“If this sickness is ignored, we face the death of Britain as we have known it”

We are at a critical point in the history of our nation. We are a sick nation and, if this sickness is ignored and untreated, we face the death of Britain as we have known it.

Politicians speak of economic recovery; the truth is that our national debt continues to escalate. Currently it is £6 trillion – four times our GDP, or £400,000 per family. There is much good citizenship and kindness, but the police force and the criminal justice system are overloaded, as huge numbers of historical child abuse cases emerge at the same time as cuts in police budgets. Confidence in our political process and trust in MPs has been severely damaged by scandals of greed. Corruption in the banking system and dishonesty in the press have been exposed. Shocking inadequacies in our health service and widespread neglect of the elderly have come to light.

Ghandi said: “A nation’s greatness is measured by how it treats its weakest members.” Bonhoeffer said: “The test of the morality of a society is what it does for its children.” Studies have shown that British children are among the most pressured and unhappy in the world. One million 16-to-25-year-olds are classified “NEETS” – not in education, employment or training – and thousands of school children are on medication for depression and anxiety. Irresponsible, greedy lending, borrowing and spending means that, as a nation, we have failed to provide economic security for our children and, worse, have saddled them and future generations with catastrophic debt. This has rightly been called intergenerational theft. The robbery is not only financial – our national abandonment of a morally and spiritually sound framework for life has left the young vulnerable…

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This article was published in the May 2015 edition of Reform.

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