Ghana '08

Many of you will be wanting to hear how I got on Ghana, and no doubt some of you will see the entire photo collection.

I went to the Anglican Diocese of Cape Coast Youth Camp 2008 (theme: Imitating Christ: The Anglican Youth as a model). I was sent by the Episcopal Diocese of Edinburgh. The two Anglican Dioceses are Companions and the purpose of my visit, with Michelle Brown, was to build links between youth work in the two Dioceses. Michelle and I are both involved in the Children's Ministry at Old St. Paul's.

The flight took off from Edinburgh on the morning of Friday 15th August, flying via Amsterdam. It was the longest flight I've ever been on and I was glad to get off the plane, even though my luggage did not join me for another 24 hours. This meant spending time in the Luxurious Payless Hotel, watching Ghanaian and Nigerian TV, as well as western films. On Sunday, we collected members of the Tanari trust http://www.tanari.org/ who had come from Kenya to teach an abstinence only sex education class, which looked at whole person sexuality.

The camp officially opened on Tuesday morning, and the attendance of senior academics, a Government Minister and a traditional ruler showed how important the camp was regarded by Ghana's secular civil society. The other parts of the camp included teaching from the Tanari trust, other preachers, a class on the Anglican Communion, Bible Study and sports.

For me, I lead two Bible classes and with Michelle supported Mwangi Chege of Tanari run his class. I was also able to spend time speaking campers, about their lives, about their walk with Jesus and about life in Scotland and Europe (the weather, haggis, people with red hair). This for me was a major component of the camp.

There was also some opportunity to see Ghana, the street vendors, the driving, the countryside, the slave castle in Cape Coast and to walk on a canopy in a rain forest. I hope to visit the country again and play a continuing part of the Companionship of Cape Coast and Edinburgh Dioceses.

Amristice Day

I am writing this on November 11th, Armistice Day.

This morning Fr. Ross Bell at Old St. Paul's Episcopal Church gave an excellent sermon on this very subject, which I suspect moved many of the congregation. It certainly moved me and left me with many thoughts.

Ross talked about a visit to Dachua Concentration camp, with the words 'Never Forget' on one of its memorial. This made me think of the Anti-Nazi League slogan, 'Never Again', which made me realise, this hasn't really stopped... so there is no holocaust on the industrial scale of the Nazis, but people are still oppressed for their views, ethnicity, sexuality, religion and so on.

I also thought of the Manic Street Preachers' song, "If you tolerate this, then your children will be next", their tribute to the members of the International Brigades who fought for the Republic during the Spanish Civil War. This made me think, of among other things, the situation in Burma. Do we tolerate this and will our children be next?

Ross also talked of the men and women who died for freedom on the battlefield (or in the air). He said that he uses this freedom to be himself, which I can testify he does and so should we... any good sermon raises the question, 'How then should we live?' in response to God's Word and how the Spirit moves us. Ross's sermon also pointed to this, in the call to be yourself as God has made you. Ross also talked of the need to work towards peace, not just the absence of war but pointed to current events like Pakistan and Burma requiring our response.

I personally believe we are all called to some level of civic involvement in this sense, but in different ways. One of the ways in which I do this is in politics, though the Labour Party and related organisations. However, I have also decided to renew my involvement in Amnesty International www.amnesty.org.uk.

Writing letters for Amnesty is a good way to do something, but there are other things people can do. You could campaign for Friends of the Earth, or Greenpeace. Fund raise for Oxfam or Save the Children, or volunteer in one of their shops. Alternatively, you could help provide services to the homeless.

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On another note, David Cameron recently announced the launch of the Conservative Co-operative Movement. As the Co-operative Movement in the UK has been associated with the Left and the Co-op Party is affiliated to the Labour Party, this came as something of a surprise.

Conservatives tend to believe in private ownership and running services for profit, Co-operators believe in mutualism and running organisations for its members, i.e. the consumers or employees or both.

So why the change of Tory heart? It seems Cameron believes public services, like education, should be ran as mutuals... I doubt very much the Conservative Co-operative Movement will adopt the Co-op Party policy in favour of mutual ownership of monopoly utilities, for example.

Inheritance tax

In an earlier blog I contrasted the Labour Government's approach to tax credits with the Conservative Party's, in that the Tories policy discriminated against the unmarried and singled parents.

Recently the Labour Government has changed Inheritance tax, which increases the allowance to £600,000 for those who are married or in Civil Partnerships. I do regard this as discriminatory against co-habitees and think this should be extended to any couple.

Daredevil: Man without fear!

Daredevil is one of my favourite comic characters. I first came across him in The Punisher (who is my favourite comic character). In his day job Daredevil is a lawyer called Matt Murdock, who was defending Frank Castle (The Punisher's not very secret identity).

