tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17116102530040918762024-03-21T12:10:06.988-07:00Jeremy's BlogJeremy Hortonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14040288077436997446noreply@blogger.comBlogger53125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1711610253004091876.post-4037592875626980692023-11-03T15:20:00.475-07:002023-11-19T11:38:46.220-08:00CROSSING THE MINEFIELD The Same Sex Relationships Debate - An Ordinary Evangelical’s Journey<p><b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 13pt;">CROSSING THE MINEFIELD</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b><span style="font-size: 13pt;">The Same Sex Relationships Debate - An Ordinary
Evangelical’s Journey</span></b><span style="font-size: 13pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b><i><span style="font-size: 13pt;">Part One – A 40 Year Journey</span></i></b><span style="font-size: 13pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13pt;"> </span><b style="text-align: center;"><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7e4isVO83n1c2UaUwSgXdT-xgG1q1pC7q1CMY39JBOXgbZ4DOrOhQ1V-BBMb1DVNFjToGyC0e-CvRj0fKGpL-rj4iLns3fQ6S2lc1kVKqngvV8MM-3-5hIBZWVfYIhxghEMda4VXEZemoqy1qAuSr18ySbhulBpWEIyNvahEyY69NiOZ_Y8UctMlwUMk/s976/guysmarriage.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="549" data-original-width="976" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7e4isVO83n1c2UaUwSgXdT-xgG1q1pC7q1CMY39JBOXgbZ4DOrOhQ1V-BBMb1DVNFjToGyC0e-CvRj0fKGpL-rj4iLns3fQ6S2lc1kVKqngvV8MM-3-5hIBZWVfYIhxghEMda4VXEZemoqy1qAuSr18ySbhulBpWEIyNvahEyY69NiOZ_Y8UctMlwUMk/s320/guysmarriage.jpg" width="320" /></a></i></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 13pt;">In these
pieces I’m looking at my own near 40 year journey with the issue of same
sex relationships. There are plenty of more scholarly pieces out there and plenty of more heart-rending, mind-blowing testimonies. This is just a summation
of a very ordinary evangelical Christian’s search for truth on this important issue. I offer
up what I’ve found in case others find any of it helps them on their own journeys. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13pt;">Same sex
relationships is an issue for churches today like no other, because of how it
directly impacts the lives of millions. It’s a minefield of an issue for
churches, threatening to blow apart congregations and even whole denominations.
And for many gay or bisexual people it’s a literal life and death issue.
For traditionalists, "practicing homosexuals" are heading for hell
unless they repent. Revisionists see the painful rejection many gays and
lesbians have experienced has pushed them into deep depression and attempted or actual suicide. It's caused many more to simply reject a gospel they believe has already rejected them.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;"> </span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYVbYj5pa0qgqE4tB2ueH0RIz39D0eCSQ7u9BAtDplSgvI1Srn1gYTGV4EDORzIWn_iNvEW_vfYd0IrJ2gOasS27C5T7rURtVIQrgd149ghbDt4BUh7xfJZzoMiAeSs232jFGv9Z01XwjcPo-5VZMWuNoZKj5R_FBrLpJMSz9j0i-9iPpX15Zm2jFVq-A/s600/dangermines.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="399" data-original-width="600" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYVbYj5pa0qgqE4tB2ueH0RIz39D0eCSQ7u9BAtDplSgvI1Srn1gYTGV4EDORzIWn_iNvEW_vfYd0IrJ2gOasS27C5T7rURtVIQrgd149ghbDt4BUh7xfJZzoMiAeSs232jFGv9Z01XwjcPo-5VZMWuNoZKj5R_FBrLpJMSz9j0i-9iPpX15Zm2jFVq-A/s320/dangermines.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13pt;">Little
wonder many Christians and many church leaders want to keep as far away from
the minefield as possible, terrified that if they enter it they’ll see
themselves or others blown to pieces. </span><span style="font-size: 13pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13pt;">But
people are dying out there and I believe our God calls on us, not to sit on the fence,
but help Him save them by removing the mines. As a very ordinary evangelical
Christian, for nearly 40 years I’ve journeyed across this minefield, trying to
hear our Lord’s instruction. And I’ve ended up crossing the minefield in both
directions.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuHuGpu5f9eXaahRianCukjl_Sac3Lc5SVSzEguVfOPXZB9AYH4uhYY8tijrpbDAWJ6S8xZ1a36i6FyW3YUgBFnQqqfqb_qQsX5o1rOyBaK0pkjO3KzlWJRYJJLD3bNADPVEmLvyAbl2mKP51zsqgiw7mW9N8rouQ3DTyC1YRYpBnTG1gLZagwkdyWnWI/s620/soldierminefield.webp" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><img border="0" data-original-height="387" data-original-width="620" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuHuGpu5f9eXaahRianCukjl_Sac3Lc5SVSzEguVfOPXZB9AYH4uhYY8tijrpbDAWJ6S8xZ1a36i6FyW3YUgBFnQqqfqb_qQsX5o1rOyBaK0pkjO3KzlWJRYJJLD3bNADPVEmLvyAbl2mKP51zsqgiw7mW9N8rouQ3DTyC1YRYpBnTG1gLZagwkdyWnWI/s320/soldierminefield.webp" width="320" /></span></a></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13pt;">I've
come to this issue with no particular sword to sharpen. I’m very much
heterosexual. Although I’ve known a number of gay and lesbian people, none of them have yet become close friends or family. And neither my
upbringing nor my early church experience gave me any strong steer on this
issue</span><span style="font-size: 13pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 13pt;">I’ve never been afraid to take positions that might clash
with expected orthodoxy. And I’ve always been prepared to be pretty vocal in
expressing those views, even when (maybe especially when!) I know others will
disagree with me. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;"> </span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYtuxL2JhpgEFT3xOW_l3sJkXWqH973KbCTXqoFOiZNLQB-AfS66Gs0bfO8MxuppTwAdWc5abMeI-xacV8EKZQDk24TCcgOBTYxyH2_mV4f_k4kLqqCEQ2ukCLfX6NRkHAEoI9utKxGPK4S2E9gKWxmySG6MrkcZBpAdeGz1784ptwuWtBam_sCeSDNVg/s900/take-a-stand.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="531" data-original-width="900" height="189" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYtuxL2JhpgEFT3xOW_l3sJkXWqH973KbCTXqoFOiZNLQB-AfS66Gs0bfO8MxuppTwAdWc5abMeI-xacV8EKZQDk24TCcgOBTYxyH2_mV4f_k4kLqqCEQ2ukCLfX6NRkHAEoI9utKxGPK4S2E9gKWxmySG6MrkcZBpAdeGz1784ptwuWtBam_sCeSDNVg/s320/take-a-stand.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 13pt;">For
example, in my late 30s I was one of only two members of an Anglican church PCC
who voted to veto any appointment of a woman priest on the grounds I considered
this contrary to scripture (<b>not</b> a view I hold now!)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13pt;">But I’ve
always been prepared to re-examine my views when presented with evidence
challenging them. And my examination of the evidence has sometimes led me to
change those views and openly admit I’d got it wrong</span><span style="font-size: 13pt;">.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;"> </span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgD5PIzie3ZFC9Mp69sX5AO7IUSXG121mt8f9exxkxXlPobpTx4M5WhQ8T8TXzw-tDFsfyeLzwNPRP_qhisyhbOka1Rb2JtbkRD4xoalVdG4mOaDiZe2MPJ03cLNO1KH2VOJHHFxx52C-NF7nt2u-ro-qdmA0DDn9W1bxjy5nT-cXmXI_05UTiKa1KuD6I/s1000/examine%20the%20evidence.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="667" data-original-width="1000" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgD5PIzie3ZFC9Mp69sX5AO7IUSXG121mt8f9exxkxXlPobpTx4M5WhQ8T8TXzw-tDFsfyeLzwNPRP_qhisyhbOka1Rb2JtbkRD4xoalVdG4mOaDiZe2MPJ03cLNO1KH2VOJHHFxx52C-NF7nt2u-ro-qdmA0DDn9W1bxjy5nT-cXmXI_05UTiKa1KuD6I/s320/examine%20the%20evidence.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13pt;">For
example, over nearly 40 years I’ve changed from being an evolutionist to a
young earth creationist and now somewhere in between, and from being a strong
opponent to women even teaching in church to being very happy to be led by a
female pastor. Yet all the while I’ve held the same high view of scripture.</span><span style="font-size: 13pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13pt;">In
exploring different issues I’ve earnestly sought to be guided by what I believe
God is saying through His Word. I’m not a theologian (a 38 year old A level in
Religious Studies really doesn’t count!). I’m just an ordinary evangelical
Christian who fully accepts the Bible, </span><i style="font-size: 13pt;">as originally written</i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13pt;">, as God’s
inerrant, authoritative word for our lives: “All scripture is God-breathed
and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness
…” (2 Timothy 3: 16 NIV). </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13pt;"> </span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhl8ac6spcqYqoOQ_-zkzT8kkmPVN4IAx1KCqQqqL13zmOuCWIlNyxNC26bLmWNaHcJKnMomVxpOHPuzsNG-8LueBO3BgWKpi6YwoEMG_RyPhzoK87eCzGYpg0mgCG4fB_gTEDS6cZRscvE75Qlfabx3fuhZ2mo6OK3s_7jNbzMRkhTHjv0SlFfukKjDlU/s768/the%20word%20of%20god.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="576" data-original-width="768" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhl8ac6spcqYqoOQ_-zkzT8kkmPVN4IAx1KCqQqqL13zmOuCWIlNyxNC26bLmWNaHcJKnMomVxpOHPuzsNG-8LueBO3BgWKpi6YwoEMG_RyPhzoK87eCzGYpg0mgCG4fB_gTEDS6cZRscvE75Qlfabx3fuhZ2mo6OK3s_7jNbzMRkhTHjv0SlFfukKjDlU/s320/the%20word%20of%20god.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 13pt;">But I’m
also very aware that His word is “the sword of the Spirit” (Ephesians 6:17
NIV). And we should always use His word alongside the other great gift He sent
to guide us, His Holy Spirit, “the Counsellor” (John 14: 26 & 16: 7 RSV),
who “will guide you into all the truth …” (John 16: 13 RSV). To try to use one
of those gifts without the other is like trying to use an arrow without its
bow. We won’t hit the truth target without using both together.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1QqG88UbFyhTqXfCCPzx4r8qArBAMCypqSiG2SOdNYPf8v_e2e9_li35WT13D4A187-RUpcaBqr6oPoLUAYmpO3nA_jVUwzMCFuXOHD9PykkJtstO_x8_jvSXY5Chrnv5cjhGvUXgzJ0QvL0HByDz4TdkjKZ6j6olQU_DXMuhO-NSl9VV0dZ38Q1pz3k/s2000/The%20Holy%20Spirit.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1333" data-original-width="2000" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1QqG88UbFyhTqXfCCPzx4r8qArBAMCypqSiG2SOdNYPf8v_e2e9_li35WT13D4A187-RUpcaBqr6oPoLUAYmpO3nA_jVUwzMCFuXOHD9PykkJtstO_x8_jvSXY5Chrnv5cjhGvUXgzJ0QvL0HByDz4TdkjKZ6j6olQU_DXMuhO-NSl9VV0dZ38Q1pz3k/s320/The%20Holy%20Spirit.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 13pt;">I’d been brought up by my mum to believe in Jesus and was confirmed aged
13. (I even believe I experienced at that time a divine calling to be a writer). I fell
away from any commitment around the time my parents divorced. But at 16 I gave
my life back to Him, along with my brother and best friend. He had drawn me back through
an Anglican youth group, led by some lovely, gentle charismatic Christians. (Oh, and as well as Jesus I met there my gorgeous girlfriend, who later became my wife).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13pt;">At that
time my understanding of what scripture said on any issue came from
just one version: the 1984 edition of the NIV. Although it actually stands for the New International Version, as far as I was concerned it was the Nearly
Infallible Version! I can remember my condescending disapproval of those in our
youth group, including my girlfriend, who preferred the “kid’s
version”, the Good New Bible.</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13pt;"> I also had no time for the old Authorised,
King James, Version, because it spoke in an outdated language that alienated a
modern audience. Whereas the NIV was just as accurate, being based on the
latest research, but using modern English. And, after all, it was even endorsed
by the man who’d introduced myself, my brother and best friend to "the truth" of
Calvinism! (Much to the alarm of our youth leaders).</span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgNY2vqkV_pQDxS2OqEcYu4Go5rkVlSlCwEo4Royc4ApVA3ZUAFHB0BQwQr50NTfvecbGkDD7sXOqMUNvXEPXF5r9imhtYMlsX2-qT6D6ORnuF9qGMjhKmkL42IQVIhqHoaHTbDws1LrqMiyqTttGlaR27Q66r4-PROYXrK9i8AQBPdCqNnv05aGO8hPQ/s1343/NIV%201984.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1343" data-original-width="983" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgNY2vqkV_pQDxS2OqEcYu4Go5rkVlSlCwEo4Royc4ApVA3ZUAFHB0BQwQr50NTfvecbGkDD7sXOqMUNvXEPXF5r9imhtYMlsX2-qT6D6ORnuF9qGMjhKmkL42IQVIhqHoaHTbDws1LrqMiyqTttGlaR27Q66r4-PROYXrK9i8AQBPdCqNnv05aGO8hPQ/s320/NIV%201984.jpg" width="234" /></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 13pt; text-align: left;">This was
several years before the Internet was invented (yes, I am that old!). So there
was no option to check different versions on the bible app on your phone and no
ready access to guidance on interpreting scripture, alternative views or
historical context. Other than my trusty NIV, my guidance came from discussions
with others at church, my IVP New Bible Commentary and the odd
conservative/Calvinist/charismatic books and audiotapes I was leant.</span></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 13pt;">So my
exploration of same sex relationships and other issues was all based on these
limited sources. Of course, the Holy Spirit was in there too somewhere, but it
wasn’t always clear to me when He was speaking or what He was saying.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 13pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-ligatures: none;">When I
looked at my trusty NIV, the Bible was very clear about same sex relationships.
The Old Testament had not only strictly banned sexual acts between men, it told
us God found them "detestable" (Leviticus 18: 22). Jesus had said
nothing to reverse that. In fact, the New Testament went further, because it extended the strict ban on same sex acts to women, as Paul clearly warned that "homosexual offenders ... will NOT inherit the kingdom of
God" (1 Corinthians 6:9). So, there was no distinction between male and
female homosexual acts. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDp8ZviONe0Af5WXet2IQ2by4z7F76fumkgDFaMlK7UDZQkLZ-aSYvBqNt_m2fsWiqJlxo3Kf48uQsaAs5rF08YS96R7auH8B6g427ak1GOfE_A-eH2VzLf1p3MgbfQIJ50D4wcRWBhRQ9JHKYE8wX-HL9hm6gxPRhWsfmhF0BWANu4jdn3TFvdeZJhKA/s487/GNB.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><img border="0" data-original-height="487" data-original-width="300" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDp8ZviONe0Af5WXet2IQ2by4z7F76fumkgDFaMlK7UDZQkLZ-aSYvBqNt_m2fsWiqJlxo3Kf48uQsaAs5rF08YS96R7auH8B6g427ak1GOfE_A-eH2VzLf1p3MgbfQIJ50D4wcRWBhRQ9JHKYE8wX-HL9hm6gxPRhWsfmhF0BWANu4jdn3TFvdeZJhKA/s320/GNB.jpg" width="197" /></span></a></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 13pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-ligatures: none;">And my
girlfriend's Good News Bible, if anything, was even more damning. It not only said
homosexuals wouldn't "possess God's kingdom" but described them as
"perverts". So, the bible was clear that a homosexual lifestyle was
the sort of serious sin addiction that went to the heart of y</span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 13pt;">our life. It was like with the rich young ruler addicted to his riches, which Jesus required him to give up
before he followed Him. Unless gay people repented of their own sinful
lifestyle they couldn’t become Christians and were headed for hell. It wasn’t a
conversation I relished having with a gay person, but luckily I didn’t know
any.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 13pt;">I
discussed the issue with my brother and best friend. We were all in no doubt that
God told us through His word that gay sex was fundamentally wrong and must be
repented of to be saved. This also fitted with what we instinctively felt was
right. So, that must be the Holy Spirit confirming this as true, right?</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13pt;">By
contrast, I felt rather less comfortable about banning women from teaching or
leading in church. This was quite a topical issue in my home church, with the Church
of England then debating the issue of women priests. Our rector and youth leaders were very pro-reform. Yet I had no choice but to oppose women priests, or even
preachers, because that’s what scripture told us: “I do not permit a woman to
teach.” (1 Timothy 2:12) And </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13pt;">I understood God had made men and women to be complimentary partners, with men
dominant over women in both marriage and the church. So marriage could only
ever be between a man and a woman, and women should never preach or lead in church. I saw that this was all part of God’s natural
order. And I also saw a clear biblical connection between </span></span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 13pt;">women in leadership and homosexuality; neither had a place in this divine natural order.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrkImngr0WYyur3TKo3jK6e1OZM4G5wdYpCWYypepcSmAfVQSckTLOssINVBTe49vuHtm0Sc03FYqS3aPbYNW_Fpvku6r5VxSbKYrD-VXZEfOj6THMncPYi_a6kTn0_t3P1D7Mnzg8Mc414w1o_7tI-RWtoapOHuhpfr0rx0UEyUBS0x5hHAlBfo37uTo/s314/women%20priests.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><img border="0" data-original-height="161" data-original-width="314" height="175" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrkImngr0WYyur3TKo3jK6e1OZM4G5wdYpCWYypepcSmAfVQSckTLOssINVBTe49vuHtm0Sc03FYqS3aPbYNW_Fpvku6r5VxSbKYrD-VXZEfOj6THMncPYi_a6kTn0_t3P1D7Mnzg8Mc414w1o_7tI-RWtoapOHuhpfr0rx0UEyUBS0x5hHAlBfo37uTo/w342-h175/women%20priests.jpeg" width="342" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 13pt;"><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13pt;"><br /></span></p>So, in
1985 I’d no doubt it was impossible for gay people to be saved unless they’d
repented of all homosexual activity. </span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13pt;"> </span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinBcIvLUXx2nb3FgCwxV97cKZUZjmFL5tsMuBLuT9T2EVWyt8-7w8yKrRwy3dfC0_rrfMatYV1fylkLiupDyIeeH8kHzDBQQchmSPvEKlBMh0yQ1ai7u-iREn-JdL5fkb_mySM_p2-23GWcH8Zy_HP2w_k1v-1KwFMI_E6jHJ7cg2nZAxWHhtgJlppvPY/s1200/1985.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="964" data-original-width="1200" height="257" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinBcIvLUXx2nb3FgCwxV97cKZUZjmFL5tsMuBLuT9T2EVWyt8-7w8yKrRwy3dfC0_rrfMatYV1fylkLiupDyIeeH8kHzDBQQchmSPvEKlBMh0yQ1ai7u-iREn-JdL5fkb_mySM_p2-23GWcH8Zy_HP2w_k1v-1KwFMI_E6jHJ7cg2nZAxWHhtgJlppvPY/s320/1985.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 13pt;">In 1986 I started my law degree at Nottingham
University. I found all fellow Christians there shared this same "biblical" view of
homosexuality - both at the Christian Union and my church, Cornerstone Evangelical
Free Church.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 13pt;">I also soon
“learned” what made people gay or bisexual or even want to change their
gender. Contrary to “the myth” the pro-gay lobby taught, people were not born that
way. They were made that way through childhood experiences: difficult relationships
with one or more parent or childhood trauma, such as sexual abuse. Of course,
in the absence of the yet-to-be born internet I had no ready means of checking any
research to support that theory. I also didn’t know anyone who was gay (as far
as I was aware). So, I really had no frame of reference.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13pt;">But
this "unarguable biblical" and "common sense" view against homosexuality was now
coming under serious attack from opponents of the gospel. </span></span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 13pt;">They
were actively promoting acceptance of a gay lifestyle, even trying to spread
this "moral disease" to children, wanting homosexual couples to adopt children of
their own. I spoke out strongly against this in my family law tutorials. I got the expected hostile reaction from some fellow students. But I
quite enjoyed taking the flack “for the sake of the gospel”.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-ligatures: none;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie3TEyom592mApVN38JX-4f9YtjHnUhWjE7GcmDzVYSv3sX4wkt4MhQcpWtFYlXOtYrgXI4fVaijQD33ifOOrd6PKXeAzpAR3mQNMe1Pelq8UcSCSmmHdTLlYFz0rU4SsDoPJSVySC69KxNmLkW1jQaK0BXxxF6t99v-Yf3_pkdA7u1MXYyjiNt_vLSMI/s1280/Section-28-Leg.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="892" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie3TEyom592mApVN38JX-4f9YtjHnUhWjE7GcmDzVYSv3sX4wkt4MhQcpWtFYlXOtYrgXI4fVaijQD33ifOOrd6PKXeAzpAR3mQNMe1Pelq8UcSCSmmHdTLlYFz0rU4SsDoPJSVySC69KxNmLkW1jQaK0BXxxF6t99v-Yf3_pkdA7u1MXYyjiNt_vLSMI/s320/Section-28-Leg.jpg" width="223" /></span></a></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 13pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-ligatures: none;">And the
whole homosexuality issue was becoming a real political battleground. As a social
democrat normally I couldn’t stand Maggie Thatcher’s policies. She elevated the
greedy rich higher and trampled the poor down lower, quite contrary to the biblical priorities of helping the poor and oppressed. But I had to admit she’d
got one thing right – clause 28 of her Local Government Bill that would ban local
authorities from promoting homosexuality.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13pt;">In one
of his hour long sermons our church’s senior minister, Peter Lewis, roundly
condemned a very dangerous book apparently being read in London primary
schools, </span><i style="font-size: 13pt;">Jenny lives with Eric and Martin</i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13pt;">. Cornerstone wasn’t the sort
of church where people normally shouted “Amen” in response to the sermon. You
had to go to T Street Pentecostal Church if you wanted to do that sort of thing.
But I nodded very firmly in agreement. </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13pt;">And (to
my shame) I was becoming increasingly convinced God had sent AIDS as a gay plague, a view I openly shared.</span></span></p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 13pt;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIAtXNcS0Jfq488xRSaolHTMlaRdu2x6lUdV-nzWYWZInXKrLYqZM-Q6ALNiYiPp4J2niwUjH-mw5aZKVl0IH1WcQywT_CRw80-U4wXrKyi-KJzmoOnzXNsj8bSJm-hA0QfK2mgvwAgdFSDHvWJBHVw-Qa-v6a89rDf2Q_aBoCV4HxEqDodfuYxyNkNlk/s350/AIDS.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><img border="0" data-original-height="183" data-original-width="350" height="167" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIAtXNcS0Jfq488xRSaolHTMlaRdu2x6lUdV-nzWYWZInXKrLYqZM-Q6ALNiYiPp4J2niwUjH-mw5aZKVl0IH1WcQywT_CRw80-U4wXrKyi-KJzmoOnzXNsj8bSJm-hA0QfK2mgvwAgdFSDHvWJBHVw-Qa-v6a89rDf2Q_aBoCV4HxEqDodfuYxyNkNlk/s320/AIDS.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13pt;"><br /></span></span><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13pt;">But by 2015, I’d come to see things very differently. In
the 30 years between 1985 and 2015 my faith in Jesus and His word had remained
solid. I was even still a Calvinist (well kind of), still believed in a historical Adam and Eve (but</span></span><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13pt;"> 10,000s of years ago). And I still believed that everyone who rejects Jesus is headed for eternal destruction (but not eternal conscious torment)</span></span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 13pt;">. But during that time my
understanding of what God thinks about same sex relationships had transformed.</span></div><div><div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 13pt;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 13pt;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIfmjt1gWRzuLEh3D5sZBQPHNWh932UCVH8ZI22_XgUfdOU50NItA0OQHV5K6RF4Xdk4aCxpCChx7-6x6-5-zkvwd0ilBgpHU8WntEoo7ntHDo-SXnY1XZswHyBvW0NsoJ8iwlhyphenhyphenAtda0YQ-qe9DQP3_SHdJrFIy5a59OyForo-2EIjnN6FinWNaJ-_NE/s1600/2015.webp" style="font-size: medium; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIfmjt1gWRzuLEh3D5sZBQPHNWh932UCVH8ZI22_XgUfdOU50NItA0OQHV5K6RF4Xdk4aCxpCChx7-6x6-5-zkvwd0ilBgpHU8WntEoo7ntHDo-SXnY1XZswHyBvW0NsoJ8iwlhyphenhyphenAtda0YQ-qe9DQP3_SHdJrFIy5a59OyForo-2EIjnN6FinWNaJ-_NE/s320/2015.webp" width="320" /></a></span></div><div><span style="font-size: 13pt;"><span style="font-family: arial;">I’d come to believe:</span></span></div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 13pt;">God had originally made
men and women to be similar, equal, mutually supportive life partners, albeit biologically capable of procreation.</span></li><li><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 13pt; text-indent: -18pt;">It was only after and because of the Fall that women were
made subservient to men.</span></li><li><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 13pt; text-indent: -18pt;">The Fall also fractured and changed the original created order<span style="color: #222222; font-size: medium;">. </span><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 13pt;">So e.g. some people were born deaf or with 12 fingers or with a same-sex orientation, i.e., gay or bisexual.</span></span></li><li><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 13pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial; font-size: 13pt;">Most people, whether straight, gay or bisexual, still had the same God-designed need as Adam and Eve for a permanent life partner, including a sexual relationship, i.e. marriage.</span></span></li><li><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 13pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial; font-size: 13pt;">Christ’s death and resurrection has brought a new kingdom, abolishing the law and ultimately restoring men and women to full equality (although it took time to get there).</span></span></li><li><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 13pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial; font-size: 13pt;">Celibacy is a higher calling, but only for the minority who have a special gift, and not to be forced on anyone.</span></span></li><li><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 13pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial; font-size: 13pt;">Marriage is the way most people are called to do life and is particularly recommended to prevent sexual sin.</span></span></li><li><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 13pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial; font-size: 13pt;">The Old Testament certainly did condemn as an abomination all sexual activities between men, but it condemned in similar terms various activities Christians regard as normal and Christ’s death lifted the law's strict requirements </span></span></li><li><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 13pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial; font-size: 13pt;">The only same sex activities condemned in the New Testament were abusive, promiscuous acts between men, often associated with religious idolatry</span></span></li><li><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 13pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial; font-size: 13pt;"> Very probably no part of scripture said anything at all about all female sexual relations.</span></span></li><li><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 13pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial; font-size: 13pt;">The Bible’s writers knew nothing of same-sex orientation and never addressed the issue of same sex marriage.</span></span></li><li><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 13pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial; font-size: 13pt;">However, in Christ’s new kingdom marriage between same sex couples is permissible because they can fulfill His new higher law of love, the essence of marriage no longer requires dominant/subservient partners nor procreation and in Him there is "no male and female".</span></span></li><li><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 13pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 13pt;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial; font-size: 13pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-ligatures: none;">The ultimate scriptural test true or false teaching is the teaching's fruit. Overwhelming the fruit of traditional marriage teaching has been bad for gay people and others; the fruit of inclusive marriage teaching has been good.</span></span></span></li></ul><div style="text-indent: -24px;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIa-InS54bakco9_MLmxwIWxU04dU8fDm_7TRctFt7A7V6YPazxnGKemlM2qLBVwMpcQX09Dyk3JAumw0Htj7VzUmecFJ3lCa0Vj8MQscSJVRGi6Qkc4n83L1uzl8HdYdKbvi0KsuNTMQKIUMHDVgGUOXbAivxHmrwXxSgSPUj_dZ0m3OqftxDkfUlEgQ/s950/Revelation.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><img border="0" data-original-height="496" data-original-width="950" height="167" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIa-InS54bakco9_MLmxwIWxU04dU8fDm_7TRctFt7A7V6YPazxnGKemlM2qLBVwMpcQX09Dyk3JAumw0Htj7VzUmecFJ3lCa0Vj8MQscSJVRGi6Qkc4n83L1uzl8HdYdKbvi0KsuNTMQKIUMHDVgGUOXbAivxHmrwXxSgSPUj_dZ0m3OqftxDkfUlEgQ/s320/Revelation.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div><div style="text-indent: -24px;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-indent: -24px;"><span style="font-size: 13pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> So, what
led to that huge change? I believe it was the Holy Spirit speaking to me, but
certainly not in some sudden Damascus road revelation. It happened gradually,
but with hindsight these were some of the key interventions causing me to
question my position:</span></span></div><div style="text-indent: -24px;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 13pt;"> </span></div><div style="text-indent: -24px;"><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13pt;"> </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13pt; text-indent: -18pt;">In 1990 </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 13pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-ligatures: none; text-indent: -18pt;">my brother lost his once fervent faith after getting in
with “the wrong crowd”. One of the thoughts that turned him away was: how could
he believe in a God who hated gay people when He must have made them that way?</span></span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: 17.3333px;"> </span>In 1999 the shocking news that
Roy Clements, the leading evangelical preacher, who’d baptized my wife and best
friend, had left his wife and children for another man.</span></li><li><span style="font-size: 13pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> In 2003 two eye-opening
experiences at Spring Harvest during talks about same sex relationships: a gay
woman, visibly hurt by the traditionalist message, asked me, “but what if
you’re just born that way?” Andrew Marin’s surprising testimony about his
ministry bringing gay couples to Christ without leaving their partners.</span></span></li><li><span style="font-size: 13pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> The following year my even more surprising experience of helping lead a gay man to Christ and finding
what God needed to change in his life wasn’t his relationship with his
boyfriend but his relationship with alcohol.</span></span></li><li><span style="font-size: 13pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> Between 2005 and 2011
discovering I’d misread the Bible’s true message about the role of women.</span></span></li><li><span style="font-size: 13pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> From 2013 onwards my
(heterosexual) teenage daughter’s challenges about whether I’d also misread the
Bible’s true message about same sex relationships.</span></span></li></ul></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1KN50ALeD9m2VNiAOTf00GptXa8OYcJfIML0HSYJys8OWtUE6raNYN_yuZj75Tz_6gn99jx-zlBpqLdq5x3izVWauSJ7e-cOXiQpbxaWnr47z8qCXOSKWqE6YpSpfC3wHgw7vJSG006RQB8PE6nTbmDBUgbTO4Gw-GH1qcgf4l57sJdumT8_fxeHGfMg/s287/RC%20book.jpeg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="287" data-original-width="176" height="287" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1KN50ALeD9m2VNiAOTf00GptXa8OYcJfIML0HSYJys8OWtUE6raNYN_yuZj75Tz_6gn99jx-zlBpqLdq5x3izVWauSJ7e-cOXiQpbxaWnr47z8qCXOSKWqE6YpSpfC3wHgw7vJSG006RQB8PE6nTbmDBUgbTO4Gw-GH1qcgf4l57sJdumT8_fxeHGfMg/s1600/RC%20book.jpeg" width="176" /></a></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKZGLQMRA4IHy7h7SVcRJBAnkzKTKswF4UVYZa4z6-WPAEKRrV_4pB0789Sgs6Pjw1clYup9N7CeOue8scJE_8O6uF1Xe-y_qpalb0zr6_3N8WkyTuf5TL4_QHF8fqi-XtWH3k8Y1DhithHdSrepanyX4A4sEgKpQ5RKyEm5Dy8wDwVkAuz_TYMSnx5Xk/s329/RoyClements250x.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="329" data-original-width="250" height="252" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKZGLQMRA4IHy7h7SVcRJBAnkzKTKswF4UVYZa4z6-WPAEKRrV_4pB0789Sgs6Pjw1clYup9N7CeOue8scJE_8O6uF1Xe-y_qpalb0zr6_3N8WkyTuf5TL4_QHF8fqi-XtWH3k8Y1DhithHdSrepanyX4A4sEgKpQ5RKyEm5Dy8wDwVkAuz_TYMSnx5Xk/w191-h252/RoyClements250x.jpg" width="191" /></a></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /><span style="font-size: 13pt;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-size: 13pt;">These challenges caused me to look much more deeply into
what God’s word actually said; not simply the word as sometimes inaccurately
translated in our modern translations, but what the original Greek and Hebrew
meant in its context at its time. This was essential to then understand how the
Holy Spirit, our counsellor, means for us to apply it today. This also
involved a clearer understanding of the dynamic nature of God’s word. God’s
truths revealed in His word are eternal, but God always intended that the
application of those truths should expand.</span></div></span></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13pt;">The biggest transformation of course came with Christ’s
death and resurrection, fulfilling the old way of the law and leading to the
outpouring of His Spirit. But even after Pentecost, in the New Testament we see
the ongoing expansion of God’s kingdom on Earth, not just numerically but in
transforming old structures and roles; accepting eunuchs, ending the division
between Jews and Gentiles, the increasing emancipation of women and early
pointers to liberating slaves. </span><span style="font-size: 13pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 13pt;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggEfuGrhw6ZM2QMm0UxPTD-uXFp6322NpKAUDcsJn00p4ac-cWGsjxjIQkPcwoHVXuq-btddj-iXyGfqe4reuwgxybaGEUY1ojwEnkQ8Ed9c-BZG0P-13ycR0qehHDnaT_IjVAS_TmZTXR1cICGRfY3Um3_tnfbxIMEw98Gbf6RbWgYe_HdlaQ53I9Ncg/s640/kingdom-of-God.jpg" style="font-size: medium; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="284" data-original-width="640" height="142" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggEfuGrhw6ZM2QMm0UxPTD-uXFp6322NpKAUDcsJn00p4ac-cWGsjxjIQkPcwoHVXuq-btddj-iXyGfqe4reuwgxybaGEUY1ojwEnkQ8Ed9c-BZG0P-13ycR0qehHDnaT_IjVAS_TmZTXR1cICGRfY3Um3_tnfbxIMEw98Gbf6RbWgYe_HdlaQ53I9Ncg/s320/kingdom-of-God.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13pt;">And His word and His spirit have remained dynamic. He did
not intend for us to be stuck in a first century social time warp, with men
keeping slaves and dominating women. And so since then Christians, heeding His
Holy Spirit, have read in His word calls to further transform society by fully
emancipating women, abolishing slavery, and relieving poverty. Even as much of
our world darkens, I came to see He wants us to pray and work to bring His
light to the Earth’s darkened corners and liberate more captives. And I came to
believe that He is now calling us to liberate LGBTQ+ people from the exclusion
and oppression they have suffered from the church and wider society. </span><span style="font-size: 13pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 13pt;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo1Gfh4gq6UPzOKFGzBJesqEuL1btgh9W1RRoB0EuFyTw-Z3VChxAmXwaGlxQUrppiFC1MdhiX-8o5gKhZiaQGCXqpLaf983QRQKRia44yS40iucQbVetrdJGlEd94u-kOiFJdFlUJnTXAUCnLQlH_kOjVBdIymySTw5alghHSrPNLHGy7ySxi0NuwZbk/s640/setting%20captives%20free.webp" style="font-size: medium; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="628" data-original-width="640" height="314" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo1Gfh4gq6UPzOKFGzBJesqEuL1btgh9W1RRoB0EuFyTw-Z3VChxAmXwaGlxQUrppiFC1MdhiX-8o5gKhZiaQGCXqpLaf983QRQKRia44yS40iucQbVetrdJGlEd94u-kOiFJdFlUJnTXAUCnLQlH_kOjVBdIymySTw5alghHSrPNLHGy7ySxi0NuwZbk/s320/setting%20captives%20free.webp" width="320" /></a></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 13pt;">My final change of view came in 2015 through a book my
daughter challenged me to read: Matthew Vines’ <i>God and the Gay
Christian</i>. This has since become the “go-to” apologetic for revisionists
and the “deceptive devil's work” for traditionalists, for many of whom its very
title contradicts scripture.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13pt;">I wouldn’t say I found he'd got everything 100% right, but a good 95%. I'm deferring discussion of his case and my conclusions for now. But
I'd recommend reading his book for yourself, rather than relying on what others report and (sometimes) misreport. And read it with an open mind, as I
did, asking the Holy Spirit to guide you into truth.</span><span style="font-size: 13pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 13pt;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil9yM8VaQymPDD7P2kXJFz139nwd94ZxhgBvjqyhSJNPdDzvb8XSjZXieuCkpNCWU_A8afs0Pq9kVlqA8ZPgWMOtdRtHO5UHgzQhVL8kk6M6dQYYiExf7OBxR3ghgDDGTHP66CUYBgkbDRKjuXl9LgZDahFp4BvgT_80A6BPN1O39e1xtD4NZzS0-m3xI/s1200/matthew-vines.webp" style="font-size: medium; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="1200" height="234" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil9yM8VaQymPDD7P2kXJFz139nwd94ZxhgBvjqyhSJNPdDzvb8XSjZXieuCkpNCWU_A8afs0Pq9kVlqA8ZPgWMOtdRtHO5UHgzQhVL8kk6M6dQYYiExf7OBxR3ghgDDGTHP66CUYBgkbDRKjuXl9LgZDahFp4BvgT_80A6BPN1O39e1xtD4NZzS0-m3xI/w466-h234/matthew-vines.webp" width="466" /></a></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13pt;">What I found was a very carefully and prayerfully
researched book, written very accessibly with balance and sensitivity. Matthew,
like me, is no theologian, but the person that spoke from these pages was
clearly a very intelligent, Christ-centred, bible-focused young man, who also
happened to be a (single) gay man (and with an excellent relationship with both
his parents by the way).</span><span style="font-size: 13pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="background: white; color: #222222; font-size: 13pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;">It felt like Christ was speaking to me through these pages: <i>Don’t call unclean what God has declared clean.
Set the oppressed free. </i></span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13pt;">I realized that in my own
way I'd contributed to the injustice the Church had committed towards those
who'd done nothing wrong but happened to be born gay: all the hurt and
exclusion they'd experienced because of how evangelicals like me had treated
them due to an overly simplistic reading of scripture and a failure to listen
to what the Holy Spirit was really saying through God’s word.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 13pt;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXWVBK0BseBrpQSXKfzp2oudzDAIz5RvthjAu7GwZcRnUIRSrQX-VCAV0v4VS922lcVB_JQA8GQlSSDpCcgabIF6VxJGa6tXraLfl2YLmAmCK0ZDOwNRsxDXikjWR28lrJ-Kcn0XEtlwi_apERey7Zk8vm8ND8wBo1ZwBOql-dMXw5SeZD5vDkE73ikPk/s1080/Act%20justly.jpg" style="font-size: medium; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="675" data-original-width="1080" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXWVBK0BseBrpQSXKfzp2oudzDAIz5RvthjAu7GwZcRnUIRSrQX-VCAV0v4VS922lcVB_JQA8GQlSSDpCcgabIF6VxJGa6tXraLfl2YLmAmCK0ZDOwNRsxDXikjWR28lrJ-Kcn0XEtlwi_apERey7Zk8vm8ND8wBo1ZwBOql-dMXw5SeZD5vDkE73ikPk/s320/Act%20justly.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: arial; font-size: 13pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-ligatures: none;">In one small act of repentance I publicly “outed” myself on Facebook as
an affirming evangelical and the reasons why. It was the least I could do towards
correcting the injustice to gay people that in my own small way I'd contributed to. Some of my Christian Facebook friends
fervently agreed with me. Some fervently disagreed. Most kept their counsel.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background: white; font-size: 13pt;">A few years later</span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 13pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">a young lesbian couple had started regularly attending our church’s
services together with their infant son. They seemed a lovely couple and I was
really pleased they’d seemed to have found a welcome in our church after much painful
rejection from both personal and church family. The test for our church came
when they asked our pastor if he would agree for the church to dedicate their son.
He was minded to agree. However, for some traditionalists in our church there was
only a short step between blessing their child and blessing his mothers’ relationship.</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background: white; font-size: 13pt;"> </span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 13pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Happily, a large majority of the church voted to allow the
dedication.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM7YEmvTtFVCiXDG2dVDL-AX1UALEMwwFyF7WtHSnZeobSl79Z3pxhbJ_4A2qyAmYyWHF2OX4Jdv8rHmC3NMNNpRG4Q90PBsDfZ_f0gND82kQqr3yYwhQCDEpFHnYCPWIBGm828zTKdxFk8veg1YBErXAHCrsuYWpFADLstx3BqXVfRxqcDQsyZRIVqKU/s860/lesbian%20symbol.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="786" data-original-width="860" height="292" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM7YEmvTtFVCiXDG2dVDL-AX1UALEMwwFyF7WtHSnZeobSl79Z3pxhbJ_4A2qyAmYyWHF2OX4Jdv8rHmC3NMNNpRG4Q90PBsDfZ_f0gND82kQqr3yYwhQCDEpFHnYCPWIBGm828zTKdxFk8veg1YBErXAHCrsuYWpFADLstx3BqXVfRxqcDQsyZRIVqKU/s320/lesbian%20symbol.png" width="320" /></a></span></div><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 13pt;"><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 13pt;"><br /></span></p>We’d already committed ourselves to
helping set up a new church. But I’d hoped we’d left our old church on a
gradual road towards greater inclusivity. Sadly, the subsequent retirement of
their pastor marked an about turn in the very opposite direction. By a
large majority the church voted to only accept a new pastor who
fully accepted the traditional understanding of marriage.</span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13pt;">I didn’t engage further with the issue
for a few years. I was now a convinced affirming evangelical. However, I was
seeking publication of my fantasy novel in the USA, <i>Magi-Legends of the
Space Ark</i>. I’d failed so far to find any takers in the mainstream, possibly
because it was too “religious”. I was now trying the smaller but
well-established US Christian literary market. I was well aware any</span></span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 13pt;"> traditionalist agents
and publishers would run a mile from any writer with the “wrong” view on this
issue. (Shamefully) therefore I took down all previous social media posts supporting same
sex relationships.</span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 13pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwi7QVDspMIAQpma0XVItZ4C03ubmC8Qn2xW9cbsa07SEHXFOgruOIOmQPNycmAVnW0DykoL4_ZcT4nccZ60VzEK9OC1SyrFOWj3i5dlU4XwYLFz50Q5kDgPnzAJrZL4xYj2i9Vrt9UAID1QDUh-JpYLX7zlr8PUK5g_ut70c8ssfL3WGTikvSJ5bhvTY/s2128/Magi.webp" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1202" data-original-width="2128" height="181" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwi7QVDspMIAQpma0XVItZ4C03ubmC8Qn2xW9cbsa07SEHXFOgruOIOmQPNycmAVnW0DykoL4_ZcT4nccZ60VzEK9OC1SyrFOWj3i5dlU4XwYLFz50Q5kDgPnzAJrZL4xYj2i9Vrt9UAID1QDUh-JpYLX7zlr8PUK5g_ut70c8ssfL3WGTikvSJ5bhvTY/s320/Magi.webp" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;"><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;"><br /></span></p>But I was recently called to re-examine my position on same sex relationships.
The Church of England has been debating </span><i style="font-size: 13pt;">Prayers of Love and Faith</i><span style="font-size: 13pt;">.
Meanwhile, Baptist churches, like mine, have been asked by our union whether
individual churches should allow their ministers to enter same sex marriages.
Our church's small leadership team therefore arranged an open discussion about
same sex relationships.</span></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: arial; font-size: 13pt;">In
preparation for that, on recommendation from our previous church's pastor,
I read </span><i style="background-color: transparent; font-family: arial; font-size: 13pt;">Love is an Orientation</i><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: arial; font-size: 13pt;"> by Andrew Marin; the same guy I’d heard 20
years ago sharing his amazing ministry among the gay community of Chicago. As a young conservative evangelical Christian he received God's call to this mission when, remarkably (I'd say miraculously), three of his best friends came out to him as gay at the same time. Notably</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: arial; font-size: 13pt;">, Andrew still refused to express any opinion about where he
stood on same sex relationships. He simply shared Jesus with the gay people of
Chicago in a loving, non-judgmental way. He described leading hundreds of gay
people to Christ and then let His Holy Spirit do the rest. He believed it was
</span><i style="background-color: transparent; font-family: arial; font-size: 13pt;">His </i><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: arial; font-size: 13pt;">job, not </span><i style="background-color: transparent; font-family: arial; font-size: 13pt;">his </i><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: arial; font-size: 13pt;">job, to convict them of any sin in their lives, whether sexual or
otherwise. A few individuals described the Lord leading them away from same sex
relationships. But many more remained in same sex relationships, yet testified
to Christ enriching their lives and relationships.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_MPKf9YfGxzEHFlWe2tXif01RPQe2irAcXXnfKQZD3PSmxSP3vrA_Ov3fYsUIj6SuLqpKpPXtwFbNYmwhcfGMloYQWRg5ERvkmlmRwIHbAJE34pqwS41XstKcsTCXlmC2OPL3dB8G5z6I6Vj5RwUHaH2rJcJpmp0qBzFGScP5QENPgzZzXjgsfvIKDQY/s200/Andrew%20Marin.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="151" height="306" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_MPKf9YfGxzEHFlWe2tXif01RPQe2irAcXXnfKQZD3PSmxSP3vrA_Ov3fYsUIj6SuLqpKpPXtwFbNYmwhcfGMloYQWRg5ERvkmlmRwIHbAJE34pqwS41XstKcsTCXlmC2OPL3dB8G5z6I6Vj5RwUHaH2rJcJpmp0qBzFGScP5QENPgzZzXjgsfvIKDQY/w231-h306/Andrew%20Marin.jpg" width="231" /></a></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;"> </span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9a4JQxhOUTSeI_tln1MrRPqBEnonwlc7x6oH7otQT23DVmCH-oQdf9hVZU_aw60oMTuMsbR4opepwhpJVfVzyc84kgNb6xK5a3JzcrpAszOBYrXCOFx2TC-b567ZKSphtiqL7b1PkEXe3KnranRqxgAoKzQk8RYJM5NqPifM4yS_eWSM9W1uKPgn4Y80/s500/Love%20is%20an%20orientation.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="333" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9a4JQxhOUTSeI_tln1MrRPqBEnonwlc7x6oH7otQT23DVmCH-oQdf9hVZU_aw60oMTuMsbR4opepwhpJVfVzyc84kgNb6xK5a3JzcrpAszOBYrXCOFx2TC-b567ZKSphtiqL7b1PkEXe3KnranRqxgAoKzQk8RYJM5NqPifM4yS_eWSM9W1uKPgn4Y80/s320/Love%20is%20an%20orientation.jpg" width="213" /></a><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 13pt;">For me
this chimed with what Matthew Vines had written and my own very limited
personal experience of leading a gay man to Christ 19 years earlier. There were
arguments to be made for both the traditionalist and inclusive interpretations
of scripture. But wasn’t the real truth test in the fruit? By their fruit you
will know them, said Jesus. Hadn’t God Himself spoken what He thought on this
issue through His Holy Spirit? By the transformational difference He’d made in
the lives of gay people who accepted His gospel, even when they remained in
same sex relationships? </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13pt;">I also
read a more deeply theological work, <i>Bible Gender Sexuality,</i> by the
theologian James Brownson. James had gone through his own interesting journey
on this issue . He'd always accepted the traditional evangelical position about
homosexuality and marriage without ever seriously questioning it. Then he was
hit by a lightning bolt: his 18 year old son came out to him as gay. His
son was a happy, popular and successful, Christian young man, brought up in a
loving home, with a great relationship with both his parents (much like Matthew Vines). He fitted none of the traditionalist models for how people could be
"warped" into homosexuality by negative childhood experiences.</span><span style="font-size: 13pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf1Cdgl-DUzanXdj3qqhC9usC8gP85Webtpf0t6s_l_su_4EJZech_xTzzL8wjxG-wYyVvT5A6Gtn04k4iL84NBI1KwlADgJHKU9FPKBpxqPfK5EWMEIYiftoWph4a_LlhChgQzTAxVQJ3r_1c8DUa4cDwRRQNXH-5-RSg9Nqzbf-d4weYJeY4n_YdWs4/s371/jim-brownson.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="290" data-original-width="371" height="208" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf1Cdgl-DUzanXdj3qqhC9usC8gP85Webtpf0t6s_l_su_4EJZech_xTzzL8wjxG-wYyVvT5A6Gtn04k4iL84NBI1KwlADgJHKU9FPKBpxqPfK5EWMEIYiftoWph4a_LlhChgQzTAxVQJ3r_1c8DUa4cDwRRQNXH-5-RSg9Nqzbf-d4weYJeY4n_YdWs4/w266-h208/jim-brownson.jpg" width="266" /></a></div><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13pt;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgO1TdbdJ2ah_7ChMMry5Qfvaaqq2W6VAymLVvw4jnzW7t5CczDB1cDt-VfZYjzGtpqjAQ2GFRw87s24OuQZhn3Nt1IevrY6UOj8xaF1Z40a5jyNUKNlrbZ20SFPORRfe7vi7KElWSjaoceB_4ppkMgUk9pK0eKH1Uo8IL8E4AeLjFIkcI0jR5bg3Vhjk8/s1000/Bible%20Gender%20Sexuality.jpg" style="font-size: medium; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="667" height="357" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgO1TdbdJ2ah_7ChMMry5Qfvaaqq2W6VAymLVvw4jnzW7t5CczDB1cDt-VfZYjzGtpqjAQ2GFRw87s24OuQZhn3Nt1IevrY6UOj8xaF1Z40a5jyNUKNlrbZ20SFPORRfe7vi7KElWSjaoceB_4ppkMgUk9pK0eKH1Uo8IL8E4AeLjFIkcI0jR5bg3Vhjk8/w238-h357/Bible%20Gender%20Sexuality.jpg" width="238" /></span><br /></a></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13pt;">James felt forced to properly examine what the Bible really
had to say on gender and sexuality in a way he never had before. He didn't
jettison any scripture, which he still fully accepted as God's word. But he carefully
researched the evidence to get the most accurate understanding he could of the
key Hebrew and Greek verses. He then tried to discern the underlying moral
logic of those verses given their cultural context and how they applied to us
in our different cultural context today. And he did this in a systematic way to
understand how these verses fitted within the whole arc of scripture and the
direction the Holy Spirit was leading us to in God’s Kingdom on Earth. His overall conclusions were very similar to Matthew Vines'. </span><span style="font-size: 13pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13pt;"><i>I must confess to skim-reading James's quite lengthy chapter 11 on Paul's use of the Greek word for nature ("physus"), because by this point it was only a day before our meeting. What I hadn't realised was this was probably the book's most important chapter!</i></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13pt;">The
meeting was not easy. Different views were passionately expressed by myself and
others.</span><span style="font-size: 13pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;"> </span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQ3p5TEA4VK4vkOxrXs5LEE76NahoCapVE4XTTNcVc4fOAQc94UawnotoG2zDUJEJB9971rNhj4z6ys5aNXIViAuKAJGj3pwZuh4KIi_SWqUoVY-02gPqYzo0N_BtKEhqrrySVqfIwJpnNb_4pxFixIDPtXxQNIiYsj4ub1-LpGTNNASP6ikOtmNv7PMU/s750/people%20disagreeing.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="750" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQ3p5TEA4VK4vkOxrXs5LEE76NahoCapVE4XTTNcVc4fOAQc94UawnotoG2zDUJEJB9971rNhj4z6ys5aNXIViAuKAJGj3pwZuh4KIi_SWqUoVY-02gPqYzo0N_BtKEhqrrySVqfIwJpnNb_4pxFixIDPtXxQNIiYsj4ub1-LpGTNNASP6ikOtmNv7PMU/s320/people%20disagreeing.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Those
arguing for the traditional interpretation did so from a place of genuine faith
and love, including for gay people. Their essential case was:</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-size: 13pt;"><span style="font-family: arial;">All same sex physical
relationships were a serious sin contrary to scripture, which prevented people
being saved. </span></span></li><li><span style="font-size: 13pt;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Marriage between people of the same sex could never align with
God’s will, because marriage could only be between a man and a woman in
complementarian roles that modelled Christ and His church. </span></span></li><li><span style="font-size: 13pt;"><span style="font-family: arial;">People were not simply born gay; it was something that happened to
them due to human influences and choices. </span></span></li><li><span style="font-size: 13pt;"><span style="font-family: arial;">It wasn't sinful to
have a same sex orientation but it was sinful to choose to act upon it.</span></span></li><li><span style="font-size: 13pt;"><span style="font-family: arial;">People
with such an orientation needed to be helped and healed from that condition, if
possible, or if not to accept a life of celibacy.</span></span></li><li><span style="font-size: 13pt;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Unless they repented of any
same sex physical relationship it wasn’t possible for them to become
Christians. </span></span></li><li><span style="font-size: 13pt;"><span style="font-family: arial;">To allow or encourage gay people in same sex relationships wasn’t loving, because it was perpetuating them in something that did
them a great deal of harm, physically and spiritually.</span></span></li><li><span style="font-size: 13pt;"><span style="font-family: arial;">If you then let same
sex couples bring up children this would harm those children. </span></span></li><li><span style="font-size: 13pt;"><span style="font-family: arial;">It was only in
western churches, they claimed, where the church was contracting, that this
biblical view of same sex relationships was being challenged. In the rest of
the world, where the church was actually growing, this position was universally
accepted.</span></span></li></ul><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRPa8Wzfoc4DMSeYdGy0fMG1iLXmMtl_DJd9ZZycqM56khjfyYWFU85xSWFv83zSFCfqnpebpH2x2HzCSqOIwkISRzxvtEVJxqtKddugjqD75bPNaXbYieYpZL53nHTtwaDOcHUeyUL-M9qTGv04LcWgS40eKINaVK-Ni1It1zOk0UfgxTg5IpfwneLN8/s615/tradition.gif" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><img border="0" data-original-height="433" data-original-width="615" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRPa8Wzfoc4DMSeYdGy0fMG1iLXmMtl_DJd9ZZycqM56khjfyYWFU85xSWFv83zSFCfqnpebpH2x2HzCSqOIwkISRzxvtEVJxqtKddugjqD75bPNaXbYieYpZL53nHTtwaDOcHUeyUL-M9qTGv04LcWgS40eKINaVK-Ni1It1zOk0UfgxTg5IpfwneLN8/s320/tradition.gif" width="320" /></span></a></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Following
the meeting there was a Whatsapp exchange of Youtube videos. I shared what I
thought was an instructive video from Matthew Vines. Someone else shared a video from a traditionalist speaker that she’d found particularly
helpful in understanding the Greek and Hebrew in the key verses.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 13pt;">So far
I’d heard nothing to change my views.There was almost nothing I hadn't said myself 20 + years ago. But, as I’d freely acknowledged, I was
either wrong now or wrong then, so I was clearly capable of getting this issue wrong. Scripture encouraged us to “test all things”. I needed to be
as sure as I possibly could be about what the Lord’s will was on this really
important issue.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13pt;">I
prayed: <i>Lord, please give me wisdom. Was I right in what I first believed or
what I believed since or is the truth somewhere in-between? </i>And so I
searched and researched, I thought and I prayed. The pieces that follow are the
outcome of that search.</span><span style="font-size: 13pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 13pt;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSBrF0CrIscthVq8sQ17Rx5U8HXvABAiKCV1dxtQRYYj8EB1dgAPrmlwrzLet8MHgUoPTrWF_MgIw8cHK5rfSp-rLtr39nH64qyxoqptSIXOL1NB8AyVqLBKzNiD9PGC4elJmr63y4m1-VgpZvo41cX9SsQ8WISDDa9Gddwr8YrSscaM5wCx2fzHUx1vA/s1584/Test%20all%20things.jpg" style="font-size: medium; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1584" data-original-width="1584" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSBrF0CrIscthVq8sQ17Rx5U8HXvABAiKCV1dxtQRYYj8EB1dgAPrmlwrzLet8MHgUoPTrWF_MgIw8cHK5rfSp-rLtr39nH64qyxoqptSIXOL1NB8AyVqLBKzNiD9PGC4elJmr63y4m1-VgpZvo41cX9SsQ8WISDDa9Gddwr8YrSscaM5wCx2fzHUx1vA/s320/Test%20all%20things.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13pt;">Although I’m no theologian, in re-examining this issue,
I’ve brought my own skills and experience to bear. This includes over 30 years
as a successful litigation lawyer, used to weighing expert, documentary and
witness evidence; a rather obsessive and dogged personality, looking at things
more exhaustively and exhaustingly than most people do or can (often to my
wife’s despair!); and my blessing and curse to often see and join the hidden
dots invisible to others (but admittedly occasionally seeing dots that aren’t
really there at all!). None of this guarantees I’ve got it right. I can only
try my best to find the truth on any issue with (I hope) the guidance of the
Holy Spirit.</span><span style="font-size: 13pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13pt;">The traditionalist speaker’s video my friend shared focused
on the key Old Testament passages concerning same sex relationships. He did
this as a direct response to Matthew Vines’ case, which he sought to dismantle
piece by piece. I listened very carefully, pausing to make sure I’d understood
what was said and making extensive notes, including points to research and check
against evidence he quoted, just as I would with an expert’s report in one of
my cases. I then researched the available evidence to see if they supported his
conclusions or the affirming position or somewhere in between. (See what I
found in my part three).</span><span style="font-size: 13pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiILLyVsAaCx8xspvVn8DwY_OxtW731X-WAKQx2m_k5NgzFAdAdHQKWuJlgQHaE4F64k0heTaDU6zkrXjzY4_6huOwKkbdtH1YwvYB9yuqW4920kBftyxtdnOioeDWuWzBhX8gtep8o6BbrIuYbPtuEyKg5aW0qpTucR7lgBoV7f2Fxgkq9wumysi8rPPE/s623/mike-winger-headshot.jpeg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="623" data-original-width="604" height="195" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiILLyVsAaCx8xspvVn8DwY_OxtW731X-WAKQx2m_k5NgzFAdAdHQKWuJlgQHaE4F64k0heTaDU6zkrXjzY4_6huOwKkbdtH1YwvYB9yuqW4920kBftyxtdnOioeDWuWzBhX8gtep8o6BbrIuYbPtuEyKg5aW0qpTucR7lgBoV7f2Fxgkq9wumysi8rPPE/w188-h195/mike-winger-headshot.jpeg" width="188" /></a></div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 13pt;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEYOqb_Kh_OdPze1IJfylNK43pJ-OWmUmzJZZDM3fKxcUQPQvU7mXxGCVzREAQqBmmNLzRuWT7NH0FjvQBFolZe2VyCuFvADP8g7uER43p6P588BObZstwQc44VLNw52OLrMxHRSFEnLbHuGx_85jbSK-8QCOpR8XQNWbKcW05PDmKhrAKvHqh1acXohU/s686/Speaking%20the%20truth%20in%20love.jpg" style="font-size: medium; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="386" data-original-width="686" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEYOqb_Kh_OdPze1IJfylNK43pJ-OWmUmzJZZDM3fKxcUQPQvU7mXxGCVzREAQqBmmNLzRuWT7NH0FjvQBFolZe2VyCuFvADP8g7uER43p6P588BObZstwQc44VLNw52OLrMxHRSFEnLbHuGx_85jbSK-8QCOpR8XQNWbKcW05PDmKhrAKvHqh1acXohU/s320/Speaking%20the%20truth%20in%20love.jpg" width="320" /></a><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 13pt;">I then recognized I needed to watch his second video on the key New Testament passages (which my friend hadn't shared). I carried out the same
painstaking process for this. (See what I found in my part four).</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3LeMoO5H0YKiMxnnquca6YMtf5dTLNbUwcFN3INc1__y8qAOj2kK56wfjsjL1MjVhRJwfBVnGDBP8WkUmQJpg6RkaW1SQHBS8yaHi509GqUTaL3MZl2IeDIFC8OEhppyDdqar2QG46ztQ61z25Mp71DKfkyksHCOdlHeXF8AQnPLf1tpktPwhRIaM-nA/s1639/John_stott.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1639" data-original-width="1200" height="234" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3LeMoO5H0YKiMxnnquca6YMtf5dTLNbUwcFN3INc1__y8qAOj2kK56wfjsjL1MjVhRJwfBVnGDBP8WkUmQJpg6RkaW1SQHBS8yaHi509GqUTaL3MZl2IeDIFC8OEhppyDdqar2QG46ztQ61z25Mp71DKfkyksHCOdlHeXF8AQnPLf1tpktPwhRIaM-nA/w172-h234/John_stott.jpg" width="172" /></a></div><span style="font-size: 13pt;"><span style="font-family: arial;">I then felt I should see what insight I could get from a very wise, old evangelical theologian and teacher I greatly respected, John Stott. He had passed onto glory in 2011. But not before he had shared his own wisdom on the issue in a book simply entitled, <i>Same Sex Relationships</i>. John had</span></span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 17.3333px;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 17.3333px;">been a, if not the, leading evangelical teacher in the country at the same time when his friend, Roy Clements, had his own flourishing ministry in the 1980s and 90s.</span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 13pt;"><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 13pt;"><br /></span></p>As a student, like many others, I'd been greatly blessed by his seminal work, </span><i style="font-family: arial; font-size: 13pt;">The Cross Of Chris</i><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 13pt;"><i>t</i>. John had also helped found the great global evangelical work of the Lausanne movement. But he wasn't afraid to step outside traditional church teaching where he believed it was contrary to scripture. And he had certainly influenced my own change of view over the nature of hell to being a place of eternal annihilation rather than eternal conscious torment. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvPPbUBUGp1N7cZ2hbmMdD3GHSDa6hsZ6EHd0R0qFstb2fgkm1eEGhdwAxvggsEFhv9WFMQXrgMemI1KrtZ0cSrU3YnrdBqpscIhM3W2vIOm7XLzvA8gkAthzAM6UCQZ2SWymNGqgUt0lY7VkjfeXy8ZXearBUXdX0rdoycoX-yo71uaScjJIRDl6WMf0/s1000/John%20S%20SSR.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; font-size: 17.3333px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="652" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvPPbUBUGp1N7cZ2hbmMdD3GHSDa6hsZ6EHd0R0qFstb2fgkm1eEGhdwAxvggsEFhv9WFMQXrgMemI1KrtZ0cSrU3YnrdBqpscIhM3W2vIOm7XLzvA8gkAthzAM6UCQZ2SWymNGqgUt0lY7VkjfeXy8ZXearBUXdX0rdoycoX-yo71uaScjJIRDl6WMf0/w174-h266/John%20S%20SSR.jpg" width="174" /></a></div></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"></p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 13pt;"><div><span style="font-size: 13pt;">I already knew John had taken a conservative view of same sex relationships, because I was aware that back in 1999 he'd written to his friend Roy Clements, urging him to repent of his sinful same sex relationship and return to his personal and church family. At the date he died John's views would have aligned with my own but our views had clearly diverged since. However, his wisdom had previously caused me to change views on other issues. I was therefore keen to read what he said on same sex relationships in case he showed up things I'd overlooked or misunderstood on the issue and caused me to see that my recent view was not God's view. He hadn't persuade Roy Clements but perhaps he might persuade me.</span></div></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 13pt;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 17.3333px;">Within my parts 3 to 6 I will include my own understanding of John Stott's case and whether and why I agreed or disagreed with him.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 13pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13pt;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 13pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13pt;">But I realized there was plenty more I needed to explore
outside scripture. Both sides said that what confirmed their position was God’s
position was the fruit of these two different teachings, good and bad.
After all, this is scripture’s own test for true or false teaching (Matthew 7:
15-20) as applied by the apostles themselves (Acts 10: 44-48). To do that
involved me looking into areas as diverse as medical science,</span></span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 13pt;"> human genetics, zoology, social
sciences, anthropology, ancient history and literature.</span></div><div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 13pt;">On none of these things do I claim to be an expert. You’d
need to have PhDs across multiple subjects to claim expertise on all these
things! However, as a litigation lawyer, I was well aware that experts often
disagree and I believe my legal experience has prepared me quite well for
weighing opposing expert evidence. (See what I found in part five).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 13pt;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFw9wYRK7yBjCOmvA1_bo3n7_htISGMiaWh80L59VjgZQ9Uzae8Hby6BGv8gmasb0ovaFz3yF57FYsfhavXyp07-_ITcnCjjyKj8HtTtKnt7lva-esXdUufnaim0SW0H-M2Fa5zt0Qk3f32Ptd-tgTYgApvorqS96xjP6-XJJVBaiV1ETsUvww_-Cmywc/s1180/lady%20justice.jpeg" style="font-size: medium; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="560" data-original-width="1180" height="152" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFw9wYRK7yBjCOmvA1_bo3n7_htISGMiaWh80L59VjgZQ9Uzae8Hby6BGv8gmasb0ovaFz3yF57FYsfhavXyp07-_ITcnCjjyKj8HtTtKnt7lva-esXdUufnaim0SW0H-M2Fa5zt0Qk3f32Ptd-tgTYgApvorqS96xjP6-XJJVBaiV1ETsUvww_-Cmywc/s320/lady%20justice.jpeg" width="320" /></a></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13pt;">In my final part (part six) I set out my overall conclusions and my reasons for them .
</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13pt;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13pt;">But
before then, in my part two, I</span><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 13pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"> want to look at how we prepare for entering
this minefield. </span><span style="font-size: 13pt;">How
can we best set ourselves up to hear Gods voice? What trips and traps do we
need to look out for and avoid? Where can we find lode stars to help guide our
way?</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Just
as importantly, how do we deal with disagreement? However sure we may feel that
we’ve got this issue right, being right isn’t enough. It’s possible to be right
but do it entirely wrongly; with arrogance, bitterness and derision, rather than
with the grace and humility of our saviour. How do we disagree “well”?</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;"><span style="font-family: arial;">After
all, although it might not feel like it sometimes, we’re actually on the same
side here. Our real enemy we’re fighting is Satan, against whom we’re trying to
save lives from being blown up by his land mines. Though sadly we don’t always agree
on where those mines are laid.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: 13pt;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir8WmEqecexTtatiew2_-bboKoSefpPr8cyiw1BbNfRpSWIkaseGk5X2lioOrTKtr7CTpuBTwfCxDPjjbVWpPJK6zOEm3SaffXTcDynTgGtw44xQ_mjW5vaW32Xu5BmczC92mXMokwBfPhBYOW3kDmHFP0TOr6wmGkiJwGVULotWRSBwI04-WGvSw-3hI/s620/land%20mines%20blowing%20up.jpg" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="349" data-original-width="620" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir8WmEqecexTtatiew2_-bboKoSefpPr8cyiw1BbNfRpSWIkaseGk5X2lioOrTKtr7CTpuBTwfCxDPjjbVWpPJK6zOEm3SaffXTcDynTgGtw44xQ_mjW5vaW32Xu5BmczC92mXMokwBfPhBYOW3kDmHFP0TOr6wmGkiJwGVULotWRSBwI04-WGvSw-3hI/s320/land%20mines%20blowing%20up.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13pt; text-align: center;">But if
you’ve accepted the church’s traditional teaching on same sex relationships,
I’d challenge you to re-examine that position, just as others challenged me.
