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What are your priorities?

Boris’ Priorities

Last week Boris Johnson posted on my Facebook page telling me his priorities for the country and asking me for mine. Apart from wondering who had funded this marketing campaign, I was deeply disturbed by the underlying message: his top priority, highlighted in bold and set apart, way above any other priority was to deliver Brexit by 31st October.

I am disturbed at the thought that a prime minister of our country could put, as his top priority – far above any concern for the health, safety and well-being of our citizens, driving through a controversial political decision that many believe will be deeply damaging to our country, and one to which a substantial proportion of the citizens of the country, and their representatives in parliament are opposed.

These past few weeks it has felt as though dark clouds have gathered over our land. Events in Westminster convey a sense of a few unscrupulous men[1] seeking personal power and wealth regardless of what that might mean for our country and for ordinary people.

So what do I think should be the top priorities for our government at this time?

In no particular order, here are my top five:

  • Ensuring that the most vulnerable members of our society can afford a decent basic standard of living;
  • Reducing the gross inequalities in wealth and privilege that exist in our society;
  • Providing affordable and accessible housing for all;
  • Tackling climate change and environmental damage;
  • Reversing the impact of years of austerity and ensuring that teachers, police officers, social workers, doctors and nurses have the resources they need to do their jobs well.

 

To achieve that will inevitably mean higher taxes for those who are financially well off (and I recognise that includes me); it will mean addressing the tax-avoiding activities of individuals and corporations; it will mean substantial investment in public services and housing; it will mean investing in renewable energy and public transport and putting a halt to environmentally damaging projects such as the expansion of Heathrow and HS2.

And therein lies the rub – all of those threaten the wealth, privilege and comfort of those with the money and power who seem to be influencing our current government.

Having received, unsolicited, a post of Boris Johnson’s priorities for our country, I thought I might take the opportunity presented by his survey to tell him what I thought the government’s priorities should be. But, in order to take part in the survey, I had to agree to the Conservative Party using the information I provide to keep me updated via email, online advertisements and direct mail about the Party’s campaigns and opportunities to get involved. That is not something I want to agree to, nor, I suspect, will most others who do not share Boris Johnson’s views. So when, in a few weeks’ time, the prime minister says that the results of his survey of the nation’s views overwhelmingly support his drive to get us out of the EU at all costs, once again, this will be based on biased and distorted data.

[1] it does seem to be men – white, wealthy and public-school-educated – whoops, that describes me, too.

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Lament Part Two

The lament I wrote last week seemed to strike a chord.

It was prompted by Lois and I watching an episode of Victoria, focused on Ireland and the potato famine. It may only have been an historical television programme, but it left us both feeling upset and angry, crushed by the sheer injustice of it all.

We were angry about the horrendous suffering experienced by so many millions; angry at the wealthy landlords trampling on the heads of the labourers while greedily holding onto their privileges and comforts; angry with the politicians callously looking after their own political interests while gambling with people’s lives; angry with the bishops, twisting religion for their own power and control, distorting the gospel, and turning a blind eye to the suffering of ordinary people.

And angry with God for creating a world in which children die of starvation and millions suffer to feed the greed and violence of others.

And we felt crushed and angry because this was not just something that happened 150 years ago, but remains a reality today: in Yemen, in Syria, in South Sudan; in China, Russia and Myanmar; and, in different ways, but much closer to home, in the UK, USA, Australia and Europe.

We hear on the news of millions starving and made homeless because of conflicts in the Middle East. And our own government continues to fuel this with arms sales to Saudi Arabia. We hear of lives ruined through gambling and addictions; of aggressive, arrogant men ignoring both laws and morality, and treating others with disdain; of big multinationals treating their workers without respect, destroying our environment, and brazenly evading and twisting tax laws; of the dignity and rights of children, women, and those who are ‘different’ being trampled on; of individuals and families in our own city left homeless, sitting in the shadow of the ever-growing forest of cranes building flash new student accommodation.

Sometimes it is right to get angry.

Sometimes it is right to lament.