Greenbelt 07: Heaven in Ordinary

Just got back from Greenbelt and felt that a quick blog was in order. As always, there is loads to think and write about (so more to come) but thought I would give a quick mention to Douglas Alexander and to some of the CSM activity at the festival. This year, we took Gordon Brown to Greenbelt (see the pic) and even smuggled him into the Organic Beer Tent (without a wristband!) - the Greenbelters were very ready to engage with the cardboard PM at the CSM stand and the overall tone of debate and discussion was really constructive. Douglas Alexander was also there (with a wristband) in conversation with Simon Mayo and I was genuinely surprised by the enthusiastic response that he received from the large crowd who were there - while there were some challenging questions including on Iraq and Afghanistan (as there should be at Greenbelt!), the overall atmosphere was much less confrontational to previous years and there really did seem to be a willingness to engage with the 'new' administration. Interesting times....

Economically Left, Socially Conservative?

At the recent CSM hustings, someone asked Jon Cruddas whether there was room in the Labour Party for those who were "socially conservative". He somehow managed to get away with a throw-away line about the party being a broad church - for all his thoughtfulness on subjects such as housing and migration, he was unable and unprepared to give a serious answer. So what do we mean by social conservatism and is it desirable? If the term social conservatism is just a cover for discriminatory attitudes, then I want nothing to do with it - not everyone will agree with me but Desmond Tutu expresses my thinking when he says that, "to discriminate against our sisters and brothers who are lesbian or gay on grounds of their sexual orientation for me is as totally unacceptable and unjust as Apartheid ever was". But I think that social conservatism is about more than sexuality - it's about family (in all its varied forms), belonging, and an awareness that some of the social trends in Britain are not at all 'progressive'. The Prime Minister has tried to distance himself from the 'puritan' image that the sketch-writers are so desperate to pin on him and at a recent press conference he compared himself the Mark Twain - Mr Twain, he noted, had had a very Puritan background. “He arrived in Nevada and he found drinking and gambling and womanising. And he said: ‘This was no place for a Puritan and I did not long remain one!’ ” However the evidence so far suggests that Gordon Brown is approaching social issues from a different perspective to his predecessor - a u-turn on supercasinos, the possible re-classification of cannabis and a fresh look at the licensing laws... The cynic might argue that this is all an attempt to win over Daily Mail readers in his first 100 days. This remains to be seen but I think that the time is ripe for Christians on the Left to rediscover their roots a little and to use their resources to help the Party tackle some our most significant social challenges.