Ask His Holy Spirit to guide as you look afresh at the evidence of His word, </span><i style="font-size: 13pt; text-align: center;">as originally
written, </i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13pt; text-align: center;">and the evidence of the fruit of the different teachings, scripture’s
ultimate test for true or false teaching (Matthew 7:15-20). </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 13pt; text-align: center;">If
having re-examined the evidence you conclude your position was right, then you’ll
have a clear conscience to stand by that and encourage people away from harmful
same sex relationships.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 13pt;">But I hope ,if you properly examine the
evidence with a truly open heart and mind, you’ll find the church has got its
traditional teaching about same sex relationships wrong; just like it once got
it wrong over slavery and women. And I hope, like me, you’ll hear the Holy
Spirit calling to us, just as He did for slaves and women, to free
gay and bisexual </span></span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 13pt;">people from the chains we've put around them.</span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 13pt; text-align: center;"> </span><span style="font-family: arial; text-align: center;"> </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0hLxWyCa3a7xAY0NqTDltgGH6_BtmjpD7sdQ0AkyuEhhSPtbOtyWlXLXHazI909gy8NT4_2fnstDT3AwENDHFrkP_eQ05441s0yHBh7o5n-pHjAfZ21AyP4eg8VRpcOpM6kdxwmWSJmyhVQEYeGHe_uyUvBRLN1P7oKefrmKhoOBdbUk-rBlZ44lt8FU/s1190/broken%20chain.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><img border="0" data-original-height="625" data-original-width="1190" height="168" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0hLxWyCa3a7xAY0NqTDltgGH6_BtmjpD7sdQ0AkyuEhhSPtbOtyWlXLXHazI909gy8NT4_2fnstDT3AwENDHFrkP_eQ05441s0yHBh7o5n-pHjAfZ21AyP4eg8VRpcOpM6kdxwmWSJmyhVQEYeGHe_uyUvBRLN1P7oKefrmKhoOBdbUk-rBlZ44lt8FU/s320/broken%20chain.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div><br /><p></p></div><p></p></div></div></div>Jeremy Hortonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14040288077436997446noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1711610253004091876.post-45791175924206208502019-12-10T15:27:00.001-08:002019-12-11T12:07:14.793-08:00Election Day 2019: Just A Fool's Hope?<div dir="ltr" id="docs-internal-guid-10bf17b3-7fff-e58c-8506-e6ce83c6871b" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<h3>
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Election Day 2019</span></h3>
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Summary</b></span></span></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">On Thursday this country stands at a pivot point in its history. If victory is handed to Boris Johnson I believe we are headed for a disastrous hard or no deal Brexit, the break up of the United Kingdom, ravaging Climate Change unchecked, deeper austerity and privateering of our public services, causing many of them to collapse and poverty becoming endemic. Much of this damage will be permanent and can't simply be righted by a future government.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUIZR99JWKIwX7dZ9REZvALJxSXqHZBpYmm13LIANh7MFtA89iQBYxw69GzVIgCYq4djBnwKcCuHAduyiXiC7B6VR2ba4DXtQbJS-QR7n2C7RYHyNpWZd9P1GQMNxaWSh6Bk01NgVB1Hw/s1600/20191210_231759.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="680" data-original-width="1011" height="215" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUIZR99JWKIwX7dZ9REZvALJxSXqHZBpYmm13LIANh7MFtA89iQBYxw69GzVIgCYq4djBnwKcCuHAduyiXiC7B6VR2ba4DXtQbJS-QR7n2C7RYHyNpWZd9P1GQMNxaWSh6Bk01NgVB1Hw/s320/20191210_231759.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sadly, it's now clear from the polls that Labour can't win a majority. The only way to prevent this evil being released on our nation now is to vote for a Labour minority government, working co-operatively with others. Our only hope for achieving that is voting tactically for the party best placed to beat the Tories in your constituency. In most places that will be Labour, but if you live say in Brighton that will be Green and in Guildford Lib Dem. And if you're a Lib Dem living in Boris's own constituency of Uxbridge you've got to vote Labour to get him out (wouldnt that be fantastic?) and if you're a Labour supporter in Esher to remove Dominic Raab it's got to be Lib Dem. (And they are real possibilities btw). If you're not sure have a look at the tactical voting websites:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">ht</span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">tps://www.peoples-vote.uk/ or https://tacticalvote.getvoting.org/ </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Also worth looking at the final huge Yougov MRP poll at constituency level :</span><br />
<span style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: medium;">https://yougov.co.uk/uk-general-election-2019/</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Or even explore a tactical vote swap at:</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: medium;">https://www.swapmyvote.uk/about</span><br />
<h2>
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>A Fool's Hope?</b></span></h2>
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">Tragically, Sauron in the unlikely form of the demagogue-clown Boris, has wielded his ring of power and there seems no way of stopping it- his promise to "get Brexit done" and "move on" with "the people's priorities". </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2PdFAcYHgX04ZB0VV6WNSlo5Cm03AqBTRyVKoTx7Z7xvh5IPd8fpyDJP_6t_s1hXaEmnu_EQp4f_bc0Q8RINrtMGN73zGaT7Wq4iT0iQVj5aevq_WhmLF2vlCCQwJNPhRqNh_yFy6mfk/s1600/20191210_140101.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="670" data-original-width="1001" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2PdFAcYHgX04ZB0VV6WNSlo5Cm03AqBTRyVKoTx7Z7xvh5IPd8fpyDJP_6t_s1hXaEmnu_EQp4f_bc0Q8RINrtMGN73zGaT7Wq4iT0iQVj5aevq_WhmLF2vlCCQwJNPhRqNh_yFy6mfk/s320/20191210_140101.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><b><i>Father of Lies</i></b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">But this powerful promise is simply a fraud on the nation by perhaps our most dishonest and untrustworthy political leader</span></span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"> in modern history, who even lied to the Queen to get her to prologue Parliament.</span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">Unfortunately when it comes to telling porkies Boris is rather good at it because he's spent his whole life doing it, so lying comes second nature to him and he will hardly blink. This is why his former boss at the Daily Telegraph, Max Hastings, says of him "my labrador is more fit to be Prime Minister". His personal and professional track record is as a man almost as divorced from the truth as he is from his various wives he cheated upon. He is a proven liar and fantasist in almost equal measure, sacked from two previous jobs for dishonesty as a journalist and then as a member of Michael Howard's shadow cabinet. He started his career as a journalist, making up lies about the EU, such as fake EU laws on bendy bananas and condom sizes. And in his fairly short political career he has become legendary for making bold promises he breaks as soon as those promises hit the hard stone of reality. There are plenty of examples of that from his time as London Mayor (and btw almost all boasts about his record as Mayor are fake) . And in his short 4 months as Prime Minister he has already broken his promise to the DUP that he'd never agree to a border in the Irish Sea, and, of course, his infamous "die in a ditch" pledge to never ask the EU to extend Brexit beyond 31st October (despite well knowing he was obliged to to request an extension if parliament didn't pass his deal).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifyCf4-cD40DD4oirnER14wL_HWGR0IYeC2lXpLJP_xAD8ImhGsDUBUQ6Mms6l-1anJ9-uFk2wWh3hb5dfC8ytD-Fsc4JnbC8q2SsV8f33GcQHVOYwR9B98-6lalY4YgRaPPG6o2epmpM/s1600/20191211_081103.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="582" data-original-width="980" height="190" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifyCf4-cD40DD4oirnER14wL_HWGR0IYeC2lXpLJP_xAD8ImhGsDUBUQ6Mms6l-1anJ9-uFk2wWh3hb5dfC8ytD-Fsc4JnbC8q2SsV8f33GcQHVOYwR9B98-6lalY4YgRaPPG6o2epmpM/s320/20191211_081103.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">Frustratingly, in this election he has mostly get managed to away from full exposure of his dishonesty because he has wisely evaded the all seeing search lights of Andrew Neill and Piers Morgan (even hiding in a fridge to avoid Piers). It's also because his opponent in Jeremy Corbyn is just too decent to "do personal", despite the mud thrown in his own direction. The politician who comes closest to him in terms of dishonesty is Trump but to be fair to Boris he is both cleverer and less nasty. Boris is primarily not out there to harm anyone nor to follow any particular creed, even Brexit. Hence why his old mate David Cameron was stunned when on the eve of the referendum for the first time ever he "outted" himself as a leaver, purely because of his calculation that this would best serve his ambitions to be the future Tory leader and PM (whatever way the result want). And that's the thing about Boris, unlike most politicians of all colours who I believe are largely motivated do good (including his predecessor), Boris's only real motivation is Boris and what does him most good and gives him the most fun. For him being Prime Minister is all a big hoot and the lies and fantasies are all just part of the game to get and keep him there.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sadly, the deceived, disillusioned and desperate people buying his promise that getting his Brexit done will see our communities revived, are being sold a poison that will do the very opposite (see my earlier piece: https://jeremysblog67.blogspot.com/2019/12/get-brexit-done-why-boris-wont-why-and.html?m=1 )</span></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkKEP_pyEAn1CN6UnauH24IPlbckxzTuUUGAy_TlQMp8h-Ou_gvAQkD9j2YyleUViH7hu8plHOoPu9tVH-CHv3PCPaC06yzPizppca0HVxAVK1NarSHl-dqScf-Ne9QIYFRFdiXtE91xY/s1600/20191206_012523.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="539" data-original-width="841" height="205" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkKEP_pyEAn1CN6UnauH24IPlbckxzTuUUGAy_TlQMp8h-Ou_gvAQkD9j2YyleUViH7hu8plHOoPu9tVH-CHv3PCPaC06yzPizppca0HVxAVK1NarSHl-dqScf-Ne9QIYFRFdiXtE91xY/s320/20191206_012523.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">In its final pre-election poll on Tuesday, the most reliable poll, Yougov's MRP model, forecast a 9% Tory poll lead (Tory 43 Lab 34 LD 12) with a 28 seat majority. Sadly, a much maligned and unpopular oppostion leader seems as capable of defeating them as Tolkien's enfeebled Steward Denethor seemed of beating Sauron.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfpyN9Te4O5HKXoso-2sSauVNDR6ymXbwhZI7gpkmXVulBxvz8_ejEWaPb7LQKPGzy6eR2xS5cZNR4D4BZQvtmj1ILWI7zC8ZVYi8y7RkLYIPhriyahAVT6IEu5mS_jtcb6CwbzT0nXu0/s1600/20191210_134900.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="656" data-original-width="901" height="232" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfpyN9Te4O5HKXoso-2sSauVNDR6ymXbwhZI7gpkmXVulBxvz8_ejEWaPb7LQKPGzy6eR2xS5cZNR4D4BZQvtmj1ILWI7zC8ZVYi8y7RkLYIPhriyahAVT6IEu5mS_jtcb6CwbzT0nXu0/s320/20191210_134900.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">I feel a bit like Pippin and Gandalf on the eve of battle looking out across the plain at the dark storm clouds gathering as their apparently invincible opponent, Modor, massed its forces for victory and to wreak evil destruction upon the land. </span><br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">"Is there any hope, Gandalf?...." asks Pippin.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Gandalf put his hand on Pippin's head. "There never was much hope," he answered. "Just a fool's hope, as I have been told."</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">And yet I know how that story ends: with victory snatched from the fangs of defeat, as Sam throws the One ring into the fires of Mount Doom and thus destroys Sauron's power. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<b><i><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Ring</span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"> of Power</span></i></b><br />
<b><i><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></i></b>
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">And foolish though any hope now might seem, there is a chink of light. A move of but a few % to Labour (or Lib Dem) would destroy his power; most projections predict a hung Parliament if the Tory lead fell by 3% from 9 to 6%. </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"> In fact its estimated that less than 41,000 tactical votes in 36 marginal seats could stop him.</span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"> The true ring of power that binds all the others is actually in our own hands: our vote- to prevent hard Tory Brexit and austerity and fight Climate Change. But for there to be any hope we need to wield our votes wisely and vote tactically to defeat the enemy and prevent the evil they would unleash. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMjNqOj2AA1FKDTp98-jLlEUmPhrJqaeej29o0oJ4FEBpZ_EEhBL-ims24gySH7yXc6G2QvUfBXnlZCyDN0TjP1EVMm_JOdGo6yZCJ1ZTAiRMNph9gqQ3AJCg46XgzF70ynCvoRv5xKEU/s1600/20191210_140355.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="916" data-original-width="1068" height="274" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMjNqOj2AA1FKDTp98-jLlEUmPhrJqaeej29o0oJ4FEBpZ_EEhBL-ims24gySH7yXc6G2QvUfBXnlZCyDN0TjP1EVMm_JOdGo6yZCJ1ZTAiRMNph9gqQ3AJCg46XgzF70ynCvoRv5xKEU/s320/20191210_140355.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">Let me be clear: I do not say Tory politicians are evil like Sauron (well not all of them!) and neither do I say that the millions who will vote for them are bad or stupid. Good and clever people can be deceived into doing bad or unwise things. I know this because I myself have been deceived more than once into voting in governments that I can now see have done great harm to our nation. I believe the Tories themselves have been deceived into becoming deceivers (and as a Christian ultimately I'd say the source of all such deceit is the hidden spiritual power of Satan). But under Boris the Tories have become purveyors of a perfumed poison they believe to be a panacea. And the destruction that poison would wreak upon our land (and has already started to) is not from some fantasy story but all too real.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFSaSYe_XYyt4dhw6Hoh78Y9fiIb17ZsyBFLBDI9pE6ewd5_4ZbUUhfukcO4fY_4Pq-WW3gPXFq7XunZO6VKgAWpWtZlUYpH5ZmYDxj9qH6eR7Q31OBWnIawWbumJO_sqkiy-zAeR7sC4/s1600/20191210_211201.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="874" data-original-width="1051" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFSaSYe_XYyt4dhw6Hoh78Y9fiIb17ZsyBFLBDI9pE6ewd5_4ZbUUhfukcO4fY_4Pq-WW3gPXFq7XunZO6VKgAWpWtZlUYpH5ZmYDxj9qH6eR7Q31OBWnIawWbumJO_sqkiy-zAeR7sC4/s320/20191210_211201.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Climate Change </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCNgPksYPtH-6X3iK5m6oTr863yNyt57l3PRofHcCKprk2Fd25dwqqqLI6hV07ZZCcQOjkUQXsjN-astQlsMD6qcmci12bR2hXGhaUY5ZgLdR97yFShx1X0lh_vjQoWBFItxcFLiZ8Wik/s1600/20191210_222235.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="620" data-original-width="1021" height="194" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCNgPksYPtH-6X3iK5m6oTr863yNyt57l3PRofHcCKprk2Fd25dwqqqLI6hV07ZZCcQOjkUQXsjN-astQlsMD6qcmci12bR2hXGhaUY5ZgLdR97yFShx1X0lh_vjQoWBFItxcFLiZ8Wik/s320/20191210_222235.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">This is the greatest threat to all our futures. David Attenborough warns us, "if we have not taken dramatic action within the next decade, we could face irreversible damage to the natural world and the collapse of our societies". </span></div>
</div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie5hSKvcWPeDhF1YK5SI9hh4RSWvnI3lc3wMDFulHqHBi9FnEsidt3dlJC1gjeGSJjPfJ3BybxcAMzs7uugMtpuIVYg3jeH0hyzL0vmYrfwW8Jgg-zNr7wFFJZ6mxskn70DdFgG06EYhU/s1600/20191210_135906.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="532" data-original-width="961" height="177" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie5hSKvcWPeDhF1YK5SI9hh4RSWvnI3lc3wMDFulHqHBi9FnEsidt3dlJC1gjeGSJjPfJ3BybxcAMzs7uugMtpuIVYg3jeH0hyzL0vmYrfwW8Jgg-zNr7wFFJZ6mxskn70DdFgG06EYhU/s320/20191210_135906.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">As the cradle of the first industrial revolution, we should be the cradle of the Green revolution to put right its damage. But what dramatic action have the Tories taken? Despite their tick box 2050 net zero carbon pledge, their actual policies have reversed most of the good work started by the last Labour government; slashing incentives for renewable energy and electric cars, virtually ending onshore wind farms, selling off the Green Investment Bank (the Tories just love selling our stuff) and doing nothing to improve home energy efficiency or discourage our addiction to fossil fuelled motoring. And the Friends of the Earth's assessment of their manifesto commitments? No effective plan, scoring a very poor 5.5 out of 45 or 12.5%. No wonder Boris didn't turn up to the Climate Change debate.</span><br />
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Failing public services</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Tories' ideologically driven austerity cuts have ravaged our public services. I could quote plenty of statistics, but we can see this daily for ourselves; perhaps most graphically summed up in that picture of the 4 year old Leeds boy, lying for hours on a A&E floor (Thankfully he didnt die, but doctors' research released just this week found 5,500 deaths caused directly by excessive waits in A&E over the last 3 years)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgz0wpss2oT1m03GpfzsKEV-WReg3Txw-3Y2d9w8dA5cay8wLiT31GGL74imS85a_q-taLfIIzg40W898DTBsUoZ9LU-2pG5ZWorRPdFrcddTLXHWJTbZ9lic-dPePDerYDyx02OYL-Po/s1600/20191210_140511.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="536" data-original-width="1022" height="167" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgz0wpss2oT1m03GpfzsKEV-WReg3Txw-3Y2d9w8dA5cay8wLiT31GGL74imS85a_q-taLfIIzg40W898DTBsUoZ9LU-2pG5ZWorRPdFrcddTLXHWJTbZ9lic-dPePDerYDyx02OYL-Po/s320/20191210_140511.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">But it's not just the lack of hospital beds and GP appointments, but swelling classroom sizes, overstretched police forces leaving our streets unpatrolled, child and youth centres closed down, social and care services pared to the bone, overcrowded late and expensive trains, no buses and have you tried to use our court service recently? The Tories are promising significantly increased funding for our NHS and police. However it wont make up for their cuts. Their addiction to selling off parts of our public services, including our NHS, threatens their long term viability (billions are already sucked out in profits to private companies running much of our services). Their version of Brexit and proposed trade deal with the USA really would put our NHS on the negotiating table. Their foolish immigration policies will also make it very hard to attract the foreign doctors, nurses and carers we need (charging them to access the very services they would provide!). There would still be a large gap in our schools budgets and for all other local or public services no more money at all; austerity is "baked in" say the IFS.</span><br />
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Poverty</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Our land's growing poverty; both material poverty and poverty of opportunity, a shocking blight in a country which is still the 5th richest in the world (albeit fast falling to 6th). Again, I could site plenty of statistics, but we can see it for ourselves in the huge numbers of working families having to rely on food banks and the homeless stewing our streets. The cause is no mystery; the slashing of benefits and other public support and failure to invest in genuinely affordable housing.</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJ3RRy0tbGt0Jo-iGHiqdTljApfX12Xi60gVIRO47T8qLWimPAQX6kgiCl5PTdxVj3EuvaiLIaz1mPW6nGPKoKrKGxbz9SFV7Ii4a6DRXfjaHuTH6Ff_2at4m82JV7F6ez4pDJz5s0y64/s1600/20191210_212859.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="856" data-original-width="970" height="282" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJ3RRy0tbGt0Jo-iGHiqdTljApfX12Xi60gVIRO47T8qLWimPAQX6kgiCl5PTdxVj3EuvaiLIaz1mPW6nGPKoKrKGxbz9SFV7Ii4a6DRXfjaHuTH6Ff_2at4m82JV7F6ez4pDJz5s0y64/s320/20191210_212859.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">And then there's all the lost opportunities we see in the wastelands of closed factories and boarded up shops and (close to my own heart) 1,000s of graduates with £40k debts in minimum wage jobs. And the Tories' policies to remedy any of this? Nada, zilch, is the IFS's assessment, and they forecast big further increases in childhood poverty and homelessness.</span><br />
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Stagnating Economy and the threat of hard Brexit</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Contrary to Tory myth, the last Labour government brought about the longest sustained period of real growth until the bankers crashed the world economy (nothing to do with Labour borrowing btw which was lower than they'd inherited). Our economy has now been stagnating for a decade under the Tories with no real wage growth, held back by austerity and lack of public investment. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjetQvhuX4irwSlzPPtvXQcEedkDELGr6Ou9oNxvDTPf1hMyf-sNHVV0ueIZulOMDoL2LRyCQmC6ia2VJmM3EkuJR38fuWv29USjTcatt60aco_GKgxKlUojq0qsZhY5NzJfqe2b-PZkxk/s1600/20191205_221419.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="710" data-original-width="1040" height="218" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjetQvhuX4irwSlzPPtvXQcEedkDELGr6Ou9oNxvDTPf1hMyf-sNHVV0ueIZulOMDoL2LRyCQmC6ia2VJmM3EkuJR38fuWv29USjTcatt60aco_GKgxKlUojq0qsZhY5NzJfqe2b-PZkxk/s320/20191205_221419.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
</div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Further damage has been done by the Tory-made Brexit uncertainty, causing a falling pound and haemorrhaging of billions of private investment to safer continental shores. Thus the negative Brexit effect is estimated to have reduced our economic growth by 3% before we've even left the EU. Yes there are jobs but increasingly insecure and poorly paid jobs. If you dont think Tory Brexit has already damaged our economy ask a group of recent graduates like my son and many of his friends about just how much harder it is for good graduates to get good graduate jobs now.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGCErppxx8K5M35Lv4gijqgXSxdXGjtCBAEI7st1B3wj-ixO0MZMOtWYvjSuZZ1SMyPrDWW4cM6Fuxq20hEILUox8OACHhJ06MvW50Bdi-K36Z-570u15slrOM4SQbmbx-ySZHpWcB1uI/s1600/20191210_203119.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1528" data-original-width="1072" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGCErppxx8K5M35Lv4gijqgXSxdXGjtCBAEI7st1B3wj-ixO0MZMOtWYvjSuZZ1SMyPrDWW4cM6Fuxq20hEILUox8OACHhJ06MvW50Bdi-K36Z-570u15slrOM4SQbmbx-ySZHpWcB1uI/s320/20191210_203119.jpg" width="224" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">And Boris's biggest lie is that getting Brexit done will magically release a new era of growth and prosperity. It won't and can't. All serious economists predict that all</span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; text-align: center; white-space: pre-wrap;"> of his Brexit scenarios (hard or no deal) can only seriously damage our economy. The awful irony of voters in Northern ex-industrial towns, </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">whose industries were destroyed by Maggie, is that rather than Brexit magically breathing new life into their towns it can bring about new death. It's a bit like the cigarette manufacturers in the 1930s boasting that smoking their cigarettes protected your throat and voice when actually they caused throat and voice box cancer. </span></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The break-up of our nation</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">Boris Johnson's Brexit withdrawal deal would divide Northern Ireland from the rest of the UK by creating a border in the Irish Sea, directly breaking Boris's promise to the DUP (Hence they withdrew their support of him). And the division and economic damage threatened by a Tory Brexit has breathed new life into campaigns to leave the UK in Scotland and Northern Ireland. They strongly object to the English dragging them out of the EU against their will. Polling evidence suggests a hard or no deal Brexit would bring about a majority for independence in both those countries. Ultimately England would be unable to resist such pressures and both of them would likely leave the UK in the near future. And who's to say Wales wouldn't follow them? A hard Tory Brexit therefore very directly threatens the break up of our entire nation. What an irony that a Conserva</span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">tive and Unionist government led by a supposed "one nation" Tory Prime Minister should be midwife to the breakup of that union!</span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjFYLt9TYlwnRqn-P7vNGTtM9IPZpcfJ7U1WLGFPWXsx1BblI8M1Rd4PYVJlBnCv2X0IaH7KNArZ4ciXZW1ahweUTwCKQ_-2U-wLUToF89izjeBxjrmWXNjVPzPr_EprcJuqFjVbrI3EE/s1600/20191210_214038.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="711" data-original-width="1022" height="222" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjFYLt9TYlwnRqn-P7vNGTtM9IPZpcfJ7U1WLGFPWXsx1BblI8M1Rd4PYVJlBnCv2X0IaH7KNArZ4ciXZW1ahweUTwCKQ_-2U-wLUToF89izjeBxjrmWXNjVPzPr_EprcJuqFjVbrI3EE/s320/20191210_214038.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So what is the alternative? Let me say first what it's not.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If you're worried the Lib Dems would just prop up a Johnson minority government, have a reality check. In this election the very thing the Lib Dems have trained their guns to destroy is the very thing the Tories have trained their guns to defend; Brexit. (This is on a very different scale to 2010's tuition fees promise). There would be no Tory/Lib Dem deal this time.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD4LjNO53n0FmYqb9Er5lrBkB6AHXUFA7VCcf1am8MioS6Ua7bW9asI2x90XtSK7EvOIES45aFmMBHTcU7g1lFYcTN580jP8Csg7y2KlWIDdPgEW0rqL4X6YRwkvaIzKx5MW0FyAx5FLk/s1600/20191210_214604.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="567" data-original-width="961" height="188" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD4LjNO53n0FmYqb9Er5lrBkB6AHXUFA7VCcf1am8MioS6Ua7bW9asI2x90XtSK7EvOIES45aFmMBHTcU7g1lFYcTN580jP8Csg7y2KlWIDdPgEW0rqL4X6YRwkvaIzKx5MW0FyAx5FLk/s320/20191210_214604.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">If you're worried about a rampant Marxist Prime Minister nationalising everything, doubling out taxes or recklessly giving away billions the country cant afford, that's not going to happen either. Not just because those aren't actually Labours policies, but because Labour now have no chance of getting a majority (as the Shadow Health Secretary just let slip). To achieve that they would need leap from about -9% behind the Tories to about +12% above them- a swing of over 10%. Even in these unpredictable times we have never seen anything close to that (the last minute swings to Tories and Labour in 2015 and 2017 respectively were about 3% against the average polls and the Brexit vote about 2%). No pollster so far has predicted anything better for Labour than -6%, which would probably only just get us into hung parliament territory. And to form a government without Lib Dem consent Labour would probably require a swing of at least 6% from about- 9% to +3%- extremely unlikely.</span></span></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkV9p-9cdzICR0RbbnKtxb1RP9h_6fB-zJyprxeLjYUDKP1mqHRVDGv69fwa1Tqo1-3vVAoorwEjkB3-2lyqsmV7TGaYfymx9jHOl62j3vy-1IxyZI6i2BFeYSkaKUh_xVr1pr2w73eZU/s1600/20191210_215636.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="894" data-original-width="636" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkV9p-9cdzICR0RbbnKtxb1RP9h_6fB-zJyprxeLjYUDKP1mqHRVDGv69fwa1Tqo1-3vVAoorwEjkB3-2lyqsmV7TGaYfymx9jHOl62j3vy-1IxyZI6i2BFeYSkaKUh_xVr1pr2w73eZU/s320/20191210_215636.jpg" width="227" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAO6988He8XpTh16cl9wrTof8ZyQTvuNfMHqmS-be68p2eh4zVxpc1A-WWVa6JU5qiBJCCHDIICuU__huzZdA-Cunbp1BfRZTNEVY2irLSGZUB2ijh05Ev1MCoYk3TfZcp83bZqF8sAHg/s1600/20191210_215520.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1254" data-original-width="909" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAO6988He8XpTh16cl9wrTof8ZyQTvuNfMHqmS-be68p2eh4zVxpc1A-WWVa6JU5qiBJCCHDIICuU__huzZdA-Cunbp1BfRZTNEVY2irLSGZUB2ijh05Ev1MCoYk3TfZcp83bZqF8sAHg/s320/20191210_215520.jpg" width="231" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">Therefore to govern at all Labour will only be able to do so with the consent of other current opposition parties, including almost certainly the Lib Dems. The Lib Dems have already said they would veto Labour's more radical policies like renationalizations and would doubtless also put a break on more generous promises like the £58 billion for the WASPI women's compensation. It is far from certain that all the other parties would even allow Jeremy Corbyn to become our permanent Prime Minister.</span></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But what a minority Labour government could deliver would be so much better than the damage Boris's Tories would do</span></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What such an opposition grouping would likely offer are the key things they are all committed to. As the group's largest party and the only ones in actual government, Labour would be able to do many, even most, of the great things in their manifesto but not certain more radical policies that the Lib Dems or others strongly oppose. They would still be able to agree a whole host of good things that should make such a positive difference to this country:</span></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Climate Change Action.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJJsXMPjUAGg5HsSz8D5ESUJkyeenHBbfh66INU7wXXv0h-BX0kJKcjBo4m3h1t_sv_wbbDRylK3CETm4iFN8SnyeOFicnpQLNfi460n2iHb0ehE4aOdlObCRhu_ATvCxbUFyBZGK_2Gw/s1600/20191210_220315.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="574" data-original-width="1021" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJJsXMPjUAGg5HsSz8D5ESUJkyeenHBbfh66INU7wXXv0h-BX0kJKcjBo4m3h1t_sv_wbbDRylK3CETm4iFN8SnyeOFicnpQLNfi460n2iHb0ehE4aOdlObCRhu_ATvCxbUFyBZGK_2Gw/s320/20191210_220315.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">All the main opposition parties, Labour Lib Dem, Greens, SNP etc are committed to big action to fight this greatest threat of our time; mass tree planting, retrofitting home insulation, banning carbon cars by 2030, reinvesting in public transport, huge expansion of wind and solar, etc. On climate change policies Friends of the Earth give Labour 73%, Greens 69% and Lib Dems 67% compared to the Tories' pathetic 12%. Labour's Green Industrial Revolution would get its green light for go.</span></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">An end to austerity/rescued public services</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicyH0fJ41Na9VTAb3WRj2ACCjIekxpY5AmdaPXSs9UQkOWqSd3Y62EdZzYWaowerz6gFvrrkjQ4Zq07I3koiNAU82-4AIXEJycHrwvr__Dos7lcTJ_EWgRkNUaItv4WgaFRySx_Hyl__s/s1600/20191210_221956.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="712" data-original-width="1025" height="222" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicyH0fJ41Na9VTAb3WRj2ACCjIekxpY5AmdaPXSs9UQkOWqSd3Y62EdZzYWaowerz6gFvrrkjQ4Zq07I3koiNAU82-4AIXEJycHrwvr__Dos7lcTJ_EWgRkNUaItv4WgaFRySx_Hyl__s/s320/20191210_221956.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">They are all committed to ending austerity and a big reinvestment to rescue our public services including the NHS, schools and police. The Lib Dems, still desperate to bury their shameful past as handmaidens to austerity, are hardly likely to want to stand in the way of ending it. Equally they are hardly likely to block moderate tax increases on the top 5% to help pay for this and their proposals to raise Corporation Tax are almost identical to Labour's.</span></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Fighting poverty</span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeFitBfztE3WVZAl8Z8BUIUkeae2QQ7skr0iHOzmBiVC6mIuRb_m7piwFi65KMNR3oMclt2N_ywYOCOKh5NPNY1atFtMQQuMr6oo5e_EQ0Z4qRHSp6q0OvYB2prQiV4ruGc8sS8Lzwwlk/s1600/20191210_221511.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="534" data-original-width="1058" height="161" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeFitBfztE3WVZAl8Z8BUIUkeae2QQ7skr0iHOzmBiVC6mIuRb_m7piwFi65KMNR3oMclt2N_ywYOCOKh5NPNY1atFtMQQuMr6oo5e_EQ0Z4qRHSp6q0OvYB2prQiV4ruGc8sS8Lzwwlk/s320/20191210_221511.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">They are all committed to reversing the worst of the welfare benefit cuts and again the Lib Dems are hardly likely to stand in the way of reopening our Sure Start centres or big reinvestment in genuinely affordable new homes (the SNP has already been doing this in Scotland). </span></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Stop a hard Brexit- let the people decide, and revive our economy</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPpcj-hO2y5_TibOpryrlvimpl64KMCJRoeWcOF1imx58tKeXcH0KN0zDBTJCnurpcI9m0arys_pUzi-djEFBKnKhl7edT2G3OBZD8aVGmuAboQcJm2y6uYrz2WFUqfSlLI3LXd-0LxRg/s1600/20191210_220717.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1243" data-original-width="1060" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPpcj-hO2y5_TibOpryrlvimpl64KMCJRoeWcOF1imx58tKeXcH0KN0zDBTJCnurpcI9m0arys_pUzi-djEFBKnKhl7edT2G3OBZD8aVGmuAboQcJm2y6uYrz2WFUqfSlLI3LXd-0LxRg/s320/20191210_220717.jpg" width="272" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">All of the opposition parties are committed to preventing an economically devastating hard Brexit and giving us a second Brexit referendum next year. They would therefore fall behind Labour's legally binding referendum to offer the public a genuine choice of a soft Brexit (minimizing any economic damage) or </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">remain. All parties are also committed to borrowing to reinvest and revive our economy (although large scale renationalisation won't now be part of that). </span><br />
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Keep our nation together</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1zhzbeX_p1zXhyDfrcS63bcTi2c_EuK6CCes-_Fy2lBTXnH3u0mzX53KsomaPm2_o10NiP-FTMNf3zbu82na7RPQ3GlqdgIJpRXzt5WmFb9rS9iXU8Ao0MsyEVvDNqlBdnnkmcBaWV4Q/s1600/20191210_221829.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="467" data-original-width="899" height="166" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1zhzbeX_p1zXhyDfrcS63bcTi2c_EuK6CCes-_Fy2lBTXnH3u0mzX53KsomaPm2_o10NiP-FTMNf3zbu82na7RPQ3GlqdgIJpRXzt5WmFb9rS9iXU8Ao0MsyEVvDNqlBdnnkmcBaWV4Q/s320/20191210_221829.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">The SNP would get their Indy ref 2 in early 2021 but settling Brexit by a soft landing version or remain would pour cold water on their yes campaign that was only revived because of Brexit. Having just been saved from a hard Brexit are the Scots really going to vote to impose the double whammy of a double Brexit by leaving the UK and therefore also the EU? There would be a resounding No and the issue would be done. There would be no border in either the Irish Sea or across the island of Ireland and no prospect of a United Ireland.</span></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Breathe new life into our democracy with Proportional Representation</span></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRBSveQq76Tn3VYQRXdNwcIMmQBI47_y7KxRf4ra-j2zBmf7jEQbIINJN7Tpilw5lPuC4hdvrgQaRtnx38TYlUFNi1y1Wn-2RabftV_SdA6cq4oXDjStjZn-415hk4bjT1Tzfu1i7rvI0/s1600/20191210_214840.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1041" data-original-width="1080" height="308" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRBSveQq76Tn3VYQRXdNwcIMmQBI47_y7KxRf4ra-j2zBmf7jEQbIINJN7Tpilw5lPuC4hdvrgQaRtnx38TYlUFNi1y1Wn-2RabftV_SdA6cq4oXDjStjZn-415hk4bjT1Tzfu1i7rvI0/s320/20191210_214840.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Our democracy is broken at the moment with many feeling their vote doesn't really count, especially if you happen to live in a "safe" seat. The best way to revive our democracy is through a policy that isn't in Labour's manifesto: introduce Proportional Representation, so that the share of vote that a party is given is represented by the number of MPs it receives. It's a system that works in the rest of Europe and even in the Scottish parliament. It would ensure people can vote for what and who they really believe in wherever they happen to live- no more need for the type of tactical voting I'm advocating here. No longer would a party receiving 43% of the vote get a clear majority or a noisy minority within a major party be able to foister on the whole country a dangerous and extreme policy as the Eurosceptic Tories have done with Brexit. The extremes of Thatcherism and an illegal war in Iraq would probably never have happened. </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">Instead the parties actually chosen by the people would have to work together co-operatively for the common good, just as they would if there's a hung Parliament come Friday. And if you think that would automatically mean a bland moderate magnolia government, think of all the good things say a Labour-Green coalition might do and how the interchange of ideas across parties could be a wonderful, creative thing. Believe it or not, sometimes the best ideas come from a party you don't support, like PR!</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAqwRSwJDA-BYnG-Rt1K9S0A7nUQAqgtLeOLDGG4SpT777Mtt-BGFVxP-drO6v7f1eSuJXjjKrlblD72G2qmmXPueU5rxho5aqp1ihCSJ3ZZbke_W1r0Qpufw1JZIDyTgcdQ3lYW6W4Gg/s1600/20191210_223830.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="674" data-original-width="861" height="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAqwRSwJDA-BYnG-Rt1K9S0A7nUQAqgtLeOLDGG4SpT777Mtt-BGFVxP-drO6v7f1eSuJXjjKrlblD72G2qmmXPueU5rxho5aqp1ihCSJ3ZZbke_W1r0Qpufw1JZIDyTgcdQ3lYW6W4Gg/s320/20191210_223830.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Back now to grim reality and the dark forces of Mordor surrounding us. I do know that the hopes of a Labour-led government are slim; a fool's hope perhaps. But I also know the end is not inevitable. The power is in our hands. It would take just a small number of people in the right places to wake up and see the peril of the poison the Tories would release on our land, hold their nose and vote tactically to defeat them; throw the ring into Mount Doom. And we'll probably never need to vote tactically again.</span></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In most places the best way to beat the Tories is by voting Labour. But if you live in Brighton its Green and if you live say in Guildford only the Lib Dems have a hope of winning. Vote Labour here and you'll only increase the chance of a Tory victory. And don’t be put off if you’re in a “safe” Tory seat. There are always some surprise election results like last time when Canterbury voted in its first ever Labour MP. If you're unsure who is best placed to beat the Tories where you live then have a look at a tactical voting site like https://www.peoples-vote.uk/ or https://tacticalvote.getvoting.org/ .</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie2UnhNOhFGNAmw8EoHiaD138t1ifLSmK6TI2PyynGpqARfMIInH-miAzvpP74Ze_MdjEie-RfN92lsncvyB3aKR30Xzpv3qcBUdQ5oqrvrSGyaDC0r3RVHoa3TkmKAFJJR4cxTyolfWM/s1600/20191210_224202.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="580" data-original-width="978" height="189" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie2UnhNOhFGNAmw8EoHiaD138t1ifLSmK6TI2PyynGpqARfMIInH-miAzvpP74Ze_MdjEie-RfN92lsncvyB3aKR30Xzpv3qcBUdQ5oqrvrSGyaDC0r3RVHoa3TkmKAFJJR4cxTyolfWM/s320/20191210_224202.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
</div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If we fail let us at least fail trying. So that if our children and granchildren one day ask us what we did to prevent the damage the Tories released upon on us on that Friday 13th we will have a good answer. We won't have to admit that we voted Tory because we were blinded by the big Brexit con or the lies that the "other guy" was even worse (untrue and a false choice- the "other guy" was never going to get a majority), or we voted for a party that had no chance of winning where we lived rather than soiling our hands with voting tactically to defeat the Tories.</span></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">"</span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Evil triumphs when good people do nothing."</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<br />Jeremy Hortonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14040288077436997446noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1711610253004091876.post-60140875480466353942019-12-05T15:28:00.001-08:002019-12-06T09:55:14.764-08:00"Get Brexit Done"- Why Boris won't & Why and How to Stop him<br />
<br />
<b>This is quite long so if you haven't time to read the whole thing here's my summary:</b><br />
<br />
There are many reasons to vote to stop Boris, but as Boris has sought to make this election about Brexit let's take him at his word. His catchphrase is "Get Brexit Done". But as this article explains, this promise is just his latest fraud on the nation.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrv0lWqzYM3winZpHnAv3tIQcdi8EGVmazZfJREYiiBD-I1kde8SOsDKOHsjsI4H0qH2tT_eKZcLh4uNbvU5GRKljblShyqxZzlkN6NejBdhd3d04iuhI5EbBSaqXnlgMEDoT88Ri0SdA/s1600/20191206_012523.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="539" data-original-width="841" height="205" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrv0lWqzYM3winZpHnAv3tIQcdi8EGVmazZfJREYiiBD-I1kde8SOsDKOHsjsI4H0qH2tT_eKZcLh4uNbvU5GRKljblShyqxZzlkN6NejBdhd3d04iuhI5EbBSaqXnlgMEDoT88Ri0SdA/s320/20191206_012523.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
For Boris is Brexit's charlaton in chief, whose lies misled so many into voting for Brexit in the first place. Perhaps then it's only right that he should be the one to finish the contrick<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglGDH7VfSaIJNUYTw1OLIoqibPwJsl3Kw-KOsqlR60h7srfwlHX0OxQqRnZio2883KJXi1KaP2Ti_MLRPlqapA1xR4JlhcJWUbGbZrnDQg0WTyf2Pr5JdtAG2Uw5AhqWXValOXTg7pXx8/s1600/20191206_012945.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="626" data-original-width="938" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglGDH7VfSaIJNUYTw1OLIoqibPwJsl3Kw-KOsqlR60h7srfwlHX0OxQqRnZio2883KJXi1KaP2Ti_MLRPlqapA1xR4JlhcJWUbGbZrnDQg0WTyf2Pr5JdtAG2Uw5AhqWXValOXTg7pXx8/s320/20191206_012945.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
As I explain here, Boris won't get Brexit anywhere near "done" for years, unless by "getting it done" he means crashing out without a trade deal at the end of 2020 and sending our economy into immediate recession. More likely come 31st January he will be the pied piper to lead us into the twilight zone of the transition period. We'll likely be stuck there for many years, neither truly in nor out of the EU, as he endlessly tries and fails to reach an elusive "have your cake and eat it" trade deal to avoid completely crashing our economy. Meanwhile our nation will continue to stagnate and its public services fall apart.<br />
<br />
There is only one way to stop that; voting for a minority Labour government (Labour cannot now win a majority). Working with other parties, they would quickly negotiate an easily achievable soft Brexit deal.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEildHbFoHDReUTutrPaU5k_ayBULyPHkMuKeNZmGtdY_jqSvQ8dEbE91SugEBvLyQQW7wtScF0pp9YrTrubyGs_ekAyHXBVg88pq8axWE5dKOsA7FU-jOSIveIDqpB-69mES28zcJN0B4I/s1600/20191205_224111.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="885" data-original-width="1020" height="277" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEildHbFoHDReUTutrPaU5k_ayBULyPHkMuKeNZmGtdY_jqSvQ8dEbE91SugEBvLyQQW7wtScF0pp9YrTrubyGs_ekAyHXBVg88pq8axWE5dKOsA7FU-jOSIveIDqpB-69mES28zcJN0B4I/s320/20191205_224111.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
Within 6 months they would put this to the nation to approve or vote remain in a new referendum, which they'd be legally bound to immediately implement. Sadly, despite his buffoonery, Boris is a bloody good liar, so the chances are he'll trick enough people into electing him. But if enough people wake up and come to their senses we can yet avert the disaster he would thrust upon us.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDqeagVywbrKbIcoIuwTU8Iw3akE90wSVwLRNOJA1Docv5kX1bRPh1QktC61lRmTW6TlqY1GLYTQb_dIGmVUcJ48AjmKVMWe2en5p1ELLnBpfUElThe5Ifh_ZYDd4_kQfzoK4MApbyMYg/s1600/20191130_000006.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1317" data-original-width="968" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDqeagVywbrKbIcoIuwTU8Iw3akE90wSVwLRNOJA1Docv5kX1bRPh1QktC61lRmTW6TlqY1GLYTQb_dIGmVUcJ48AjmKVMWe2en5p1ELLnBpfUElThe5Ifh_ZYDd4_kQfzoK4MApbyMYg/s320/20191130_000006.jpg" width="235" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<b>Heres the main article:</b><br />
<br />
Despite Boris's spin, all his current "deal" would do is agree the basic terms for us to "leave" the EU at the end of January. But it's just a withdrawal deal. We'd then enter the twilight world of the transition period, where we'd be neither properly in nor out of the EU. We’ll have to follow all their rules, pay into their budget, but have no say over anything.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRpV-OiRtbOp6rKrP4q679sOVnyne6_TXnT2KB5iy9OIQHaSPem6NdfgF9RWpjO8Z5XBxY9R6cSnY-LlBRnVfn4EbjZYH4fe879rqeWJO5sHY15ObYUSoXB5J0RR3LLCxthqFEm6zkERI/s1600/20191205_090624.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1452" data-original-width="817" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRpV-OiRtbOp6rKrP4q679sOVnyne6_TXnT2KB5iy9OIQHaSPem6NdfgF9RWpjO8Z5XBxY9R6cSnY-LlBRnVfn4EbjZYH4fe879rqeWJO5sHY15ObYUSoXB5J0RR3LLCxthqFEm6zkERI/s320/20191205_090624.jpg" width="180" /></a></div>
<br />
During that transition period Boris and his mates will be desperately trying to agree a brand new trading relationship with the EU before we properly leave. Boris has promised that he'll negotiate a new “Canada plus plus" free trade deal within 11 months and says he'll refuse to ask for extra time. He's still aiming for a "have your cake and eat it" type deal with maximum gain and minimum pain. However, no one experienced in such trade negotiations believes there is any chance of negotiating such a deal anything like so quickly. In fact, it's taken Canada 7 years to negotiate it's own deal with the EU and that's still not even been ratified.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-ljvtlkJ3d_gAu1BDMXrD-xEF7b20W-L724aSJ0k-4pox8HIgOSt5tCQWrpQd3PxUbLhj93U9meDJIUGpvU3fFlYP6T9jFc7lRBtGD2xOds8Kya9apit3CNG_FSv6vU6odXyyPgDH4CY/s1600/20191205_092048.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="642" data-original-width="1050" height="195" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-ljvtlkJ3d_gAu1BDMXrD-xEF7b20W-L724aSJ0k-4pox8HIgOSt5tCQWrpQd3PxUbLhj93U9meDJIUGpvU3fFlYP6T9jFc7lRBtGD2xOds8Kya9apit3CNG_FSv6vU6odXyyPgDH4CY/s320/20191205_092048.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
You see agreeing the withdrawal agreement and agreeing a free trade deal are very different things. The withdrawal agreement only covers some pretty basic issues: the divorce bill, basic citizens’ rights and the Northern Irish border arrangements. (And alongside that there's a non binding political declaration of where both sides would like to get to). Yet it took the last Tory government 3 ½ years to even agree that. And Boris can't just claim "not me gov", because for much of those 3 ½ years he was Foreign Secretary.
The trade deal will need to cover every aspect of our relationship with the EU: rules governing goods, services, aviation, scientific research, security cooperation, border controls, workers’ rights, environmental protection, health and safety, citizens’ rights, immigration rules, etc., etc. And don’t forget all these complicated rule changes will have to be unanimously agreed with all 27 EU countries.
Boris Johnson’s claim that because he agreed a basic withdrawal agreement (after 3.5 years), he can get a comprehensive free trade deal in 11 months is fantastical nonsense.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhR98GTdxYgg7e5XH12y3nGciQiSdPG1wp4KZTuulmdwVXsWdW86WoPBvzra9L9WFcq2gCT-WXPCR2CW_TzmBFgDS4rJYM4cCqzBeJVje8Mbua_gIHi2Uy9sDp3bB7lec5EQHUPSeCEM0k/s1600/20191205_092454.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="665" data-original-width="1016" height="209" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhR98GTdxYgg7e5XH12y3nGciQiSdPG1wp4KZTuulmdwVXsWdW86WoPBvzra9L9WFcq2gCT-WXPCR2CW_TzmBFgDS4rJYM4cCqzBeJVje8Mbua_gIHi2Uy9sDp3bB7lec5EQHUPSeCEM0k/s320/20191205_092454.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
It would be like England scrapping through to the World Cup through the play-offs and Gareth Southgate claiming this proved England were going to win the World Cup.<br />
<br />
And the fact that Boris is bombastically assuring us he will "get Brexit done" should be no assurance at all. His personal and professional track record is as a man almost as divorced from the truth as he is from his various wives he cheated upon. He is a proven liar and fantasist in almost equal measure, sacked from two previous jobs for dishonesty. He started his career as a journalist, making up lies about the EU, such as fake EU laws on bendy bananas and condom sizes. And in his fairly short political career he has become legendary for making bold promises he breaks as soon as those promises hit the hard stone of reality. There are plenty of examples of that from his time as London Mayor. And in his short 4 months as Prime Minister he has already broken his promise to the DUP that he'd never agree to a border in the Irish Sea- the " one nation Conservative" literally dividing the nation!<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5WSbAOj8SpzRexZm1uyK7EQXok7rf91hDh_vgmqmzz4POBEn7vcF5o06A5Wnv-L4tR2hZgBDeEPUKXE1znuC7EiP8k-HxGgB1PtNZO-GK2hlyOcxNc5WzVptfIAcafm-cy7v-NUeFo74/s1600/20191205_231303.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="958" data-original-width="1002" height="305" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5WSbAOj8SpzRexZm1uyK7EQXok7rf91hDh_vgmqmzz4POBEn7vcF5o06A5Wnv-L4tR2hZgBDeEPUKXE1znuC7EiP8k-HxGgB1PtNZO-GK2hlyOcxNc5WzVptfIAcafm-cy7v-NUeFo74/s320/20191205_231303.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
And, of course, his infamous "die in a ditch" pledge to never ask the EU to extend Brexit beyond 31st October (despite well knowing he was obliged to to request an extension if parliament didnt pass his deal).<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYcII6faZ8WeP8VgVFfS0yrGqFFpif865w6i2oCGPC-fHdqgeGl9CWHLhtMUx2lOVatucGZOO77cjDetxdZVfVI-SwltRu7bU42d4l5qTQR-pSP__ioDxcOfw8ij0KB-WG4aiFoQlI-P4/s1600/20191205_092922.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="278" data-original-width="502" height="177" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYcII6faZ8WeP8VgVFfS0yrGqFFpif865w6i2oCGPC-fHdqgeGl9CWHLhtMUx2lOVatucGZOO77cjDetxdZVfVI-SwltRu7bU42d4l5qTQR-pSP__ioDxcOfw8ij0KB-WG4aiFoQlI-P4/s320/20191205_092922.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
So where will Boris take us when, inevitably, he fails to agree a trade deal at the end of next year?
There are only two options:<br />
• the economic hell of no deal Brexit<br />
• the purgatory of the transition zone; years of tortuous trade talks, neither properly in nor out of the EU.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFUSkJP6RwRzQkauVOwudDFqV4qESs6O8J5R4TIrt-RIttACgbPKOiN3GhXfva0nR1E2vu12GJhvqtjn3tN3vKs4j5sHrWoI9zaleUdhJl8pel1gEleS-XOND9s_bgLWpqeTbMP0XgkKs/s1600/20191205_225053.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1445" data-original-width="1013" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFUSkJP6RwRzQkauVOwudDFqV4qESs6O8J5R4TIrt-RIttACgbPKOiN3GhXfva0nR1E2vu12GJhvqtjn3tN3vKs4j5sHrWoI9zaleUdhJl8pel1gEleS-XOND9s_bgLWpqeTbMP0XgkKs/s320/20191205_225053.jpg" width="224" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXMKMT9gOwUmQQXMuUESfHP0yrkam_J-m8vWvZtYHuNPCsQhQqQNrwQlqNmrz7pHEsyI74SiXQQgOfmHHsDQRnCCvPiet9w7P99dEpWNNAGwUUuZo_TcC4Ygc9NX6QmkekzV7ZxJwZ77g/s1600/20191205_225233.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="428" data-original-width="1063" height="128" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXMKMT9gOwUmQQXMuUESfHP0yrkam_J-m8vWvZtYHuNPCsQhQqQNrwQlqNmrz7pHEsyI74SiXQQgOfmHHsDQRnCCvPiet9w7P99dEpWNNAGwUUuZo_TcC4Ygc9NX6QmkekzV7ZxJwZ77g/s320/20191205_225233.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
If we went "cold turkey" and left with no deal come 2021, all serious economists warn this would be economically disastrous, because it would bring immediate huge tariffs and customs checks that would virtually overnight kill some of our major industries who rely on tariff-free just in time trade access to Europe: including, our car industry, financial services and many of our farmers. Many of our food prices would sky rocket because we would have to charge tariffs on the food imports we ourselves rely on from the EU. And rather than protecting our borders, with no agreement now in place, the French would stop patrolling their own border with us and happily waive 1000s of refugees through the tunnel and across the Channel. Immigration restrictions would also make it impossible to get the doctors, nurses and carers we need to import to rescue our failing NHS and care services (maybe the refugees can help there?)<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi06BUGh4PxXgACjE2lJGGpnfCV4UYgtxbKe31As01Vfa6p0lCd80u1HLwZDS3b-7YLYmugJbaCRHNcunquK0IQVv5aKd01aPVgX6_PluTjQ3ub9svI90QNOSc5rZ77Nr4T50wX690DgAc/s1600/20191205_093514.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="286" data-original-width="483" height="189" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi06BUGh4PxXgACjE2lJGGpnfCV4UYgtxbKe31As01Vfa6p0lCd80u1HLwZDS3b-7YLYmugJbaCRHNcunquK0IQVv5aKd01aPVgX6_PluTjQ3ub9svI90QNOSc5rZ77Nr4T50wX690DgAc/s320/20191205_093514.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
The government’s own estimates are that after 15 years the economic damage of a no deal Brexit would make the country’s economy 9.3% smaller than if we had remained in the EU; an eventual loss of nearly £1/4 trillion a year.<br />
Boris knows all this, so most predict that once again Boris would break his word, and at the eleventh hour request an extension to the transition period to continue trade talks. (He will, of course, again find others to blame!).
We would then very likely be locked into several years of trade talks while Boris tries to negotiate his illusory "have your cake and eat it" deal. All the while we would then we would still be locked into the EU rules and paying into its budget but without any control over any of it.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5tWSGyvpgb8GQPv1eBbmFUAdK-sJ1jQUxBf_VXwLYXZQfKtW3zjWQ6tcL_HplIrfUA2vVMU4hlHvyRuB1N8sOP8rpixEhd-3a6YvH_8rvikd1l7pnk3yNPh8l73wDiSAF4Y6X_waD6lI/s1600/20191205_133533.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="747" data-original-width="995" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5tWSGyvpgb8GQPv1eBbmFUAdK-sJ1jQUxBf_VXwLYXZQfKtW3zjWQ6tcL_HplIrfUA2vVMU4hlHvyRuB1N8sOP8rpixEhd-3a6YvH_8rvikd1l7pnk3yNPh8l73wDiSAF4Y6X_waD6lI/s320/20191205_133533.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
With Groundhog Day repeats of no deal cliff edges and extensions, it would not plunge us into the immediate crisis of no deal Brexit, but it would continue to slowly strangle the life out of our economy.(Already it's estimated that the fallen pound and disinvestment caused by Brexit have lost our economy over £1/2 billion a week)<br />
<br />
Even when we'd finally got our Canada-style new "free" trade deal with the EU, there would still be a big hit to our economy compared to remain. There might be no trade tariffs to pay. However, it’s estimated our diverging standards would create red tape checks with the EU that after 15 years would still see our economy about 6.7% smaller than it would have been; an ultimate loss of about £170 billion a year.<br />
<br />
We would then face many more years of wrangling with all those other countries that we currently have trade deals with that we'll lose when we properly leave the EU. But having much less clout than the EU, our new deals would only be worse.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSDnpcT3cLCT1-1LPEpwGkp76K7QGo9fGYBdk92OzHl2jemaF5N-DqDWHpt3ddRbKRWyRIRvD5g2NL6-VQ-MO4etBow72cgRnWUqWntP6Mf3NGYus5d_EiB0XZ81JZ9c04ot40rx1saHw/s1600/20191205_134916.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="762" data-original-width="1060" height="230" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSDnpcT3cLCT1-1LPEpwGkp76K7QGo9fGYBdk92OzHl2jemaF5N-DqDWHpt3ddRbKRWyRIRvD5g2NL6-VQ-MO4etBow72cgRnWUqWntP6Mf3NGYus5d_EiB0XZ81JZ9c04ot40rx1saHw/s320/20191205_134916.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
To try to make up for these big economic losses Boris will be desperate to do a deal with the one country the EU has not done a deal (for very good reasons); the USA. We now know that as part of any trade deal with us the USA want "full access" to our public services and for us to sell out our NHS for their big pharma companies, costing our NHS many billions in increased drugs costs. The same leaked documents show the USA would also be looking to us to reduce our "unnecessary red tape", otherwise known as health and safety and environmental protections and workers rights. This is not simply Labour scaremongering. Not only did our government fail to rule these things out in these secret meetings, but these are the very things the USA has insisted on and achieved with every country it's done a trade deal with. There are also plenty in Boris's cabinet who have written in support of these "free market" ideas, such as Priti Patel and Dominic Raab.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuLCr3CbEqMYr_JXlvA0Fugb4F1qiNB5dzxWnPlwvfMA8lPCtt_nrNzX02ys6dPMULalIiQ8xXMrUanQ8BB9OlEj9ETmKX-SkV6tOb6G6iKJAiUrWNxR6xgXoHl8q_Nz2g7NihKqGZXFc/s1600/20191205_135356.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="676" data-original-width="990" height="218" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuLCr3CbEqMYr_JXlvA0Fugb4F1qiNB5dzxWnPlwvfMA8lPCtt_nrNzX02ys6dPMULalIiQ8xXMrUanQ8BB9OlEj9ETmKX-SkV6tOb6G6iKJAiUrWNxR6xgXoHl8q_Nz2g7NihKqGZXFc/s320/20191205_135356.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
But will Labour's "dither and delay" policy of a second referendum get Brexit sorted any sooner or any better? Absolutely.
Labour would negotiate a new withdrawal deal within 3 months which would lay the foundation for a Brexit deal that would keep us closely aligned to the Single Market and preserve the big benefits of the EU customs union (including the many free trade deals that the EU has already negotiated with other countries). Labour would also commit to a legally binding new referendum within 6 months of taking office. This would give the public a genuine choice of continuing with Brexit under their proposed "soft" Brexit deal or remaining in the EU. Whatever the public decided Labour would immediately implement; they'd have no choice as they'd be legally bound to do it.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimGOdM7YWvFqicLK5gsWagw3geSyY5ZhBWKg3Ac4eMChC6iOjett6n3ywtLc8_pJHltcuO3hkOFmbM30DG7muaJfdz0cLDekgqBKBvHA-YSuSIWJMEGYWPxGSFe7TGc4xoGxatlFxVVVs/s1600/Screenshot_20191205-135912_Samsung+Internet.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="506" data-original-width="1080" height="149" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimGOdM7YWvFqicLK5gsWagw3geSyY5ZhBWKg3Ac4eMChC6iOjett6n3ywtLc8_pJHltcuO3hkOFmbM30DG7muaJfdz0cLDekgqBKBvHA-YSuSIWJMEGYWPxGSFe7TGc4xoGxatlFxVVVs/s320/Screenshot_20191205-135912_Samsung+Internet.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
If the country voted for this Brexit, they would keep us in the Customs union andc losely aligned with the Single Market so avoiding the need for any Northern Irish backstop or border in the Irish Sea. We'd keep the UK properly United.Because a Labour government would be keeping most of our current trading terms with the EU (rather ripping up and starting again) it would be much easier and quicker to negotiate a new relationship with the EU. We would be largely copying what other European countries outside the EU have done, like Norway. If this couldn’t quite be achieved by the end of 2020 it should be soon after. It also wouldn’t risk the disaster of a no deal Brexit.
We would inevitably have to accept freedom of movement in some form and follow single market common standards. However, we would leave the common agricultural policy and fisheries policies and no longer be under the jurisdiction of the ECJ.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4t3Qxw-mjoBH25t51x0IkLrLcNqFD-i8U-AddfpPKbv_r7f7iUK6VQLVuJZmBIHltXOVj4V1Dt1vHMjv7biR7JQ0KzouaC3-D5TzCn4QY6dKa4fFcW0KtlIIqHBf8Vrf07MtVk5e7KdM/s1600/20191205_140538.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="698" data-original-width="1026" height="217" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4t3Qxw-mjoBH25t51x0IkLrLcNqFD-i8U-AddfpPKbv_r7f7iUK6VQLVuJZmBIHltXOVj4V1Dt1vHMjv7biR7JQ0KzouaC3-D5TzCn4QY6dKa4fFcW0KtlIIqHBf8Vrf07MtVk5e7KdM/s320/20191205_140538.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
But isn't it undemocratic to vote again? No and this is why. The original referendum (which was advisory not legally binding) was fundamentally flawed because it only asked people if they wanted to leave. It never asked them where they wanted to go. (There should always have been a second referendum to decide that). There’s a massive gulf between the alternative destinations after Brexit; a close soft Brexit, an ultra-hard no deal Brexit and every shade in between. It's like collectively we voted to move from the 3-bed semi that we'd called home for over 40 years, but we hadn't been asked where we were moving to:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikZyQK1Jnu85gRywetXkWekwOjXm3lK1syJLettoKOaaPvUEV4OpCPsXBqu_tGbq-dPG8bKccVALUkbEvMiGnS6xhdiClzebQ3JFoaX93MzUct9eZ_ut5gbGIpODFOrjAyWdPElQhVl6U/s1600/20191205_142436.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="677" data-original-width="959" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikZyQK1Jnu85gRywetXkWekwOjXm3lK1syJLettoKOaaPvUEV4OpCPsXBqu_tGbq-dPG8bKccVALUkbEvMiGnS6xhdiClzebQ3JFoaX93MzUct9eZ_ut5gbGIpODFOrjAyWdPElQhVl6U/s320/20191205_142436.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
a remote old country farmhouse, a luxury flat in the centre of a buzzing city or a rusting caravan by the sea? All very different destinations.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjj1X9ZrQ35MfHE0puKJ6IHrc9VvblvhBS_PnmcFx9sWV_umivW_0Dl-ydsoAqxZNCQiIKWmvGnwz-tgY2A36G_qBbRGQXF7kd3gq7g52qEt8enNc_Kn85Zg3VNhQtPOZmo3fX25X0OzS0/s1600/20191205_142137.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="708" data-original-width="944" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjj1X9ZrQ35MfHE0puKJ6IHrc9VvblvhBS_PnmcFx9sWV_umivW_0Dl-ydsoAqxZNCQiIKWmvGnwz-tgY2A36G_qBbRGQXF7kd3gq7g52qEt8enNc_Kn85Zg3VNhQtPOZmo3fX25X0OzS0/s320/20191205_142137.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-BDaIxfyiw2UrbEQLdteqlfgGeJGS-CkbEEMfcsdPkqjiQRUh3PtqSOvVWAC30FbUXiYKMYAneSToesS8j-Sw8y9x4uFKSok5NVEHu-vNw8B7GROp3QZtvEHZJvTsFDrEhqMhC_D3lgk/s1600/20191205_142330.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="704" data-original-width="868" height="259" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-BDaIxfyiw2UrbEQLdteqlfgGeJGS-CkbEEMfcsdPkqjiQRUh3PtqSOvVWAC30FbUXiYKMYAneSToesS8j-Sw8y9x4uFKSok5NVEHu-vNw8B7GROp3QZtvEHZJvTsFDrEhqMhC_D3lgk/s320/20191205_142330.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheoArj3b8zkoPRTO6CWbr1CcqFoCPfK35Ujagyh9JX5PmOZmJAPYvSkF8ibRtFvy75QXhPWhNlDn8OEvAbcQgDMiI7DhW3z8md9cc2Al4w8XdcQ5x5Ish8CC43WRhJMi4xN8_h6cGMAQU/s1600/20191205_142023.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="589" data-original-width="906" height="208" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheoArj3b8zkoPRTO6CWbr1CcqFoCPfK35Ujagyh9JX5PmOZmJAPYvSkF8ibRtFvy75QXhPWhNlDn8OEvAbcQgDMiI7DhW3z8md9cc2Al4w8XdcQ5x5Ish8CC43WRhJMi4xN8_h6cGMAQU/s320/20191205_142023.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
The only Brexit destination consistently sold by the leavers was the fairytale castle Brexit- full control but full free market access. We'd get if because the EU needs us more than we need them.We now know that was a fib and that fairytale castle Brexit exists only in the minds of Boris and Nigel.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5GZMjJ2WJHPTCPPFxTNDLmFEdlqbccSJbg1dZEEXpUAwzc42gBM5QtAKCkplmAL5zmjz8JW1Y4BZqp7Zc695r-SoEQzM7lmRGb0lz65piJLOArtFBCtNCiUKTeBTTUbu5v17aVu2XD0Q/s1600/20191205_213150.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="997" data-original-width="1033" height="308" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5GZMjJ2WJHPTCPPFxTNDLmFEdlqbccSJbg1dZEEXpUAwzc42gBM5QtAKCkplmAL5zmjz8JW1Y4BZqp7Zc695r-SoEQzM7lmRGb0lz65piJLOArtFBCtNCiUKTeBTTUbu5v17aVu2XD0Q/s320/20191205_213150.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
It’s like we were buying a second hand car and the salesmen assured us we were buying a vintage classic in pristine condition. They never let us examine the goods, but we trusted them anyway. </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQn2Q_bBnKuQ-clQNxZvC8rXbI1iv_ENhII-juafSO5nEltesO9OliDMahhWx4pC3qsquu_s5qSEY0eMls2m_P38ukvJwFp3RUXYky6EkosPX_hmQuvq3OIx1dEYMAinXoYacVN90mbRU/s1600/20191205_142554.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="636" data-original-width="1013" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQn2Q_bBnKuQ-clQNxZvC8rXbI1iv_ENhII-juafSO5nEltesO9OliDMahhWx4pC3qsquu_s5qSEY0eMls2m_P38ukvJwFp3RUXYky6EkosPX_hmQuvq3OIx1dEYMAinXoYacVN90mbRU/s320/20191205_142554.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4kg2oAq3Roh6id83rEUC0Dgy1_mHzTQlnBo2XuUNJnx4b_XneYHs5bsztlRednF53KZbQtjxe9FQPQi9TDBwPtzL4d4q1FpsJuFHJ77UsioNrHExuHs8EJRk-lmly8ApTSebwXZ6H-as/s1600/20191205_232139.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="718" data-original-width="957" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4kg2oAq3Roh6id83rEUC0Dgy1_mHzTQlnBo2XuUNJnx4b_XneYHs5bsztlRednF53KZbQtjxe9FQPQi9TDBwPtzL4d4q1FpsJuFHJ77UsioNrHExuHs8EJRk-lmly8ApTSebwXZ6H-as/s320/20191205_232139.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
We had in our minds that the car we'd been sold would be a fine Inspector Morse red Jaguar Mk II</div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5A1fer4PQG_Y4cqGVFrgkRYOC75kw8LpdLtYPnM56h2TDMTKh8vptt6J3a0QzgKy0K-L0B2ZrvKQj11whOBFJie6DqNN5ziHIxClIvZvGHo5VwO9cjLpqqODClRfcwexXtVJVevElefQ/s1600/20191205_141714.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="700" data-original-width="965" height="232" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5A1fer4PQG_Y4cqGVFrgkRYOC75kw8LpdLtYPnM56h2TDMTKh8vptt6J3a0QzgKy0K-L0B2ZrvKQj11whOBFJie6DqNN5ziHIxClIvZvGHo5VwO9cjLpqqODClRfcwexXtVJVevElefQ/s320/20191205_141714.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
or a gleaming silver Sean Connery Aston Martin, all in perfect working order.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRcxBNGwVSV-LJi6myEQcfS25XRDyBYmfbMh_aX2glj5iXYtUVxmZNxQuBnkOXKIi7aXkw6pxEruvUvLB-fWcX2QvB8ShbIIUz7yEUqAflS3Mqi8oV3Qe54LtG_coi0ZjKpnDaop8t1ho/s1600/20191205_141822.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="746" data-original-width="1080" height="221" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRcxBNGwVSV-LJi6myEQcfS25XRDyBYmfbMh_aX2glj5iXYtUVxmZNxQuBnkOXKIi7aXkw6pxEruvUvLB-fWcX2QvB8ShbIIUz7yEUqAflS3Mqi8oV3Qe54LtG_coi0ZjKpnDaop8t1ho/s320/20191205_141822.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
Instead we find we've been lumbered with a Ford Anglia rust bucket. After being lured into our purchase by such a big misrepresentation shouldn't we have the right to get our money back if we chose? Sure, we might love our Ford Anglia and choose to keep it, but shouldn't we have the right to change our mind now we know the truth about what we've bought?<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT0-zrjyx0uFTdVBRFp0FVr5ymniorTtjAIInH8Qvjd0ZuK2a0mBJsWp43KlIcQzKOtVOyhaXhPh6swLb5wR5Wch9Vnfu8yV0L7r9IceQop67pd_nI4S3Jt9npQ8CA19-RCU3Uwf_bzYk/s1600/20191205_141454.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="728" data-original-width="1076" height="216" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT0-zrjyx0uFTdVBRFp0FVr5ymniorTtjAIInH8Qvjd0ZuK2a0mBJsWp43KlIcQzKOtVOyhaXhPh6swLb5wR5Wch9Vnfu8yV0L7r9IceQop67pd_nI4S3Jt9npQ8CA19-RCU3Uwf_bzYk/s320/20191205_141454.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
Over the last 2 years almost every opinion poll has shown the majority of the country has changed its mind and wants their money back. The current polling average is about 52.5/47.5 for remain. The change of view has been collective rather than individual; the large majority of those voting in the referendum have not changed their minds. The key change has been demographic; about 2 million mainly pro leave older voters have died and been replaced by about 2.5 million mainly pro EU voters. If we say that because 3.5 years ago a small majority voted to leave the EU is disrespecting democracy, what sort of stunted stifled form of democracy are we supporting? Effectively we are letting the country's future for generations be determined by the views of 2 million dead voters who don't have to live with the consequences of their votes. Meanwhile the views of 2.5 million young voters who will have to live longest with the consequences don't matter one jot.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTor9JjSc_zdkO4zAgqfBBEdmT6vWPUsvld3cvGD5b-6j341ijoMloI4tQn7t0Hz-vN_SwbadEFOIjj390brGTl1Jukmv8882Wbk3QGuiZWYCL-HSDRT2lIdWHXFGrc_4I0cAZzZTYA6Q/s1600/20191205_214619.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="739" data-original-width="970" height="243" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTor9JjSc_zdkO4zAgqfBBEdmT6vWPUsvld3cvGD5b-6j341ijoMloI4tQn7t0Hz-vN_SwbadEFOIjj390brGTl1Jukmv8882Wbk3QGuiZWYCL-HSDRT2lIdWHXFGrc_4I0cAZzZTYA6Q/s320/20191205_214619.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi12-tWYgsPQZ4-qEHSDE52zSZsc-GKy33kUBVKKzs0gZK22-LFohAl3fVwRVSAdVPZXxWdXedXYU5hnOvfsbt2V2thNJDUJmWkB8Mn2RibDZ4XgqynOIFScIFfMbSqZNMoacf-JKe-mHg/s1600/20191205_215106.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="561" data-original-width="1041" height="172" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi12-tWYgsPQZ4-qEHSDE52zSZsc-GKy33kUBVKKzs0gZK22-LFohAl3fVwRVSAdVPZXxWdXedXYU5hnOvfsbt2V2thNJDUJmWkB8Mn2RibDZ4XgqynOIFScIFfMbSqZNMoacf-JKe-mHg/s320/20191205_215106.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
What sort of message does that send out to our young people who already feel disenfranchised by our political system?<br />
Democracy wasn’t frozen in 2016. If democracy means anything it must be living and relevant to the current views and needs of the country and not tied to the views of the dearly departed (who for all we know might have changed their own minds by now but are not available to ask!).We recognise that democracy is about consulting people for their views. To have more consultation is surely respecting not disrespecting democracy. No one suggests it's disrespecting democracy to have elections at least every 5 years (or 2 years as we're now averaging!) Surely, now we've seen how negotiations have gone and know a lot more about the likely outcome, it is only fair and democratic that the public are consulted for their views again.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNpbui7hBqWVibuVfun_ObaYQgjXHupJgzAPKpvDBASUnd_PO8OCS9ZnvPdVHCg3RYdiaf8157AdMDqj9BlufE9Riw5Lv4xAS-HohIhF6dSOqH-6KVtv97W6HfuRu5dYKOtplRIO6SGtc/s1600/20191205_220101.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="656" data-original-width="1033" height="203" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNpbui7hBqWVibuVfun_ObaYQgjXHupJgzAPKpvDBASUnd_PO8OCS9ZnvPdVHCg3RYdiaf8157AdMDqj9BlufE9Riw5Lv4xAS-HohIhF6dSOqH-6KVtv97W6HfuRu5dYKOtplRIO6SGtc/s320/20191205_220101.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
Tragically, with the most reliable pollsters showing the Tories currently about 9% ahead of Labour, we are about to hand back our car keys to the most unreliable, untrustworthy guy at the party (as his own colleague Amber Rudd once described him).<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHjUIixr-2ByHuFZ1H3onjgyCEKoxN1Re1vhICE_7G3PrleG_C78uBTKiOqhpBD9EiplVo-hGpZnqu8u89ssi0WvCXMf8puS4Iyn1-cxx_eFkLfnHrwOcW_UrQ88DTX9dKsmzXkFEEI5M/s1600/20191205_220623.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1226" data-original-width="1039" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHjUIixr-2ByHuFZ1H3onjgyCEKoxN1Re1vhICE_7G3PrleG_C78uBTKiOqhpBD9EiplVo-hGpZnqu8u89ssi0WvCXMf8puS4Iyn1-cxx_eFkLfnHrwOcW_UrQ88DTX9dKsmzXkFEEI5M/s320/20191205_220623.jpg" width="271" /></a></div>
<br />
Contrary to his claim that he will “get Brexit done” and "get us motoring", he will either drive us over the cliff edge to a disastrous no deal Brexit in just over a year’s time<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcR2irSVQqHW5nLydT19p-D_eyJOCeP0FUp9bV7PjPAdGKRFXcOLo4mIEVjt4dbwASYCA9xAgt7BFPJmmMsXj9i0ZnpQ7lX1Khje5-5t4wbh7HKB0iGrD-mIkI59OTs0-3RwtCXAe1Ezc/s1600/20191205_221419.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="710" data-original-width="1040" height="218" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcR2irSVQqHW5nLydT19p-D_eyJOCeP0FUp9bV7PjPAdGKRFXcOLo4mIEVjt4dbwASYCA9xAgt7BFPJmmMsXj9i0ZnpQ7lX1Khje5-5t4wbh7HKB0iGrD-mIkI59OTs0-3RwtCXAe1Ezc/s320/20191205_221419.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
, or else keep driving us round and round in circles for years of painful trade talks.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfw4CXq2toWFIBPWIfA5NXHccf_IO0KyiOZfdw4lynQqhlknTHfTdDOvWTBNL-BOjAE9C7z3Wt34TG0B578Q21oO9SZQzrs30GmZXlbWkPerwZZpPrUKzemD2nIMDw_LvXO5iHMwYMXoM/s1600/20191205_222016.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="643" data-original-width="989" height="208" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfw4CXq2toWFIBPWIfA5NXHccf_IO0KyiOZfdw4lynQqhlknTHfTdDOvWTBNL-BOjAE9C7z3Wt34TG0B578Q21oO9SZQzrs30GmZXlbWkPerwZZpPrUKzemD2nIMDw_LvXO5iHMwYMXoM/s320/20191205_222016.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
If those prospects fill you with dread, there is an alternative: a Labour-led minority government. If that prospect also fills you with dread at policies like nationalisation of our public services, think on. All pollsters agree there is now no chance of Labour getting a majority; they would need to leap from about -9% behind the Tories to about +12% above them. However, if enough people vote tactically, there is every chance of getting Labour to within about - 4% of the Tories, almost certainly enough to prevent a Tory majority (even if the DUP forgave them and about -6% if they didn't). Any Labour minority government will only be able to govern with the consensus of the other parties supporting it, including almost certainly the Liberal Democrats.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqsT1SiYw_znJ3Rjsk62ddMB-iTw-yxIKh8mnrhwzlvcRR6-1P51Daa56xLpL2JGW3WBO1vy6KOjFPEaNXCWxVwmH6I-8mTrdbFOwp5PExZFtVGY8uF1rzYYw-V0K4tx2wM_ojY1zPlhg/s1600/20191205_143019.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1217" data-original-width="1062" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqsT1SiYw_znJ3Rjsk62ddMB-iTw-yxIKh8mnrhwzlvcRR6-1P51Daa56xLpL2JGW3WBO1vy6KOjFPEaNXCWxVwmH6I-8mTrdbFOwp5PExZFtVGY8uF1rzYYw-V0K4tx2wM_ojY1zPlhg/s320/20191205_143019.jpg" width="279" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDt3uEfTaA0lGd7alJvU-POi9DMEXO0lnKmanropQgnzWPPqWfcmMAgr_FYg34COp0Ex6YAzXX8uP2xuIDg_R9rb_v51qn8d7OrAwBUf-VCrJoZ08TF1t21MKrJJ1yGKBqP3t-RpD08RU/s1600/20191205_142822.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1199" data-original-width="925" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDt3uEfTaA0lGd7alJvU-POi9DMEXO0lnKmanropQgnzWPPqWfcmMAgr_FYg34COp0Ex6YAzXX8uP2xuIDg_R9rb_v51qn8d7OrAwBUf-VCrJoZ08TF1t21MKrJJ1yGKBqP3t-RpD08RU/s320/20191205_142822.jpg" width="246" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgovZ41qT-SfIB1ivjjbv1zBpHKtTkXKYCeD4oO-_Q3Os2_qnIgnP0wE0SuZpsQ1kyVp9fbVEwPvSbHVo4zk-ZZAnR2UF1EWXgBUYYDux7Y8XQZb8v5Q-AK7FUlUkt-d2m9khc1ukLq_lk/s1600/20191205_142918.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="836" data-original-width="650" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgovZ41qT-SfIB1ivjjbv1zBpHKtTkXKYCeD4oO-_Q3Os2_qnIgnP0wE0SuZpsQ1kyVp9fbVEwPvSbHVo4zk-ZZAnR2UF1EWXgBUYYDux7Y8XQZb8v5Q-AK7FUlUkt-d2m9khc1ukLq_lk/s320/20191205_142918.jpg" width="248" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO6su0Q-km0CJSfCvDGhFZZgfKNHcjnHYNbh772CIWaa49kUW7TeYHjQwVzNNcs1GBJntiGXRheKJCj01tKhsHr1eWmeabZwqMFs3NrjmhfDX8yQm-ZR8nZb4IfZpDRwh8YPoGndqAg04/s1600/20191205_143114.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1018" data-original-width="942" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO6su0Q-km0CJSfCvDGhFZZgfKNHcjnHYNbh772CIWaa49kUW7TeYHjQwVzNNcs1GBJntiGXRheKJCj01tKhsHr1eWmeabZwqMFs3NrjmhfDX8yQm-ZR8nZb4IfZpDRwh8YPoGndqAg04/s320/20191205_143114.jpg" width="296" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk2aUau2w3V4VZcFW8qMKQ8BAg9wIffh7uSjNsyDImAjxi3gOBn9krzR7bxpNQZI-xJIK8caP3NEDXbcEH1TDORxUfwa3-6h1gT5VfF54LpcKxJFiRyy91qRRH9Fq5pTLZln2AlRpEoDE/s1600/20191205_143203.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="832" data-original-width="623" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk2aUau2w3V4VZcFW8qMKQ8BAg9wIffh7uSjNsyDImAjxi3gOBn9krzR7bxpNQZI-xJIK8caP3NEDXbcEH1TDORxUfwa3-6h1gT5VfF54LpcKxJFiRyy91qRRH9Fq5pTLZln2AlRpEoDE/s320/20191205_143203.jpg" width="239" /></a></div>
As the Lib Dems have already made very clear in this election (sadly) they are simply not going to sign up to more radical Labour policies like that. However, what all the non-Tory parties will do is agree to a second EU referendum of a soft Brexit versus Remain.
In most constituencies the only way you can help prevent Boris’s Brexit bind is by voting Labour as they are mostly best placed to defeat him. And don’t be put off if you’re in a “safe” Tory seat. There are always some surprise election results like last time when Canterbury voted in its first ever Labour MP.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuYShSOW-FOc7QBoam1y0sbqsbQJm_QfaoTWnYCgiOMlBtxTDn71ucrzKFpXqTblLM1mzuSz6hs012Pwm7SgqVB7nYx9BD8q5RkoyJi1H1cIan_z8K_M_-VZ6x-wZORytZ8Gt5o3e1jFM/s1600/20191205_222839.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="709" data-original-width="1048" height="216" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuYShSOW-FOc7QBoam1y0sbqsbQJm_QfaoTWnYCgiOMlBtxTDn71ucrzKFpXqTblLM1mzuSz6hs012Pwm7SgqVB7nYx9BD8q5RkoyJi1H1cIan_z8K_M_-VZ6x-wZORytZ8Gt5o3e1jFM/s320/20191205_222839.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
Purely out of curiosity you might even want to have a look at a tactical voting site like https://www.peoples-vote.uk/ or https://tacticalvote.getvoting.org/ . If you happen to live in a constituency where another party is best placed to beat Boris then some might say best vote for them. However, as a Labour party member, I couldn’t possibly recommend that!<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNoIOL1zV-s58XIz4dK2d5-8j6zGsYEDlzVlH4eUQCsDpvj8NFFXKxjHlW2zLIJyVJm4-Z0kGSBdIz5qDqSFkFmfNitcHthoe061P49vWlVGekcOUxSx7ub6lFxRxESzYDVthklpjLgH0/s1600/20191205_224111.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="885" data-original-width="1020" height="277" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNoIOL1zV-s58XIz4dK2d5-8j6zGsYEDlzVlH4eUQCsDpvj8NFFXKxjHlW2zLIJyVJm4-Z0kGSBdIz5qDqSFkFmfNitcHthoe061P49vWlVGekcOUxSx7ub6lFxRxESzYDVthklpjLgH0/s320/20191205_224111.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<a name='more'></a>Jeremy Hortonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14040288077436997446noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1711610253004091876.post-69132716846903317342019-05-19T10:56:00.000-07:002019-05-19T11:57:58.112-07:00<div dir="ltr" id="docs-internal-guid-fa09a0b7-7fff-283f-bfbb-8b8c530a292f" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinrcOK0aJqbCxZWifqclsnceMVBsiJAc__cS91yCb2VBVaK5tYbxiQEiSeDxgutZ1T6BLu-JIYa65RFPOPwNL7i4t6PhwVpRycYHgfBLk58l0RfMb13m4MZSOEj75QYgJbw6YZBnbNico/s1600/20190518_124924.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><b><i><img border="0" data-original-height="1251" data-original-width="1042" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinrcOK0aJqbCxZWifqclsnceMVBsiJAc__cS91yCb2VBVaK5tYbxiQEiSeDxgutZ1T6BLu-JIYa65RFPOPwNL7i4t6PhwVpRycYHgfBLk58l0RfMb13m4MZSOEj75QYgJbw6YZBnbNico/s320/20190518_124924.jpg" width="266" /></i></b></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Whilst I remain a Labour party member, in the interests of both my party and my country, like many others I will be voting Green on Thursday and this is why</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Whist I continue to be a Labour Party member, the Party's ambiguous stance on another EU referendum, I feel, ultimately leaves me with no choice on Thursday but to vote for a party who will support a second referendum. Having reached that difficult decision, the decision about which pro-referendum party to vote for me is easy: the Greens.</span></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So why do I feel I have to vote for another party on Thursday? Isn't that a betrayal of my party membership? </span></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I will be voting for another party, because I, and many other Labour supporters, want to send a clear message to our party's leader: he needs to quickly change direction on Brexit to unequivocally support a second referendum or else his party faces electoral disaster at the next General Election. Rather than being a betrayal of my party, I am voting for another party in order to further the party's longer term success, because I want to see Labour in government to bring about the radical changes I believe this country needs; to reduce inequality and injustice and to fight climate change. And unless Labour support another EU referendum, I am convinced, they will not get the support needed to become a government. All polling evidence shows they cannot win a majority otherwise (and indeed might well lose to a rejuvenated Johnson-led Tory party, swallowing Farage's hard Brexit). If both main parties failed to get a majority, Labour would surely only get support to form a government by offering the SNP and/or Lib Dems another referendum anyway.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Furthermore, unless we remain in the EU (and another referendum is the only legitimate way to bring that about), it will be much harder for the country to make (and afford) the radical changes Labour wants and to try to extend those changes to the wider continent and the world. Battling the global threat of climate change is the most obvious example of this.</span></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But if the party supports another referendum, wont that be a betrayal of leave voters? Afterall, many of them traditionally voted Labour? Isn't it better the party support a compromise position of a soft Brexit to balance the wishes of remain and leave voters?Isn't that the only way to serve the interests of both and bring the country back together?</span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> <i><b>No, no and no. And this is why </b>(in my opinion)<b>.</b></i></span></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Another referendum would not just be a re-run of the last one. We would be asking people to choose not simply whether we leave ,but where we go or, now people know the destination/s, whether they would prefer to stay after all? Without that being voted on, no particular form of Brexit can have any democratic legitimacy. If we went for the sort of soft Brexit Jeremy Corbyn favours, without putting that to a public vote, the large majority of leave voters would rightly complain </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">this</span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> was a betrayal, as it was a Brexit in name only and not what they voted for at all; still having to follow most EU rules, including free movement, in order to have full free trade. Opinion polling shows only a small minority of voters favour such an outcome. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">On the other hand, if we had a hard no deal Brexit that Nigel Farage and many Tories favour, whilst many leave voters would support that (it's the single most popular leave option now), many would not and nearly all remain voters would see it as disastrous. Again, it would be rightly said it was not the Brexit people voted for. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">The only form of Brexit that most favoured was the unicorn variety that we were promised in the referendum by fraudsters like Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage; one where we could “have our cake and eat it”; full free trade access with no economic harm, whilst uniquely Britain would be free to set our own rules and immigration policy and save £350 million a week in EU subs, because “the EU needs us more than we need them”. If three years of bruising negotiations with the EU have taught us anything it's that our bargaining position with the EU was always much weaker than it was claimed, and the ideal unicorn Brexit was (as many of us said all along) pure fantasy. Since everyone's favourite sort of Brexit will not be on the menu, the country now has some hard choices (which our mps seem incapable of making); do we swallow the likely severe economic damage of a hard Brexit in order to get maximum freedom from the EU, or do we swallow most of the same EU rules as before (with now no say over them) to avoid the serious economic harm of restricted trade? Alternatively, now that it's clear this is the real available choice, would people now prefer we remain?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">After all, notwithstanding the meteoric rise of the Brexit party, every single opinion poll over the last 6 months has shown public opinion has shifted rowads remain (partly due to demographic changes rather than individual changes of opinion). All recent polls have shown a majority for remain, ranging from about 51 to 60%+, and currently averaging about 54%.( And btw this includes Survation who accurately predicted the last referendum). Of course, things could change in a campaign and the result might go against remain, as last time But, even if it did, another referendum would still be vital so that the electorate could sign up to not just whether we leave but where we're going. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If, instead of putting the decision back to the people, our politicians just decided among themselves what form of Brexit we should have, as both our Prime Minister and Jeremy Corbyn favour, it is this that would be seen as the ultimate democratic betrayal. Because, whatever Fraudulent Farage tells you, the only question the last referendum asked us was, shall we leave the EU? It said nothing about whether we would, e.g, leave the Customs Union or the Single Market. Indeed Farage himself pointed to Norway as an example we could follow, enjoying the economic benefits of the single market outside the EU (but failing to point out that Norway also has to accept freedom of movement etc). </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><i>Its like we had always eaten roast chicken and the referendum asked us would we prefer beef instead. But it said nothing about what form that beef meal would take. Some may have had in mind a bloody slab of blue sirloin steak. Others may have been thinking of Spag Bol. But there is a world of difference between those two meals.</i></b> And faced with a choice between roast chicken and a bloody, barely cooked sirloin steak many (who actually fancied spag bol) might prefer to stick with their old roast chicken. You see the first referendum, if it went in favour of leave, always needed a second one; to decide which form of leave people wanted. The only reason why it didn't was because, in David Cameron's mind, leave was never going to happen at all; the result was always going to be for remain and we already knew what that looked like… until the electorate gave Dave a bloody nose!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If our politicians now went ahead with imposing their own version of Brexit without putting that to the people, it is this which would come to be seen as the ultimate democratic betrayal.</span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And I'm afraid Labour’s current official position on this is little more democratically legitimate than the Tories: if we can have the form of Brexit we would prefer there's no need to consult you about that. You can only have a say if it's a form of Brexit we dislike. How incredibly arrogant! And if Brexit did go ahead on that basis it would be seen as the ultimate politicians’ carve up which put two fingers up to the general public. Jeremy Corbyn, and like minded Labour mps like Lisa Nandy, who favour this position, are not just being undemocratic, they are also being very naive. If they are worried about what their leave voting constituents think of having another referendum, they should be even more worried about what they will think if they impose on them a soft "Brexit in name only". Rather than rewarding them with grateful votes, they are much more likely to shift those votes to a hard Brexit party.</span></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The real way Labour could represent the interests of both leave and remain voters is by backing a referendum which gives them a genuine choice over the way we go</span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. And in my view the best, and probably only, way of achieving that is through a multi option referendum, with voters having a second preference. In my view, the choice must put forward must be options that are both possible (not Unicorn Brexits) and which seem to have significant public support: a no deal hard Brexit , a soft Brexit or remain. In my view, any referendum which did not have no deal as an option would lack real democratic legitimacy (and on that I do agree with Lisa Nandy). Importantly, it would also not close down the Brexit debate (whatever way the result went) , because you would the have the likes of Nigel Farage forever afterwards crying foul; that the most favoured form of Brexit was not on the menu (and for once he'd have a point).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><i>It is because I believe this issue is so important to both the country's interests and also the Labour party's, that I feel for this one election I must loan my vote to a party who do unequivocally back another referendum. </i></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If the mass loss of Labour votes does not have the desired effect on our party policy, I will remain a member in order to vote out Jeremy Corbyn in favour of a leader like Clive Lewis or Keir Starmer who will back a peoples vote, as I am quite sure a leadership challenge will inevitably be coming . And if all that fails, maybe I will leave the party and permanently move my vote. But we are a long way off that yet.</span></div>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As for which party I will lend my vote to, the Greens for me are the obvious choice</span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. They share many of the same radical reforming values of Jeremy Corbyn's Labour party and, importantly, on what </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">should</span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> be the key issue of our time (not Brexit!), Climate Change, they are even more geared up to take action than Labour is. And it would not just be a wasted protest vote. Whilst the Lib Dems have more support nationally, in my region, the Southeast, the Lib Dems have no MEPs currently and the Greens have one. So there is every chance my vote would contribute to us getting one, or hopefully more, Green MEPs. (</span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Note; Gina Miller's “Remain united” website suggesting tactical voting for Lib Dems seems badly flawed. If you want to know more about that see the post by my friend, the leading actuary Andrew</span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Smith: </span><a href="https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10157242298417953&id=645152952" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10157242298417953&id=645152952</span></a><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">)</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And in voting in a Green MEP, I would be adding to a vital and growing Green political grouping in the EU, pressing for the radical action Europe and, indeed the world ,needs on climate change, equality and injustice; values which matter enormously to me as both a Christian and a Democratic Socialist.</span></div>
Jeremy Hortonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14040288077436997446noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1711610253004091876.post-39428221567971306572018-04-02T15:23:00.004-07:002018-04-03T05:49:35.866-07:00The Easter Story, Jeremy Corbyn, anti-Semitism and lessons in media management<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Easter Story, </b><b>Jeremy Corbyn, anti-Semitism and
lessons in media management</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We shouldn't be surprised when apparently good people are
subject to false attacks on their character by vested interests, especially
when they challenge those interests. They are in good company. For this is
exactly what happened to the greatest man who ever lived; Jesus Christ (eg Mark
14 v 56-58 Luke 7 v 34) and he warned his followers to expect the same
libellous insults (e.g. Matthew 5 v 11 and 10 v 22) And of course it's not only
his followers that can be victims of such campaigns of falsehoods. <o:p></o:p><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHH3dhUsuwvF2rr4sUmHhOW5wIaRwilRt7ru8zIS0hIFgcXbhbfWCHVucIsp52xJMh0knkCBictYnKaafLaCF7vwYzzXgnjvSdQwK5IpRgi2jQZ559jEKQ4XFcqzRo9JFy6ep8tVOPDyg/s1600/Jesus+and+Thomas.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="504" data-original-width="798" height="202" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHH3dhUsuwvF2rr4sUmHhOW5wIaRwilRt7ru8zIS0hIFgcXbhbfWCHVucIsp52xJMh0knkCBictYnKaafLaCF7vwYzzXgnjvSdQwK5IpRgi2jQZ559jEKQ4XFcqzRo9JFy6ep8tVOPDyg/s320/Jesus+and+Thomas.jpg" width="320" /></a><br />
This Easter we remembered the death and resurrection of
Jesus Christ. His followers like me believe he was and is “God made flesh”; the
perfect, sinless divine Son of God, who took our place in dying for our sins on
the cross to free us from the punishment of death we deserved (Isaiah 53 v 3-7).
And we believe he proved this by rising from the dead (Acts 2 v 24) and by
belief in him anyone may share in his eternal life (John 3 v 16). These are the
great truths of Easter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But there are other lesser truths that we can also learn
from the Easter story that can help us come to terms with the world we live in,
whilst we struggle in this world waiting for him to return and heal it. For Jesus gyarantees that "in this world you will have trouble... but take heart I have overcome the world." (John 16 v 33)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our world in the UK in 2018 in some ways is very different
to Palestine 2000 years ago. Yet in many ways it’s very similar. In our times
words fly around the world to millions in a blink of eye through social media
and internet sites and TV and radio channels; words of truth, words of love,
words of healing, words of lies, words of hate, words of violence. Yet in
Jesus's world similar words of truth and lies travelled pretty fast and widely
too, not through the internet and TV of course, but through the social media of
his day; word of mouth. That's how pretty soon after the start of Jesus's
amazing ministry he was attracting crowds of thousands. They had heard from
others about this remarkable teacher and “holy man" who preached a new
message of “good news” of God's love and forgiveness, justice and peace, especially
for the poor and outcast (Luke 4 v 18 & 19) and how he displayed that message
through his miraculous healings. And so, they flocked to see and hear for
themselves. (Luke 7 v 16 & 17).<o:p></o:p><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtynKUE7NeTKkxL1xcNuWMceNL-mits_4bVH3Q-dq2rQlcZ7ei203s5gd5sD0afBp9_5SH0DjNTwg7i-P6w-O1hYSwkm1gWiD2syYzPh9qrZo1hi6z1YX86MSvV5FI0QzB8UOGfMouzSU/s1600/Jesus+crowds.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="225" data-original-width="300" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtynKUE7NeTKkxL1xcNuWMceNL-mits_4bVH3Q-dq2rQlcZ7ei203s5gd5sD0afBp9_5SH0DjNTwg7i-P6w-O1hYSwkm1gWiD2syYzPh9qrZo1hi6z1YX86MSvV5FI0QzB8UOGfMouzSU/s320/Jesus+crowds.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
Yet through the same social media of word of mouth vicious
untruths about Jesus then also spread very quickly: that this so-called great
prophet was a fake, that far from being a holy man he was a drunkard and a
glutton eating and drinking with sordid prostitutes and those dishonest greedy
collaborators, the tax collectors (Luke 7 v 34)? And how dare he break God's
holy Sabbath and other laws as interpreted by the true holy men - the religious
establishment of the Pharisees and lawyers (Matthew 12 v 1 & 2)? If he was
doing any miracles then it must have been, not through God's power, but the
devil's. (Luke 11 v 14 & 15). And the human source for this campaign of
lies against him was that religious establishment, because his message
threatened and challenged their vested interests as the respected leaders of
the people. For Jesus dared speak out directly against what they stood for as a
distortion of the truth- a legalistic religion which had forgotten God's
central message of love and mercy. (Matthew 23- almost whole of, and Luke 6 v
11) </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJ68L-JoI4myMLRsUcXUmnf0hI9bQazw9a2Fmgmldl8M79g1KVdPn7oB-AIEyVMevt78h2RcezgIIi6LSC-rM0TnUbtHEHHZ-N1aabrdIFJezE99FidnFH7f4kKsv5a-xIvYEws80AO4A/s1600/Palm+Sunday.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="268" data-original-width="531" height="161" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJ68L-JoI4myMLRsUcXUmnf0hI9bQazw9a2Fmgmldl8M79g1KVdPn7oB-AIEyVMevt78h2RcezgIIi6LSC-rM0TnUbtHEHHZ-N1aabrdIFJezE99FidnFH7f4kKsv5a-xIvYEws80AO4A/s320/Palm+Sunday.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
And it was as Jesus entered the nation's capital city,
Jerusalem, on “Palm Sunday" that the social media campaigns for and against
him really went into overdrive. Word about this great prophet had spread ahead
of him into the capital and crowds flocked to hail his entry into Jerusalem as
their Messianic King (Matthew 21 v 8-11). <br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But even at this apogee of his popular appeal, the
establishment interests were plotting to bring him down, spreading lies about
him to try to trap him and turn his followers and the wider public against him
and bring about his destruction (Luke 19 v 47, Matthew 26 v 4).<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzaOYSFKUbWvnAleQkdStLWAmxUyanD5w4LJyW4HxwWxAG7lix5V2yJic0Kz5H7yqOvV9mwZ8unq4I_jBJIgtcEkFZHMEZUisc2SKIl5K_59AFeP1UDqh4qwPiRTX8MkIla_Awtm7QHl8/s1600/pharisees+plot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="519" data-original-width="700" height="237" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzaOYSFKUbWvnAleQkdStLWAmxUyanD5w4LJyW4HxwWxAG7lix5V2yJic0Kz5H7yqOvV9mwZ8unq4I_jBJIgtcEkFZHMEZUisc2SKIl5K_59AFeP1UDqh4qwPiRTX8MkIla_Awtm7QHl8/s320/pharisees+plot.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
These lies eventually got to one of his inner circle, Judas,
who turned against Jesus (Luke 22 v 4). This lead to his arrest and then trial
by the religious establishment with more false accusations (Matthew 26 v
59-62). By the time Judas realised he had been deceived about Jesus it was too
late. (Matthew 27 v 3-5) Then came the culmination of the establishment
plotting against Jesus- their false messages stirred the popular crowd to
demand the Roman Governor have Jesus crucified. (Matthew 27 v 15-23). One
wonders how many of those calling for his crucifixion had been hailing him as
Messiah only days earlier.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxi9kR5m_o7P0v4hM5ZX204OJeUPAHwGeOo_YjwcSoemdnJhNmDY0cJxKPLHCb0yiumgbHeunP2B49jEmL-nPMiPONnS6IKgfCt1cmNcJFzjCSlaM_XI18_9KVZq4MixFyymx7p4XEl-s/s1600/crucify+him.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1108" data-original-width="1600" height="221" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxi9kR5m_o7P0v4hM5ZX204OJeUPAHwGeOo_YjwcSoemdnJhNmDY0cJxKPLHCb0yiumgbHeunP2B49jEmL-nPMiPONnS6IKgfCt1cmNcJFzjCSlaM_XI18_9KVZq4MixFyymx7p4XEl-s/s320/crucify+him.jpg" width="320" /></a><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
And so, in the greatest act of injustice this world has ever
known, the one perfect sinless human suffered the ultimate punishment, shame
and pain of death on a cross. As one of the criminals crucified with him said,
“We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this
man has done nothing wrong.” (Luke 23:41) (Good for us all to remember this
when we are treated unjustly- we are in good company). And even as Jesus hung
there and died, and even after he was laid in his grave, his opponents were
still determined to manage their social media campaign against him. On the
cross they taunted him to reinforce their point that he was a fake: “... the
rulers even sneered at him. They said, ‘He saved others; let him save himself
if he is God’s Messiah, the Chosen One.’” Luke 23:35.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOjt4VvZX6LPb0V5XEKosFZOwVlHOcsdO4jm-OOe0PpUU1XLSWs6uXoxKad5kvLH_-oPu4pDq_YdG-rQF-TS0NX6rWJFrP1RqpiO5kzJaqLbjuUYCnEMUD_u7xhApsFQISmCQnCZft2E4/s1600/jesus+on+the+cross+with+the+robbers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="442" data-original-width="664" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOjt4VvZX6LPb0V5XEKosFZOwVlHOcsdO4jm-OOe0PpUU1XLSWs6uXoxKad5kvLH_-oPu4pDq_YdG-rQF-TS0NX6rWJFrP1RqpiO5kzJaqLbjuUYCnEMUD_u7xhApsFQISmCQnCZft2E4/s320/jesus+on+the+cross+with+the+robbers.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
Worried that his
followers might then steal his body and claim he'd risen from dead, just as he
said he would so, they got a big sealed stone and two Roman guards to block his
tomb’s entrance (Matthew 27 v 62-66). But incredibly (and very annoyingly for
his opponents!), Jesus rose from dead anyway, with an angel stunning the guards
and rolling the stone away (Matthew 28 v1-10). And so, the religious
establishment started another campaign of lies, bribing the soldiers to claim
that his followers had indeed stolen the body as they'd feared all along (Matthew
28 v 12-15). Yet the reality of his resurrection was proven not just by the
words of his followers to whom he appeared (recorded in the 4 gospels), but by
their acts in giving their lives for him. But still many today believe this
great divine man of miracles was a dangerous fake, or just sit on the fence not
making up their minds, influenced (if only subconsciously) by the message of misinformation
and lies about Jesus.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVch8c7SN87bLZAEvLMOP0BMSWHDRZF9aTXhDQ68zBREMW6bWvmW-bZJUDNkLef1b0sARHmBl-4-EG0dwti3HRYHjBvrhdBeu0igyzxr4LavLpUjZXCwE9BLsumd3pA2eTm307P7jm3UY/s1600/the+stone+rolled+away.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="183" data-original-width="276" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVch8c7SN87bLZAEvLMOP0BMSWHDRZF9aTXhDQ68zBREMW6bWvmW-bZJUDNkLef1b0sARHmBl-4-EG0dwti3HRYHjBvrhdBeu0igyzxr4LavLpUjZXCwE9BLsumd3pA2eTm307P7jm3UY/s1600/the+stone+rolled+away.jpg" /></a></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbS-Gsjh7S1qTFn2NugtWx9ZXL5Mi_N9hNCOs5o8uM2bUiyIRB_PWJAhwSog3UfoNKHQ-WK9SAofIBaMMWUozQfeLrBK55cMvRwGYBqq-D1JzQFc-9cGtcpi2BUORSeNQ1gysnX3a6J8s/s1600/jeremy+for+the+many.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="112" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbS-Gsjh7S1qTFn2NugtWx9ZXL5Mi_N9hNCOs5o8uM2bUiyIRB_PWJAhwSog3UfoNKHQ-WK9SAofIBaMMWUozQfeLrBK55cMvRwGYBqq-D1JzQFc-9cGtcpi2BUORSeNQ1gysnX3a6J8s/s200/jeremy+for+the+many.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
Over some months I believe we've seen a media campaign of
untruths against another leader of men, who happens to share the same initials
as Jesus. Though neither divine nor perfect, many regard this JC as a good man,
also giving a message of love and peace and justice, and especially for the
poorest. This man has also challenged vested establishment interests in his
country - the rich and the influential within politics, the economy and the
national <o:p></o:p><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimGT4hgHjjsc6DdHnWjg3YnwiJTqmY5EIOf3QLayQvBdCRYnKenoh-zSHtfi5p3X7i60IKkuxaxGNE80ev92eLluaZ-dq3THeLEMzL_BRDF9HTpcZcOWdMOcKuQeRM2hFsfEH3H6Nq55s/s1600/jeremy+crowds.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="330" data-original-width="660" height="160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimGT4hgHjjsc6DdHnWjg3YnwiJTqmY5EIOf3QLayQvBdCRYnKenoh-zSHtfi5p3X7i60IKkuxaxGNE80ev92eLluaZ-dq3THeLEMzL_BRDF9HTpcZcOWdMOcKuQeRM2hFsfEH3H6Nq55s/s320/jeremy+crowds.png" width="320" /></a></div>
media. His message has sought to challenge the position, power and
wealth of the rich and the establishment; to bring about fairness and justice, especially
for the poorest, and to promote peace throughout this country and the world.
