Politics Today

We live in an increasingly secular culture. This should challenge Christians to consider what this means for how we live and behave.

The Home Secretary, Priti Patel, has announced changes to immigration rules intended to prevent low-skilled workers from coming to live and work in the UK. These rules will come into force next January. The changes are obviously linked to Brexit. Announcing the changes Ms. Patel said, “We’re ending free movement, taking back control of our borders and delivering on the people’s priorities by introducing a new UK points-based immigration system, […]

Controversy is normal and inevitable in politics, even between Christians. Politics is more often about means than ends. Politicians usually agree about the sort of society they want their nation to be but disagree about the policies for realising this. Political controversy is often about conflicts of interest because our interests are not identical. Politics is ultimately about the exercise of power and political parties compete electorally for power to […]

The last ten years have been a period of austerity in Government spending to reduce the national debt inherited from the thirteen years of the Blair/Brown administrations. The message from the Johnson Government is that that era has ended. The NHS, education and policing are to be given the funds they surely need. The NHS is short of nurses and doctors and some hospitals need rebuilding or replacing and £33.9 […]

At the heart of the Christian faith is a duty to love God and one’s neighbour. My focus here is on how we love our needy neighbours. People of all ages may need our loving care but that is especially true in relation to our neighbours who are elderly, possibly alone and with a diminished capacity to care for themselves.

In many ways the world is shrinking – culturally, economically and politically. One can travel to the other side of the world in less than a day and talk to people there in a few seconds by email or telephone. Our shopping baskets might contain goods from countries we have not and may never visit. Our cars may well have been imported whilst our financial institutions are servicing overseas companies. […]

We live in an ageing society. In 2007, 15.9% of the population were aged 65 or older. Ten years later that statistic had increased to 18.2% and it is projected to exceed 20% by 2027. The Bible would encourage us to see this as a blessing. The elderly are to be respected (Leviticus 19:32; 1 Peter 2:17) but some have questioned this. George Burns who lived to be a hundred […]

Winston Churchill is reported to have said that “democracy is the worst form of Government except for all the others”. It deters the possibility of revolution, encourages politicians to be accountable to the people, prevents a concentration of power in a few hands, helps to educate citizens and creates a sense of obligation to them by those in office. If we cherish those values we should be concerned about the […]

The idea of “Global Britain” has appeared in the speeches of both Boris Johnson and Theresa May before him. What does it mean and how seriously should we take it?