Ask the Chancellors?

Perhaps strangely for someone in my job I really can’t abide political debates on television. I have never even managed to watch Question Time all the way through. I find these debates merely serve to reinforce my existing prejudices, and the shallow point-scoring makes me wince. I was convinced that the recent decision to televise a debate between the three main party leaders was a step backwards for democracy.

Or that was the case until I watched Ask the Chancellors on Channel 4 last night. Alastair Darling, George Osborne and Vince Cable lined up to make their pitch to be the next chancellor. There was nothing revolutionary about the format and I admit I initially watched it out of duty. But it made for fascinating television.

So why the change of heart? The point-scoring was still there, and I haven’t changed my mind about how I’ll vote. But it started to mine the complexities of some of the political debates around the economy and the faultlines between the parties. The leaders’ debates won’t be so “free”, but will hopefully be equally compelling.

But most of all the programme reminded me where so many of the voters’ concerns lie. Whilst the post-Crunch/pre-election messages of the Churches are focused on inequality and the need to ensure that those who didn’t benefit from the boom are not the ones who are made to suffer most in the bust, the studio audience appeared almost wholly concerned about the impact of economic decisions on individuals’ and businesses’ income. It was left to the moderator, Krishnan Guru-Murthy to ask whether the government was responsible for tackling inequality.

I still believe that the Churches are called to go to, in the words of John Wesley, “not to those who need you but to those who need you most”. But how should we meet the challenge to get these messages across to politicians and voters alike?

Food for thought

Today I had a good lunchtime chat with Edward Davies, my opposite number at the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales. We had lunch in the cafeteria on the Terrace of the House of Commons, followed by coffee in Wesley’s Café. Parliament is currently in recess so it was very quiet, apart from the occasional group of tourists.

Lunch with Edward was a chance to get to know him informally, as he has only recently started working in a new post for the Catholic Church. It was also an opportunity to discuss what issues we were working on and plans for the future.

We talked a bit about the widely-reported address of the Methodist President to the Church of England General Synod that was in a lot of the national newspapers today, as well as the state of the media and the reporting of religious news.

The forthcoming General Election is at the very top of both our agendas at the moment. With Churches Together in Britain and Ireland, we have helped to put together resources for local churches.

Now is the time is the latest example of collaboration between ourselves and the Catholic Church, and other partners. This campaign aims to raise awareness about the state of nuclear weapons in the world and is a call for action at the Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference in the spring.

As far as future plans are concerned, the visit of the Pope later this year is likely to throw up a number of opportunities for all Christians to speak about political and social issues. We also talked about the challenge of political extremism in the context of approaching elections – and what all the churches might do together.