The latest episode of this has seen him as accused of encouraging or at least
tolerating vile messages of anti-Semitism by his followers.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjB-o3kMW286aSLkkGQLgNCgSZBLlJqdPq-p-yoiMCLH38rS49L92sJ5VPMV0jBTBxDp_DxjTj5FrwOVBua8qEWV6rjotl-CV1h1-TyqIJcdm_ZTSY3xkuXFSyurjZz-FcPLPvGADv2tYs/s1600/Tory+press+barons.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjB-o3kMW286aSLkkGQLgNCgSZBLlJqdPq-p-yoiMCLH38rS49L92sJ5VPMV0jBTBxDp_DxjTj5FrwOVBua8qEWV6rjotl-CV1h1-TyqIJcdm_ZTSY3xkuXFSyurjZz-FcPLPvGADv2tYs/s320/Tory+press+barons.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTUqept2fhp6DOAaTjfjiuuVMnLFtzUKa_R-F5_Q0fevAn0LBKHkbNONzdZz75jMi3b5w0GeLZiJCiWm8taqPOZsNSoqglsB5u3ShnbQrJ9fZkEHkIh8wWZavU0vhvFsEjuZhYWIIsi54/s1600/Corbyn+and+the+commie+spy.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="440" data-original-width="417" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTUqept2fhp6DOAaTjfjiuuVMnLFtzUKa_R-F5_Q0fevAn0LBKHkbNONzdZz75jMi3b5w0GeLZiJCiWm8taqPOZsNSoqglsB5u3ShnbQrJ9fZkEHkIh8wWZavU0vhvFsEjuZhYWIIsi54/s200/Corbyn+and+the+commie+spy.png" width="189" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgheZTV43yO4M9Us53SapakaPTstH436cD8WwnZXKtNTan7ld1zYGQR76-VzuXRxwM28rFMnZpJgVdxiu6HkOLLpsfFIcZDJJVSyPdNcqBc_xM1Oof3tYaZyldEMLfL6H__6NWZ7Uf52ic/s1600/Jeremy+Corbyn+russian+hat.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="384" data-original-width="630" height="121" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgheZTV43yO4M9Us53SapakaPTstH436cD8WwnZXKtNTan7ld1zYGQR76-VzuXRxwM28rFMnZpJgVdxiu6HkOLLpsfFIcZDJJVSyPdNcqBc_xM1Oof3tYaZyldEMLfL6H__6NWZ7Uf52ic/s200/Jeremy+Corbyn+russian+hat.png" width="200" /></a>It seems to me that
the establishment interests decided they could not allow their power and wealth
to be so threatened and were determined to stop this man from disrupting their
world. And so they used the means at their disposal -their great power and
wealth- to launch against this rebel a campaign of lies to persuade the people
that this man was a dangerous impostor: far from being a man of peace and love
he was a man who associated himself with the hateful and the violent; a friend
of terrorists, a treacherous former spy, a sympathizer of Russian infiltrators
and murderers,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>a man who tolerated and
even encouraged his followers to build factories of hate manufacturing anti-Semitism-
like a man who rode in Hitler’s car.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifh4uK4i93foM4D5YoOmXrEPlZ2-JO1niVRwLxU4ekwWWPJBEmDnbQN5VeznvqK1LOaKAx2ry2Wlrw2kDUF-GGehcmDTQDgxYnTcgDEOvJzZ9esPkxXhUqFC4qHmXIsv8JZEVR72zp90o/s1600/Jeremy+Corbyn+friend+to+terrorists.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1131" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifh4uK4i93foM4D5YoOmXrEPlZ2-JO1niVRwLxU4ekwWWPJBEmDnbQN5VeznvqK1LOaKAx2ry2Wlrw2kDUF-GGehcmDTQDgxYnTcgDEOvJzZ9esPkxXhUqFC4qHmXIsv8JZEVR72zp90o/s200/Jeremy+Corbyn+friend+to+terrorists.jpg" width="141" /></a></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHpgmUimqhu2K1ck8c0irEBgPkgdPQk2HSZGS8nXeK_eN1tMDoA4JaaDpV0Ztl7e5EcekwuTz_MN-qivm4cC5QsQZE85fRtZUGjQAP2rBDpQ66iNrzGW4fCe8XcxzbMVxnCPP1stzux4U/s1600/Corbyn%2527s+hate+factory.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="200" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHpgmUimqhu2K1ck8c0irEBgPkgdPQk2HSZGS8nXeK_eN1tMDoA4JaaDpV0Ztl7e5EcekwuTz_MN-qivm4cC5QsQZE85fRtZUGjQAP2rBDpQ66iNrzGW4fCe8XcxzbMVxnCPP1stzux4U/s200/Corbyn%2527s+hate+factory.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To lend their message
plausibility they’ve taken words that he or his followers have used and twisted
them or take them out of context. Most especially they have used against him
hateful words of violent men who claimed to be his followers, even though they
said things that directly contradicted his message.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And many good people are being deceived by their deceptive
campaigns against him. They can see the hateful messages of those claiming to
follow him and blame him for not stopping the vile sewage of their words that
discharge into the ocean, even though that ocean is vast and beyond the control
of anyone. And he is also blamed that he and others who walked with him had
swam in that same ocean even though they hadn’t seen the sewage there. And
those blaming him have failed to see in this the hidden hands of the vested
interests who plot against him.<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRz0vVFzL-v0iEaHfkVk5Hq_1nwO3haHQrP3gfRQOxItL5T1gVFXsbZR0nmXLctaPCntc9tTSG9uXfebXxKLFrpF3eP3nw4x3iFO1Tr6MhbdkiLcE9Vxj7xT66MZNZseYFlNoy8Ov14u8/s1600/polluted+ocean.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="787" data-original-width="1180" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRz0vVFzL-v0iEaHfkVk5Hq_1nwO3haHQrP3gfRQOxItL5T1gVFXsbZR0nmXLctaPCntc9tTSG9uXfebXxKLFrpF3eP3nw4x3iFO1Tr6MhbdkiLcE9Vxj7xT66MZNZseYFlNoy8Ov14u8/s320/polluted+ocean.jpg" width="320" /></a><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhULwYOqeKHNpLxaHLmLzwaErPKbiXbCelffUXX7d9gxQEwQnKxuVPclyRQ-tr-eqSvPD8l1272h2sq2t3zO0Ifyox26OCaK0mVOOzZMiClNjolaixtWbOWxcsdGwHdxZPhDSLZMJgUN8/s1600/Jeremy+Corbyn+is.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="224" data-original-width="225" height="199" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhULwYOqeKHNpLxaHLmLzwaErPKbiXbCelffUXX7d9gxQEwQnKxuVPclyRQ-tr-eqSvPD8l1272h2sq2t3zO0Ifyox26OCaK0mVOOzZMiClNjolaixtWbOWxcsdGwHdxZPhDSLZMJgUN8/s200/Jeremy+Corbyn+is.jpg" width="200" /></a>And so through spreading false rumours, distorted half-truths
and lies, the establishment interests are seeking to bring this good man down;
to get him nailed to his own cross and buried in a sealed tomb so there could
be no chance that he or his followers could rise again and challenge their
position in society.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
The issue of anti-Semitism within the Labour party is a
serious one, which Jeremy Corbyn himself has sought to fight and where he
acknowledges efforts need to be redoubled.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8W7XKnubMCM7QxzB1gtokc9pqrobupZGvPL-i_waqI_vR2oORl9XQiTWWpKlppmU8W7K1lSoclkUx-Kvy1TeSiEyzgGHcGoIJCdHB8A2pAGC5lUzXLe5hZ6zE473PuOhTFZusWjUFB-k/s1600/jeremy+corbyn+and+rabbi.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8W7XKnubMCM7QxzB1gtokc9pqrobupZGvPL-i_waqI_vR2oORl9XQiTWWpKlppmU8W7K1lSoclkUx-Kvy1TeSiEyzgGHcGoIJCdHB8A2pAGC5lUzXLe5hZ6zE473PuOhTFZusWjUFB-k/s320/jeremy+corbyn+and+rabbi.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjC4W-xNPuK_QcTuPHgd6ZIdZx5yP3cfnilI40T6ArDv7CRd9dFaPCthQw0MXpDgTFeqAStSdpKXW7WpU8G_JmHDEqum-elg4HA_N20s6lGAFVTyRsSboIc9wxgJUf1CxANR0lugCVRrVc/s1600/mural.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="514" data-original-width="540" height="190" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjC4W-xNPuK_QcTuPHgd6ZIdZx5yP3cfnilI40T6ArDv7CRd9dFaPCthQw0MXpDgTFeqAStSdpKXW7WpU8G_JmHDEqum-elg4HA_N20s6lGAFVTyRsSboIc9wxgJUf1CxANR0lugCVRrVc/s200/mural.png" width="200" /></a>But it is also an issue being used
as a tool by establishment interests to continue weaving their narrative of
lies and half-truths against him to stop him gaining power and undermining
their privileged positions. The extent of the genuine problem within his party
has therefore been exaggerated, particularly by attributing to his party vile
anti-Semitic comments posted on open public social media sites that have no
link to the Labour party, but which some party members follow. Yet these are
sites many thousands participate in and where hundreds of messages a day can be
posted by anyone and no one sees all the many messages that go on them.
Similarly, he is blamed for anti-Semitic private emails from people claiming to
support him, despite their message directly contradicting the principles he has
very publicly espoused. And then there are the genuinely innocent if careless
mistakes - like his support for the infamous 2012 mural which in reality was
not obviously anti-Semitic as opposed to anti-Capitalist and where the capitalists
vilified were not exclusively Jewish. And the NEC member who carelessly
supported a candidate without properly looking into his history and so was
unaware that he’d shared an abhorrent anti-Semitic article denying the
holocaust.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS2A3mBpr57AkI_-mU3WHjo5ME-ZSXom1DH8eWZWUJiPV7ONVL6u9mIwAs6IQg11gjwrXj0Eu5v4Ej14NCBp2xlm43eJl3rgHjvx-ti_Molptp0Rzn1m52Rr6WrqEazNK1N65jx19S7qs/s1600/pervasive+socila+media.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="349" data-original-width="620" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS2A3mBpr57AkI_-mU3WHjo5ME-ZSXom1DH8eWZWUJiPV7ONVL6u9mIwAs6IQg11gjwrXj0Eu5v4Ej14NCBp2xlm43eJl3rgHjvx-ti_Molptp0Rzn1m52Rr6WrqEazNK1N65jx19S7qs/s320/pervasive+socila+media.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7rt70aQSDIEWjeK2aRKeEWMmPLhYjNojO5TmT9WXJiVCI0M2dVbQStDj3Tb9vmGCV9dXUw7yNSn_qIcp26yZiaodCZkBX4abTp1GJ6Vm3CCEJJpU2rQk4jXMVwaHEqpmgdd08CTft9tU/s1600/Brexit+racist+post.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="412" data-original-width="273" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7rt70aQSDIEWjeK2aRKeEWMmPLhYjNojO5TmT9WXJiVCI0M2dVbQStDj3Tb9vmGCV9dXUw7yNSn_qIcp26yZiaodCZkBX4abTp1GJ6Vm3CCEJJpU2rQk4jXMVwaHEqpmgdd08CTft9tU/s320/Brexit+racist+post.jpg" width="212" /></a> Constant insidious seeping of social media messages and
the almost infinite risks of guilt by association truth present extremely
difficult problems for our politicians today that did not exist in the same way
even 10 years ago. We see this in the way some have tried to use social media
to directly manipulate opinions and votes in major elections like the EU
referendum and the US Presidential election. We see it in the daily inflammatory
Twitter rants of the US President. We see it in the hundreds of abhorrent anti-immigrant
and anti-Islamic posts that cling to many pro-Brexit Facebook groups which some
Conservative party members and politicians follow. And yes, sadly we see it too
in vile anti-Semitic posts that can cling to certain left-leaning Facebook groups
that some Labour party members and politicians follow. Is it not strange that compared to the attention lavished on
anti-Semitic comments and Jeremy Corbyn, the national media has given a
fraction of the focus on similarly outrageous racist comments in Brexit
supporting groups associated with many Conservatives? But once we recognise the
interests and world views of those controlling most of the national media it's
not so strange: we can see they are aligned with the very interests and world
views that Jeremy Corbyn threatens. And just as we saw with the other greater
JC, where establishment interests are threatened they will use all means at
their disposal to manipulate the message about their opponent to make sure he
is stopped.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, when the establishment
media interest in anti-Semitism has waned, you can be sure they will find
another issue they can use to brief the pubic against their opponent. And if we
are supporters of his cause then, just as the great JC encouraged his own
followers to be, we need to be as “wise as serpents and as innocent as doves.” (Matthew
10 v 16). Now from what I've seen on anti-Semitism as on so much else Jeremy Corbyn in reality is as "innocent as a dove" and indeed puts many Christians like me to shame. Where he may not always be so good is being as "shrewd as snakes" in the way he handles the media. However see his very good answers to questions in his Jewish Chronicle which they still labelled "not good enough" or the ridiculous offence taken to his sharing passover with a local Jewish group on the grounds that they were the "wrong sort of Jews." You then realise that for many of Jeremy's opponent both within and beyond the party (just as with Jesus's opponents) they will find ways to take offence and will never be convinced by him. Certain Jewish leaders in Jesus's day were not even convinced when he rose from the dead! Any rather lesser political miracle that Jeremy might perform is not going to convince most of his detractors <br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBwilsagUAUKdSFiaMYWsR7gUDYyK2gDjsauVEND8MmiWNEn_gXPDic8sXWPR-LCuFriMCC760oVr1fseucwD8jJ72yQAGUuXSWnm_NngOWKqbbCD71OqgD5PjHoKRaA64xG5NdCBqblk/s1600/serpents+and+doves.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="612" data-original-width="481" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBwilsagUAUKdSFiaMYWsR7gUDYyK2gDjsauVEND8MmiWNEn_gXPDic8sXWPR-LCuFriMCC760oVr1fseucwD8jJ72yQAGUuXSWnm_NngOWKqbbCD71OqgD5PjHoKRaA64xG5NdCBqblk/s320/serpents+and+doves.jpg" width="251" /></a></div>
<br />
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />Jeremy Hortonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14040288077436997446noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1711610253004091876.post-29721250086977575582017-09-12T14:36:00.000-07:002017-09-13T08:41:43.354-07:00The UK's economic model is broken (And only Labour can fix it)<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMSWCfJblu2HT6C3OfMgj8nmVQVPbLDyP0CCvNm-Svl-aPHbNoM9fY0HaiBwxxelT7e1Ip_ZjceWEb72Jj6vCkW-IHTuTut1U56Y1LWCtZbfY2sNpB92TBPmd38FE5IqhF5GZZXt3Hj7Q/s1600/Archbish.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="387" data-original-width="620" height="247" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMSWCfJblu2HT6C3OfMgj8nmVQVPbLDyP0CCvNm-Svl-aPHbNoM9fY0HaiBwxxelT7e1Ip_ZjceWEb72Jj6vCkW-IHTuTut1U56Y1LWCtZbfY2sNpB92TBPmd38FE5IqhF5GZZXt3Hj7Q/s400/Archbish.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-color: white; margin-bottom: 6px;">
<div style="color: #1d2129;">
<i><b><span style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></i>
<i><b><span style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">"T</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">he UK’s economic model is broken. </span><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Britain stands at a
watershed moment where we need to make fundamental choices about the sort of
economy we need. </span></span></b></i><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i><b>We are failing those who will grow up into a world where the gap between the richest and poorest parts of the country is significant and destabilising.</b></i>"</span><b><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> As a country therefore we must now <i>"</i></span></span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>reject the current patterns of economic growth that delivered most of the gains to corporations and the richest in society."</i> </span><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span></span></b></div>
<div style="color: #1d2129;">
<span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">You might be forgiven for thinking these words were spoken by Jeremy Corbyn or John McDonnell, those "dangerous, hard left, socialists" now leading the Labour Party. But no! They come from Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury. And he's right. And he's not alone in that stark assessment. For he was speaking as a member of the <i>Economic Justice</i> commission of the the Institute of Public Policy Research ("IPPR").</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="color: #1d2129;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZjbrpRHGmP6ygPTeQECT69aiMPkqhskntOeP61SxAMpKKZyhghQXWhrU9ZyQlVgkyQhdqr3QAaG_p_Jp-vK9hlxs5kme3g2XyuQlm72sOwIMh4O7TZb0DSppdRfDYiOl3sBL6ShLDloQ/s1600/IPPR+BBC.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="360" data-original-width="480" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZjbrpRHGmP6ygPTeQECT69aiMPkqhskntOeP61SxAMpKKZyhghQXWhrU9ZyQlVgkyQhdqr3QAaG_p_Jp-vK9hlxs5kme3g2XyuQlm72sOwIMh4O7TZb0DSppdRfDYiOl3sBL6ShLDloQ/s320/IPPR+BBC.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Last week, the IPPR's <i>Economic Justice </i>commission released its interim report. Their conclusion was both alarming and unsurprising. <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">T</span>hey said things that were probably already<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> pretty</span> obvious to most people <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">looking at</span> this country with open eyes:</span></span></div>
<ul style="color: #1d2129;">
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">that over the past 10 years (and long before) <b>the very rich in this country have got a lot richer. B</b></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: black;"><b>etween 2009 and 2015 the UK’s richest 1,000 families saw their assets double from £258bn to £547bn</b><i style="font-weight: bold;"> </i>and </span>since the 1970s the share of national income going to owners of businesses and property rather than wages has increased by over one third.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">meanwhile <b>most <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">of us have </span>continued to be worse off<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span> over the last 10 years- t<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">he UK has suffere</span>d the longest period of stagnant/ falling wages in 150 years.</b><i> </i>Since 2010 average earnings per employee has fallen by 6% despite GDP rising by 12%. And this is against a background of the wealth & income gap between the richest and the rest steadily wideneing since the 1970s.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">increasingly <b>millions of lives are blighted by p</b></span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>oor wages, unaffordable housing, low-quality jobs and rising unsecured debt</b>. </span></li>
<li><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">They concluded that <b>to put things right the British economy is in need of radical, "<i>deep, fundamental reform, comparable to Labour's Attlee government after the war</i>. " </b></span></li>
</ul>
<div style="color: #1d2129;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">And far from simply being a mouthpiece for the Labour party (whom they have also critcised in the past), the IPPR is one of the most well-respected independent policy think tanks in the UK. It was their report on </span><i style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Social Justice </i><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">two decades ago that heavily influenced much of the better work of early New Labour governments to reduce poverty and improve our public services; through e.g. the introduction of a minimum wage, working tax credits and significant re-investment in our NHS and schools (funded partly by windfall taxes on privataised utilities).</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>Membership of the <i>Economic Justice</i> commission is in fact drawn from a very broad cross section of our society.</b> As well as charitable, church and community groups it includes significant business leaders, such as </span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Dominic Barton, the global managing partner of the consultancy McKinsey and Company; Helena Morrissey, Legal & General’s head of personal investment; Sir Charlie Mayfield, the chairman of the John Lewis Partnership. <b>So when they make such bold statements <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">we </span>really should sit up and take notice.</b></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2k-gfTR8Dv3oAlO9vSvuqb2oDngQX_PCGQk2jXwuAcyZANFhyO1CrXCNNqxbmgU8PSHNVlme_WDv_XLgHoKPmreMYmtgq4hpd-ylJxIZu7ynN2WjUNjScqfz_cIxwoFkV0UQU97m-e5U/s1600/Helena+Morrissey.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="424" data-original-width="634" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2k-gfTR8Dv3oAlO9vSvuqb2oDngQX_PCGQk2jXwuAcyZANFhyO1CrXCNNqxbmgU8PSHNVlme_WDv_XLgHoKPmreMYmtgq4hpd-ylJxIZu7ynN2WjUNjScqfz_cIxwoFkV0UQU97m-e5U/s200/Helena+Morrissey.jpg" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_BMZMqCKOfKWybTI4TgJsf2JYCApYHLwQwgRpRARW0xKKfIpCYdqZgzR5N0pgReaG6P1b7a_QxjFBmKsL7aRkhbakD7Wi1AZ3GrKHWdu34N1GxXc75Frc-lj9hn6F8RTwJo5YEQ2XqRY/s1600/Dominic+Barton.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="504" data-original-width="672" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_BMZMqCKOfKWybTI4TgJsf2JYCApYHLwQwgRpRARW0xKKfIpCYdqZgzR5N0pgReaG6P1b7a_QxjFBmKsL7aRkhbakD7Wi1AZ3GrKHWdu34N1GxXc75Frc-lj9hn6F8RTwJo5YEQ2XqRY/s200/Dominic+Barton.jpg" width="200" /></a><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIyVynNdDlSy0Xz5d_bV9UJLi0TVWaSJ9a2_Wor-v4AHsin4GqhOvved4TA3quli1i9hHT3lNz6unbmyoSytvyylO4bcNvmrMKi8Who8tCLztZRU0I2oRW6f5bhOMvWB_e1JxD6oqLdbU/s1600/Sir+Charlie+Mayfield.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="446" data-original-width="630" height="141" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIyVynNdDlSy0Xz5d_bV9UJLi0TVWaSJ9a2_Wor-v4AHsin4GqhOvved4TA3quli1i9hHT3lNz6unbmyoSytvyylO4bcNvmrMKi8Who8tCLztZRU0I2oRW6f5bhOMvWB_e1JxD6oqLdbU/s200/Sir+Charlie+Mayfield.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">I</span><span style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">'m afraid <b>we are now reaping the bitter fruit of Margaret Thatcher's failed economic philosophy,</b> just as the USA is suffering from the legacy of Reaganomics. They were in truth just another branch of <b>the false economic religion of neo liberalism. </b>It was built on an idolatrous worship of the false blind gods of the freemarket to whom they sacrificed so much of the state's own assets. Of course, it was done with the best of intentions. They did not set out to make the rich richer and the rest of us poorer. They thought <span style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">it</span> would benefit all (or at least most of us).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiom7_du_DBAmBSmsWnw5VSNQudVfuYibh0S23ZcdSzPgss6dMDmsKxeKHlZ0dhyphenhyphen0LB6KgHJse2dHaM9BeRtpOt4D9JlzyhIiprL-GCtrfM5zutbhyphenhyphenwjs4K7rAPqIPcQyzmN1TW1-1r16A/s1600/Margaret+Thatcher+1979.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiom7_du_DBAmBSmsWnw5VSNQudVfuYibh0S23ZcdSzPgss6dMDmsKxeKHlZ0dhyphenhyphen0LB6KgHJse2dHaM9BeRtpOt4D9JlzyhIiprL-GCtrfM5zutbhyphenhyphenwjs4K7rAPqIPcQyzmN1TW1-1r16A/s320/Margaret+Thatcher+1979.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><b>Their economic model would supposedly allow the entrepreneurs a free hand so that they would generate the wealth that would just naturally trickle down to the rest of us and we would all be b</b></span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><b>etter off.</b> It went hand in hand with the rejection of our previous social democratic model that planned for the country's future, to allow more balanced rights between business and property owners and workers and tenants and ensure a more even distribution of wealth. (Note that "old" model has by and large still been successfully pursued in many other North European countries such as<span style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"> in </span>Scandinavia and even Germany<span style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">).</span></span></div>
<div style="color: #1d2129;">
<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #1d2129;">
<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><b>This false economic religion of neo liberalism has not borne the sweet fruits it promised for anyone but the rich. </b>This is just as we were warned by the country's last truly <span style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">so</span>cial <span style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">d</span>emocratic Prime Minister, James Callaghan. On the eve of Thatcherism in Labour's 1979 manifesto he warned:</span></div>
<div style="color: #1d2129;">
<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #1d2129;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNHXpKqUgkyp-vzjADy-SjRs1RRZAVfUCKjaogpGPH3bR5rxmWQ86AwegkhRJlLZwfk_p8LcGCdIGrgWgGH84TA0NHvo3jk64mDcyyMjVwk1yLDzsJnqrJFBBTfg93U9xUTC60obFNJwY/s1600/James+Callaghan.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="333" data-original-width="220" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNHXpKqUgkyp-vzjADy-SjRs1RRZAVfUCKjaogpGPH3bR5rxmWQ86AwegkhRJlLZwfk_p8LcGCdIGrgWgGH84TA0NHvo3jk64mDcyyMjVwk1yLDzsJnqrJFBBTfg93U9xUTC60obFNJwY/s320/James+Callaghan.jpeg" width="211" /></a><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;">"</span><i><b>The Conservatives are<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span>ready to gamble the people's future on a return to the nineteenth century free market' - despite its pitiless social consequences.</b> .... The new technologies hold out the prospect of faster growth and a better quality of life for all... The use of crude market forces advocated by the Tories will not and cannot achieve these changes in a way that is acceptable to the British people...This election comes at a time of change unparalleled since 1945. <b>A generation has now grown up in a welfare state which remains the envy of the world in health care and education. We have demonstrated a capacity for skill and inventiveness which keeps us at the forefront of world technology. Those are no mean achievements. </b></i></span><i style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>A Tory Government would put all this at risk.</b>"</i><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">How prophetic that warning proved to be!</span></div>
<div style="color: #1d2129;">
<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #1d2129;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>Sadly, in 1979 the country ignored James Callaghan's warning and chose a dangerous socio-economic experiment under Margaret Thatcher that we have been living under for nearly 40 years now. </b></span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Contrary to what the new model promised, under their free market approach <b>British businesses have largely hoarded cash or returned it to shareholders rather than investing in the future.</b> Business investment has now been been declining for a quarter of a century; <b>we have piled our money into housing speculation rather than wealth-creating assets.</b> Not only has this meant lower productivity and fewer quality jobs, it has also <b>resulted in too few homes (especially affordable ones) and a much higher cost of living that squeezes most households.</b></span></div>
<div style="color: #1d2129;">
<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #1d2129;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGbZeJzlPZhCyh8v_QhzHx6H0GWtS4_NU-trR3JydBzhaN_zcJxq-5YTC30nXFmtZ6Z7a9JgZLptpNektlMOD4v03FU-vFvZHHzihMLrsDCFrZK_9DSV4ORgj18eYRmcKjRihMEY4jZNo/s1600/balance+of+trade.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="371" data-original-width="400" height="296" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGbZeJzlPZhCyh8v_QhzHx6H0GWtS4_NU-trR3JydBzhaN_zcJxq-5YTC30nXFmtZ6Z7a9JgZLptpNektlMOD4v03FU-vFvZHHzihMLrsDCFrZK_9DSV4ORgj18eYRmcKjRihMEY4jZNo/s320/balance+of+trade.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>We have ended up with a country with a huge trade deficit, </b></span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>buying far more from the rest of the world than we sell to it. </b>Our surplus in services is dwarfed by our deficit in goods. This has happened not because of the European Union's Single Market (which actually could have offered us the opportunity to increase what we sell as has happened in Germany). Certainly wider global competition played a part in the contraction of our manufacturing basis. However, it was also the result of "disastrous, destructive, deliberate deindustrialisation" (to quote the head of the IPPR) . But another underying reason was a political settlement where <b>policy has been set in the City of Westminster in the interests of the City of London, not the country as a whole.</b></span><br />
<br /></div>
<div style="color: #1d2129;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">We have also seen <b>a huge reduction </b></span><b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">i</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">n taxes for the richest </span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">at the same time as</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> an increase in those taxes that most hit ordi</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">nar</span></b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>y folk, especially the poorest, such as VAT.</b></span></div>
<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-Ki-JD7IqKh7lAZ6VxwzyqRX1qxCsprtLcjJvrHYc2rAtEDCjZCwNC7Ol2Dnh0lV-ONwB4krrGV71vW3C4RosZ-Ge1fpCauzyklWjVS4qubKLSX0x4cDxVzR7DuDqpTm1idBTM_LpW3c/s1600/selling+the+family+silver.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="387" data-original-width="620" height="124" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-Ki-JD7IqKh7lAZ6VxwzyqRX1qxCsprtLcjJvrHYc2rAtEDCjZCwNC7Ol2Dnh0lV-ONwB4krrGV71vW3C4RosZ-Ge1fpCauzyklWjVS4qubKLSX0x4cDxVzR7DuDqpTm1idBTM_LpW3c/s200/selling+the+family+silver.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">And <b>we have sold off so much of the state's "family silver</b>" (as the former Tory Prime Minister Harold MacMillan bemoaned). We have dismembered so much of our state structure which has been sold off to rich private individuals and corporations and even foreign governments. These <b>private interests have leached billions of pounds in private profits from our public services whilst usually providing a <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">worse</span> service.</b> This has involved the loss of our council housing and tof he inherent monopolies of energy, water and rail and the ownership and running of our schools, hospitals and even prisons. What will be next? Our courts, our police force, the army? (If you want some further insight into this I recommend reading the excellent </span><i style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Dismembered</i><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> by Polly Toynbee and David Walker).</span><br />
<div style="color: #1d2129;">
<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="color: #1d2129;">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">And all of this inevitably has has led to an ever<span style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">-</span>widening gap between the rich few and the many and especially the poorest. </span></div>
<div style="color: #1d2129;">
<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #1d2129;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxHZsjWoHTed64w3jiiUfngaAuidKscU06Jp8n1uLoqDZuo-EJ1lElDm-7kBT0mpweuHdUVaL2sXXR8poI9ZR-Y-S3BnTwmfzDWKr-UK5avV0wGKUyUvHJeSTX1LLas-KC83GkfW2cMxM/s1600/tony+blair+new+labour.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="236" data-original-width="236" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxHZsjWoHTed64w3jiiUfngaAuidKscU06Jp8n1uLoqDZuo-EJ1lElDm-7kBT0mpweuHdUVaL2sXXR8poI9ZR-Y-S3BnTwmfzDWKr-UK5avV0wGKUyUvHJeSTX1LLas-KC83GkfW2cMxM/s320/tony+blair+new+labour.jpg" width="320" /></a><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><b>Sadly, this was an economic model largely adopted by New Labour.</b> </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">Hence Maragaret Thatcher's boast that her proudest legacy was Tony Blair.</span><span style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"> This was illustrated by</span><span style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"> <span style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">New Labour's </span>continued love affair with the City of London (which contributed to the financial crash of 2008) and the disastrous expansion of PFI (which will have cost the state about six times the value of t<span style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">he </span>assets built). However, <b>at least the New Labour governments did significantly moderate the damaging effects of neo liberalism</b>, e.g. through our welfare system and the introduction of the minimum wage. Such policies did reduce poverty even <span style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">as t</span>hey allowed inequality to continue to grow. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #1d2129;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_Qs0GcQftpyGdo00AbDIN4a8wktGpVrRwAQ5YBO26XK3V_YTVfe9v-ezMsSTGddanYquuHU5G2kgrYjg-RJhFsr7HTUzqHNMY9c802j3-FyJLV95_2TkeZPZIUF4fvr0akMzc-It5uKA/s1600/George+Osborne.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="375" data-original-width="465" height="161" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_Qs0GcQftpyGdo00AbDIN4a8wktGpVrRwAQ5YBO26XK3V_YTVfe9v-ezMsSTGddanYquuHU5G2kgrYjg-RJhFsr7HTUzqHNMY9c802j3-FyJLV95_2TkeZPZIUF4fvr0akMzc-It5uKA/s200/George+Osborne.jpg" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">And now we have suffered <b>seven years of Tory-led blind economic incompetence</b></span><span style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><b>.</b> S</span><span style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">elf<span style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">-</span>defeating austerity with the butchering of so much of our public services and the removal of much of the welfare state's safety net. <b>This has almost finished this destruction job of our social democratic model.</b> It has resulted in huge increases in poverty and private debt and a fall in real wages and wealth for most of us whilst the very rich have taken more and more and put back less and less. And the Tories' ritual incanctation (repeated e.g. by my own MP at the election) that the best way out of poverty is work not welfare has rung increasingly h</span><span style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">oll</span><span style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">ow. 60% of households in poverty are now working households. </span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjL9mntYTkBSD_JiAvvjvAiFJNo-DZ2c38FAuYzVzG4mmcG0UYUgDX2KNa5BsTo56hLtGV2N1Q7teR-g817reVo2uafWEjM6yUWSaggGi0szh0lsXTgt1GdKLdZwDeFUrHmk3fKnORAu8E/s1600/im-sorry-but-the-winner-takes-it-all.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="700" data-original-width="600" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjL9mntYTkBSD_JiAvvjvAiFJNo-DZ2c38FAuYzVzG4mmcG0UYUgDX2KNa5BsTo56hLtGV2N1Q7teR-g817reVo2uafWEjM6yUWSaggGi0szh0lsXTgt1GdKLdZwDeFUrHmk3fKnORAu8E/s200/im-sorry-but-the-winner-takes-it-all.png" width="171" /></a><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">In consequence of all this <b>we are now a poorer and more divided country than we have been at any time since the 1930s.</b> And many economists believe we are also on the verge of another consumer debt led<span style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"> </span>crash (resulti<span style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">n</span>g this time largely from the austerity driven fall in wages). </span></div>
<div style="color: #1d2129;">
<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #1d2129;">
<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><b>It was this growing awareness among ordinary folk that they were getting a raw deal which led to the Brexit vote as an act of rebellion </b><span style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">in </span>so many working class/poorer communities. They rightly felt the last 40 years had left them and their communities behind. <b>For some of those leave voters their vote was nothing more articulate than putting two fingers up to our rich privileged establishment, epitomised so well by our then Eton-educated Prime Minsister and Chancellor. </b></span><br />
<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><b>However,</b> <b>many had been transfixed by the "Euro Monster"- the fictional demon created by another part of the rich establishment. </b></span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyqVyaFElDUczAbfmighvtinezoyrEBhLxds-dxckDo98FL9yyAq8KxvD3CetQoHREJudVm8fstWis_ToItnLoeqpDR8lP15UIjSPQGN04HGBuC0HTRn-kHwoFizz78ttnGSYBjQI1TCo/s1600/cookie-monster-eu.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="238" data-original-width="265" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyqVyaFElDUczAbfmighvtinezoyrEBhLxds-dxckDo98FL9yyAq8KxvD3CetQoHREJudVm8fstWis_ToItnLoeqpDR8lP15UIjSPQGN04HGBuC0HTRn-kHwoFizz78ttnGSYBjQI1TCo/s200/cookie-monster-eu.jpg" width="200" /></a><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">This "Euro-Monster", so the stiory goes, is<b> an evil beast who has taken control of our lives by removing the power for our national governemnt to make decisions in our interests and by forcing on us the curse of uncontrollable immigration</b>. This is supposedly the cause of the raw deal that</span><span style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"> most of the country has experienced - poor wages and unaffordable housing etc- and which our national government is sadly powerless to prevent. However, <b>it's nonsense, a myth. </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><b>The very large majority of laws that have left ordinary people with a raw deal have been made entirely in this country</b>, eg the selling off of our public services to private and foreign interests or the resetting of our tax system to benefit the rich or slashing funding of our welfare state or restriction of access to justice. At the same time <b>a</b></span><span style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><b>ll serious independent research has found there is actually very little link between the economic problems most folk have endured and higher immigration.</b> The disconnect between immigration and economic damage is most obvious when you realise that some of the most strongly leave voting constituencies actually had some of the lowest levels of immigration (eg North east England).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9iZx7LGGLtjfPBc0m0L9PCGqepk8EKVzIWJbeHA4rQN5qHit7hDK_TAfcYLktrPqn0_cphj5ICkzUA2ctoR6fP9v35Tifo4koifbuU7tiTPHp0qg24kxGfgLyxxaSAK2ZOJufmaiFRwQ/s1600/Viscount+Rothermere.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="499" data-original-width="379" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9iZx7LGGLtjfPBc0m0L9PCGqepk8EKVzIWJbeHA4rQN5qHit7hDK_TAfcYLktrPqn0_cphj5ICkzUA2ctoR6fP9v35Tifo4koifbuU7tiTPHp0qg24kxGfgLyxxaSAK2ZOJufmaiFRwQ/s320/Viscount+Rothermere.jpg" width="243" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><b>This mythical Euro monster was a self-serving invention of</b></span><span style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><b> certain rich, establishment interests -like the foreign billionaire owners of the Mail & Telegraph. They invented it to try to blind ordinary folk to the real cause of the loss of control and their raw deal- them!-</b> the rich ind<span style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">i</span>viduals and corporations in whose interests this country has been run for nearly 40 years. It suits their fictional narrative very well that our membership of the EU (since 1972) happens to have coincided with the real sell off of country to the rich under the economic religion of neo liberalism (since 1979).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><b>It is a sad irony that the the social & economic woes that lead to the Brexit vote are only likely to be worsened by Brexit itself,</b> at least the hard form of it that the current government seem to be recklessly pursuing. If they continue down that route the likely failure to achieve a free trade deal will only make us all even poorer.</span></div>
<div style="color: #1d2129;">
<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #1d2129;">
<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><b>There is only one UK political party with a plan to reset our social and economic model to work for the good of all</b> rather than just letting the very rich help themselves whilst so many suffer. That party is <b>Jeremy Corbyn's Labour party </b>and it's why there can and will be no return to New Labour. Their goals are to achieve ends that should be endorsed by all biblical Christians (which I seek to be) and frankly by all right thinking people of other faiths or none:</span></div>
<div style="color: #1d2129;">
</div>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">reduce poverty and homelessness</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">set people free from debt</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">give everyone a fair stake in and a secure place in the resources this country has to offer</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> protect God's planet that we all share and depend on</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> increase social justice</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> pursue peace in this country and the wider world</span></li>
</ul>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjp2KDKIf2iaTOGn_QrKxAIVD-NsEpTLQ3zTaGGDSnwFfrGMIeSAIrXeb46frgs_jpRkM79Q3jgAJlimizcHw-03OJ6V7AbA6dGqcorODCrdTp2ut_9BBOcfxtpoyvDevonAqWTbC_wunY/s1600/Jeremy+Corbyn+general+election.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="688" data-original-width="590" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjp2KDKIf2iaTOGn_QrKxAIVD-NsEpTLQ3zTaGGDSnwFfrGMIeSAIrXeb46frgs_jpRkM79Q3jgAJlimizcHw-03OJ6V7AbA6dGqcorODCrdTp2ut_9BBOcfxtpoyvDevonAqWTbC_wunY/s320/Jeremy+Corbyn+general+election.jpg" width="274" /></a></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">Their means of achieving these ends were sketched out in <b>their recent election manifesto- </b></span><b><i style="color: #1d2129; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">For the Many, Not the Few</i><span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">- a title which would well fit the same hymn sung by The </span><i style="color: #1d2129; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">Economic Justice</i></b><span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><b> commission.</b> Although the manifesto was finalised at such short notice it<span style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"> </span>prov<span style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">e</span>d increasingly popular the more people learned about it. It was also pretty well received by many of the world's leading economist<span style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">s who in a joint letter endorsed their economic plans as just what the country needed to revital<span style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">ize our post <span style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">Brexit evonomy. Labour's</span></span></span> <b>radical transformative policies</b> included:</span></div>
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">a new National Investment Bank ready to lend £1/4 trillion for business and inno<span style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">v</span>ation over 10 years</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">a new £1/4 trillion fund to rejuvenate our crumbling infrastructure over the same period</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">increased income tax rates on the richest</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">a potential land value tax to act both as a wealth tax and a means of forcing property developers to build hosuing the country needs now rather than horde until the price is "right" (for them not the rest of us!)</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">a massive programme of affordable housebuilding especially through construction of councl housing</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">the reintroduction of rent controls and greater rights and security for tenants</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">a clamp down on tax evasion and tax avoidance</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">the start of the reversal of the governments' welfare benefit cuts which are plunging so many into poverty</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">new employment rights and protetcions including banning zero hours contracts and new rights to trade union representaion</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">an increase in the minimum wage to £10 per hour by 2020</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">the abolition of debt-burdening student tuition fees</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">renationalising our railways and water industry</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">establishing a new national energy provider focussed on green renewable energy production</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">reversing the privatising of the running of many of our public services to bring them back under state/council control</span></li>
<li><span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">caps on pay of those in charge of companies performing government contracts.</span></li>
</ul>
<div>
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><b>Since the election we have also seen the Labour party articulate a sensible soft Brexit:</b> an approach that both respects the (albeit very misguided) leave vote whilst avoiding the Tories' hard Brexit cliff edge that threatens to plunge all of us into even more tubulent economic seas.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">And over the coming months hopefully Labour will be able to develop further radical, transformative policies which like 20 years ago will no doubt be positively influenced by the IPPR's final report. Hopefully this will include other policies that Labour has seriously considered but not yet articulated such as enforced profit shares for all employees (which narrowly missed making it to their last two manifestos).</span><br />
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYCCAvo6N9G4D6OoTwNUzEQ3MFjdaa_g2wyiV_yHPn7OqyCwAXy-1HVeDVNeCrOCCC2pwrPt0_41voWJwcJKOiPLnMrIYYctsB2sdpAawLem5hzMULDLYce8VCF6t66gVnJSZph1S03OM/s1600/theresa+awkward+face.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="310" data-original-width="223" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYCCAvo6N9G4D6OoTwNUzEQ3MFjdaa_g2wyiV_yHPn7OqyCwAXy-1HVeDVNeCrOCCC2pwrPt0_41voWJwcJKOiPLnMrIYYctsB2sdpAawLem5hzMULDLYce8VCF6t66gVnJSZph1S03OM/s200/theresa+awkward+face.jpg" width="143" /></a><span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><b>Even the Tory party are slowly recognising that things have to change. </b>Hence Theresa May's already forgotten or watered down promises to cap energy prices, take action over excessive executive pay and now consideration of doing "something" about student loan debts. However what they have actually put forward so far has been very thin gruel which will not really nourish the many.</span><br />
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtSFMkv86AEbV_l-bMQcMeID7bXI5FDm-8IoDMlX-VIJh1EHqPqcHAE5S7lUe9CQMFO7akG1WECJ0x34lfU_4AqSbD_gAuiqzPyeFIW8TveHJclvG8ymGuNp1lhGsW53CV_Ovy1mjnnks/s1600/clement.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1280" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtSFMkv86AEbV_l-bMQcMeID7bXI5FDm-8IoDMlX-VIJh1EHqPqcHAE5S7lUe9CQMFO7akG1WECJ0x34lfU_4AqSbD_gAuiqzPyeFIW8TveHJclvG8ymGuNp1lhGsW53CV_Ovy1mjnnks/s320/clement.jpg" width="320" /></a><b><span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">I confidently hope and pray that our current govern</span><span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">me</span><span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">nt will soon fall, perhaps on their own Brexit sword, and that after the following election we should see a radical Labour government elected. A government that will transform and reset our socio-economic model to work for the many not just the few, just as they did under Clement Attlee 72 years ago.</span></b></div>
<div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"></span></div>
</div>
<div>
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3EgttKERs6G5E6v9OlL1HvTQ7Hbx85Eam_yLdXJX9etLX9-Coh5FbHtbwEmn2FWjh5f4S-mKL2-UPf2TUzfV515aHnHFmwEIbFn1oVgX_rIRn0955QH8ekj7SBZE_dNq6CQE6MHK01JI/s1600/Harold+Macmillan+conservative+tory+one+nation.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="298" data-original-width="400" height="148" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3EgttKERs6G5E6v9OlL1HvTQ7Hbx85Eam_yLdXJX9etLX9-Coh5FbHtbwEmn2FWjh5f4S-mKL2-UPf2TUzfV515aHnHFmwEIbFn1oVgX_rIRn0955QH8ekj7SBZE_dNq6CQE6MHK01JI/s200/Harold+Macmillan+conservative+tory+one+nation.jpg" width="200" /></a><span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><b>And the real test of that transformation (as it was for Thatcherism with New Labour) will be when the Conservative party adopts that same new social democratic model- </b>just as they adopted the old social democratic model under the likes of Churchill and MacMillan in the 1950s.</span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjpj_vzIbJ1d88DeT7UXAD970gFoHFFmi5lztvqQA-Z1UNE0zvKAxCPWWmZfwlvk36SRZcQaMNuKqbpLXDLasfGnhNm7aeA0DjwTqi1BQLAhR9teaZt07vfzAHmENCAgFq-qM_jKFaKRo/s1600/bible+read+me.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="565" data-original-width="849" height="132" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjpj_vzIbJ1d88DeT7UXAD970gFoHFFmi5lztvqQA-Z1UNE0zvKAxCPWWmZfwlvk36SRZcQaMNuKqbpLXDLasfGnhNm7aeA0DjwTqi1BQLAhR9teaZt07vfzAHmENCAgFq-qM_jKFaKRo/s200/bible+read+me.jpg" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This desire to provide an economy that works for the benefit of all and protects the poorest is a very biblical aim. It was with a similar end in mind that God founded his first
earthly kingdom of Israel. In Numbers and Deuteronomy God makes clear that
every citizen is to have a stake in their promised land so that there should be
no need for any poverty. However if there was poverty (which due to human sin
God knew sadly there would be) the poor must be provided for and justice for
the poor must take precedence over individual self interests. This included the
radical jubilee system of cancelling debts and redistributing wealth, i.e. giving
land back to the families who originally owned it. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Similarly today </span><b style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">I believe we need to take back control of our country to ensure we all get a fair share. It is not about taking back control or ownership from the mythical "Euro monster" (who actually controls relatively little). It is about taking back control and ownership from those who really have snatched it from us- the rich individuals and corporations in whose interests this country has been run for nearly 40 years. </b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYwYIQB7DL2VOMblO9lV-8ql685YUMHENPXmrZm29ab3bMHyKC3vSyRBF5P2x6OuL6EOMathvKiojJz-1cstIdYrVhgMMrRTygXT9BiYzpWPlZMc4hxwBVOXPXoQBG6M1Xs7JYALlkGQs/s1600/Jesus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="204" data-original-width="220" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYwYIQB7DL2VOMblO9lV-8ql685YUMHENPXmrZm29ab3bMHyKC3vSyRBF5P2x6OuL6EOMathvKiojJz-1cstIdYrVhgMMrRTygXT9BiYzpWPlZMc4hxwBVOXPXoQBG6M1Xs7JYALlkGQs/s1600/Jesus.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The perfect fair society that will truly benefit everyone can ultimately only be realised when Jesus returns to earth to establish his kingsom of heaven on earth. Until then due to human sin <b>we will fall short, as will any future Labour government. But by God we can do so much better !</b> And the God that I and the Archbishop of Canterbury </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">believe in challenges us to do so.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div style="color: #1d2129; margin: 0.75rem;">
<br /></div>
</div>
Jeremy Hortonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14040288077436997446noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1711610253004091876.post-44929812603842871112017-06-21T16:29:00.000-07:002017-06-21T16:29:46.136-07:00General Election June 2017-What Lessons Did We Learn?<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiN4CxzRf49CuRD_9IXZqAbMJTOiqPSYH3-YdM3Y6_EFlXAZAA0vvYqoNvey61k7kud5LrR9HE9y6bDQGNqNBCp2f5HfApNttQsAwe-oWdr4TIO4V58cGz0FehNKsQ6Selz1Dmn_MUYdUs/s1600/General-Election-2017.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="350" data-original-width="590" height="189" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiN4CxzRf49CuRD_9IXZqAbMJTOiqPSYH3-YdM3Y6_EFlXAZAA0vvYqoNvey61k7kud5LrR9HE9y6bDQGNqNBCp2f5HfApNttQsAwe-oWdr4TIO4V58cGz0FehNKsQ6Selz1Dmn_MUYdUs/s320/General-Election-2017.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
We are now two weeks on from the craziest election that most
of us have lived through. An election invaded by two dreadful terrorist attacks
and then followed by the tragic events of Grenfell Tower. It was an election which most of us- myself
included- thought could only end one way. A coronation for a triumphant Queen
Theresa. Meanwhile poor Jeremy Corbyn would be consigned to the dustbin of history
(as the Sun prophesied) and along with him the death of any hope of a future
socialist government.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrHirfe5zeDhBa13kBlWG0-S7jet2pCaT7CJC_HBYcuYnIf5wZTnWn-snbSH6YVf8lPp4ekKucJ9J3mI2hQdV014fwx6PR6jMpJFAlMhmb-WH7kZ3S_NM6TlvVTkO7ikGd_z6uEfl2-us/s1600/cor-bin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="750" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrHirfe5zeDhBa13kBlWG0-S7jet2pCaT7CJC_HBYcuYnIf5wZTnWn-snbSH6YVf8lPp4ekKucJ9J3mI2hQdV014fwx6PR6jMpJFAlMhmb-WH7kZ3S_NM6TlvVTkO7ikGd_z6uEfl2-us/s200/cor-bin.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEvot04gbbu6c34_GtorBuBTCNvziF2DPzfddMLQwFtdpKw8OKvEotYsKE-g3bVa4s1V9XgTwCRRJI41P8jwNaC2bUH3f3xWf7hy2xwbw3V0G5soikzwAOiYMGQkeBtyH3_nJTDBkQwwA/s1600/Theresa+Britannia.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="750" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEvot04gbbu6c34_GtorBuBTCNvziF2DPzfddMLQwFtdpKw8OKvEotYsKE-g3bVa4s1V9XgTwCRRJI41P8jwNaC2bUH3f3xWf7hy2xwbw3V0G5soikzwAOiYMGQkeBtyH3_nJTDBkQwwA/s320/Theresa+Britannia.jpg" width="320" /></a><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
How differently it turned out! I have never been happier
to be proved wrong on so many counts. Like many I prayed for a political
miracle and we got one. OK it wasn't quite the miracle I'd prayed for- a Labour government, but we got the next best
thing- a Labour government in waiting. We saw a deflated, defeated Tory party,
a Prime Minister who had arrogantly proclaimed herself as “strong and
stable" with a plan for our post Brexit future, exposed as “weak and
wobbly" and whose plan was no more than vacuous soundbites. Most of all we
got a Labour party united behind an inspirational leader , with a genuine plan
and vision offering the country real hope. As a lady once said, “Just rejoice
at that news.”<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZgvNdIT9W4cKGf0KtFqnyljLE1NYoRW48EVnD68N-D-hfK2ioxffioUG180VaBDu_1BfxCEYk664RgrQckE5PQLk5MvM6wVzAINz1-YSUa0gz3RXKZBL_EbFmAQVTiKWZIWTVIfjBCAY/s1600/Jeremy+triumphant.webp" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="467" data-original-width="700" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZgvNdIT9W4cKGf0KtFqnyljLE1NYoRW48EVnD68N-D-hfK2ioxffioUG180VaBDu_1BfxCEYk664RgrQckE5PQLk5MvM6wVzAINz1-YSUa0gz3RXKZBL_EbFmAQVTiKWZIWTVIfjBCAY/s400/Jeremy+triumphant.webp" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifW_AhGcCw-aTVvtk-YKky51zq0C52unKAVp5Qu-TbP9CtNcgV8EQvIyNUl2cQNDdHzXj4yQesqH7YFP3kEuMlpjqOMarASJMaOWSQCwtqLE29fUbG2Z-i1xcDXM9RQhCnBNBnsdOP8sI/s1600/theresa+awkward+face.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="310" data-original-width="223" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifW_AhGcCw-aTVvtk-YKky51zq0C52unKAVp5Qu-TbP9CtNcgV8EQvIyNUl2cQNDdHzXj4yQesqH7YFP3kEuMlpjqOMarASJMaOWSQCwtqLE29fUbG2Z-i1xcDXM9RQhCnBNBnsdOP8sI/s200/theresa+awkward+face.jpg" width="142" /></a><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Let's remember at the start of the election campaign Labour
was polling at 18 to 25 points below the Tories and Theresa May's popularity was a staggering 40
points ahead of Jeremy Corbyn's. No opposition leader
starting an election from such a low point had ever done anything but fail
abysmally. Labour were heading for a car crash (or so we all thought). Yet in
the space of no more of a few weeks the election was transformed. The only
reliable pollster (yet again) was Survation and even by their measure on 12 May
Labour was 18 points behind. But incredibly by 2 June only 3 weeks later and
despite (or perhaps partly because of) two terrorist attacks they were in
striking distance of the Tories. And that's where they stayed, finishing only 2
points behind them in the actual vote.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVdgCfEoeGnOfKYOt4to4Db3ooQFxFYaYfSA_F96w2lE6cRGFRx_N5OZVf70juyrBO9ov_n4k1PysCYqUrBr6Cx-64fHFWXnxanJMqj98iovQSsQXqLvv8DGH-dv5Hvo_uhRLKjCxXLNQ/s1600/Screenshot_20170621-220234.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="786" data-original-width="1074" height="234" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVdgCfEoeGnOfKYOt4to4Db3ooQFxFYaYfSA_F96w2lE6cRGFRx_N5OZVf70juyrBO9ov_n4k1PysCYqUrBr6Cx-64fHFWXnxanJMqj98iovQSsQXqLvv8DGH-dv5Hvo_uhRLKjCxXLNQ/s320/Screenshot_20170621-220234.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And since the election Jeremy and Labour’s popularity has
only increased while Theresa and the Tories has continued to plummet. Two post-election
polls by Survation (everyone else seems to have given up) showed Labour 3 to 6
points ahead of the Tories . And YouGov (who got the pollsters’ runner up
prize) found that Jeremy now had a 34 point popularity advantage over Theresa- a complete reversal
of their positions at the start of the election. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So two weeks on what have we learnt from this extraordinary
election?<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><i>Have a team of good advisers around you.</i></b><br />
<i style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #23221f;">"Where there is no guidance the people
fall, but in an abundance of counsellors there is victory.</span></i><span style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #23221f;">” <i>(Proverbs 11:14)</i></span></span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSQpgat8B31yGu8-hvshaqDRm_TXQw5LsnOtGXFQ0qQxH85R2UW2EBZX1VVOlwL48pJEUp0N0k0u_tjmaMSPc1fyBiJiFSkqiEtX5wljlWq4z_0cKzJIHZIQB5tkbhxnrKVKJ9I2AqpnI/s1600/Screenshot_20170621-220642.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="770" data-original-width="1080" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSQpgat8B31yGu8-hvshaqDRm_TXQw5LsnOtGXFQ0qQxH85R2UW2EBZX1VVOlwL48pJEUp0N0k0u_tjmaMSPc1fyBiJiFSkqiEtX5wljlWq4z_0cKzJIHZIQB5tkbhxnrKVKJ9I2AqpnI/s320/Screenshot_20170621-220642.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #23221f;"><i><br /></i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Theresa May seems to have prepared her much-criticised
manifesto (“dementia tax” and all)
huddled in a secret broom
cupboard with just her two hired special advisers. There seems to have been
little if any consultation with her cabinet. By contrast Jeremy Corbyn developed
Labour's highly popular manifesto in consultation with his parliamentary
colleagues and the wider Labour membership.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 15.75pt; margin-bottom: 7.5pt; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<b><i>Have a vision that can inspire</i></b><br />
<br />
<i>"Where there is no vision the people perish." (Proverbs 29:18)</i><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4T5aBZ4SvgyXNNTN81meOI3bwxZkQBEU9P1MGzIMBAnxeD-uww8vESHZOikv6gRDGFFADjABez0-yqdeM3YZzcp5OQ9B7BcpYYdVi5MeCD7iugmzakbfxA0qvpZ0HRVdXK8w2dwYCIqc/s1600/Screenshot_20170621-220848.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="667" data-original-width="1080" height="197" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4T5aBZ4SvgyXNNTN81meOI3bwxZkQBEU9P1MGzIMBAnxeD-uww8vESHZOikv6gRDGFFADjABez0-yqdeM3YZzcp5OQ9B7BcpYYdVi5MeCD7iugmzakbfxA0qvpZ0HRVdXK8w2dwYCIqc/s320/Screenshot_20170621-220848.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 15.75pt; margin-bottom: 7.5pt; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Whether you agreed with it or not, Labour offered a (fully
costed) manifesto and vision of Britain that was transformative: returning public services to public control
and ownership, abolishing tuition fees, a new national investment bank and a
huge reinvestment in the country's infrastructure to revitalise our flagging
economy, giving our cash-starved schools and hospitals the funds they need to save
them, 30 hours free child care for under 5s, a £10 minimum wage and much more
besides.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Meanwhile the
Conservative manifesto promised little beyond vague concepts like a better
Brexit and a stronger Britain. It frightened some of their core older voters
with the proposal to remove the pension triple lock, means test their winter
fuel allowance and the threat of the dreaded “dementia tax on their property to
pay for social care in their homes. It offered nothing at all for young people.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><i>Being nice beats being mean<o:p></o:p></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>“For it is God’s will
that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish people.” (1
Peter 2:15)<o:p></o:p></i><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifY9a3B7K6NkcP_NqGqq6YyiS8YwMfstfKM5PiKJjdKf-fBWtlbkw4NcJ1Hv9DZUJB2XLZnzRQVo1Fp8FvyOSBxsxLw83vsJCl-AvYzbo3PgS5Y9N-mqg6egJ6geBUGs0rhW6U0klY4bI/s1600/Screenshot_20170621-221935.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="764" data-original-width="1080" height="226" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifY9a3B7K6NkcP_NqGqq6YyiS8YwMfstfKM5PiKJjdKf-fBWtlbkw4NcJ1Hv9DZUJB2XLZnzRQVo1Fp8FvyOSBxsxLw83vsJCl-AvYzbo3PgS5Y9N-mqg6egJ6geBUGs0rhW6U0klY4bI/s320/Screenshot_20170621-221935.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The right wing press (i.e. most of it) tried every trick in
the book to trash Jeremy's character, pouring vicious lies and bile over him, besmirching
him in headlines like “Jezza's Jihadi Comrades” and “Don't chuck Britain in the
Cor-bin". And Jeremy's response? “I hear some people have
said some nasty things about me. I forgive them all.” The more they tried to
darken his image the more the light of his good character shone through. He
doesn’t fight fire with fire but with water, never resorting to the sort of spiteful
personal criticism directed at him but focusing instead on policies and
actions. And his kinder, gentler way of doing politics has resonated with many
people and drawn to him far more than have been put off by the gutter press
headlines. And as a Christian I have to admit his Christ-like example has both
shamed and challenged me when I myself have been rather less gracious with my
own political comments.<i><o:p></o:p></i><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><i>People value authenticity and honesty<o:p></o:p></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>“An honest answer is
like a kiss on the lips.” (Proverbs 24:26)<o:p></o:p></i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i><br /></i>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMTzddB_gsMsF1qaPXjmJF0IdSEhNrNz6ou7JxV2N1OLzX_fg18TYIjhcK6l6ipqvOHwrXhv1x7XbXH1bZecwzp5M_ynmZvL7sktWOrv1QW0e6QpA8HyyzeBRuEGsvfOD5mpFnKi0fLVs/s1600/Screenshot_20170621-222717.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="651" data-original-width="1080" height="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMTzddB_gsMsF1qaPXjmJF0IdSEhNrNz6ou7JxV2N1OLzX_fg18TYIjhcK6l6ipqvOHwrXhv1x7XbXH1bZecwzp5M_ynmZvL7sktWOrv1QW0e6QpA8HyyzeBRuEGsvfOD5mpFnKi0fLVs/s320/Screenshot_20170621-222717.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<i><br /></i>
One striking difference revealed between the two leaders was
their sense of authenticity. Not everyone likes or agrees with Jeremy Corbyn
but most can see that he's “the real deal.” His lines aren’t always the most
polished but what he speaks he speaks with a genuine passion and conviction
about things he really cares about. He did have certain favoured phrases like
“for the many not the few" but he was able to articulate what he meant by
them in terms of policy. Contrast that with Theresa May who too often just
seemed to mouth safe soundbites and vague values which she would crow bar into
her speeches and conversations where appropriate; “strong and stable
leadership” “standing up for Britain”/ “for working families”, “no deal is
better than a bad deal”, “getting on with the job”. You had no real sense of
the substance behind these vague statements, either in terms of passion and
conviction or policy detail. Strip away the costume and scrape off the grease
paint and you had the suspicion it might all be a rather fake act. And that
whiff of falsehood was only heightened when she appeared to directly lie to the
watching world after she suddenly changed her “dementia tax” policy. She
incredulously tried to deny that her sudden introduction of a cap so obviously
missing from her manifesto just hours
before was not a change of policy. A look in her eyes told you she was lying.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><i>People want a leader who connects with
them where they are <o:p></o:p></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>“And large crowds
followed Him.” (Matthew 19:2)<o:p></o:p></i><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGrKYesVHskfNG6AMVte4P3XZcPEuK2sMqObCzWWr4wmk3vioXf0RD0fAOgwnLAwGQxaBbAj4W_gs1UHa_gkWmRPFoThMY3sAZsUxeoiMSsZ2_qmyuVYseKCb88BzZ4DMm6hQ6OliUu0w/s1600/Screenshot_20170621-223011.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="758" data-original-width="1080" height="224" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGrKYesVHskfNG6AMVte4P3XZcPEuK2sMqObCzWWr4wmk3vioXf0RD0fAOgwnLAwGQxaBbAj4W_gs1UHa_gkWmRPFoThMY3sAZsUxeoiMSsZ2_qmyuVYseKCb88BzZ4DMm6hQ6OliUu0w/s320/Screenshot_20170621-223011.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
Many (including myself) mocked Jeremy and his loyal
supporters for the large crowds he attracted during his Labour leadership
campaigns. We said he’s only preaching to the converted rather than reaching
new people and that won’t win you votes in the wider country, not in 2017 anyway.
How wrong we were. It was a key characteristic of Jeremy that shone through
that he just loves to be out and about meeting and engaging with ordinary
people where they are at. This was illustrated by the huge enthusiastic crowds
he spoke to just as much as the more intimate one to one engagements. At the
end of his BBC Question Time session you sensed he genuinely meant it when he
said, “Is that it? But I had so much more to say!” By contrast Theresa May
seems to be genuinely frightened of meeting ordinary people unless they happen
to be carefully handpicked by her minders and wearing blue rosettes. This fear
of engagement seemed to be what lay behind her refusal to take part in the
leaders’ debates and in the few instances when we saw her engaging with
ordinary members of the public she looked very awkward and ill at ease. At the
end of the BBC Question Time you felt she couldn’t get off that stage soon
enough. This stark contrast between Theresa and Jeremy has been seen even more
graphically since the election following the Grenfell Tower disaster. Sometimes
pictures speak so much more eloquently than words. None more so than the
picture of Jeremy putting his arm round one of the distraught survivors and the
picture of Theresa standing with the emergency services, aloof and apart from
the victims. <o:p></o:p>And in these days of instant social media and 24 hour news with their emphasis on the visual, pulling large enthusisastic crowds or pulling awakward faces matter- fairly or unfairly it communicates a message. Before the election campaign Jeremy had only been able to speak to the wider public through the prism of a national media so very biased against him. However the strict impartiality required by election rules allowed him to freely communicate his message and his character. For the first time many saw him as he really is; a good, honest, thoughtful and compassionate man offering a message of real hope.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifP_jHKfbrmtBZLuS8eRCI08RtW9A1-1LJOPjJqZbo-QORZGXIB8qiQZLDpKqJp6He9Cem8tRuGXI-_Xw_x6GuT0_L_7fwZ-OMKELPRTlA0IOfBM0xB4-QZhB1Gz7j7S8V-LwemMbIazM/s1600/Screenshot_20170621-235457.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="807" data-original-width="1080" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifP_jHKfbrmtBZLuS8eRCI08RtW9A1-1LJOPjJqZbo-QORZGXIB8qiQZLDpKqJp6He9Cem8tRuGXI-_Xw_x6GuT0_L_7fwZ-OMKELPRTlA0IOfBM0xB4-QZhB1Gz7j7S8V-LwemMbIazM/s320/Screenshot_20170621-235457.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><i>People don’t like being taken for granted<o:p></o:p></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>“... you ought to say,
“If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you
boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil.” (James 4:13</i><i>-</i><i>16
)</i><i><o:p></o:p></i><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSjkpKo_lBSQqktjzdd5W8eARnuHc5RtLRd_W_r3qZilkfiQr6pcpoZojNffKyfeDALvVhxYO5DboVhtr57RnIvbC8QK-3bwGI7SW2U9wRxUzDuSMkK7krskalt34BuifI2QuNoarYrzY/s1600/Screenshot_20170621-223435.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="606" data-original-width="1080" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSjkpKo_lBSQqktjzdd5W8eARnuHc5RtLRd_W_r3qZilkfiQr6pcpoZojNffKyfeDALvVhxYO5DboVhtr57RnIvbC8QK-3bwGI7SW2U9wRxUzDuSMkK7krskalt34BuifI2QuNoarYrzY/s320/Screenshot_20170621-223435.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Most of the electorate rightly felt misled about the need
for an election in the first place. We had been told seven times by Theresa May
that there would be no election until 2020 as she just wanted to get on with
the job of negotiating a “red white and blue” Brexit. In April she then
suddenly announced an election on the pretext that she needed the electorate’s
authority to negotiate Brexit. This is even though Parliament had just given
her the article 50 authority she needed. The real truth was she saw a 25 point
poll lead, worsening economic conditions and bruising Brexit negotiations. She realised conditions would never be so good to increase her majority and went for it.<br />
These
are totally understandable reasons for calling an election but very far from the reasons she gave . To
many it looked like she was taking the public for mugs as she almost demanded
them to give her a huge majority to strengthen her hand and negotiate the best
possible Brexit deal for Britain.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
She was seen to treat the electorate with further contempt
by not turning up to a live TV debate with the other party leaders. (Instead
sending a woman whose father had died that week).<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
She then offered up a manifesto promising virtually nothing
of substance to anyone and her core older votes having various financial
threats made against them.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
No wonder many voters thought “stuff you Mrs May, you're not
getting your landslslide and you’re not getting my vote.”<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><i>Pride comes before a fall<o:p></o:p></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>“Pride goes before
destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.” (Proverbs 16:18)<o:p></o:p></i><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvpKXI3DSVI29tNoXXrDcxBmuhRTKecADrXqZjgRjd4mf9uJoFjiVH3HJ3sW0JpPybSuhnOUF9ijszsRLg3ujxMxoc2VgWpt-sOJSuy49iV4H704G7A8HWDtr9LW7AAKALbG3BxfxvtbY/s1600/Screenshot_20170621-232954.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="738" data-original-width="1080" height="218" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvpKXI3DSVI29tNoXXrDcxBmuhRTKecADrXqZjgRjd4mf9uJoFjiVH3HJ3sW0JpPybSuhnOUF9ijszsRLg3ujxMxoc2VgWpt-sOJSuy49iV4H704G7A8HWDtr9LW7AAKALbG3BxfxvtbY/s320/Screenshot_20170621-232954.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If you are going to rather arrogantly pitch a whole election
campaign around yourself being a “strong and stable leader” you’d better
actually be a “strong and stable” leader or are you likely to be found out.
Arrogance is not a particularly attractive quality but if you can back it up people may
put up with it. But what “strong and stable” leader runs from a live TV debate
with her adversaries or u turns on key policies as soon as they meet strong
resistance? As Jeremy Paxman put it that’s not a “strong and stable leader” but
“a blow hard who runs at the first sound of gunfire.” For a leader to comes
across as both arrogant and weak is a lethal combination.<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><i>Not all pollsters are equal<o:p></o:p></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><i> </i></b>“...the voice of one
crying in the wilderness...” (John 1:23)<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2d6SUaPdbgrkTyD5F_2cgyogcilSU6ORvCk89RX7h60S2R3JXO2L1ClRZ-2l5zihC_hQ9G2_zQjY2NMUZwY6yBH5HY8hLNqzSAJSwFZerlHoGcNtqbUx5kAXWBaIq0I_jfpfnRy6PJ98/s1600/Screenshot_20170621-233413.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="541" data-original-width="1080" height="160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2d6SUaPdbgrkTyD5F_2cgyogcilSU6ORvCk89RX7h60S2R3JXO2L1ClRZ-2l5zihC_hQ9G2_zQjY2NMUZwY6yBH5HY8hLNqzSAJSwFZerlHoGcNtqbUx5kAXWBaIq0I_jfpfnRy6PJ98/s320/Screenshot_20170621-233413.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
Survation must be doing something right! They were the only
national pollster who forecast a small Tory victory in 2015 and one of very few
who had consistently predicted Britain would vote to leave the EU in the
referendum. Almost every other pollster had predicted a comfortable Tory
victory this time . Once again Survation got the result right within a
percentage point. Before election day the Tory pollster Lord Ashcroft had
tweeted (I assumed sarcastically) about
Survation uniquely predicting a hung Parliament, “forget the rest.” Well
whether he meant it or not he was right.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><i>Young people will engage and vote if you give something worth engaging in and voting for <o:p></o:p></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><i>“</i></b><i>Let no one despise you
for your youth...” (1 Timothy 4:12)<o:p></o:p></i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhV5CHNE7tSqZ1Zn9O_Edx6n-Jwph_EHcIqHvcri0xCpOMnTQ9rlXhpD2d9t5V6rZ48vwPNP5LYkibho09WccATKAlsNX30dkD8V1cwyE_PBGkpLPo5u6M2Lki0Em7Pt4WRGa8Lpdq4bw0/s1600/Screenshot_20170621-230038.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="506" data-original-width="1040" height="155" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhV5CHNE7tSqZ1Zn9O_Edx6n-Jwph_EHcIqHvcri0xCpOMnTQ9rlXhpD2d9t5V6rZ48vwPNP5LYkibho09WccATKAlsNX30dkD8V1cwyE_PBGkpLPo5u6M2Lki0Em7Pt4WRGa8Lpdq4bw0/s320/Screenshot_20170621-230038.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<i><br /></i>
Only 44% of 18 to 24 year olds voted in 2015. This time 64%
voted - an increase of nearly 50- and overwhelmingly they voted Labour as did all under 45s. And in a number of
constituencies it was Labour's youth vote that made the difference. The shining
example of that was Canterbury which had been held by the Tories since long before
the Labour party even existed. However, in Canterbury there was a huge untapped
pool of student voters who potentially outnumbered older voters. Labour student
activists there like my daughter Josie (pictured on on the far left of the picture above) helped ensure that thousands of students
registered to vote in the first place. Then when those students saw a party offering
them things that so obviously benefited them- most notably abolition of student
fees- for once most of them actually voted.
And this is why Survation were confident they were right to forecast
such a close contest- because they could see Labour were offering young people
something they would get out and vote for.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><i>Jeremy is a far wiser man than most of us have given him credit for<o:p></o:p></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>“Let days speak and
many years teach wisdom.” (Job 32: 8)<o:p></o:p></i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i><br /></i>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVHu5aHX879j-u_wjsJLe2lpnFMKyG2yORco9DaGKD_-1mAE2m6m_hjEffYWM_ilmBjhkv9A7qmDdqlIH6biHPd7nJdsZjqAZ7GqK5L4qvU22xKYlQ4gXk-s1BvNsWmpKrDPmcz-HEsfM/s1600/Screenshot_20170621-234313.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="816" data-original-width="1080" height="241" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVHu5aHX879j-u_wjsJLe2lpnFMKyG2yORco9DaGKD_-1mAE2m6m_hjEffYWM_ilmBjhkv9A7qmDdqlIH6biHPd7nJdsZjqAZ7GqK5L4qvU22xKYlQ4gXk-s1BvNsWmpKrDPmcz-HEsfM/s320/Screenshot_20170621-234313.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Even as a Labour supporter I have quite often disagreed with
Jeremy Corbyn's positions, sometimes over policy but more so over political
strategy. I’ve quite often thought his positions rather naive. However, looking
back over the election and then at the many years before then I now have to
admit that where I disagreed with him he was mostly right and I was mostly
wrong. He is a man of conviction and principle who has very often been out of
step with others even in his own party. This voted against his own party's
whip 600 times. And yet it seems to me that on the large majority of those
occasions when he took a stand against his fellow mps it was they and not he
who were in the wrong. History increasingly suggests rather than being naive on
most occasions his position was wise and right even if it put him in a minority
at the time.<br />
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I would point to the following examples where I believe
Jeremy has been proved right:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Supporting disarmament of Britain’s expensive but
pointless nuclear “deterrent”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Supporting sanctions against apartheid South
Africa<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Opposing Britain's military interventions in the
Middle East<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Opposing counter-productive and illiberal “anti-terror”
laws<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Opposing the extension of private interests to
own and run our NHS and other public services<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Supporting increased taxes on the rich tougher
action on tax evasion and avoidance<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span style="text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-family: "symbol";"> Greater state control of our banks</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Renationalizing key public services like our
railways<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Opposing austerity and the starving of our
public services and the slashing of welfare support<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Accepting the result of the EU referendum and
the triggering of Article 50 <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Recognising most people don’t want a hard Brexit
and would prioritise the economy and free trade over immigration<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->But recognising also that most people don’t want to re-run the referendum even if they
disagreed with the result <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Agreeing to the Prime Minister’s call for an
early election<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Prioritizing the complete abolition of student
tuition fees.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><i>You don't have to win from the centre ground -you can move the centre
ground left<o:p></o:p></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>“Forget the former
things; do not dwell on the past. See, I
am doing a new thing</i><span style="background: white; font-family: "corbel" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;">; </span><i><span style="background: white;">now
it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness
and rivers in the desert.</span></i><span style="background: white;">”</span><span style="background: white; font-family: "corbel" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 107%;"> (</span><i>Isaiah
43:18</i><i>-</i><i>19<b>)</b></i><i><o:p></o:p></i><br />
<i><b><br /></b></i>
<i><b><br /></b></i>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5o8zPkfNvE-DG3HwgJVaW7FXVtN_LmSYSeI1KDzmE4jOOWSvKo_rX225qFCnoUgkvPGzyeMTCfON2NemWL5tIxu6sKYsF6JEauResK7U9MncIA23lzprxckCSJmy9QqBSZcjaNbacn1M/s1600/Screenshot_20170621-231504.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="441" data-original-width="1080" height="130" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5o8zPkfNvE-DG3HwgJVaW7FXVtN_LmSYSeI1KDzmE4jOOWSvKo_rX225qFCnoUgkvPGzyeMTCfON2NemWL5tIxu6sKYsF6JEauResK7U9MncIA23lzprxckCSJmy9QqBSZcjaNbacn1M/s320/Screenshot_20170621-231504.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<i><b><br /></b></i>
I believe this is now a time of change. What was considered extreme
left I believe is becoming mainstream . A political earthquake is happening and
the centre ground is shifting. Some of Labour’s supposedly most left-wing
policies were among their most popular- supported by many who didn’t even vote
for them. These include renationalizing our railways, building more council
houses and increasing taxes on the rich and larger corporations to fund better
public services.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After careful and prayerful
examination of the issues and the evidence I am convinced that the Conservatives
(and to an extent New Labour) have been taking this country in the wrong
direction. This has already caused much
misery and suffering and the loss of opportunity for so many. A continuation of
the same can only lead to things becoming even worse for nearly everyone.
I am convinced that the society they are building is one that is
increasingly alien to the biblical Kingdom of God values that I and most of the
country believe in (whether they share my Christian faith or not). <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgX6rmY8pyleYlSt0wQ9JkeIV7xyh65vTRD3gSXCEA_J0SlEId8XzuvWWnqaJO8ZwV7UVr1zYpjoJ22MUtpMmwR_7K8auxZWjxpQrwb88bF8kgXthsUIBSoWgjZ-w-8fDW2s9YPF2x_4AM/s1600/for+the+many.png"><span style="color: blue; text-decoration-line: none;"><!--[if gte vml 1]><v:shapetype
id="_x0000_t75" coordsize="21600,21600" o:spt="75" o:preferrelative="t"
path="m@4@5l@4@11@9@11@9@5xe" filled="f" stroked="f">
<v:stroke joinstyle="miter"/>
<v:formulas>
<v:f eqn="if lineDrawn pixelLineWidth 0"/>
<v:f eqn="sum @0 1 0"/>
<v:f eqn="sum 0 0 @1"/>
<v:f eqn="prod @2 1 2"/>
<v:f eqn="prod @3 21600 pixelWidth"/>
<v:f eqn="prod @3 21600 pixelHeight"/>
<v:f eqn="sum @0 0 1"/>
<v:f eqn="prod @6 1 2"/>
<v:f eqn="prod @7 21600 pixelWidth"/>
<v:f eqn="sum @8 21600 0"/>
<v:f eqn="prod @7 21600 pixelHeight"/>
<v:f eqn="sum @10 21600 0"/>
</v:formulas>
<v:path o:extrusionok="f" gradientshapeok="t" o:connecttype="rect"/>
<o:lock v:ext="edit" aspectratio="t"/>
</v:shapetype><v:shape id="Picture_x0020_2" o:spid="_x0000_i1026" type="#_x0000_t75"
alt="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgX6rmY8pyleYlSt0wQ9JkeIV7xyh65vTRD3gSXCEA_J0SlEId8XzuvWWnqaJO8ZwV7UVr1zYpjoJ22MUtpMmwR_7K8auxZWjxpQrwb88bF8kgXthsUIBSoWgjZ-w-8fDW2s9YPF2x_4AM/s320/for+the+many.png"
href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgX6rmY8pyleYlSt0wQ9JkeIV7xyh65vTRD3gSXCEA_J0SlEId8XzuvWWnqaJO8ZwV7UVr1zYpjoJ22MUtpMmwR_7K8auxZWjxpQrwb88bF8kgXthsUIBSoWgjZ-w-8fDW2s9YPF2x_4AM/s1600/for+the+many.png"
style='width:240pt;height:120pt;visibility:visible;mso-wrap-style:square'
o:button="t">
<v:fill o:detectmouseclick="t"/>
<v:imagedata src="file:///C:/Users/user/AppData/Local/Temp/msohtmlclip1/01/clip_image001.png"
o:title="for%2Bthe%2Bmany"/>
</v:shape><![endif]--><!--[if !vml]--><!--[endif]--></span></a><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
But under Jeremy Corbyn Labour now offer a genuine
alternative. A “transformative” agenda in which people throughout the country
are increasingly believing (or at least hoping). It is not simply about putting
more money into our failing public services, desperately though they need it.
It's about a different way of running the country- “for the many, not the few.”
This isn’t just another meaningless slogan.
