THE UK Commission on Social Mobility resigned en masse this week. In his resignation letter, the Commission’s chairman, Alan Milburn, emphasised that he did not doubt the personal commitment of the Prime Minister or her ministers to make progress but highlighted that it had stalled and was, in fact, reversed.
The point was reinforced with the publication, by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, of Solve UK Poverty 2017, which highlighted that there are 300,000 more pensioners and 400,000 more children living in poverty than four years ago, with numbers predicted to rise rapidly as social security payments remain frozen while the cost of essentials such as food and fuel increases.
All our politicians talk of the need to tackle the growing chasm between rich and poor but words are not enough. The reality is that the gap is becoming wider. Something needs to be done, not just talked about.
It is easy, but inappropriate, to blame our elected representatives for the lack of progress, whether at a local authority, Scottish, UK or indeed, for the moment, European level.
Our politicians have a part to play but so do all of us. If we want our country to be fairer, more equal and more just in a fairer, more equal and more just world, it is a shared responsibility.
Seventy five years ago, at the height of the Second World War, William Beveridge published the Report on Social Insurance and Allied Services (or the Beveridge Report as it came to be known).
It laid the foundations of the National Health Service and the welfare state.
Perhaps one of the most striking facts is that in, early 1943, when our nation was in the darkest days of the conflict, it is estimated that 86 per cent of people in Britain supported the plans and only six per cent opposed them.
In the uncertain but surely less bleak days in which we live at present, we need a fresh consensus to address the problems which we face.
There is no silver bullet or quick fix. Change, if it is to happen, will take courage, consistency and time. There are, however, some core principles. One of those is that good intentions are not enough.
We need to move beyond words to concrete, down-to-earth action. For Christians, the forthcoming season of Christmas is about God becoming action and activity in Jesus; moving beyond words, instructions and encouragement from a distance.
We know that change does happen through bold policy. The Beveridge Report and, it is to be hoped, the more recent commitment to introduce minimum unit pricing on alcohol are testimony to this.
However, change also happens through practice, when countless groups, organisations (including churches) and individuals roll up their sleeves in the youth group, community cafe, day care unit and choir.
It also happens when we recognise that this change is not simply the responsibility of others. It is the responsibility of all of us.
For the Church, one of the lessons that we are re-learning at this time is that change happens when we deliberately choose to work alongside those whose lives are blighted on a daily basis by poverty and injustice.
In this we are doing something core to our faith; following Jesus to the margins and discovering that this is actually where God has been all along.
However, we are also doing something practical and pragmatic: recognising that our collective efforts to bring about change will never happen unless they involve the wisdom and experience of everyone.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here