Reflections on 2017 & Hopes for 2018

The festive period is a traditionally a time for reflection for many Christians, other people of faith, agnostics and atheists alike; a period where we consider the thoughts we have had and the actions we have taken over the last year and decide whether we need to amend our behaviour to be more compassionate, helpful people in the following year. 2017 has certainly been a challenging one for liberal minded people, with the seemingly unstoppable ascendency of Trumpian and Alt-Right thought and the continuation of division along Brexit voting lines, with discussions proving less than fruitful at times. Reminding ourselves of Jesus' birth and the compassion he demonstrated to people seemingly very different from himself should remind us of the need for dialogue, for breaking down erected stereotypes in order to try and establish common ground on which to build a brighter, happier future. So here's my reflections on 2017 generally and some of my hopes and recommendations for 2018.

Brexit and Politics:

When examining the situation of folks in the UK, you can see that people from both sides of the Brexit referendum hope to see positive changes made to the working and living conditions of people in the UK, although they may differ on how best to deliver that long-lasting change. I believe it's true to say that the Brexit referendum was used as an attempt by some as a way of cementing blame for the lack of UK economic security and ability to destiny-shape on the EU. However, it wasn't our membership of the EU that contributed wholly to the decline of our industrial heartlands; neither is it the fault of the EU that we continue to have low productivity growth a decade after the banking crash. Successive governments have failed to deliver appropriate industrial strategies designed to maximise the potential of small and medium sized businesses based in rural as well as urban constituencies. The Conservative government has spent too much time focussing on designing and implementing short-term austerity measures and not enough time co-ordinating an industrial strategy that is bold and wide-reaching. Establishing maths schools and Universal Technical Colleges is all well and good but there has to be jobs in regional areas for graduates of those schools to go and funding still needs to be place for young people to become apprentices in enterprising small and medium sized businesses located near to where they live. It shouldn't be the case that young people feel they have to migrate to larger cities to find sustainable work and it isn't right that small and medium sized business owners are not getting the real targeted help they need to expand and take on local talent. Brexiteers tell us that Britain outside the EU will present many free trade opportunities for businesses yet little evidence is out there that convinces small and medium sized business owners that those opportunities will benefit them directly. It's time to stop focussing on massaging the egos of corporate hedge fund managers and Nigel Farage and instead come up with ideas that will benefit businesses based in places like Skegness and Metheringham first.

Brexit wise generally, I have no idea whether the trading negotiation outcome will be anything near to the favourable trading conditions we currently have with the EU. I still remain convinced that our interests are best served by being a member of the Single Market and Customs Union but that option is only available if we decide to remain within the EU. A Survation poll conducted for the Mail on Sunday and released earlier this month found that out of the 1,003 respondents, 50% said they “support the holding of a referendum asking the public if they accept or reject the negotiated deal” (http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/britons-majority-in-favour-of-public-vote-on-final-brexit-deal-uk-politics-a8089161.html) The most recent BMG Research poll for The Independent has indicated a continuation in the shift in attitude towards Brexit itself, with 51% of 1,509 respondents stating they wish the UK to remain a member of the EU and only 41% saying they still want the UK to leave (http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/brexit-second-referendum-latest-poll-remain-ten-points-leave-bmg-a8114406.html). I believe a 2^nd referendum on the terms of the Brexit deal should be on the cards but at the moment it looks unlikely to happen (Jeremy Corbyn remains quiet on the subject but I'm still unsure as to why he is so reluctant to advocate for a 2^nd referendum and Keir Starmer doesn't seem to believe it would be a worthwhile policy idea to back at least in public). What is certain is that voters need to be realistic about the UK's current economic prospects outside of the EU trading bloc; thus far, they look less than optimistic. Inflation is already hitting people's pockets. The British Retail Consortium has warned that prices could rise unless existing trade deals can be replicated: tariffs on clothes from Turkey could increase from 0 to 12% and duties on Icelandic fish could end up being 11% when they are only 3.4% currently. The Government is clearly worried about the potential economic impact of Brexit (whether there is a deal with the EU or not) too; I wonder why Chancellor Philip Hammond is so reluctant to publish the Brexit impact reports that have been created by the Treasury; would the analyses revealed by data modeling (tax funded by the way) be too hard for die-hard Brexiteers to swallow? Or perhaps the Tories are so arrogant as to presume that not many people outside Westminster would not be bothered reading them? (https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/dec/26/philip-hammond-urged-publish-treasury-brexit-impact-studies). I hope next year that there will be a more concillatory attitude demonstrated by proponents of Brexit; one that acknowledges the concerns of Remain voters and works towards securing economic prosperity for everyone in the UK, not just people like Farage or Rees-Mogg.