This is at the heart of Labour's policy agenda. And it’s not only about
building a more just and equal society. It’s also about using our national
resources more sensibly and efficiently so that they go further and taking a
longer view to invest for the future rather than making short term savings at a
longer term cost. <o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPS6-WzFNBoqsXhKldeL9eZZeil2vzqxlagO82j9yjsHHiRuB6Nzo1iIKrj7R8x39ZpIgokbfvgAqT4ONAn8yhZPKRHr5GIurYmHIb8YCEvhEUs1JNDtTgrY3ghgwjl70GOOXnDTt7VGw/s1600/for+the+many.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1600" height="160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPS6-WzFNBoqsXhKldeL9eZZeil2vzqxlagO82j9yjsHHiRuB6Nzo1iIKrj7R8x39ZpIgokbfvgAqT4ONAn8yhZPKRHr5GIurYmHIb8YCEvhEUs1JNDtTgrY3ghgwjl70GOOXnDTt7VGw/s320/for+the+many.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
This cause isn’t going away because it’s a cause whose time
has come. During the election Labour already won over many people who could see
that we need to turn this ship of state around. When things only get over the
next few weeks or months or years before the next election (as
inevitably they will for most I fear) I believe many more will follow them. Labour
I am sure will stand firm in its position, waiting for them– taking a stand for
them, the many against the privileged few, for a redistribution of wealth,
power and opportunity to build a fairer, more equal and efficient society and
economy. We are now preparing for the next election whenever it may be
when I am confident Labour will finish the job of winning the nation’s hearts
and minds to this cause. I am confident that they will then secure a majority and lay down their roots. And in time
I am hopeful that this cause will no longer be considered left wing at all but
sensible and moderate. It’s where we are now that I believe is foolish and extreme. And as the centre ground moves,
even the Conservative party in time I believe will move with it, just as it did
in step with Clement Attlee’s earlier transformative Labour government over 70
years ago.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizC-0MnmgW_n0OiFp-TDZca-A0oR1kftlnB56a1gFQObiEfSoAXr0yRN1S_1lbmAspQKJfRmJsWgP1Fgn9WDwDJRyP7-uo8trN9yOBX5MfxDS3Nm9ylkevpLqDlM2Z8OVeq8TvDJYch3E/s1600/clement.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1280" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizC-0MnmgW_n0OiFp-TDZca-A0oR1kftlnB56a1gFQObiEfSoAXr0yRN1S_1lbmAspQKJfRmJsWgP1Fgn9WDwDJRyP7-uo8trN9yOBX5MfxDS3Nm9ylkevpLqDlM2Z8OVeq8TvDJYch3E/s320/clement.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiezNq-lNceg6d6i7oUDbwPrHkHBCzRO-Uy-BMFSw9bOVpEoqPRJw8LPyToewu3ti_LcbmDaazRPSSFo39VOIOuijFMHcLsFCqK-iQsCm-F3sNQACVwchjTA3wq-bSx8b0jsYUDGpR9ujk/s1600/clement.jpg"><span style="color: blue; text-decoration-line: none;"><!--[if gte vml 1]><v:shape
id="Picture_x0020_1" o:spid="_x0000_i1025" type="#_x0000_t75" alt="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiezNq-lNceg6d6i7oUDbwPrHkHBCzRO-Uy-BMFSw9bOVpEoqPRJw8LPyToewu3ti_LcbmDaazRPSSFo39VOIOuijFMHcLsFCqK-iQsCm-F3sNQACVwchjTA3wq-bSx8b0jsYUDGpR9ujk/s320/clement.jpg"
href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiezNq-lNceg6d6i7oUDbwPrHkHBCzRO-Uy-BMFSw9bOVpEoqPRJw8LPyToewu3ti_LcbmDaazRPSSFo39VOIOuijFMHcLsFCqK-iQsCm-F3sNQACVwchjTA3wq-bSx8b0jsYUDGpR9ujk/s1600/clement.jpg"
style='width:240pt;height:150pt;visibility:visible;mso-wrap-style:square'
o:button="t">
<v:fill o:detectmouseclick="t"/>
<v:imagedata src="file:///C:/Users/user/AppData/Local/Temp/msohtmlclip1/01/clip_image002.jpg"
o:title="clement"/>
</v:shape><![endif]--><!--[if !vml]--><!--[endif]--></span></a><o:p></o:p></div>
Jeremy Hortonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14040288077436997446noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1711610253004091876.post-46045240505908826222017-06-06T18:33:00.000-07:002017-06-07T05:51:12.144-07:00Who should you vote for in this election?<h2>
<b> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ8k9NrA_P-Oq_upCbDSJNHtZN-ZPAUtX2cGyjcXQ6vcw-jnm-GPoRLlSMF38WHrczZ9J9cAdJPZGL0D2i8yf6Z2L9501_1RgjNL8BL-Is1PL-7Xrnnz76fQUPfCExxoXKkNU0Nc-ZkqM/s1600/ballot+box.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="516" data-original-width="640" height="322" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ8k9NrA_P-Oq_upCbDSJNHtZN-ZPAUtX2cGyjcXQ6vcw-jnm-GPoRLlSMF38WHrczZ9J9cAdJPZGL0D2i8yf6Z2L9501_1RgjNL8BL-Is1PL-7Xrnnz76fQUPfCExxoXKkNU0Nc-ZkqM/s400/ballot+box.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
</b></h2>
<div>
<b><br /></b></div>
<div>
<b><br /></b></div>
<h2>
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="line-height: 115%;">Part 1- </span></b><b><span style="line-height: 115%;">The Choice is in your hands</span></b> </span></h2>
<h2>
<b><span style="line-height: 36.8px;"><i><span style="font-size: large;">This may be the only bit you need to read!</span></i></span></b></h2>
<div>
I believe on
Thursday the country has the clearest political choice we’ve faced for two
generations. And it’s literally in the hands of our youngest generation of voters to make the difference. In the 2015 election and the EU referendum if young
people had actually turned up and voted we would have had a different
government and we would be remaining in the EU- what most young people had
actually wanted. Instead too many young people stayed shy of the polling booth
and they let their futures be determined by the votes of older generations.
This has left many saddled with even greater student debts and even worse
prospects of earning a good salary or getting a home of their own. No one can
fairly say in this election that the choices on the menu are just the same dish
served with different sauce and garnish.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;">We can
choose a Labour party offering us a credible (and costed) hope and plan to:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
</div>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><span style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: -18pt;">invest
in a better future for our young people and for everyone</span></li>
<li> invest to grow our economy</li>
<li> save our dying public services- rescue our
schools, and hospitals and put more policemen back on our streets</li>
<li><span style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><span style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: -18pt;">provide
truly affordable housing</span></li>
<li> protect the poor</li>
<li> trade freely and prosperously with our
European neighbours despite leaving the EU.</li>
</ul>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span>Alternatively,
we can choose (or let others choose for us) another five years of Conservative
government that will give us:</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l2 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
</div>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> m</span><span style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: -18pt;">ore
painful austerity</span></li>
<li> failing cash-starved
schools and hospitals</li>
<li> less
police on our streets</li>
<li> more
declining pay packets for the many and more riches for the few</li>
<li> more
homeless on our streets and queues at our foodbanks</li>
<li> a
no “free trade” hard Brexit dragging our economy into recession.</li>
</ul>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;">If you're already convinced there's no need to read on! Just make sure you vote
Labour (or where another party are the main Tory challenger vote for them). And remember they close at 10pm!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8XuiLSTiesXRyJIPD1wdTh302_JSUHE7ZcCU0pZoWwJ__4lk80SKL1tMEgnJeT2VZ_k9WzezDnAMNX5LdRYm8vA27kzmr4sIdPmgAkYMxiLZFVV6gnBm93rIC2DxTtdaNZs7qSZlWevk/s1600/vote%2521.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="952" data-original-width="1000" height="304" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8XuiLSTiesXRyJIPD1wdTh302_JSUHE7ZcCU0pZoWwJ__4lk80SKL1tMEgnJeT2VZ_k9WzezDnAMNX5LdRYm8vA27kzmr4sIdPmgAkYMxiLZFVV6gnBm93rIC2DxTtdaNZs7qSZlWevk/s320/vote%2521.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="line-height: 115%;">If you’re not sure where to vote then
just search the website of your local council who should have a section
literally telling you where you can vote by street name. Go to the polling
station identified. Don’t worry if you can’t find your polling card or you
haven’t got your ID. They will just mark off your name and address on their
list of registered voters. Pick up the voting slip, go into one of the booths
and mark an X against the name of your Labour (or other chosen) candidate. You
just get one vote for one candidate! Fold the voting slip up and stick it in the
big black box. Btw it’s possible to be registered to vote in more than one place
but you can only actually vote in one place, so choose wisely! (And don’t do
what I did in my first general election 30 years ago- deciding to vote in Gravesham rather
than Nottingham I missed my train south by a few seconds and got home too late
to vote at all!)<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><i><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;"> If you're still not convinced then invite I you
to please read Part 2 below before you decide how or whether to cast your vote.</span></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><i><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></i></b></div>
<h2>
<b><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">Part 2 A political journey- seeing through the fog of political myths</span></span></b></h2>
<div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5u8Re3grAhJvWBBJEeO4wukjoN8Vq_nldAIlGARbr_FSxvD4GgQTqFncFAn1SN7lAapf6JCXvZhyIQ-737S_PHQNS15iQzxroprzjIVlRcfe0AQBlOkaZz2aCyESAIsGf20vRrBNtyXA/s1600/cloud+head.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1240" data-original-width="1600" height="247" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5u8Re3grAhJvWBBJEeO4wukjoN8Vq_nldAIlGARbr_FSxvD4GgQTqFncFAn1SN7lAapf6JCXvZhyIQ-737S_PHQNS15iQzxroprzjIVlRcfe0AQBlOkaZz2aCyESAIsGf20vRrBNtyXA/s320/cloud+head.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div>
As a Christian and a political
watcher, I have tried to carefully and prayerfully examine the evidence and the
issues that should determine the way I should vote. My starting point has been
to look to God and the guidance in the bible and the life of his Son Jesus as
to what are his values and priorities- to try and make this country and this
world better reflect the values of his Kingdom that he will bring when he
returns to earth. “<i>And what does the Lord
require of you, o mortal? To act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with your
God</i>.” (Micah 6 v 8). This also means opening our eyes as widely as we can
to see the world and the people in it as it is – warts and all. This requires
effort to try to see our way through the fog of myths and lies that so often
prevent us from seeing how things really are. Open our eyes to where those myths come from- very often the media organizations owned by super-rich individuals who do not necessarily have the best interests of most of us at heart.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;">And here I will make a confession. One of the things I am most ashamed of. When
I talk about being blinded by fogs of political myths this isn’t just arrogance
on my part. I’ve been there myself. I speak with my own experience of having
been misled by political myths. That’s why in this election I have set out to
unmask the truth behind what I believe are some of the political myths that can
often mislead us in the way we vote. So here it comes... In 2010, I voted Conservative.
There I’ve said it and will probably now find certain left-leaning facebook friends de-friending me! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgA59kmt2LzO9lCh60GOwvLE0n5QeuKS-v-IlaVJvBOFTaCUD75Agvh0jABRfX6oD8rofdAIKFsfFho4uEqfjfVe9NjbTNYisd1cRW2ENUGk9EmO_hNfZtdN2rncJSbJaMvX4Yvd8ryyT8/s1600/Paddy-Ashdown.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="259" data-original-width="194" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgA59kmt2LzO9lCh60GOwvLE0n5QeuKS-v-IlaVJvBOFTaCUD75Agvh0jABRfX6oD8rofdAIKFsfFho4uEqfjfVe9NjbTNYisd1cRW2ENUGk9EmO_hNfZtdN2rncJSbJaMvX4Yvd8ryyT8/s200/Paddy-Ashdown.jpg" width="149" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhF7MfEOAE_EjnJu3sL1XROtlu-pCjf4i2OcSi6I9LtZ3aVaMo5t9GKPMDCGWupqIZX6Q6d0vKkkbA7oHBfsTnA-pcSsuUP5vEmsBQ_gkIdIrIbs8wnyAejX-JRP3moO9ogQwaX2um-yYs/s1600/tony+blair+new+labour.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="236" data-original-width="236" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhF7MfEOAE_EjnJu3sL1XROtlu-pCjf4i2OcSi6I9LtZ3aVaMo5t9GKPMDCGWupqIZX6Q6d0vKkkbA7oHBfsTnA-pcSsuUP5vEmsBQ_gkIdIrIbs8wnyAejX-JRP3moO9ogQwaX2um-yYs/s200/tony+blair+new+labour.jpg" width="200" /></a><span style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I had previously only voted Liberal Democrat
up to 1995 and then “New” Labour. My reasons for this sudden change in 2010 are quite complex.
It was partly because I had felt let down by the New Labour government over a
period of 13 years, particularly over Iraq and more recently over Jack Straw’s
regressive approach to justice. In rebellion, I had intended to vote Liberal
Democrat but had concerns over their local candidate. I therefore looked at the
Conservatives’ offering and thought aren’t they just offering a more competent
version of New Labour? You see I had (at least partly) bought into two Tory
messages. First, that the Conservatives were the most competent party to manage
the economy following the Financial crisis that Labour (I thought) was partly
responsible for. Second, that David Cameron’s Conservatives were really
compassionate “One Nation” Tories as he claimed. Both of these were pure Tory
myth, as I was soon to recognize. <br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitudVfyUoMKabdD8YiS5MyZVL0LhXujfEDTQrIG8x8S-r2y6Jn1aipT3-vjx7AvdHNJPTp-wca9LcLekDlCkPKBbpKtxB5GEoY9JU9CeLJ8CIQnXG1ebggqCEO0mMZdmJH9Na3BRlGIKw/s1600/david+cameron.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="276" data-original-width="460" height="120" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitudVfyUoMKabdD8YiS5MyZVL0LhXujfEDTQrIG8x8S-r2y6Jn1aipT3-vjx7AvdHNJPTp-wca9LcLekDlCkPKBbpKtxB5GEoY9JU9CeLJ8CIQnXG1ebggqCEO0mMZdmJH9Na3BRlGIKw/s200/david+cameron.jpg" width="200" /></a><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><br />
On the first one see my previous blog;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><a href="http://jeremysblog67.blogspot.co.uk/2017/05/unmasking-myths-tory-myth-1-labour.html">http://jeremysblog67.blogspot.co.uk/2017/05/unmasking-myths-tory-myth-1-labour.html</a>
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;">Labour have
in fact always had a better record of managing our economy and the crash had
zero to do with their spending and borrowing, which before the crash was
significantly lower than the borrowing they had inherited from the Tories (36%
v 40 of GDP) Their only failure there was not regulating our bankers more tightly,
but the Tories were then complaining that they were regulating them too much! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRul4hIczEmZ0mVnEFvGriPWj5_TH0aWbux5zGmD6_wmhKDomRGMl0p-5QObx4E9FzFp8tlnl6ITnDaykaDA-hq-0cs-JP0gDqHKIk-5P6XDc8pxqBwuy-40RDAtSf7Na2AQyPRcWa5SE/s1600/David-Cameron+spoon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="409" data-original-width="615" height="132" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRul4hIczEmZ0mVnEFvGriPWj5_TH0aWbux5zGmD6_wmhKDomRGMl0p-5QObx4E9FzFp8tlnl6ITnDaykaDA-hq-0cs-JP0gDqHKIk-5P6XDc8pxqBwuy-40RDAtSf7Na2AQyPRcWa5SE/s200/David-Cameron+spoon.jpg" width="200" /></a><span style="line-height: 115%;">As for being
compassionate “one nation” Conservatives, as soon as they were in power (and
despite a coalition with the Liberal Democrats) they set about an austerity
agenda of cuts to our public services and welfare that was largely unmentioned
in their manifesto. Their policies massively increased poverty and inequality
whilst extending large tax cuts to their super rich backers. They also seriously reduced access to justice (even more than Jack Straw had hinted). At
the same time their austerity approach stifled our economic recovery sand the national debt increased rather than reduced in breach of tehir own economic targets. Within weeks after the
election the scales were removed from my eyes. I saw that the beast I had in
fact voted for was an altogether different creature to the one I thought I was
voting for. I felt very guilty and foolish that I had been taken in by the Tory
myth machine. (Even more so when I witnessed their restrictions on access to
civil justice bringing redundancies to my team at work).</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;">I grew
disillusioned with politics and was much distracted with the civil justice
changes that ravaged my own area of work, (despite fruitless lobbying of my
Conservative MP). This prompted a period of introspection and I suffered an episode of moderate
depression.</span><br />
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></span>
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu6Pmp_DlMtCKZxU8Iq7WxHrctgZjzBYxh_r9rBAzD-nZePPCzlYuVxINWqY-aBuC_fj0EO8w8YGUoRDskK8RxV-ZpMzp9-F3Jv8zS1ifDKjZdd7uxI419cJGMyrfksNMstlhnYky7AHg/s1600/ed+mil.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="276" data-original-width="182" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu6Pmp_DlMtCKZxU8Iq7WxHrctgZjzBYxh_r9rBAzD-nZePPCzlYuVxINWqY-aBuC_fj0EO8w8YGUoRDskK8RxV-ZpMzp9-F3Jv8zS1ifDKjZdd7uxI419cJGMyrfksNMstlhnYky7AHg/s200/ed+mil.jpg" width="131" /></a><span style="line-height: 115%;">After this
had settled I started taking a closer look at the political scene again in the
months leading up to the 2015 election. I was attracted back to Labour by Ed
Miliband who seemed to be trying to pursue a more compassionate and collective
approach away from New Labour. I therefore joined the Labour party in February
2015. (The first political party I had been a member of since the SDP in the
early 1980s and for whom my dad stood in 1983). I was actively involved in campaigning
for Labour in the 2015 General Election. And it all seemed to be going pretty
well until those damned exit polls!<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></span>
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVcp4DjP78IeHSnjL-nF7YCqEHAk9m7uJFgfA3LpVddLfKfbXKjMuMMsZeELfwPS9ylHx4QJYWblrmUinkUCEN1al1cfhwuZVD8NlaOx2LCtiF4D6n26Z2pKD-75N5MwfUb9lr_sFoQBs/s1600/Andy+Burnham.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="512" data-original-width="512" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVcp4DjP78IeHSnjL-nF7YCqEHAk9m7uJFgfA3LpVddLfKfbXKjMuMMsZeELfwPS9ylHx4QJYWblrmUinkUCEN1al1cfhwuZVD8NlaOx2LCtiF4D6n26Z2pKD-75N5MwfUb9lr_sFoQBs/s200/Andy+Burnham.png" width="200" /></a><span style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></span>
<span style="line-height: 115%;">After Labour’s disheartening defeat in 2015 their leadership campaign followed
in which I had initially supported the mainstream favourite “soft” left
candidate, Andy Burnham. </span><br />
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></span>
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></span>
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></span>
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></span>
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></span>
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></span>
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></span>
<span style="line-height: 115%;">Facebook exchanges with supporters of the rebel
outsider Jeremy Corbyn challenged my assumptions about him and his agenda. My
wife and daughter had already been won over by Jeremy .<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></span>
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirnhr2PiFyAIhJxlPnODLDwruidNkfide913v2lwrCqbu9XJkDv9f9gXNstQfZdjZXWtEtaOW9yu8RVIaFPfbHBuESy5xK6jd-JN8J_k6Zznf98L5XPrClqWQkMpkk4k44ySDWl4XNpew/s1600/Owen_Jones.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="338" data-original-width="600" height="112" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirnhr2PiFyAIhJxlPnODLDwruidNkfide913v2lwrCqbu9XJkDv9f9gXNstQfZdjZXWtEtaOW9yu8RVIaFPfbHBuESy5xK6jd-JN8J_k6Zznf98L5XPrClqWQkMpkk4k44ySDWl4XNpew/s200/Owen_Jones.jpeg" width="200" /></a><span style="line-height: 115%;">And then I read the book “<i>The
Establishment- And How They Get Away With It</i>” by the Guardian journalist
Owen Jones. It talked of things I suspected might be true but had never quite
fully grasped. It was firmly based on hard evidence of the reality of how
Britain was run today- mainly for the benefit of the establishment and the
super-rich few, rather than the many and especially not the poorest. I realised
from this that since 1979 Mrs Thatcher had set this country on a selfish and
self-destructive path to dismantle most of our state and follow the false gods
of the free market. It was a direction that new Labour did quite well to
moderate but still broadly embraced and continued. Its results were unjust and
unfair, to the poor and the ordinary majority, and ultimately only really benefited
a rich few. It was therefore contrary to the values I believed in as a
Christian. It was also a direction that was ultimately inefficient and wasteful
of our precious resources. There was a better way; to wrest control and
ownership of our public services from the hands of the rich few for the benefit
of the many, provide genuinely affordable public housing and re-balance our
economy and society so that it was run for the benefit of all rather than a
rich elite. I recognised this was not some extreme communist vision of how
society could be. It was broadly the social democratic mixed economy model on
which our society had been run from 1945 to 1979 through both Labour and
Conservative governments. It is also broadly an approach still successfully followed
by our North European neighbours including Germany and the Scandinavian
countries. I realised that this was a moderate and sensible approach. It was
the current direction where we were headed (in tandem with the USA) that was
extreme and foolish. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil6APu0o_3lLdrCq3K92s8UfhSFJ3puZ6yuuzzvIhZ4VcIPPaNI0tpAza0iM-rdmqykWrT0m0DOhWHbsXJO4YTsiXM5r80WWQ-hHyZKk6elqchwpumR2MouH42Zfm_EhqUM1CC2szKHAM/s1600/jeremy-corbyn.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="444" data-original-width="630" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil6APu0o_3lLdrCq3K92s8UfhSFJ3puZ6yuuzzvIhZ4VcIPPaNI0tpAza0iM-rdmqykWrT0m0DOhWHbsXJO4YTsiXM5r80WWQ-hHyZKk6elqchwpumR2MouH42Zfm_EhqUM1CC2szKHAM/s320/jeremy-corbyn.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="line-height: 115%;"><br />
I recognized that this was the message Jeremy Corbyn was preaching in the
leadership election. It seemed unlikely that an almost lone rebel of the party,
a thirty year back bencher who’d never held high office could somehow be the
faithful remnant who still held onto these political truths. A bit like his
near lookalike Obe Wan Kenobi. The last Jedi left to pass on his truths to a
new generation. I was won over and voted for Jeremy.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></span>
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><br /><br />
</span><br />
<span style="line-height: 115%;">In the nine months that followed sadly I gradually fell out of love with Jeremy.
I was still convinced that his political diagnosis and medicine were right as
nearly 40 years of evidence bore out and I could still see he was a good man. However, it became increasingly evident
that more than 30 years as a rebel backbencher had not best prepared to him to
work with and lead a team of MPs and shadow cabinet. Equally his long habit of
always being able to do/not do and speak/not speak whatever he wanted to
regardless of the reaction was getting him into a lot of unnecessary
controversy. He needed to up his game. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;">And then
came the EU referendum. Jeremy Corbyn had campaigned for Remain but very much
ploughed his own furrow without sharing the approach and platform of the
Labour Remain campaign. If the result had gone for Remain then his lone wolf
approach would have been overlooked. However, when the vote went unexpectedly
wrong not surprisingly many in the remain campaign felt like me that in a small
way Jeremy had contributed to that disastrous result. When he then announced on
live TV the next morning that the Prime Minister should immediately trigger
article 50 to get on and leave the EU this was the last straw. And it was
this that prompted his MPs’ rebellion – in the shocked and fevered atmosphere
of the failed referendum when our Prime Minister had just fallen on his sword.
Many of us then felt Jeremy should do the same. His MPs’ rebellion and the
second leadership election therefore had nothing to do with policy disagreement
but because of the way it was felt Jeremy had failed to lead his team in a
co-operative and effective manner. Hence apart from Trident his leadership
challenger Owen Smith (who I supported) promoted almost exactly the same
policies. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnvOPwS7J5a_nGb7sIsVqx7A5x2aOZkOnVIx0upLiLgqcZyHV3fguRCF6sXgQ4cGERhwJ5x2VCnB3A81cZRbgrI4Dd7Skxnalm4NIVmqYKXcg01RhUvIcOYL9Juk2kJNv_1e9utW2lJ4g/s1600/Owen-Smith-MP.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="718" data-original-width="615" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnvOPwS7J5a_nGb7sIsVqx7A5x2aOZkOnVIx0upLiLgqcZyHV3fguRCF6sXgQ4cGERhwJ5x2VCnB3A81cZRbgrI4Dd7Skxnalm4NIVmqYKXcg01RhUvIcOYL9Juk2kJNv_1e9utW2lJ4g/s200/Owen-Smith-MP.jpg" width="171" /></a><span style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></span>
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></span>
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></span>
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></span>
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></span>
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></span>
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></span>
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></span>
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></span>
<span style="line-height: 115%;">The
leadership challenge failed and Jeremy increased his overwhelming mandate with
Labour members. Jeremy did his best to rebuild a Shadow Cabinet and continued
as Leader. Since then and during this election campaign Jeremy has proved he
has been able to learn and seriously upped his game by collaborating better with his
colleagues and being more careful in his actions and choice of words. He did so
whilst still continuing to pursue passionately his political vision for a
better Britain that increasingly millions have been embracing in this election. On
many counts he has proved me wrong (twice!) and I am enthusiastically
campaigning for him in this election as the leader of a cause I firmly believe
in for the good of this country.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7ToGxR09UIc6gvVWLm6Qv_0Jwdu-yjPdCB15XhhTDkuQ-vCPv24AVPreFLqJLJH9IXKmYhcTwd3kuxkzsJu7wLieelXidoVL_OmZcbQc7IN5m5mNzuGfdEuXdFyT94JhD3swMCNL7L6Q/s1600/Jeremy+Corbyn+general+election.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="688" data-original-width="590" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7ToGxR09UIc6gvVWLm6Qv_0Jwdu-yjPdCB15XhhTDkuQ-vCPv24AVPreFLqJLJH9IXKmYhcTwd3kuxkzsJu7wLieelXidoVL_OmZcbQc7IN5m5mNzuGfdEuXdFyT94JhD3swMCNL7L6Q/s320/Jeremy+Corbyn+general+election.jpg" width="274" /></a><span style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><br />
As a country, I am convinced we have been heading in the wrong direction since 1979 and we now
need to turn this ship of state around. For too long we have been steering a course
of selfish individualism that has benefited the fortunate few but harmed the
many. We have thrown overboard so many of the valuable things of the state that
made sure everyone got a decent chance- truly public services run for the
public good rather than private profit, truly affordable public housing, proper
and free access to justice, free education and a proper welfare safety net so
that everyone can afford proper food and other basic necessities. These
precious things of the state I believe are essential to ensuring that we work
towards the values of the Kingdom of God that Jesus wants us all to strive for
and which are summed up in his essential command to “love your neighbour as
yourself.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><br />
<b>My Recommendation to You- Vote Labour unless…</b><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbyvht50zOgRUvMyE20hJWGTBvSKSUqwy2Dc1kBKPWr-bYhrUXxdtx5gJs_Ip8tVnEZjJKOIbmZ76jqiMxXlfgQSZ0G89VrdYj8kwUCdsEsS8LlpzLnV5I1n0COpKyqdC2FGLI5ZnSgZk/s1600/vote+labour.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="333" data-original-width="500" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbyvht50zOgRUvMyE20hJWGTBvSKSUqwy2Dc1kBKPWr-bYhrUXxdtx5gJs_Ip8tVnEZjJKOIbmZ76jqiMxXlfgQSZ0G89VrdYj8kwUCdsEsS8LlpzLnV5I1n0COpKyqdC2FGLI5ZnSgZk/s320/vote+labour.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;">I have reached the conclusion that it is only the election of a Labour
government led by Jeremy Corbyn that can start to turn things around to build a
better future for our country more in line with Kingdom of God values. I recognize that there
are more than two parties in this election and that there are many good things
also in the policies e.g. of the Greens and Liberal Democrats. However, the
reality is under our outmoded first past the post system only two parties can
end up in government of the UK after this election- Labour or Conservative. I
would therefore suggest that to exercise your vote responsibly you need to vote
in the light of that choice- would it be better to have a Labour or
Conservative government? For the reasons given here I am convinced that it is a
Labour not Conservative government that this country desperately needs right
now. In most constituencies therefore I
would encourage everyone to vote Labour. However, I also recognize that in
certain constituencies the real challenger to the Conservatives will not be
Labour but Lib Dem, in parts of Scotland the SNP and in Brighton and the Isle
of Wight the Greens (In Northern Ireland I would advocate the SDLP). Whilst
there would be no coalition deal between Labour and these parties in the event
of a hung parliament they would share much of Labour’s progressive agenda. They
could be guaranteed to vote down a Conservative minority government but broadly
support a Labour one. Voting Labour rather than Lib Dem in say Guildford is
only going to dilute the progressive anti-Tory vote and confirm a Tory MP. If
you wish to see a Labour government but are unsure tactically who you would be
best to vote for then have a look at: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;">
<a href="https://www.tactical2017.com/">https://www.tactical2017.com/</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><i><span style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><i><span style="line-height: 115%;">For those with the
stamina for it ! I now set out in more detail why I believe voting in a Labour
government would best realize politically biblical Christian values for the
benefit of us all. Alternatively, you might just want to skip to the conclusion!<br />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br />
<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><i><span style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></i></b></div>
<h2>
<b><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">Part 3 How do the two main parties measure
up to Christian values and priorities? </span></span></b></h2>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;"><br />
</span></b><span style="line-height: 115%;">For background if
you've the time please see my earlier blog pieces on why I believe the
following to be (or not be) the key biblical Christian values on which we
should exercise our vote ;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><br />
<a href="http://jeremysblog67.blogspot.co.uk/2017/05/unmasking-myths-key-christian-values.html?m=1">http://jeremysblog67.blogspot.co.uk/2017/05/unmasking-myths-key-christian-values.html?m=1</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><br />
<a href="http://jeremysblog67.blogspot.co.uk/2017/05/unmasking-myths-false-christian_23.html?m=1">http://jeremysblog67.blogspot.co.uk/2017/05/unmasking-myths-false-christian_23.html?m=1</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><br />
<b><i>1. Looking after the poor and
marginalised</i></b><i><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><br />
This is the number one social issue on God's heart. It is highlighted 128 times
across the bible. Since 2010 poverty in this country has increased massively,
mainly due to government policies like the bedroom tax, benefit cuts and sanctions.
Official figures show that since 2010 the number of children living in poverty
has risen from 2.6 million to 4 million, annual foodbank use from 41,000 to 1.2
million and homelessness has more than doubled. The Tories make no commitment
to reverse the misery of poverty their policies have caused. Indeed, they are
committed to further increase poverty through policies like extending universal
credit, ending universal free lunches for primary school children and the
continued cap on benefit increases and the removal of the pensioners’ triple
lock. The independent Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) estimate Tory policies
will increase child poverty by 50% by 2020. By contrast Labour would end the
bedroom tax, remove the cruel and arbitrary benefit sanctions regime and the
benefit rates cap and start to reverse the other damaging welfare changes. They
would also increase the minimum wage to £10 per hour by 2020 and extend 30
hours of free childcare to all 2 to 4 year olds to make more of a reality of
work being a way out of povert . And Labour in government have an excellent
record of substantially reducing poverty, especially child poverty and
pensioner poverty, e.g. through targeted welfare spending, Sure Start centres
and introduction of a national minimum wage. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;">The only
answer that the Tories have to the clear case that their policies have
increased poverty is that the way out of poverty is through work and that only
their prudent economic management can provide those jobs. (Indeed this was the
only answer my own local Tory MP could give me to this question!) The only
problem with this answer is that work is no longer a way out of poverty for
100,000s of people – 60% of households in poverty are now working households.
For further details see my previous blog piece; <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><br />
<a href="http://jeremysblog67.blogspot.co.uk/2017/05/tory-myth-3-stopping-scroungers-off.html?m=1">http://jeremysblog67.blogspot.co.uk/2017/05/tory-myth-3-stopping-scroungers-off.html?m=1</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><br />
Meanwhile, contrary to their myths, the Conservatives’ record of economic
management is actually pretty dreadful and has led to the UK now having the
lowest rate of economic growth in Europe. Labour's economic record in
government is in fact far better and it’s current economic plans are widely
supported by the world's leading economists. (See below re better management of
our resources). On all the available evidence of the two main parties the
Conservatives have been and would continue to be an enemy of the poor whilst
Labour have always been their friend. If you share God's priority to help the
poor then once you know the truth about the two parties and the effects of
their policies I would suggest you could only vote Labour.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><br />
<b>2. Caring for the sick</b><br />
<br />
It was Labour who created our cherished National Health Service which for
nearly 70 years has provided free healthcare to everyone according to their
needs rather than their ability to pay. Contrast that with the situation in the
USA where there is no universal free healthcare. For example, over there
families of victims of violent tragedies such as we have just witnessed in
Manchester London would have to set about fund raising campaigns to pay for
their medical bills. Surely none of us want to end up with an American style
health system. But who can be sure that's not where we'll be in ten years if we can continue as we are?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;">From 1997 to
2010 Labour rescued our NHS from chronic underinvestment and long waiting lists
after 18 years of Tory neglect. They substantially improved the quality of
services and reduced the waiting lists. After 7 years of underinvestment by the
recent Tory led governments our NHS is now on the verge of a crisis with
lengthening waiting lists, effective rationing of care (e.g. often virtually no
mental health services provision), declining service standards, closing
hospitals and NHS trusts heavily in the red. Although in gross terms
spending on our NHS has gone up the demands of an ageing population mean we
need to increase our spending as a % of GDP just as our European neighbours
have. Instead Tory government spending has significantly fallen as a % of GDP
and would continue to do so. Most experts believe if we carry on this way our
NHS as we know it will be unsustainable and we are likely to see free NHS care
limited to an increasingly narrow range of services and other services will be
the privilege of those who can afford to pay for it. For a helpful overview I
suggest watching The NHS: A Visual Essay- Juniordoctorblog.com#voteNHS#GE2017.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;">But it is
not just about how much money you put into the service that matters, as the
Tories are so fond of telling us. It’s also about how that money is spent and
how the services are managed. But it is the Conservative’s approach here which
is wasteful and inefficient. Their market led reforms and reorganisation have
made the service less not more efficient. Allowing private commercial interests
to run many parts of our NHS has meant billions of government money being
leached from the system to pay out private profits and CEOs’ inflated salaries.
Millions more are lost on wasteful tendering processes (including lawyers’
fees). We have also ended up with a disjointed overcomplicated system of
competing interests and authorities with a lack of clear control. Sadly, New
Labour to a large extent aped the Conservative market approach (strongly opposed
by Jeremy Corbyn). However, under Jeremy Corbyn Labour is now committed to
returning our NHS to a proper publicly owned run and accountable service which
should ensure a much better use of health resources. <br />
<br />
The problems of NHS funding are inherently linked with social care where
government funding through councils has been slashed by Tory cuts. This has led
to wasteful “bed blocking” by elderly patients who medically are well enough to
no longer need a hospital bed but can’t go home because there is no care
package in place to look after them there. The Tories offer no solutions to our
health and care crisis because in real terms they are not prepared to invest
the money needed to provide these services and with their “dementia tax”
debacle we saw what disarray they are in over this issue.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"> Labour would put £37 billion extra into our
NHS and significantly increase social care spending. These commitments have
been fully costed in their manifesto to be paid for by tax increases on those
who can afford it. They also acknowledge that there will be a need for
individuals who can afford it to make some reasonable contribution to care
costs. However, Labour would undertake a proper consultation before deciding
the terms of any such contribution. This is unlike the Tories who suddenly
announced a hasty policy of uncapped contributions and then within hours sought
to introduce a cap but without giving any clue as to the level of that cap.
Again, consistent with their record in government, it is Labour who have the
policies to best provide care for our sick and infirm.<br />
<br />
3. <b>Ensuring justice for all</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;">As a lawyer
acting for victims of industrial disease and personal injury I know first-hand
how the Tory-led governments have squeezed access to justice. In my own area
this has led to many meritorious but more difficult cases being turned away.
Those clients who still get representation have generally found themselves
losing 25% or more of their compensation to pay for legal costs that can no
longer be recovered from the guilty party. But this has not just affected
my own area of law but virtually every part of our legal system. We have seen
massive cuts and restrictions to legal aid in family law disputes and crime,
housing and welfare law and judicial review. This has left many finding
themselves the victims of injustice without the means to pay for any lawyer to
stand up for their case. We have also seen many victims of unfair dismissal and
mistreatment at work deprived a remedy because of the extension of the
qualifying period for employment period to two years and the imposition of
employment tribunal fees. Not surprisingly this has led to a huge drop in
employment tribunal applications because so many are now either barred or
cannot afford to pursue their case against their employer. Meanwhile the
government has massively hiked court issue fees in civil claims – in some cases
increasing them tenfold. </span>Such restrictions to access to justice I would say are
in almost direction contradiction of scripture; “<i>Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of
all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor
and needy</i>” (Proverbs 31 v 8-9). </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In their current manifesto the
Conservatives make no promises to reverse any of these injustices and in fact
propose to extend even further restrictions to access to justice including
further limitations as to when successful claimants can recover legal costs.
Labour’s manifesto is not as detailed on justice issues as I would have hoped
(partly no doubt because of the hastily called election). However, they are
committed to reversing or at least reviewing a number of these including the
removal of employment tribunal fees, the creation of employment protection from
day one of a job, a reduction in court fees and a full-scale review of the
legal aid and access to justice issues in both civil and criminal cases.
(Notwithstanding Labour’s last Lord Chancellor, thankfully long gone), it is
Labour governments who have nearly always been the ones to extend access to
justice, including through the original establishment of legal aid and
employment tribunals. It can only be they who can restore access to justice
once again.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="line-height: 115%;">4.
Ensuring everyone has a fair share and opportunity, including a decent home and
education<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;">A key part
of ensuring everyone has a fair share must be to provide access to decent and
affordable housing to as many people as possible. Since 1979 Conservative and
New Labour government have both followed policies which have led to the slow
destruction of our stock of affordable public housing following the start of
Mrs Thatcher’s infamous right to buy policy. The Tories’ removal of rent
controls and other protections for tenants have only worsened the situation.
This has ultimately led to the desperate and unfair situation we currently have
with the property rich few and the property poor many. Millions of people,
especially younger generations, are left without hope of ever owning their own
home while often stuck in poorly maintained accommodation whilst paying
exorbitant rents. Many young people can’t even see themselves having the means
to move out of their parents’ home. And disturbingly, an increasing number find
themselves without a home at all. I highlight this issue as part of my previous
blog piece; <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><a href="http://jeremysblog67.blogspot.co.uk/2017/05/tory-myth-2-right-to-buy-and-gods-of.html">http://jeremysblog67.blogspot.co.uk/2017/05/tory-myth-2-right-to-buy-and-gods-of.html</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;">The
Conservatives wedded as they still are to following the gods of the free market
simply have nothing to offer to address this crisis. Their new right to buy
housing association properties overall only worsens the situation, as housing
experts warned them. Even when in this election they suggested policies that
might assist such as building more affordable housing they have backtracked on
those proposals and greatly diluted them so that the so called affordable
housing is at double the rents of social housing. </span>It is Jeremy
Corbyn’s “new old “ Labour alone who provide the solution that’s needed- a big
programme of building genuinely affordable council/public housing alongside new
rights and controls to protect tenants.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;">The
Conservatives have also narrowed the door of opportunity of a decent education
for all to give everyone a decent shot at success in life. They have already
cut real school spending per pupil leading to many schools taking desperate
measures to cope with their overstretched resources. This has included cutting
half an hour from the school day, dropping “minority” subjects, cutting lunch
breaks short, stopping all school trips, increasing class sizes to well above
30 and endless appeals to parents to stump up cash to pay for basic things like
books and computers that the state
should already be providing. Think how much worse it will get if the Tories are
re-elected when according to the IFS their spending plans will mean schools
will face a further 7% real terms cut in funding. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;">And again,
it’s not just about how much (or little) money the Tories are putting into the
system. It’s also about how that money is used- very badly in many cases. The
Tory blind faith in the gods of the free market have seen millions wasted in
often substandard free schools set up not where they are needed but – often
poorer areas, but just where someone fancies starting a new free school- often
in affluent areas where apparent academic success is rather easier to come by. The
lack of local control prevents sensible planning and spending of educational
resources where they are needed. And for their next trick the Tories now
propose an expansion of grammar schools, supposedly to improve social mobility.
This is despite all the research evidence which shows grammar schools reduce
rather than improve social mobility, favouring children from more middleclass
families who can get them coached through the tests. More wasteful
inefficiency. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;">Meanwhile the Tories axing of maintenance grants for poorer
students and the ever-burgeoning size of tuition fees have ramped up huge debts
on the backs of our young people going to University. This has already resulted
in a significant fall in the number of students from poorer backgrounds
applying to University. Labour by contrast will start to put local authorities
back in charge of local schools to restore sensible local planning and
directing of school resources to where they are needed. They will also pump £6
billion per annum extra into schools’ budgets (paid for by costed tax increases
on those who can afford it). And on an issue close to my own heart they are the
first major political party to commit to a phased plan to remove the deadly
asbestos from our school buildings.
Labour would also restore the maintenance grants for poorer students and
abolish tuition fees. This would not be the first time that Labour have rescued
our schools from decline. I remember my wife starting her first teaching job
aged 22 under a Tory government in 1991 and facing class of 38. New Labour
reinvested in our schools to reduce class sizes and provide a better education
for all. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;">If you want
to see our schools and universities provide a decent free education for all our
children, allowing everyone the best
chance in life regardless of background, all evidence suggests you need to vote
Labour.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><br />
<b>5. Looking after the planet<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;">Protecting
God’s world for the good of future generations here and around the world should
be very high on any Christian political agenda. Labour are not the Green party
but they are a green party and unlike the Green party they have a prospect of
being in government to put green policies into action. In government their
record on looking after the environment was certainly not perfect but they made
real progress, eg with the Climate Change Act and the successful incentives to
build up renewable energy and reduce our reliance on fossil fuels. (Once a
quarter when I get my cheque for the little solar panel farm on our roof I
still fondIy remember Ed Miliband’s time as Climate Change Secretary!). </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;">Under
the Conservatives, despite their “support” of the Paris Climate Change
Agreement, the country has largely gone backwards on protecting the
environment. They withdrew virtually all support for solar power and have held
back our progress from fossil fuels to renewables (luckily for me my solar
panel income was guaranteed for 25 years!) They have even begun exploiting a
new and risky fossil fuel- fracking- even in our national parks. They slashed
spending on flood defences, which inevitably increased the damage from quite
foreseeable flooding (a false economy if ever there was one). They have also
breached European clean air limits in our cities which have led to 10,000s each
year dying from lung conditions. Their failure to act on this therefore has
literally been responsible for thousands of deaths. This has just lead to
sanctions against them by our Supreme Court.<b> </b>Labour’s manifesto<b> </b>commits
it to a new Clean Air Act to clean up our dirty cities’ air. They would take
affirmative action also to clean up our seas and rivers, creating “blue belt”
spaces. Through funding from their new National Investment Bank they would
reinvigorate our green technology industries to work towards replacing our
reliance on damaging fossils fuels with renewables.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="line-height: 115%;"><br />
6. Keeping peace and order<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;">The approach
that recent Conservative and New Labour governments have taken to international
relations has failed. Since the Iraq war our military interventions in various
places over the past 14 years, however well-intentioned, has only led to
destabilisation and chaos and poverty in the countries we have left behind.
These have become largely “ungoverned spaces” which have been a breeding ground
for terrorism and mass migration. Our recent interventions have frankly done
more harm than good. Theresa May’s Conservatives only pledge more of the same
failed approach. Jeremy Corbyn is a committed peacemaker here and throughout
the world, being awarded the Ghandi prize for peace in 2013. His labour
government would take a different approach as a peacekeeper encouraging
dialogue, compromise and peace, just as Tony Blair’s first labour government
were so successful in doing in Northern Ireland (after adopting the very
approach for which Jeremy Corbyn has been so unfairly criticised). </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;">Their
approach would certainly not mean an abandonment of our armed services, as some rightwing bloggers have suggested - Labour (like the Conservatives) is committed to investing 2%
of our GDP in our armed forces. It would as part of that commitment carry out a
strategic defence review and yes renewal of Trident would be part of that
review, although it currently remains Labour party policy. (Trident is in truth
about as useful and relevant to our defence and security as man buying a tank
to guard his home when his roof is leaking, his windows broken, front door
coming off its hinges, his burglar alarm broken and his computer virus software
expired- The myth of our own independent nuclear deterrent. See my earlier blog
piece; <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><a href="http://jeremysblog67.blogspot.co.uk/2017/06/unmasking-myths-myth-of-our-own.html">http://jeremysblog67.blogspot.co.uk/2017/06/unmasking-myths-myth-of-our-own.html</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;">Much more
important than Trident, Labour is committed to starting a reversal of the large
Tory cuts made to our police numbers (nearly 20,000). The Police Federation
warned the then Home secretary one Theresa May in 2015 that the government’s
slashing of police numbers would cause community policing to collapse (which it
has). This, they said, would not just remove their positive influence but would
also cause “local intelligence”- key to the fight against terrorism- to “dry
up.” This is exactly what has happened. We shall never know whether if there had
still been the numbers to provide proper community policing in Manchester or
London the recent terrorist acts would have been prevented. They might or might
not have done. But as many leading former police officers have said to reduce
police numbers in the current climate was a foolish risk to have taken with the
nation’s security. No amount of new laws and restrictions on our freedoms which
Theresa May has recently suggested can make up for the critical lack of numbers
of police officers on our streets including armed officers. As Jeremy Corbyn has
rightly said “you cannot do security on the cheap.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
<b><span style="line-height: 115%;"><br />
<br />
7. Allowing freedom of speech and belief<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;">New Labour’s
record in government on protecting freedom of speech and belief was a bit
mixed. There was certainly plenty on the credit side; the Human Rights Act, the
abolition of blasphemy laws and further employment protection legislation,
including protection of whistle blowers. All of this protected and enhanced
freedom of belief and speech. However, there were also some knee-jerk reactions
to a new age of terrorism post 9/11. This included the Terrorism Act 2006 much
criticised by the UN for proving too broad and vague a description of
encouraging terrorism that it went far beyond prevention of real terrorism. Alongside
this was a draconion new power to detain suspects for 28 days without
charge. Many including senior police
officers and current Tory cabinet Ministers criticised these measures as
excessive restrictions on our freedoms which risked being counter-productive . </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;">It would appear Theresa May may be about to commit similar mistakes and indeed
going rather further. See her recent suggestions about Chinese-style internet
controls and restrictions in the name of preventing the encouragement of
terrorism and if necessary changing human rights legislation to force through
sweeping new powers. But we don’t even need to look ahead at what a new Tory
government might do. One of the greatest restrictions on freedom of speech in
this country is something we are seeing and hearing (or rather not seeing not
seeing and hearing) right now. It’s the Conservatives’ Lobbying Act 2015. Had
you wondered why charities working with those in social need (ie most of them)
have been so quite on any social issues during this election? (i.e issues
affecting the very people that they are working to help)? That’s because the
Lobbying Act gags them from saying virtually anything that might be deemed
“political” during an election campaign and indeed supposedly during the whole
twelve months before an election. (Tricky that one when until six weeks ago no
one even knew there would be an election) I would say this legislation is in
almost direct contradiction of that key scriptural principle quoted earlier; “<i>Speak up for those who cannot speak up for
themselves, for the rights of all the destitute.”</i> (Proverbs 31 v 8).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;">By contrast
Labour would repeal the “chilling” Lobbying Act and by opening up access to
justice e.g. through removing employment tribunal fees. they would help
facilitate people defending their freedoms.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="line-height: 115%;"><br />
8. Managing our resources and relationships to best achieve these ends<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;">Of course, all Labour’s good intentions would amount to nothing if
incompetent management of resources meant there was no money to fund all those
good intentions. After all, don’t Labour have quite a poor track record on
managing our economy and didn’t their previous reckless spending and borrowing
cause our economy to crash? In a word no. It is one of the biggest and most
successful political lies of all time. Labour’s spending and borrowing had zero
to do with the economic crash which was 100% caused by reckless actions of the
banking industry and Labour governments’ economic record is overall quite a lot
better than Conservative governments. Overall, they have borrowed less,
delivered higher levels of employment and higher levels of economic growth than
the Conservatives. The last Labour government’s borrowing was only 36% of GDP
before the banking crisis and bail out- less than the 40% they had inherited from
John Major’s Tories. (It only shot up to 60% because they took the emergency
action needed to stop a complete banking collapse). Before the crash they had
also brought about a record period of economic growth for the country. The
cack-handed approach of our recent Tory-led governments by contrast through
self-defeating austerity has stifled our growth whilst increasing our national
debt to 89% (although in truth the debt level is not a significant problem). Their idolatrous obsession with leaving everything
to the gods of the free market and putting everything up for sale- “selling off the family silver” as a former
Tory Prime MInister Harold MacmIllan warned them, has led to an inefficient
waste of resources enriching the fortunate few and leaving the many
short-changed. For further details and evidence see my earlier blog pieces; <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><a href="http://jeremysblog67.blogspot.co.uk/2017/05/unmasking-myths-tory-myth-1-labour.html">http://jeremysblog67.blogspot.co.uk/2017/05/unmasking-myths-tory-myth-1-labour.html</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><a href="http://jeremysblog67.blogspot.co.uk/2017/05/tory-myth-2-right-to-buy-and-gods-of.html">http://jeremysblog67.blogspot.co.uk/2017/05/tory-myth-2-right-to-buy-and-gods-of.html</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;">Their similarly economically illiterate approach to Brexit is having an
equally damaging effect on the economy. Nearly all serious economists have warned
that prioritising complete control of European immigration over free trade
access risks causing a loss of thousands of jobs and billions in revenue. As a
result, since the Brexit vote many multinational companies have put on hold any
UK investment and our economic growth has sunk to even lower than Greece’s. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;">By contrast, Labour would pursue a Brexit that prioritises free trade and
jobs over immigration. Contrary to Tory myth-making Labour would not increase
borrowing to pay for day-to-day spending- this is why they have carefully
costed how they would fund these commitments taxes on those rich individuals
and companies that can best afford it. Note the contrast with the Tories who
have given us no costings at all for their own commitments and have now
admitted they can’t even fund the primary school breakfast they would offer in
place of free school lunches!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"> What Labour would do is take
advantage of the current very low interest rates to give our economy and its
infrastructure the investment boost it will so badly need to post-Brexit. Unlike
the Conservatives these economic plans are very widely supported by leading
economists - see the letter written by 129 of the world’s leading economist
backing Labour’s economic plans<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/news/2017/jun/03/the-big-issue-labour-manifesto-what-economy-needs">https://www.theguardian.com/news/2017/jun/03/the-big-issue-labour-manifesto-what-economy-needs</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;">The truth is that it is Labour who have both the record and the plan to
best manage our resources. It is the Conservatives whose management of the
economy falls badly shortly, continually even failing their own targets, as
witnessed by their ever-postponed plans for eliminating the annual deficit.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><br />
<b>9. The best leaders to take us there</b><br />
<br />
Neither Theresa May nor Jeremy Corbyn is an evil demagogue and neither are the
prefect leader this country needs. As a Christian, I believe there is only one leader
who can fulfil that criteria- Jesus Christ (when he eventually returns). But
he’s not on the ballot paper! However, despite my previous criticisms of Jeremy,
I am quite convinced that the available
evidence shows Jeremy fulfils far better than Theresa the biblical qualities
that we should look for in our nation’s leader.
Theresa might look more like our traditional image of a leader and might
give smoother soundbites. However, I would suggest that at the stuff that
really matters she falls quite far short. Meanwhile although Jeremy does not
score 10/10 against those same leadership qualities I believe he gets rather
closer than Theresa does. I looked at this in some detail in my recent blog; <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><a href="http://jeremysblog67.blogspot.co.uk/2017/06/unmasking-myths-leadership-myths-may-v.html">http://jeremysblog67.blogspot.co.uk/2017/06/unmasking-myths-leadership-myths-may-v.html</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;">I found on
the evidence that across all these key criteria Jeremy has more of the
qualities we should look for in our nation's leader:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<ul type="disc">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo3; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list 36.0pt;">
<b><i>A heart for the poor and needy</i></b><o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo3; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list 36.0pt;"><b><i>
A peacemaker</i></b><o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo3; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list 36.0pt;"><b><i>
Of good character</i></b><o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo3; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list 36.0pt;"><b><i>
Able to teach and reach people</i></b><o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo3; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list 36.0pt;"><b><i>
Humble</i></b><o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo3; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list 36.0pt;"><b><i>
Wise and listening to good advice</i></b><o:p></o:p></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo3; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; tab-stops: list 36.0pt;">
<b><i>Strong and stable- yes even on that one!</i></b><o:p></o:p></li>
</ul>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;">I am
therefore also convinced that Jeremy has much more of the skills actually
needed to negotiate the best Brexit deal for this country.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;">However,
being a good leader is also about the quality and wisdom of those you appoint
around you is also very important. Let’s leave aside poor Diane Abbott. Even
her old friend Jeremy evidently now recognises she isn’t up to the job! (And
would mostly likely be replaced by others “coming in from the cold” eg Yvette
Coper or Lisa Nandy). When it comes to the Brexit negotiating team for example I would suggest that Labour’s is far more
credible. Who would you trust more to negotiate with the EU- one of the
country’s leading lawyers Labour's former Director of Public Prosecutions, Sir Keir
Starmer QC or Bojo the clown waving his joke union jack and winding up the other EU leaders ?</span></div>
<h2>
</h2>
<h2>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMPazflNyT-7Thhr28aeo5ShEOvJ4-2EN2cLiuknc79POLwS1RdL0j16Qv8H6FLBcBnG4hTcZ_FkWEorbRlBHc3JMQnqPP0jOQNucTEJpatpgSSgKjgiuf_070in0TA9CHIbMD1o_xuvY/s1600/Keir+Starmer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="438" data-original-width="306" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMPazflNyT-7Thhr28aeo5ShEOvJ4-2EN2cLiuknc79POLwS1RdL0j16Qv8H6FLBcBnG4hTcZ_FkWEorbRlBHc3JMQnqPP0jOQNucTEJpatpgSSgKjgiuf_070in0TA9CHIbMD1o_xuvY/s200/Keir+Starmer.jpg" width="138" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp02NcNIF_-gilqkCGF6ZZywpQN17ZPGSjoD3qlFML3Xi-X9dKncc0ZZ9ShubK77_DxoZTxcagHARBI-XzZ4WtvjAJvUNiC-cBBUKOI4WzpIAulJrbyOG9kCN89jMXvmzB8qBd1bicmb4/s1600/Boris+flags.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="423" data-original-width="306" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp02NcNIF_-gilqkCGF6ZZywpQN17ZPGSjoD3qlFML3Xi-X9dKncc0ZZ9ShubK77_DxoZTxcagHARBI-XzZ4WtvjAJvUNiC-cBBUKOI4WzpIAulJrbyOG9kCN89jMXvmzB8qBd1bicmb4/s200/Boris+flags.jpg" width="143" /></a><b><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></b></h2>
<h2>
<b><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></b></h2>
<h2>
<b><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></b></h2>
<h2>
<b><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></b></h2>
<h2>
<b><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></b></h2>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<h2>
<b><span style="font-size: large;">Conclusion</span></b></h2>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="line-height: 115%;">I don’t know
who will win this election, which is proving to be the strangest and least
predictable general election in the 43 years that I can recall . I concede is
still very possible that Theresa May will win with a substantial majority and
it is still pretty probable that she will get
some sort of majority. However, the mixed polling suggest that is no longer
inevitable. And I earnestly hope and pray that we will instead end up with a Labour
government. Not because I want my “red
team” to beat the “blue team”. Not because I wish any ill of Theresa May or
other Conservatives (I do not). But because after careful and prayerful
examination of the issues and the evidence I am convinced that the
Conservatives are taking this country in the wrong direction, which has already
caused much misery and suffering and loss of opportunity for so many. And
because I can see another five years of the same can only lead to things
becoming much worse for everyone. I am
convinced that the society they are building is one that is increasingly alien to
the biblical Kingdom of God values that I and most of the country believe in.
If you share those values with me then I would urge you to vote for a Labour
government in this election, even if you have to hold your nose to do it! <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgX6rmY8pyleYlSt0wQ9JkeIV7xyh65vTRD3gSXCEA_J0SlEId8XzuvWWnqaJO8ZwV7UVr1zYpjoJ22MUtpMmwR_7K8auxZWjxpQrwb88bF8kgXthsUIBSoWgjZ-w-8fDW2s9YPF2x_4AM/s1600/for+the+many.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1600" height="160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgX6rmY8pyleYlSt0wQ9JkeIV7xyh65vTRD3gSXCEA_J0SlEId8XzuvWWnqaJO8ZwV7UVr1zYpjoJ22MUtpMmwR_7K8auxZWjxpQrwb88bF8kgXthsUIBSoWgjZ-w-8fDW2s9YPF2x_4AM/s320/for+the+many.png" width="320" /></a></div>
If (as I
concede is rather more likely) Labour fall short this time the political cause
Jeremy has led is not going anywhere, even if Jeremy himself should
resign. This cause isn’t going away
because it’s a cause whose time has come. During this election even if Labour
fall short they will have already won over many people who can see that we need
to turn this ship of state around. When things only get over the next 5 years (as inevitably they will for most I believe) many more will follow them. Labour I am sure will
stand firm in its position, waiting for them– taking a stand for them, the many
against the privileged few, for a redistribution of wealth, power and
opportunity to build a fairer, more equal and efficient society and economy. We
will be preparing for 2022 when I am very confident Labour will finish the job
of winning the nation’s hearts and minds to this cause and should secure a large majority
and then lay down its roots. And in time I am hopeful that this cause will no
longer be considered left wing at all but sensible and moderate. And as the
centre ground moves, even the Conservative party in time will move with it, just as it
did in step with Clement Attlee’s Labour government over 70 years ago.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiezNq-lNceg6d6i7oUDbwPrHkHBCzRO-Uy-BMFSw9bOVpEoqPRJw8LPyToewu3ti_LcbmDaazRPSSFo39VOIOuijFMHcLsFCqK-iQsCm-F3sNQACVwchjTA3wq-bSx8b0jsYUDGpR9ujk/s1600/clement.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1280" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiezNq-lNceg6d6i7oUDbwPrHkHBCzRO-Uy-BMFSw9bOVpEoqPRJw8LPyToewu3ti_LcbmDaazRPSSFo39VOIOuijFMHcLsFCqK-iQsCm-F3sNQACVwchjTA3wq-bSx8b0jsYUDGpR9ujk/s320/clement.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Jeremy Hortonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14040288077436997446noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1711610253004091876.post-188759842504482992017-06-03T15:15:00.002-07:002017-06-03T15:57:54.547-07:00Unmasking the myths- the myth of our own independent nuclear deterrent<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiygWFn_GpTg2VKUs001YvrlqLccLWi8-ZSDflTMDOwykC6dXrlEadTxjngMXZI_6GjiK03GWI6RL2uVByRhBmKkHejhtMyuQMKG67SmardCSaZDmypTUbpnzYZBY0qFujerf355_SjBB8/s1600/20170603_231108.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="705" data-original-width="1044" height="270" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiygWFn_GpTg2VKUs001YvrlqLccLWi8-ZSDflTMDOwykC6dXrlEadTxjngMXZI_6GjiK03GWI6RL2uVByRhBmKkHejhtMyuQMKG67SmardCSaZDmypTUbpnzYZBY0qFujerf355_SjBB8/s400/20170603_231108.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On Friday, the issue of Britain’s independent nuclear deterrent reared its ugly head in this election. All the main UK political parties are in fact committed to its renewal. However, Jeremy Corbyn, a lifelong campaigner for nuclear disarmament, was pilloried for refusing to clarify whether under any circumstances he might be prepared to use it. I must confess I have probably flipflopped over this issue more than any other during the past nearly 40 years. However, I would suggest if the need for our own nuclear deterrent still has (or ever had) any currency it is hugely overvalued. Its perceived importance derives from outdated and exaggerated myths. It does nothing to safeguard us from the real threats we face. And its costs could be much better spent elsewhere.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Our public services, including our armed forces, security services and police, are currently under such severe strain that they are increasingly unfit for purpose. Yet we face the constant threat of terrorism as so tragically brought home to us in Manchester and only last night on London bridge. We no longer have adequate naval assets to protect the one little bit of the UK that is under potential threat of invasion, the Falklands. We do not even have enough naval vessels to safeguard Trident’s security, frequently relying on our allies to ward off snooping Russian vessels. We and our most cherished public services are under daily cyber-attack from terrorists, hostile foreign government and cyber vandals. Trident helps protect us from none of these threats.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In that context to waste about £130 billion on an independent nuclear deterrent (that is neither truly independent nor deterring anyone) is a bit like a man buying a tank as the ultimate security advice for his home. His roof is leaking, his windows broken and his front door coming off its hinges. His burglar alarm system hasn’t been serviced for years and he hasn’t renewed his computer virus software. But hey! he’s got a big tank.</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXUYoswZTMWUhtouFHhfL05xQ7b64yfTG8N7VZe7-rE1dgaKjpwoOMs0F9EmGtRHNaVXyZsjUzvixngmu0XmTIhKZBje7GHHRDPNV4SqCKShHakSDFKIamsU0v6fFeyw7LtYeAHsWPaf0/s1600/20170603_232934.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="711" data-original-width="1046" height="217" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXUYoswZTMWUhtouFHhfL05xQ7b64yfTG8N7VZe7-rE1dgaKjpwoOMs0F9EmGtRHNaVXyZsjUzvixngmu0XmTIhKZBje7GHHRDPNV4SqCKShHakSDFKIamsU0v6fFeyw7LtYeAHsWPaf0/s320/20170603_232934.png" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Britain’s so called independent nuclear deterrent did not deter Argentina invading British territory in 1982 and neither did it prevent terrorists bombing London in 2005 or Manchester last month. It is a very expensive paper tiger. In our post-cold war era it deters no one and it actually increases rather than reduces the risks we face.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Stateless terrorists (even if they call themselves a state) by definition cannot be deterred by them because they have no state they could be used against. The only other supposed aggressor we face is Russia. Russia’s recent incursions in Ukraine and Syria and surveillance of UK waters provide no evidence of any intention to invade western Europe. (Its history is of being invaded by rather than invading Western Europe). It reflects instead its own exaggerated fears of threats it perceives; from Islamic terrorists and from the West’s maintenance of a nuclear arsenal apparently still aimed at her and its encroaching influence and control over her previous Eastern European allies. China’s only interest is an economic rather than military invasion of the UK and North Korea do not have the means to reach us and even if they did would target South Korea, Japan or the USA.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Even if there is some residual value in a nuclear deterrent, the reality is that without our own nuclear weapons like the similarly non-nuclear Germany, Italy, Spain and Holland we would have the benefit of NATO’s huge nuclear umbrella provided by the USA. It is part of what we pay our NATO insurance premium for. Any (currently unforeseeable) future military invader would be coming from the East of us and would have to invade quite a lot of territory before they reached the UK, including other allied NATO countries, each invasion liable to trigger a massive nuclear backlash from the USA.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In fact, our own nuclear submarines if anything slightly increase rather than reduce the security threats we face. As the Trident “martyr” William McNeilly can testify, the security of submarines themselves is less than perfect. With the expected development of underwater drone technologies over the next thirty years of Trident’s lifetime, their security will only reduce further. Given the determined terrorist threats we face they are potentially an ambitious (but not impossible) target for terrorists who would dearly love to infiltrate those subs and use them against us with cataclysmic consequences. The existence of our own nuclear weapons therefore should make us sleep less not more easily in our beds at night.</span><img border="0" data-original-height="1304" data-original-width="1070" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYcnqLjtATUuntPCLQstUmQi8CwoQ1bACoDFo4ocxamW-Y2N6R4SgbuLMI9x-8Lhjbr1bsEF-DdQk3JZLt1990olUAt5WMdgLRxfd6nEuhWCvs-31r6y4z4DS6WyXQ4WI2Gr5yI15u1Hc/s320/Screenshot_20170603-235217.jpg" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: center;" width="262" /><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The billions saved from renewing Trident lhowever should be redirected into defence and security assets that we actually need- increasing the numbers of our armed forces, security services and police, increasing our investment in conventional naval and other military hardware and cyber technology. Investing in assets that will actually serve meaningful purposes. Our armed services are not just there to guard British territory from invasion, but are called upon in times of national crisis e.g. recently after floods and acts of terrorism. They also help fulfil our international commitments to provide humanitarian assistance and where appropriate engage in joint military action with our allies. Trident can help with none of that.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">International military action abroad must be seen as a last resort and we must not repeat our recent mistakes in Iraq and Libya. However, there could yet be exceptional situations where such intervention is justified (as it was previously in Kosovo). Given the continuing threat of Islamic State it is not beyond the realms of possibility that at some point we will need to directly engage with their forces on the ground. We need to have the personnel and conventional military hardware to do that rather than wasting money on an irrelevant nuclear weapons system that would never be used.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Contrary to popular myth, I believe Britain’s unilateral nuclear disarmament would be an enhancement not an abandonment of our international leadership role. Whilst we may never get to a point where NATO can safely abandon all its nuclear weapons, the less of these weapons of mass destruction that exist the safer the world will be. The West looks increasingly hypocritical in preaching against nuclear proliferation when no Western nation has abandoned its own nuclear weapons. The more nations have these weapons the more widespread the fear of other nations that these dreadful weapons might be used against them and therefore some of those nations will seek to acquire them too. The more nations that have them the greater the risk that they might actually be used whether by mistake or by malice. One of the original nuclear powers abandoning their nuclear weapons gives other nations a lead away from this cycle of nuclear escalation.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQWFTKV9nbn5zPXMkFFtDDOGZrs8VnxJcZpXeBtBsReleRnUzPz06DqATn524mXz0auM8nd9Cp1berkLMKdptGF5sP1JfWkyIAcY5VvVO09DkwkOaiOk4tVi4cddeR6blJl0SgC251ixM/s1600/20170603_234717.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1504" data-original-width="1080" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQWFTKV9nbn5zPXMkFFtDDOGZrs8VnxJcZpXeBtBsReleRnUzPz06DqATn524mXz0auM8nd9Cp1berkLMKdptGF5sP1JfWkyIAcY5VvVO09DkwkOaiOk4tVi4cddeR6blJl0SgC251ixM/s320/20170603_234717.png" width="229" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> On this (as on many other issues) I believe Jeremy Corbyn will be proved right when many of us have been wrong.</span><br />
<div>
<br /></div>
Jeremy Hortonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14040288077436997446noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1711610253004091876.post-22561543979109284742017-06-02T23:45:00.001-07:002017-06-03T00:03:34.431-07:00Unmasking the myths- leadership myths- May v Corbyn- the "strong and stable leader"? <b>May v Corbyn- who is the better leader?</b><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1lBl1J8TfqVM6wk4P1ZEubEYGBi3iwF3QXO0KcH2hBR0vA9jAKA8X4fzQkjaGRvAsf7u-9MFcSFpAWKcWPy71KetOdGGt58YJv9KKNFfK9LaGUl9iC6HDIgLpe6XGMuQpLEOYIbdVZXg/s1600/Jeremy+v+Theresa.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="348" data-original-width="620" height="223" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1lBl1J8TfqVM6wk4P1ZEubEYGBi3iwF3QXO0KcH2hBR0vA9jAKA8X4fzQkjaGRvAsf7u-9MFcSFpAWKcWPy71KetOdGGt58YJv9KKNFfK9LaGUl9iC6HDIgLpe6XGMuQpLEOYIbdVZXg/s400/Jeremy+v+Theresa.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt;">Many in this election won’t decide how they vote based on policy. They either find it all too confusing or irrelevant. They don’t trust politicians to do most of what they say anyway. Instead they will give their vote to whoever they think seems will be the “best” leader for the country. And in this pivotal moment in British history many will vote for the leader they think has the skills to get us the best Brexit deal. I think policy really does matter. However, I can totally understand why some will vote on the leader’s personality rather than policy. But what I would say is to judge who is a better leader we need to look behind the act- behind the make-up, the posturing and the sloganeering. We need to try to get to the real heart of the leader behind the façade. No matter how many times someone tells you they are a “strong and stable” leader does not make them a strong and stable leader!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfTvc-19NA9Mtm0gBuAWD-brnAItODb5NdYj08s40F68quvQMtKiuBVVHY_G2y3126-mf9RDiETbNoByxkDGaTU4XmDLtcmenk5oVW9sI3z5DRW-93y4u9Ke-X6cjPuskgeokLC5u84xw/s1600/strong+and+stable+leadership.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="415" data-original-width="625" height="132" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfTvc-19NA9Mtm0gBuAWD-brnAItODb5NdYj08s40F68quvQMtKiuBVVHY_G2y3126-mf9RDiETbNoByxkDGaTU4XmDLtcmenk5oVW9sI3z5DRW-93y4u9Ke-X6cjPuskgeokLC5u84xw/s200/strong+and+stable+leadership.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;">But in assessing who is a better leader what are the qualities we looking for? As a Christian, I would say that as in all areas of life we need to be guided by the principles we see in the bible and the person we see in the ultimate good leader- Jesus Christ. The sort of attributes that God looks for in a good leader are not necessarily the same as most of the world looks for, certainly not our media. Too often in politics the “good leader” is portrayed as the one who acts the best leader, i.e. who comes up with the more polished performances, the cleverest quips and soundbites and who looks good on the telly. Against those standards Tony Blair and David Cameron would probably be considered our country’s greatest ever leaders. Yet one of those leaders ended up misleading the country into fighting a disastrous illegal war in Iraq which has brought on us much of the terrorism we suffer today. The other led the country into the potential economic disaster of Brexit despite his strong opposition to it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicg3LOANkL5MlWNUtc6FXOZjod4sDcHVmgMWQVskKfGGMgcxAKCsk7jtCcPOzDknimFCM3ABr3XLaOFceUxfgc5bVIsXAMT2ysXrRxzP8WbhJZeRRZufgzVnaRWKrw2Ct_yqOlRY9jGt4/s1600/Jesus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="204" data-original-width="220" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicg3LOANkL5MlWNUtc6FXOZjod4sDcHVmgMWQVskKfGGMgcxAKCsk7jtCcPOzDknimFCM3ABr3XLaOFceUxfgc5bVIsXAMT2ysXrRxzP8WbhJZeRRZufgzVnaRWKrw2Ct_yqOlRY9jGt4/s1600/Jesus.jpg" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt;">Jesus's background marked him out as "the wrong sort" to be a leader. He was untrained and inexperienced as a teacher- not schooled as a rabbi and with the wrong background; an illegitimate son of a simple carpenter from Nazareth. As one of his critics said, can anything good come from there? Interestingly, being the “wrong sort” is something they seem to share with most of the greatest leaders in the bible God chose. Abraham, Moses, Gideon and David all appeared to be the wrong sort to be leader when appointed; too old, too young, too inexperienced etc. In fact, very often it is the people who in human eyes seem the least likely sort to be leaders are the right sort in God’s eyes . “People look at outward appearances, but the Lord looks at the heart”. 1 Samuel 16 v 7</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;"><br /><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;">We also need to recognise that in choosing our leader that no man or woman is going to be a perfect leader. We are all broken, sinful people. Jesus Christ is the only perfect leader. I believe he will one day return to be leader of the whole world, to bring true and lasting peace, prosperity and justice for the poor and for all. In the meantime we have to settle for mere fallible men or women as our leaders. Yet as a Christian I believe in choosing a leader you need to assess how both their character measures up against him. (They will all fall short of course).<br /><br /><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;">So what qualities does God look for in a good leader? Being a “strong and stable” leader matters but if you look at the bible these are not the key requirements in God’s eyes. It’s the characteristics of the Messiah, the perfect leader to come predicted in the Old Testament vision (see eg Isaiah chapter 11) and that we see displayed in the life of Jesus Christ, the man who would be that leader. In one sense what God requires from a leader is what he requires from all us;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;"> “…<i>and what does the Lord require of you? To <b>act</b> <b>justly</b>, <b>love mercy</b> and <b>walk humbly</b> with your God</i>.” (Micah 6 v 8)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;">If we unpack that into the principles of good leadership extolled across the bible I would suggest the key characteristics we should be looking for are:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="text-indent: -18pt;">
</div>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><b style="text-indent: -18pt;"><i><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;">A heart for the poor and needy</span></i></b></li>
<li><b style="text-indent: -18pt;"><i><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;"> A peacemaker</span></i></b></li>
<li><b style="text-indent: -18pt;"><i><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;"> Of good character</span></i></b></li>
<li><b style="text-indent: -18pt;"><i><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;"> Able to teach and reach people</span></i></b></li>
<li style="text-indent: -24px;"><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;"><b><i> </i></b></span> <b style="text-indent: -18pt;"><i><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;">Humble</span></i></b></li>
<li style="text-indent: -24px;"><b style="text-indent: -18pt;"><i><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;"> Wise and listening to good advice</span></i></b></li>
<li style="text-indent: -24px;"><span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><b style="text-indent: -18pt;"><i><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;">Strong and stable</span></i></b></li>
</ul>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;"> </span><span style="font-size: 10pt;">So how do Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn measure up to those characteristics?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;">A Heart for the Poor and Needy<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxYE62mp5GBwG-LEtgd6fGTd1ks0s1df84Ko9KdNPouGo_F3Ri6Sn1H7rvBWU1br1VIV26HNDvF-zFupIfX_HJkLcrI3mU0nTQ8FeY8pGso4BvEhJkNIyMu7Kr7p6ImvST5CAIq4pWWVY/s1600/mother+teresa.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="170" data-original-width="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxYE62mp5GBwG-LEtgd6fGTd1ks0s1df84Ko9KdNPouGo_F3Ri6Sn1H7rvBWU1br1VIV26HNDvF-zFupIfX_HJkLcrI3mU0nTQ8FeY8pGso4BvEhJkNIyMu7Kr7p6ImvST5CAIq4pWWVY/s1600/mother+teresa.jpg" /></a></div>
<i><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;">“Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.” </span></i><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;">(Proverbs 31 v 8/9)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;">“…with righteousness he will judge the needy, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth.”</span></i><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;"> (Isaiah 11 v 4)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;">Jesus saw his mission particularly to “bring good news to the poor” (both spiritually and materially). (Luke 4 v 18) and when Jesus returns as the ultimate leader he “will give justice to the poor and make fair decisions for the exploited”. (Isaiah 11 v 4) Jeremy Corbyn as a politician makes it very much his own mission to support the poor and needy. For example, speaking out against welfare changes that have doing such great harm done to poor and needy in our country and speaking out for the plight of refugees. Theresa May's own record in standing up for the poor is rather more mixed. To her credit she has maintained the government's pledge to devote 0.7% of GDP to help the world's poorest. However domestically whilst she has certainly talked about helping those who are struggling the policies of the government she has been part of have greatly harmed the situation of society's poorest especially the cruel welfare benefits cuts and sanctions (see my previous blog).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;">A Peacemaker<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;">“…<b>blessed are the peacemakers</b>, for they shall be called the sons of God…” (Matthew 5 v 9)<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;">“If possible, so far as it depends on you, <b>live peaceably with everyone</b>.” (Romans 12 v 18)<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;">“Now a leader must be… not violent but <b>gentle, not quarrelsome.” </b></span></i><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;">(1 Timothy 3 v 2/3)</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 13.3333px;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;"></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLzhwc3cds5Vftt2BZ2gCWZN0fg1TFPZ13eMpZHz024K4nKEQRa3EjlvqtGOZWdXeRGidn9FlU_62fLP962BffnB4RWZhFVStFss_6bl_bS3f4e4RQ9o0HRwAiSYrHVZZ5Rrr_edw07Z0/s1600/paisley+and+mcguiness.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="351" data-original-width="624" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLzhwc3cds5Vftt2BZ2gCWZN0fg1TFPZ13eMpZHz024K4nKEQRa3EjlvqtGOZWdXeRGidn9FlU_62fLP962BffnB4RWZhFVStFss_6bl_bS3f4e4RQ9o0HRwAiSYrHVZZ5Rrr_edw07Z0/s320/paisley+and+mcguiness.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt;">Jesus was the ultimate peacemaker, reconciling men and God through his crucifixion. In his earthly mission he demonstrated this by reaching out to reconcile those considered to be beyond society’s pale, “the sinners” such as prostitutes and tax collectors. Indeed, he was much criticised by the establishment for even eating with such outcasts. He also spoke out against armed violence “Those who live by the sword will died by the sword,” he warned Peter. His was a peaceful revolution of heart and mind. You will also hear much criticism of Jeremy Corbyn for having associated with his own “sinners” like palestinian terrorist groups or the IRA. Yet he appears to have done so only in order to try to bring reconciliation and peace. Indeed, Jeremy Corbyn has strongly spoken out against the use of violent force in Iraq and elsewhere and instead encouraged more peaceful means of resolving conflicts. He is someone who enjoys engaging and talking with people even those he strongly disagrees with. On a personal level colleagues and even opponents all testify to how well they get on with him. Whilst he argues passionately for the causes he believes in his tone is generally quite gentle and respectful and he generally avoids personal criticism.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;">By contrast Theresa May likes to style herself as difficult and combative in order to get her way rather than a peacemaker. Indeed, she prides herself on being described by her former colleague Ken Clarke as a “bloody difficult woman.” This was illustrated in the rather hostile and unproductive Downing Street meeting she had with EU leaders just before the election. She has also shown herself rather too ready to resort to personal abuse of her opponents. She has voted for every proposed military intervention since she has been a MP including in Iraq and Libya. Peacemaker is certainly not an obvious quality you would ascribe to Theresa May.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;">The qualities of peacemaker could be very important when it comes to leading Brexit negotiations. Our Prime Minister will be dealing with a bigger and stronger party and trying to browbeat them into submission is just not going to work. Any experienced negotiator will tell you that is not how you best negotiate with a stronger party. Taking too forceful an approach is likely to risk the door just being slammed in our face.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;">Of Good Character- <i>faithful, righteous, self-controlled, respectable, sober and hospitable</i><o:p></o:p></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;"><i><br /></i></span></b><b><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;"><i><br /></i></span></b><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7dviY_Kjcn4pE2VVgCqhMhx7C0SiHXBOGH-7Uo1YLEPMw6aQF5ZhB7sjeP9TwvkGwfFeRXhWnZIV7rokEFnOmZ8ay4EdqO-yMPFln8-54jKZMp3Lmt-kWfwL54US9Ayz04CUM91dpk_0/s1600/good+character.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="182" data-original-width="800" height="72" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7dviY_Kjcn4pE2VVgCqhMhx7C0SiHXBOGH-7Uo1YLEPMw6aQF5ZhB7sjeP9TwvkGwfFeRXhWnZIV7rokEFnOmZ8ay4EdqO-yMPFln8-54jKZMp3Lmt-kWfwL54US9Ayz04CUM91dpk_0/s320/good+character.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<b><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;"><i><br /></i></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt;">“Now a leader must be above reproach, </span><b style="font-size: 10pt;"><i>faithful</i></b><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> to his wife, temperate, </span><b style="font-size: 10pt;"><i>self-controlled,</i></b><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> </span><b style="font-size: 10pt;"><i>respectable</i></b><span style="font-size: 10pt;">, </span><b style="font-size: 10pt;"><i>hospitable</i>,</b><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> …, not given to drunkenness.” (1 Timothy 3 v 2/3)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;">“<b><i>Righteousness</i></b> will be his belt and <b>faithfulness</b> the sash around his waist.” (Isaiah 11 v 5)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;"> It’s rather difficult to compete with Jesus over “good character” as he was and is the perfect, sinless son of God. However, good character is very important in a leader. Jeremy Corbyn exemplifies key points of good character that the bible says should be looked for in a leader. He is indeed temperate, gentle and self-controlled in his speech and does not do “personal” sniping and insults (but sticks to the issues). Anyone who has met him even if they strongly disagree with him speaks about how “nice” and decent and hospitable he is, for example offering to share his sandwiches with them on the train. Whilst he strongly disagrees with Donald Trump he commented he would look forward to inviting to Downing Street to share a cup of Yorkshire tea and try to persuade him why he was wrong over climate change. Far from being a drunkard he is teetotal (and a vegetarian). Without being perfect he appears to be about as honest as a politician can be. In fact, many would criticise him for being too honest and at times saying his first thoughts aloud before he’s thought through how they be interpreted. He has been accused of dishonesty over trying to cover up his previous alleged dealings with terrorists. However, an examination of the facts does not bear out the allegation that he ever condoned terrorist violence. He merely spoke with certain groups associated with terrorists to promote dialogue and peace. The worst he can fairly be accused of is naivety.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;">Theresa May professes to be a Christian and she may well be. Not knowing her personally I would not presume to judge how genuine her Christian faith is. Generally there seems to be nothing obviously immoral about her own personal character or conduct that makes her unsuitable to lead. However, I would raise some question marks over her honesty. Such as her repeated election pledges since 2010 to reduce immigration to 10,000s whilst doing nothing really to bring that about when she had the power to do so as Home Secretary and then Prime Minister. Her spurious reasons for breaking her promise not to call an early election because of opposition faced on Brexit when Parliament had already given her the authority to trigger article 50. (The real reason was because she had a huge poll lead). Even in this election campaign she clearly seemed to be lying when she tried to deny that her major immediate change on social care funding was not a u turn. Looking in her eyes you could almost read she knew she had been caught out there.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;">Of Good character- <i>not a lover of money?</i><o:p></o:p></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;"><i><br /></i></span></b>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiB19HiJ0E9S-QKqBszx9g24fFU4KgxKPha8RWvRAYPesE7lj3fCjAFf11EmB0v75axqKtVFKORE7rG7D36XEfimCSBR8C_t3M_X6pz2o3Iwf-_4TsrlNbu3ohFO8mnTqpI0w8RFPkrK1Y/s1600/lover+of+money.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="373" data-original-width="560" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiB19HiJ0E9S-QKqBszx9g24fFU4KgxKPha8RWvRAYPesE7lj3fCjAFf11EmB0v75axqKtVFKORE7rG7D36XEfimCSBR8C_t3M_X6pz2o3Iwf-_4TsrlNbu3ohFO8mnTqpI0w8RFPkrK1Y/s320/lover+of+money.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<b><i><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;">“</span></i></b><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;"><i>Now a leader must be… </i><b><i>not a lover of money.” </i></b>(1 Timothy 3 v 2/3)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;"> “<i>For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils</i>.” (1 Timothy 6 v 10)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;"><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">“<i>By justice a king gives a country stability, but one who is greedy for bribes tears it down</i>.” (Proverbs 29 v 4)</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;">Jeremy Corbyn is certainly not a lover of money. He is no champagne socialist but lives quite simply, wearing ordinary (sometimes slightly scruffy) clothes. With no flash car, he rides a bike and uses public transport. He generally makes the lowest expenses claims of all MPs. Most importantly, there is no hint that he is open to any sort of bribe</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;">By contrast Theresa May does lead a rather more lavish lifestyle and is well known for her fine clothes and chique shoes (witness her Vogue shoot). Her husband Philip is a multi-millionaire investment banker with one of the largest investment houses in the world and who make much of their money from helping multi-national tax avoiding clients like Amazon. Whilst such an association by her husband does not per se make her unsuitable to be the country's leader it does raise a question mark over how influenced she might be personally be by the love of money and by wanting to preserve the position of the super-rich against those they may exploit. After all. she herself through her husband is part of that rich elite.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;">There is nothing particularly egregious about Theresa May's character or lifestyle but nothing particularly to commend her either and there is some cause to question her character as less than fully honest and not entirely untainted by the love of money. If she hadn't told us she was a Christian it would certainly not be obvious she was by her conduct. By contrast if Jeremy Corbyn hadn't told us he wasn't a Christian we might well suspect he was one.<br /><br /><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;">Able to Teach and Reach<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;">“<i>Now a leader must be…<b>able to teach</b>…</i>” (Also 1 Timothy 3 v 2/3)<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZVdd9AW4EtGtRhMgBgwm5tZAE-nSxUcqjpcC1SFH9fXzwYGFVeNlSQcgunvw06cIeYvRsdCcglMUAUaI-BfD0X6q-omVDN4gJEk2G8SQ2hLI8LPLjNGij4cfFj11H-AxKtni7Jesc278/s1600/Jesus+sermon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="351" data-original-width="586" height="191" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZVdd9AW4EtGtRhMgBgwm5tZAE-nSxUcqjpcC1SFH9fXzwYGFVeNlSQcgunvw06cIeYvRsdCcglMUAUaI-BfD0X6q-omVDN4gJEk2G8SQ2hLI8LPLjNGij4cfFj11H-AxKtni7Jesc278/s320/Jesus+sermon.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: 10pt;">Jesus was brilliant at this- able to communicate his message to people from all walks of life from the highest to the lowest. We can’t expect our own leaders to be as good. However, it is very important that they be able to teach and reach with their own particular messages; both to make themselves and their policies understood to the ordinary citizens they serve and also to get their points across to and persuade those they need to deal with to carry out their policies. This applies especially of course to the EU leaders with whom they must negotiate Brexit terms.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;">Neither Jeremy nor Theresa are great orators, although both are pretty articulate. In terms of polished prepared speech making Theresa is possibly slight better. However looking beyond the superficial polish and sound bites who does communicate better with ordinary people? All the evidence now suggests Jeremy wins that hands down. Many are still wary of him for various reasons but there are also many who have been won over by his down to earth message and his more ordinary less polished human touch. He is very much a people person who thrives on being out there communicating with ordinary people even ones he disagrees with. This was seen in his leadership election campaigns where thousands flocked to hear his message. That same message is now inspiring many other. By contrast Theresa seems often very fearful of contact with other people and quite ill at ease. She generally shies away from contact with the ordinary public unless it is well controlled and stage managed. And, of course, she was unable to face up to debating with the 6 other part leaders on live TV- a great opportunity to convey her message to a wider audience. Rather than justifying her positions with evidence or even articulating detailed policy she mostly resorts to rather bland soundbites whose meaning is at best unclear; “Brexit means Brexit” “A red white and blue Brexit “no deal is better than a bad deal" “strong and stable leadership.” This does not really teach and inform the electorate as to what she really wants to do or why she is doing it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;">So, what about their ability to get their points across to other fellow leaders? With Jeremy it’s very difficult to know because he's never sought or held high office. Some will point to the massive vote of no confidence in him by his own MPs as evidence that he is incapable of persuading other politicians to his point of view. However that's not strictly true, because his leadership challenger had himself been persuaded to adopt Jeremy's policy ideas almost entirely (save for Trident) And this is now reflected in Labours manifesto now warmly endorsed even by the MPs who rebelled against him. If he has failings as a leader it’s not because of being unable to persuade others of his position.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-size: 10pt;">Theresa May by contrast has held high office but how has she done with persuading other leaders to her point of view? Rather badly I think. As Home Secretary from 2010 she pledged to reduce net immigration below 100,000 and even though most of our immigration comes from outside the EU free movement zone she singularly failed in making any progress with this target. In fact, at one immigration was over three times this level. Even more recently we have seen her immediately pull back from her own new policies once met with opposition- on raising national insurance for the self-employed and removing caps from social care. Despite these clear failures to bring others round to her position she would say she has a great track record in getting what she wants out of the EU. She will point to her success in 2014 when as Home Secretary she persuaded the EU to let the UK opt out of the Lisbon agreement on policing and criminal justice and then cherry pick just 35 out of 110 measures that she liked and where she opted back in. She would like to think she can do a similar a landslide carte deal with Europe over Brexit- just tell the EU waiter what we want and as long as you shout loud enough he'll bring it. However, the strategy of “exit then cherry-picking” worked with the Lisbon treaty only because Tony Blair in 2007 had set this up as an “exit plus cherry-picking” deal in the Treaty itself. It is a colossal error to think that the same approach can work in the case of Brexit – a negotiation of phenomenally greater complexity, and where opt-outs have not been negotiated by existing treaty provisions. Her dealings over the Lisbon treaty whilst successful are nothing very remarkable and do not overcome the concerns arising from her failure to persuade on other matters.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-size: 10pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<b><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 10pt;">Humble<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<b><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 10pt;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;">“<i>[Jesus] being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant …<b>he humbled himself</b> by becoming obedient to death- even death on a cross.</i>” (Philippians 2 v 6-8).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;">“<i>You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve…</i>” (Mark 10 v 42-45)<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhK46CsmSJ5rNvp88YaVcPoowLiBvYLd0VO679AXiq_Ayipdi4qUidfnqoaWfnFr78BA-R4WasEUYaipK1n4o9AoUuTbeOrizuoRMYuKnPt3M4TaXnDmN26em9bptBhxtdCAkyTdrKQvWQ/s1600/Jesus+servant+king.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="252" data-original-width="460" height="175" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhK46CsmSJ5rNvp88YaVcPoowLiBvYLd0VO679AXiq_Ayipdi4qUidfnqoaWfnFr78BA-R4WasEUYaipK1n4o9AoUuTbeOrizuoRMYuKnPt3M4TaXnDmN26em9bptBhxtdCAkyTdrKQvWQ/s320/Jesus+servant+king.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: 10pt;">Humility is too often devalued as a leadership quality, but it should be a key characteristic we look for and was exemplified in Jesus’s life. Like Jesus Jeremy Corbyn does not seek leadership for his own personal advantage but only to fulfil a mission for the good of others. If he wanted to grasp at personal advancement he would not have spent over 30 years as a backbencher, speaking up for often unfashionable causes. He is noticeably uncomfortable when asked by interviewers to sell himself as a leader and will instead gravitate to the policies that he wants to promote. Contrast this with Theresa May who tried to style her whole election campaign around what a great leader she claims to be ; the strong and stable leader which she contrasts with the poor leadership of her opponent. She also has something of a fondness for showing off fine clothes especially those shoes! She does not display very obvious humility.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<b><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Wise and listening to advice</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-fSrKI8ajQfcyz4P7Qsp50URrB5guWKNGA3AC9dvxLV2cN7FHe1dF3jn2CiZ-qeoF13o02P79xUtH8TW-uTzwuBbo4233lRSTypZ011EYUw4ZFyBA3jpBPZ_W75OF51H8vGDQ0E_el40/s1600/wise+owl.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="265" data-original-width="399" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-fSrKI8ajQfcyz4P7Qsp50URrB5guWKNGA3AC9dvxLV2cN7FHe1dF3jn2CiZ-qeoF13o02P79xUtH8TW-uTzwuBbo4233lRSTypZ011EYUw4ZFyBA3jpBPZ_W75OF51H8vGDQ0E_el40/s320/wise+owl.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;">“The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him- <b><i>the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding</i></b>” (Isaiah 11 v 2)<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;">“Without <b><i>wise leadership</i></b>, a nation falls; there is <b><i>safety in having many advisers.</i></b>” (Proverbs 11 v 14)<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br /></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<span style="font-size: 10pt;">Many have questioned Jeremy Corbyn's political judgments over the years as foolishly extreme. I'll admit I haven’t shared all of them but looking back I have to say he was very often proved right when many were wrong:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: 39.15pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;">Calling for sanctions against apartheid South Africa when our government was still treating them as a friend<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 39.15pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;">Calling for talks with Northern Irish terrorists to bring about a lasting peace<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 39.15pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;">Opposing new Labour's continuing Tory privatisation of the running of our public services<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 39.15pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;">Opposing disastrous military interventions in Iraq and Libya that have exacerbated the conditions that breed poverty mass migration and terrorism<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 39.15pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;">Opposing savage and economically self-defeating austerity and welfare cuts.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: 39.15pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;">Part of being a wise leader however is listening to and working with a team of wise advisers. In this election Jeremy has rightly talked about a good leader listening to advice. However, I’m afraid he has not always put this into practice. In his time as Labour leader he too often ignored the advice of his cabinet colleagues and went it alone and seemed to sometimes make up and announce policy on the hoof without consulting his colleagues. This came to a head during and immediately after the EU referendum where he had failed to co-operate with the Labour remain campaign and immediately afterwards without consultation called on the Prime Minister to trigger article 50 straightaway. It was this not his policy positions that ultimately led to his MPs rebellion (See my earlier blog last year explaining why I would not be voting for him in the second Labour leadership election- http://jeremysblog67.blogspot.co.uk/2016/08/jeremy-corbyn-neither-demon-nor-messiah.html. Note my view of him has since changed for the better!). I think it is understandable how a man who had previously devoted his whole political career to being a lone backbench rebel has struggled to work with a cabinet of colleagues. Has he learned from, can he learn from those mistakes? Frankly I don’t know. There have been positive signs in this election campaign where he has been more measured in his words and has tried to avoid contradicting his colleagues. Only time will tell.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 21.15pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;">I have to say I’ve not seen a great deal of wisdom on Theresa May’s part. As Home Secretary with responsibility for immigration supposedly her big policy was bringing down immigration to 10,000s. Nearly all economists warn that for the near future this would be economically disastrous. Thankfully she singularly failed to achieve that target. However, the setting and failing to reach that target greatly stoked up the fire of fear over immigration levels. It therefore massively contributed to the vote to leave the EU, something which Theresa May herself had firmly if quietly opposed. She became Prime Minister on the back of the leave vote and overnight converted herself from a quiet if firm supporter of the EU to an evangelist for a hard Brexit which placed full control of immigration and our laws as the red lines and free trade and economics as an afterthought. Most economists believe her priorities for Brexit will lead to the imposition of serious barriers to EU trade which will be economically disastrous. (See my earlier blog article on the Brexit myths). She also appointed leading Brexiteer MPs into the key cabinet positions dealing with the EU including probably the most unsuitable and undiplomatic Foreign Secretary ever Boris Johnson who has promptly set about upsetting as many of our near neighbours as possible. None of this strikes me as very wise. Nor her decision to increase national insurance on the self-employed (in breach of a Tory manifesto promise) which when opposed she almost immediately withdrew nor her surprise announcement to remove any cap on funding of social care costs in the new manifesto (“the dementia tax”) which again when opposed she almost immediately changed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;">Generally, I would say that she has shown she can and does work alongside colleagues who advise her. She had after all been a government cabinet member for six years before she became Prime Minister and a shadow cabinet member before that. However, a number of those she has appointed to her own cabinet I would suggest are not wise advisers to have around you, e.g. Boris Johnson. And her “dementia tax” debacle by all accounts was a policy she came up without any detailed consultation with her cabinet colleagues.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;">A strong and stable leader?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;">“…<b><i>the Spirit of counsel and of might</i></b>…” (Isaiah 11 v 2)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;">“… the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Such a person is double-,minded and unstable in all that they do.” (James 1 v 8)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeucqVgFVT75hRdz6obJZ5GmZT6W82ugBpaFmrXMq5sn-TP5OWnOLo5979CE8Y6UuXcthbzv8-nQnjRQLqerO9u8FIWZKF_ych0XNWer7Xsq_7KhxMtKOQ0_TMnRvZKLw3JBGL2ZnrRq8/s1600/The-new-Iron-Lady.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="721" data-original-width="1000" height="230" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeucqVgFVT75hRdz6obJZ5GmZT6W82ugBpaFmrXMq5sn-TP5OWnOLo5979CE8Y6UuXcthbzv8-nQnjRQLqerO9u8FIWZKF_ych0XNWer7Xsq_7KhxMtKOQ0_TMnRvZKLw3JBGL2ZnrRq8/s320/The-new-Iron-Lady.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;">Theresa May has styled her whole campaign around being the “strong and stable” leader that our country needs to negotiate the best Brexit deal we can with the EU.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;">But on the available evidence how strong and stable a leader has she proved to be? And how does she measure up against Jeremy Corby for strength and stability?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;"><br /></span><b><i><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;">Strength</span></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;">Theresa May certainly talks “strong” and “tough”. For example, the hard line she proposes towards immigration- to reduce it by 1/3<sup>rd</sup> to 10,000s. Similarly, past cabinet colleagues have even described her as being a “bloody difficult woman.” She would say she has the strength of character to put to the British people the tough choices we need to make like how some people having to pay more in tax or how we fund social care for our growing number of elderly. She will say by toughing it out with the EU as Home Secretary she was able to force them to accept the cherry-picked opt ins she wanted to the Lisbon treaty on police and crime. She might even cite how she stood up to the EU leaders in the Downing Street meeting at the start of the election in setting out her Brexit demands which got Jean-Claude Junker so wound up.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;">The trouble is her “tough talking” has actually got her or the country nowhere. This is the third election in a row where she has proposed slashing net immigration only to fail spectacularly badly and do nothing effective to prevent it rising further (It is now falling finally but only because of Brexit). She made tough calls over taxation and funding social care by raising self-employed national insurance in the recent budget and by proposing in her budget uncapped social care contributions from people’s homes. But as soon as these proposals faced any vocal criticism in days or even hours she reversed those policies. That is surely a sign of weakness not strength. The opt out/in to EU crime and police measures might be seen as a sign of her “strength” succeeding. However as noted above she was only putting into practice what Tony Blair’s deal on this had set up for her. And as for her “tough talking” with the EU leaders over Brexit so far all this has done is get their backs up. As a result, even her supposed conservative ally Chancellor Merkel warned (in rather more subtle language than Mr Junker) that she was being “illusionary” over her Brexit expectations. This certainly was evidence of her being a “bloody difficult woman” but not in a way that is likely to be at all helpful when negotiating with a stronger party.(See my comments above re “peacemaking”)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;">And then what about all the causes and people that she has not stood up for or stood against? What about standing up against the richest and most powerful to help the weak? Jesus was no respecter of the rich and powerful and was prepared to challenge them directly. Jesus warned “woe to you rich”, who would find it very hard to get into his kingdom and he often encouraged them often to give away their wealth. He tackled head on the hypocrisy of the religious establishment- the Pharisees and Sadducees, speaking out against them - “woe to you Pharisees.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;"> Theresa May talks quite a good talk about standing up for the just about managing and seek a country that works for all and being prepared to intervene to do this. She has more recently proposed certain policies that in limited ways seek to do this eg adopting Labour's policy in fuel capping (but then watered it down in her manifesto) and even her controversial removal of certain pensioner entitlements some might view in that way. However overall as a member of the government since 2010 she has mostly very much stood up for the interests of the rich and powerful against the poor e.g. the choices to reduce taxes for rich individuals and corporations whilst slashing welfare spending for those most in need. And what about standing up to other world leaders when they are clearly in the wrong? Instead of criticising Saudi Arabia for its involvement in the Yemeni bombing of innocent civilians she supports selling arms to help them do it. Or what about standing up to President Donald Trump and some of his policies that threaten the world? She was about the only European leader who refused to sign the recent letter condemning his foolish and damaging decision to pull out of the Paris climate change deal. She just said it was “disappointing” but it was “up to him.” Again, that is weak not strong leadership. And then in this election campaign we see her running away from the live BBC leaders’ debate, sending Amber Rudd instead (even though Amber had just lost her father that week). This is weakness not strength.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;">Compare this with Jeremy Corbyn. He generally has a gentler, friendlier style (for which many in his party have criticised him). However, politeness and gentleness should not be mistaken for weakness. In fact the grace under pressure he so often displays is surely a great strength. He has stuck very firmly to his core political beliefs and policies, even when it seemed all the world was against him. He was therefore fully prepared to vote against his party’s own government on numerous occasions when he disagreed with them. (Perhaps rather too much but we’re taking about strength not wisdom here.) And after the EU referendum we then saw most of the country (including myself) and most of his MPs join David Cameron’s call, “God sake man go”. He stood his ground and fought off his leadership challenge because he was still convinced he had an important job to do.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;">And unlike Theresa May but like Jesus Jeremy does have the inner strength to take on vested powerful and rich establishment interests. Time and again he has spoken out against individuals and governments who act unjustly and spoken for the poor and oppressed. Even if you think some of that was naïve it shows strength not weakness. And he continues to stand up to the powerful when he believes they do wrong. Witness his very clear condemnation the other day of President Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris Climate Change Agreement. And unlike Theresa May, Jeremy has also shown his never afraid to engage with anyone in debate and discussion.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;">Jeremy beats Theresa hands down when it comes to real strength.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><i><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;">Stability<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;">Jeremy Corbyn has been pretty consistent and stable in sticking to the principles and policies he believes in, especially to bring about a more peaceful, just and equal society and world, This is what led to him being a serial rebel as a Labour back bencher over 30 years. It is also part of what landed him in trouble with many of his own MPs as leader eg his firm opposition to airstrikes in Syria and his opposition to Britain’s own “independent” nuclear deterrent. He has however shown at times that he is prepared to listen to other views and take account of new evidence that have changed his standpoint. For example, having been an advocate of leaving NATO as an archaic organisation post the cold war, in the light of more recent events he has accepted it still has a role to play On the EU his position has also changed but has been rather more consistent than some politicians. He was never more than lukewarm about our membership of the EU, having supported our withdrawal from the EEC in 1983. Subsequently he did accept there were greater benefits than losses from being an EU member but even in the Remain campaign he had his doubts and said he was 7/10 for staying in. From being a lukewarm remainer before the Referendum to seeking a medium soft Brexit after it is a broadly consistent position I’d say.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;">Before she was Prime Minister Theresa May was a loyal MP and front bencher who nearly always supported and followed the party line. In that sense she also can be said to have been stable in her political positions (albeit in an opposite way to Jeremy Corbyn!). However since becoming Prime Minister a year ago, and especially recently, she has shown a rather worrying tendency for major policy wobbling and even completely backtracking. Examples include:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;">Her sudden conversion from quite but firm EU remainer to hard Brexit, evangelist happy to have no free trade deal in order to have complete control of immigration and law<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;">Promising to give workers a place on company boards- massively watered down in the manifesto<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;">Promising to cap energy bills-again massively watered down in the manifesto<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;">In the last budget increasing national insurance contributions on the self-employed (in breach of a Tory manifesto commitment) only to reverse it days later following the string adverse reaction<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;">Declaring seven times that there would be no election until 2020 to ensure a period of stability before suddenly announcing this snap election<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;">The “dementia tax” fiasco. Proposing in her manifesto to remove any cap on funding social care from people’s home. Within hours following adverse reaction the policy was reversed to put back a cap.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;">One cannot escape the impression that Jeremy Paxman was right when he described Theresa May as a “blow hard who collapses at the first sight of gunfire.” As was also pointed out. with such a record isn’t the the EU is likely to regard her as a weak rather than a strong negotiator? She likes to style herself as the Iron Lady number, like Mrs Thatcher known for wielding her handbag with the EU leaders in order to get her way. But Theresa May rather seems to be all talk and no hand bag!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;">Despite the rhetoric I would suggest the evidence indicates that Jeremy Corby is a far more strong and stable leader than Theresa May.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;">Conclusion<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb2cCQXYx-L3QMD-HPuhr12tcguWU6bV5G1jdJ6MWeEkVeIU2T4qrnq5MOaMTzhgbuzH0Jx4YyOypBsvK6-9Of9sXQ0K4BW0k8H4DBHiNMIfzZNanUHjNv3KouwXUtVVnP4Dz6prjmVmU/s1600/Corby+wan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="580" data-original-width="600" height="309" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb2cCQXYx-L3QMD-HPuhr12tcguWU6bV5G1jdJ6MWeEkVeIU2T4qrnq5MOaMTzhgbuzH0Jx4YyOypBsvK6-9Of9sXQ0K4BW0k8H4DBHiNMIfzZNanUHjNv3KouwXUtVVnP4Dz6prjmVmU/s320/Corby+wan.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;"><br />Against all these key biblical characteristics of what makes a good leader I believe neither Theresa May nor Jeremy Corbyn perfectly fulfil them. On most of them I suggest the evidence indicates both of them partly fulfil the characteristics but on each of them Jeremy fulfils them rather better (although they are possibly closer on wisdom and following advice). However, it’s on the very quality that Theresa May extolls in herself - being “strong and stable”- that she performs particularly badly and Jeremy particularly well. If you want a strong and stable leader in the true senses of those words then he is the one. He is also the one who seems to best have the gifts to be a successful negotiator for Brexit, as he appears to have rather better personal communication skills and be a much better peacemaker.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;">If you are deciding your vote on the character of the leader alone I would suggest you should certainly be voting Labour.</span></div>
Jeremy Hortonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14040288077436997446noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1711610253004091876.post-27693269861353419782017-06-02T17:34:00.003-07:002017-06-02T17:34:43.957-07:00Unmasking the myths- The Myth of Good Leadership- the “Strong and Stable Leader"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpZ2v2xRwlvJ3_tCwtX-694vSqtEwxH0WmF15Hx_O4dvOP3wTKcdRbxXmXfFeKczlnWWBFavGqfEQN88oRUTkJZdbGWc5dKlpZ2NGLZryerkJMFRtTgex1HeBwzXEzwUvk-iJDNSLtvJE/s1600/Jeremy+v+Theresa.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="348" data-original-width="620" height="223" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpZ2v2xRwlvJ3_tCwtX-694vSqtEwxH0WmF15Hx_O4dvOP3wTKcdRbxXmXfFeKczlnWWBFavGqfEQN88oRUTkJZdbGWc5dKlpZ2NGLZryerkJMFRtTgex1HeBwzXEzwUvk-iJDNSLtvJE/s400/Jeremy+v+Theresa.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt;">Many in this
election won’t decide how they vote based on policy. They either find it all
too confusing or irrelevant. They don’t trust politicians to do most of what
they say anyway. Instead they will give their vote to whoever they think seems
will be the “best” leader for the country. And in this pivotal moment in
British history many will vote for the leader they think has the skills to get
us the best Brexit deal. I think policy really does matter. However, I can
totally understand why some will vote on the leader’s personality rather than
policy. But what I would say is to judge who is a better leader we need to look
behind the act- behind the make-up, the posturing and the sloganeering. We need
to try to get to the real heart of the leader behind the façade. No matter how
many times someone tells you they are a “strong and stable” leader does not
make them a strong and stable leader!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfTvc-19NA9Mtm0gBuAWD-brnAItODb5NdYj08s40F68quvQMtKiuBVVHY_G2y3126-mf9RDiETbNoByxkDGaTU4XmDLtcmenk5oVW9sI3z5DRW-93y4u9Ke-X6cjPuskgeokLC5u84xw/s1600/strong+and+stable+leadership.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="415" data-original-width="625" height="132" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfTvc-19NA9Mtm0gBuAWD-brnAItODb5NdYj08s40F68quvQMtKiuBVVHY_G2y3126-mf9RDiETbNoByxkDGaTU4XmDLtcmenk5oVW9sI3z5DRW-93y4u9Ke-X6cjPuskgeokLC5u84xw/s200/strong+and+stable+leadership.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">But in
assessing who is a better leader what are the qualities we looking for? As a
Christian, I would say that as in all areas of life we need to be guided by the
principles we see in the bible and the person we see in the ultimate good
leader- Jesus Christ. The sort of attributes that God looks for in a good
leader are not necessarily the same as most of the world looks for, certainly
not our media. Too often in politics the “good leader” is portrayed as the one
who acts the best leader, i.e. who comes up with the more polished
performances, the cleverest quips and soundbites and who looks good on the
telly. Against those standards Tony Blair and David Cameron would probably be
considered our country’s greatest ever leaders. Yet one of those leaders ended
up misleading the country into fighting a disastrous illegal war in Iraq which
has brought on us much of the terrorism we suffer today. The other led the
country into the potential economic disaster of Brexit despite his strong
opposition to it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicg3LOANkL5MlWNUtc6FXOZjod4sDcHVmgMWQVskKfGGMgcxAKCsk7jtCcPOzDknimFCM3ABr3XLaOFceUxfgc5bVIsXAMT2ysXrRxzP8WbhJZeRRZufgzVnaRWKrw2Ct_yqOlRY9jGt4/s1600/Jesus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="204" data-original-width="220" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicg3LOANkL5MlWNUtc6FXOZjod4sDcHVmgMWQVskKfGGMgcxAKCsk7jtCcPOzDknimFCM3ABr3XLaOFceUxfgc5bVIsXAMT2ysXrRxzP8WbhJZeRRZufgzVnaRWKrw2Ct_yqOlRY9jGt4/s1600/Jesus.jpg" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt;">Jesus's
background marked him out as "the wrong sort" to be a leader. He was
untrained and inexperienced as a teacher- not schooled as a rabbi and with the
wrong background; an illegitimate son of a simple carpenter from Nazareth. As
one of his critics said, can anything good come from there? Interestingly,
being the “wrong sort” is something they seem to share with most of the
greatest leaders in the bible God chose. Abraham, Moses, Gideon and David all
appeared to be the wrong sort to be leader when appointed; too old, too young, too
inexperienced etc. In fact, very often it is the people who in human eyes seem
the least likely sort to be leaders are the right sort in God’s eyes . “People
look at outward appearances, but the Lord looks at the heart”. 1 Samuel 16 v 7</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br />
<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">We also need
to recognise that in choosing our leader that no man or woman is going to be a
perfect leader. We are all broken, sinful people. Jesus Christ is the only
perfect leader. I believe he will one day return to be leader of the whole
world, to bring true and lasting peace, prosperity and justice for the poor and
for all. In the meantime we have to settle for mere fallible men or women as
our leaders. Yet as a Christian I believe in choosing a leader you need to
assess how both their character measures up against him. (They will all fall
short of course).<br />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br />
<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">So what
qualities does God look for in a good leader? Being a “strong and stable”
leader matters but if you look at the bible these are not the key requirements
in God’s eyes. It’s the characteristics of the Messiah, the perfect leader to
come predicted in the Old Testament vision (see eg Isaiah chapter 11) and that
we see displayed in the life of Jesus Christ, the man who would be that leader.