It may be odd, that a liberal in criminal justice matters, has The Punisher as his favourite character. And maybe this is why I find Daredevil interesting. By day he is a lawyer, dealing with law. By night the Daredevil is a vigilante.

This contrast was highlighted in Daredevil: Wake up, volume 3 of Brian Michael Bendis's Marvel Knights run (issues 16-19). The moody story was told through the eyes of reporter Ben Urich, who is investigating the story of Timmy. Timmy has witnessed a fight between his Father, Leapfrog (a costumed petty criminal) and Daredevil. Urich should be covering the trial of Wilson Fisk, the Kingpin of crime. His boss, Jonah Jameson is not amused by his interest in Timmy.

The story is seen mainly through Urich's eyes, but also Timmy's. Timmy is catatonic, and Urich is desperate to find out what Timmy saw in the fight between Daredevil and Leapfrog, which involves looking for Matt/ Daredevil - Urich is one of the few people who knows Murdock's secret identify.

Daredevil barely appears- he is the background... but the story goes to the very core of the who and why of Murdock the lawyer and Daredevil the vigilante. It is a testimony to Bendis's storytelling.

The artwork is also excellent. Some of it is painted by David Mack, other parts are pencilled by him, inked by Mark Morales & Pond Scum and coloured by Richard Isanove.

Some of the artwork represents stories told by Timmy, and is in traditional comic form. Other parts are highly realistic, others are painted and there is no strict division between frames. The artwork really conveys the mood of the story and where the protagonists are in their head.

This is an excellent book - superhero comic fans will love it, it should encourage comic fans to look at the genre again and encourage others to consider the medium.

Marriage, Tax and benefits

The British Conservative and Unionist Party has produced policy proposals, in the document "Fixing our broken society"*, which would make the tax and benefits system favourable to married couples. While it must be stressed, these are proposals which may not be adopted as policy it does raise some serious questions.

The document rightly points out the UK taxation system does not favour married couples. They argue that it should because this would prevent "family breakdown", i.e. reduce the number of divorces. The document also argue that married couples are more likely to stay together than unmarried ones. The document also suggests the tax and benefit system makes it economically more viable to split up, £50-£100 a week better off is one figure cited.

There practical problems with these arguments are:

-in many cases its better for some parents to split up, domestic abuse being an obvious example
-some single parents are widowed
-if people get married for financial reasons, does this mean they are less likely to split up if they remained unmarried? Who makes any of these sorts of decisions entirely on economic grounds?
-it can't be taken as read the extra money £50-£100 would cover the extra costs of living apart

Furthermore, the Conservatives argue they are committed to social justice. If so, how can discrimination against unmarried couples, same sex couples and single parents be justified? Or, to put it another way, why should children of unmarried, same sex and single parents be discriminated against?

This is the nub of the issue. When the Conservatives were last in power, there was a 'Married Man's Tax Allowance'. The problem was that this benefited married men without children, but did not help unmarried men or women with children. The Blair/Brown Labour Government's approach, while far from perfect, is more child centred in its approach. Families receive tax credits, not married couples.

There is also an interesting point of principle and ideology. The Conservatives are supposed to be the Party that believes Government should stay out of peoples lives, but Labour is meant to be in favour of the nanny state. However, this is a point for anyone who believes in a liberal democracy (not necessarily to be confused with Liberal Democracy!). While there may be some debate on the extent to which Government can and should intervene to reduce poverty, surely people should have the right to decide if they want to get married, enter into a civil partnership or not, without having to consider the tax system. Nor should the state consider the marital, or even relationship status, of someone when considering the taxes or benefits they should receive.

P.s.: As an Anglo-Catholic I believe marriage is a sacrament, however, crudely, I also believe baptism is a sacrament: this does not believe I think people should get tax credits for being baptised or having their children baptised.

*See page 3 of: http://standupspeakup.conservatives.com/Reports/BreakthroughBritain/discussionguide.pdf

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My first Blog: Fairtrade bananas

This is my first Blog. I had the notion recently of setting up a Blog and have found it is relatively easy to do.

Right now, its one o'clock in the after-noon on a Saturday, I'm still in my pjs and have nothing to eat for lunch! I have ran out of bananas and feel this is a situation I must rectify soon.

I buy Fairtrade bananas where ever possible. It is very difficult to buy ethically, but in the UK buying Fairtrade bananas or Fruit Juice is a 'quick win' as they are stocked by all the major supermarkets. This way you can be sure the growers have been paid a fair price and haven't been exploited.

Please feel free to comment, but keep it clean.