On our doorstep #childpoverty

I received a bit of a jolt yesterday when my attention was drawn to a report by the Essex Chronicle stating that nearly 30% of children in some parts of Chelmsford are growing up in poverty. However, this was the statement that really hit home:

According to the data the highest levels of child poverty in the city can be found in the Marconi ward, with 29.12% of youngsters growing up poor, after housing costs after taken into consideration. This is closely followed by the St Andrews area, with 27.4%, Great Baddow West with 26.5% and Great Baddow East with 22.34%.  

Great Baddow West and East, that's our parish! I was aware of pockets of deprivation in the parish but not to that extent. The Church Urban Fund statistics for our parish state that overall child poverty is at 17%, however, this report highlights the seriousness of the situation.

Child poverty is defined in the following way:

The percentage of children living in families in receipt of out of work benefits or tax credits, where their reported income is less than 60% of the national median income (a commonly accepted measure of poverty).

Earlier this year at St. Mary's we set up a Foodbank distribution centre which is much used; we support the work of Chelmsford CHESS with the homeless and the church council has decided in principle to establish a credit union service point, though the limitations of our present buildings have so far prevented us implementing that decision. Our sister churches St. Paul's and Meadgate are involved in similar work.  However, we need to reflect prayerfully on what other ways we can help address this blight on the lives of many in our parish as we seek to be the Good News of Jesus Christ to our community.

Chris Evans I salute you.

I've always had a bit of a love/hate relationship when it comes to Chris Evans going back to his TFI Friday days but lately that's been changing. Evans hosts the BBC Radio 2 Breakfast Show and regularly features Bishop Nick Baines on Pause for Thought. Nick has the great knack of being able to incorporate references to other guests on the show as he shares his PfT and I detect genuine respect from Chris for Nick's reflections. I hope that Nick's increased episcopal responsibilities don't curtail his contributions to the show. Anyway, the clincher came yesterday morning when Kate came home having dropped my daughter off at school and said Evans had just played a Led Zeppelin track which went on and on. So I went on-line and via Listen Again just after 8am there it was, 7.08 minutes of When The Levee Breaks in all its bone crunching, ear splitting, glorious majesty. And to top it all I then discover that Evans has Jimmy Page on this morning's show. Chris Evans I salute you.

Mr Burns replies - asylum #Iraq

A few days ago I wrote to my local MP Simon Burns about the situation in Iraq and yesterday I received his response. I am grateful to Mr Burns for his reply, though it read like a stock press release from the government regarding UK humanitarian aid to Iraq. However, in my letter I specifically asked that:

'The Government should follow the example set by other European governments and make provision to provide asylum to those that are unable to return to their homes for fear of persecution and death.

As a constituent in your area, I ask you to raise these concerns with the Secretary of State for International Development and other relevant departments to ensure that additional steps are taken to alleviate the humanitarian suffering in Northern Iraq and to provide refuge and sanctuary to those most in need.' 

The response to this specific request from Mr Burns is as follows:

'However, I will raise your concerns with the relevant Minister and I will let you have a copy of his response once it is received.'

I look forward to hearing what the response from the Minister will be but I am not holding my breath as the government has so far refused to move on this issue.

Here is Mr Burns' letter in full.

If you would like more information about this issue check out the Church of England advice to pray, act, give.

Sausage for breakfast

Apparently Radio 4 Today is trying to update its image and appeal to a younger audience. So last week we had the cringe-worthy spectacle of John Humphrys getting down with a rapper and this morning Humphrys was jousting with John Lydon aka Johnny Rotten. There is nothing new about pop and rock on Today. In 2003 Jimmy Page and Robert Plant were interviewed to coincide with the launch of the Led Zeppelin DVD. I still remember the sigh from Robert Plant as he exclaimed 'Radio 4, has it come to this?'. Truth be told, you need to be my age to remember who these people are, so hardly appealing to a new demographic.

Anyway back to Lydon and Humphrys this morning. Lydon was articulate as usual and in a reasonably emollient mood. And then Humphrys asked a question, about advertising butter I think, to which Lydon responded 'You silly sausage'. And with those three simple expletive free words Today's Rottweiler was well and truly neutred. Our politicians would do well to listen and learn from a master.