In one sense what God requires from a leader is what he requires from all us;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> “…<i>and
what does the Lord require of you? To <b>act</b>
<b>justly</b>, <b>love mercy</b> and <b>walk humbly</b>
with your God</i>.” (Micah 6 v 8)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">If we unpack
that into the principles of good leadership extolled across the bible I would
suggest the key characteristics we should be looking for are:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
</div>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><b style="text-indent: -18pt;"><i><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">A heart for the poor and needy</span></i></b></li>
<li><b style="text-indent: -18pt;"><i><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> A peacemaker</span></i></b></li>
<li><b style="text-indent: -18pt;"><i><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> Of good character</span></i></b></li>
<li><b style="text-indent: -18pt;"><i><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> Able to teach and reach people</span></i></b></li>
<li style="text-indent: -24px;"><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;"><b><i> </i></b></span> <b style="text-indent: -18pt;"><i><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Humble</span></i></b></li>
<li style="text-indent: -24px;"><b style="text-indent: -18pt;"><i><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> Wise and listening to good advice</span></i></b></li>
<li style="text-indent: -24px;"><span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><b style="text-indent: -18pt;"><i><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Strong and stable</span></i></b></li>
</ul>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-size: 10pt;">So how do
Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn measure up to those characteristics?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">A Heart for the Poor and Needy<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxYE62mp5GBwG-LEtgd6fGTd1ks0s1df84Ko9KdNPouGo_F3Ri6Sn1H7rvBWU1br1VIV26HNDvF-zFupIfX_HJkLcrI3mU0nTQ8FeY8pGso4BvEhJkNIyMu7Kr7p6ImvST5CAIq4pWWVY/s1600/mother+teresa.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="170" data-original-width="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxYE62mp5GBwG-LEtgd6fGTd1ks0s1df84Ko9KdNPouGo_F3Ri6Sn1H7rvBWU1br1VIV26HNDvF-zFupIfX_HJkLcrI3mU0nTQ8FeY8pGso4BvEhJkNIyMu7Kr7p6ImvST5CAIq4pWWVY/s1600/mother+teresa.jpg" /></a></div>
<i><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“Speak up for those who cannot speak
for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge
fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.” </span></i><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">(Proverbs 31 v 8/9)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“…with righteousness he will judge
the needy, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth.”</span></i><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> (Isaiah 11 v 4)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Jesus saw
his mission particularly to “bring good news to the poor” (both spiritually and
materially). (Luke 4 v 18) and when Jesus returns as the ultimate leader he
“will give justice to the poor and make fair decisions for the exploited”.
(Isaiah 11 v 4) Jeremy Corbyn as a politician makes it very much his own
mission to support the poor and needy. For example, speaking out against
welfare changes that have doing such great harm done to poor and needy in our
country and speaking out for the plight of refugees. Theresa May's own record
in standing up for the poor is rather more mixed. To her credit she has
maintained the government's pledge to devote 0.7% of GDP to help the world's poorest.
However domestically whilst she has certainly talked about helping those who
are struggling the policies of the government she has been part of have greatly
harmed the situation of society's poorest especially the cruel welfare benefits
cuts and sanctions (see my previous blog).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">A Peacemaker<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“…<b>blessed are the peacemakers</b>, for they shall be called the sons of
God…” (Matthew 5 v 9)<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“If possible, so far as it depends on
you, <b>live peaceably with everyone</b>.”
(Romans 12 v 18)<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“Now a leader must be… not violent
but <b>gentle, not quarrelsome.” </b></span></i><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">(1 Timothy 3 v 2/3)</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 13.3333px;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLzhwc3cds5Vftt2BZ2gCWZN0fg1TFPZ13eMpZHz024K4nKEQRa3EjlvqtGOZWdXeRGidn9FlU_62fLP962BffnB4RWZhFVStFss_6bl_bS3f4e4RQ9o0HRwAiSYrHVZZ5Rrr_edw07Z0/s1600/paisley+and+mcguiness.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="351" data-original-width="624" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLzhwc3cds5Vftt2BZ2gCWZN0fg1TFPZ13eMpZHz024K4nKEQRa3EjlvqtGOZWdXeRGidn9FlU_62fLP962BffnB4RWZhFVStFss_6bl_bS3f4e4RQ9o0HRwAiSYrHVZZ5Rrr_edw07Z0/s320/paisley+and+mcguiness.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt;">Jesus was
the ultimate peacemaker, reconciling men and God through his crucifixion. In
his earthly mission he demonstrated this by reaching out to reconcile those
considered to be beyond society’s pale, “the sinners” such as prostitutes and
tax collectors. Indeed, he was much criticised by the establishment for even
eating with such outcasts. He also spoke
out against armed violence “Those who live by the sword will died by the
sword,” he warned Peter. His was a peaceful revolution of heart and mind. You
will also hear much criticism of Jeremy Corbyn for having associated with his own
“sinners” like palestinian terrorist groups or the IRA. Yet he appears to have
done so only in order to try to bring reconciliation and peace. Indeed, Jeremy
Corbyn has strongly spoken out against the use of violent force in Iraq and
elsewhere and instead encouraged more peaceful means of resolving conflicts. He
is someone who enjoys engaging and talking with people even those he strongly
disagrees with. On a personal level
colleagues and even opponents all testify to how well they get on with him.
Whilst he argues passionately for the causes he believes in his tone is
generally quite gentle and respectful and he generally avoids personal
criticism.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">By contrast Theresa May likes to style herself as
difficult and combative in order to get her way rather than a peacemaker.
Indeed, she prides herself on being described by her former colleague Ken
Clarke as a “bloody difficult woman.” This was illustrated in the rather
hostile and unproductive Downing Street meeting she had with EU leaders just
before the election. She has also shown herself rather too ready to resort to
personal abuse of her opponents. She has voted for every proposed military
intervention since she has been a MP including in Iraq and Libya. Peacemaker is
certainly not an obvious quality you would ascribe to Theresa May.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The
qualities of peacemaker could be very important when it comes to leading Brexit
negotiations. Our Prime Minister will be dealing with a bigger and stronger
party and trying to browbeat them into submission is just not going to work.
Any experienced negotiator will tell you that is not how you best negotiate
with a stronger party. Taking too forceful an approach is likely to risk the
door just being slammed in our face.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Of Good Character- <i>faithful, righteous, self-controlled,
respectable, sober and hospitable</i><o:p></o:p></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><i><br /></i></span></b>
<b><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><i><br /></i></span></b>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7dviY_Kjcn4pE2VVgCqhMhx7C0SiHXBOGH-7Uo1YLEPMw6aQF5ZhB7sjeP9TwvkGwfFeRXhWnZIV7rokEFnOmZ8ay4EdqO-yMPFln8-54jKZMp3Lmt-kWfwL54US9Ayz04CUM91dpk_0/s1600/good+character.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="182" data-original-width="800" height="72" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7dviY_Kjcn4pE2VVgCqhMhx7C0SiHXBOGH-7Uo1YLEPMw6aQF5ZhB7sjeP9TwvkGwfFeRXhWnZIV7rokEFnOmZ8ay4EdqO-yMPFln8-54jKZMp3Lmt-kWfwL54US9Ayz04CUM91dpk_0/s320/good+character.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<b><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><i><br /></i></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10pt;">“Now a
leader must be above reproach, </span><b style="font-size: 10pt;"><i>faithful</i></b><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> to his wife, temperate, </span><b style="font-size: 10pt;"><i>self-controlled,</i></b><span style="font-size: 10pt;">
</span><b style="font-size: 10pt;"><i>respectable</i></b><span style="font-size: 10pt;">,
</span><b style="font-size: 10pt;"><i>hospitable</i>,</b><span style="font-size: 10pt;">
…, not given to drunkenness.” (1 Timothy
3 v 2/3)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“<b><i>Righteousness</i></b>
will be his belt and <b>faithfulness</b>
the sash around his waist.” (Isaiah 11 v 5)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> It’s rather difficult to compete with Jesus
over “good character” as he was and is the perfect, sinless son of God.
However, good character is very important in a leader. Jeremy Corbyn
exemplifies key points of good character that the bible says should be looked
for in a leader. He is indeed temperate, gentle and self-controlled in his
speech and does not do “personal” sniping and insults (but sticks to the
issues). Anyone who has met him even if they strongly disagree with him speaks
about how “nice” and decent and hospitable he is, for example offering to share
his sandwiches with them on the train. Whilst he strongly disagrees with Donald
Trump he commented he would look forward to inviting to Downing Street to share
a cup of Yorkshire tea and try to persuade him why he was wrong over climate
change. Far from being a drunkard he is teetotal (and a vegetarian). Without being perfect he appears to be about
as honest as a politician can be. In fact, many would criticise him for being
too honest and at times saying his first thoughts aloud before he’s thought
through how they be interpreted. He has been accused of dishonesty over trying
to cover up his previous alleged dealings with terrorists. However, an
examination of the facts does not bear out the allegation that he ever condoned
terrorist violence. He merely spoke with certain groups associated with terrorists
to promote dialogue and peace. The worst he can fairly be accused of is
naivety. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Theresa May
professes to be a Christian and she may well be. Not knowing her personally I would not
presume to judge how genuine her Christian faith is. Generally there seems to
be nothing obviously immoral about her own personal character or conduct that
makes her unsuitable to lead. However, I would raise some question marks over
her honesty. Such as her repeated election pledges since 2010 to reduce immigration to 10,000s whilst doing nothing
really to bring that about when she had the power to do so as Home Secretary
and then Prime Minister. Her spurious reasons for breaking her promise not to
call an early election because of opposition faced on Brexit when Parliament
had already given her the authority to trigger article 50. (The real reason was
because she had a huge poll lead). Even in this election campaign she clearly
seemed to be lying when she tried to deny that her major immediate change on
social care funding was not a u turn. Looking in her eyes you could almost read
she knew she had been caught out there.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Of Good character- <i>not a lover of
money?</i><o:p></o:p></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><i><br /></i></span></b>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiB19HiJ0E9S-QKqBszx9g24fFU4KgxKPha8RWvRAYPesE7lj3fCjAFf11EmB0v75axqKtVFKORE7rG7D36XEfimCSBR8C_t3M_X6pz2o3Iwf-_4TsrlNbu3ohFO8mnTqpI0w8RFPkrK1Y/s1600/lover+of+money.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="373" data-original-width="560" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiB19HiJ0E9S-QKqBszx9g24fFU4KgxKPha8RWvRAYPesE7lj3fCjAFf11EmB0v75axqKtVFKORE7rG7D36XEfimCSBR8C_t3M_X6pz2o3Iwf-_4TsrlNbu3ohFO8mnTqpI0w8RFPkrK1Y/s320/lover+of+money.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<b><i><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“</span></i></b><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"><i>Now a leader must be… </i><b><i>not a
lover of money.” </i></b>(1 Timothy 3 v 2/3)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> “<i>For the love of money is a root of all kinds
of evils</i>.” (1 Timothy 6 v 10)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">“<i>By justice a king gives a country stability, but one who is greedy for bribes tears it down</i>.” (Proverbs 29 v 4)</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Jeremy
Corbyn is certainly not a lover of money. He is no champagne socialist but
lives quite simply, wearing ordinary (sometimes slightly scruffy) clothes. With
no flash car, he rides a bike and uses public transport. He generally makes the
lowest expenses claims of all MPs. Most
importantly, there is no hint that he is open to any sort of bribe</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">By
contrast Theresa May does lead a rather
more lavish lifestyle and is well known for her fine clothes and chique shoes
(witness her Vogue shoot). Her husband Philip is a multi-millionaire investment
banker with one of the largest investment houses in the world and who make much
of their money from helping multi-national tax avoiding clients like Amazon.
Whilst such an association by her husband does not per se make her unsuitable
to be the country's leader it does raise a question mark over how influenced
she might be personally be by the love of money and by wanting to preserve the
position of the super-rich against those they may exploit. After all. she
herself through her husband is part of that rich elite.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">There is
nothing particularly egregious about Theresa May's character or lifestyle but
nothing particularly to commend her either and there is some cause to question
her character as less than fully honest and not entirely untainted by the love
of money. If she hadn't told us she was a Christian it would certainly not be
obvious she was by her conduct. By contrast if Jeremy Corbyn hadn't told us he
wasn't a Christian we might well suspect he was one.<br />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br />
<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Able to Teach and Reach<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“<i>Now a
leader must be…<b>able to teach</b>…</i>” (Also 1 Timothy 3 v 2/3)<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZVdd9AW4EtGtRhMgBgwm5tZAE-nSxUcqjpcC1SFH9fXzwYGFVeNlSQcgunvw06cIeYvRsdCcglMUAUaI-BfD0X6q-omVDN4gJEk2G8SQ2hLI8LPLjNGij4cfFj11H-AxKtni7Jesc278/s1600/Jesus+sermon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="351" data-original-width="586" height="191" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZVdd9AW4EtGtRhMgBgwm5tZAE-nSxUcqjpcC1SFH9fXzwYGFVeNlSQcgunvw06cIeYvRsdCcglMUAUaI-BfD0X6q-omVDN4gJEk2G8SQ2hLI8LPLjNGij4cfFj11H-AxKtni7Jesc278/s320/Jesus+sermon.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: 10pt;">Jesus was
brilliant at this- able to communicate his message to people from all
walks of life from the highest to the lowest. We can’t expect our own leaders
to be as good. However, it is very important that they be able to teach and
reach with their own particular messages; both to make themselves and their
policies understood to the ordinary citizens they serve and also to get their
points across to and persuade those they need to deal with to carry out their
policies. This applies especially of course to the EU leaders with whom they
must negotiate Brexit terms.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Neither
Jeremy nor Theresa are great orators, although both are pretty articulate. In
terms of polished prepared speech making Theresa is possibly slight better.
However looking beyond the superficial polish and sound bites who does
communicate better with ordinary people? All the evidence now suggests Jeremy
wins that hands down. Many are still wary of him for various reasons but there
are also many who have been won over by his down to earth message and his more
ordinary less polished human touch. He is very much a people person who thrives
on being out there communicating with ordinary people even ones he disagrees
with. This was seen in his leadership election campaigns where thousands
flocked to hear his message. That same message is now inspiring many other. By
contrast Theresa seems often very fearful of contact with other people and
quite ill at ease. She generally shies away from contact with the ordinary
public unless it is well controlled and stage managed. And, of course, she was
unable to face up to debating with the 6 other part leaders on live TV- a great
opportunity to convey her message to a wider audience. Rather than justifying
her positions with evidence or even articulating detailed policy she mostly
resorts to rather bland soundbites whose
meaning is at best unclear; “Brexit means Brexit” “A red white and blue
Brexit “no deal is better than a bad
deal" “strong and stable leadership.” This does not really teach and
inform the electorate as to what she really wants to do or why she is doing it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">So, what
about their ability to get their points across to other fellow leaders? With
Jeremy it’s very difficult to know because he's never sought or held high
office. Some will point to the massive vote of no confidence in him by his own
MPs as evidence that he is incapable of persuading other politicians to his
point of view. However that's not strictly true, because his leadership
challenger had himself been persuaded to adopt Jeremy's policy ideas almost
entirely (save for Trident) And this is now reflected in Labours manifesto now
warmly endorsed even by the MPs who rebelled against him. If he has failings as
a leader it’s not because of being unable to persuade others of his position.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-size: 10.0pt;">Theresa May by contrast has held high office but how has she
done with persuading other leaders to her point of view? Rather badly I think.
As Home Secretary from 2010 she pledged to reduce net immigration below 100,000
and even though most of our immigration comes from outside the EU free movement
zone she singularly failed in making any progress with this target. In fact, at
one immigration was over three times this level. Even more recently we have
seen her immediately pull back from her own new policies once met with
opposition- on raising national
insurance for the self-employed and removing caps from social care. Despite
these clear failures to bring others round to her position she would say she
has a great track record in getting what she wants out of the EU. She will
point to her success in 2014 when as Home Secretary she persuaded the EU to let
the UK opt out of the Lisbon agreement on policing and criminal justice and then
cherry pick just 35 out of 110 measures that she liked and where she opted back
in. She would like to think she can do a similar a landslide carte deal with
Europe over Brexit- just tell the EU waiter what we want and as long as you
shout loud enough he'll bring it. However, the strategy of “exit then
cherry-picking” worked with the Lisbon treaty only because Tony Blair in 2007
had set this up as an “exit plus cherry-picking” deal in the Treaty itself. It
is a colossal error to think that the same approach can work in the case of
Brexit – a negotiation of phenomenally greater complexity, and where opt-outs
have not been negotiated by existing treaty provisions. Her dealings over the
Lisbon treaty whilst successful are nothing very remarkable and do not overcome
the concerns arising from her failure to persuade on other matters.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-size: 10.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<b><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 10.0pt;">Humble<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<b><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 10.0pt;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“<i>[Jesus]
being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be
used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very
nature of a servant …<b>he humbled himself</b> by becoming
obedient to death- even death on a cross.</i>” (Philippians 2 v 6-8).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“<i>You know
that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and
their great ones exercise authority over them. But it shall not be so among
you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever
would be first among you must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man came not
to be served but to serve…</i>” (Mark 10 v 42-45)<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhK46CsmSJ5rNvp88YaVcPoowLiBvYLd0VO679AXiq_Ayipdi4qUidfnqoaWfnFr78BA-R4WasEUYaipK1n4o9AoUuTbeOrizuoRMYuKnPt3M4TaXnDmN26em9bptBhxtdCAkyTdrKQvWQ/s1600/Jesus+servant+king.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="252" data-original-width="460" height="175" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhK46CsmSJ5rNvp88YaVcPoowLiBvYLd0VO679AXiq_Ayipdi4qUidfnqoaWfnFr78BA-R4WasEUYaipK1n4o9AoUuTbeOrizuoRMYuKnPt3M4TaXnDmN26em9bptBhxtdCAkyTdrKQvWQ/s320/Jesus+servant+king.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: 10pt;">Humility is too often
devalued as a leadership quality, but it should be a key characteristic we look
for and was exemplified in Jesus’s life. Like Jesus Jeremy Corbyn does not seek
leadership for his own personal advantage but only to fulfil a mission for the
good of others. If he wanted to grasp at personal advancement he would not have
spent over 30 years as a backbencher, speaking up for often unfashionable causes.
He is noticeably uncomfortable when asked by interviewers to sell himself as a
leader and will instead gravitate to the policies that he wants to promote.
Contrast this with Theresa May who tried to style her whole election campaign
around what a great leader she claims to be ; the strong and stable leader
which she contrasts with the poor leadership of her opponent. She also has
something of a fondness for showing off fine clothes especially those shoes!
She does not display very obvious humility.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<b><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">Wise and listening to advice</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-fSrKI8ajQfcyz4P7Qsp50URrB5guWKNGA3AC9dvxLV2cN7FHe1dF3jn2CiZ-qeoF13o02P79xUtH8TW-uTzwuBbo4233lRSTypZ011EYUw4ZFyBA3jpBPZ_W75OF51H8vGDQ0E_el40/s1600/wise+owl.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="265" data-original-width="399" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-fSrKI8ajQfcyz4P7Qsp50URrB5guWKNGA3AC9dvxLV2cN7FHe1dF3jn2CiZ-qeoF13o02P79xUtH8TW-uTzwuBbo4233lRSTypZ011EYUw4ZFyBA3jpBPZ_W75OF51H8vGDQ0E_el40/s320/wise+owl.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“The Spirit
of the Lord will rest on him- <b><i>the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding</i></b>”
(Isaiah 11 v 2)<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“Without <b><i>wise
leadership</i></b>, a nation falls; there is <b><i>safety in having many advisers.</i></b>”
(Proverbs 11 v 14)<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br /></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<span style="font-size: 10pt;">Many have questioned Jeremy Corbyn's political judgments over the years as foolishly
extreme. I'll admit I haven’t shared all of them but looking back I have to say
he was very often proved right when many were wrong:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: 39.15pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Calling
for sanctions against apartheid South Africa when our government was still
treating them as a friend<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 39.15pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Calling
for talks with Northern Irish terrorists to bring about a lasting peace <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 39.15pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Opposing
new Labour's continuing Tory privatisation of the running of our public
services<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 39.15pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Opposing
disastrous military interventions in Iraq and Libya that have exacerbated the
conditions that breed poverty mass migration and terrorism <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 39.15pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Opposing
savage and economically self-defeating austerity and welfare cuts.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: 39.15pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Part of
being a wise leader however is listening to and working with a team of wise
advisers. In this election Jeremy has rightly talked about a good leader
listening to advice. However, I’m afraid he has not always put this into
practice. In his time as Labour leader he too often ignored the advice of his
cabinet colleagues and went it alone and seemed to sometimes make up and
announce policy on the hoof without consulting his colleagues. This came to a
head during and immediately after the EU referendum where he had failed to
co-operate with the Labour remain campaign and immediately afterwards without
consultation called on the Prime Minister to trigger article 50 straightaway.
It was this not his policy positions that ultimately led to his MPs rebellion
(See my earlier blog last year explaining why I would not be voting for him in
the second Labour leadership election). I think it is understandable how a man
who had previously devoted his whole political career to being a lone backbench
rebel has struggled to work with a cabinet of colleagues. Has he learned from,
can he learn from those mistakes? Frankly I don’t know. There have been
positive signs in this election campaign where he has been more measured in his
words and has tried to avoid contradicting his colleagues. Only time will tell.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 21.15pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I have to
say I’ve not seen a great deal of wisdom on Theresa May’s part. As Home
Secretary with responsibility for immigration supposedly her big policy was
bringing down immigration to 10,000s. Nearly all economists warn that for the
near future this would be economically disastrous. Thankfully she singularly
failed to achieve that target. However, the setting and failing to reach that
target greatly stoked up the fire of fear over immigration levels. It therefore
massively contributed to the vote to leave the EU, something which Theresa May
herself had firmly if quietly opposed. She became Prime Minister on the back of
the leave vote and overnight converted herself from a quiet if firm supporter
of the EU to an evangelist for a hard Brexit which placed full control of
immigration and our laws as the red lines and free trade and economics as an
afterthought. Most economists believe her priorities for Brexit will lead to
the imposition of serious barriers to EU trade which will be economically
disastrous. (See my earlier blog article on the Brexit myths). She also
appointed leading Brexiteer MPs into the key cabinet positions dealing with the
EU including probably the most unsuitable and undiplomatic Foreign Secretary
ever Boris Johnson who has promptly set about upsetting as many of our near
neighbours as possible. None of this strikes me as very wise. Nor her decision
to increase national insurance on the self-employed (in breach of a Tory
manifesto promise) which when opposed she almost immediately withdrew nor her
surprise announcement to remove any cap on funding of social care costs in the
new manifesto (“the dementia task”) which again when opposed she almost
immediately changed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Generally, I
would say that she has shown she can and does work alongside colleagues who
advise her. She had after all been a government cabinet member for six years
before she became Prime Minister and a shadow cabinet member before that.
However, a number of those she has appointed to her own cabinet I would suggest
are not wise advisers to have around you, e.g. Boris Johnson. And her “dementia
tax” debacle by all accounts was a policy she came up without any detailed
consultation with her cabinet colleagues.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">A strong and stable leader?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“…<b><i>the Spirit
of counsel and of might</i></b>…” (Isaiah 11 v 2)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“… the one
who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person
should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Such a person is
double-,minded and unstable in all that they do.” (James 1 v 8) <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeucqVgFVT75hRdz6obJZ5GmZT6W82ugBpaFmrXMq5sn-TP5OWnOLo5979CE8Y6UuXcthbzv8-nQnjRQLqerO9u8FIWZKF_ych0XNWer7Xsq_7KhxMtKOQ0_TMnRvZKLw3JBGL2ZnrRq8/s1600/The-new-Iron-Lady.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="721" data-original-width="1000" height="230" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeucqVgFVT75hRdz6obJZ5GmZT6W82ugBpaFmrXMq5sn-TP5OWnOLo5979CE8Y6UuXcthbzv8-nQnjRQLqerO9u8FIWZKF_ych0XNWer7Xsq_7KhxMtKOQ0_TMnRvZKLw3JBGL2ZnrRq8/s320/The-new-Iron-Lady.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Theresa May
has styled her whole campaign around being the “strong and stable” leader that
our country needs to negotiate the best Brexit deal we can with the EU.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">But on the
available evidence how strong and stable a leader has she proved to be? And how
does she measure up against Jeremy Corby for strength and stability?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span>
<b><i><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Strength</span></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Theresa May
certainly talks “strong” and “tough”. For example, the hard line she proposes
towards immigration- to reduce it by 1/3<sup>rd</sup> to 10,000s. Similarly, past
cabinet colleagues have even described her as being a “bloody difficult woman.”
She would say she has the strength of character to put to the British people
the tough choices we need to make like how some people having to pay more in
tax or how we fund social care for our growing number of elderly. She will say
by toughing it out with the EU as Home Secretary she was able to force them to
accept the cherry-picked opt ins she wanted to the Lisbon treaty on police and
crime. She might even cite how she stood up to the EU leaders in the Downing
Street meeting at the start of the election in setting out her Brexit demands
which got Jean-Claude Junker so wound up.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The trouble
is her “tough talking” has actually got her or the country nowhere. This is the
third election in a row where she has proposed slashing net immigration only to
fail spectacularly badly and do nothing effective to prevent it rising further
(It is now falling finally but only because of Brexit). She made tough calls
over taxation and funding social care by raising self-employed national
insurance in the recent budget and by proposing in her budget uncapped social
care contributions from people’s homes. But as soon as these proposals faced
any vocal criticism in days or even hours she reversed those policies. That is
surely a sign of weakness not strength. The opt out/in to EU crime and police
measures might be seen as a sign of her “strength” succeeding. However as noted
above she was only putting into practice what Tony Blair’s deal on this had set
up for her. And as for her “tough talking” with the EU leaders over Brexit so
far all this has done is get their backs up. As a result, even her supposed
conservative ally Chancellor Merkel warned (in rather more subtle language than
Mr Junker) that she was being “illusionary” over her Brexit expectations. This
certainly was evidence of her being a “bloody difficult woman” but not in a way
that is likely to be at all helpful when negotiating with a stronger party.(See
my comments above re “peacemaking”)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">And then
what about all the causes and people that she has not stood up for or stood
against? What about standing up against
the richest and most powerful to help the weak? Jesus was no respecter of the rich and
powerful and was prepared to challenge them directly. Jesus warned “woe to you
rich”, who would find it very hard to get into his kingdom and he often
encouraged them often to give away their wealth. He tackled head on the hypocrisy of the religious
establishment- the Pharisees and Sadducees, speaking out against them - “woe to
you Pharisees.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> Theresa May talks quite a good talk about
standing up for the just about managing and seek a country that works for all
and being prepared to intervene to do this. She has more recently proposed
certain policies that in limited ways seek to do this eg adopting Labour's
policy in fuel capping (but then watered it down in her manifesto) and even her
controversial removal of certain pensioner entitlements some might view in that
way. However overall as a member of the government since 2010 she has mostly
very much stood up for the interests of the rich and powerful against the poor
e.g. the choices to reduce taxes for rich individuals and corporations whilst
slashing welfare spending for those most in need. And what about standing up to
other world leaders when they are clearly in the wrong? Instead of criticising
Saudi Arabia for its involvement in the Yemeni bombing of innocent civilians
she supports selling arms to help them do it. Or what about standing up to
President Donald Trump and some of his policies that threaten the world? She
was about the only European leader who refused to sign the recent letter
condemning his foolish and damaging decision to pull out of the Paris climate
change deal. She just said it was “disappointing” but it was “up to him.”
Again, that is weak not strong leadership. And then in this election campaign
we see her running away from the live BBC leaders’ debate, sending Amber Rudd
instead (even though Amber had just lost her father that week). This is
weakness not strength.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Compare this
with Jeremy Corbyn. He generally has a gentler, friendlier style (for which
many in his party have criticised him). However, politeness and gentleness
should not be mistaken for weakness. He has stuck very firmly to his core
political beliefs and policies, even when it seemed all the world was against
him. He was therefore fully prepared to vote against his party’s own government
on numerous occasions when he disagreed with them. (Perhaps rather too much but
we’re taking about strength not wisdom here.) And after the EU referendum we
then saw most of the country (including myself) and most of his MPs join David
Cameron’s call, “God sake man go”. He stood his ground and fought off his
leadership challenge because he was still convinced he had an important job to
do. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">And unlike
Theresa May but like Jesus Jeremy does have the inner strength to take on
vested powerful and rich establishment interests. Time and again he has spoken
out against individuals and governments who act unjustly and spoken for the
poor and oppressed. Even if you think some of that was naïve it shows strength
not weakness. And he continues to stand up to the powerful when he believes
they do wrong. Witness his very clear condemnation the other day of President
Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris Climate Change Agreement. And unlike Theresa
May, Jeremy has also shown his never afraid to engage with anyone in debate and
discussion.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Jeremy beats
Theresa hands down when it comes to real strength.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><i><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Stability<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Jeremy Corbyn
has been pretty consistent and stable in sticking to the principles and
policies he believes in, especially to bring about a more peaceful, just and
equal society and world, This is what led to him being a serial rebel as a
Labour back bencher over 30 years. It is also part of what landed him in
trouble with many of his own MPs as leader eg his firm opposition to airstrikes
in Syria and his opposition to Britain’s own “independent” nuclear deterrent.
He has however shown at times that he is prepared to listen to other views and
take account of new evidence that have changed his standpoint. For example,
having been an advocate of leaving NATO as an archaic organisation post the
cold war, in the light of more recent events he has accepted it still has a
role to play On the EU his position has also changed but has been rather more
consistent than some politicians. He was never more than lukewarm about our
membership of the EU, having supported our withdrawal from the EEC in 1983. Subsequently
he did accept there were greater benefits than losses from being an EU member
but even in the Remain campaign he had his doubts and said he was 7/10 for
staying in. From being a lukewarm remainer before the Referendum to seeking a
medium soft Brexit after it is a broadly consistent position I’d say.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Before she
was Prime Minister Theresa May was a loyal MP and front bencher who nearly
always supported and followed the party line. In that sense she also can be
said to have been stable in her political positions (albeit in an opposite way
to Jeremy Corbyn!). However since becoming Prime Minister a year ago, and
especially recently, she has shown a rather worrying tendency for major policy wobbling and even completely
backtracking. Examples include:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Her
sudden conversion from quite but firm EU remainer to hard Brexit, evangelist
happy to have no free trade deal in order to have complete control of
immigration and law<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Promising
to give workers a place on company boards- massively watered down in the
manifesto<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Promising
to cap energy bills-again massively watered down in the manifesto<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In
the last budget increasing national insurance contributions on the
self-employed (in breach of a Tory manifesto commitment) only to reverse it
days later following the string adverse reaction<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Declaring
seven times that there would be no election until 2020 to ensure a period of
stability before suddenly announcing this snap election<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The
“dementia tax” fiasco. Proposing in her manifesto to remove any cap on funding
social care from people’s home. Within hours following adverse reaction the
policy was reversed to put back a cap.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">One cannot
escape the impression that Jeremy Paxman was right when he described Theresa
May as a “blow hard who collapses at the first sight of gunfire.” As was also
pointed out. with such a record isn’t the the EU is likely to regard her as a
weak rather than a strong negotiator? She likes to style herself as the Iron
Lady number, like Mrs Thatcher known for wielding her handbag with the EU
leaders in order to get her way. But Theresa May rather seems to be all talk
and no hand bag!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Despite the
rhetoric I would suggest the evidence indicates that Jeremy Corby is a far more
strong and stable leader than Theresa May.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Conclusion<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb2cCQXYx-L3QMD-HPuhr12tcguWU6bV5G1jdJ6MWeEkVeIU2T4qrnq5MOaMTzhgbuzH0Jx4YyOypBsvK6-9Of9sXQ0K4BW0k8H4DBHiNMIfzZNanUHjNv3KouwXUtVVnP4Dz6prjmVmU/s1600/Corby+wan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="580" data-original-width="600" height="309" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb2cCQXYx-L3QMD-HPuhr12tcguWU6bV5G1jdJ6MWeEkVeIU2T4qrnq5MOaMTzhgbuzH0Jx4YyOypBsvK6-9Of9sXQ0K4BW0k8H4DBHiNMIfzZNanUHjNv3KouwXUtVVnP4Dz6prjmVmU/s320/Corby+wan.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
Against all these key biblical characteristics of what makes a good leader I
believe neither Theresa May nor Jeremy Corbyn perfectly fulfil them. On most of
them I suggest the evidence indicates both of them partly fulfil the
characteristics but on each of them Jeremy fulfils them rather better (although
they are possibly closer on wisdom and following advice). However, it’s on the
very quality that Theresa May extolls in herself - being “strong and stable”-
that she performs particularly badly and Jeremy particularly well. If you want
a strong and stable leader in the true senses of those words then he is the
one. He is also the one who seems to best have the gifts to be a successful
negotiator for Brexit, as he appears to have rather better personal
communication skills and be a much better peacemaker.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">If you are
deciding your vote on the character of the leader alone I would suggest you
should certainly be voting Labour.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Jeremy Hortonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14040288077436997446noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1711610253004091876.post-89604366665035999862017-05-29T16:53:00.003-07:002017-05-29T17:18:03.419-07:00Tory Myth 3- the Scroungers off the State and the Myth of the Self-Made Man (or Woman!)<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimrycGi9L7czIE9YYtqwBluDP88p-Ka5KmVgiBoc91BF1eoVWfxUGXWzlhfircUwXDbDPu5FR3rEXibGWq82AtdK6LHyCMAGGqp1kEl-xAk01V8uV9wZq329CcUg1EaIbYwwdF3uTsGW0/s1600/greedy+bankers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="728" data-original-width="1092" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimrycGi9L7czIE9YYtqwBluDP88p-Ka5KmVgiBoc91BF1eoVWfxUGXWzlhfircUwXDbDPu5FR3rEXibGWq82AtdK6LHyCMAGGqp1kEl-xAk01V8uV9wZq329CcUg1EaIbYwwdF3uTsGW0/s400/greedy+bankers.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
One of the things that most angers the Daily Mail are the scroungers off the state. They live off government handouts, often claiming fraudulently and not pulling their weight or paying their fair share. They are one of the evils of our society holding us back and ripping us all of us. And do you know what? I agree with them. The only difference is I know that <b><i>the real scroungers off the state are not benefit claimants but super rich individuals and corporations. They are far more heavily subsidised by the state and by the taxes of ordinary people than anyone else.</i></b><br />
<b><i><br /></i></b>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2wG-jB2T8oQuZC9hHKEmvXrl_s7Ivl4kC1IKbMkE_aDP1JSUIFEwdHDtQPn_7-FNw8zYn0Yfd8K9ksTt-NT0r-pew3zAx_JBhkeSe3AHpdzR3MRwapYaeNF4dLp_IrmoRhqD4nZ5rZgQ/s1600/the+real+scoungers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="356" data-original-width="300" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2wG-jB2T8oQuZC9hHKEmvXrl_s7Ivl4kC1IKbMkE_aDP1JSUIFEwdHDtQPn_7-FNw8zYn0Yfd8K9ksTt-NT0r-pew3zAx_JBhkeSe3AHpdzR3MRwapYaeNF4dLp_IrmoRhqD4nZ5rZgQ/s320/the+real+scoungers.jpg" width="268" /></a></div>
The amount of money the state loses through welfare benefit fraud each year is estimated at £1.3 billion, but this is a tiny fraction of the £34 billion the HMRC estimates is lost through tax evasion. If you add to that the huge sums lost through aggressive tax avoidance schemes we could be looking at perhaps close to £100 billion of revenues the rich are unjustly depriving of the Treasury. And yet five times more people are employed by the DWP investigating benefit fraud by society’s poorest than are employed by The Revenue investigating tax fraud by society’s richest.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnGFmopeRtLefrDSMgNREVLIRFtTOARjMkwVdLUbod1OKFPd0fj4p4GRp8KDqe8gssUDHSj8DCUUuO0uN6D3N_fSmA7BroBusBXy3zJybBkmHrVq7r55_JuhT_ctF_XrsFZ-Git3pVIHE/s1600/scroungers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnGFmopeRtLefrDSMgNREVLIRFtTOARjMkwVdLUbod1OKFPd0fj4p4GRp8KDqe8gssUDHSj8DCUUuO0uN6D3N_fSmA7BroBusBXy3zJybBkmHrVq7r55_JuhT_ctF_XrsFZ-Git3pVIHE/s200/scroungers.jpg" width="200" /></a><br />
<b><i><br /></i></b><b><i><br /></i></b><b><i><br /></i></b><b><i><br /></i></b><b><i><br /></i></b><b><i><br /></i></b><b><i><br /></i></b><b><i><br /></i></b><b><i><br /></i></b><br />
<b><i>The amount of welfare benefits the government pays to the “idle” poor is also massively exaggerated.</i></b> Welfare spending is a huge part of government expenditure- about £1/4 trillion each year, i.e. 35% of total spending. However, by far the biggest proportion of that goes to the retired through retirement pensions- over £110 billion, nearly half of all welfare spending. By contrast, <b><i>only a tiny fraction of welfare spending goes to the unemployed- £3.4 billion, that is less than 2%.</i></b> In fact, the large majority of welfare benefits going to people of working age are to families who are working. This is mostly to subsidise what would otherwise be inadequate earnings to pay for their housing and other necessities. A large proportion of this goes on housing benefit, mainly a cost arising from the country’s failure to invest in affordable public housing. See my previous blog; http://jeremysblog67.blogspot.co.uk/2017/05/tory-myth-2-right-to-buy-and-gods-of.html<br />
<br />
In work poverty has been a growing trend in recent years. A comprehensive study published this month by Cardiff University found that <b><i>a staggering 60% of households living in poverty are working households</i></b>. In 2013 it was estimated there were 3 million people in in work poverty (and it would now be even more). That is far more than the number of unemployed or unfit to work. This therefore gives the lie to the simple notion that people can work themselves out of poverty. <b><i>Millions are working very hard but are still trapped in poverty. And the Tory government’s welfare benefit changes contribute massively to this problem,</i></b> including housing benefit caps, benefits cuts, the bedroom tax and benefits sanctions. Shockingly this is even affecting very valued and professional public servants like teachers and nurses, especially in areas of high housing costs like London and Bristol. Incredibly, in work poverty has even forced many teachers and nurses into using food banks or made homeless. If you think this is just an urban myth I suggest reading some of their real life stories, e,g. https://www.theguardian.com/education/2017/may/23/homeless-teachers-ashamed-housing-crisis-professionals.<br />
Sadly’ it’s not an urban myth but an urban reality that we should be thoroughly ashamed of and determined to put right.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_W6nfakhaATNPCaKQ9PAiQxTwHJgGAonOpmt4GqzT2xtcrf4_q9REZP-84kRmXeaWOyWyUhGiOmo8h4vpxRLglI5HY0CncTNc9pNb5HuX7eGn0dEs1rZu2gCFJdAmYM73mAJM-3u4agw/s1600/homeless+teacher.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="180" data-original-width="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_W6nfakhaATNPCaKQ9PAiQxTwHJgGAonOpmt4GqzT2xtcrf4_q9REZP-84kRmXeaWOyWyUhGiOmo8h4vpxRLglI5HY0CncTNc9pNb5HuX7eGn0dEs1rZu2gCFJdAmYM73mAJM-3u4agw/s1600/homeless+teacher.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
One popular urban myth though is that the rich proportionately pay more tax than the poor. If only that were true. In 2014/15 <b><i>the poorest fifth lost 47 per cent of their income to the taxman, while the richest fifth of society paid only 34 per cent. Part of that reason is tax evasion/avoidance by the rich, but the main reason is direct taxes</i></b>, such as VAT. These disproportionately affect the poorest as they are charged at the same rate to all income groups (And note it is been Tory governments that have put up these direct taxes - John Major’s government increased VAT from 15 to 17.5% in 1991 and David Cameron’s from 17.5% to 20% in 2011. More recently Theresa May's government have doubled the rate of IPT paid e.g. on car and home insurance).<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTjsW8oMGkuyYNg874n4djgpj7iTgjQVnuojmSxI6_e8xuqFOngsWeeDiO-660rK-_AqPdnPg1_Hvusbf9lAAZJg5rcWxWuFLd2g6qg46QiFj9e32QvrT31fwCZW4KbIrdp5aU8rsg568/s1600/Phili%255Bp+Green+pays+no+tax.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="259" data-original-width="194" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTjsW8oMGkuyYNg874n4djgpj7iTgjQVnuojmSxI6_e8xuqFOngsWeeDiO-660rK-_AqPdnPg1_Hvusbf9lAAZJg5rcWxWuFLd2g6qg46QiFj9e32QvrT31fwCZW4KbIrdp5aU8rsg568/s1600/Phili%255Bp+Green+pays+no+tax.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
Yet over the past three decades, and especially since the recession, <b><i>the wealth of the richest has grown while most of us have seen our real incomes stagnate or fall. For example, between 2009 and 2015 the UK’s richest 1,000 families saw their assets increase from £258bn to £547bn</i></b>, a rise of more than 112%. . But Average UK incomes have yet to recover from the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression and over the past 10 years the UK has seen the lowest levels of pay growth of any European country- equal with Greece. Thousands have been flocking to food banks. But this financial elite have emerged not only with their fortunes intact, but holding a larger slice of the cake than ever.<br />
<br />
And <b><i>while our nurses, teachers and other public servants have seen their pay frozen or increases capped below inflation, the bosses running our most successful companies have increasingly felt free to award themselves huge pay rises year after year. This is illustrated by another alarming statistic. In 1980 the average CEO of a UK FTSE 100 company earned 18 times the average worker. Today they earn 180 times</i></b>- an increase in the pay gap ratio of 1,000%.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJtCR8gr7zNQkJQXsU8fetoIVGR-2qhYcAkquDECFtdEOlLgKq7DanmoZzC9ByEBan3u66ga5ukfCnZpQL0YZU4CSz_VXt_yZqPpkWO4Cs1KK82Rh5MKATxmY5QYQrQpsMoDkUGWgamqs/s1600/the+rich+getting+richer.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="290" data-original-width="622" height="149" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJtCR8gr7zNQkJQXsU8fetoIVGR-2qhYcAkquDECFtdEOlLgKq7DanmoZzC9ByEBan3u66ga5ukfCnZpQL0YZU4CSz_VXt_yZqPpkWO4Cs1KK82Rh5MKATxmY5QYQrQpsMoDkUGWgamqs/s320/the+rich+getting+richer.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div>
Needless to say our top companies’ performance has not matched the 1,000% increase in their CEOs’ pay! And this is kind of the point. If we richly rewarded those at the top for being wealth creators that benefited us all that might start to justify this huge increase in their awards- as the wealth the super-rich generates “trickles down” to us all. The only problem is the facts no longer support this. It used to be true, but for decades now, both nationally and globally, the proportion of the wealth generated by business going to ordinary workers rather than the owners has steadily fallen.<br />
<br />
What is also not recognised is that <b><i>those running successful businesses (including property empires) and who take such large rewards for themselves are only able to do so on the backs of the rest of us. </i></b>Directly or indirectly their businesses and therefore their income and wealth is heavily subsided by us all. <b><i>They rely on many, many billions of pounds of state funding to provide them with the essential conditions in which their businesses can operate and thrive</i></b>:<br />
<br />
•<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>an educated and healthy workforce -funded by state education and the NHS;<br />
•<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>the state funded legal infrastructure through the police, courts and security services to ensure the necessary conditions of peace, law and order;<br />
•<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>the state-funded physical infrastructure of our transport systems and energy supplies;<br />
•<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>the state-funded research and development (of about £10 billion per year) which over time has enabled the development of technologies like the internet on which most businesses depend;<br />
•<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>a welfare benefits system which heavily supports and subsidises the incomes of many of their employees or tenants, especially through tax credits and housing benefits. According to a study by the Building and Social Housing Foundation in 2012, more than nine in ten of every new housing-benefit claims in the first two years of the coalition government went not to the unemployed but to working households. Many of these claimants are workers whose pay is so low that they simply cannot afford the often extortionate rents being charged by private landlords. Ironically, a number of rich Conservative politicians who rail against state spending on welfare benefits are indirectly some of the biggest beneficiaries from it! One such private landlord is Conservative MP Richard Benyon, one of Britain's wealthiest parliamentarians. He benefits from £120,000 a year through housing benefit collected from his tenants.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
•<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>As highlighted in my previous blog, many billions of pounds of tax payers’ money are also paid out to private companies running state services, often very badly, and who often pay their owners huge salaries- many more times than our Prime Minister.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlmLijthZL_ak1Vd8wKuS0wYtveu2L_gepPjGFl1tlYPuW1EmS_VdqGAPPrKlYwdABgZ8rXwog6XAcsEaUCi1W9RWh7qJ0dGAJlja4wG0YGc_2VUCXOP0Akio0VpnrmwW2Tbo2U4YA_zU/s1600/banker.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="424" data-original-width="283" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlmLijthZL_ak1Vd8wKuS0wYtveu2L_gepPjGFl1tlYPuW1EmS_VdqGAPPrKlYwdABgZ8rXwog6XAcsEaUCi1W9RWh7qJ0dGAJlja4wG0YGc_2VUCXOP0Akio0VpnrmwW2Tbo2U4YA_zU/s200/banker.jpg" width="133" /></a>Perhaps the starkest illustration of how the rich are so heavily subsidised and supported by the rest of us was the 2008 banking crisis. More than £1tn of public money was poured into the banks following the financial collapse. The emergency package came with few government-imposed conditions and with little calling to account. "The urge to punish all bankers has gone far enough," declared a piece in the Financial Times just six months after the crisis began. But if there was ever such an "urge" on the part of government, it was never acted on. In 2012, 2,714 British bankers were paid more than €1m – 12 times as many as any other EU country. When the EU unveiled proposals in 2012 to limit bonuses to two years' salary with the agreement of shareholders, there was outrage in the City. Luckily, their friends in high office were there to rescue their bonuses: at the British taxpayers' expense, the Treasury went to the European Court to challenge the proposals.<br />
<br />
Contrast this with the fate of those at the bottom of our society, who have suffered at their expense. <b><i>In the Tory government austerity programme that followed the financial crisis and the bankers’ bail out, state support for those at the bottom has been eroded. The support that remains is given with stringent conditions- "Benefit sanctions" are imposed often for the most spurious or arbitrary reasons. </i></b><br />
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/may/11/benefit-sanctions-hurting-low-paid-vulnerable-people<br />
According to government figures, 860,000 benefit claimants were sanctioned between June 2012 and June 2013, a jump of 360,000 from a year earlier. According to the Trussell Trust, more than half of food bank recipients had to rely on their handouts due to cuts or sanctions to their benefits. These have very often been imposed erroneously (and nearly always disproportionately), such as claimants being sanctioned for missing a signing on day because of a welfare-to-work training or a job interview! (See for example, http://stupidsanctions.tumblr.com/ ).<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjex63cyCzLLxPvjziJ4aT8rlwI33hyPjF0NQ-5pmi0Zq3Zrq0P_sxU_8aivcvPJSIOoFY0-YHaJA9ejEOipmvfeIPJKI4IOhoUGgOVR3qojtKVY-SO1XTkRGcNKGA9tYKshhR0wZsJFHc/s1600/David+Clapson.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="409" data-original-width="615" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjex63cyCzLLxPvjziJ4aT8rlwI33hyPjF0NQ-5pmi0Zq3Zrq0P_sxU_8aivcvPJSIOoFY0-YHaJA9ejEOipmvfeIPJKI4IOhoUGgOVR3qojtKVY-SO1XTkRGcNKGA9tYKshhR0wZsJFHc/s320/David+Clapson.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
The lack of understanding and compassion shown, especially to benefit claimants suffering mental health problems, has been truly disturbing . Some of those sanctioned have even been PTSD-suffering soldiers. They have put their lives on the line for their country only to be badly let them down by having removing their benefits for wholly inadequate reasons. In some cases these has even led to their deaths. See e.g. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/benefits-sanction-resulted-in-my-brother-david-clapson-s-death-says-gill-thompson-as-she-pleads-for-a6911386.html<br />
<br />
Likewise, there have been <b><i>huge numbers of the sick and disabled who have been wrongly assessed as fit for work and had their benefits withdrawn, following incompetent assessments by the likes of Atos. As a result there have been hundreds of thousands of appeals against fit-for-work decisions in recent years, about four in 10 of which have succeeded</i></b>. However, in the meantime the appeals process took too long for some- <b><i>nearly 90 people a month died after being declared fit for work during 2011-14.</i></b><br />
<br />
As a Christian I <i>try</i> to follow the biblical principles of Micah 6 v 8; “<i>He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.</i>” I am appalled by the lack of justice and mercy shown towards the most needy and vulnerable in our society through the austerity-driven benefits cuts and sanctions. I am equally appalled at the apparent mercy shown to rich bailed out bankers (see above) and the tax cuts given to the very richest individuals and corporation provided by this government- the large reductions in corporation tax, higher rate income tax and inheritance tax. What system of values can say that we don’t have the money to provide for the basic food and housing needs of society’s poorest and yet can offer such handouts to the very richest? It is certainly not a set of Christian values, as the bible highlights compassion and justice for the poor as the number one social issue (mentioned 148 times) and also highlights the greed of the rich as the number one social evil.Among many other verses that could be cited:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDHK6T2esBym5vkP_XG-1fDN3xFM44cGMInnwyayNylVcKifAETWlUnnEfl3QR5Vx_QW1C2d3FF93SCjUdcl_d_4CyTGayI0fsxXXdeedGm_zMO4thwYO15A5evHmNFuPjbjg-q_VXzFM/s1600/micah-6-8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="395" data-original-width="851" height="148" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDHK6T2esBym5vkP_XG-1fDN3xFM44cGMInnwyayNylVcKifAETWlUnnEfl3QR5Vx_QW1C2d3FF93SCjUdcl_d_4CyTGayI0fsxXXdeedGm_zMO4thwYO15A5evHmNFuPjbjg-q_VXzFM/s320/micah-6-8.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<i>“Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy”— Proverbs 31:8-9 </i><br />
<i><br /></i><i>"Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter…” — Isaiah 58:6</i><br />
<i><br /></i><i>“Woe to those who make unjust laws, to those who issue oppressive decrees, to deprive the poor of their rights and withhold justice from the oppressed of my people... What will you do on the day of reckoning, when disaster comes from afar? To whom will you run for help? Where will you leave your riches?”— Isaiah 10:1-3</i><br />
<i><br /></i><i>“There need be no poor people among you, for in the land the Lord your God is giving you to possess as your inheritance, he will richly bless you...” — Deuteronomy 15:4-5</i><br />
<b><br /></b><b>The Tory arguments I have heard put to justify this injustice simply do not stand up to the evidence.</b><br />
<b><br /></b><b><i>If you allow the rich to prosper and keep more of their money the wealth will trickle down to us all including the poorest</i></b><br />
- It is not simply <i>their</i> wealth- ultimately it is the Lord’s and they could not earn their wealth without the direct or indirect support they receive from the state (see above);<br />
-Generally they have horded their wealth and have allowed themselves to get richer and the poor and ordinary folk to get poorer so the wealth has not trickled down.<br />
<br />
<b><i>We can’t afford to be so generous in our “hand outs” to the poor</i></b><br />
-We remain a rich country and if we can afford to be so generous with e.g. our tax cuts to the rich we could choose instead to be more generous to the poor. (Deuteronomy 15:4-5)<br />
-It would actually benefit our economy and therefore most of us far more if we gave more in benefits to the poorest in our society than tax cuts to the rich. The poor actually will put that money back into our economy by buying the basic things they need. The rich will often horde their wealth, often spending it or hiding it abroad and beyond the tax man’s reach.<br />
-The austerity agenda that this slashing of benefits is part of has not worked to bring down the state debt and has been been economically self-defeating. See my earlier blog<br />
http://jeremysblog67.blogspot.co.uk/2017/05/tory-myth-1-labour-crashed-economy-and.html )<br />
<br />
<b><i>It's work which is the way out of poverty not benefit hand outs</i></b><br />
-If only that were true. 60% of households in poverty are now working households. One of the main causes for that is the lack of affordable housing in so many parts of this country which means that many working people simply can’t earn enough to pay their rent and put food on the table without state benefits.<br />
<br />
The advocates of state interventionism are dismissed as relics from the 1970s. (See my response to that in my earlier blog; http://jeremysblog67.blogspot.co.uk/2017/05/tory-myth-2-right-to-buy-and-gods-of.html ).Yet state interventionism is still alive and well in modern Britain, but it now exists primarily to benefit the rich rather than the poor. Ultimately it is not just unjust, it is inefficient and unsustainable and it is certainly contrary to biblical Christian values.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI3Yck61yQUdHHC5GwCDJ5Cg0GBFlmzZsCeMN6UBDeSHdjYqmbQ4kO_xXh4ltK0IrViI6izss6cifOq52D4fvgFdpUsYtVGVneFz7qte-XyYKQLzIOftArtp0-OoI7fRt9t_Rdh0M1QPw/s1600/God+made+man.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="986" data-original-width="1328" height="237" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI3Yck61yQUdHHC5GwCDJ5Cg0GBFlmzZsCeMN6UBDeSHdjYqmbQ4kO_xXh4ltK0IrViI6izss6cifOq52D4fvgFdpUsYtVGVneFz7qte-XyYKQLzIOftArtp0-OoI7fRt9t_Rdh0M1QPw/s320/God+made+man.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<b><i>I don’t believe in the self-made man. As a Christian, I believe in the God-made man. Everything we have is ultimately God’s and what we acquire in this life we do so mainly because of what we have been given</i></b>. I think of my own situation. I have a very good, well-paid job as a lawyer. I earn about three times the national average wage (despite my pay falling over the last 5 years). I would therefore still (just about) slip into that top 5% of earners who Labour would tax more. I could argue that I deserve that level of pay and shouldn’t be taxed a penny more as I have got where I am “through my own efforts”. After all, I have always worked very hard at school and at work, and therefore achieved top O/A level and degree grades. At work on average I have probably billed more fees than anyone else in my firm and yet there are people in my firm who are rather better paid (especially the owners of the business). But then I think of many at my firm who just earn about the national average wage. I do work longer hours than most of them and directly bring in rather more fees, but do I deserve to be paid three times as much and to enjoy the standard of living I do? I certainly don’t work three times as hard and if I am good at what I do and bring in a lot of money for the firm that is not just because of hard work but because I have been lucky- or blessed as we Christians would say. Blessed to be born with certain abilities (including a tendency for hard work), blessed to be born into a middle-class family with two bright, supportive parents, blessed to have been helped in my studies by some excellent teachers. I am also blessed to have been able to buy our house at a time when property was rather more affordable than it is now. Without such blessings I could not enjoy the standard of living that I enjoy today, however hard I might try.<br />
<br />
<b><i>Those of us who do earn rather more than most can only do so because of blessings we receive from others (and ultimately God). It is therefore only right and fair that we with the larger pockets should be ready to pay more in taxes to help support those who are less fortunate and to contribute more to the public services upon which we will depend</i></b>, however rich we are. This is why I, like many others who are more fortunate, wholeheartedly endorse Labour’s proposals to tax us richer few a bit more to help the many.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
Jeremy Hortonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14040288077436997446noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1711610253004091876.post-1853358656741484782017-05-29T16:35:00.001-07:002017-05-29T16:49:34.592-07:00Tory Myth 3- Stopping the Scroungers off the State and the Myth of the Self-Made Man (or Woman!)<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimrycGi9L7czIE9YYtqwBluDP88p-Ka5KmVgiBoc91BF1eoVWfxUGXWzlhfircUwXDbDPu5FR3rEXibGWq82AtdK6LHyCMAGGqp1kEl-xAk01V8uV9wZq329CcUg1EaIbYwwdF3uTsGW0/s1600/greedy+bankers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="728" data-original-width="1092" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimrycGi9L7czIE9YYtqwBluDP88p-Ka5KmVgiBoc91BF1eoVWfxUGXWzlhfircUwXDbDPu5FR3rEXibGWq82AtdK6LHyCMAGGqp1kEl-xAk01V8uV9wZq329CcUg1EaIbYwwdF3uTsGW0/s400/greedy+bankers.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
One of the things that most angers the Daily Mail are the scroungers off the state. They live off government handouts, often claiming fraudulently and not pulling their weight or paying their fair share. They are one of the evils of our society holding us back and ripping us all of us. And do you know what? I agree with them. The only difference is I know that <b><i>the real scroungers off the state are not benefit claimants but super rich individuals and corporations. They are far more heavily subsidised by the state and by the taxes of ordinary people than anyone else.</i></b><br />
<b><i><br /></i></b>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2wG-jB2T8oQuZC9hHKEmvXrl_s7Ivl4kC1IKbMkE_aDP1JSUIFEwdHDtQPn_7-FNw8zYn0Yfd8K9ksTt-NT0r-pew3zAx_JBhkeSe3AHpdzR3MRwapYaeNF4dLp_IrmoRhqD4nZ5rZgQ/s1600/the+real+scoungers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="356" data-original-width="300" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2wG-jB2T8oQuZC9hHKEmvXrl_s7Ivl4kC1IKbMkE_aDP1JSUIFEwdHDtQPn_7-FNw8zYn0Yfd8K9ksTt-NT0r-pew3zAx_JBhkeSe3AHpdzR3MRwapYaeNF4dLp_IrmoRhqD4nZ5rZgQ/s320/the+real+scoungers.jpg" width="268" /></a></div>
The amount of money the state loses through welfare benefit fraud each year is estimated at £1.3 billion, but this is a tiny fraction of the £34 billion the HMRC estimates is lost through tax evasion. If you add to that the huge sums lost through aggressive tax avoidance schemes we could be looking at perhaps close to £100 billion of revenues the rich are unjustly depriving of the Treasury. And yet five times more people are employed by the DWP investigating benefit fraud by society’s poorest than are employed by The Revenue investigating tax fraud by society’s richest.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnGFmopeRtLefrDSMgNREVLIRFtTOARjMkwVdLUbod1OKFPd0fj4p4GRp8KDqe8gssUDHSj8DCUUuO0uN6D3N_fSmA7BroBusBXy3zJybBkmHrVq7r55_JuhT_ctF_XrsFZ-Git3pVIHE/s1600/scroungers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnGFmopeRtLefrDSMgNREVLIRFtTOARjMkwVdLUbod1OKFPd0fj4p4GRp8KDqe8gssUDHSj8DCUUuO0uN6D3N_fSmA7BroBusBXy3zJybBkmHrVq7r55_JuhT_ctF_XrsFZ-Git3pVIHE/s200/scroungers.jpg" width="200" /></a><br />
<b><i><br /></i></b>
<b><i><br /></i></b>
<b><i><br /></i></b>
<b><i><br /></i></b>
<b><i><br /></i></b>
<b><i><br /></i></b>
<b><i><br /></i></b>
<b><i><br /></i></b>
<b><i><br /></i></b><br />
<b><i>The amount of welfare benefits the government pays to the “idle” poor is also massively exaggerated.</i></b> Welfare spending is a huge part of government expenditure- about £1/4 trillion each year, i.e. 35% of total spending. However, by far the biggest proportion of that goes to the retired through retirement pensions- over £110 billion, nearly half of all welfare spending. By contrast, <b><i>only a tiny fraction of welfare spending goes to the unemployed- £3.4 billion, that is less than 2%.</i></b> In fact, the large majority of welfare benefits going to people of working age are to families who are working. This is mostly to subsidise what would otherwise be inadequate earnings to pay for their housing and other necessities. A large proportion of this goes on housing benefit, mainly a cost arising from the country’s failure to invest in affordable public housing. See my previous blog; http://jeremysblog67.blogspot.co.uk/2017/05/tory-myth-2-right-to-buy-and-gods-of.html<br />
<br />
In work poverty has been a growing trend in recent years. A comprehensive study published this month by Cardiff University found that <b><i>a staggering 60% of households living in poverty are working households</i></b>. In 2013 it was estimated there were 3 million people in in work poverty (and it would now be even more). That is far more than the number of unemployed or unfit to work. This therefore gives the lie to the simple notion that people can work themselves out of poverty. <b><i>Millions are working very hard but are still trapped in poverty. And the Tory government’s welfare benefit changes contribute massively to this problem,</i></b> including housing benefit caps, benefits cuts, the bedroom tax and benefits sanctions. Shockingly this is even affecting very valued and professional public servants like teachers and nurses, especially in areas of high housing costs like London and Bristol. Incredibly, in work poverty has even forced many teachers and nurses into using food banks or made homeless. If you think this is just an urban myth I suggest reading some of their real life stories, e,g. https://www.theguardian.com/education/2017/may/23/homeless-teachers-ashamed-housing-crisis-professionals.<br />
Sadly’ it’s not an urban myth but an urban reality that we should be thoroughly ashamed of and determined to put right.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_W6nfakhaATNPCaKQ9PAiQxTwHJgGAonOpmt4GqzT2xtcrf4_q9REZP-84kRmXeaWOyWyUhGiOmo8h4vpxRLglI5HY0CncTNc9pNb5HuX7eGn0dEs1rZu2gCFJdAmYM73mAJM-3u4agw/s1600/homeless+teacher.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="180" data-original-width="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_W6nfakhaATNPCaKQ9PAiQxTwHJgGAonOpmt4GqzT2xtcrf4_q9REZP-84kRmXeaWOyWyUhGiOmo8h4vpxRLglI5HY0CncTNc9pNb5HuX7eGn0dEs1rZu2gCFJdAmYM73mAJM-3u4agw/s1600/homeless+teacher.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
One popular urban myth though is that the rich proportionately pay more tax than the poor. If only that were true. In 2014/15 <b><i>the poorest fifth lost 47 per cent of their income to the taxman, while the richest fifth of society paid only 34 per cent. Part of that reason is tax evasion/avoidance by the rich, but the main reason is direct taxes</i></b>, such as VAT. These disproportionately affect the poorest as they are charged at the same rate to all income groups (And note it is been Tory governments that have put up these direct taxes - John Major’s government increased VAT from 15 to 17.5% in 1991 and David Cameron’s from 17.5% to 20% in 2011. More recently Theresa May's government have doubled the rate of IPT paid e.g. on car and home insurance).<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTjsW8oMGkuyYNg874n4djgpj7iTgjQVnuojmSxI6_e8xuqFOngsWeeDiO-660rK-_AqPdnPg1_Hvusbf9lAAZJg5rcWxWuFLd2g6qg46QiFj9e32QvrT31fwCZW4KbIrdp5aU8rsg568/s1600/Phili%255Bp+Green+pays+no+tax.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="259" data-original-width="194" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTjsW8oMGkuyYNg874n4djgpj7iTgjQVnuojmSxI6_e8xuqFOngsWeeDiO-660rK-_AqPdnPg1_Hvusbf9lAAZJg5rcWxWuFLd2g6qg46QiFj9e32QvrT31fwCZW4KbIrdp5aU8rsg568/s1600/Phili%255Bp+Green+pays+no+tax.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
Yet over the past three decades, and especially since the recession, <b><i>the wealth of the richest has grown while most of us have seen our real incomes stagnate or fall. For example, between 2009 and 2015 the UK’s richest 1,000 families saw their assets increase from £258bn to £547bn</i></b>, a rise of more than 112%. . But Average UK incomes have yet to recover from the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression and over the past 10 years the UK has seen the lowest levels of pay growth of any European country- equal with Greece. Thousands have been flocking to food banks. But this financial elite have emerged not only with their fortunes intact, but holding a larger slice of the cake than ever.<br />
<br />
And <b><i>while our nurses, teachers and other public servants have seen their pay frozen or increases capped below inflation, the bosses running our most successful companies have increasingly felt free to award themselves huge pay rises year after year. This is illustrated by another alarming statistic. In 1980 the average CEO of a UK FTSE 100 company earned 18 times the average worker. Today they earn 180 times</i></b>- an increase in the pay gap ratio of 1,000%.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJtCR8gr7zNQkJQXsU8fetoIVGR-2qhYcAkquDECFtdEOlLgKq7DanmoZzC9ByEBan3u66ga5ukfCnZpQL0YZU4CSz_VXt_yZqPpkWO4Cs1KK82Rh5MKATxmY5QYQrQpsMoDkUGWgamqs/s1600/the+rich+getting+richer.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="290" data-original-width="622" height="149" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJtCR8gr7zNQkJQXsU8fetoIVGR-2qhYcAkquDECFtdEOlLgKq7DanmoZzC9ByEBan3u66ga5ukfCnZpQL0YZU4CSz_VXt_yZqPpkWO4Cs1KK82Rh5MKATxmY5QYQrQpsMoDkUGWgamqs/s320/the+rich+getting+richer.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div>
Needless to say our top companies’ performance has not matched the 1,000% increase in their CEOs’ pay! And this is kind of the point. If we richly rewarded those at the top for being wealth creators that benefited us all that might start to justify this huge increase in their awards- as the wealth the super-rich generates “trickles down” to us all. The only problem is the facts no longer support this. It used to be true, but for decades now, both nationally and globally, the proportion of the wealth generated by business going to ordinary workers rather than the owners has steadily fallen.<br />
<br />
What is also not recognised is that <b><i>those running successful businesses (including property empires) and who take such large rewards for themselves are only able to do so on the backs of the rest of us. </i></b>Directly or indirectly their businesses and therefore their income and wealth is heavily subsided by us all. <b><i>They rely on many, many billions of pounds of state funding to provide them with the essential conditions in which their businesses can operate and thrive</i></b>:<br />
<br />
•<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>an educated and healthy workforce -funded by state education and the NHS;<br />
•<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>the state funded legal infrastructure through the police, courts and security services to ensure the necessary conditions of peace, law and order;<br />
•<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>the state-funded physical infrastructure of our transport systems and energy supplies;<br />
•<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>the state-funded research and development (of about £10 billion per year) which over time has enabled the development of technologies like the internet on which most businesses depend;<br />
•<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>a welfare benefits system which heavily supports and subsidises the incomes of many of their employees or tenants, especially through tax credits and housing benefits. According to a study by the Building and Social Housing Foundation in 2012, more than nine in ten of every new housing-benefit claims in the first two years of the coalition government went not to the unemployed but to working households. Many of these claimants are workers whose pay is so low that they simply cannot afford the often extortionate rents being charged by private landlords. Ironically, a number of rich Conservative politicians who rail against state spending on welfare benefits are indirectly some of the biggest beneficiaries from it! One such private landlord is Conservative MP Richard Benyon, one of Britain's wealthiest parliamentarians. He benefits from £120,000 a year through housing benefit collected from his tenants.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
•<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>As highlighted in my previous blog, many billions of pounds of tax payers’ money are also paid out to private companies running state services, often very badly, and who often pay their owners huge salaries- many more times than our Prime Minister.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlmLijthZL_ak1Vd8wKuS0wYtveu2L_gepPjGFl1tlYPuW1EmS_VdqGAPPrKlYwdABgZ8rXwog6XAcsEaUCi1W9RWh7qJ0dGAJlja4wG0YGc_2VUCXOP0Akio0VpnrmwW2Tbo2U4YA_zU/s1600/banker.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="424" data-original-width="283" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlmLijthZL_ak1Vd8wKuS0wYtveu2L_gepPjGFl1tlYPuW1EmS_VdqGAPPrKlYwdABgZ8rXwog6XAcsEaUCi1W9RWh7qJ0dGAJlja4wG0YGc_2VUCXOP0Akio0VpnrmwW2Tbo2U4YA_zU/s200/banker.jpg" width="133" /></a>Perhaps the starkest illustration of how the rich are so heavily subsidised and supported by the rest of us was the 2008 banking crisis. More than £1tn of public money was poured into the banks following the financial collapse. The emergency package came with few government-imposed conditions and with little calling to account. "The urge to punish all bankers has gone far enough," declared a piece in the Financial Times just six months after the crisis began. But if there was ever such an "urge" on the part of government, it was never acted on. In 2012, 2,714 British bankers were paid more than €1m – 12 times as many as any other EU country. When the EU unveiled proposals in 2012 to limit bonuses to two years' salary with the agreement of shareholders, there was outrage in the City. Luckily, their friends in high office were there to rescue their bonuses: at the British taxpayers' expense, the Treasury went to the European Court to challenge the proposals.<br />
<br />
Contrast this with the fate of those at the bottom of our society, who have suffered at their expense. <b><i>In the Tory government austerity programme that followed the financial crisis and the bankers’ bail out, state support for those at the bottom has been eroded. The support that remains is given with stringent conditions- "Benefit sanctions" are imposed often for the most spurious or arbitrary reasons. </i></b><br />
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/may/11/benefit-sanctions-hurting-low-paid-vulnerable-people<br />
According to government figures, 860,000 benefit claimants were sanctioned between June 2012 and June 2013, a jump of 360,000 from a year earlier. According to the Trussell Trust, more than half of food bank recipients had to rely on their handouts due to cuts or sanctions to their benefits. These have very often been imposed erroneously (and nearly always disproportionately), such as claimants being sanctioned for missing a signing on day because of a welfare-to-work training or a job interview! (See for example, http://stupidsanctions.tumblr.com/ ).<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjex63cyCzLLxPvjziJ4aT8rlwI33hyPjF0NQ-5pmi0Zq3Zrq0P_sxU_8aivcvPJSIOoFY0-YHaJA9ejEOipmvfeIPJKI4IOhoUGgOVR3qojtKVY-SO1XTkRGcNKGA9tYKshhR0wZsJFHc/s1600/David+Clapson.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="409" data-original-width="615" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjex63cyCzLLxPvjziJ4aT8rlwI33hyPjF0NQ-5pmi0Zq3Zrq0P_sxU_8aivcvPJSIOoFY0-YHaJA9ejEOipmvfeIPJKI4IOhoUGgOVR3qojtKVY-SO1XTkRGcNKGA9tYKshhR0wZsJFHc/s320/David+Clapson.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
The lack of understanding and compassion shown, especially to benefit claimants suffering mental health problems, has been truly disturbing . Some of those sanctioned have even been PTSD-suffering soldiers. They have put their lives on the line for their country only to be badly let them down by having removing their benefits for wholly inadequate reasons. In some cases these has even led to their deaths. See e.g. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/benefits-sanction-resulted-in-my-brother-david-clapson-s-death-says-gill-thompson-as-she-pleads-for-a6911386.html<br />
<br />
Likewise, there have been <b><i>huge numbers of the sick and disabled who have been wrongly assessed as fit for work and had their benefits withdrawn, following incompetent assessments by the likes of Atos. As a result there have been hundreds of thousands of appeals against fit-for-work decisions in recent years, about four in 10 of which have succeeded</i></b>. However, in the meantime the appeals process took too long for some- <b><i>nearly 90 people a month died after being declared fit for work during 2011-14.</i></b><br />
<br />
As a Christian I <i>try</i> to follow the biblical principles of Micah 6 v 8; “<i>He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.</i>” I am appalled by the lack of justice and mercy shown towards the most needy and vulnerable in our society through the austerity-driven benefits cuts and sanctions. I am equally appalled at the apparent mercy shown to rich bailed out bankers (see above) and the tax cuts given to the very richest individuals and corporation provided by this government- the large reductions in corporation tax, higher rate income tax and inheritance tax. What system of values can say that we don’t have the money to provide for the basic food and housing needs of society’s poorest and yet can offer such handouts to the very richest? It is certainly not a set of Christian values, as the bible highlights compassion and justice for the poor as the number one social issue (mentioned 148 times) and also highlights the greed of the rich as the number one social evil.Among many other verses that could be cited:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDHK6T2esBym5vkP_XG-1fDN3xFM44cGMInnwyayNylVcKifAETWlUnnEfl3QR5Vx_QW1C2d3FF93SCjUdcl_d_4CyTGayI0fsxXXdeedGm_zMO4thwYO15A5evHmNFuPjbjg-q_VXzFM/s1600/micah-6-8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="395" data-original-width="851" height="148" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDHK6T2esBym5vkP_XG-1fDN3xFM44cGMInnwyayNylVcKifAETWlUnnEfl3QR5Vx_QW1C2d3FF93SCjUdcl_d_4CyTGayI0fsxXXdeedGm_zMO4thwYO15A5evHmNFuPjbjg-q_VXzFM/s320/micah-6-8.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<i>“Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy”— Proverbs 31:8-9 </i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>"Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter…” — Isaiah 58:6</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>“Woe to those who make unjust laws, to those who issue oppressive decrees, to deprive the poor of their rights and withhold justice from the oppressed of my people... What will you do on the day of reckoning, when disaster comes from afar? To whom will you run for help? Where will you leave your riches?”— Isaiah 10:1-3</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>“There need be no poor people among you, for in the land the Lord your God is giving you to possess as your inheritance, he will richly bless you...” — Deuteronomy 15:4-5</i><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>The Tory arguments I have heard put to justify this injustice simply do not stand up to the evidence.</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b><i>If you allow the rich to prosper and keep more of their money the wealth will trickle down to us all including the poorest</i></b><br />
- It is not simply <i>their</i> wealth- ultimately it is the Lord’s and they could not earn their wealth without the direct or indirect support they receive from the state (see above);<br />
-Generally they have horded their wealth and have allowed themselves to get richer and the poor and ordinary folk to get poorer so the wealth has not trickled down.<br />
<br />
<b><i>We can’t afford to be so generous in our “hand outs” to the poor</i></b><br />
-We remain a rich country and if we can afford to be so generous with e.g. our tax cuts to the rich we could choose instead to be more generous to the poor. (Deuteronomy 15:4-5)<br />
-It would actually benefit our economy and therefore most of us far more if we gave more in benefits to the poorest in our society than tax cuts to the rich. The poor actually will put that money back into our economy by buying the basic things they need. The rich will often horde their wealth, often spending it or hiding it abroad and beyond the tax man’s reach.<br />
-The austerity agenda that this slashing of benefits is part of has not worked to bring down the state debt and has been been economically self-defeating. See my earlier blog<br />
http://jeremysblog67.blogspot.co.uk/2017/05/tory-myth-1-labour-crashed-economy-and.html )<br />
<br />
<b><i>It's work which is the way out of poverty not benefit hand outs</i></b><br />
-If only that were true. 60% of households in poverty are now working households. One of the main causes for that is the lack of affordable housing in so many parts of this country which means that many working people simply can’t earn enough to pay their rent and put food on the table without state benefits.<br />
<br />
The advocates of state interventionism are dismissed as relics from the 1970s. (See my response to that in my earlier blog; http://jeremysblog67.blogspot.co.uk/2017/05/tory-myth-2-right-to-buy-and-gods-of.html ).Yet state interventionism is still alive and well in modern Britain, but it now exists primarily to benefit the rich rather than the poor. Ultimately it is not just unjust, it is inefficient and unsustainable and it is certainly contrary to biblical Christian values.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI3Yck61yQUdHHC5GwCDJ5Cg0GBFlmzZsCeMN6UBDeSHdjYqmbQ4kO_xXh4ltK0IrViI6izss6cifOq52D4fvgFdpUsYtVGVneFz7qte-XyYKQLzIOftArtp0-OoI7fRt9t_Rdh0M1QPw/s1600/God+made+man.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="986" data-original-width="1328" height="237" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI3Yck61yQUdHHC5GwCDJ5Cg0GBFlmzZsCeMN6UBDeSHdjYqmbQ4kO_xXh4ltK0IrViI6izss6cifOq52D4fvgFdpUsYtVGVneFz7qte-XyYKQLzIOftArtp0-OoI7fRt9t_Rdh0M1QPw/s320/God+made+man.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<b><i>I don’t believe in the self-made man. As a Christian, I believe in the God-made man. Everything we have is ultimately God’s and what we acquire in this life we do so mainly because of what we have been given</i></b>. I think of my own situation. I have a very good, well-paid job as a lawyer. I earn about three times the national average wage (despite my pay falling over the last 5 years). I would therefore still (just about) slip into that top 5% of earners who Labour would tax more. I could argue that I deserve that level of pay and shouldn’t be taxed a penny more as I have got where I am “through my own efforts”. After all, I have always worked very hard at school and at work, and therefore achieved top O/A level and degree grades. At work on average I have probably billed more fees than anyone else in my firm and yet there are people in my firm who are rather better paid (especially the owners of the business). But then I think of many at my firm who just earn about the national average wage. I do work longer hours than most of them and directly bring in rather more fees, but do I deserve to be paid three times as much and to enjoy the standard of living I do? I certainly don’t work three times as hard and if I am good at what I do and bring in a lot of money for the firm that is not just because of hard work but because I have been lucky- or blessed as we Christians would say. Blessed to be born with certain abilities, blessed to be born into a middle-class family with two bright, supportive parents, blessed to have been helped in my studies by some excellent teachers. I am also blessed to have been able to buy our house at a time when property was rather more affordable than it is now. Without such blessings I could not enjoy the standard of living that I enjoy today, however hard I might try.<br />
<br />
<b><i>Those of us who do earn rather more than most can only do so because of blessings we receive from others (and ultimately God). It is therefore only right and fair that we with the larger pockets should be ready to pay more in taxes to help support those who are less fortunate and to contribute more to the public services upon which we will depend</i></b>, however rich we are. This is why I, like many others who are more fortunate, wholeheartedly endorse Labour’s proposals to tax us richer few a bit more to help the many.<br />
<br />
<br />Jeremy Hortonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14040288077436997446noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1711610253004091876.post-17788294745442279812017-05-24T14:33:00.004-07:002017-05-25T01:10:08.098-07:00Unmasking the Myths- Tory Myth 2- “The Right to Buy” and the gods of the Free Market<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8OPu7nG0ZHD0YxudOUC4cQxbs1kmkEM4IOrtIxYsCdqfFsT4xcg36Ij0a0pmLjeEQ0ig9jo7dTOU-YqPlkhaloazPe6IxKwVTIPqJjsx5CmVXBc0WmItGuNtTiqBKPzapitDCkSbGqQE/s1600/right+to+buy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="248" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8OPu7nG0ZHD0YxudOUC4cQxbs1kmkEM4IOrtIxYsCdqfFsT4xcg36Ij0a0pmLjeEQ0ig9jo7dTOU-YqPlkhaloazPe6IxKwVTIPqJjsx5CmVXBc0WmItGuNtTiqBKPzapitDCkSbGqQE/s400/right+to+buy.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">On the issue of public versus private ownership, I stand with those great
bastions of socialism; Winston Churchill, Harold Macmillan and Ted Heath. I
believe in a mixed economy… Hang on a minute, weren’t they Conservative
Prime Ministers? Yes, they were, but they were leaders of the Conservative
party <b>before</b> Margaret Thatcher. You see on this she really does have so
much to answer for.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">When Margaret Thatcher became leader of the Conservative party over forty years
ago this heralded a huge shift in British politics. It wasn’t so much that she
was the first woman leader of a major UK political party. It was that she
brought with her a whole new system of political values. For the thirty years
since the second world war there had been a consensus in political and economic
thinking between the Labour and Conservative parties. There was a belief in an
economy that mixed private enterprise across most industries with genuinely
public services and privately owned/rented housing alongside a generous supply
of affordable council housing. In fact, it’s Harold MacMillan’s Conservative
government of the mid 1950s that still holds the record for the most council
houses built in a year of ¼ million. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4Xwl2rBtAms_TQISKQxkO-EptAqsB3QUIH9t9Vw71acz2pTcBmOzp2tHwxiDGQ70_3lRSgJV7AjgVZ4F75MU2GK2Barkzwracd06gY4rh3yd6FvLJ8ktYJc9fmH5jru_SnfMBclzDvw4/s1600/Harold+Macmillan+conservative+tory+one+nation.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4Xwl2rBtAms_TQISKQxkO-EptAqsB3QUIH9t9Vw71acz2pTcBmOzp2tHwxiDGQ70_3lRSgJV7AjgVZ4F75MU2GK2Barkzwracd06gY4rh3yd6FvLJ8ktYJc9fmH5jru_SnfMBclzDvw4/s320/Harold+Macmillan+conservative+tory+one+nation.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">However, Margaret Thatcher and her
early supporters like Keith Joseph were, if you like, the “New Conservatives”.
