We aren't used to good news, so much so that back in 1993, the BBC newsreader Martin Lewis complained that there wasn't enough good news being reported. I understand that the BBC responded by setting up a team dedicated to solution-focused news - whatever that means!
I was at a talk recently given by former Labour MP Jon Cruddas about the importance of Christianity in the Labour Party and socialism and found myself agreeing with almost everything!
Now I am not about to tear up my Conservative Party membership card. However it reminded me how for Christians in politics there is much more which unites us than divides us, and amid polarising political winds it is worth spending a little time exploring these Christian unifying forces.
We have recently moved house and are now putting up some pictures. A favourite is a print of a painting which centres on a young Christian enslaved woman in the Temple of Artemis, dedicated to the goddess Diana.
She was being given a “choice” by Roman soldiers. Will she give up Christianity by offering incense to the statue of the goddess Diana, and gain her freedom or will she refuse and be dragged away by the soldiers to be killed? The caption reads - Diana or Christ?
We've recently had a bunch of local elections, and I was reminded of the famous quote of Tip O’Neill, then US House of Representatives Speaker, that “all politics is local."
A good case though can be made for the prosecution that politics is far from being local but rather national even international as we are now in an era of globalisation, where events in countries like China, Russia and the US have have a big impact on our economics and politics.
I am writing this article on the way back from the Conservative Party Conference, where most of my time was spent with the Conservative Christian Fellowship, who had an exhibition stand at the entrance to the conference hall. The talk of the conference was about leadership.
This has made me reflect not so much upon the qualities of the leadership candidates but upon the distinctive Christian characteristics of leadership, which are needed not just in the Conservative Party but across public life.
How should we respond to good news?
I bring you good news!
We aren't used to good news, so much so that back in 1993, the BBC newsreader Martin Lewis complained that there wasn't enough good news being reported. I understand that the BBC responded by setting up a team dedicated to solution-focused news - whatever that means!