The archbishop of Canterbury has denounced David Cameron’s “big society”, saying that it comes across as aspirational waffle that was “designed to conceal a deeply damaging withdrawal of the state from its responsibilities to the most vulnerable”.
The outspoken attack on the prime minister’s flagship policy by Rowan Williams ”“ his strongest to date ”“ is contained in a new book, Faith in the Public Square, that is being prepared for publication ahead of his retirement.
Passages from the book, obtained by the Observer, reflect the archbishop’s deep frustration not just with the policies of Cameron’s government and those of its Labour predecessors, but also with what he sees as the west’s rampant materialism and unquestioning pursuit of economic growth. Williams also laments spiralling military expenditure, writing that “the adventure in Iraq and its cost in any number of ways seems to beggar the imagination”.
Pretty rich for someone who lives in two palaces. Why not move into a flat and donate your book royalties to the poor Dr Williams?
I don’t have much time for our current government. However, the problem with Williams’ increasingly trenchant and intemperate views he insists in self-publicising is that they are so regular that people just switch off and think ‘there goes that daft old Marxist druid again’.
They also say ‘what is your track record in your church and the Anglican Communion which shows that you are a person to be listened to seriously?’
All of which means that when the church has something to say on a really important topic, just as happened to Matilda, no one is listening.
That Night a Fire did break out-
You should have heard Matilda Shout!
You should have heard her Scream and Bawl,
And throw the window up and call
To People passing in the Street-
(The rapidly increasing Heat
Encouraging her to obtain
Their confidence)-but it was all in vain!
For every time She shouted “Fire!”
They only answered “Little Liar!”
And therefore when her Aunt returned,
Matilda, and the House, were burned.