They were zealous converts to the monetarist, liberal economic/political
philosophy of Hayeck and Friedman. They had an unswerving faith in “the
free market” that almost bordered on idolatry. If we left as much as possible
to be run by the markets, as free as possible from state interference,
everything would work much more efficiently. This would encourage
entrepreneurship which would drive forward our economy and our society.
Although this would reward the best entrepreneurs with great wealth, this
wealth would naturally trickle down to the rest of us, so that overall we would
all be better off. It was the ultimate form of capitalism, but one from which
we would all benefit supposedly. Unfortunately forty years of this ultra free
market experiment has shown that overwhelmingly this has been very much to the
detriment of most of us and to the benefit of a rich few. And it is this ultra
free market right to buy philosophy which partly explains away the other two
key Tory myths- competent management of the economy (see my earlier blog) and
stopping the scroungers off the state (see my next blog).</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLBX8PdeZ3kEcI9VLCESLZ0iA2jizx59huhbVEZQ-qie-pkZktQQRe_ELsnayTRnYwGim-TDN24SLO1tA5CnyFzvra81r0CtFBehRdCcAEEjdtdRmiVX8ynqzZKJ6n2upasQTlFUtFJYk/s1600/Mrs+Thatcher%2527s+right+to+buy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLBX8PdeZ3kEcI9VLCESLZ0iA2jizx59huhbVEZQ-qie-pkZktQQRe_ELsnayTRnYwGim-TDN24SLO1tA5CnyFzvra81r0CtFBehRdCcAEEjdtdRmiVX8ynqzZKJ6n2upasQTlFUtFJYk/s320/Mrs+Thatcher%2527s+right+to+buy.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The flagship policy of this popular capitalism was Mrs Thatcher’s “right to
buy” your council house. Ordinary men and women were given the right to buy
their own council house for a knock down price, so that they could become
little capitalist themselves (and hence presumably voters for Mrs Thatcher’s
New Conservatives- the party of the capitalists!).</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">
I would suggest that in itself there was nothing wrong with giving ordinary
council tenants the right to buy their own council house. After all, the bible
sets a pattern of every Israelite having their own direct stake in their new
promised land. Unfortunately, the “right to buy” over a period of 40 years has
ultimately been allowed to become the “right to rip off”.<br />
The problem was that as the council houses were sold off there was no real
effort to replace the council house sold with new council houses. In fact,
Conservative government rules prevented councils doing so. (And sadly the failure to build affordable housing was continued under New Labour governments). It was like chopping down
most of the trees in a forest without planting new trees to replace them. In
1979 42% of the UK lived in council houses. This has now fallen to less than
8%.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUhloABZHu9zPyJBNpQ-gofPMSzeMKj6m0VL3PSXaZS8IVB1QpXZ4cMGAMym0i8AD1CQ3V8WdZnQW1O-cIazDEY8So-AWK7MHwx-0I3IPzBhMMXNVKAWZAWT4HwZVqlbWzMpGh0Xh4pSE/s1600/deforestation.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="514" data-original-width="800" height="205" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUhloABZHu9zPyJBNpQ-gofPMSzeMKj6m0VL3PSXaZS8IVB1QpXZ4cMGAMym0i8AD1CQ3V8WdZnQW1O-cIazDEY8So-AWK7MHwx-0I3IPzBhMMXNVKAWZAWT4HwZVqlbWzMpGh0Xh4pSE/s320/deforestation.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">And what happened to those ex-council homes? Research from 2015 found that
about 40% of those properties were no longer owner-occupied but were in the hands
of private landlords, charging up to seven times the average social rents.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Over time this “deforestation” of affordable public housing has been a major
factor behind the following unhealthy trends:<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />
• a
large increase in property prices relative to income. Over the last 20 years
this has increased from 2x to 5x average annual salary and in London 3.7 x to
9x!<br />
• a
significant reduction in young adults able to own their own home. This has fallen from
55% to 20% over the last 20 years<br />
• a
large increase in the average rents or property prices relative to income. Over
the last 30 years average rents have shot up from 10 to 25% of income and
about 35% in London. This in itself has been a major factor in increasing “in work poverty”.<br />
• a
significant increase in young adults forced to live with their parents- now up
to 1 in 4.<br />
• a
significant increase in homelessness. This has doubled in the last 7 years
alone. If you speak to some of the homeless in your own town you will find the
lack of council housing is now one of the key reasons why many end up on the
streets.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUKOKNjqKJKhyphenhyphenTpY4muIjFK-N33cw8TbVH0I2QB53Mo_ur7CDH7rswfduaLVNC5DuyTXb5vbQvS_E0BZeNRckeG6QdMUkJ2WLUG98gxG39TGOXf96tiaCNTo0BpUNy8p6uwT8P3TYy-GE/s1600/homeless.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUKOKNjqKJKhyphenhyphenTpY4muIjFK-N33cw8TbVH0I2QB53Mo_ur7CDH7rswfduaLVNC5DuyTXb5vbQvS_E0BZeNRckeG6QdMUkJ2WLUG98gxG39TGOXf96tiaCNTo0BpUNy8p6uwT8P3TYy-GE/s320/homeless.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The right to buy did bring short term benefits to the tenants who originally
bought their own properties at reduced prices. However, it came at a cost to
their children and grandchildren due to the massive reduction in the stock of
affordable public housing. The longer term beneficiaries have been a small
group of individuals and corporations who have made themselves very rich at the
expense of others through expanding buy to let property empires.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />
And it’s been much the same with the other public assets that have been sold
off to the private sector; gas, electricity, water and rail. Like our public
housing they were all part of our national infrastructure built at great
expense with our money (from our taxes) for the benefit of the common good.
Privatising these services (usually at an undervalue) was, to quote the former
Conservative Prime Minister Harold MacMillan, like “<i>selling off the family silver</i>.”
It brought a short term gain for the government but at a long term loss of
annual profits which were diverted for the benefit of the shareholders rather
than the greater good of the country. Instead of using the profits to reduce
prices for the ordinary consumer or invest more to improve the service, many
billions of pounds have been leached from the public purse into the hands of
their shareholders; (mostly) rich individuals and corporations. This has
happened whilst those same individuals and companies often avoid paying very
much in tax. In a typical year for example the water companies declare
profits totalling about £2 billion whilst paying taxes of only about £75
million, that is less than 4%!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0Ix7B8JBtAvPhpkO7jcFjnUTUd0zVksZl5k7IoSaNy1OuGjam15yDkI5yKtK4qjGSQ-789LYwF7ZUWS7BcG_QqFxHjdJXwzlnGvOw0W1MHImBlA0z38uFvei1-EDfB11VNsErmorQ-IQ/s1600/clearance+sale.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0Ix7B8JBtAvPhpkO7jcFjnUTUd0zVksZl5k7IoSaNy1OuGjam15yDkI5yKtK4qjGSQ-789LYwF7ZUWS7BcG_QqFxHjdJXwzlnGvOw0W1MHImBlA0z38uFvei1-EDfB11VNsErmorQ-IQ/s1600/clearance+sale.jpg" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">But the sell off of our public services to the market didn’t end with the big
national utilities. Our councils were required to let out most of their
services to be run by private companies. And the same is happening now
with so many of our central government functions. Our NHS, many of our state
schools and key functions of the Department for Work & Pensions and even
our prison service have sold or rented out many of their services to the private
sector. This might all be fine if by privatising these services they became
better and more efficient through being subject to the rigours of the market.
However, the evidence points to no such benefits. It is a different matter
where an industry is privatised that is genuinely in competition with others,
e.g. the car and steel industry or the telecommunications service that
became BT. However, where local or national service monopolies have been
privatised overall they have operated no better or more efficiently than the
nationalised service. In fact, often they have performed worse. A couple of examples illustrate this; the East
coast main line rail service and the DWP’s work capability assessments.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizXEMZuHYEUeoJSWliG7h2kASVnRcGVByL6Urpaisinw94-o7S_L5ZJLJJHGwAOVM-kfVfrrh7vnWxhANLDamjbP5MDKpxf811o1SRv7X46AjVb4BUXvLFyYOzanRFaDxXcaUuYeSqogw/s1600/east+coast+trains.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizXEMZuHYEUeoJSWliG7h2kASVnRcGVByL6Urpaisinw94-o7S_L5ZJLJJHGwAOVM-kfVfrrh7vnWxhANLDamjbP5MDKpxf811o1SRv7X46AjVb4BUXvLFyYOzanRFaDxXcaUuYeSqogw/s320/east+coast+trains.gif" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In 2009, the
private operator of the East coast main line rail service, National Express,
walked away from the franchise with a record of declining service. The service
was returned to public ownership through the Directly Operated Railways. After
5 years of public ownership it had turned the service around so that it now
delivered record levels of punctuality and passenger satisfaction. It had also
run at a profit so as to earn the Treasury £1 billion over that period. Yet instead of using
this as a blueprint for how to better run our railways in 2015 the Coalition
government went for the quick buck and sold it off again- this time to Virgin.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Huge sums have been wasted by the DWP on private contractors like Atos incompetently carrying out disability assessments. Nearly hald of their assessments were overturned on appeal. Atos were sacked. Yet in 2016 the
National Audit Office estimated that the DWP would pay over £1.6 billion to other private contractors like Capita to carry out health and disability assessments.
And yet over the same period they were expected to only to save £1 billion in
benefits. In other words these private contractors were literally costing the
government over £1/2 billion more than they were saving! Do we never learn?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1wlGldasHP3XH2m6KJXiSbfROsDOuc9JJMo4p70NxKQQdQTyIHSadHihT_7YxW6fDUTxYLjHLyLPIODC5PnXyWFYlGyy61rOOHF09T6cRl1qn59WD1ya9L7WDS1zqFgw-jJiP3aAiCTE/s1600/crapita.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="145" data-original-width="348" height="83" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1wlGldasHP3XH2m6KJXiSbfROsDOuc9JJMo4p70NxKQQdQTyIHSadHihT_7YxW6fDUTxYLjHLyLPIODC5PnXyWFYlGyy61rOOHF09T6cRl1qn59WD1ya9L7WDS1zqFgw-jJiP3aAiCTE/s200/crapita.png" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">One of the damaging
effects of the franchising off so many public services is the loss of
control we need to ensure sensible and efficient planning of the services we need. One very clear and recent example of this is the last
government’s extremely misconceived “free schools” policy. This policy
virtually removes “free schools” from any local authority control. It allows
individuals, charities or companies to set up their own “free school” almost
anywhere they wish rather where new schools are most needed. Not surprisingly
this has led to a widespread waste of badly needed resources. Public funds are
diverted directly from central government (bypassing the local authorities
altogether) to pay for new free schools to be set up in areas where there is
often no need for a new school- usually more prosperous and academically
successful /middle class areas. Meanwhile in poorer areas where teaching is
more challenging schools are left oversubscribed and crying out for more
resources. It’s not just unfair it’s a shocking waste of resources and a recipe
for chaos. These services need strategic planning which can only sensibly by
done by local (not central) government who can best judge what local services are
needed. I would add that overall the free schools this policy has spawned
actually achieve lower standards than established state schools- again another
waste of resources.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiucsB5nOEJOJWn0ZZyLNwkaGnmb2ZlnpY7jFNYJjX_v2MobjmMK3i73XjrIGU62ZulzZaDYtS5sjQGC3kgoyhAZyHGmYXU1uYIt2BS7EAgc1Tl-CAM6GKFzhqsLkfF3PDBqMKEO2B_JCE/s1600/all+for+Emma.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiucsB5nOEJOJWn0ZZyLNwkaGnmb2ZlnpY7jFNYJjX_v2MobjmMK3i73XjrIGU62ZulzZaDYtS5sjQGC3kgoyhAZyHGmYXU1uYIt2BS7EAgc1Tl-CAM6GKFzhqsLkfF3PDBqMKEO2B_JCE/s320/all+for+Emma.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Shockingly, despite
often performing such a poor service, many individuals in charge of these
privateering companies have been able to pay themselves extortionate earnings
at the public’s expense. Just one example is Emma Harrison, boss of A4e, a
“welfare to work” company favoured by New Labour who in 2010 paid herself a
dividend of £8.6 million- all earned from public contracts. (Nice work if you
can get it- shame they had such an “abysmal” record of getting the unemployed
into work!)</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Worse than that, the privatisation of many of our
public services also provides a very large opportunity for defrauding the
public purse. Witness, for example the fiascos over the tagging of offenders in
the community and the Perry Beaches Academy Trust . Serco and G4S between them overcharged the
taxpayer nearly £200 million for electronically monitoring offenders who were
either back in prison, overseas or even dead.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #333333;"> Meanwhile the Perry Beeches
academy trust chain, previously praised by David Cameron</span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">, last year had to be stripped of all its schools, following “financial
shortcomings”. This included substantial “third-party payments” for contracts it
gave to businesses belonging to their own chief executive.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi21uqCFC3v6ro9s84UauJbmePnoVQZmrb7N6B4CwqN-n4ewdXAdBNpaF6hVzIvMdiYPSHWnsrTKgP3yfeuLzPiss-vuwmCPzaf0TGYykPwnuEut0NCNTFW7VqN3Rjt2AEDTu8VHifpAT4/s1600/perry+beeches.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="177" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi21uqCFC3v6ro9s84UauJbmePnoVQZmrb7N6B4CwqN-n4ewdXAdBNpaF6hVzIvMdiYPSHWnsrTKgP3yfeuLzPiss-vuwmCPzaf0TGYykPwnuEut0NCNTFW7VqN3Rjt2AEDTu8VHifpAT4/s320/perry+beeches.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<div style="background: white;">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #333333;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Perhaps the
starkest illustration of how nationalised services can often do a better more
efficient job came from the Olympics security fracas. In 2011 G4S won a
contract worth many tens of millions as the official security provider for
London 2012. However due to its incompetence it was unable to provide enough
security staff to do the job. As a result, a nationalised service- the British
Army- had to step in with thousands of troops to plug the security gap.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwoHJfZdnvpzCwKM4YXhAbKdguwRwE0bBBjNhvGny23XxsbsT0VCZl7ldQb1ADlV5TmoJ0728Uh4T1ktSndv_KolApsmSkusXRZpDOrioNWfUAHezugH4r5SZBNpey7guGzQd7eUixAgA/s1600/olympics+2012+army.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwoHJfZdnvpzCwKM4YXhAbKdguwRwE0bBBjNhvGny23XxsbsT0VCZl7ldQb1ADlV5TmoJ0728Uh4T1ktSndv_KolApsmSkusXRZpDOrioNWfUAHezugH4r5SZBNpey7guGzQd7eUixAgA/s320/olympics+2012+army.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Incredibly, whilst
our government has flogged off its own stake in much of our public services, it has
been perfectly happy to see foreign governments buying into and controlling
many of them. For example, three quarters of our private rail companies
are now partly or fully owned by foreign governments! It is a similar story
with many of our energy and water companies.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">
<br />
What is even more shocking is the identity of some of those benefiting from
the privateering of our public services. Many Conservative and New Labour
politicians have acquired financial interests in these companies. This is
especially the case with the growing market in private health companies running
NHS service contracts now worth billions each year. For example, the former
Conservative Health Secretary Andrew Lansley now earns many £10,000s each year
from acting as a consultant for several such private companies.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYTb5bRtsZf1QDRgM03atZnSPfx85DaSe2BruuQ1F2gQ4kVF7nSMJ143-EmBBaF-rZ1H1DPdRIYzcEvPQvegNrkNEbPjuq3XYCYbUvjcFCFbLPsBmS4x3CHzdGehcCukdGeHGtztHRAUM/s1600/Andrew+Lansley.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="120" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYTb5bRtsZf1QDRgM03atZnSPfx85DaSe2BruuQ1F2gQ4kVF7nSMJ143-EmBBaF-rZ1H1DPdRIYzcEvPQvegNrkNEbPjuq3XYCYbUvjcFCFbLPsBmS4x3CHzdGehcCukdGeHGtztHRAUM/s200/Andrew+Lansley.jpg" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It was the supposed loss of control of our country to the EU that was decisive
in the Brexit vote. Yet the biggest loss of control we’ve suffered over last
nearly 40 years is noyt to the EU, but the huge sell off of our state assets to the rich
individuals and corporations and even foreign governments. And the evidence
suggests in many cases they run them less efficiently than a public provider. At the same time they leach off billions of pounds of our money in profits from which they
reward themselves handsomely (even while often providing often poor levels of
service). If we don’t like the way a government or council runs public services we can kick
them out but there is nothing we can do when they are owned and run
privately.</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Very few now would
suggest that the state should run everything. That argument was lost by the
1980s as we saw the disastrous failed experiment of communism, epitomised in
the collapse of the Berlin wall. For the state to try to control everything
just doesn’t work. It leads to terrible inefficiencies, abuses of power from
those in charge of the state levers that causes its own unfair inequalities and suppression of freedom. However, to
leave the “market” to run everything without proper state control leads to an
equal and opposite failure. To follow the free market in all things is to
worship a false blind god who cannot see where it takes us. The free market
therefore needs to be managed and regulated to ensure it doesn’t lead us into
ditches or off cliffs- as was illustrated so clearly in the banking crisis just
over 10 years ago. And there are some areas of life where we do actually need
state ownership and control to ensure that basic services and resources are properly
planned, fairly shared fairly and efficiently managed. To leave everything to the
market is a recipe for chaos, an inefficient use of resources and the
accumulation of too much power and wealth in the hands of a few at the expense
of the many. However, this is very much the direction this country has been
heading in for the past nearly 40 years. We need to change course to take us
back to a more mixed economy, which our country enjoyed in the 1950s and 60s, a
path followed still by many other successful Northern European countries. The
threat of enslavement by Communism fell with the Berlin wall. However, since
then we have allowed too much of this country to be enslaved by another false
god- the “free market”- a religion that has too often served the interests of
the rich few rather than the many. It’s time to tear down the temples of that
false religion and build something better, that works in the interests of
everyone and better serves Jesus’s Kingdom values of looking after each other
and ensuring everyone has enough.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLIJ0IsSOyVxEosj_CATsrz7A_plsEPnJV9H3qyf6GCewPc08LNzoEy4pQRbWvr9pkAds1o0yfBbGLGHFuOPzDJ-37yVU7jhCBf2-Af_mlMirlxmMvkjUnPVXiLEG4QKWSAGsok-8msGI/s1600/berlin+wall+being+torn+down.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLIJ0IsSOyVxEosj_CATsrz7A_plsEPnJV9H3qyf6GCewPc08LNzoEy4pQRbWvr9pkAds1o0yfBbGLGHFuOPzDJ-37yVU7jhCBf2-Af_mlMirlxmMvkjUnPVXiLEG4QKWSAGsok-8msGI/s320/berlin+wall+being+torn+down.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br />
<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></div>
Jeremy Hortonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14040288077436997446noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1711610253004091876.post-52845365971654043162017-05-23T13:25:00.003-07:002017-05-23T13:25:57.875-07:00Unmasking the myths- Tory myth 1- Labour crashed the economy and it's only safe in our hands<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_qpd8GTL-o39DoxV58npO1ISW3xKdMb2D6M_9PrBHMzbZVLfyicabou887g7ffJKI28ur4Wl4uGanruOUtMJMv3ci8Yp2wDIzjCQzGvkmlzSaC7YvlOdaaOvcIIc96J-cYCS1No0W860/s1600/Mythical-Creature-Dragon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="261" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_qpd8GTL-o39DoxV58npO1ISW3xKdMb2D6M_9PrBHMzbZVLfyicabou887g7ffJKI28ur4Wl4uGanruOUtMJMv3ci8Yp2wDIzjCQzGvkmlzSaC7YvlOdaaOvcIIc96J-cYCS1No0W860/s400/Mythical-Creature-Dragon.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">One of the most successful political myths ever is that the previous Labour government's incompetence caused our economy to crash in 2008 . Typical Labour just couldn’t help themselves. They just spent and borrowed too much so that they “maxed out the credit card", leading to the credit crunch. This is what millions still believe. However, it’s simply untrue. A lie is a lie no matter how many people genuinely believe it. It was excessive private debt not public debt which caused the crash. As Sir Nicholas Macpherson, the chief civil servant in the Treasury said in 2015, Labour spending and borrowing had nothing to do with the cause of the crash. Instead “<i>The 2008 crisis was a banking crisis pure and simple. Excessive risk had built up in the system; the regulators had failed to appreciate the scale of the risk or address it</i>.”</span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMnwWvxvJEm5k5jVMDj-pWUJDP6JbfikSWyjFpVcL4gTZsN18tttt9rxJ_6wPFw4Km5b-RWLBvcZ7mlGjiISTJJ2g14yI3die7QVLgbQPrtiKd6idpjJ8rou5RpONsbXjK1Cu1XU0YadU/s1600/examine+the+evidence.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMnwWvxvJEm5k5jVMDj-pWUJDP6JbfikSWyjFpVcL4gTZsN18tttt9rxJ_6wPFw4Km5b-RWLBvcZ7mlGjiISTJJ2g14yI3die7QVLgbQPrtiKd6idpjJ8rou5RpONsbXjK1Cu1XU0YadU/s200/examine+the+evidence.jpg" width="200" /></a><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This article examines the actual evidence behind the economic reputations of Labour and Conservatives in government. This evidence would shock many, because the truth is so far from what most of us have been led to believe. For those without the time to read the whole article, I'll sum up here what the actual evidence shows:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<ul><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The economic crisis was caused by excessive risk-taking by (mainly) US banks. It had nothing at all to do with the Labour’s government borrowing. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The last Labour government might be criticised forfailing to regulate our banks more. However, at the time the Tories were calling for our banks to be regulated less!</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Labour did what had to be done to rescue our banks and save the country from economic disaster.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This inevitably increased our national debt (but still well below the debt spikes seen in the world wars).</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The country has always had a national debt since 1692 and it always will.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">However, the last Labour government, like all Labour government before it, borrowed<b style="text-indent: -18pt;"> less</b><span style="text-indent: -18pt;"> than Conservative ones, ran up fewer and smaller annual budget deficits and produced more surpluses.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18.4px; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="line-height: 18.4px; text-indent: -18pt;">Just before the crash in 2007 our national debt was at only 36% of our national income- less than the 40% national debt Labour inherited from the Tories in 1997 and below average debt levels of the last 300 years. The annual deficit was then at a tiny 0.6% of income and falling.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Labour governments on average, including the last one, have brought about more economic growth and better employment levels than conservative ones.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Seven years of Conservative-led government have seen our national income per head/productivity and wage growth all falling badly compared to most of our competitors.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The current Conservative manifesto in contrast to the Labour gives no costings for their spending plans and tax cuts and has no real economic plan to revitalize our stagnating economy. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The Conservatives current plans only confirms that as per their record in government that the Tories are actually the ones who cannot be trusted to manage the nation’s money and economy.</span></li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 18.4px;">The Economic Crash was caused by excessive risk-taking by US banks. It had nothing at all to do with UK government borrowing</span></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 18.4px;">If you want to understand what actually led to the economic crash, the banker’s bail out and the recession and austerity that followed I recommend watching the excellent film “<i>The Big Short</i>”. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 18.4px;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 18.4px;"><br /></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYZqo6UvY2tE86ASaHYMU2U3oRF0ktvrcYkDA7mO0sNKQobcVY0V8mOU6tHvrUF9ZbGQ48JdUwbOBunVkv39G8kjlanHK5A3T-4NqucRNrt9kETMkkZvzdXTv0tJAgfezNIPbW2tsM9L0/s1600/the+big+short.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="172" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYZqo6UvY2tE86ASaHYMU2U3oRF0ktvrcYkDA7mO0sNKQobcVY0V8mOU6tHvrUF9ZbGQ48JdUwbOBunVkv39G8kjlanHK5A3T-4NqucRNrt9kETMkkZvzdXTv0tJAgfezNIPbW2tsM9L0/s320/the+big+short.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> origins of the crash weren’t even in this country, but in the USA. It was all caused by casino-esque risk taking by bankers in the sub-prime mortgage fiasco. They lent too much mortgage money to individuals without the means to pay back. They then commoditising those transactions into bundles of loans which were bought and sold. Of course, given the international nature of financial services our own bankers got caught up in the risk. As we had the second largest financial services industry after the USA our banks were more exposed than most. Gordon Brown’s government had to act decisively to prevent our whole financial system falling apart and the untold suffering that would cause to millions of savers and borrowers. They had no option but to bail out the banks- an extremely costly endeavour. It was a huge financial disaster resulting from the banks’ excessive risk-taking that very few had detected and predicted, even within the banking industry (as the film illustrates). If there was any failure of government it was the failure to monitor and regulate more tightly financial services. That was primarily a failure of US government where the problem originated- and note that was a right wing Republican government under George Bush! How far Britain could have insulated itself by tighter regulation is debatable. However, what is not debatable is that the Conservatives would not have done any better. We know that because in 2007 at the very time when the crisis was about to hit rather than suggesting tighter regulation of our financial services they were demanding less regulation! Effectively they were calling for petrol to be poured on the flames of the fire! In a 2007 Conservative party report, endorsed by David Cameron- </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Freeing Britain to compete" </i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">said:</span></div>
<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3cooANHxrlYh6hEDT7Dii80An4OOlceXmDmpd5sYddGGUDUiofvNsH8kZwOcTSISRUoCtdGSQGaeBweXuhVhl5YE-acXymYDIJ-NPdyC_4D5avRz9LBC7VHUNJQOaXxnRKNNxP-vxHc0/s1600/david+cameron.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3cooANHxrlYh6hEDT7Dii80An4OOlceXmDmpd5sYddGGUDUiofvNsH8kZwOcTSISRUoCtdGSQGaeBweXuhVhl5YE-acXymYDIJ-NPdyC_4D5avRz9LBC7VHUNJQOaXxnRKNNxP-vxHc0/s320/david+cameron.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<i style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 18.4px;">“We recommend deregulating venture capital fund raising, and investment for professional investors………A Conservative government should relax banking regulation, allowing a new breed of venture/micro-credit institutions…………….</span></i></div>
</div>
<div style="background: white; border: none; padding: 0cm 15pt 0cm 0cm;">
<div style="border: none; line-height: 18.4px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; padding: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;">
<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18.4px;">We see no need to continue to regulate the provision of mortgage finance, as it is the lending institutions rather than the client taking the risk……</span><span style="line-height: 18.4px;">”<span style="font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;"><br /></span></i>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<b><i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;">The last Labour government (and the ones before it) borrowed<u> less</u> than Conservative one</span></i></b><br />
<b><i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;"><br /></span></i></b>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfSKiou54SK3NAJ-XfiRipiuRhzkC8xJcoPpT78RsofSoCNIkIUcInaXt2viO3NfyTHUUe9ClEG8kTqnbN0YkujaumYj6NZdJPIKRUP_IrXib5OA7NLlLzmvRkQ5m2P-RURg0K2_4iwFw/s1600/gordon-brown.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfSKiou54SK3NAJ-XfiRipiuRhzkC8xJcoPpT78RsofSoCNIkIUcInaXt2viO3NfyTHUUe9ClEG8kTqnbN0YkujaumYj6NZdJPIKRUP_IrXib5OA7NLlLzmvRkQ5m2P-RURg0K2_4iwFw/s320/gordon-brown.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b><i><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;">A</span></i></b><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;">nd so what about that Labour spending and borrowing? As hard as it may be to believe, the evidence from Treasury figures show that as a proportion of GDP, i.e. national income, during its 13 years the last Labour governments spent and borrowed <b>less </b>than Conservative governments in the previous 18 years. They also ran up fewer current account deficits and more surpluses. And this fiscal prudence wasn’t just unique to New Labour. Overall all Labour governments since the war on average have always borrowed less than Conservative governments and have always repaid debt more often than the Conservative ones. The picture is more mixed when it comes to public spending. Sometimes Conservative governments have spent a greater percentage of GDP and sometimes Labour governments have. However, overall Conservative governments have actually spent slightly more of our income. I know all of this is contrary to what most of us have grown up to believe, but any objective analysis of the facts shows this to be true.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 18.4px; margin: 0cm 0cm 18pt;">
<b><i><span style="color: #404040; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;"><br /></span></i></b><b><i><span style="color: #404040; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 15.3333px;">The National Debt</span></i></b></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 18.4px; margin: 0cm 0cm 18pt;">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFO-vLrocyJkOSMYArW27Z7CLqxkuapbIQEf8JrAyk8kGPs-cwLiHXT4KgbVLuIBucTMZ-8OioELOGlpDUAid3VIO2zgPNbKmiHGlLvz4iWiuR7pX_DDtDVKOcLXDF30QvkB5IY5IUVcE/s1600/public+debt+from+1692.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFO-vLrocyJkOSMYArW27Z7CLqxkuapbIQEf8JrAyk8kGPs-cwLiHXT4KgbVLuIBucTMZ-8OioELOGlpDUAid3VIO2zgPNbKmiHGlLvz4iWiuR7pX_DDtDVKOcLXDF30QvkB5IY5IUVcE/s320/public+debt+from+1692.png" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 18.4px; margin: 0cm 0cm 18pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Some people get very worried over the size of our national debt. They really shouldn’t! Above is a graph of the UK’s national debt since 1692. Do you notice anything? Over the past 300 years the country has <b>always</b> been in debt to the tune of at least 20% of our annual income- even when Britain was at the height of its empire. In fact, the empire was built on a funding of national debt. Mostly our national debt has been at or above 50% of our annual income. At real crisis times that debt has shot up to 150, 200 or even 250% of income- like during the Napoleonic wars (the first major peak above), the first and second world wars (the second and third big peaks). After those crisis peaks the debt has then gradually been brought down again, as can be more clearly seen from the graph below.</span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 18.4px; margin: 0cm 0cm 18pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">When people compare our national debt to a credit card it’s a completely false analogy. The best</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwLXKr3SZNh62gMibFjL5GFQtv9Vo5uEICAgdThgUBu8jstpGzxYQUDFubRSgcszjcKy6Ed0kZ81TbImgNcCIM6Lp_TASLAS7L9-Sc6t8-ySTcMA489eT75_6pXjxU-jyItn5xxGkLX_A/s1600/debt+since+1900.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="205" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwLXKr3SZNh62gMibFjL5GFQtv9Vo5uEICAgdThgUBu8jstpGzxYQUDFubRSgcszjcKy6Ed0kZ81TbImgNcCIM6Lp_TASLAS7L9-Sc6t8-ySTcMA489eT75_6pXjxU-jyItn5xxGkLX_A/s320/debt+since+1900.png" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">domestic analogy is a mortgage, but a mortgage to an immortal man. Even now our national debt is less than a year’s worth of our national income- at 89% or 0.9 times our annual income. Few of us would have concerns over paying a mortgage of a lot more than 0.9 x our annual income.Banks commonly lend up to 3 or 4 x a person’s annual income, i.e. 300 or 400%. The thing with a mortgage is that since individually we won’t live forever we do have to pay it off after 25 years. But countries aren’t people so they’re not expected to die. Therefore, it isn’t a problem that as a country we continue to carry a debt, as long as we can keep paying up the interest on the debt. The reality is that in modern times we have always had a national debt and we always will. No one has any intention to ever pay it off. It just isn’t the sort of thing you pay off. It’s public debt that keeps economies moving. It always has and it always will. (In fact the UK is not just a debtor it’s a global creditor to others and is actually owed rather more than it owes.).Of course, if we let the debt get too big that’s not a good thing as this will increase the interest payments on the debt and can cause a loss of confidence in the country’s ability to pay. However, we are a long way from that point. Many developed countries carry a rather higher national debt than we do. Currently Japan’s national debt is at 250% of GDP and the USA’s at 104%. In fact some of the countries with the lowest national debts are some of the poorest eg Afghanistan at 6.6% and Equitorial Guineau at 6.4%.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18.4px;"></span><span style="line-height: 18.4px;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 18.4px;"> In 2007 before the Global Financial Crisis our national debt was at a very moderate 36%- actually below its historic average of the last 300 years, and <b>less</b> than the 40% the Labour had inherited from the Tories. It is therefore simply untrue that Labour had built up an excessive debt before the crisis. And, as we’ve seen, that crisis had nothing to do with our national debt anyway. Of course, once the crisis happened the Labour government had no alternative but to pump into many billions to a rescue fund for our banks to prevent our economy sinking. That is why our national debt surged after the crisis, but it still reached nothing like the peaks following the world wars. Under Labour its post crisis peak in 2010 was about 60%. Under the Coalition/Tory governments however the debt has continued to rise and now stands at 89%. Unfortunately their ham-fisted austerity policies have proved to be self-defeating. It has put a break on economic growth and therefore held back our national income which should have helped us get the debt under control sooner.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 18.4px;"><br /></span><b><i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 18.4px;">The annual deficit</span></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The Tories also got us all very worried about “the deficit” and how Labour can’t be trusted with that either. In 2010 they pledged to eliminate the deficit by 2015, which they failed to. They then moved their goalposts and planned to get rid of it by 2020.. They’ve now admitted they will also fail to do that and have moved their goal posts a second time to 2025! So what is “the deficit”? The current bu dget deficit is the annual difference between the government’s day to day spending and its income (principally from tax receipts). This covers things like running our NHS, police, schools and paying pensions & benefits. It excludes investment in capital projects, e.g. new roads and new schools built. In 2017 the current budget deficit stands at approx. £14 billion. That is just under 1% of GDP and so in itself not a significant problem when the interest rates we must pay on any increase in debt are so low. George Osborne really shouldn’t have got so stressed about it! Overall it is better to keep the annual current deficit low or in a slight surplus, to avoid unnecessarily adding to the national debt . But can Labour be trusted to manage our deficit? What is their actual record in government like compared to the Tories? Well, have a look at the chart below.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 18.4px;"><br /></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjF1id6_lOerKKSocYullHCBJiaxagXuOZbWl5JPLQRfMEZtriofIYjkKuBrED0awTkBM5MNCpxIcma978rn0rw39WzeshMCR9RHJ-XGIgc2jIJ46ZEekuf5oK7qBBatufhZOgq6HxuPQE/s1600/deficit+since+the+war.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="205" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjF1id6_lOerKKSocYullHCBJiaxagXuOZbWl5JPLQRfMEZtriofIYjkKuBrED0awTkBM5MNCpxIcma978rn0rw39WzeshMCR9RHJ-XGIgc2jIJ46ZEekuf5oK7qBBatufhZOgq6HxuPQE/s320/deficit+since+the+war.png" width="320" /></span></a></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18.4px;"></span><span style="line-height: 18.4px;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 18.4px;">We can see that for 30 years after the war all governments- Labour and Conservative- ran current surpluses as they both strove to bring down the high national debt built up in war. It was the Labour governments of Attlee and Wilson who achieved highest surpluses at 6.3% (1950) and 7.6% (1970). The lowest surplus of 0.9% was under the MacMillan conservative government (1961)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 18.4px;">Then for 15 years (1975 to 1989) successive Labour and (mostly) Conservative governments ran fairly small deficits, the highest being at 2.2% under Mrs Thatcher’s Conservative government in 1981. Then in 1989 under Mrs Thatcher we briefly went into surplus again (at 1.9% of GDP). However, under John Major’s conservative governments we soon went into deficit again, particularly after the ERM crisis/recession. Under him the deficit peaked at 5.7% in 1994 before gradually declining. It was then the New Labour government that brought it into surplus in the late 90s/early 00s, maxing out at a 2.3% surplus in 2001. Labour then ran small deficits but at historically fairly low levels of less than 2%. By 2007 they had brought this down to about £10 billion- 0.6% of GDP (lower than currently at just under 1%).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Following the Global Financial Crisis of 2008 and the unavoidable bankers’ bailout the deficit temporarily ballooned again in 2009. In 2010 it peaking at 6.9% (£50 billion). Since then it has been gradually reduced to £14 billion/just under 1% of GDP. However, it is still higher than it was under New Labour before the Crisis.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 18.4px;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<b><i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 18.4px;">So can Labour be trusted to manage the nation’s money?Based on their record-yes!<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 18.4px;">Yes absolutely- based on the historic record. The overall record shows that, contrary to public misperception, Labour governments, including the last Labour governments, have actually borrowed less and run lower current account deficits and more surpluses than Conservative governments. Furthermore, before the bankers caused the GFC and recession public debt was at historically relatively low figures and we had an unremarkably modest and declining small current account deficit. The Labour party would actually have a very strong case for libel for being falsely accused of having been financially reckless so as to have caused or contributed to the crash. It is so very far from the truth that you have to say it’s not merely misleading spin but a bare-faced lie.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<h3 style="background: white; margin: 12pt 0cm 6pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><strong><i><span style="line-height: 18.4px;">The more important economic issues are employment and economic activity. Here too Labour have a better record</span></i></strong><i><span style="line-height: 18.4px;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></span></h3>
<div>
<strong><i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 18.4px;"><br /></span></i></strong></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQrxCIKQdc1xPG0lKAU4ekTFHUrfI4FvGTb_ua43sk5ja-R7M0enhOZrf9dbGPLP7PnpFmA_MPWCr-FBjoIIg480gTtWOOL72YqJpzXeS0zC6v1Q1NGDd0B1xlGwePOxrGRKn6CtjD0-M/s1600/employment.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="187" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQrxCIKQdc1xPG0lKAU4ekTFHUrfI4FvGTb_ua43sk5ja-R7M0enhOZrf9dbGPLP7PnpFmA_MPWCr-FBjoIIg480gTtWOOL72YqJpzXeS0zC6v1Q1NGDd0B1xlGwePOxrGRKn6CtjD0-M/s320/employment.png" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 18.4px;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 18.4px;">Whilst Labour’s record on managing the nation’s debt is actually better than the Conservative, there are in fact rather more important indications of economic performance. As the great economist Maynard Keynes said, it’s the state of employment and the growth or decline in national income (economic growth) that really matter. Look after employment and improve national income and the budget should look after itself.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18.4px;">During the last labour governments up to the Crisis the UK enjoyed a period of 10 years of steady economic growth-</span><span style="line-height: 18.4px;"> the longest uninterrupted period of growth in 200 years.</span><span style="line-height: 18.4px;"> The UK’s growth of GDP per capita – 1.42% a year between 1997 and 2010 – was better than in any of the other “G6” countries: Germany (1.26%), the US (1.22%), France (1.04%), Japan (0.52%) and Italy (0.22%). </span><span style="line-height: 18.4px;"> <em><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Under New Labour</span></em></span><span style="line-height: 18.4px;"> UK’s strong productivity performance relative to other countries was a continuation of the trends during the period of Conservative governments from 1979. By 2007, the UK still lagged behind the US , but the gap had closed to 33%. In fact, the UK had a faster catch-up of GDP per head with the US under Labour than under the Conservatives.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 18.4px;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 18.4px;">Since 2010 our GDP per head (the only way to sensibly measure real income) has flatlined or fallen below most of our competitors and relative to them. Our economic productivity has plummeted, well below the likes of France and Germany. In terms of their economic output average French and German workers do more in four days than we do in five. Incredibly, despite her anti-immigration rhetoric, the only thing that stops our gross GDP from looking too bad is our net immigration. Immigrant workers have usually been more productive and their numbers have increased the population so that our gross total income has increased even as our income per head has fallen in real terms. Their numbers make the fact that our economic growth has flatlined and productivity fallen (see eg Angry Voice “<i>How The Tories used mass migration to fake a recovery</i>”)<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In depth research by the likes of the London School of Economics has found that many of the last <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Labour governments’ policies were beneficial for economic growth, and that this growth was not all an unsustainable ‘bubble’, (as some suggest) but was based on some real productivity increases fed by growth in new skills and technology. Where they did fall down is where the Tories (according to their</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-style: normal;"> own</span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"> stated policies) would have done </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-style: normal;">even worse-</span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"> financial regulation.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="line-height: 18.4px;"><em><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></em></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18.4px;">As for unemployment, </span><span style="line-height: 18.4px;">since 1970, the best average annual unemployment rate was achieved by the Heath Conservative government of 1970/4 with 3.4%, and by far the worst under the 1979/97 Conservative governments, with an average annual rate of 9.3%, and exceeding 10% for 6 full years. The 1974/9 Labour government had an average rate of 4.9%, and the 1997-2010 government 5.6%. The 2010-15 Coalition government’s average rate was 7.6%. Overall, therefore Labour governments have had a better record on employment than Conservative governments.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18.4px;">However, when considering the state of employment today we need to look not just at the number of unemployed/employed but the nature of that employment and what it pays. Since 2010 especially we are now in an age of casualised, fragmented and often partial employment.</span><span style="line-height: 18.4px;"> Of course earnings took a a hammering following the crash, but under Conservative led governments since 2010 in real terms they have continued to fall.</span><span style="line-height: 18.4px;"> We have s</span><span style="line-height: 18.4px;">een real wages decline by about 8</span><span style="line-height: 18.4px;">% in real terms<b> since</b></span><span style="line-height: 18.4px;"> the crisis, briefly</span><span style="line-height: 18.4px;"> mending and now in fact declining again</span><span style="line-height: 18.4px;">. This contrasts with most of our competitors who have actually turned things around to produce real wage growth.</span><span style="line-height: 18.4px;"> Between 2007 and 2015 our UK wage growth declined by 10% in real terms, putting us right at the bottom of the league for pay growth of developed nations, equal with Greece. On average OECD countries experienced wage growth of 6.7%, with Germany 14% and France at 11%.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 18.4px;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<b><i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 18.4px;">The Future- an economic plan to revitalize the economy- Labour have one. The Tories don’t<o:p></o:p></span></i></b><br />
<b><i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 18.4px;"><br /></span></i></b>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLhzJ7pMVjNJxoSoqmxb5a2rCvjuv0EszXSU0s-ldpnNRMGe5rP-6oFygF_dSqf1KY2oJoqBywxVbWYUrKCzb90DCDO4yuX2rEwlJej0oNNyzFBXSAulPLqo3pYRFYVPD7R9H2nHHnOxs/s1600/keep+calm+and+plan+for+the+future.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLhzJ7pMVjNJxoSoqmxb5a2rCvjuv0EszXSU0s-ldpnNRMGe5rP-6oFygF_dSqf1KY2oJoqBywxVbWYUrKCzb90DCDO4yuX2rEwlJej0oNNyzFBXSAulPLqo3pYRFYVPD7R9H2nHHnOxs/s320/keep+calm+and+plan+for+the+future.jpg" width="274" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Interest rates are currently at a historic low point. Meanwhile the country’s infrastructure is crying out for investment and our economic growth is flatling. At such a time it makes far more economic sense to increase the debt to invest The economic growth resulting from such investment potentially should earn us a lot more than the extra interest we will pay. (This after all was how Britain grew its empire). This is why most economists welcome Labour’s £250 billion national transformation fund. And if we get the bad Brexit deal many fear such an economic shot in the arm will be essential to prevent a severe economic recession. The Conservatives present no such plan in their own manifesto.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 18.4px;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<b><i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 18.4px;"><br /></span></i></b><b><i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 18.4px;"><br /></span></i></b><br />
<b><i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 18.4px;">Conclusion- it’s the Tories not Labour who can’t be trusted with our economy</span></i></b><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The myth is that Labour are financially reckless, overspent beyond our means which led to the 2008 crash and the austerity and low wage economy we are all suffering from. Meanwhile only the Conservatives know how to manage prudently the nations’ finances to bring about the economic growth that will benefit us all. The truth is very different. As the above analysis shows, Labour governments, including the New Labour governments, have actually more carefully managed the nation’s finances than Conservative governments, borrowing less than them. Recent labour governments have also overall achieved better real economic growth and employment rates than recent Conservative governments. The Global Financial Crisis which led to recession and increased national debt was not in any way caused by the Labour government’s management of the nations’ money. If there was any fault by them it was in failing to more tightly regulate our banks. However, the Conservatives would only have regulated them less!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; text-align: center;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; text-align: center;">The austerity economics of the recent Conservative governments have been largely self-defeating and have not helped prevent our national debt rising further. They have led to the Conservatives twice failing their own targets for wiping out the annual budget deficit. Their approach initially took the economy into recession and then led to only weak growth and the longest period of decline in real wages for over 50 years.</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVe8J-us8377iA4bBQlIGVD1jKcNtB86IT9UUuub1nDWRiwdt0N5_SVUibqc4YIdL03830BzSj_xwWhCMaOCIdXIkMcyupJqZGqcM2lcD9SVIu8Cz6498vJXmVpy1j3Mm7yQO9Hef-kC0/s1600/George+Osborne.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="161" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVe8J-us8377iA4bBQlIGVD1jKcNtB86IT9UUuub1nDWRiwdt0N5_SVUibqc4YIdL03830BzSj_xwWhCMaOCIdXIkMcyupJqZGqcM2lcD9SVIu8Cz6498vJXmVpy1j3Mm7yQO9Hef-kC0/s200/George+Osborne.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The reality is the Conservatives’ reputation for economic competence is completely unjustified. And their current manifesto certainly does nothing to change that:</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="text-indent: -18pt;">
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18.4px; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="line-height: 18.4px; text-indent: -18pt;">Unlike Labour they give no detailed costings to explain how they would pay for any of their manifesto spending and tax cutting commitment. This of course is just what you’d expect from a Conservative party which has always been<b> less</b> careful with our money than Labour</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> Most economists agree that their stated approach to Brexit if followed would be economically disastrous as there will be no free trade deal without accepting freedom of movement which they have made their red line.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> Most economists also agree that their stated approach to immigration to bring it down to 10,000s would be similarly economically disastrous as national demographics mean we need net migration of at least 200,000 for the foreseeable future.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> Unlike Labour they have no plan to reinvest and revitalize our economy which it will badly need after Brexit.</span></li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr6Lon_LArEfTRWcQ6Pw52jgVWQg3hflU1LesGjyBi_Bc9YdRZAKttrPT0yexQk6Sa3WrmCqelow_t1tgke0LakOjM2WB1n22xRoI79w0Q0XOpUm3BDRQiqpNs9DUnn-fXDMUCwOYH9UM/s1600/John+McDonnell.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="149" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr6Lon_LArEfTRWcQ6Pw52jgVWQg3hflU1LesGjyBi_Bc9YdRZAKttrPT0yexQk6Sa3WrmCqelow_t1tgke0LakOjM2WB1n22xRoI79w0Q0XOpUm3BDRQiqpNs9DUnn-fXDMUCwOYH9UM/s200/John+McDonnell.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhclfONgBJzxxG2iBrwr-fJEkaB4nIpWzpX2wZNYQyqth7TXD5z0WwPLwECgA7-3WQ1ejYRaKxpAXWqRYpx2mn6o-Epv9J_CK4HSTUlMf3eZbCSAFpW8BiiiGdsQNT_93bY89MZ6ZJ5nYk/s1600/may+and+hammond.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="126" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhclfONgBJzxxG2iBrwr-fJEkaB4nIpWzpX2wZNYQyqth7TXD5z0WwPLwECgA7-3WQ1ejYRaKxpAXWqRYpx2mn6o-Epv9J_CK4HSTUlMf3eZbCSAFpW8BiiiGdsQNT_93bY89MZ6ZJ5nYk/s200/may+and+hammond.jpg" width="200" /></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 18.4px;"><br /></span></i><i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 18.4px;"><br /></span></i><i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 18.4px;"><br /></span></i><i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 18.4px;"><br /></span></i><i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 18.4px;"><br /></span></i><i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 18.4px;"><br /></span></i><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18.4px;"><br /></span></i><br />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18.4px;"><br /></span></i><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18.4px;"><br /></span></i><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18.4px;">F</span></i><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18.4px;">or further details of the research behind the above analys</span></i><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18.4px;">is see e.g. LSE’s “Labour’s Social Policy Record: Policy, Spending and Outcomes 1997-2010”, Tax Research UK website e.g. the article “The Conservatives Have been the biggest borrowers after the last 70 years” and <a href="http://www.ukpublicspending.co.uk/"><span style="font-style: normal;">w</span><span style="font-style: normal; line-height: 18.4px;">ww.ukpublicspending.co.uk</span></a></span><span style="line-height: 18.4px;">, Global Future Report on UK immigration needs Feb 2017 and "Angry Voice". </span></i>Jeremy Hortonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14040288077436997446noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1711610253004091876.post-69875621925234894682017-05-23T13:21:00.005-07:002017-05-23T13:21:48.451-07:00Unmasking the myths- the three big Tory myths<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizwFSlCqE4T9cgxIKvMk-FvM-VEtY-fTsxERjanmLs5BQJLFHF65VmgUWQiSxeIX65Qna-dhZIuoz7f5BYWZbr6Vx__fCRYSo_Fuubm7MvlLyr-WpieEtqzG1HK0P0JHxnXEWALTnKAmo/s1600/Three+headed+beast.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizwFSlCqE4T9cgxIKvMk-FvM-VEtY-fTsxERjanmLs5BQJLFHF65VmgUWQiSxeIX65Qna-dhZIuoz7f5BYWZbr6Vx__fCRYSo_Fuubm7MvlLyr-WpieEtqzG1HK0P0JHxnXEWALTnKAmo/s400/Three+headed+beast.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
You could be forgiven for thinking that the Conservative party were not taking part in this election. Just as the recent French election spawned Emmanuel Macron' s En Marche, our election has witnessed the birth of Theresa and her team who seem to have replaced the Conservatives. But, of course, beneath the clever marketing spin it is the same Conservative party following the same type of policies and values of the last 40 years. (A very different animal to the one that preceded it for 30 years before that.).</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1E67SXbYuTBpm5mc3GxT9YnJbJ9nFVMOaDTKqIythyphenhyphen9-46yNSpIH-HXe1NKB6NaCYB83Ra7b12B-bQ3ERhFxco-meRgLAL9P3Y36dV38bs3T55js6NrkWORc20uG5jn6F4Dips12UBTo/s1600/Theresa+country+that+works+for+everyone.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="129" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1E67SXbYuTBpm5mc3GxT9YnJbJ9nFVMOaDTKqIythyphenhyphen9-46yNSpIH-HXe1NKB6NaCYB83Ra7b12B-bQ3ERhFxco-meRgLAL9P3Y36dV38bs3T55js6NrkWORc20uG5jn6F4Dips12UBTo/s200/Theresa+country+that+works+for+everyone.png" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYKj1rcSkEnvXd-rRrokkOErRC4i26EON4KfdqN54LKW2mudqV9uLydyL3xGms38tLrzddYGPgp21c2VCGVNkZOEToZflL7wYenU2aH1OP2pysvSVMFKsiVQpbXQ-EiqkQnHpt_PS92TI/s1600/David-Cameron+spoon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="132" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYKj1rcSkEnvXd-rRrokkOErRC4i26EON4KfdqN54LKW2mudqV9uLydyL3xGms38tLrzddYGPgp21c2VCGVNkZOEToZflL7wYenU2aH1OP2pysvSVMFKsiVQpbXQ-EiqkQnHpt_PS92TI/s200/David-Cameron+spoon.jpg" width="200" /></a><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqHOGw8s7qlUW_3cYWvrdRuRPmrbYHHTYxxEnaksF1tK1n4dwVOnfEbUCJgjpz4VeRuEmtTmmssToWDP4rMfOrN3ZZAEhw1ZEWEqveTiLFxJqiKKyHffLHWt4P9ZwVnAHSk7jgOGSNpi4/s1600/Margaret-Thatcher1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="125" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqHOGw8s7qlUW_3cYWvrdRuRPmrbYHHTYxxEnaksF1tK1n4dwVOnfEbUCJgjpz4VeRuEmtTmmssToWDP4rMfOrN3ZZAEhw1ZEWEqveTiLFxJqiKKyHffLHWt4P9ZwVnAHSk7jgOGSNpi4/s200/Margaret-Thatcher1.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
There are many good and intelligent people who habitually vote Conservative, many of whom also share my Christian faith. Some of them, just like many habitual Labour voters, won’t have given much thought to this political allegiance. For some it's an almost tribal thing, something inherited from your family perhaps; a bit like which football team you support. You're either a red or a blue (unless you're one of those odd ball yellows, greens or purples!). However, for those who have given it any thought I would suggest that the reason why they are a habitual Conservative voter is probably that they have bought into one or more of three key big ideas:</div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
• that only the Conservatives are economically competent to run the country and Labour are financially reckless (“Labour crashed the economy")<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
• the merits of free enterprise and self-reliance with the minimum of state interference (“the right to buy”);<br />
• the need to stop the freeloaders and benefit cheats trying to get something for nothing and who are ripping us all off (“stopping the scroungers")<br />
<br />
I will suggest that an examination of the evidence of the last nearly 40 years shows there is very little basis in fact for these ideas. They are basically myths. Many of these myths are now so embedded in popular thinking that they are very difficult to dislodge. However, myths are still myths no matter how many people may believe them. And these myths need unmasking so that the truth is exposed.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
I will expose each of these three myths in turn in my next blogs.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0px; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">
<i>There are other big ideas/myths like the Conservatives being the true defenders of the realm, bringing law and order or sticking up for traditional “Christian” moral values. However, I believe these ideas generally hold rather less sway. (Their supposed reputation for controlling immigration is subsumed within the Brexit issues addressed in my previous article). </i></div>
Jeremy Hortonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14040288077436997446noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1711610253004091876.post-17411840115115960702017-05-23T13:07:00.002-07:002017-05-23T13:07:19.829-07:00Unmasking the myths- the three big Brexit myths- immigration, control of our laws and better off alone<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimGCzIRruQsf2C6aci-KLbMUeWm4oSlOCUgoub3yOgDEWStNjiBc2IEyqZp7JFY7exnSlkTHtdUTQ77UKNyvIYa3raMtzj_4F_e1TKDI9btAyUc-T6EqaVqsqcQgh2oLFEhnpE3CSUZfQ/s1600/Theresa+Britannia.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimGCzIRruQsf2C6aci-KLbMUeWm4oSlOCUgoub3yOgDEWStNjiBc2IEyqZp7JFY7exnSlkTHtdUTQ77UKNyvIYa3raMtzj_4F_e1TKDI9btAyUc-T6EqaVqsqcQgh2oLFEhnpE3CSUZfQ/s400/Theresa+Britannia.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">If you believe our Prime Minister Brexit is what this election is all about: to give the country the strongest possible leader with the strongest possible backing so that they can secure the best possible Brexit deal for the country.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Theresa May had been a lifelong supporter of the EU. Like her mentor Margaret Thatcher she was a strong advocate of the economic benefits of being part of the Eu’s single market. However, all that changed a year ago. Immediately following the referendum, she appears to have had a dramatic conversion to become a born again Brexiteer. Since that epiphany, the cornerstone of Theresa May’s Brexit vision has not been the economic benefits of free trade with Europe but to ensure “we” have complete control over immigration and over our laws. Sure, she wants the best trade deal she can get with Europe but if the price of control means the loss of free trade that’s a price she is happy to pay; whatever economic damage it causes, apparently. Yet the clear implication of her message is that wrapped in her union jack under her “strong and stable leadership” her “red white and blue” Brexit will deliver it all. Not only will she bring us full control over our borders and laws but we can have a great trade deal with the EU too without having to be shackled to the single market. It’s Boris Johnson’s “we can have our cake and eat it.” </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 14.2667px;">In this article I will explain why, I’m afraid, the vision of Brexit she paints is one huge deception, designed simply to get her elected with the biggest possible majority. It is a deception built on three big myths. Each of those myths plays very directly to the gallery of popular opinion and prejudice:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="text-indent: -18pt;">
</div>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 14.2667px; text-indent: -18pt;">The need to reduce net immigration below 100,000 a year</span></li>
<li> The need to take back control of most of our laws from the EU</li>
<li> <span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 14.2667px; text-indent: -18pt;">That we will be economically better off alone</span></li>
</ul>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">However, as I will explain, all the evidence points</span><i style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">to very different results for Theresa May’s proposed path to Brexit:</span><br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="text-indent: -18pt;">
</div>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 14.2667px; text-indent: -18pt;">Only a modest reduction in net immigration</span></li>
<li> A likely <b style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; text-indent: -18pt;">reduction</b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; text-indent: -18pt;"> in democratic control of our laws</span></li>
<li> No free trade with the EU and resulting serious economic damage (which cannot be offset by free trade deals elsewhere).</li>
</ul>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">This will be rather more like Boris Johnson’s “</span><i style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Titanic </i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">success” of a Brexit.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><br /></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHjoWmJcMTZL6Ut4qyY6uaRHUmgXOTdBd8MtFU540IoG8vyP7Z42ssSvz_YzncYUicib1PSs0ylgz0dvYKb5KAEoowCoylaK55txDxgWUSL8sGIdh7P9-0BBLPzOtscbCFxJzBfJ7eXD4/s1600/Titanic+success.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHjoWmJcMTZL6Ut4qyY6uaRHUmgXOTdBd8MtFU540IoG8vyP7Z42ssSvz_YzncYUicib1PSs0ylgz0dvYKb5KAEoowCoylaK55txDxgWUSL8sGIdh7P9-0BBLPzOtscbCFxJzBfJ7eXD4/s320/Titanic+success.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Anyone who knows anything about how the EU works will tell you that Boris Johnson’s “we can have our cake and eat it” Brexit is just a deluded fantasy. (Just ask the Greeks!). This has just been spelt out to us by the leaders of the EU itself and the leader of the two most powerful leaders of European nations- Germany and France.</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 14.2667px;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 14.2667px;"> In basic terms, there are really only two types of Brexit on the menu. There's hard boiled; outside the EU single free trade market and customs union but with complete control of EU immigration and our own laws. Then there’s soft boiled; still in the single free trade market and the customs union (or a deal that amounts to about the same thing) but accepting free movement to/from EU and EU laws governing the market. Though they may try to dress it up a bit differently the government is basically going for the hard Brexit and Labour the soft Brexit. (And the Lib Dems would like no Brexit at all).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 14.2667px;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 14.2667px;">A large swathe of “working class voters” in the North and Midlands, traditionally more typical Labour supporters, voted Leave in the Referendum. They did so because they were deceived by one or more of the big Brexit myths. Those same voters are now overwhelmingly intending to vote Tory because they believe only the Tories’ born again Brexiteer leader Theresa May can be trusted to deliver the proper Brexit they voted for i.e. a pure, hard Brexit. Therefore, the same myths that deceived them into voting Leave are now alive and well in this election. As the Prime Minister knows only too well it is those Brexit myths coupled with the “strong and stable” leader myth that will potentially deliver her the keys to no. 10.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 14.2667px;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 14.2667px;">If you want to understand why I am convinced the reasons for Theresa May’s Brexit plans are just myths then please read on. Note, like all myths there is a superficial basis of truth to them, but scratch beneath the surface and you’ll find there’s no substance to them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 14.2667px;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><u><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 14.2667px;">Brexit Myth 1- Controlling our Borders- <i>The Evils of Immigration</i></span></u></b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 14.2667px;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<b><u><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 14.2667px;"><i><br /></i></span></u></b><b><u><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 14.2667px;"><i><br /></i></span></u></b><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHhpq0KGwn5f5wZhmArR5nUv5IchhKGHEUSB1xur7xjaTKUmxJD578WXq1xRdJgdyjR7c9DOj0pqC_7H1-ZNoCSpauZHbzLzmudrvgKH4RLVYEFBOlwT1ojqrYfL4J2Kk-XBKcZPYnAiE/s1600/breaking+point.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHhpq0KGwn5f5wZhmArR5nUv5IchhKGHEUSB1xur7xjaTKUmxJD578WXq1xRdJgdyjR7c9DOj0pqC_7H1-ZNoCSpauZHbzLzmudrvgKH4RLVYEFBOlwT1ojqrYfL4J2Kk-XBKcZPYnAiE/s1600/breaking+point.jpg" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">This is a classic case of adding 2 and 2 and making 5. People see more migrants and at the same time see serious economic and social problems of failing public services, unaffordable housing and low wages (while the “rich” just get even richer). They assume there must be link between their problems and the increased immigration.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Brendan Cox, the widower of the tragically murdered MP Jo Cox said this government's migration policy is "<i>a masterclass in how to get the crisis wrong; set an unrealistic target </i>[keep immigration below 100,000]<i>, miss it, report on it quarterly and in doing so show a complete lack of control heightening concern and fanning the flames of resentment." </i>At the same time government policies of austerity and underfunding of public services have exacerbated the problems that caused the concerns over immigration in the first place.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">The alleged cost and burden of immigration on the face of it is a strong argument for leaving the single market. In 2015 net immigration into the UK was 1/3<sup>rd</sup> of a million. 20 years ago it was well below 100,000 a year. It is argued that the current high levels of immigration place a huge demand on our already overstretched NHS, education system and housing stock. It is also argued that such high numbers of immigrants competing with us for jobs creates unemployment and depresses wages, particularly for the poorest. Because of the EU’s free movement rules the government has had no control whatsoever over immigration from the EU and therefore effectively cannot control immigration overall or plan for its demands.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">But is EU immigration actually a burden on the UK?</span></b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">EU immigrants through their taxes actually put more into the UK government coffers than they take out in terms of benefits they receive or services they use- by £2.5 billion a year</span></b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">. This is because most EU migrants are younger and fitter than the average UK citizen and nearly all just come here to work. Most also come to the UK already trained and geared up for work. This saves the UK billions in education and training, especially in specialist fields like medicine, science and engineering. At the lower end, EU migrants also come prepared to do essential jobs that UK citizens are often reluctant to do, such as care workers or farm labourers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<b><i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><br /></span></i></b><b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">EU immigrants actually place <u>less</u> demand on NHS and social services than the rest of us<i> </i></span></b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">because they are younger and fitter than the average UK citizen. You are far more likely to find EU immigrants caring for you or your family in hospitals and care homes than being cared for. Although they make up 4.7% of the UK population they account for 5% or our nurses, 10% of our doctors (already trained of course) and about 13% of our care workers. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><br /> EU immigrants do increase the burdens are in our schools and housing<b><i> </i></b>(although<b><i> </i></b>they actually take up 3% <b>less</b> social housing per person than the average UK citizen). However, <b>the question must be asked since the government is £2.5 billion a year better off from the taxes of EU immigrants why is it not re-investing that revenue to increase expenditure on schools and public housing in areas bearing the immigration burden<i>?</i></b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">EU immigration does not create unemployment or reduce wages</span></b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">In 2003, just before the start of significant EU immigration our unemployment rate was 5% and the numbers in work 28 million. In 2015, our unemployment rate was still at 5% and numbers in work had increased to 31.5 million.<b><i> </i></b> EU immigration has very slightly depressed wages for the lower paid but only by the equivalent of 1p per hour<b>! <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Leaving the EU single market is unlikely to stop high immigration levels</span></b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Leaving the EU’s free movement zone would probably reduce net immigration, but probably not by very much. Immigration to the UK would still almost certainly remain relatively high because:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 14pt 0cm 0cm 36pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">1.<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Even now, most of our immigration comes from <u>outside</u> the EU.</span></b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> <b>We could control and reduce this in theory but the government chooses not to</b>, mainly because these immigrants are needed to do jobs here. The pledge to reduce net immigration to below 100,000 which Theresa May has repeated for a third election in a row is therefore just pure populist propaganda. Don’t forget that until she became Prime Minister Theresa May was Home Secretary for six years - the senior Minister responsible for immigration. She couldn’t have done much about EU immigration, but she had plenty of power to reduce immigration from elsewhere, i.e. most of it, but chose not to. This exposes her immigration pledge as a bare faced lie, yet for a third election in a row many people are falling for it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0cm 36pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">2.<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">We have an ageing native population and a reducing native workforce to sustain them. <b>We need a significant supply of labour from overseas to help care for our elderly and do other jobs which not enough of the natural population want to do</b> (e.g. farm labourers or care workers) or have enough right skills to do (eg certain scientific/engineering jobs). If we have less immigrants coming from the EU we will probably only end up replacing them with immigrants from elsewhere.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0cm 36pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">3.<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><b>The end of free movement would be a two-way street.<i> </i>1.2 million Britons currently live in the EU. </b>Our exit from the EU single market potentially means many of them returning here if they lose their own benefits of free movement and equal benefits. Many are going to be economically quite inactive and likely to be heavier consumers of health and care services.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 14pt 36pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">4.<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">There is likely to be a significant <b>increase in illegal immigration</b>. The new French President Macron has already warned us that once we leave the EU and its single market France are very unlikely to maintain our policed border in Calais. Instead we will likely end up with refugee camps in Dover.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">EU immigration levels are likely to fall even if we remain in the single market. </span></b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Overall net annual immigration has already fallen by 60,000 between 2015 and 2016. Immigration from the original Eastern members spiked after they initially joined joined but then levelled out. The same is likely to be true of the more recent joiners.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">If we leave the single market immigration from countries outside Europe will inevitably increase. It may even offset reduced immigration from within Europe. </span></b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">There are two obvious reasons for this. First, if we lose free trade access to the EU the aim is to do lots of ambitious trade deals outside Europe with countries like India. These countries have already told us that the price of freer trade will be freer movement of their citizens to the UK (Does that sound familiar at all?) Second, there will be an economic need to recruit immigrants from somewhere to do jobs that UK citizens can’t or won’t do. This is why in their more honest moments even hard Brexit ministers like our Foreign Secretary have admitted that immigration is unlikely to fall significantly when we leave the single market.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<b><u><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Brexit Myth 2- taking back democratic control of our own laws<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX8Fj_dbmH8d76hF_UoKLvhR_bZ4QiTrqkW6hur7sH46AAluf00Ppu1a2989mfgzQTk7lKBgtHTWWHylw7vjGNVG9LioG_QxwXaAsKLAWcS6d1wQhPDHPudODJkCsX3-ietI4vTxVwJpQ/s1600/control+our+laws.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="162" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX8Fj_dbmH8d76hF_UoKLvhR_bZ4QiTrqkW6hur7sH46AAluf00Ppu1a2989mfgzQTk7lKBgtHTWWHylw7vjGNVG9LioG_QxwXaAsKLAWcS6d1wQhPDHPudODJkCsX3-ietI4vTxVwJpQ/s320/control+our+laws.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">It is argued that if we remained in the single market un-elected officials of the EU would still undemocratically impose oppressive laws on the UK, tying us up in its sticky red tape. How can we ensure our laws are just and appropriate for us when 75% of our laws are imposed by the EU? But these arguments do not stand up to the evidence.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0cm 36pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">●<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Even as a full EU member the vast majority of our laws are made here in the UK and not by the EU. About 15 to 50% of our laws have been partly influenced by EU law, but <b>only about 13% of our laws are substantively European in origin</b>. However, not all laws are equal in their impact on our everyday lives. Much of the EU’s laws are very specific in regulating terms of trade in a myriad of different industries and have no real impact on the wider public.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0cm 36pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">●<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Of those EU laws that have a wider impact many of them are actually beneficial and make life better and fairer</span></b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">, often protecting ordinary folk from injustice and exploitation by the rich and powerful. Indeed, our Supreme Court have just forced our government to comply with EU law by taking action to reduce our air pollution which annually causes about 40,000 deaths. (Note by the way decisions of the European Court of Human Rights, eg over prisoner’s voting rights, have nothing at all to do with the EU).</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0cm 36pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">●<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> <b>Virtually all the unjust laws imposed on us in reality come not from the EU but our own UK government.</b> The EU has no or virtually no power over most areas of law making that effect our everyday lives (as long as we treat EU nationals equally). And once we are outside the EU it will have even less power even if we remained in the single market. Our health service. Our education system. Our welfare state. Our housing policy. Our taxation policy (save for VAT). Our armed forces and when and whether we go to war. When I think of all the unjust laws and government decisions that have made me most angry in recent years I cannot find any that came from the EU. The bedroom tax, the illegal invasion of Iraq, reducing welfare benefits for the working (and non-working) poor, the selling off of control of our public services to private companies, reducing taxes on the rich and increasing them on the poor, reductions in access to justice. These laws were all made here in the UK.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0cm 36pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">●<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">In employment law the EU provide foundational underpinnings which our own government cannot remove even if it wanted to.</span></b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> These include minimum paid holiday and maternity/paternity leave, rights of agency workers and maximum working hours.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0cm 36pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">●<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">If we left the single market those trading with the EU are likely to be tied up in more not less red tape</span></b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> because there are more not less hoops and hurdles for anyone importing or exporting from outside the single market.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0cm 36pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">●<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Shut out from the free trading single market the government would be desperate to do whatever free trade treaties it can with non-European countries. <b>A hard Brexit is likely to mean opening up our public services like the NHS even more open to foreign companies taking over our public services. </b>(This is potentially what would have happened with the TITP US/EU deal until European opposition killed it off). It will be impossible for our government to say no without breaching the treaty and the resulting damage to our trade.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0cm 36pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">●<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Add to this <b>the Great Reform Bill</b> about to go through Parliament. This <b>will give government ministers Henry VIII type powers to decide which bits of European law to keep or throw away without any Parliamentary scrutiny whatsoever</b>. This can only lead to a net loss rather than gain to our democracy<b>.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><u><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 14.2667px;">Brexit Myth 3- Better Off On Our Own<o:p></o:p></span></u></b><br />
