As we move away from the COVID crisis and lockdown seems an ever distant memory, we can find ourselves looking back at what we had to do with a certain bemusement. Did we really huddle outside around fires in our gardens with friends, or on doorsteps, while a perfectly warm house was behind us? Did […]
Articles
Birthdays matter
It was my birthday recently and, strangely, I was looking forward to the day. Growing up, birthdays were not a big thing. The Singletons made more of Christmas, which of course is a birthday of sorts but at Christmas everybody gets to exchange gifts. Christmas was, as it is for many people, an important festival […]
Faith and Levelling Up
Restoring community is a nebulous ambition. As is the language of “levelling up”. What is clear, however, is that local communities (perhaps faith communities in particular) have a level of assets or social capital which would be hard to replicate through mere financial investment or a redeployment of existing institutions. Faith provides a network of […]
No one left behind with the Cost of Living
Much of the narrative around the cost-of-living crisis has focused on how we will all feel the effects of this season. There is no doubt that the poorest will be affected the worst, but the expectation is that those who would normally consider themselves ‘comfortable’ or even ‘well off’ are aware that they will likely […]
Welcoming Rishi Sunak as Britain’s First Hindu Prime Minister
On Tuesday morning, Rishi Sunak was appointed as Prime Minister. In doing so, he becomes both the first person of Asian origin and the first person of faith from a non-Christian tradition to do so.1 As many have pointed out over the last few days, this is an exceptional example of the diversity we have […]
On the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II
As tributes and commemorations pour in, to mark the passing of Queen Elizabeth II, we have an important opportunity to pause and reflect. Indeed, the British weather seems to have set the tone of sober greyness, with rain showers lingering on the horizon, just as grief and tears seem to for many of us. When […]
Don’t stop now! – Levelling Up must be more than a slogan
What a week we’ve just come through! Just a few days ago, I wouldn’t have even entertained the idea that I would be struggling to find out who the ministers are in the government departments we work closest with—that being Health and Social Care and Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. And, as I write this, […]
Let them work…?
My household is bracing itself for a major change. After an intense two year period of GCSE and post-16 study, we will soon have two teenagers without an occupation. They, I’m sure, have all kinds of plans to kick back and relax, binge on Netflix and catch up with friends. I, on the other hand, […]
The uncanny joy of meeting
Over the past two years, we’ve learned that we can do so much remotely, particularly when it comes to what we thought of as office-based work. We can have meetings, we can hold workshops, and we can hire and fire people. I even know some people who have worked at an organisation for a considerable […]
You’d be daft not to!
Having been working at FaithAction for over a decade, I sometimes have to remind myself that not everyone knows of and appreciates the amazing things that faith groups do, day in, day out. When the APPG on Faith and Society commissioned the report, Keeping the Faith, on faith communities and local councils working in partnership […]