GIANT DESPAIR AND MR MONEY-LOVE

I was invited last month to write a short piece for the April 2010 edition of the magazine 'Christian News', edited by Angela Price. 'Christian News' is a monthly publication which carries news and views from the local churches and the community in the Woburn, Woburn Sands and Aspley Guise groups of parishes. The request was for an outline of my views as the Green Party candidate in the general election in Mid Bedfordshire. I was very pleased for the opportunity to summarise my political outlook and that of the Green Party.

Here is the article that was published:


John Bunyan’s ‘Slough of Despond’ is an apt metaphor for politics today. I can’t recall a time when politicians were so low in public esteem. It’s not merely the fiddled expenses of individual MPs and Peers. The fact is that every single MP is implicated in the scandal. They should all have known what was going on; they were all responsible for a corrupt expenses system. They all share collective responsibility for the enormous damage to our parliamentary democracy. It will take decades to repair.

We were taken into a dreadful war on the basis of lies. We are presently fighting a pointless war which cannot be won, propping up a corrupt puppet regime.

The banking and financial crisis has stunned public confidence: the obscene bonuses, the bail-out at public expense, with the cost to be paid by savage cuts in public services. Our country was taken to the brink of financial disaster.

I don’t want to pursue the analogy with ‘The Pilgrim’s Progress’ too far, but after the general election we certainly face The Hill Difficulty. We’re promised cuts all the way, whoever is Prime Minister - either Giant Despair or Mr Money-Love. But the fact is we can’t cut our way out of the recession. We need a massive investment now to create one million more jobs.

Under both Tory and New Labour governments the gap between rich and poor has widened. Increasing inequalities damage the lives of all of us. This point is made powerfully in ‘The Spirit Level’.

Four million UK children live in poverty. Maternity services are inadequate. Hospitals and health centres face closures and privatisation. They are treated like businesses rather than vital public services. The state pension is a disgrace.

Conventional politics has failed us because its values are fundamentally flawed. It doesn’t have to be this way. A different world is possible. Green politics is a new and radical kind of politics. The success of a society cannot be measured by narrow economic indicators. A good dose of the market will not cure every problem we face.

Our planet Earth is unique, fragile and very beautiful. Its natural resources are finite, yet we are busy trashing it by consumerism and mindless growth. We should look for non-violent solutions to conflicts. Our actions should take account of the well-being of other nations, other species, and future generations.