<b><u><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 14.2667px;"><br /></span></u></b>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheBpqo3pMHRUYgmO6klffFO3dqfHJxO4qPjol_jz3KOcj4843d3xoHRB5kY1tyDCftBWxZC7lG4iB8FVOyV-s-7M2CLRg-NiK0ZJP8zEXY-TZI8Tev3rPAMsiA43DhFQV36lIlFsV-ST8/s1600/better+off+out.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheBpqo3pMHRUYgmO6klffFO3dqfHJxO4qPjol_jz3KOcj4843d3xoHRB5kY1tyDCftBWxZC7lG4iB8FVOyV-s-7M2CLRg-NiK0ZJP8zEXY-TZI8Tev3rPAMsiA43DhFQV36lIlFsV-ST8/s320/better+off+out.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Cost of contribution to the EU</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">The true cost of our contribution to the EU is not the “£350 million a week” claimed on those red buses last year. It’s about <b>£100 million a week</b>.<b><i> </i></b>That’s still a significant sum. However, it is tiny compared to other annual items of government expenditure; about 0.3%. If we remained within the single market when we left the EU we would probably pay something close to this (as do countries like Norway pro rata).The real question is whether we would get value for money for our annual fee? I would suggest <b>if we leave the single market we will likely lose a lot more than we save in membership fees.<i></i></b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Cost/benefit from international trade in or out of the single market</span></b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_gjdgxs"></a><b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">The EU gives us free access without trade tariffs to the biggest single market in the world of over 500 million people. It is the only market right on our doorstep and 44% of our current trade is with the EU.<i> </i></span></b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">3 million UK jobs are directly linked to it and many more jobs are indirectly supported by those jobs. Money coming into the UK through trade with the EU circulates around the economy like oxygen carried in our blood. Car manufacturers from outside of the EU single market typically pay tariffs of at least 10% to export to the EU. The profit margins on cars made in the UK are also currently about 10%. Therefore, exiting the single market is likely to make selling our cars to Europe unprofitable overnight. That’s even before we consider the huge problems for car manufacturers if we leave the Customs Union, because of how cars are made these days in Europe; by multiple quick seamless transfers of parts between different countries. This cannot happen if we leave the Customs Union. An exit from both the single market and customs union would therefore likely mean the virtual end of the British car industry and the loss of many thousands of jobs. Hence the apparently surprising support of Jeremy Clarkson for remaining in the EU!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Membership of this single market also affects the price we pay for goods and services we buy from Europe. <b>Every single serious economic organisation who has looked into has advised that if we leave the single market and customs union the negative effects on international trade would make our government and most of us significantly worse off than if we remained.</b> The list of the organisations giving these warnings is lengthy and impressive including;<b><i> </i></b>the London School of Economics, the National Institute for Economic and Social Research, the Bank of England, the Institute of Fiscal Studies, the OECD and the International Monetary Fund. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">90% of economists </span></b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">who have analysed the data and projected the likely outcomes<b> have come to the same conclusion. The outcome of a hard Brexit will be either fairly or very bad for our national and individual incomes.</b> This is expected to result in an eventual overall fall in the income the UK generates each (Gross Domestic Product) of £26 to £55 billion a year<b> due to a combination of factors resulting from leaving the EU single market; increased costs of imports, big reductions in foreign direct investment, reduced productivity and reduced exports.</b> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><br />As a knock-on effect <b>the IFS also estimates that the UK government itself will lose tax revenues of £20 to £40 billion every year, </b>likely to mean serious spending cuts, tax rises or both. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Some might say this is just doom mongering. Just like George Osborne's threatened post-referendum economic crisis and budget which never happened. However, this misses the point. We haven’t left the EU or the single market yet so our economy has yet to experience the harsh reality of the trade barriers we would face outside the single market.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<b><i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><br /></span></i></b><b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">An </span></b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">additional loss, which may be even harder to quantify is the expected damage to our scientific research, because of the loss of substantial direct EU investment in science and the reduction in invaluable knowledge collaboration with leading scientists throughout Europe. It is not surprising therefore that 83% of research scientists opposed Brexit and similar arguments apply to a hard Brexit.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">But won’t the costs just be borne by the elite? Won’t most of the country, especially the poorest, be better off?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">No.</span></b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> The economic consensus is that the economic cost of a hard Brexit would not be just born by the rich. The pain would be evenly shared across the income distribution – every income group, including the poorest, would lose out by similar proportions. <b>The average Treasury forecast is that the average household by 2030 would be about £4,300 a year worse off than if we had remained in the single market.</b> The Bank of England, the IMF and many economists are concerned that a hard Brexit could well lead to another recession. Recent experience tells us in a recession the poorest always suffer most.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">But don’t the EU need us more than we need them? So surely the EU will just do a trade deal with us, won't they?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">No</span></b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">. <b>44% of our exports go to the EU. No other EU country exports more than about 10% of their exports to us.</b> And the remaining EU countries will know that any loss of exports to us will be partially offset by exporting more to their EU neighbours to take up the gap in the market left by us. We have far more to lose than any of the other individual countries that make up the EU. <b>There is not a single country in (or outside) Europe that has secured a free trade deal with the EU that has not had to accept free movement of people</b> within the single market. Just ask Switzerland and Norway. If we want to do a free trade deal we would have to accept this. All senior European leaders have told us; the leaders of the EU itself Donald Tusk and Jean-Claude Junker as well as the leaders of the two most powerful national leaders Angela Merkel and the newly elected Emmanuel Macron. This is not just negotiating bluff. The EU inevitably feels there have to be consequences to leaving the biggest trade club in the world. Otherwise what’s the point of being a member of the club? They will be determined to halt a domino effect of other countries following suit and the whole union falling apart. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">And then we come to the EU divorce<i> </i>bill</span></b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> for our share of future EU obligations we had already committed to. Hopefully it won’t be quite as much as 100 billion euros but most serious commentators believe <b>it will be 10s of billions</b>. If we remained in the single market the cost would likely be a fraction of that as we would still be contributing to the club annually even though we were no longer a full member.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">But who cares about trade with Europe anyway as we can just do our own trade deals with the rest of the world, can’t we?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div>
<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">We should care because the European single market is the only market right on our doorstep.</span></b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> If we leave the single market undoubtedly Theresa May will be desperate to deal whatever deals she can with other countries. However, <b>we will be starting two goals down with other countries</b>. First, the EU already has trade deals with 50 other countries we will lose rights to. Second, we will only be speaking for a market of 65 million rather than 500 million, so we are unlikely to get as good a deal or as quickly as the EU. Even President Trump recently had a change of heart and admitted that doing a deal with the EU would be prioritised above a deal with the UK.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><br /></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXC8gd-pIMo1Vp_bXWioAvwl-Q_s9Ezn8gjTqVe1A74Dm25Um8prYHSdfvbHDG16go8F_GwDcHvXPjf6fdLFFsdo-snb377sSb9rl60-8mUYaSSCrN0xQfC7iVT4FPYBL-BUDQWAaTiv0/s1600/Theresa+May+awkward.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="178" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXC8gd-pIMo1Vp_bXWioAvwl-Q_s9Ezn8gjTqVe1A74Dm25Um8prYHSdfvbHDG16go8F_GwDcHvXPjf6fdLFFsdo-snb377sSb9rl60-8mUYaSSCrN0xQfC7iVT4FPYBL-BUDQWAaTiv0/s320/Theresa+May+awkward.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 14.2667px;">Theresa May’s Brexit vision is nothing more than a dangerous illusion dreamed up to capture votes (as the German Chancellor and others have warned us). It does not stand up to any critical analysis of the hard evidence. </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">The inescapable conclusions are that her “pure” hard Brexit would leave us all significantly poorer not richer, will make negligible difference to immigration levels and if anything will make Britain less not more democratic. </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Frankly if (as I fear) Theresa May wins the election our best hope is that Theresa May is actually lying to us (just as she did over the 100,000 net migration target); that despite what she says, if she cannot get a good trade deal she will sacrifice greater control of our borders and laws for the economic benefits of the single market. However, if she does that she'd better be prepared for a huge backlash from the millions who'd believed that wrapped in her union jackshe would bring us the "have your cake and eat it" Brexit- complete control of our borders and laws as well as a good trade deal. I'm afraid that just ain't gonna happen.</span></div>
Jeremy Hortonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14040288077436997446noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1711610253004091876.post-71543799266482784952017-05-23T13:04:00.001-07:002017-05-23T13:04:21.290-07:00Unmasking the myths- false Christian political values<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhS0zasNibZbVElejJLmU-tFLBlwn6zuHbx52LS5rr9OzFjCgVvZTvtA-xFeuOcRc_niS_aXqu9P5FCyhSIEO8Af0N-q1NVVSWLB43nrPFxGXrKd9kedDdhhiIwNNxZsCMbhWDfrDI722Y/s1600/true-false.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="264" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhS0zasNibZbVElejJLmU-tFLBlwn6zuHbx52LS5rr9OzFjCgVvZTvtA-xFeuOcRc_niS_aXqu9P5FCyhSIEO8Af0N-q1NVVSWLB43nrPFxGXrKd9kedDdhhiIwNNxZsCMbhWDfrDI722Y/s400/true-false.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjusOwhPqaKWiAp4ihcj5Xca_YRdyeB7gBURGuQ8maOgdiPYF0Cd6Kzr27O7BtD_-tFauTHFEudZTxNtHis4-7luOVgR10I1vtKeJ97aESdnCra1_fJuRYeEzOCij6Pv3Ng1x9DpE36DWw/s1600/7.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjusOwhPqaKWiAp4ihcj5Xca_YRdyeB7gBURGuQ8maOgdiPYF0Cd6Kzr27O7BtD_-tFauTHFEudZTxNtHis4-7luOVgR10I1vtKeJ97aESdnCra1_fJuRYeEzOCij6Pv3Ng1x9DpE36DWw/s1600/7.png" width="186" /></a>In my previous blog I suggested seven key biblical Christian values we should focus on when deciding how to vote:<br />
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
1. Looking after the poor and marginalised<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
2. Caring for the sick<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
3. Ensuring justice for all<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
4. Ensuring everyone has a fair share<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
5. Looking after the planet<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
6. Keeping peace and order<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
7. Allowing freedom of speech and belief<br />
<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I now look at some worldly political values that we sometimes seem to treat as if they were equally divine. Some of these "false values" certainly contain elements of truth but at best they are only part of the means of achieving true Christian values. Where they conflict with the key Christian values those values should take precedence. Others of these "false" values are directly opposed to biblical Christian values.<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We all need to check whether we are basing our political views and votes more on these false worldly values than key Christian values: “...<i>do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they come from God</i>…” (1 John 4;1)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr4cneR4L9jZgtuQeD1Kv-0bZL1JUIcUp-bAuUpIto-KPBLbO3r8-RfQtBxAym1qeoWZO0KQ77kaDB7-Uxhs_mtvqnnsN1BeKrs6o6ueSyIUgZop11R4wOYhnVYl10xG3Ld8XOXcHrE8E/s1600/the+love+of+money.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr4cneR4L9jZgtuQeD1Kv-0bZL1JUIcUp-bAuUpIto-KPBLbO3r8-RfQtBxAym1qeoWZO0KQ77kaDB7-Uxhs_mtvqnnsN1BeKrs6o6ueSyIUgZop11R4wOYhnVYl10xG3Ld8XOXcHrE8E/s200/the+love+of+money.jpg" width="200" /></a><i><b>Freedom to do what we want with our wealth, property or business</b></i><i><b>/Ensuring maximum prosperity</b></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><b></b><o:p><br /></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
"<i>For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil</i>." (1 Timothy 6:10)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
Pursuit of personal prosperity is a major heresy of one strand of American Evangelicalism. Aiming for maximum prosperity is a good thing when applied universally. However too often it is as an excuse for selfish gain and allowing the rich to get richer. There are examples in the bible of God rewarding men with earthly wealth- most notably Solomon. However Solomon was only rewarded with wealth because he wasn't seeking it (2 Chronicles 1). The bible is very clear that we are not to pursue earthly riches as ends in themselves. This is a sin mentioned far more often than e.g. various sexual sins that Christians sometimes get very exercised about. Jesus warns "<i>Woe to the rich</i>" (Luke 6:24) and that "<i>It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of heaven</i>." (Matthew 19:24).</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The biblical view is that everything any of us have is ultimately God's and not our own (Psalm 24:1) and that we have a responsibility to use what we have to care for others. Part of that will be through charitable giving which the bible encourages. However even in the much simpler society of early Israel God laid down clear rules which did not allow people to simply do with their land and wealth as they choose. Landowners were told not to harvest their whole fields but leave some for poor (Leviticus 23:22), people were required to tithe and give away a portion of what they received to help those in need (Leviticus 27:30-33/Deuteronomy 26:12-13) and to cancel debts in the jubilee years ie every seven years (Deuternomy 15:1). The Jews were encouraged to freely give <i>in addition</i> to these obligations (Deuteronomy 15:7).<br />
<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
God's concern, writ large throughout the bible, is that the poor and needy should be provided for . In contrast nowhere does he express any concern that the rich should be free to choose what they do with their wealth. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><i><br /></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG-NYaw6mh5aiaO_JMTQYWcQdf3w0s8gp4voU56ByC_x_Se7K_rSUi2LYmmH-TYvazZKOceGGW2xaACR6M1jqMnqYmNPH71bIs-Rc07dVEgzzdtD078RHERQpyxr-7j6jEvlMeYY81zAI/s1600/communism.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG-NYaw6mh5aiaO_JMTQYWcQdf3w0s8gp4voU56ByC_x_Se7K_rSUi2LYmmH-TYvazZKOceGGW2xaACR6M1jqMnqYmNPH71bIs-Rc07dVEgzzdtD078RHERQpyxr-7j6jEvlMeYY81zAI/s200/communism.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<i><b>Working towards total financial equality/ The abolition of private property</b></i><br />
<i><b></b><o:p><br /></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We see in the way the original (imperfect) kingdom of Israel was set up that everyone was to have their own stake in the land (Numbers 26). As a result, the Lord says, there should been no need for there to be any poor among them (Deuteronomy 15:4). However nowhere does the bible suggest that God aims that all humans should enjoy exact arithmetical equality. Even in his ultimate heavenly kingdom there are different rewards depending on how well his followers have served him eg see the Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14-30). It would therefore be contrary to the biblical principle for the state to take away literally everything an individual owned or earned. (And I know of no mainstream party in the UK that advocates anything close to this).<br />
Some might argue that Acts 4 give us the ultimate pattern for how God wants us to live as a society- the very first Christians in Jerusalem owning everything in common. But fantastic though they were. this pattern of complete common ownership seems to have been a one off special work of the Holy Spirit. The rest of the New Testament certainly testifies to how the early Christians loved and cared for each other with their money. They effectively had their own welfare state to provide for those in the church in need. However nowhere are Christians called to own everything in common. Likewise whilst Jesus did occasionally call particular individuals to give away all their possessions (eg Luke 10:17-27), he does not make this a general command. Indeed he commends the repentant tax collector Zacchaeus for giving away <i>half </i>of what he owed to the poor (Luke 19:10)<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><b>Keeping taxes to the lowest level possible</b></i><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<i><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx9Fsx4-eGOq5nSWq7CJW9LQDwQ3HTQf1QuRjTOXiwGAZ1T6mI54KUjF8cPDj3746p8RjiRniHlKgkl-7ItEHiaqTyQGwDYQ_D6__kWZyeBabiLkU5QWBM0s-KFfTHLwWo5Edep4834aE/s1600/taxation.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="138" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx9Fsx4-eGOq5nSWq7CJW9LQDwQ3HTQf1QuRjTOXiwGAZ1T6mI54KUjF8cPDj3746p8RjiRniHlKgkl-7ItEHiaqTyQGwDYQ_D6__kWZyeBabiLkU5QWBM0s-KFfTHLwWo5Edep4834aE/s200/taxation.jpg" width="200" /></a></b></i></div>
<br />
There is simply no biblical support for this position. All the bible says about taxes is pay them and it acknowledges that they are a good thing needed to allow authorities to govern for the common good:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p><br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
"For the one in authority is God’s servant for your good... Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also as a matter of conscience. This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, who give their full time to governing. Give to everyone what you owe them: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue..."<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
(Romans 13:4-7).<br />
<br />
<i><b>Maintaining the strongest possible armed forces</b></i></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL-70_AarDwWmDKHGIw4QWqX2x1ycf41eZqUpGfukZo4OOdRWDMa3I4GM8EVFULisktd4tiJ8H-OrR6ZiZIFKhTXVtvYBYCr-v9PTtpqqA8c03a5MXQIn6tsuVP7rVPISQ9ojnwq2JAqE/s1600/trump+nuclear.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="149" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL-70_AarDwWmDKHGIw4QWqX2x1ycf41eZqUpGfukZo4OOdRWDMa3I4GM8EVFULisktd4tiJ8H-OrR6ZiZIFKhTXVtvYBYCr-v9PTtpqqA8c03a5MXQIn6tsuVP7rVPISQ9ojnwq2JAqE/s200/trump+nuclear.jpg" width="200" /></a><i><b></b></i></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In this fallen world the state does need armed forces and a police service to maintain peace and order. "<i>For the one in authority is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for rulers do not bear the sword for no reason. They are God’s servants, agents of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer.</i>"(Romans 13:4). However the main thrust of the Jesus's message is to bring peace and we are encouraged to be peacemakers. Ultimately all our swords will be turned into ploughshares (Micah 4:3). That cannot happen until Jesus returns. However, if we believe in a God of peace surely we should want a government whose focus is on making peace with its neighbours rather than preparing for war. Jesus bemoans that the Jewish nation will be destroyed by the Romans because they do not understand what makes the peace. He also promises blessings on the peacemakers (Matthew 5:9).There is no reason why that blessing cannot apply to governments and nations as much as individuals. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><i>Stopping the benefits scroungers</i></b><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<b><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbcHLY4YSgGH5277E0D6IKZUr6km-wDSUPtAqH5Hij7JeytGaYC9DCyf2wHWMVeqX0tXqXGk6MjLg9V-2LKjeQf4jdhmwGEF2aCRZON33kv4IKTqZBgJpvhMIWo_2JVz5mv95pgiC4bhE/s1600/scroungers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbcHLY4YSgGH5277E0D6IKZUr6km-wDSUPtAqH5Hij7JeytGaYC9DCyf2wHWMVeqX0tXqXGk6MjLg9V-2LKjeQf4jdhmwGEF2aCRZON33kv4IKTqZBgJpvhMIWo_2JVz5mv95pgiC4bhE/s200/scroungers.jpg" width="200" /></a></i></b></div>
<b><i></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><b>/Promoting self-reliance</b><o:p></o:p></i><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It is true that Paul says those church members who refuse to work when they can shouldn't be fed by the church (2 Thessalanions 3:10). However the whole emphasis of bible is compassionate care for the poor and it suggests we should even accept being taken advantage of- e.g. Jesus in the Sermon in the Mount tells us we should lend to those who ask of us- even those we don't expect to pay us back. (Luke 6:33-35). We should also look to Jesus's own example. On two occasions he miraculously provided food for a crowd of thousands who were in apparent need of feeding. He did not instruct his disciples to first do a bag check of each person in the crowd in case there were a few who were hiding their own food .<br />
<br />
If our priority is not to be taken advantage of rather than providing for need there is a real danger that we don;t look after poor, because we put in so many barriers to stop fraud that we also restrict help to those who need it. And as for structuring welfare to encouage self-dependency nowhere is that identified as a key biblical Kingdom value. In fact Jesus's message is that we are to be interdependent on each other and take care of each other as, for ecample, is illustrated in the parables of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37) and the Rich Man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-34). His message is the very opposite of every man for himself. Actually it’s a message of one man for everyone! (1 Corinthinas 15:22)<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><b>Restricting immigration</b></i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><b></b><o:p><br /></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinRg4zUzt6JHPrXKragPGyPkfZILbpu1ORon6bpT_5cdy3UNemXaQ8RQiCWg9kFHIdfPt0qASBgime2W_3QlGPbXDbskyK1mAw5FllQ-RWrzyT8hEgERh42tuDKif9_05G5hYSyid_zjQ/s1600/breaking+point.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="112" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinRg4zUzt6JHPrXKragPGyPkfZILbpu1ORon6bpT_5cdy3UNemXaQ8RQiCWg9kFHIdfPt0qASBgime2W_3QlGPbXDbskyK1mAw5FllQ-RWrzyT8hEgERh42tuDKif9_05G5hYSyid_zjQ/s200/breaking+point.jpg" width="200" /></a>Some restrictions on immigration may (or may not) be a good thing to manage the economy and help achieve some of the other things that are key values. However, certainly the bible does not support restricting immigration as an end in itself. In fact the bible promotes a positive and caring attitude towards immigrants; “<i>The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt</i>.” (Leviticus 19:34) It is even alluded to in Jesus’s key teaching in Matthew 25; “<i>When I was a stranger, you welcomed me...</i>” Remember Jesus himself was a foreign refugee in Egypt (Matthew 2:14).<br />
<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><b>Ensuring our country has as much control as possible over its laws</b></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><b></b><o:p><br /></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAUVSM7eF_JOkblfKgZodMrdt_ZdOFAGh3P-uPs2_si1CQGJouH6DKrBF1IFVyMmPuj81UduSQl3Rfe-I2vd2IZvUHV7-COfkDJnxIPs4JNvN1M6hDCUU2UJgMfWH_1Gbc_1ZL8qqt1s4/s1600/britain+out+of+europe.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="120" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAUVSM7eF_JOkblfKgZodMrdt_ZdOFAGh3P-uPs2_si1CQGJouH6DKrBF1IFVyMmPuj81UduSQl3Rfe-I2vd2IZvUHV7-COfkDJnxIPs4JNvN1M6hDCUU2UJgMfWH_1Gbc_1ZL8qqt1s4/s200/britain+out+of+europe.jpg" width="200" /></a>The only special earthly kingdom recognised by the bible is the original (pre-Jesus) kingdom of Israel. This kingdom will be fully realized when Jesus returns and is crowned king of a world-wide Israel/Jerusalem, which will welcome all nations. The bible recognises authorities are there for a purpose and it recognises that purpose can be served by supra-national authorities like the Roman empire as much as governments of an individual nation. (Romans 13). Outside of Israel, the bible does not suggest there is anything inherently better about being ruled exclusively by a country’s own government or a supra national government or a local council or a mix of all of them. The vision of Micah 4:5, Isaiah 2:4 and of John’s Revelation (Revelation 7:9 and 22:2) is of people from all nations coming together in peace under Jesus. This can never be achieved until Jesus returns, but it does suggest that nations seeking to work together in partnership rather than just going it alone is a godly principle to work towards.<br />
<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><b>Stricter law and punishment</b></i><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<i><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUAvlZV7b8XGFLYa2HVwRkjIe6-edaEbXIDpoJ6iyCrF8jiJyqTHHOwCx9ioX4SrEn0e-0AZssOxpz6_4bRszL8AchZS07P_EbtZarzoqPu_Vb_FhWfee0MNwvm-z_wgtaqjMOZwCaKJw/s1600/strict+law+enforcement.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="132" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUAvlZV7b8XGFLYa2HVwRkjIe6-edaEbXIDpoJ6iyCrF8jiJyqTHHOwCx9ioX4SrEn0e-0AZssOxpz6_4bRszL8AchZS07P_EbtZarzoqPu_Vb_FhWfee0MNwvm-z_wgtaqjMOZwCaKJw/s200/strict+law+enforcement.jpg" width="200" /></a></b></i></div>
The bible does acknowledge the need for criminal law and punishment to ensure peace and order (see Romans 13). However, we must be very careful as Christians that we do not apply a strict Old Testament approach to law and order. Jesus is God’s ultimate revelation who fulfils the Old Testmanent laws and goes above andf beyond them with his law of love. Ultimately he took the punishment that we all deserve for our sin. Jesus's approach to law and punishment is gracious and makes clear that there should be room for mercy rather than the strictest application of law and punishment. We see this in how he stopped the stoning of the adulteress (John 8;7) and in Matthew 25 visiting prisoners is the sort of thing he expects his followers to be doing. So those advocating stricter law enforcement and punishment risk being on the wrong side of the debate to Jesus. Biblically it cannot be considered a key political value.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<b><i>Even sticking to the key Christain values it can still be difficult working out what will best achieve them</i></b><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<b><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsAEMtd5surbjJktTUgUMDaH7JNmQlevH-hxrMjYlbtCUO9yor6qAi16ZOT2ceBBYERiL4N_yR2GBx1aHkgZ5P_ZsvczW9X8HzGot2VmOcStQToXfzY_GmB0dIcdwZ3SyFIx_kRl0oE_A/s1600/question.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsAEMtd5surbjJktTUgUMDaH7JNmQlevH-hxrMjYlbtCUO9yor6qAi16ZOT2ceBBYERiL4N_yR2GBx1aHkgZ5P_ZsvczW9X8HzGot2VmOcStQToXfzY_GmB0dIcdwZ3SyFIx_kRl0oE_A/s200/question.jpg" width="200" /></a></i></b></div>
<br />
Of course, even when we focus on the core Christian values there will still be difficulties sometimes in working out what policies will best achieve those values. For example, with Brexit- will a “hard” or “soft” Brexit or no Brexit at all better help the poor and marginalised, better care for the sick and better promote peace and security? The answers to that are not immediately obvious. However, if we take the time and trouble to unmask the myths and get to the actual facts it becomes much easier to assess what's most likely to achieve those ends.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p><br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><i><br /></i></b><b><i><br /></i></b><b><i><span style="font-size: large;">A Footnote about some false American political values</span></i></b><br />
<b><i><br /></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdY4fTTYQZJOA8ON66rooiV_X966AeLWO_5BeJ3Cvw0G2b8cDinpBE_dNnQwIlxcIvWb9qShbgl5nGn7kOgyeNemBziVxXVsROhLMGgCgiKcj7kcJC9bxYEnB6Mp9QrHaHP_NE3hdcuZU/s1600/American+politics.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="178" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdY4fTTYQZJOA8ON66rooiV_X966AeLWO_5BeJ3Cvw0G2b8cDinpBE_dNnQwIlxcIvWb9qShbgl5nGn7kOgyeNemBziVxXVsROhLMGgCgiKcj7kcJC9bxYEnB6Mp9QrHaHP_NE3hdcuZU/s200/American+politics.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<div>
<i>The following “false”, supposedly Christian, values are major party political issues in the USA. Sadly, they were instrumental in putting into the White House a man who I believe to be the most unsuitable and unchristian President of all time. I hope one day that the Evangelical church leaders who encourged Christians to vote for this man because of some of these false values will one day have the wisdom and humility to apologise. I mention them here because they could be a factor in how some may exercise the vote for an individual candidate.</i></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><b><br /></b></i><i><b><br /></b></i><i><b>The rights of the unborn</b></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>I have changed my own position on this recently. I still believe that abortion generally is wrong. However, that does not make it the right thing to criminalize it. (Any more than we should say criminalize say adultery). The notion that abortion (certainly before the third trimester) is the equivalent of murder is simply not supported by the bible. There are lots of offences against person listed in the Old Testament laws but abortion is nowhere mentioned among them even though it certainly happened in Old Testament times. (You can check for yourself in Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. In fact Numbers even hints at a divinely delivered form of abortion). It seems clear to me that for whatever reason God does not equate the destruction of the unborn with murder. His word actually allows the freedom to choose. (That is not saying that it is right). I think we can allow God to take care of the unborn child who dies in the mother’s womb and welcome then into heaven. Even if I am wrong on this ,the lack of any direct reference to abortion in the bible means a tightening of abortion laws cannot be considered a key biblical Christian value.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><b>The right to bear arms</b><o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Whilst this may be seen as right under the US constitution a personal right to fire arms it is directly contrary to biblical values. This is evident from Jesus’s call to us to be “peacemakers” and to “turn the other cheek” and his warning to Peter when he used a weapon to try to prevent Jesus’ arrest that“those who live by the sword die by the sword” (Matthew 26:52).<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><b>Preventing/discouraging inappropriate sexual behaviour</b></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>This is a more tricky one. There are all sorts of inappropriate sexual behaviours which are clearly contrary to biblical values. But where should we draw the line at criminalizing them? As for the very particular issue of homosexual relationships and gay marriage note thankfully this is not a party political issue in the UK. As a bible believing Christian who was once very strongly opposed to gay marriage and now supports it what I acknowledge that there are genuine differences over interpretation of scripture there. However I would point out that whatever view one takes this is<b> not</b> highlighted in the bible as a key issue. There are no more seven references to homosexual relationships in the whole of the bible (and even where mentioned I would say it is not talking about monogamousfaithful homosexual relationships). It is not once mentioned by Jesus himself. Contrast this with issues like poverty and justice and the sins of greed and love of money which are mentioned many, many times.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><b>Capital punishment</b><o:p></o:p></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<i>The Old Testament laws did prescribe capital punishment for more serious offences- not just murder but also adultery. I wonder how many advocates of capital punishment would be happy to see the electric chair or hanging brought back for adultery? (And bear in mind here that Jesus says he who looks at a woman lustfully is guilty of adultery in his heart!) Fortunately for us all Jesus is the ultimate fulfillment of the Old Testament laws who took the punishment we all deserve for our sins. His approach to sin and punishment as we've seen is gracious and merciful , illustrated by his saving the adulteress from stoning with the words, "He who is without sin cast the first stone." I would suggest following Jesus's own example is simply not consistent with capital punishment for any crimes. </i></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<i><br /></i><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">This blog is written for Christians and anyone of other faiths or none who shares the essential core Christian values seen in the bible and the life of Jesus Christ.</span></i></div>
</div>
Jeremy Hortonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14040288077436997446noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1711610253004091876.post-9417403329891108742017-05-23T12:54:00.001-07:002017-05-23T12:54:13.219-07:00Unmasking the myths- key Christian values when choosing who to vote for<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYnNtOg0GRv9SCM1ghicPAV_r5QVe6FaXm3x2DrB7IUeDEvWj8XROxJYBuWVeHHcT1JQnD02pTsJF1LpfI4hzxdnmaWQ2zjxFkmIzB69ggpXP9N0keKsZ2owaNpi_O9w8xCpjl3KX9_PU/s1600/keys.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="295" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYnNtOg0GRv9SCM1ghicPAV_r5QVe6FaXm3x2DrB7IUeDEvWj8XROxJYBuWVeHHcT1JQnD02pTsJF1LpfI4hzxdnmaWQ2zjxFkmIzB69ggpXP9N0keKsZ2owaNpi_O9w8xCpjl3KX9_PU/s400/keys.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><i>What are the key Christian values we should look for when choosing who we vote for?</i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><i><br /></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 32.2pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
In one sense, there is just one key Christian value that should determine how we vote. It's <i>the</i> Christian value in how we treat our fellow humans- “love your neighbour as yourself” (Matthew 22:40). As Jesus says, from that all else flows. Perhaps the clearest exposition of what this should mean practically is given by Jesus in the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats (Matthew 25). The lives of those counted worthy of his eternal kingdom should be characterized by the following sort of actions:<span style="font-family: "symbol"; text-indent: -18pt;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "symbol"; text-indent: -18pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: 71.25pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0GQbKeP5VMAUQjrElQ3tKcKInCN4dhhhbsHaPxI7aC6d9r2UZdahAh3roFYkImdyVnwJ5yoi_w91S1mq4Y-edQF0saI2JDUeKYbedQHsHtBjrFE5WQKrSRpUonU8SXGtVnkqlHHFqb2U/s1600/sheep+and+goat.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="137" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0GQbKeP5VMAUQjrElQ3tKcKInCN4dhhhbsHaPxI7aC6d9r2UZdahAh3roFYkImdyVnwJ5yoi_w91S1mq4Y-edQF0saI2JDUeKYbedQHsHtBjrFE5WQKrSRpUonU8SXGtVnkqlHHFqb2U/s200/sheep+and+goat.jpg" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: "symbol"; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"> ·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>Feeding the hungry<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 71.25pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: "symbol"; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"> ·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>Taking in the stranger<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 71.25pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: "symbol"; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"> ·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>Housing/clothing the destitute<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 71.25pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: "symbol"; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"> ·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>Looking after the sick<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: 71.25pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: "symbol"; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"> ·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span>Visiting prisoners<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: 71.25pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p> </o:p>If such actions should characterize our personal actions they should also characterize how we how we exercise our vote. There is not one set of values we should follow in our personal lives, another in our work life and another in our politics. God has the same set of values in everything and we should seek to mimic him and adopt his values in every aspect of our lives; <i>“in <b>all </b>your ways acknowledge him</i>.” (Proverbs 3:6).</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg52bQkbTfaeehhVBARkICv-2No_OKceqsKnP5zAx7Jq55kaYVPNIHZQZvdBY0pQwq8n66LqG6yjpK9pEHwiONaGN1VRvUX3wQHDb6tnLcxyZITeEROjmSXBSIkp6GMwMisp-eE8_aEMeE/s1600/ekklesia.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="76" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg52bQkbTfaeehhVBARkICv-2No_OKceqsKnP5zAx7Jq55kaYVPNIHZQZvdBY0pQwq8n66LqG6yjpK9pEHwiONaGN1VRvUX3wQHDb6tnLcxyZITeEROjmSXBSIkp6GMwMisp-eE8_aEMeE/s200/ekklesia.png" width="200" /></a>At the last election Ekklesia, a politically independent Christian organisation, published a really helpful guide “<i>Vote For What You Believe In</i>”. It highlighted what they considered to be the values that the bible most emphasizes that should guide how we vote. It was an excellent document widely supported by Christians of different political parties, even if they had different views on how those values were best realized. The link to it is:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/sites/ekklesia.co.uk/files/ekklesia_general_election_2015_focus.pdf</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Frankly, Ekklesia’s guide is better than anything I can come up with. But this hasn't stopped me have a stab at it! (Mine's a bit shorter anyway)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b> </b><b>Some key Christian values that should guide our voting</b></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: 32.2pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<b style="text-indent: -18pt;"><i><br /></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: 32.2pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<b style="text-indent: -18pt;"><i>1. Looking after the poor and marginalized </i></b><span style="text-indent: -18pt;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: 32.2pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="text-indent: -18pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGO9s3ZDDis4uKnfFl572gbjlkpQt_GDUm6kTfrTlE-WBBGswUsRa25mzMs8ehgD-SWjMmEVafcA9JWE5OJk9VeAmoXUlhbtFoUp9qyHMX-_WCnCK-CvCLa5z6YZXLCC8S_o4CvHpjMKI/s1600/pope+poor.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="138" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGO9s3ZDDis4uKnfFl572gbjlkpQt_GDUm6kTfrTlE-WBBGswUsRa25mzMs8ehgD-SWjMmEVafcA9JWE5OJk9VeAmoXUlhbtFoUp9qyHMX-_WCnCK-CvCLa5z6YZXLCC8S_o4CvHpjMKI/s200/pope+poor.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast">
Biblically this includes the hungry, the homeless, those marginalized by society and yes immigrants- "<i>The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt.</i>" (Leviticus 19:34). Caring for the poor comes so high on God’s list of priorities that it is mentioned 128 times across the bible and is repeatedly emphasized in both Old and New Testaments. It is at the core of Jesus’s challenge in Matthew 25 and in his Sermon on the Mount. It is illustrated by Jesus’s own life, with his mission being directed particularly (but not exclusively) towards the poor and marginalized in his society. On two occasions he miraculously provided food for large groups of his hungry audience. God has a real heart for the poor and so should we. Just one among the many dozens of verses that could be cited: “<i>Is this not the kind of fasting I have chosen?… to share your bread with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter-when you see the naked, to clothe them...” </i>(Isaiah 58:6/7)</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="text-indent: -18pt;">
2. <i style="font-weight: bold;">Caring for the sick</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaDCDOGk1Yrjn5-WSQ3_MdqPNNMhrhbHJjN1vxU5NjTRIZdVVY4zWDzIF6yxR0bmfn4dp7JZVt05dCuJQSWQGjNHy5r6CfjGfQJ21_M7E8FniMEqrLsBBha05YdXse_DbxSiyUEFq2CFU/s1600/caring+for+the+sick.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="136" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaDCDOGk1Yrjn5-WSQ3_MdqPNNMhrhbHJjN1vxU5NjTRIZdVVY4zWDzIF6yxR0bmfn4dp7JZVt05dCuJQSWQGjNHy5r6CfjGfQJ21_M7E8FniMEqrLsBBha05YdXse_DbxSiyUEFq2CFU/s200/caring+for+the+sick.jpg" width="200" /></a><o:p> </o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
God’s injunction to care for the sick and desire to see them healed is emphasized throughout the bible, being mentioned at least 27 times in scripture. It is also highlighted in Matthew 25 and very much seen in Jesus’s own actions. Wherever he went he did not just teach and offer spiritual healing but he physically healed the sick.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="text-indent: -18pt;">
3. <i style="font-weight: bold;">Ensuring true justice for all</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPdpiV7aZj4juwqzygm8-c49j-pvRiwKgTpcUZT3P4cDkpr-yDsOZ4XSUBSx4WD8ARqJX3ghIqeejgmLLutdUg01akboUyqnvAiGBQ8OJkb_j4-40LyHeN1FZpPZJLinzd-ZQTKk65qNo/s1600/lady+justice.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="110" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPdpiV7aZj4juwqzygm8-c49j-pvRiwKgTpcUZT3P4cDkpr-yDsOZ4XSUBSx4WD8ARqJX3ghIqeejgmLLutdUg01akboUyqnvAiGBQ8OJkb_j4-40LyHeN1FZpPZJLinzd-ZQTKk65qNo/s200/lady+justice.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Ensuring true justice for all comes extremely high on God’s list of priorities, especially giving a voice to the poor and dispossessed. It is often spoken of in the same breath as looking after the poor. Indeed, between them God’s concern for the poor and for social justice are mentioned over 300 times across the Old and New Testaments. Just one among the many dozens of verses that could be cited:<i> “Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.” </i>(Proverbs 29:7)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And the sort of justice we are talking about is filled with compassion and mercy and humility; “<i>And what does the Lord require of O mortal? To act justly and love mercy and walk humbly with your God…</i>” (Micah 6:8). This is exemplified in Jesus, who with a single sentence disarmed the stoners about to carry out capital punishment on the adulteress: “<i>he who is without sin cast the first stone.</i>” (John 8;7)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: -18pt;">
4. <i style="font-weight: bold;">Ensuring everyone has a fair share.</i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: -18pt;">
<i style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPlCtIpVEnYFLtEvjpsYJwcF0bSw0SzV3jHEU3QP0IIm5YZf_7jMMlIOBmlRTdUcVCVN9UkCjp81MSVrt2Vs-TtFczWOLEvo2pwP9hkjLL8YA0_ZCECs5eqCdgz8P0h4jFTtHiWTvtkmM/s1600/fair+share.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="92" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPlCtIpVEnYFLtEvjpsYJwcF0bSw0SzV3jHEU3QP0IIm5YZf_7jMMlIOBmlRTdUcVCVN9UkCjp81MSVrt2Vs-TtFczWOLEvo2pwP9hkjLL8YA0_ZCECs5eqCdgz8P0h4jFTtHiWTvtkmM/s200/fair+share.jpg" width="200" /></a>When God set up his original (imperfect) earthly kingdom of Israel social justice was at the heart of it. He ensured everyone, from the least to the greatest, had a stake and fair share in the good things of the promised land : “…<i>there need be no poor among you, for in the land the Lord your God is giving you to possess as your inheritance he will richly bless you…</i>” (Deuteronomy 15:4)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This is also part of his ultimate plan for his perfect heavenly kingdom on earth. (Micah 4:4) It’s not about arithmetical equality and the bible extols the principle of rewards for what we have done. But it’s about ensuring everyone has a fair share. We won’t achieve a perfectly fair society here and now. However if we are seeking to follow God’s plan and pattern in his word we should be aiming to get as close as we can to this.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: -18pt;">
5. <i style="font-weight: bold;">Looking after the planet. </i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast">
<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGzOb5FVHekP7-JRiKdiNvcBGdlgbT_9vx5dC958A3sw5VGKk3361pLjZ7s0Swu0ACy_WHDYcs-_pFjttHqrYvOBzEosMGw1C8vBbLQ9bTBxp6o_l810qshJU0FQ_tTkAXqeuZzntumIA/s1600/caring+for+our+world.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="132" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGzOb5FVHekP7-JRiKdiNvcBGdlgbT_9vx5dC958A3sw5VGKk3361pLjZ7s0Swu0ACy_WHDYcs-_pFjttHqrYvOBzEosMGw1C8vBbLQ9bTBxp6o_l810qshJU0FQ_tTkAXqeuZzntumIA/s200/caring+for+our+world.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast">
The bible declares the earth is God’s and not ours (Psalm 24:1),but he has entrusted us with the care of his planet. In fact, from the beginning the essential mission he gave us was to care for his planet: "<i>The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it</i>." (Genesis 2:15 ). Caring for our planet also flows into God's other priorities of caring for the poor and giving everyone a stake in the land. This is because in the end the resources upon which we all depend come from that planet.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph">
<br /></div>
<ol start="6" style="margin-top: 0cm;" type="1">
<li class="MsoNormal"><b><i> Keeping peace and order</i></b><o:p></o:p></li>
</ol>
<div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmtHPY_jQ7Pyk624MqkuMP2BRgqj7lBms-8-5Cb1k6k0YPPZ7K9XSs21vUFSGKmQhU1VUP30z-RRicdrJBwz74jswrMjLUUfMrZUv3ve1k675ToGkF0DAAVabfgu-fp2QsYDhX1mUypxA/s1600/peace+hands.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="112" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmtHPY_jQ7Pyk624MqkuMP2BRgqj7lBms-8-5Cb1k6k0YPPZ7K9XSs21vUFSGKmQhU1VUP30z-RRicdrJBwz74jswrMjLUUfMrZUv3ve1k675ToGkF0DAAVabfgu-fp2QsYDhX1mUypxA/s200/peace+hands.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<div>
Seeking peace is a key value extolled throughout the bible. It is mentioned at least 48 times. It is a key characteristic of God which we are encouraged to imitate in all aspects of our lives. Indeed, one of the names Isaiah gives to Jesus when he foresees his return as the world's ruler is “Prince of Peace”. It is therefore not surprisingly that in his preaching Jesus acclaims peace-making. He laments how the Jewish nation fails to understand what makes for peace and weeps over Jerusalem as he foresees the Roman destruction of Jerusalem that will result from the Jews’ rebellion. (Luke 19:42-44) In his Sermon on the Mount he says, “<i>Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the sons of God"</i> (Matthew 5:9).<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Ultimately the vision of Micah 5 is that wars between all nations will cease and we will turn <i>“our swords into ploughshares”</i>. That vision cannot be fully realized until Jesus returns. However, in the meantime the bible makes clear that we should "<i>Strive for peace with everyone...</i>" (Hebrews 12:14). And that applies to what we do as a nation as well as individuals. This is implicit in Jesus’s lament in Luke 19. In fact, peace-making and keeping the order that comes with it is specifically identified as an area in which secular government has an important role to play: "<i>I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people— for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Saviour, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.</i>"(1 Timothy 2:1-4)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: -18pt;">
<b><i> 7. Allowing freedom of speech and belief<o:p></o:p></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: -18pt;">
<b><i><br /></i></b></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDZ4-6gWYOKIjG39A9w-KUyFFoauoNUOqWAYos3V8zTTkZgGIyDYtfYXdd3WtjckpW_k_QljQtjufgX05sA6VlvBNLfLWU4jfvEr276rP0HQCALaL0U8VKIcG5Q6zYeNvGaGej-FTqNFA/s1600/Free+Speech+zip.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="115" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDZ4-6gWYOKIjG39A9w-KUyFFoauoNUOqWAYos3V8zTTkZgGIyDYtfYXdd3WtjckpW_k_QljQtjufgX05sA6VlvBNLfLWU4jfvEr276rP0HQCALaL0U8VKIcG5Q6zYeNvGaGej-FTqNFA/s200/Free+Speech+zip.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast">
God’s injunction to preach the gospel to all nations in Matthew 28 should make all Christians very mindful of the importance of free speech. Freedom of speech gives room for the gospel to be preached. But Christians cannot expect freedom of speech over our beliefs and speech without offering that same privilege to others; even those who take very different views and may even be directly hostile to Christianity. The bible teaches that we should be gracious to and tolerate opposing views and voices:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
"<i>And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful. Opponents must be gently instructed, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth</i>".<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
(2 Timothy 2:24-25)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
I think the large majority with Christians would agree that these are all key values that we would want the government we elect to strive for. We may then end up coming to different political stand points over how these values can be best realized. However, I think part of the reason for such divergent political views between Christians is that we do not always keep such key values front and centre stage. Sometimes I think we allow worldly political values to eclipse these biblical Christian values. I will look at that in my next blog.</div>
Jeremy Hortonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14040288077436997446noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1711610253004091876.post-55226183997471105552017-05-23T12:47:00.002-07:002017-05-23T12:47:42.616-07:00Unmasking the myths- better voting free from the mind fog<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmW1D9sxAH7K1nQF3O8OqmQUbmFHqE9Avm0fUTLEtpZdKq1X9I4MXIC0PQqNvQ9Co-PEMHixJ9S_mrB9Jksr7F0fRftLWuzGiDx911hz-p7a6LmNph6rpUWAa_wPchrwII7e0cGLr8wOc/s1600/cloud+head.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="492" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmW1D9sxAH7K1nQF3O8OqmQUbmFHqE9Avm0fUTLEtpZdKq1X9I4MXIC0PQqNvQ9Co-PEMHixJ9S_mrB9Jksr7F0fRftLWuzGiDx911hz-p7a6LmNph6rpUWAa_wPchrwII7e0cGLr8wOc/s640/cloud+head.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
How can we better exercise our vote in a principled Christian way, free from the mind fog of misleading myths?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Prayer- let God renew our minds</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDv159p5xKa15xUWlBdwJ5GxibevuqFDvovBeMIX704GSaSAyCDjtms8ENO7NeC2dHCDaWeAH4ADyc2PF5OcumEiP3gythovl0zlnJbZWj9fzeNjkZCipUgfrWrIz0fVkgjHMnteaHNZg/s1600/desert+prayer.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="125" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDv159p5xKa15xUWlBdwJ5GxibevuqFDvovBeMIX704GSaSAyCDjtms8ENO7NeC2dHCDaWeAH4ADyc2PF5OcumEiP3gythovl0zlnJbZWj9fzeNjkZCipUgfrWrIz0fVkgjHMnteaHNZg/s200/desert+prayer.jpeg" width="200" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As a Christian I would say the starting point before making any difficult decision, including voting, should be to ask God for his wisdom (James 1:5). This requires not just going through the ritual of asking for his guidance, but submitting to God in humble prayer. Too often our thinking is molded by what the rest of the world thinks rather than what God thinks. We need to align our thinking with God by allowing his Holy Spirit to renew our thinking so that we can “test and approve what God’s will is” (Romans 12:2).</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Following the Maker’s instructions- the Bible<u1:p></u1:p></b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhteD91NOQ5PdG4W_jyXxYgYrCns_N9CkmjfxBnzI4wCbbpO0B3ofF5r0PxwN8_Zutci4GYhVcWIWOEQJv6qxzGzNMIIgKECOTc5M1_EsahMmNAT6x21acqO9JQY6CilP6ij5z6VDPkUkc/s1600/bible+read+me.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="132" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhteD91NOQ5PdG4W_jyXxYgYrCns_N9CkmjfxBnzI4wCbbpO0B3ofF5r0PxwN8_Zutci4GYhVcWIWOEQJv6qxzGzNMIIgKECOTc5M1_EsahMmNAT6x21acqO9JQY6CilP6ij5z6VDPkUkc/s200/bible+read+me.jpg" width="200" /></a><b><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Having asked God for his guidance, I believe we should then look to the Maker's instruction manual, the Bible. It's chiefly through the bible that God’s Spirit can guide and teach us in everything and that must include our politics.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
"<i>All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right.</i>" (2 Timothy 3:16)<u1:p></u1:p><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
To take the bible seriously means understanding God's word in its context and through the lens of God the Son, Jesus, and the Kingdom he preached. He is the ultimate Word (John 1) and the Truth (John 14:6). If we feel that God is telling us to do something but it does not align with the principles in the bible then we have got it wrong and are being deceived. And that is just as true with our politics as anything else.<u1:p></u1:p><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>The bible contains plenty of practical wisdom to help us when making difficult decisions:<u1:p></u1:p></b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: 32.2pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="text-indent: -18pt;">1.</span><span style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-indent: -18pt;"> <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><b style="text-indent: -18pt;"><i>Make an effort to understand the evidence & issues.</i></b></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: 32.2pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“<i>The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding.”</i><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>(Proverbs 4:7)<u1:p></u1:p><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZHrVcYNiS7r3OiOuYnLa_b59nTO9KmCoavzB1gj-3VaKkZ3Rypn_WDeSvjb2moMhFwF7tXFcmfHJGZnfuZe0PWKZFUuNY_rb6rK-VATRdROw1ljtvu5H8iYuSE4nXontiDikTLJ0a8xo/s1600/Examine+Evidence.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZHrVcYNiS7r3OiOuYnLa_b59nTO9KmCoavzB1gj-3VaKkZ3Rypn_WDeSvjb2moMhFwF7tXFcmfHJGZnfuZe0PWKZFUuNY_rb6rK-VATRdROw1ljtvu5H8iYuSE4nXontiDikTLJ0a8xo/s200/Examine+Evidence.jpg" width="200" /></a><u1:p> </u1:p><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph">
<u1:p><br /></u1:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
To get wisdom over difficult decisions like who we should vote for requires effort. We should not just rely on our gut instinct about what “feels” right. We should examine the evidence and look into the issues so that we gain some understanding of them.<u1:p></u1:p><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 32.2pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 32.2pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 32.2pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<b>2.<span style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal;"></span></b> <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b><i>Listen to wise advice</i><u1:p></u1:p></b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“<i>The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to advice.”<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></i>(Proverbs 12:15)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“<i>Where there is no guidance, a people falls, but in an abundance of counsellors there is safety.”</i><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>(Proverbs 11:14).<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQ4YZAP_y6jIg4dwf8KN7DgRdAgqf5dlFscgPiJdlGOl3ARGT7Usyrc4LrXikVfNNZfoGQLgkZbWjvB3utpdUciHxIevZ65K5RkrQF6xmv2yBwONMiFThIMkvL7fCJ43Dnhx_ndPsZoaI/s1600/wise+owl.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="149" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQ4YZAP_y6jIg4dwf8KN7DgRdAgqf5dlFscgPiJdlGOl3ARGT7Usyrc4LrXikVfNNZfoGQLgkZbWjvB3utpdUciHxIevZ65K5RkrQF6xmv2yBwONMiFThIMkvL7fCJ43Dnhx_ndPsZoaI/s200/wise+owl.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Part of our effort to understand should be to listen to advice from others, people who appear to be wise and know what they are talking about- experts in their field. We should also listen to advice from more than one other person and more than one point of view. We shouldn't simply listen to politicians spinning their policy or journalists making headlines. It is better to listen to real experts in their field; e.g. the views of doctors over the NHS, of economists over the economic impact of Brexit, of climate change scientists over the environment. Of course, experts in their field may take many different views. But where there's a large consensus of expert opinion we should take that quite seriously.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: 32.2pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
3.<span style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal;"> <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><b><i>Look at the signs of the times- is a storm coming?</i></b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: 32.2pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: -18pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<i> "A prudent person foresees danger and takes precautions. The fool goes blindly on and suffers the consequences.”</i><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>(Proverbs 22:3)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<i> "..you say...</i><i><span style="background: rgb(253, 254, 255); color: #001320;">'Today it will be stormy, for the sky is red and overcast.' You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times.</span></i><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background: rgb(253, 254, 255); color: #001320;"> </span></span><span style="background: rgb(253, 254, 255); color: #001320;">(Matthew 16: 2b/3)</span><i style="text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="background: rgb(253, 254, 255);"> </span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<i style="text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="background: rgb(253, 254, 255);"><br /></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghVm-68-kS4_jZ5CRbQsZ-KkPaPb4XeR6qcWDHLkDu9zhc06h_Jxhyphenhyphenr4TKUP7hR4K3T_DbwGImLaYKeGW6yVc_5NOaYU4qAZM7-K8aVLif-wusny95ldHW43waTx98cZ3b2gtA7cIJYDI/s1600/Tornado-Wallpapers-14.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghVm-68-kS4_jZ5CRbQsZ-KkPaPb4XeR6qcWDHLkDu9zhc06h_Jxhyphenhyphenr4TKUP7hR4K3T_DbwGImLaYKeGW6yVc_5NOaYU4qAZM7-K8aVLif-wusny95ldHW43waTx98cZ3b2gtA7cIJYDI/s200/Tornado-Wallpapers-14.jpeg" width="200" /></a><i style="text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="background: rgb(253, 254, 255);"><br /></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 32.2pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
To make a wise voting decision we also need to carefully consider “the signs of the times”. Is there evidence of a storm coming that requires sensible precautionary action? This is also where listening to the advice of experts in their field may be important.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: 32.2pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 32.2pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<b><i>4.</i></b><span style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal;"> <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><b><i>What best promotes justice and compassion?</i></b><o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<u><b><i>“</i></b><a href="http://biblehub.com/greek/1538.htm"><i><span style="color: windowtext;">Each of you</span></i></a><span class="apple-converted-space"><i> </i></span><a href="http://biblehub.com/greek/4648.htm"><i><span style="color: windowtext;">should look</span></i></a><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="background: rgb(255, 244, 236);"> </span></i></span><a href="http://biblehub.com/greek/3361.htm"><i><span style="color: windowtext;">not only to</span></i></a><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="background: rgb(255, 244, 236);"> </span></i></span><a href="http://biblehub.com/greek/1438.htm"><i><span style="color: windowtext;">your own</span></i></a><span class="apple-converted-space"><i> </i></span><a href="http://biblehub.com/greek/3588.htm"><i><span style="color: windowtext;">interests,</span></i></a><span class="apple-converted-space"><i> </i></span><a href="http://biblehub.com/greek/235.htm"><i><span style="color: windowtext;">but</span></i></a><span class="apple-converted-space"><i> </i></span><a href="http://biblehub.com/greek/2532.htm"><i><span style="color: windowtext;">also</span></i></a><span class="apple-converted-space"><i> </i></span><a href="http://biblehub.com/greek/3588.htm"><i><span style="color: windowtext;">to the interests</span></i></a><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="background: rgb(255, 244, 236);"> </span></i></span><a href="http://biblehub.com/greek/2087.htm"><i><span style="color: windowtext;">of others.</span></i></a>” </u>(Philippians 2:4)<u1:p></u1:p><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: rgb(253, 254, 255); color: #001320;">“<i>He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”</i><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>(Micah 6:8)<u1:p></u1:p></span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: rgb(253, 254, 255); color: #001320;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLpnWdc5D7K8q7BXvnMYG6r7_NWBsefGfZaMjTkx446_Kh1CvWEhUEbWceX4juljHoLfvGqt_5dkFDPO6hOrWxnMTvGRZJg6N_qfckzTTmbW6ad6fbeG19plra0tO5EaX_yECb1t7gRGs/s1600/justice.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLpnWdc5D7K8q7BXvnMYG6r7_NWBsefGfZaMjTkx446_Kh1CvWEhUEbWceX4juljHoLfvGqt_5dkFDPO6hOrWxnMTvGRZJg6N_qfckzTTmbW6ad6fbeG19plra0tO5EaX_yECb1t7gRGs/s200/justice.jpg" width="184" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: rgb(253, 254, 255); color: #001320;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 32.2pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: rgb(253, 254, 255); color: #001320;">In exercising our vote, just as in everything else we do, our actions should be dictated not simply by what serves our own personal interests but what promotes justice and compassion to wider society.<u1:p></u1:p></span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: 32.2pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: 32.2pt;">
<span style="background: rgb(253, 254, 255); color: #001320;"><u1:p><br /></u1:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: 32.2pt;">
<span style="background: rgb(253, 254, 255); color: #001320;"><u1:p><br /></u1:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: 32.2pt;">
<span style="background: rgb(253, 254, 255); color: #001320;"><u1:p><br /></u1:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: 32.2pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 32.2pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<b><i>5.</i></b><span style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal;"> <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><b><i><span style="background: rgb(253, 254, 255); color: #001320;">Beware false prophets</span></i></b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: 32.2pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjANScjU3ZDnTyajXfSZcHvUkb6D93kk314mjHKgh-Vesx2gLlERkdRqe7e_UZJvn2uM855QVh7o6_kqYrQH6otoO0bJmu2esukM7KhScS5eDWPoNhhC6iVg4z-r-xleBwBiKtRmpsakRc/s1600/wolf+in+sheeps+clothing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="112" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjANScjU3ZDnTyajXfSZcHvUkb6D93kk314mjHKgh-Vesx2gLlERkdRqe7e_UZJvn2uM855QVh7o6_kqYrQH6otoO0bJmu2esukM7KhScS5eDWPoNhhC6iVg4z-r-xleBwBiKtRmpsakRc/s200/wolf+in+sheeps+clothing.jpg" width="200" /></a>We should not be swayed to vote for a politician because they claim to be a Christian, nor because they<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>say</i><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>they are pursuing Christian values in their policies; “…<i>many shall come claiming to represent Me, saying that I [Jesus] am the Christ, yet shall deceive many.”<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></i>(Matthew 24:4-5). We need to be sceptical over how politicians may appear in the media. Often leaders who appear to be “good” leaders can be the very opposite. We need to be wary of “…<i>false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. By their fruit you will know them.</i>" (Matthew 7:15) Paul talks about the “super apostles” that some rated more highly than Paul because they who were evidently better trained, more charismatic speakers than he was. However, they were actually deceivers leading people astray (2 Corinthians 11). Too often our idea of a good political leader can come down to who is the more media friendly; who is the more eloquent speaker or who comes up with the best soundbites.<o:p></o:p></div>
<u1:p></u1:p><br />
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 32.2pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbVN9W4e0WKxr6ij6M868TmzVPXVEfWIvUp3UNtbQkSLgoC93d442ITUGCdw8nhSp2GpQ945bDJN96Is3UtQYt67dtp_yXggaLrHrux54Wq_Lp-gkphNRrSr11s1tYmB2VdGcFIw5VOLc/s1600/By%252Btheir%252BFruit%252Bshall%252BYe%252Bknow%252Bthem.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbVN9W4e0WKxr6ij6M868TmzVPXVEfWIvUp3UNtbQkSLgoC93d442ITUGCdw8nhSp2GpQ945bDJN96Is3UtQYt67dtp_yXggaLrHrux54Wq_Lp-gkphNRrSr11s1tYmB2VdGcFIw5VOLc/s200/By%252Btheir%252BFruit%252Bshall%252BYe%252Bknow%252Bthem.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Instead, we should be judging politicians by their “<i>fruit</i>” i.e. their character and most of all by their actions rather their words. “<i>… faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead."<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></i>(James<u1:p></u1:p><o:p></o:p></div>
2:14). If a politician or party has been in power what good (or bad) have they done with that power? How honest and trustworthy have they been? If the politician or party has not been in power recently we can at least examine what their actual policies would potentially do to achieve (or not) good Christian ends and how honestly and honorably (or not) they have conducted themselves.<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: 32.2pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<b><i>6.<span style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal;"></span></i></b> <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b><i>Look at the bible’s “red letter”/Kingdom of God values- God’s priorities<u1:p></u1:p></i></b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: 32.2pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-XDEGMzUtbZ7mNrkUMs6P0D-TcF9qskTDOwmyDRnAUQFAnkIGs-Nfn9D-AAryphZoZPk9A_ik2xlePoYjmFZtWst_Y5TmXUIo114YaaiLC7LVlP0Uu3TjRStZy7sxFSAENfIa8JPV9Lc/s1600/red+letters.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-XDEGMzUtbZ7mNrkUMs6P0D-TcF9qskTDOwmyDRnAUQFAnkIGs-Nfn9D-AAryphZoZPk9A_ik2xlePoYjmFZtWst_Y5TmXUIo114YaaiLC7LVlP0Uu3TjRStZy7sxFSAENfIa8JPV9Lc/s200/red+letters.jpg" width="200" /></a>More than anything we should be looking at a leader/party’s proposed policies in the light of the values the bible most emphasizes, sometimes referred to us "red letter" values. How would this politician or party’s policies actually realize (or not) those key Christian values?<u1:p></u1:p><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<u1:p></u1:p><u1:p></u1:p><u1:p></u1:p><u1:p></u1:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>So, I guess the next question is what are the key Christian values we should be looking for in the policies of parties we might vote for? I will discuss that in my next blog.</b></div>
Jeremy Hortonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14040288077436997446noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1711610253004091876.post-61334787013201338702017-05-21T02:34:00.001-07:002017-05-21T13:55:05.165-07:00Tory Myth 1- Labour Crashed the Economy and it’s only safe in our hands<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_qpd8GTL-o39DoxV58npO1ISW3xKdMb2D6M_9PrBHMzbZVLfyicabou887g7ffJKI28ur4Wl4uGanruOUtMJMv3ci8Yp2wDIzjCQzGvkmlzSaC7YvlOdaaOvcIIc96J-cYCS1No0W860/s1600/Mythical-Creature-Dragon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="261" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_qpd8GTL-o39DoxV58npO1ISW3xKdMb2D6M_9PrBHMzbZVLfyicabou887g7ffJKI28ur4Wl4uGanruOUtMJMv3ci8Yp2wDIzjCQzGvkmlzSaC7YvlOdaaOvcIIc96J-cYCS1No0W860/s400/Mythical-Creature-Dragon.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">One of the most successful political myths ever is that the
previous Labour government's incompetence caused our economy to crash in 2008 . Typical Labour just couldn’t help themselves. They just
spent and borrowed too much so that they “maxed out the credit card", leading to the credit crunch. This is what millions still believe.
However, it’s simply untrue. A lie is a lie no matter how many people genuinely
believe it. It was excessive private debt not public debt which caused the
crash. As Sir Nicholas Macpherson, the chief civil servant in the Treasury said
in 2015, Labour spending and borrowing had nothing to do with the cause of the
crash. Instead “<i>The 2008 crisis was a
banking crisis pure and simple. Excessive risk had built up in the system; the
regulators had failed to appreciate the scale of the risk or address it</i>.”</span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMnwWvxvJEm5k5jVMDj-pWUJDP6JbfikSWyjFpVcL4gTZsN18tttt9rxJ_6wPFw4Km5b-RWLBvcZ7mlGjiISTJJ2g14yI3die7QVLgbQPrtiKd6idpjJ8rou5RpONsbXjK1Cu1XU0YadU/s1600/examine+the+evidence.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMnwWvxvJEm5k5jVMDj-pWUJDP6JbfikSWyjFpVcL4gTZsN18tttt9rxJ_6wPFw4Km5b-RWLBvcZ7mlGjiISTJJ2g14yI3die7QVLgbQPrtiKd6idpjJ8rou5RpONsbXjK1Cu1XU0YadU/s200/examine+the+evidence.jpg" width="200" /></a><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This article
examines the actual evidence behind the economic reputations of Labour and
Conservatives in government. This evidence would shock many, because the truth is so far from what most of us have been led to
believe. For those without the time to read the whole article, I'll sum up here what the actual evidence shows:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<ul>
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The economic crisis was caused by excessive risk-taking by (mainly) US banks. It had nothing at all to do with the Labour’s government borrowing. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The last Labour government might be criticised forfailing to
regulate our banks more. However, at the time the Tories were calling
for our banks to be regulated less!</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Labour
did what had to be done to rescue our banks and save the country from economic disaster.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This inevitably increased our national debt (but still well below the debt
spikes seen in the world wars).</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The
country has always had a national debt since 1692 and it always will.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">However,
the last Labour government, like all Labour government before it, borrowed<b style="text-indent: -18pt;"> less</b><span style="text-indent: -18pt;"> than Conservative ones, ran up
fewer and smaller annual budget deficits and produced more surpluses.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: -18pt;">Just
before the crash in 2007 our national debt was at only 36% of our national
income- less than the 40% national debt Labour inherited from the Tories in 1997 and below average debt levels of the last 300 years. The
annual deficit was then at a tiny 0.6% of income and falling.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Labour
governments on average, including the last one, have brought about more economic
growth and better employment levels than conservative ones.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Seven
years of Conservative-led government have seen our national income per head/productivity
and wage growth all falling badly compared to most of our competitors.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The
current Conservative manifesto in contrast to the Labour gives no costings for
their spending plans and tax cuts and has no real economic plan to revitalize
our stagnating economy. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The Conservatives current plans only confirms that as per their record in government
that the Tories are actually the ones who cannot be trusted to manage
the nation’s money and economy.</span></li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">The Economic Crash was
caused by excessive risk-taking by US banks. It had nothing at all to do with
UK government borrowing</span></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">If you want
to understand what actually led to the economic crash, the banker’s bail out
and the recession and austerity that followed I recommend watching the
excellent film “<i>The Big Short</i>”. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYZqo6UvY2tE86ASaHYMU2U3oRF0ktvrcYkDA7mO0sNKQobcVY0V8mOU6tHvrUF9ZbGQ48JdUwbOBunVkv39G8kjlanHK5A3T-4NqucRNrt9kETMkkZvzdXTv0tJAgfezNIPbW2tsM9L0/s1600/the+big+short.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="172" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYZqo6UvY2tE86ASaHYMU2U3oRF0ktvrcYkDA7mO0sNKQobcVY0V8mOU6tHvrUF9ZbGQ48JdUwbOBunVkv39G8kjlanHK5A3T-4NqucRNrt9kETMkkZvzdXTv0tJAgfezNIPbW2tsM9L0/s320/the+big+short.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> origins of the crash weren’t even in this country, but in the USA. It was all
caused by casino-esque risk taking by bankers in the sub-prime mortgage fiasco.
They lent too much mortgage money to individuals without the means to pay back.
They then commoditising those transactions into bundles of loans which were
bought and sold. Of course, given the international nature of financial
services our own bankers got caught up in the risk. As we had the second
largest financial services industry after the USA our banks were more exposed
than most. Gordon Brown’s government had to act decisively to prevent our whole
financial system falling apart and the untold suffering that would cause to
millions of savers and borrowers. They had no option but to bail out the banks-
an extremely costly endeavour. It was a huge financial disaster resulting from
the banks’ excessive risk-taking that very few had detected and predicted, even
within the banking industry (as the film illustrates). If there was any failure
of government it was the failure to monitor and regulate more tightly financial
services. That was primarily a failure of US government where the problem
originated- and note that was a right wing Republican government under George
Bush! How far Britain could have insulated itself by tighter regulation is
debatable. However, what is not debatable is that the Conservatives would not
have done any better. We know that because in 2007 at the very time when the
crisis was about to hit rather than suggesting tighter regulation of our
financial services they were demanding less regulation! Effectively they were calling
for petrol to be poured on the flames of the fire! In a 2007 Conservative party report, endorsed by David Cameron- </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Freeing Britain to compete" </i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">said:</span></div>
<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3cooANHxrlYh6hEDT7Dii80An4OOlceXmDmpd5sYddGGUDUiofvNsH8kZwOcTSISRUoCtdGSQGaeBweXuhVhl5YE-acXymYDIJ-NPdyC_4D5avRz9LBC7VHUNJQOaXxnRKNNxP-vxHc0/s1600/david+cameron.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3cooANHxrlYh6hEDT7Dii80An4OOlceXmDmpd5sYddGGUDUiofvNsH8kZwOcTSISRUoCtdGSQGaeBweXuhVhl5YE-acXymYDIJ-NPdyC_4D5avRz9LBC7VHUNJQOaXxnRKNNxP-vxHc0/s320/david+cameron.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<i style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">“We recommend deregulating
venture capital fund raising, and investment for professional investors………A
Conservative government should relax banking regulation, allowing a new breed
of venture/micro-credit institutions…………….</span></i></div>
</div>
<div style="background: white; border-right: solid #B3AF99 1.0pt; border: none; mso-border-right-alt: solid #B3AF99 .75pt; mso-element: para-border-div; padding: 0cm 15.0pt 0cm 0cm;">
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: none; line-height: 115%; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; padding: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;">
<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">We see no need to continue to
regulate the provision of mortgage finance, as it is the lending institutions
rather than the client taking the risk……</span><span style="line-height: 115%;">”<span style="font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></i>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<b><i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The last Labour government (and the ones
before it) borrowed<u> less</u> than Conservative one</span></i></b><br />
<b><i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></i></b>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfSKiou54SK3NAJ-XfiRipiuRhzkC8xJcoPpT78RsofSoCNIkIUcInaXt2viO3NfyTHUUe9ClEG8kTqnbN0YkujaumYj6NZdJPIKRUP_IrXib5OA7NLlLzmvRkQ5m2P-RURg0K2_4iwFw/s1600/gordon-brown.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfSKiou54SK3NAJ-XfiRipiuRhzkC8xJcoPpT78RsofSoCNIkIUcInaXt2viO3NfyTHUUe9ClEG8kTqnbN0YkujaumYj6NZdJPIKRUP_IrXib5OA7NLlLzmvRkQ5m2P-RURg0K2_4iwFw/s320/gordon-brown.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b><i><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">A</span></i></b><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">nd so what about that
Labour spending and borrowing? As hard as it may be to believe, the evidence
from Treasury figures show that as a proportion of GDP, i.e. national income,
during its 13 years the last Labour governments spent and borrowed <b>less </b>than Conservative governments in
the previous 18 years. They also ran up fewer current account deficits and more
surpluses. And this fiscal prudence wasn’t just unique to New Labour. Overall
all Labour governments since the war on average have always borrowed less than
Conservative governments and have always repaid debt more often than the
Conservative ones. The picture is more mixed when it comes to public spending.
Sometimes Conservative governments have spent a greater percentage of GDP and
sometimes Labour governments have. However, overall Conservative governments
have actually spent slightly more of our income. I know all of this is contrary
to what most of us have grown up to believe, but any objective analysis of the
facts shows this to be true.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 18.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">
<b><i><span style="color: #404040; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></i></b>
<b><i><span style="color: #404040; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The National Debt</span></i></b></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 18.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFO-vLrocyJkOSMYArW27Z7CLqxkuapbIQEf8JrAyk8kGPs-cwLiHXT4KgbVLuIBucTMZ-8OioELOGlpDUAid3VIO2zgPNbKmiHGlLvz4iWiuR7pX_DDtDVKOcLXDF30QvkB5IY5IUVcE/s1600/public+debt+from+1692.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFO-vLrocyJkOSMYArW27Z7CLqxkuapbIQEf8JrAyk8kGPs-cwLiHXT4KgbVLuIBucTMZ-8OioELOGlpDUAid3VIO2zgPNbKmiHGlLvz4iWiuR7pX_DDtDVKOcLXDF30QvkB5IY5IUVcE/s320/public+debt+from+1692.png" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 18.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Some
people get very worried over the size of our national debt. They really
shouldn’t! Above is a graph of the UK’s national debt since 1692. Do you notice
anything? Over the past 300 years the country has <b>always</b> been in debt to the tune of at least 20% of our annual
income- even when Britain was at the height of its empire. In fact, the empire
was built on a funding of national debt. Mostly our national debt has been at
or above 50% of our annual income. At real crisis times that debt has shot up
to 150, 200 or even 250% of income- like during the Napoleonic wars (the first
major peak above), the first and second world wars (the second and third big
peaks). After those crisis peaks the debt has then gradually been brought down
again, as can be more clearly seen from the graph below.</span></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 18.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">When
people compare our national debt to a credit card it’s a completely false
analogy. The best </span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwLXKr3SZNh62gMibFjL5GFQtv9Vo5uEICAgdThgUBu8jstpGzxYQUDFubRSgcszjcKy6Ed0kZ81TbImgNcCIM6Lp_TASLAS7L9-Sc6t8-ySTcMA489eT75_6pXjxU-jyItn5xxGkLX_A/s1600/debt+since+1900.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="205" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwLXKr3SZNh62gMibFjL5GFQtv9Vo5uEICAgdThgUBu8jstpGzxYQUDFubRSgcszjcKy6Ed0kZ81TbImgNcCIM6Lp_TASLAS7L9-Sc6t8-ySTcMA489eT75_6pXjxU-jyItn5xxGkLX_A/s320/debt+since+1900.png" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">domestic analogy is a mortgage, but a mortgage to an immortal
man. Even now our national debt is less than a year’s worth of our national income-
at 89% or 0.9 times our annual income. Few of us would have concerns over
paying a mortgage of a lot more than 0.9 x our annual income.Banks commonly
lend up to 3 or 4 x a person’s annual income, i.e. 300 or 400%. The thing with
a mortgage is that since individually we won’t live forever we do have to pay
it off after 25 years. But countries aren’t people so they’re not expected to
die. Therefore, it isn’t a problem that as a country we continue to carry a
debt, as long as we can keep paying up the interest on the debt. The reality is
that in modern times we have always had a national debt and we always will. No
one has any intention to ever pay it off. It just isn’t the sort of thing you
pay off. It’s public debt that keeps economies moving. It always has and it
always will. (In fact the UK is not just a debtor it’s a global creditor to
others and is actually owed rather more than it owes.).Of course, if we let the
debt get too big that’s not a good thing as this will increase the interest
payments on the debt and can cause a loss of confidence in the country’s
ability to pay. However, we are a long way from that point. Many developed
countries carry a rather higher national debt than we do. Currently Japan’s
national debt is at 250% of GDP and the USA’s at 104%. In fact some of the
countries with the lowest national debts are some of the poorest eg Afghanistan
at 6.6% and Equitorial Guineau at 6.4%.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><!--[if gte vml 1]><v:shape id="Picture_x0020_4" o:spid="_x0000_i1026"
type="#_x0000_t75" alt="http://www.ukpublicspending.co.uk/include/ukgs_chart4p03.png"
style='width:292.5pt;height:187.5pt;visibility:visible;mso-wrap-style:square'>
<v:imagedata src="file:///C:/Users/user/AppData/Local/Temp/msohtmlclip1/01/clip_image002.png"
o:title="ukgs_chart4p03"/>
</v:shape><![endif]--><!--[if !vml]--><!--[endif]--></span><span style="line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"> In 2007 before the Global Financial Crisis our
national debt was at a very moderate 36%- actually below its historic average
of the last 300 years, and <b>less</b> than
the 40% the Labour had inherited from the Tories. It is therefore simply untrue
that Labour had built up an excessive debt before the crisis. And, as we’ve
seen, that crisis had nothing to do with our national debt anyway. Of course,
once the crisis happened the Labour government had no alternative but to pump into
many billions to a rescue fund for our banks to prevent our economy sinking.
That is why our national debt surged after the crisis, but it still reached
nothing like the peaks following the world wars. Under Labour its post crisis
peak in 2010 was about 60%. Under the Coalition/Tory governments however the
debt has continued to rise and now stands at 89%. Unfortunately their
ham-fisted austerity policies have proved to be self-defeating. It has put a
break on economic growth and therefore held back our national income which
should have helped us get the debt under control sooner.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span>
<b><i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">The
annual deficit</span></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The
Tories also got us all very worried about “the deficit” and how Labour can’t be
trusted with that either. In 2010 they pledged to eliminate the deficit by
2015, which they failed to. They then moved their goalposts and planned to get
rid of it by 2020.. They’ve now admitted they will also fail to do that and
have moved their goal posts a second time to 2025! So
what is “the deficit”? The current bu dget deficit is the annual difference
between the government’s day to day spending and its income (principally from
tax receipts). This covers things like running our NHS, police, schools and
paying pensions & benefits. It excludes investment in capital projects,
e.g. new roads and new schools built. In 2017 the current budget deficit stands
at approx. £14 billion. That is just under 1% of GDP and so in itself not a
significant problem when the interest rates we must pay on any increase in debt
are so low. George Osborne really shouldn’t have got so stressed about it! Overall it is better to keep the annual
current deficit low or in a slight surplus, to avoid unnecessarily adding to
the national debt . But can Labour be trusted to manage our deficit? What is
their actual record in government like compared to the Tories? Well, have a
look at the chart below.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjF1id6_lOerKKSocYullHCBJiaxagXuOZbWl5JPLQRfMEZtriofIYjkKuBrED0awTkBM5MNCpxIcma978rn0rw39WzeshMCR9RHJ-XGIgc2jIJ46ZEekuf5oK7qBBatufhZOgq6HxuPQE/s1600/deficit+since+the+war.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="205" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjF1id6_lOerKKSocYullHCBJiaxagXuOZbWl5JPLQRfMEZtriofIYjkKuBrED0awTkBM5MNCpxIcma978rn0rw39WzeshMCR9RHJ-XGIgc2jIJ46ZEekuf5oK7qBBatufhZOgq6HxuPQE/s320/deficit+since+the+war.png" width="320" /></span></a></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><!--[if gte vml 1]><v:shape id="Picture_x0020_3" o:spid="_x0000_i1025"
type="#_x0000_t75" alt="http://www.ukpublicspending.co.uk/include/ukgs_chartDp03t.png"
style='width:292.5pt;height:187.5pt;visibility:visible;mso-wrap-style:square'>
<v:imagedata src="file:///C:/Users/user/AppData/Local/Temp/msohtmlclip1/01/clip_image003.png"
o:title="ukgs_chartDp03t"/>
</v:shape><![endif]--><!--[if !vml]--><!--[endif]--></span><span style="line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">We
can see that for 30 years after the war all governments- Labour and Conservative-
ran current surpluses as they both strove to bring down the high national debt
built up in war. It was the Labour governments of Attlee and Wilson who
achieved highest surpluses at 6.3% (1950) and 7.6% (1970). The lowest surplus
of 0.9% was under the MacMillan conservative government (1961)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">Then
for 15 years (1975 to 1989) successive Labour and (mostly) Conservative
governments ran fairly small deficits, the highest being at 2.2% under Mrs
Thatcher’s Conservative government in 1981. Then in 1989 under Mrs Thatcher we
briefly went into surplus again (at 1.9% of GDP). However, under John Major’s
conservative governments we soon went into deficit again, particularly after
the ERM crisis/recession. Under him the deficit peaked at 5.7% in 1994 before
gradually declining. It was then the New Labour government that brought it into
surplus in the late 90s/early 00s, maxing out at a 2.3% surplus in 2001. Labour
then ran small deficits but at historically fairly low levels of less than 2%.
