Economics and Theology

Money and Power

So Peter Hain spent over £100,000 to finish fifth out of six for Deputy Leader of the Labour Party. Presumably much went on mailings to electors. I've seen no figures of money spent in the LibDem leadership election, but the beaten candidate, Chris Huhne, must have spent far more than the victor, judging by the number of his glossy leaflets posted to me. In the US vast sums are being raised and spent, but I see that no-hoper Hucklebee has raised very little but still managed to win states in the Bible Belt. The moral seems to be that money doesn't necessarily win votes.

The more important issue, however, is this. Why do rich people give so much money to politicians or political parties? No doubt some do for the same reasons as they give to charities - genuine compassion/belief or publicity - but others, particularly those who try to conceal their identity, because they seek influence. Am I too cynical in suggesting that they are acting - successfully it seems - to preserve their tax privileges?

Sharia Law

What is Archbishop Rowan Williams on about? He knows much more about theology in general and about Islam than I can ever know, but -
1. There are so many varieties of Sharia Law, relating to branches of Islam and countries of origin. Even if it were feasible to have a different variety in each location in Britain it would still not take account of the multi-ethnic origins of Muslims in each location, such as Slough.
2. Could inhumane punishments and oppression of women be excluded?
3. He has provided a field day for out-and-out secularists who take separation of Church and State to mean that religious belief and practice should be restricted to the purely personal and have no bearing on politics or community life at all.

Privilege

Monday's Guardian today lamented the lack of diversity in ten new judges - all white males, only one from a British state school, three from from Oxford, two from Cambridge. But this does not mean the selection was not based on merit, and "affirmative action", US style, might give us a Clarence Thomas (see review of "My Grandfather's Son" in Sunday's Observer which, says Andrew Stephen "points up all the ills that bedevil present-day America"). No, it's a long-term and wider problem, starting with education. I don't usually admire George Monbiot but his article in the Guardian on 22nd January "Only class war on public schools can rid us of this unhinged ruling elite" hit the nail on the head.

What could be done about it? As a first step, private schools should lose charitable status and their profits be taxed like any other business. But is there any chance of this or any other government doing this?

Uncle Syd's Wine

25 years ago, Mary's Uncle Syd gave us a black bottle of German wine:

1982 Albiger Petersberg
Auslese
Anbaugebiet Rheinhessen

For some reason we didn’t drink it soon after. It was marked “Qualitatswein mit Pradicat”, but what was its real quality? Twenty-five years ago, German wine was out of fashion anyway. It lay on the bottom shelf of the wine storage cabinet for as long as we have had the cabinet. But last night, 23rd January 2007, I opened it – with difficulty: the cork disintegrated. So I strained it through a tea-strainer into a jug and then into a decanter. We drank it with neighbours Beryl and John. It was a honey-golden colour and tasted as it looked, not cloyingly sweet, but smooth, delicate and delicious.

After Ming

So Menzies Campbell, the one I voted for, has gone. I think he would have done well had an Election come now; his maturity and decency would have contrasted favourably with the shallowness of Cameron and his band of Old Etonians. But in two or three year’s time? More important than the leadership, however, is defining, in terms of basic issues of today’s politics, what Liberal Democrats are for. There are three areas for attack on the Labour-Conservative consensus:

1. Taxes. Taxation is not an unnecessary burden but what we pay for the basic structures of society – health, education, roads, policing, etc – and the means towards a fairer more equitable society. We buy these things just as we buy food and clothing and shelter. And just as we want efficiency in the production of food and clothing and shelter so we want efficiency in the collection and use of taxes. Inheritance Tax is efficient and reduces inequality.

2. Europe. Membership of the EU doesn’t diminish British influence in the world but enhances it. The EU has more clout than any individual country of the 27. The new Treaty (not a constitution) facilitates more positive European contributions to world peace, happiness and prosperity. For example, the European Parliament will be able to demand changes to the CAP and so cut poverty in other continents.

3. Personal Freedoms. These must be protected from erosion in the name of security. Terrorists win if we lose freedoms. Does not the potential misuse of ID cards outweigh potential benefits? Are the police under adequate control? Do religious bigots have too much influence on legislation and public policy?

Denmark

Have returned from seven days in Aalborg (Denmark) as the guests of our old friends Anne Karin and Hans Petersen. The main highlights were converse with them and their daughter and second son whom we had last seen when they were small children but now with grown-up, teenage and near-teenage children of their own. Mostly in English but we did remember to say "tak for meth" after meals for the response "welbecomen". And we did learn "tre slags sild" (three pieces of herring). [Sorry if the spelling isn’t quite right!]
Many jokes – often with the aid of the dictionary.

We were taken on fascinating excursions around the mainly flat countryside, including:
• An excavated pre-Christian Viking graveyard at Lindholm (over the years they switched from bodily burial to cremation but still with interment and then back to bodily burial again) and museum with archaeological finds and models.
• the tip beyond Skagen where the Baltic and the North Sea meet
• the Nordyllands museum of modern art
• and in Aalborg the magnificent Renaissance "stenhus" built by Jens Bangs as a riposte to the exclusive city elders (complete with a gargoyle sticking its tongue out towards their smaller Town Hall).

Some casual impressions: Aalborg still an industrial town with smoking chimneys and new high-tech firms, clean environment, happy and welcoming people, much use of English in street signs (job center, shopping center, takeaway).

A wonderful seven days. Mange tak, Anne Karin and Hans.