowflake is that we are concerned about other people. We are concerned about lives and their feelings.  We are concerned about people who have mental health issues, so often dismissed by others.  We are concerned for those who suffer prejudice and discrimination because of their gender, ethnic origin, religion, sexuality or gender identity.

 

In my own case that concern stems from my Christian faith.  Jesus very clearly says that that the most important commandment is “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.”  The second is this: “Love your neighbour as yourself.”  There is no commandment greater than these.’” (Mark 12: 30-31, NIV).

 

In the parable of the Good Samaritan found in Luke’s gospel Jesus makes it clear that our neighbour isn’t just the person next door, or even the people who live in our neighbourhood: our neighbour is any other person on our planet who is vulnerable and in need of our help.

 

If my concern and attempts to help those often marginalised by society make me a snowflake then I will wear it as a badge of honour.

 

Snowflakes are often seen as week, but as Star Trek actor George Takei said, "The thing about 'snowflakes' is this: They are beautiful and unique, but in large numbers become an unstoppable avalanche that will bury you."  To put it another way, when there are enough snowflakes gathered together they can cause a very disruptive storm!

 

If I seem easily offended on behalf of vulnerable people, if I easily seem offended because mental health still isn’t treated as seriously as physical health by many people that is because I am.  If I seem easily offended by discrimination against women, those of other races and cultures, those of other faiths and those in the LGTBIQ+ community that I because I am.

 

I will continue to love others as I love myself and if others are offended by that and call me a “snowflake” or “woke” then I will wear it as a badge of honour.

 

A Political Christian Minister

 As I get older I find myself becoming increasingly political and my politics becoming more radical and progressive.  Apparently we are supposed to become more conservative with age, but I’m finding just the opposite.  If I wasn’t ordained I’d almost certainly be looking to stand as a Local Councillor or even as an MP.

People do sometimes say that as an ordained Presbyter in the Methodist Church I shouldn’t be political or that I shouldn’t express my private political views in public.  I’m sorry, but I completely disagree.

As a person who is first and foremost a disciple of Christ I feel that I must be involved in and comment on every area of life, just as Jesus did during his earthly ministry in first century Judea.  Politics affects every area of our lives, whether we like it or not, and I actually believe it would be wrong of me not to be politically involved as a Christian disciple, specially as my first degree is in politics.

I have been a member of three political parties in my lifetime, Labour (under Jeremy Corbyn), the Liberal Democrats and finally The Green Party, who combination of environmental concerns and socialist principles sits well with my Christian faith.  That isn’t to say that I think Christians shouldn’t be members of other parties - indeed British Methodism was instrumental in the founding of the Trade Union movement and Labour Party.

I will continue to make political posts on both Facebook and Twitter and they will almost certainly be negative where the current Tory government is concerned and I am reviving this blog to bring more detailed insight and analysis.

Christianity is about loving God and loving our neighbour as ourselves.  I cannot stand by and be silent whilst there is violence and injustice in our world; I cannot stand by whilst a privileged few take the wealth of our nation whilst people are having to choose between being warm and eating and sometimes don’t have the money for either, and I cannot stand by as long as some people are treated badly or as inferior in any way because of their gender, ethnic origin or sexuality.

As a Christian I believe I must be aware of current affairs and involved in the political process and us my voice in a country where we still have freedom of speech and expression to opposed privilege and injustice.  I will continue to do so.