By 2007 they had brought this down to about £10 billion- 0.6% of GDP (lower
than currently at just under 1%). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Following
the Global Financial Crisis of 2008 and the unavoidable bankers’ bailout the
deficit temporarily ballooned again in 2009. In 2010 it peaking at 6.9% (£50
billion). Since then it has been gradually reduced to £14 billion/just under 1%
of GDP. However, it is still higher than it was under New Labour before the
Crisis.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<b><i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">So can
Labour be trusted to manage the nation’s money?Based on their record-yes!<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">Yes
absolutely- based on the historic record. The overall record shows that, contrary
to public misperception, Labour governments, including the last Labour
governments, have actually borrowed less and run lower current account deficits
and more surpluses than Conservative governments. Furthermore, before the
bankers caused the GFC and recession public debt was at historically relatively
low figures and we had an unremarkably modest and declining small current
account deficit. The Labour party would actually have a very strong case for
libel for being falsely accused of having been financially reckless so as to
have caused or contributed to the crash. It is so very far from the truth that you
have to say it’s not merely misleading spin but a bare-faced lie.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<h3 style="background: white; margin-bottom: 6.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 12.0pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><strong><i><span style="line-height: 115%;">The more important economic issues are employment and
economic activity. Here too Labour have a better record </span></i></strong><i><span style="line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></span></h3>
<div>
<strong><i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></i></strong></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQrxCIKQdc1xPG0lKAU4ekTFHUrfI4FvGTb_ua43sk5ja-R7M0enhOZrf9dbGPLP7PnpFmA_MPWCr-FBjoIIg480gTtWOOL72YqJpzXeS0zC6v1Q1NGDd0B1xlGwePOxrGRKn6CtjD0-M/s1600/employment.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="187" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQrxCIKQdc1xPG0lKAU4ekTFHUrfI4FvGTb_ua43sk5ja-R7M0enhOZrf9dbGPLP7PnpFmA_MPWCr-FBjoIIg480gTtWOOL72YqJpzXeS0zC6v1Q1NGDd0B1xlGwePOxrGRKn6CtjD0-M/s320/employment.png" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div style="background: white; line-height: 115%;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">Whilst Labour’s record on
managing the nation’s debt is actually better than the Conservative, there are
in fact rather more important indications of economic performance. As the great
economist Maynard Keynes said, it’s the state of employment and the growth or
decline in national income (economic growth) that really matter. Look after
employment and improve national income and the budget should look after itself.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">During
the last labour governments up to the Crisis the UK enjoyed a period of 10
years of steady economic growth-</span><span style="line-height: 115%;">
the longest uninterrupted period of growth in 200 years.</span><span style="line-height: 115%;">
The UK’s growth of GDP per capita – 1.42% a year between 1997 and 2010 – was
better than in any of the other “G6” countries: Germany (1.26%), the US
(1.22%), France (1.04%), Japan (0.52%) and Italy (0.22%). </span><span style="line-height: 115%;"> <em><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Under New Labour</span></em></span><span style="line-height: 115%;"> UK’s strong productivity performance relative to other countries was a
continuation of the trends during the period of Conservative governments from
1979. By 2007, the UK still lagged behind the US , but the gap had closed to
33%. In fact, the UK had a faster catch-up of GDP per head with the US under
Labour than under the Conservatives.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">Since 2010 our GDP per head (the
only way to sensibly measure real income) has flatlined or fallen below most of
our competitors and relative to them. Our economic productivity has plummeted,
well below the likes of France and Germany. In terms of their economic output
average French and German workers do more in four days than we do in five.
Incredibly, despite her anti-immigration rhetoric, the only thing that stops
our gross GDP from looking too bad is our net immigration. Immigrant workers
have usually been more productive and their numbers have increased the
population so that our gross total income has increased even as our income per
head has fallen in real terms. Their numbers make the fact that our economic
growth has flatlined and productivity fallen (see eg Angry Voice “<i>How The Tories used mass migration to fake a
recovery</i>”)<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In
depth research by the likes of the London School of Economics has found that
many of the last <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Labour governments’
policies were beneficial for economic growth, and that this growth was not all
an unsustainable ‘bubble’, (as some suggest) but was based on some real
productivity increases fed by growth in new skills and technology. Where they
did fall down is where the Tories (according to their</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-style: normal;"> own</span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"> stated policies) would have done </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-style: normal;">even worse-</span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"> financial regulation.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><em><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></em></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">As for unemployment, </span><span style="line-height: 115%;">since 1970, the best
average annual unemployment rate was achieved by the Heath Conservative
government of 1970/4 with 3.4%, and by far the worst under the 1979/97
Conservative governments, with an average annual rate of 9.3%, and exceeding
10% for 6 full years. The 1974/9 Labour government had an average rate of
4.9%, and the 1997-2010 government 5.6%. The 2010-15 Coalition
government’s average rate was 7.6%. Overall, therefore Labour governments have
had a better record on employment than Conservative governments.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">However,
when considering the state of employment today we need to look not just at the
number of unemployed/employed but the nature of that employment and what it
pays. Since 2010 especially we are now in an age of casualised, fragmented and
often partial employment.</span><span style="line-height: 115%;">
Of course earnings took a a hammering following the crash, but under
Conservative led governments since 2010 in real terms they have continued to
fall.</span><span style="line-height: 115%;">
We have s</span><span style="line-height: 115%;">een real
wages decline by about 8</span><span style="line-height: 115%;">% in real terms<b> since</b></span><span style="line-height: 115%;"> the crisis, briefly</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"> mending and now in
fact declining again</span><span style="line-height: 115%;">.
This contrasts with most of our competitors who have actually turned things
around to produce real wage growth.</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"> Between 2007 and 2015 our UK wage growth
declined by 10% in real terms, putting us right at the bottom of the league for
pay growth of developed nations, equal with Greece. On average OECD countries experienced
wage growth of 6.7%, with Germany 14% and France at 11%.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<b><i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">The Future-
an economic plan to revitalize the economy- Labour have one. The Tories don’t<o:p></o:p></span></i></b><br />
<b><i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></i></b>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLhzJ7pMVjNJxoSoqmxb5a2rCvjuv0EszXSU0s-ldpnNRMGe5rP-6oFygF_dSqf1KY2oJoqBywxVbWYUrKCzb90DCDO4yuX2rEwlJej0oNNyzFBXSAulPLqo3pYRFYVPD7R9H2nHHnOxs/s1600/keep+calm+and+plan+for+the+future.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLhzJ7pMVjNJxoSoqmxb5a2rCvjuv0EszXSU0s-ldpnNRMGe5rP-6oFygF_dSqf1KY2oJoqBywxVbWYUrKCzb90DCDO4yuX2rEwlJej0oNNyzFBXSAulPLqo3pYRFYVPD7R9H2nHHnOxs/s320/keep+calm+and+plan+for+the+future.jpg" width="274" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Interest
rates are currently at a historic low point. Meanwhile the country’s
infrastructure is crying out for investment and our economic growth is
flatling. At such a time it makes far more economic sense to increase the debt
to invest The economic growth resulting from such investment potentially should
earn us a lot more than the extra interest we will pay. (This after all was how
Britain grew its empire). This is why most economists welcome Labour’s £250
billion national transformation fund. And if we get the bad Brexit deal many
fear such an economic shot in the arm will be essential to prevent a severe
economic recession. The Conservatives present no such plan in their own
manifesto.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<b><i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></i></b>
<b><i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></i></b><br />
<b><i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">Conclusion-
it’s the Tories not Labour who can’t be trusted with our economy</span></i></b><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The
myth is that Labour are financially reckless, overspent beyond our means which
led to the 2008 crash and the austerity and low wage economy we are all
suffering from. Meanwhile only the Conservatives know how to manage prudently
the nations’ finances to bring about the economic growth that will benefit us
all. The truth is very different. As the above analysis shows, Labour
governments, including the New Labour governments, have actually more carefully
managed the nation’s finances than Conservative governments, borrowing less
than them. Recent labour governments have also overall achieved better real
economic growth and employment rates than recent Conservative governments. The
Global Financial Crisis which led to recession and increased national debt was
not in any way caused by the Labour government’s management of the nations’
money. If there was any fault by them it was in failing to more tightly
regulate our banks. However, the Conservatives would only have regulated them
less!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; text-align: center;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; text-align: center;">The
austerity economics of the recent Conservative governments have been largely
self-defeating and have not helped prevent our national debt rising further.
They have led to the Conservatives twice failing their own targets for wiping
out the annual budget deficit. Their approach initially took the economy into
recession and then led to only weak growth and the longest period of decline in
real wages for over 50 years.</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVe8J-us8377iA4bBQlIGVD1jKcNtB86IT9UUuub1nDWRiwdt0N5_SVUibqc4YIdL03830BzSj_xwWhCMaOCIdXIkMcyupJqZGqcM2lcD9SVIu8Cz6498vJXmVpy1j3Mm7yQO9Hef-kC0/s1600/George+Osborne.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="161" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVe8J-us8377iA4bBQlIGVD1jKcNtB86IT9UUuub1nDWRiwdt0N5_SVUibqc4YIdL03830BzSj_xwWhCMaOCIdXIkMcyupJqZGqcM2lcD9SVIu8Cz6498vJXmVpy1j3Mm7yQO9Hef-kC0/s200/George+Osborne.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The
reality is the Conservatives’ reputation for economic competence is completely
unjustified. And their current manifesto certainly does nothing to change that:</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: -18pt;">Unlike Labour they give no detailed costings to explain how
they would pay for any of their manifesto spending and tax cutting commitment. This
of course is just what you’d expect from a Conservative party which has always
been<b> less</b> careful with our money
than Labour</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> Most economists agree that their stated approach to Brexit if
followed would be economically disastrous as there will be no free trade deal
without accepting freedom of movement which they have made their red line.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> Most economists also agree that their stated approach to immigration
to bring it down to 10,000s would be similarly economically disastrous as
national demographics mean we need net migration of at least 200,000 for the
foreseeable future.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> Unlike Labour they have no plan to reinvest and revitalize
our economy which it will badly need after Brexit.</span></li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr6Lon_LArEfTRWcQ6Pw52jgVWQg3hflU1LesGjyBi_Bc9YdRZAKttrPT0yexQk6Sa3WrmCqelow_t1tgke0LakOjM2WB1n22xRoI79w0Q0XOpUm3BDRQiqpNs9DUnn-fXDMUCwOYH9UM/s1600/John+McDonnell.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="149" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr6Lon_LArEfTRWcQ6Pw52jgVWQg3hflU1LesGjyBi_Bc9YdRZAKttrPT0yexQk6Sa3WrmCqelow_t1tgke0LakOjM2WB1n22xRoI79w0Q0XOpUm3BDRQiqpNs9DUnn-fXDMUCwOYH9UM/s200/John+McDonnell.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhclfONgBJzxxG2iBrwr-fJEkaB4nIpWzpX2wZNYQyqth7TXD5z0WwPLwECgA7-3WQ1ejYRaKxpAXWqRYpx2mn6o-Epv9J_CK4HSTUlMf3eZbCSAFpW8BiiiGdsQNT_93bY89MZ6ZJ5nYk/s1600/may+and+hammond.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="126" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhclfONgBJzxxG2iBrwr-fJEkaB4nIpWzpX2wZNYQyqth7TXD5z0WwPLwECgA7-3WQ1ejYRaKxpAXWqRYpx2mn6o-Epv9J_CK4HSTUlMf3eZbCSAFpW8BiiiGdsQNT_93bY89MZ6ZJ5nYk/s200/may+and+hammond.jpg" width="200" /></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></i>
<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></i>
<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></i>
<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></i>
<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></i>
<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></i><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></i><br />
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></i>
<i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></i>
<i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">F</span></i><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">or further details
of the research behind the above analys</span></i><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">is see e.g. LSE’s “Labour’s Social
Policy Record: Policy, Spending and Outcomes 1997-2010”, Tax Research UK
website e.g. the article “The Conservatives Have been the biggest borrowers
after the last 70 years” and <a href="http://www.ukpublicspending.co.uk/"><span style="font-style: normal;">w</span><span style="font-style: normal; line-height: 115%;">ww.ukpublicspending.co.uk</span></a></span><span style="line-height: 115%;">, Global Future Report on UK immigration needs
Feb 2017 and "Angry Voice". </span></i>Jeremy Hortonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14040288077436997446noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1711610253004091876.post-18042070055563432262017-05-19T02:17:00.000-07:002017-05-21T13:54:10.626-07:00Unmasking The Myths- The 3 Big Tory Myths- Labour Crashed the Economy, Stopping the Scroungers and The Right to Buy<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4D3oMKdNR_Muatisx-9CdHR4IPJh0UAyuIGxRAHFsKYBIUCsf-MH6Y70E3bm0LBnHA95VGEG_9IYn1mrNNe24xIsIWt2liDXVk3_O3bNaptZdNHMT2m2FaPHziyGns5G89sSnSJPlj9Y/s1600/mythical+creature.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0HC9veQ2hE0O1yKmbpmO0J4sbRgyPjWqhF2tEi19NmUfXCdJT5HPdnFcfXZQHxLmE71RmHg12xBPIPdIl6wmpCMF_Kw2USO-yNTcqTsxwXgQJb4uV75cL55BwP0cff8iqb971-PZxFCY/s1600/Mythical-Creature-Dragon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="131" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0HC9veQ2hE0O1yKmbpmO0J4sbRgyPjWqhF2tEi19NmUfXCdJT5HPdnFcfXZQHxLmE71RmHg12xBPIPdIl6wmpCMF_Kw2USO-yNTcqTsxwXgQJb4uV75cL55BwP0cff8iqb971-PZxFCY/s200/Mythical-Creature-Dragon.jpg" width="200" /></a><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4D3oMKdNR_Muatisx-9CdHR4IPJh0UAyuIGxRAHFsKYBIUCsf-MH6Y70E3bm0LBnHA95VGEG_9IYn1mrNNe24xIsIWt2liDXVk3_O3bNaptZdNHMT2m2FaPHziyGns5G89sSnSJPlj9Y/s200/mythical+creature.jpg" width="200" /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhs4uoRCeOdth1YhcXq3DNBvSjkeUU5DhIYsg1tzEjYpEKDoPl2WPjyRWGuLjel68QwhfXKMWWg-rnMGX5ptdd0hDT4Vja4-mlNm8VaO8JGExerYfGjca_R12kkp48vlyd8Fgp0UDmR_XQ/s1600/mythical+creature+beast.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhs4uoRCeOdth1YhcXq3DNBvSjkeUU5DhIYsg1tzEjYpEKDoPl2WPjyRWGuLjel68QwhfXKMWWg-rnMGX5ptdd0hDT4Vja4-mlNm8VaO8JGExerYfGjca_R12kkp48vlyd8Fgp0UDmR_XQ/s200/mythical+creature+beast.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhs4uoRCeOdth1YhcXq3DNBvSjkeUU5DhIYsg1tzEjYpEKDoPl2WPjyRWGuLjel68QwhfXKMWWg-rnMGX5ptdd0hDT4Vja4-mlNm8VaO8JGExerYfGjca_R12kkp48vlyd8Fgp0UDmR_XQ/s1600/mythical+creature+beast.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br /></a>
You could be forgiven for thinking that the Conservative party were not taking
part in this election. Just as the recent French election spawned Emmanuel
Macron' s En Marche, our election has witnessed the birth of Theresa and her
team who seem to have replaced the
Conservatives. But, of course, beneath the clever marketing spin it is
the same Conservative party following the same type of policies and values of
the last 40 years. (A very different animal to the one that preceded it for 30
years before that.).</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1E67SXbYuTBpm5mc3GxT9YnJbJ9nFVMOaDTKqIythyphenhyphen9-46yNSpIH-HXe1NKB6NaCYB83Ra7b12B-bQ3ERhFxco-meRgLAL9P3Y36dV38bs3T55js6NrkWORc20uG5jn6F4Dips12UBTo/s1600/Theresa+country+that+works+for+everyone.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="129" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1E67SXbYuTBpm5mc3GxT9YnJbJ9nFVMOaDTKqIythyphenhyphen9-46yNSpIH-HXe1NKB6NaCYB83Ra7b12B-bQ3ERhFxco-meRgLAL9P3Y36dV38bs3T55js6NrkWORc20uG5jn6F4Dips12UBTo/s200/Theresa+country+that+works+for+everyone.png" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYKj1rcSkEnvXd-rRrokkOErRC4i26EON4KfdqN54LKW2mudqV9uLydyL3xGms38tLrzddYGPgp21c2VCGVNkZOEToZflL7wYenU2aH1OP2pysvSVMFKsiVQpbXQ-EiqkQnHpt_PS92TI/s1600/David-Cameron+spoon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="132" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYKj1rcSkEnvXd-rRrokkOErRC4i26EON4KfdqN54LKW2mudqV9uLydyL3xGms38tLrzddYGPgp21c2VCGVNkZOEToZflL7wYenU2aH1OP2pysvSVMFKsiVQpbXQ-EiqkQnHpt_PS92TI/s200/David-Cameron+spoon.jpg" width="200" /></a><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqHOGw8s7qlUW_3cYWvrdRuRPmrbYHHTYxxEnaksF1tK1n4dwVOnfEbUCJgjpz4VeRuEmtTmmssToWDP4rMfOrN3ZZAEhw1ZEWEqveTiLFxJqiKKyHffLHWt4P9ZwVnAHSk7jgOGSNpi4/s1600/Margaret-Thatcher1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="125" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqHOGw8s7qlUW_3cYWvrdRuRPmrbYHHTYxxEnaksF1tK1n4dwVOnfEbUCJgjpz4VeRuEmtTmmssToWDP4rMfOrN3ZZAEhw1ZEWEqveTiLFxJqiKKyHffLHWt4P9ZwVnAHSk7jgOGSNpi4/s200/Margaret-Thatcher1.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
There are many good and intelligent people who habitually vote Conservative,
many of whom also share my Christian faith. Some of them, just like many
habitual Labour voters, won’t have given much thought to this political
allegiance. For some it's an almost tribal thing, something inherited from your family perhaps; a bit like which
football team you support. You're either a red or a blue (unless you're one of
those odd ball yellows, greens or
purples!). However, for those who have given it any thought I would suggest
that the reason why they are a habitual Conservative voter is probably that
they have bought into one or more of three key big ideas:</div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
• that only the Conservatives are economically competent to run the country and
Labour are financially reckless (“Labour crashed the economy")<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
• the merits of free enterprise and self-reliance with the
minimum of state interference (“the right to buy”);<br />
• the need to stop the freeloaders and benefit cheats trying to get something
for nothing and who are ripping us all off (“stopping the scroungers")<br />
<br />
I will suggest that an examination of
the evidence of the last nearly 40 years shows there is very little basis in
fact for these ideas. They are basically
myths. Many of these myths are now so embedded in popular thinking that
they are very difficult to dislodge. However, myths are still myths no matter
how many people may believe them. And these myths need unmasking so that the
truth is exposed.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
I will expose each of these three myths in turn in my next blogs.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<br /></div>
<i>There are other big ideas/myths like the
Conservatives being the true defenders of the realm, bringing law and order or
sticking up for traditional “Christian” moral values. However, I believe these
ideas generally hold rather less sway. (Their supposed reputation for
controlling immigration is subsumed within the Brexit issues addressed in my
previous article). </i><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><br /></i></div>
Jeremy Hortonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14040288077436997446noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1711610253004091876.post-87697051322864120952017-05-10T16:35:00.000-07:002017-05-21T13:42:03.342-07:00Unmasking the Myths - The Three Big Brexit Myths- Immigration,Controlling our Laws & Better Off Alone<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimGCzIRruQsf2C6aci-KLbMUeWm4oSlOCUgoub3yOgDEWStNjiBc2IEyqZp7JFY7exnSlkTHtdUTQ77UKNyvIYa3raMtzj_4F_e1TKDI9btAyUc-T6EqaVqsqcQgh2oLFEhnpE3CSUZfQ/s1600/Theresa+Britannia.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimGCzIRruQsf2C6aci-KLbMUeWm4oSlOCUgoub3yOgDEWStNjiBc2IEyqZp7JFY7exnSlkTHtdUTQ77UKNyvIYa3raMtzj_4F_e1TKDI9btAyUc-T6EqaVqsqcQgh2oLFEhnpE3CSUZfQ/s400/Theresa+Britannia.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><br />
<span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">If you believe our Prime
Minister Brexit is what this election is all about: to give the country the
strongest possible leader with the strongest possible backing so that they can
secure the best possible Brexit deal for the country.</span><span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Theresa May had been a
lifelong supporter of the EU. Like her mentor Margaret Thatcher she was a
strong advocate of the economic benefits of being part of the Eu’s single
market. However, all that changed a year ago. Immediately following the
referendum, she appears to have had a dramatic conversion to become a born
again Brexiteer. Since that epiphany, the cornerstone of Theresa May’s Brexit
vision has not been the economic benefits of free trade with Europe but to
ensure “we” have complete control over immigration and over our laws. Sure, she
wants the best trade deal she can get with Europe but if the price of control
means the loss of free trade that’s a price she is happy to pay; whatever
economic damage it causes, apparently. Yet the clear implication of her message
is that wrapped in her union jack under her “strong and stable leadership” her “red
white and blue” Brexit will deliver it all. Not only will she bring us full
control over our borders and laws but we can have a great trade deal with the
EU too without having to be shackled to the single market. It’s Boris Johnson’s
“we can have our cake and eat it.” </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">In this article I will
explain why, I’m afraid, the vision of Brexit she paints is one huge deception,
designed simply to get her elected with the biggest possible majority. It is a
deception built on three big myths. Each of those myths plays very directly to
the gallery of popular opinion and prejudice:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l5 level1 lfo6; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
</div>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; text-indent: -18pt;">The need to
reduce net immigration below 100,000 a year</span></li>
<li> The need to take
back control of most of our laws from the EU</li>
<li> <span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; text-indent: -18pt;">That we will be
economically better off alone</span></li>
</ul>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">However, as I will explain, all
the evidence points</span><i style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">to very different
results for Theresa May’s proposed path to Brexit:</span><br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l3 level1 lfo7; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
</div>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; text-indent: -18pt;">Only a modest
reduction in net immigration</span></li>
<li> A likely <b style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; text-indent: -18pt;">reduction</b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; text-indent: -18pt;"> in democratic control of our
laws</span></li>
<li> No free trade
with the EU and resulting serious economic damage (which cannot be offset by
free trade deals elsewhere).</li>
</ul>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">This will be rather more like
Boris Johnson’s “</span><i style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Titanic </i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">success” of
a Brexit.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHjoWmJcMTZL6Ut4qyY6uaRHUmgXOTdBd8MtFU540IoG8vyP7Z42ssSvz_YzncYUicib1PSs0ylgz0dvYKb5KAEoowCoylaK55txDxgWUSL8sGIdh7P9-0BBLPzOtscbCFxJzBfJ7eXD4/s1600/Titanic+success.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHjoWmJcMTZL6Ut4qyY6uaRHUmgXOTdBd8MtFU540IoG8vyP7Z42ssSvz_YzncYUicib1PSs0ylgz0dvYKb5KAEoowCoylaK55txDxgWUSL8sGIdh7P9-0BBLPzOtscbCFxJzBfJ7eXD4/s320/Titanic+success.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Anyone who knows anything
about how the EU works will tell you that Boris Johnson’s “we can have our cake
and eat it” Brexit is just a deluded fantasy. (Just ask the Greeks!). This has just
been spelt out to us by the leaders of the EU itself and the
leader of the two most powerful leaders of European nations- Germany and
France.</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> In basic terms, there are really only two
types of Brexit on the menu. There's hard boiled; outside the EU single free
trade market and customs union but with complete control of EU immigration and
our own laws. Then there’s soft boiled; still in the single free trade market
and the customs union (or a deal that amounts to about the same thing) but
accepting free movement to/from EU and EU laws governing the market. Though
they may try to dress it up a bit differently the government is basically going
for the hard Brexit and Labour the soft Brexit. (And the Lib Dems would like no
Brexit at all). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">A large swathe of “working
class voters” in the North and Midlands, traditionally more typical Labour
supporters, voted Leave in the Referendum. They did so because they were
deceived by one or more of the big Brexit myths. Those same voters are now
overwhelmingly intending to vote Tory because they believe only the Tories’ born
again Brexiteer leader Theresa May can be trusted to deliver the proper Brexit
they voted for i.e. a pure, hard Brexit. Therefore, the same myths that
deceived them into voting Leave are now alive and well in this election. As the
Prime Minister knows only too well it is those Brexit myths coupled with the “strong
and stable” leader myth that will potentially deliver her the keys to no. 10. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">If you want to understand why
I am convinced the reasons for Theresa May’s Brexit plans are just myths then
please read on. Note, like all myths there is a superficial basis of truth to
them, but scratch beneath the surface and you’ll find there’s no substance to them. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><u><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Brexit Myth 1- Controlling our Borders- <i>The Evils of Immigration</i></span></u></b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<b><u><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><i><br /></i></span></u></b>
<b><u><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><i><br /></i></span></u></b>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHhpq0KGwn5f5wZhmArR5nUv5IchhKGHEUSB1xur7xjaTKUmxJD578WXq1xRdJgdyjR7c9DOj0pqC_7H1-ZNoCSpauZHbzLzmudrvgKH4RLVYEFBOlwT1ojqrYfL4J2Kk-XBKcZPYnAiE/s1600/breaking+point.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHhpq0KGwn5f5wZhmArR5nUv5IchhKGHEUSB1xur7xjaTKUmxJD578WXq1xRdJgdyjR7c9DOj0pqC_7H1-ZNoCSpauZHbzLzmudrvgKH4RLVYEFBOlwT1ojqrYfL4J2Kk-XBKcZPYnAiE/s1600/breaking+point.jpg" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">This is a classic case of adding 2 and 2 and
making 5. People see more migrants and at the same time see serious economic
and social problems of failing public services, unaffordable housing and low
wages (while the “rich” just get even richer). They assume there must be link between their
problems and the increased immigration.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Brendan Cox, the widower of the tragically
murdered MP Jo Cox said this government's migration policy is "<i>a masterclass in how to get the crisis
wrong; set an unrealistic target </i>[keep immigration below 100,000]<i>, miss it, report on it quarterly and in
doing so show a complete lack of control heightening concern and fanning the
flames of resentment." </i>At the same time government policies of
austerity and underfunding of public services have exacerbated the problems
that caused the concerns over immigration in the first place.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">The alleged cost and burden of immigration on
the face of it is a strong argument for leaving the single market. In 2015
net immigration into the UK was 1/3<sup>rd</sup> of a million. 20 years
ago it was well below 100,000 a year. It is argued that the current high levels
of immigration place a huge demand on our already overstretched NHS, education
system and housing stock. It is also argued that such high numbers of
immigrants competing with us for jobs creates unemployment and depresses wages,
particularly for the poorest. Because of the EU’s free movement rules the
government has had no control whatsoever over immigration from the EU and
therefore effectively cannot control immigration overall or plan for its
demands.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">But is EU
immigration actually a burden on the UK?</span></b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">EU immigrants through their taxes actually put more into the UK
government coffers than they take out in terms of benefits they receive or
services they use- by £2.5 billion a year</span></b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">. This is
because most EU migrants are younger and fitter than the average UK citizen and
nearly all just come here to work. Most also come to the UK already trained and
geared up for work. This saves the UK billions in education and training,
especially in specialist fields like medicine, science and engineering. At the
lower end, EU migrants also come prepared to do essential jobs that UK citizens
are often reluctant to do, such as care workers or farm labourers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<b><i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;"><br />
</span></i></b><b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">EU
immigrants actually place <u>less</u> demand on NHS and social
services than the rest of us<i> </i></span></b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">because they are younger and fitter than the average UK
citizen. You are far more likely to find EU immigrants caring for you or
your family in hospitals and care homes than being cared for. Although they
make up 4.7% of the UK population they account for 5% or our nurses, 10% of our
doctors (already trained of course) and about 13% of our care workers. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;"><br />
EU immigrants do increase the burdens are in our schools and housing<b><i> </i></b>(although<b><i> </i></b>they
actually take up 3% <b>less</b> social
housing per person than the average UK citizen). However, <b>the question must be asked since the
government is £2.5 billion a year better off from the taxes of EU immigrants
why is it not re-investing that revenue to increase expenditure on schools and
public housing in areas bearing the immigration burden<i>?</i></b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">EU immigration
does not create unemployment or reduce wages</span></b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">In 2003, just before the start of significant EU
immigration our unemployment rate was 5% and the numbers in work 28 million. In
2015, our unemployment rate was still at 5% and numbers in work had increased
to 31.5 million.<b><i> </i></b> EU immigration has very slightly depressed wages for the
lower paid but only by the equivalent of 1p per hour<b>! <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Leaving the EU
single market is unlikely to stop high immigration levels</span></b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Leaving the EU’s free movement zone would
probably reduce net immigration, but probably not by very
much. Immigration to the UK would still almost certainly remain relatively
high because:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 36.0pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 14.0pt; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">1.<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Even now, most of our immigration comes from <u>outside</u> the
EU.</span></b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;"> <b>We
could control and reduce this in theory but the government chooses not to</b>,
mainly because these immigrants are needed to do jobs here. The pledge to
reduce net immigration to below 100,000 which Theresa May has repeated for a
third election in a row is therefore just pure populist propaganda. Don’t forget
that until she became Prime Minister Theresa May was Home Secretary for six
years - the senior Minister responsible for immigration. She couldn’t have done
much about EU immigration, but she had plenty of power to reduce immigration
from elsewhere, i.e. most of it, but chose not to. This exposes her immigration
pledge as a bare faced lie, yet for a third election in a row many people are
falling for it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 36.0pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; mso-list: l6 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">2.<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">We have an ageing native population and a
reducing native workforce to sustain them. <b>We need a significant supply of
labour from overseas to help care for our elderly and do other jobs which not
enough of the natural population want to do</b> (e.g. farm labourers or care
workers) or have enough right skills to do (eg certain scientific/engineering
jobs). If we have less immigrants coming from the EU we will probably only end
up replacing them with immigrants from elsewhere.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 36.0pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">3.<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;"><b>The end of free movement would be a two-way
street.<i> </i>1.2 million Britons currently live in the
EU. </b>Our exit from the EU single market potentially means many of them
returning here if they lose their own benefits of free movement and equal
benefits. Many are going to be economically quite inactive and likely to be
heavier consumers of health and care services.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 14.0pt; margin-left: 36.0pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo5; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">4.<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">There is likely to be a significant <b>increase in
illegal immigration</b>. The new French President Macron has already warned us
that once we leave the EU and its single market France are very unlikely
to maintain our policed border in Calais. Instead we will likely end up with
refugee camps in Dover.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">EU immigration
levels are likely to fall even if we remain in the single market. </span></b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Overall net annual immigration has already fallen by 60,000 between 2015
and 2016. Immigration from the original Eastern members spiked after they
initially joined joined but then levelled out. The same is likely to be true of
the more recent joiners. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">If we leave the
single market immigration from countries outside Europe will inevitably increase. It may even offset reduced
immigration from within Europe. </span></b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">There are two
obvious reasons for this. First, if we lose free trade access to the EU the aim
is to do lots of ambitious trade deals outside Europe with countries like
India. These countries have already told us that the price of freer trade will
be freer movement of their citizens to the UK (Does that sound familiar at
all?) Second, there will be an economic need to recruit immigrants from
somewhere to do jobs that UK citizens can’t or won’t do. This is why in their
more honest moments even hard Brexit ministers like our Foreign Secretary have
admitted that immigration is unlikely to fall significantly when we leave the
single market.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<b><u><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Brexit Myth 2-
taking back democratic control of our own laws<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX8Fj_dbmH8d76hF_UoKLvhR_bZ4QiTrqkW6hur7sH46AAluf00Ppu1a2989mfgzQTk7lKBgtHTWWHylw7vjGNVG9LioG_QxwXaAsKLAWcS6d1wQhPDHPudODJkCsX3-ietI4vTxVwJpQ/s1600/control+our+laws.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="162" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX8Fj_dbmH8d76hF_UoKLvhR_bZ4QiTrqkW6hur7sH46AAluf00Ppu1a2989mfgzQTk7lKBgtHTWWHylw7vjGNVG9LioG_QxwXaAsKLAWcS6d1wQhPDHPudODJkCsX3-ietI4vTxVwJpQ/s320/control+our+laws.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">It is argued that if we remained in the single
market un-elected officials of the EU would still undemocratically impose
oppressive laws on the UK, tying us up in its sticky red tape. How can we
ensure our laws are just and appropriate for us when 75% of our laws are
imposed by the EU? But these arguments do not stand up to the evidence.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 36.0pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">●<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;"> </span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Even as a full EU member the vast majority
of our laws are made here in the UK and not by the EU. About 15 to 50% of our
laws have been partly influenced by EU law, but <b>only about 13% of our laws are substantively European in origin</b>.
However, not all laws are equal in their impact on our everyday lives. Much
of the EU’s laws are very specific in regulating terms of trade in a myriad of
different industries and have no real impact on the wider public.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 36.0pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">●<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Of those EU laws that have a wider impact many of them are actually
beneficial and make life better and fairer</span></b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">, often
protecting ordinary folk from injustice and exploitation by the rich and
powerful. Indeed, our Supreme Court have just forced our government to
comply with EU law by taking action to reduce our air pollution which annually
causes about 40,000 deaths. (Note by the
way decisions of the European Court of Human Rights, eg over prisoner’s voting
rights, have nothing at all to do with the EU).</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 36.0pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">●<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;"> <b>Virtually
all the unjust laws imposed on us in reality come not from the EU but our own
UK government.</b> The EU has no or virtually no power over most areas of
law making that effect our everyday lives (as long as we treat EU nationals
equally). And once we are outside the EU it will have even less power even if
we remained in the single market. Our health service. Our education system. Our
welfare state. Our housing policy. Our taxation policy (save for VAT). Our
armed forces and when and whether we go to war. When I think of all the unjust
laws and government decisions that have made me most angry in recent years I
cannot find any that came from the EU. The bedroom tax, the illegal invasion of
Iraq, reducing welfare benefits for the working (and non-working) poor, the
selling off of control of our public services to private companies, reducing
taxes on the rich and increasing them on the poor, reductions in access to
justice. These laws were all made here in the UK.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 36.0pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">●<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">In employment law the EU provide foundational
underpinnings which our own government cannot remove even if it wanted to.</span></b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;"> These include minimum paid holiday and maternity/paternity leave,
rights of agency workers and maximum working hours. </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 36.0pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">●<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">If we left the single market those trading with the EU are likely to be
tied up in more not less red tape</span></b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;"> because there
are more not less hoops and hurdles for anyone importing or exporting from
outside the single market.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 36.0pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">●<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Shut out from the free trading single market the
government would be desperate to do whatever free trade treaties it can with
non-European countries. <b>A hard Brexit is
likely to mean opening up our public services like the NHS even more open to
foreign companies taking over our public services. </b>(This is potentially what would
have happened with the TITP US/EU deal until European opposition killed it off).
It will be impossible for our government to say no without breaching the treaty
and the resulting damage to our trade. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 36.0pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">●<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Add to this <b>the
Great Reform Bill</b> about to go through Parliament. This <b>will give government ministers Henry VIII type powers to decide which
bits of European law to keep or throw away without any Parliamentary scrutiny
whatsoever</b>. This can only lead to a net loss rather than gain to our
democracy<b>.<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><u><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Brexit Myth 3- Better Off On Our Own<o:p></o:p></span></u></b><br />
<b><u><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></u></b>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheBpqo3pMHRUYgmO6klffFO3dqfHJxO4qPjol_jz3KOcj4843d3xoHRB5kY1tyDCftBWxZC7lG4iB8FVOyV-s-7M2CLRg-NiK0ZJP8zEXY-TZI8Tev3rPAMsiA43DhFQV36lIlFsV-ST8/s1600/better+off+out.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheBpqo3pMHRUYgmO6klffFO3dqfHJxO4qPjol_jz3KOcj4843d3xoHRB5kY1tyDCftBWxZC7lG4iB8FVOyV-s-7M2CLRg-NiK0ZJP8zEXY-TZI8Tev3rPAMsiA43DhFQV36lIlFsV-ST8/s320/better+off+out.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Cost of
contribution to the EU</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">The true cost of our contribution to the EU is
not the “£350 million a week” claimed on those red buses last year. It’s about <b>£100 million a week</b>.<b><i> </i></b>That’s
still a significant sum. However, it is tiny compared to other annual items of government
expenditure; about 0.3%. If we remained within the single market when we left
the EU we would probably pay something close to this (as do countries like
Norway pro rata).The real question is whether we would get value for money for
our annual fee? I would suggest <b>if we
leave the single market we will likely lose a lot more
than we save in membership fees.<i> </i></b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Cost/benefit from
international trade in or out of the single market</span></b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<!--[if gte vml 1]><v:shape
id="image8.png" o:spid="_x0000_i1026" type="#_x0000_t75" alt="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjswWQy_bMbuwjO6D33uwscY2gXXVwKOp9-5JyxLsrPn-yNhbfnfpHkDOXvVbosuZHQVqqbYhQRHbfcdqk5EXVhOv3h90L7aW3a1nVVjJKlBSSlSnRkRZaY52S8Qx63qK_wMqwiSVNdFJ8/s200/european+union.jpg"
style='width:150pt;height:99.75pt;visibility:visible;mso-wrap-style:square'>
<v:imagedata src="file:///C:/Users/user/AppData/Local/Temp/msohtmlclip1/01/clip_image003.png"
o:title="european%2Bunion"/>
</v:shape><![endif]--><!--[if !vml]--><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_gjdgxs"></a><b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">The EU gives us free access without trade tariffs to the biggest single
market in the world of over 500 million people. It is the only market right on
our doorstep and 44% of our current trade is with the EU.<i> </i></span></b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">3 million UK jobs are directly linked to it and
many more jobs are indirectly supported by those jobs. Money coming
into the UK through trade with the EU circulates around the economy like oxygen
carried in our blood. Car manufacturers from outside of the EU single
market typically pay tariffs of at least 10% to export to the EU. The profit
margins on cars made in the UK are also currently about 10%. Therefore, exiting
the single market is likely to make selling our cars to Europe unprofitable
overnight. That’s even before we consider the huge problems for car
manufacturers if we leave the Customs Union, because of how cars are made these
days in Europe; by multiple quick seamless transfers of parts between different
countries. This cannot happen if we leave the Customs Union. An exit from both
the single market and customs union would therefore likely mean the virtual end
of the British car industry and the loss of many thousands of jobs. Hence the
apparently surprising support of Jeremy Clarkson for remaining in the EU!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Membership of this single market also affects
the price we pay for goods and services we buy from Europe. <b>Every single serious economic organisation
who has looked into has advised that if we leave the single market and customs
union the negative effects on international trade would make our government and
most of us significantly worse off than if we remained.</b> The list of the
organisations giving these warnings is lengthy and impressive including;<b><i> </i></b>the
London School of Economics, the National Institute for Economic and Social
Research, the Bank of England, the Institute of Fiscal Studies, the OECD and
the International Monetary Fund. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">90% of
economists </span></b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">who have analysed the data and projected the
likely outcomes<b> have come to the
same conclusion. The outcome of a hard Brexit will be either fairly or very bad
for our national and individual incomes.</b> This is expected to result in
an eventual overall fall in the income the UK generates each (Gross Domestic
Product) of £26 to £55 billion a year<b> due
to a combination of factors resulting from leaving the EU single market;
increased costs of imports, big reductions in foreign direct investment,
reduced productivity and reduced exports.</b> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;"><br />
As a knock-on effect <b>the IFS also
estimates that the UK government itself will lose tax revenues of £20 to £40
billion every year, </b>likely to mean serious spending cuts, tax rises or
both. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">Some might say this is just doom mongering. Just
like George Osborne's threatened post-referendum economic crisis and budget
which never happened. However, this misses the point. We haven’t left the EU or
the single market yet so our economy has yet to experience the harsh reality of
the trade barriers we would face outside the single market.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<b><i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;"><br />
</span></i></b><b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">An </span></b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">additional loss, which may be even harder to quantify is the expected
damage to our scientific research, because of the loss of substantial direct EU
investment in science and the reduction in invaluable knowledge collaboration
with leading scientists throughout Europe. It is not surprising therefore
that 83% of research scientists opposed Brexit and similar arguments apply
to a hard Brexit.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">But won’t the
costs just be borne by the elite? Won’t most of the country, especially the
poorest, be better off?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">No.</span></b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;"> The economic consensus is that the economic cost of a hard Brexit would
not be just born by the rich. The pain would be evenly shared across the income
distribution – every income group, including the poorest, would lose out by
similar proportions. <b>The average
Treasury forecast is that the average household by 2030 would be about
£4,300 a year worse off than if we had remained in the single market.</b> The
Bank of England, the IMF and many economists are concerned that a hard Brexit
could well lead to another recession. Recent experience tells us in a recession
the poorest always suffer most.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">But don’t the EU
need us more than we need them? So surely the EU will just do a trade deal with
us, won't they?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">No</span></b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">. <b>44% of our exports go to
the EU. No other EU country exports more than about 10% of their exports to us.</b>
And the remaining EU countries will know that any loss of exports to us will be
partially offset by exporting more to their EU neighbours to take up the gap in
the market left by us. We have far more to lose than any of the other
individual countries that make up the EU. <b>There is not a single country in (or outside) Europe that has secured a
free trade deal with the EU that has not had to accept free movement of
people</b> within the single market. Just ask Switzerland and Norway.
If we want to do a free trade deal we would have to accept this. All
senior European leaders have told us; the leaders of the EU itself Donald Tusk
and Jean-Claude Junker as well as the leaders of the two most powerful national
leaders Angela Merkel and the newly elected Emmanuel Macron. This is not just
negotiating bluff. The EU inevitably feels there have to be consequences to
leaving the biggest trade club in the world. Otherwise what’s the point of
being a member of the club? They will be determined to halt a domino effect of
other countries following suit and the whole union falling apart. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">And then we come
to the EU divorce<i> </i>bill</span></b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;"> for our share of future EU obligations we had already committed to.
Hopefully it won’t be quite as much as 100 billion euros but most serious
commentators believe <b>it will be 10s of billions</b>. If we
remained in the single market the cost would likely be a fraction of that as we
would still be contributing to the club annually even though we were no longer
a full member.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">But who cares
about trade with Europe anyway as we can just do our own trade deals with the
rest of the world, can’t we?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div>
<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;">We should care
because the European single market is the only market right on our doorstep.</span></b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;"> If we leave the single market undoubtedly Theresa May will be
desperate to deal whatever deals she can with other countries. However, <b>we will be starting two goals down with
other countries</b>. First, the EU already has trade deals with 50
other countries we will lose rights to. Second, we will only be speaking for a
market of 65 million rather than 500 million, so we are unlikely to get as
good a deal or as quickly as the EU. Even President Trump recently had a
change of heart and admitted that doing a deal with the EU would be prioritised
above a deal with the UK.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1711610253004091876" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXC8gd-pIMo1Vp_bXWioAvwl-Q_s9Ezn8gjTqVe1A74Dm25Um8prYHSdfvbHDG16go8F_GwDcHvXPjf6fdLFFsdo-snb377sSb9rl60-8mUYaSSCrN0xQfC7iVT4FPYBL-BUDQWAaTiv0/s1600/Theresa+May+awkward.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="178" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXC8gd-pIMo1Vp_bXWioAvwl-Q_s9Ezn8gjTqVe1A74Dm25Um8prYHSdfvbHDG16go8F_GwDcHvXPjf6fdLFFsdo-snb377sSb9rl60-8mUYaSSCrN0xQfC7iVT4FPYBL-BUDQWAaTiv0/s320/Theresa+May+awkward.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%;">Theresa May’s Brexit vision
is nothing more than a dangerous illusion dreamed up to capture votes (as the
German Chancellor and others have warned us). It does not stand up to any
critical analysis of the hard evidence. </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">The inescapable conclusions are
that her “pure” hard Brexit would leave us all significantly poorer not richer,
will make negligible difference to immigration levels and if anything will make
Britain less not more democratic. </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Frankly if (as I fear) Theresa
May wins the election our best hope is that Theresa May is actually lying to us
(just as she did over the 100,000 net migration target); that despite what she
says, if she cannot get a good trade deal she will sacrifice greater control of
our borders and laws for the economic benefits of the single market. However, if she does that she'd better be prepared for a huge backlash from the millions who'd believed that wrapped in her union jackshe would bring us the "have your cake and eat it" Brexit- complete control of our borders and laws as well as a good trade deal. I'm afraid that just ain't gonna happen.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Jeremy Hortonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14040288077436997446noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1711610253004091876.post-9111715796522709662017-05-03T13:07:00.001-07:002017-05-21T13:33:24.124-07:00Unmasking the myths- false Christian political values<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhS0zasNibZbVElejJLmU-tFLBlwn6zuHbx52LS5rr9OzFjCgVvZTvtA-xFeuOcRc_niS_aXqu9P5FCyhSIEO8Af0N-q1NVVSWLB43nrPFxGXrKd9kedDdhhiIwNNxZsCMbhWDfrDI722Y/s1600/true-false.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="264" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhS0zasNibZbVElejJLmU-tFLBlwn6zuHbx52LS5rr9OzFjCgVvZTvtA-xFeuOcRc_niS_aXqu9P5FCyhSIEO8Af0N-q1NVVSWLB43nrPFxGXrKd9kedDdhhiIwNNxZsCMbhWDfrDI722Y/s400/true-false.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<i><br /></i>
<i><br /></i><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">This blog is written for Christians and anyone of other faiths or none who shares the essential core Christian values seen in the bible and the life of Jesus Christ.</span></i><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjusOwhPqaKWiAp4ihcj5Xca_YRdyeB7gBURGuQ8maOgdiPYF0Cd6Kzr27O7BtD_-tFauTHFEudZTxNtHis4-7luOVgR10I1vtKeJ97aESdnCra1_fJuRYeEzOCij6Pv3Ng1x9DpE36DWw/s1600/7.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjusOwhPqaKWiAp4ihcj5Xca_YRdyeB7gBURGuQ8maOgdiPYF0Cd6Kzr27O7BtD_-tFauTHFEudZTxNtHis4-7luOVgR10I1vtKeJ97aESdnCra1_fJuRYeEzOCij6Pv3Ng1x9DpE36DWw/s1600/7.png" width="186" /></a>In my previous blog I suggested seven key biblical Christian
values we should focus on when deciding how to vote:<br />
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
1. Looking after the poor and marginalised<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
2. Caring for the sick<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
3. Ensuring justice for all<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
4. Ensuring everyone has a fair share<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
5. Looking after the planet<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
6. Keeping peace and order<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
7. Allowing freedom of speech and belief<br />
<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I now look at some worldly political values that we sometimes seem to treat as if they were equally divine. Some of these "false values" certainly contain elements of truth but at best they are only part of the means of achieving true Christian values. Where they conflict with the key
Christian values those values should take precedence. Others of these "false" values are directly opposed to biblical Christian values.<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We all need to check whether we are basing our political
views and votes more on these false worldly values than key Christian values: “...<i>do not believe every spirit, but test
the spirits to see whether they come from God</i>…” (1 John 4;1)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr4cneR4L9jZgtuQeD1Kv-0bZL1JUIcUp-bAuUpIto-KPBLbO3r8-RfQtBxAym1qeoWZO0KQ77kaDB7-Uxhs_mtvqnnsN1BeKrs6o6ueSyIUgZop11R4wOYhnVYl10xG3Ld8XOXcHrE8E/s1600/the+love+of+money.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr4cneR4L9jZgtuQeD1Kv-0bZL1JUIcUp-bAuUpIto-KPBLbO3r8-RfQtBxAym1qeoWZO0KQ77kaDB7-Uxhs_mtvqnnsN1BeKrs6o6ueSyIUgZop11R4wOYhnVYl10xG3Ld8XOXcHrE8E/s200/the+love+of+money.jpg" width="200" /></a><i><b>Freedom to do what we want with our wealth, property or business</b></i><i><b>/Ensuring maximum
prosperity</b></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><b></b><o:p><br /></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
"<i>For the love of money is the root of all kinds of
evil</i>." (1 Timothy 6:10)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
Pursuit of personal prosperity is a major heresy of one strand of American Evangelicalism. Aiming for maximum
prosperity is a good thing when applied universally. However too often it is as an excuse for selfish gain and allowing the rich to get richer. There
are examples in the bible of God rewarding men with earthly wealth- most
notably Solomon. However Solomon was only rewarded with wealth because he wasn't seeking it (2 Chronicles 1). The bible is very clear that we are not to pursue earthly riches as ends in themselves. This is a sin mentioned far more often than e.g. various sexual
sins that Christians sometimes get very exercised about. Jesus warns "<i>Woe
to the rich</i>" (Luke 6:24) and that "<i>It is easier for a camel to pass through the
eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of heaven</i>." (Matthew 19:24).</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The biblical view is that everything any of us have is
ultimately God's and not our own (Psalm 24:1) and that we have a responsibility to use what
we have to care for others. Part of that will be through charitable giving
which the bible encourages. However even in the much simpler society of early
Israel God laid down clear rules which did not allow people to simply do with
their land and wealth as they choose. Landowners were told not to
harvest their whole fields but leave some for poor (Leviticus 23:22), people were required to tithe and give away a portion of what they received to help those in need (Leviticus 27:30-33/Deuteronomy 26:12-13) and to cancel debts in the jubilee years ie every seven years (Deuternomy 15:1). The Jews were encouraged to freely give <i>in addition</i> to these obligations (Deuteronomy 15:7).<br />
<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
God's concern, writ large throughout the bible, is that the
poor and needy should be provided for . In contrast nowhere does he express any
concern that the rich should be free to choose what they do with
their wealth. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><i><br /></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG-NYaw6mh5aiaO_JMTQYWcQdf3w0s8gp4voU56ByC_x_Se7K_rSUi2LYmmH-TYvazZKOceGGW2xaACR6M1jqMnqYmNPH71bIs-Rc07dVEgzzdtD078RHERQpyxr-7j6jEvlMeYY81zAI/s1600/communism.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG-NYaw6mh5aiaO_JMTQYWcQdf3w0s8gp4voU56ByC_x_Se7K_rSUi2LYmmH-TYvazZKOceGGW2xaACR6M1jqMnqYmNPH71bIs-Rc07dVEgzzdtD078RHERQpyxr-7j6jEvlMeYY81zAI/s200/communism.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<i><b>Working towards total financial equality/ The abolition of private property</b></i><br />
<i><b></b><o:p><br /></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We see in the way the original (imperfect) kingdom of Israel was set up that everyone was to have their own stake in the
land (Numbers 26). As a result, the Lord says, there should been no need for there to be any poor among them (Deuteronomy 15:4). However nowhere does the bible suggest that God aims that all
humans should enjoy exact arithmetical equality. Even in his ultimate
heavenly kingdom there are different rewards depending on how well his
followers have served him eg see the Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14-30). It would therefore be contrary to the biblical principle for the state to take away literally everything an individual owned or earned. (And I know of no mainstream party in the UK that advocates anything close to this).<br />
Some might argue that Acts 4 give us the ultimate pattern for how God wants us to live as
a society- the very first Christians in Jerusalem owning everything in common.
But fantastic though they were. this pattern of complete common ownership seems
to have been a one off special work of the Holy Spirit. The rest of the New
Testament certainly testifies to how the early Christians loved and cared for
each other with their money. They effectively had their own welfare state to
provide for those in the church in need. However nowhere are Christians called
to own everything in common. Likewise whilst Jesus did occasionally call
particular individuals to give away all their possessions (eg Luke 10:17-27), he does not make this a general command. Indeed he commends the repentant tax collector Zacchaeus
for giving away <i>half </i>of what he owed to the poor (Luke 19:10)<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><b>Keeping taxes to the lowest level possible</b></i><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<i><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx9Fsx4-eGOq5nSWq7CJW9LQDwQ3HTQf1QuRjTOXiwGAZ1T6mI54KUjF8cPDj3746p8RjiRniHlKgkl-7ItEHiaqTyQGwDYQ_D6__kWZyeBabiLkU5QWBM0s-KFfTHLwWo5Edep4834aE/s1600/taxation.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="138" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx9Fsx4-eGOq5nSWq7CJW9LQDwQ3HTQf1QuRjTOXiwGAZ1T6mI54KUjF8cPDj3746p8RjiRniHlKgkl-7ItEHiaqTyQGwDYQ_D6__kWZyeBabiLkU5QWBM0s-KFfTHLwWo5Edep4834aE/s200/taxation.jpg" width="200" /></a></b></i></div>
<br />
There is simply no biblical support for this position. All the bible says about taxes is pay them and it acknowledges that they are a good thing needed to allow authorities to govern for the common good:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p><br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
"For the one in authority is God’s servant for your good... Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also as a matter of conscience. This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, who give their full time to governing. Give to everyone what you owe them: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue..."<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
(Romans 13:4-7).<br />
<br />
<i><b>Maintaining the strongest possible armed forces</b></i></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL-70_AarDwWmDKHGIw4QWqX2x1ycf41eZqUpGfukZo4OOdRWDMa3I4GM8EVFULisktd4tiJ8H-OrR6ZiZIFKhTXVtvYBYCr-v9PTtpqqA8c03a5MXQIn6tsuVP7rVPISQ9ojnwq2JAqE/s1600/trump+nuclear.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="149" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL-70_AarDwWmDKHGIw4QWqX2x1ycf41eZqUpGfukZo4OOdRWDMa3I4GM8EVFULisktd4tiJ8H-OrR6ZiZIFKhTXVtvYBYCr-v9PTtpqqA8c03a5MXQIn6tsuVP7rVPISQ9ojnwq2JAqE/s200/trump+nuclear.jpg" width="200" /></a><i><b></b></i></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In this fallen world the state does need armed forces and a
police service to maintain peace and order.
"<i>For the one in authority is God’s servant for your good. But if
you do wrong, be afraid, for rulers do not bear the sword for no reason. They
are God’s servants, agents of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer.</i>"(Romans 13:4). However the main thrust of the Jesus's message is to bring peace and we are
encouraged to be peacemakers. Ultimately all our swords will be turned into
ploughshares (Micah 4:3). That cannot happen until Jesus returns. However, if we believe in a God
of peace surely we should
want a government whose focus is on making peace with its neighbours rather
than preparing for war. Jesus bemoans that the Jewish nation will be destroyed by the Romans because they do not understand what makes the peace. He also promises blessings on the peacemakers (Matthew 5:9).There is no reason why that blessing cannot
apply to governments and nations as much as individuals. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><i>Stopping the benefits scroungers</i></b><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<b><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbcHLY4YSgGH5277E0D6IKZUr6km-wDSUPtAqH5Hij7JeytGaYC9DCyf2wHWMVeqX0tXqXGk6MjLg9V-2LKjeQf4jdhmwGEF2aCRZON33kv4IKTqZBgJpvhMIWo_2JVz5mv95pgiC4bhE/s1600/scroungers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbcHLY4YSgGH5277E0D6IKZUr6km-wDSUPtAqH5Hij7JeytGaYC9DCyf2wHWMVeqX0tXqXGk6MjLg9V-2LKjeQf4jdhmwGEF2aCRZON33kv4IKTqZBgJpvhMIWo_2JVz5mv95pgiC4bhE/s200/scroungers.jpg" width="200" /></a></i></b></div>
<b><i>
</i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><b>/Promoting
self-reliance</b><o:p></o:p></i><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It is true that Paul says those church members who refuse to
work when they can shouldn't be fed by the church (2 Thessalanions 3:10).
However the whole emphasis of bible is compassionate care for the poor and it
suggests we should even accept being taken advantage of- e.g. Jesus in the Sermon
in the Mount tells us we should lend to those who ask of us- even those we don't
expect to pay us back. (Luke 6:33-35). We should also look to Jesus's own example. On two
occasions he miraculously provided food for a crowd of thousands who were in
apparent need of feeding. He did not instruct his disciples to first do a bag check
of each person in the crowd in
case there were a few who were hiding their own food .<br />
<br />
If our priority is not to be taken advantage of rather than providing for need
there is a real danger that we don;t look after poor, because we put in so many
barriers to stop fraud that we also restrict help to those who need it. And as
for structuring welfare to encouage self-dependency nowhere is
that identified as a key biblical Kingdom value. In fact Jesus's message is that we
are to be interdependent on each other and take care of each other as, for ecample, is illustrated in the parables of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37) and the Rich Man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-34).
His message is the very opposite of every man for himself. Actually it’s a
message of one man for everyone! (1 Corinthinas 15:22)<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><b>Restricting
immigration</b></i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><b></b><o:p><br /></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinRg4zUzt6JHPrXKragPGyPkfZILbpu1ORon6bpT_5cdy3UNemXaQ8RQiCWg9kFHIdfPt0qASBgime2W_3QlGPbXDbskyK1mAw5FllQ-RWrzyT8hEgERh42tuDKif9_05G5hYSyid_zjQ/s1600/breaking+point.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="112" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinRg4zUzt6JHPrXKragPGyPkfZILbpu1ORon6bpT_5cdy3UNemXaQ8RQiCWg9kFHIdfPt0qASBgime2W_3QlGPbXDbskyK1mAw5FllQ-RWrzyT8hEgERh42tuDKif9_05G5hYSyid_zjQ/s200/breaking+point.jpg" width="200" /></a>Some restrictions on immigration may (or may not) be a good
thing to manage the economy and help achieve some of the other things that are key
values. However, certainly the bible does not support restricting immigration
as an end in itself. In fact the bible promotes a positive and caring attitude
towards immigrants; “<i>The foreigner
residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself,
for you were foreigners in Egypt</i>.” (Leviticus 19:34) It is even alluded to
in Jesus’s key teaching in Matthew 25; “<i>When
I was a stranger, you welcomed me...</i>” Remember Jesus himself was a foreign refugee in Egypt (Matthew 2:14).<br />
<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><b>Ensuring our country
has as much control as possible over its laws</b></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><b></b><o:p><br /></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAUVSM7eF_JOkblfKgZodMrdt_ZdOFAGh3P-uPs2_si1CQGJouH6DKrBF1IFVyMmPuj81UduSQl3Rfe-I2vd2IZvUHV7-COfkDJnxIPs4JNvN1M6hDCUU2UJgMfWH_1Gbc_1ZL8qqt1s4/s1600/britain+out+of+europe.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="120" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAUVSM7eF_JOkblfKgZodMrdt_ZdOFAGh3P-uPs2_si1CQGJouH6DKrBF1IFVyMmPuj81UduSQl3Rfe-I2vd2IZvUHV7-COfkDJnxIPs4JNvN1M6hDCUU2UJgMfWH_1Gbc_1ZL8qqt1s4/s200/britain+out+of+europe.jpg" width="200" /></a>The only special earthly kingdom recognised by the
bible is the original (pre-Jesus) kingdom of Israel. This kingdom will be fully
realized when Jesus returns and is crowned king of a world-wide
Israel/Jerusalem, which will welcome all nations. The bible recognises
authorities are there for a purpose and it recognises that purpose can be
served by supra-national authorities like the Roman empire as much as
governments of an individual nation. (Romans 13). Outside of Israel, the bible does not suggest
there is anything inherently better about being ruled exclusively by a
country’s own government or a supra national government or a local council or a
mix of all of them. The vision of Micah 4:5, Isaiah 2:4 and of John’s Revelation (Revelation 7:9 and 22:2) is of people from all nations coming together in peace under Jesus. This can never be
achieved until Jesus returns, but it does suggest that nations seeking to work
together in partnership rather than just
going it alone is a godly principle to work towards.<br />
<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><b>Stricter law and punishment</b></i><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<i><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUAvlZV7b8XGFLYa2HVwRkjIe6-edaEbXIDpoJ6iyCrF8jiJyqTHHOwCx9ioX4SrEn0e-0AZssOxpz6_4bRszL8AchZS07P_EbtZarzoqPu_Vb_FhWfee0MNwvm-z_wgtaqjMOZwCaKJw/s1600/strict+law+enforcement.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="132" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUAvlZV7b8XGFLYa2HVwRkjIe6-edaEbXIDpoJ6iyCrF8jiJyqTHHOwCx9ioX4SrEn0e-0AZssOxpz6_4bRszL8AchZS07P_EbtZarzoqPu_Vb_FhWfee0MNwvm-z_wgtaqjMOZwCaKJw/s200/strict+law+enforcement.jpg" width="200" /></a></b></i></div>
The bible does acknowledge the need for criminal law and
punishment to ensure peace and order (see Romans 13). However, we must be very
careful as Christians that we do not apply a strict Old Testament approach to law and
order. Jesus is God’s ultimate revelation who fulfils the Old Testmanent laws
and goes above andf beyond them with his law of love. Ultimately he took the punishment that we all deserve for our sin. Jesus's
approach to law and punishment is gracious and makes clear that there should be room for mercy rather than the strictest application of law and punishment. We
see this in how he stopped the stoning of the adulteress (John 8;7) and in Matthew 25
visiting prisoners is the sort of thing he expects his followers to be doing.
So those advocating stricter law enforcement and punishment risk being on the
wrong side of the debate to Jesus. Biblically it cannot be considered a key
political value.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<b><i>Even sticking to the key Christain values it can still be difficult working out what will best achieve them</i></b><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<b><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsAEMtd5surbjJktTUgUMDaH7JNmQlevH-hxrMjYlbtCUO9yor6qAi16ZOT2ceBBYERiL4N_yR2GBx1aHkgZ5P_ZsvczW9X8HzGot2VmOcStQToXfzY_GmB0dIcdwZ3SyFIx_kRl0oE_A/s1600/question.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsAEMtd5surbjJktTUgUMDaH7JNmQlevH-hxrMjYlbtCUO9yor6qAi16ZOT2ceBBYERiL4N_yR2GBx1aHkgZ5P_ZsvczW9X8HzGot2VmOcStQToXfzY_GmB0dIcdwZ3SyFIx_kRl0oE_A/s200/question.jpg" width="200" /></a></i></b></div>
<br />
Of course, even when we focus on the core Christian values
there will still be difficulties sometimes in working out what policies will
best achieve those values. For example, with Brexit- will a “hard” or “soft” Brexit or no
Brexit at all better help the poor and marginalised, better care for the sick
and better promote peace and security? The answers to that are not immediately
obvious. However, if we take the time and trouble to unmask the myths and get to the actual facts it becomes
much easier to assess what's most likely to achieve those ends.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p><br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><i><br /></i></b>
<b><i><br /></i></b>
<b><i><span style="font-size: large;">A Footnote about some false American political values</span></i></b><br />
<b><i><br /></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdY4fTTYQZJOA8ON66rooiV_X966AeLWO_5BeJ3Cvw0G2b8cDinpBE_dNnQwIlxcIvWb9qShbgl5nGn7kOgyeNemBziVxXVsROhLMGgCgiKcj7kcJC9bxYEnB6Mp9QrHaHP_NE3hdcuZU/s1600/American+politics.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="178" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdY4fTTYQZJOA8ON66rooiV_X966AeLWO_5BeJ3Cvw0G2b8cDinpBE_dNnQwIlxcIvWb9qShbgl5nGn7kOgyeNemBziVxXVsROhLMGgCgiKcj7kcJC9bxYEnB6Mp9QrHaHP_NE3hdcuZU/s200/American+politics.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<div>
<i>The following “false”, supposedly Christian, values are major
party political issues in the USA. Sadly, they were instrumental in putting into
the White House a man who I believe to be the most unsuitable and unchristian President of all time. I
hope one day that the Evangelical church leaders who encourged Christians to vote for this man because of some of these false values will one day have
the wisdom and humility to apologise. I mention them here because they could be a factor in how some may
exercise the vote for an individual candidate.</i></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><b><br /></b></i>
<i><b><br /></b></i>
<i><b>The rights of the
unborn</b></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>I have changed my own position on this recently. I still
believe that abortion generally is wrong. However, that does not make it the
right thing to criminalize it. (Any more than we should say criminalize say
adultery). The notion that abortion (certainly before the third trimester) is
the equivalent of murder is simply not supported by the bible. There are lots of offences against person listed in the
Old Testament laws but abortion is nowhere mentioned among them even though it
certainly happened in Old Testament times. (You can check for
yourself in Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. In fact Numbers even hints at a
divinely delivered form of abortion). It seems clear to me that for
whatever reason God does not equate the destruction of the unborn with murder.
His word actually allows the freedom to choose. (That is not saying that it is right). I think we can allow God to take care of the unborn
child who dies in the mother’s womb and welcome then into heaven. Even if I am
wrong on this ,the lack of any direct reference to abortion in the bible means a tightening of
abortion laws cannot be considered a key biblical Christian value.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><b>The right to bear arms</b><o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Whilst
this may be seen as right under the US constitution a personal right to fire
arms it is directly contrary to biblical
values. This is evident from Jesus’s call to us to be “peacemakers” and to
“turn the other cheek” and his warning to Peter when he used a weapon to try
to prevent Jesus’ arrest that“those who live by the sword die by the sword” (Matthew 26:52).<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><b>Preventing/discouraging
inappropriate sexual behaviour</b></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>This is a more tricky one. There are all sorts of
inappropriate sexual behaviours which are clearly contrary to biblical values.
But where should we draw the line at criminalizing them? As for the very
particular issue of homosexual relationships and gay marriage note thankfully this is not a party political issue in the UK. As a bible believing
Christian who was once very strongly opposed to gay marriage and now supports
it what I acknowledge that there are genuine differences over
interpretation of scripture there. However I would point out that
whatever view one takes this is<b> not</b>
highlighted in the bible as a key issue. There are no more seven references to
homosexual relationships in the whole of the bible (and even where mentioned I
would say it is not talking about monogamousfaithful homosexual relationships). It is not once mentioned by Jesus himself. Contrast this with issues like
poverty and justice and the sins of greed and love of money which are mentioned
many, many times. <o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><b>Capital punishment</b><o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>The Old Testament laws did prescribe capital punishment for more serious offences- not just murder but also adultery. I wonder how many advocates of capital punishment would be happy to see the electric chair or hanging brought back for adultery? (And bear in mind here that Jesus says he who looks at a woman lustfully is guilty of adultery in his heart!) Fortunately for us all Jesus is the ultimate fulfillment of the Old Testament laws who took the punishment we all deserve for our sins. His approach to sin and punishment as we've seen is gracious and merciful , illustrated by his saving the adulteress from stoning with the words, "He who is without sin cast the first stone." I would suggest following Jesus's own example is simply not consistent with capital punishment for any crimes. </i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p><br /></div>
Jeremy Hortonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14040288077436997446noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1711610253004091876.post-56694203015223161462017-04-29T23:31:00.000-07:002017-05-21T13:29:46.587-07:00Unmasking the myths - Key Christian values when choosing who to vote for<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 32.2pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYnNtOg0GRv9SCM1ghicPAV_r5QVe6FaXm3x2DrB7IUeDEvWj8XROxJYBuWVeHHcT1JQnD02pTsJF1LpfI4hzxdnmaWQ2zjxFkmIzB69ggpXP9N0keKsZ2owaNpi_O9w8xCpjl3KX9_PU/s1600/keys.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="295" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYnNtOg0GRv9SCM1ghicPAV_r5QVe6FaXm3x2DrB7IUeDEvWj8XROxJYBuWVeHHcT1JQnD02pTsJF1LpfI4hzxdnmaWQ2zjxFkmIzB69ggpXP9N0keKsZ2owaNpi_O9w8xCpjl3KX9_PU/s400/keys.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><i>What are the key Christian values we should look for when choosing who we vote for?</i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><i><br /></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: 32.2pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
In one sense, there is just one key Christian value that should determine how we vote. It's <i>the</i> Christian value in how
we treat our fellow humans- “love your neighbour as yourself” (Matthew 22:40). As
Jesus says, from that all else flows. Perhaps the clearest
exposition of what this should mean practically is given by Jesus in the
Parable of the Sheep and the Goats (Matthew 25). The lives of those counted
worthy of his eternal kingdom should be characterized by the following sort of
actions:<span style="font-family: "symbol"; text-indent: -18pt;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "symbol"; text-indent: -18pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: 71.25pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0GQbKeP5VMAUQjrElQ3tKcKInCN4dhhhbsHaPxI7aC6d9r2UZdahAh3roFYkImdyVnwJ5yoi_w91S1mq4Y-edQF0saI2JDUeKYbedQHsHtBjrFE5WQKrSRpUonU8SXGtVnkqlHHFqb2U/s1600/sheep+and+goat.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="137" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0GQbKeP5VMAUQjrElQ3tKcKInCN4dhhhbsHaPxI7aC6d9r2UZdahAh3roFYkImdyVnwJ5yoi_w91S1mq4Y-edQF0saI2JDUeKYbedQHsHtBjrFE5WQKrSRpUonU8SXGtVnkqlHHFqb2U/s200/sheep+and+goat.jpg" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: "symbol"; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"> ·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Feeding the hungry<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 71.25pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"> ·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Taking in the stranger<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 71.25pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"> ·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Housing/clothing the destitute<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 71.25pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"> ·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Looking after the sick<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: 71.25pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"> ·<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]-->Visiting prisoners<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: 71.25pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p> </o:p>If such actions should characterize our personal actions
they should also characterize how we how we exercise our vote. There is not one
set of values we should follow in our personal lives, another in our work life and another in our politics. God has the same set of values in everything
and we should seek to mimic him and adopt his values in every aspect of our
lives; <i>“in <b>all </b>your ways acknowledge him</i>.” (Proverbs 3:6).</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg52bQkbTfaeehhVBARkICv-2No_OKceqsKnP5zAx7Jq55kaYVPNIHZQZvdBY0pQwq8n66LqG6yjpK9pEHwiONaGN1VRvUX3wQHDb6tnLcxyZITeEROjmSXBSIkp6GMwMisp-eE8_aEMeE/s1600/ekklesia.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="76" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg52bQkbTfaeehhVBARkICv-2No_OKceqsKnP5zAx7Jq55kaYVPNIHZQZvdBY0pQwq8n66LqG6yjpK9pEHwiONaGN1VRvUX3wQHDb6tnLcxyZITeEROjmSXBSIkp6GMwMisp-eE8_aEMeE/s200/ekklesia.png" width="200" /></a>At the last election Ekklesia, a politically independent
Christian organisation, published a really helpful guide “<i>Vote For What You Believe In</i>”. It highlighted what they considered
to be the values that the bible most emphasizes that should guide how we vote.
It was an excellent document widely supported by Christians of
different political parties, even if they had different views on how those
values were best realized. The link to it is:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/sites/ekklesia.co.uk/files/ekklesia_general_election_2015_focus.pdf</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Frankly, Ekklesia’s guide is better than anything I can come up with. But this hasn't stopped me have a stab at it! (Mine's a bit shorter anyway)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b> </b><b>Some key Christian values
that should guide our voting</b></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: 32.2pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<b style="text-indent: -18pt;"><i><br /></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: 32.2pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<b style="text-indent: -18pt;"><i>1. Looking
after the poor and marginalized </i></b><span style="text-indent: -18pt;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: 32.2pt; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="text-indent: -18pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGO9s3ZDDis4uKnfFl572gbjlkpQt_GDUm6kTfrTlE-WBBGswUsRa25mzMs8ehgD-SWjMmEVafcA9JWE5OJk9VeAmoXUlhbtFoUp9qyHMX-_WCnCK-CvCLa5z6YZXLCC8S_o4CvHpjMKI/s1600/pope+poor.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="138" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGO9s3ZDDis4uKnfFl572gbjlkpQt_GDUm6kTfrTlE-WBBGswUsRa25mzMs8ehgD-SWjMmEVafcA9JWE5OJk9VeAmoXUlhbtFoUp9qyHMX-_WCnCK-CvCLa5z6YZXLCC8S_o4CvHpjMKI/s200/pope+poor.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast">
Biblically this
includes the hungry, the homeless, those marginalized by society and yes immigrants- "<i>The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt.</i>" (Leviticus 19:34). Caring for the poor comes so
high on God’s list of priorities that it is mentioned 128 times across the
bible and is repeatedly emphasized in both Old and New Testaments. It is at the
core of Jesus’s challenge in Matthew 25 and in his Sermon on the Mount. It is
illustrated by Jesus’s own life, with his mission being directed particularly
(but not exclusively) towards the poor and marginalized in his society. On two
occasions he miraculously provided food for large groups of his hungry
audience. God has a real heart for the poor and so should we. Just one among
the many dozens of verses that could be cited: “<i>Is this not the kind of fasting I have chosen?… to share your bread
with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter-when you see the
naked, to clothe them...” </i>(Isaiah 58:6/7)</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
2. <i style="font-weight: bold;">Caring for the sick</i> <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaDCDOGk1Yrjn5-WSQ3_MdqPNNMhrhbHJjN1vxU5NjTRIZdVVY4zWDzIF6yxR0bmfn4dp7JZVt05dCuJQSWQGjNHy5r6CfjGfQJ21_M7E8FniMEqrLsBBha05YdXse_DbxSiyUEFq2CFU/s1600/caring+for+the+sick.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="136" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaDCDOGk1Yrjn5-WSQ3_MdqPNNMhrhbHJjN1vxU5NjTRIZdVVY4zWDzIF6yxR0bmfn4dp7JZVt05dCuJQSWQGjNHy5r6CfjGfQJ21_M7E8FniMEqrLsBBha05YdXse_DbxSiyUEFq2CFU/s200/caring+for+the+sick.jpg" width="200" /></a><o:p> </o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
God’s injunction to care for the sick and desire to see them
healed is emphasized throughout the bible, being mentioned at least 27 times in
scripture. It is also highlighted in Matthew 25 and very much seen in Jesus’s own
actions. Wherever he went he did not just teach and offer spiritual healing but
he physically healed the sick. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
3. <i style="font-weight: bold;">Ensuring true justice for all</i> <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPdpiV7aZj4juwqzygm8-c49j-pvRiwKgTpcUZT3P4cDkpr-yDsOZ4XSUBSx4WD8ARqJX3ghIqeejgmLLutdUg01akboUyqnvAiGBQ8OJkb_j4-40LyHeN1FZpPZJLinzd-ZQTKk65qNo/s1600/lady+justice.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="110" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPdpiV7aZj4juwqzygm8-c49j-pvRiwKgTpcUZT3P4cDkpr-yDsOZ4XSUBSx4WD8ARqJX3ghIqeejgmLLutdUg01akboUyqnvAiGBQ8OJkb_j4-40LyHeN1FZpPZJLinzd-ZQTKk65qNo/s200/lady+justice.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Ensuring true justice for all comes extremely high on God’s
list of priorities, especially giving a voice to the poor and dispossessed. It
is often spoken of in the same breath as looking after the poor. Indeed, between
them God’s concern for the poor and for social justice are mentioned over 300
times across the Old and New Testaments. Just one among the many dozens of
verses that could be cited:<i> “Speak up for
those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute.
Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.” </i>(Proverbs
29:7)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And the sort of justice we are talking about is filled with compassion and mercy and humility; “<i>And what does the Lord require of O mortal?
To act justly and love mercy and walk humbly with your God…</i>” (Micah 6:8). This
is exemplified in Jesus, who with a single sentence disarmed the stoners about to carry out capital punishment on the adulteress: “<i>he who is without sin cast
the first stone.</i>” (John 8;7)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
4. <i style="font-weight: bold;">Ensuring everyone has a fair share. </i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<i style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPlCtIpVEnYFLtEvjpsYJwcF0bSw0SzV3jHEU3QP0IIm5YZf_7jMMlIOBmlRTdUcVCVN9UkCjp81MSVrt2Vs-TtFczWOLEvo2pwP9hkjLL8YA0_ZCECs5eqCdgz8P0h4jFTtHiWTvtkmM/s1600/fair+share.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="92" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPlCtIpVEnYFLtEvjpsYJwcF0bSw0SzV3jHEU3QP0IIm5YZf_7jMMlIOBmlRTdUcVCVN9UkCjp81MSVrt2Vs-TtFczWOLEvo2pwP9hkjLL8YA0_ZCECs5eqCdgz8P0h4jFTtHiWTvtkmM/s200/fair+share.jpg" width="200" /></a>When God set up his original (imperfect) earthly kingdom of Israel social justice was at the heart of it. He ensured everyone,
from the least to the greatest, had a stake and fair share in the good things
of the promised land : “…<i>there need be no poor among you, for in the
land the Lord your God is giving you to possess as your inheritance he will
richly bless you…</i>” (Deuteronomy 15:4)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This is also part of his ultimate plan for his perfect
heavenly kingdom on earth. (Micah 4:4) It’s not about arithmetical equality and
the bible extols the principle of rewards for what we have done. But it’s
about ensuring everyone has a fair share. We won’t achieve a perfectly fair
society here and now. However if we are seeking to follow God’s plan and pattern in
his word we should be aiming to get as close as we can to this. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
5. <i style="font-weight: bold;">Looking after the planet. </i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast">
<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGzOb5FVHekP7-JRiKdiNvcBGdlgbT_9vx5dC958A3sw5VGKk3361pLjZ7s0Swu0ACy_WHDYcs-_pFjttHqrYvOBzEosMGw1C8vBbLQ9bTBxp6o_l810qshJU0FQ_tTkAXqeuZzntumIA/s1600/caring+for+our+world.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="132" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGzOb5FVHekP7-JRiKdiNvcBGdlgbT_9vx5dC958A3sw5VGKk3361pLjZ7s0Swu0ACy_WHDYcs-_pFjttHqrYvOBzEosMGw1C8vBbLQ9bTBxp6o_l810qshJU0FQ_tTkAXqeuZzntumIA/s200/caring+for+our+world.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast">
The bible declares the earth is God’s and not ours
(Psalm 24:1),but he has entrusted us with the care of his planet. In fact, from the beginning the essential mission he gave us was to care for his
planet: "<i>The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it
and take care of it</i>." (Genesis 2:15 ). Caring for our
planet also flows into God's other priorities of caring for the poor and giving
everyone a stake in the land. This is because in the end the resources upon which we
all depend come from that planet.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph">
<br /></div>
<ol start="6" style="margin-top: 0cm;" type="1">
<li class="MsoNormal"><b><i> Keeping peace and order </i></b><o:p></o:p></li>
</ol>
<div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmtHPY_jQ7Pyk624MqkuMP2BRgqj7lBms-8-5Cb1k6k0YPPZ7K9XSs21vUFSGKmQhU1VUP30z-RRicdrJBwz74jswrMjLUUfMrZUv3ve1k675ToGkF0DAAVabfgu-fp2QsYDhX1mUypxA/s1600/peace+hands.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="112" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmtHPY_jQ7Pyk624MqkuMP2BRgqj7lBms-8-5Cb1k6k0YPPZ7K9XSs21vUFSGKmQhU1VUP30z-RRicdrJBwz74jswrMjLUUfMrZUv3ve1k675ToGkF0DAAVabfgu-fp2QsYDhX1mUypxA/s200/peace+hands.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<div>
Seeking peace is a key value extolled throughout the bible.
It is mentioned at least 48 times. It is a key characteristic of God which we
are encouraged to imitate in all aspects of our lives. Indeed, one of the names
Isaiah gives to Jesus when he foresees his return as the world's ruler is “Prince of Peace”. It is therefore not surprisingly that in his preaching Jesus acclaims peace-making.
He laments how the Jewish nation fails to understand what makes for peace and
weeps over Jerusalem as he foresees the Roman destruction of Jerusalem that
will result from the Jews’ rebellion. (Luke 19:42-44) In his Sermon on the
Mount he says, “<i>Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the sons
of God"</i> (Matthew 5:9).<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Ultimately the vision of Micah 5 is that wars between all nations
will cease and we will turn <i>“our swords
into ploughshares”</i>. That vision cannot be fully realized until Jesus
returns. However, in the meantime the bible makes clear that
we should "<i>Strive for peace with everyone...</i>" (Hebrews 12:14). And
that applies to what we do as a nation as well as individuals. This is implicit
in Jesus’s lament in Luke 19. In fact, peace-making and keeping the order that
comes with it is specifically identified as an area in which secular government has
an important role to play: "<i>I urge, then, first of all, that petitions,
prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people— for kings and
all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all
godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Saviour, who wants
all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.</i>"(1 Timothy
2:1-4)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<b><i> 7. Allowing freedom of speech and belief<o:p></o:p></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<b><i><br /></i></b></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDZ4-6gWYOKIjG39A9w-KUyFFoauoNUOqWAYos3V8zTTkZgGIyDYtfYXdd3WtjckpW_k_QljQtjufgX05sA6VlvBNLfLWU4jfvEr276rP0HQCALaL0U8VKIcG5Q6zYeNvGaGej-FTqNFA/s1600/Free+Speech+zip.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="115" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDZ4-6gWYOKIjG39A9w-KUyFFoauoNUOqWAYos3V8zTTkZgGIyDYtfYXdd3WtjckpW_k_QljQtjufgX05sA6VlvBNLfLWU4jfvEr276rP0HQCALaL0U8VKIcG5Q6zYeNvGaGej-FTqNFA/s200/Free+Speech+zip.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast">
God’s injunction to preach the gospel to all nations in
Matthew 28 should make all Christians very mindful of the importance of free
speech. Freedom of speech gives room for the gospel to be preached. But
Christians cannot expect freedom of speech over our beliefs and speech without
offering that same privilege to others; even those who take very different views and
may even be directly hostile to Christianity. The bible teaches that we should
be gracious to and tolerate opposing views and voices:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
"<i>And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but
must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful. Opponents must be
gently instructed, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them
to a knowledge of the truth</i>".<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
(2 Timothy 2:24-25)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
I think the large majority with Christians would agree that
these are all key values that we would want the government we elect to strive
for. We may then end up coming to
different political stand points over how these values can be best realized.
However, I think part of the reason for such divergent political views
between Christians is that we do not always keep such key values front and
centre stage. Sometimes I think we allow worldly political values to eclipse
these biblical Christian values. I will look at that in my next blog.<o:p></o:p></div>
Jeremy Hortonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14040288077436997446noreply@blogger.com0