I predict a riot

At morning prayer today I found myself wondering what would have happened in Acts 19:21ff had social media been around:

@Demetrius: Oi tweeps, you seen this? A bunch of Macedonians led by some nutter called Paul are saying our gods ain't real. Plz RT (64 RTs 48 Favs)

@Artemus4ever: RT @Demetrius: Oi tweeps, you seen this? A bunch of Macedonians led by some nutter called Paul are saying our gods ain't real. Plz RT (84 RTs 24 Favs)

@SilverSmiffy: @Demetrius @Artemus4ever  UNBELIEVABLE. How is this is allowed to happen in Ephesus today? (27RTs 13 Favs)

@guildofsilvers: Tweetup down at the theatre. Our jobs are under threat. (127 RTs 64 Favs)

@Ephesusnews: Riot down at the theatre, no one sure why. Please tweetpic or vine if there. (745RTs 550 Favs)

@Demetrius: @Gaius & @Aristarchus You scum, go back to where you came from. (35 RTs 14 Favs)

@NigelF: @Gaius & @Aristarchus You rotters go back to where you came from. (63 RTs 43 Favs)

@PaulTarsus: Plz pray for @Gaius & @Aristarchus who've been taken to the theatre in Ephesus by an ugly mob. (23 RTs 16 Favs)

@Artemus4ever: @PaulTarsus Who you calling ugly? Come down here and say that. (17 RTs 12 Favs)

@Demetrius: @StephenFry @RichardDawkins have you seen what these people of The Way are doing. Please RT. (34 RTs 24 Favs)

@RichardDawkins: Religion has caused all the riots in the world... ever. (6315 RTs 2319 Favs)

@StephenFry: Tonight on QI the letter E BBC2 10pm. And here's a selfie of me in Ephesus with my cab. (2312 RTs 1542 Favs)

@TownClerk: Nothing to see here tweeps.

That's just what we need.

I'm always interested to see what happens when a business closes in Chelmsford High Street. I see it as an indication of what is going on in the economy and something of a reflection of society and our values. Woolworths  was a favourite store of my childhood in Chelmsford and I was sad to see it go. There was a certain irony in Barclays Bank moving into the premises given their contribution to the meltdown of our economy and the demise of many businesses in the subsequent recession.

Another closure in Chelmsford High Street was Jessops the camera shop. The building has been vacant for some time and today I discovered who has moved in, William Hill the bookmakers. That's really what we needed in our city's High Street, another bookies. It's not enough that I can't watch a football match on television without various loud mouthed characters shouting the odds at me for five minutes at a time, shop by shop they are taking over our town and city centres. One of the factors in Jessops' demise was the on-line market which meant they just couldn't compete. There is a preponderance of gambling sites on-line but it doesn't seem to have had too much of an impact on betting shops given the number we now have in Chelmsford. Perhaps it really is a statement about what is going on in our economy and what values we espouse as a society.

asylum #Iraq

Last Friday the government decided that it does have a responsibility to intervene in Iraq with military force.  I have today written to my local Member of Parliament Simon Burns asking him to request that relevant government departments ensure that additional steps are taken to alleviate suffering in Northern Iraq and to provide refuge and sanctuary to those most in need. I would encourage as many people as possible to do the same. It is shameful that our country lags behind so many European and other countries in responding to this need. Put quite simply, if we have a 'moral' obligation to bomb then we have a moral obligation to offer sanctuary to those who are the innocent victims of violence in Iraq.

If you wish to join me in lobbying your local MP on this matter details can be found here.

The full text of my letter is as follows:

Dear Mr Burns

Responding to the humanitarian crisis in Northern Iraq

I am deeply concerned by the gross human rights abuses being committed in Northern Iraq that is seeing thousands of religious and ethnic minorities displaced from their ancestral homes. The forced and bloody exodus of Christians and other religious minorities underlines most graphically that freedom of religion and belief, a right set out in Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, is being denied in the most violent and systemic way possible.

I welcome the humanitarian steps the Government has taken to date, but given the distressing pictures and reports that continue to come from Northern Iraq, I fear that our collective efforts are failing those most in need.

 

The level of humanitarian aid must be increased significantly and its delivery must be accelerated. No effort should be spared to protect all groups forcefully displaced by this conflict. The Government should follow the example set by other European governments and make provision to provide asylum to those that are unable to return to their homes for fear of persecution and death.

As a constituent in your area, I ask you to raise these concerns with the Secretary of State for International Development and other relevant departments to ensure that additional steps are taken to alleviate the humanitarian suffering in Northern Iraq and to provide refuge and sanctuary to those most in need.

Yours sincerely,

Revd Canon Philip Ritchie