The UK General Election and ensuing events have brought with them hope, disappointment and satisfaction. I have certainly more hope for a better future for the UK given the wide-ranging ideas that were contained in the Labour, Lib Dem, Greens and Women's Equality Party manifestos. There's no shortage of proposals that could be implemented (and lord knows whether the Tories will ever be bothered to implement them what with their current preoccupation with Hard Brexit) and there are some amazing MPs who are and I suspect will continue to try and make a difference to the lives of those who are Just About Managing to keep their heads above water financially speaking. I've been impressed by the wonderful Marsha de Cordova, who has become Labour's first dedicated Minister for Disabled People and Dawn Butler, Shadow Secretary of State for Equalities who both happen to be sassy, intelligent women of colour and who could both one day be viable candidates in the next Labour Leadership race.

However, I can't say that I've been entirely happy with all of Labour's policy announcements or the actions of certain Labour MPs (who shall remain nameless in this blogpost) this year. I'm still not convinced that Labour should be focussing efforts on renationalisation of our utilities (certainly not in their first term back in power anyways). Equally I am beginning to get the sense that Corbyn is in danger of developing a credibility gap (albeit primarily with older liberal minded voters at the moment) on the issue of Brexit; it's a gap that could continue to grow if Corbyn avoids discussing issues resulting from Brexit head-on. I can understand his reluctance to nail his colours to a particular mast; he doesn't want to alienate pro-Brexit voters based in Northern and Midland constituencies including ones that Corbyn want to win back like Mansfield (majority of 1,057) and Stoke-on-Trent South (majority of 663) yet at the same time he doesn't want to upset liberal minded voters in metropolitan constituencies and risk losing Scottish gains from the SNP including Midlothian (majority of 885) and Glasgow North East (majority of 242). The example of how Lincoln voted in the June General Election however should give Corbyn and his team some food-for-thought: Karen Lee, a nurse and City Councillor for Carholme Ward managed to defeat a hard-line Brexiteer Tory partly because of her willingness to talk openly about the UK remaining a member of the Single Market to protect jobs and workers' rights at hustings held across the city. I need not remind politicos in the Labour party that Lincoln constituents voted to Leave the EU in the Referendum yet there was an increased turnout at the polls in the 2017 GE compared with the 2015 GE which increased the number of voters for both Labour and the Tories and I would surmise that Labour won because Remain voters were energized to turn out and vote to turf out the Brexiteer. If it happened in Lincoln, it could happen in other constituencies that had similar voting percentages in the Brexit referendum. A recent poll conducted by YouGov for the Best for Britain campaign group also gives an indication of the anti-Brexit sentiments of Labour voters across the UK. The poll of 1,075 people who said they intend to vote Labour at the next General Election found that 63% would be delighted or pleased if Labour declared they will stop Brexit and remain in the EU, with only 21% opposing such a policy decision. 24% of respondents also said they would change their minds and vote for another party if Labour decides to proceed with the Brexit process (https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/dec/27/labour-voters-could-abandon-party-over-brexit-stance-poll-finds). Despite such emergence of anti-Brexit sentiments in the polls, Corbyn has kind of made hints recently that he himself won't back calls for a second referendum although Deputy Leader Tom Watson has said that “nothing has been ruled out” (http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/jeremy-corbyn-says-labour-does-not-back-second-brexit-referendum_uk_5a44c3d7e4b025f99e19b252?utm_hp_ref=uk-politics). There is a real risk that a reluctance to allow voters to either have the final say on the Brexit deal or vote in a second referendum will alienate swing voters who had voted Remain in the EU Referendum in order to appease Brexiteer socialist and communist elements. I would argue that Corbyn should not only be advocating for at least a referendum on the deal but also push vigorously against the Tory version of Brexit that will leave voters who are classed as Just About Managing worse off. Corbyn has a duty to continue to fight to protect workers' rights from being eroded (in addition to continuing to talk about the new rights he would introduce including the banning of unpaid internships over 4 weeks and the banning of zero hours contracts). He should not be afraid to be more vocal about the potential danger economic or otherwise that may result from a Tory driven Hard Brexit. He needs to be promoting the efforts of Labour MPs to challenge the Government approach and his questions at Prime Minister's Questions need to framed more around questioning the Tory Brexit approach; for example, critiquing the Government over their hoarding of money for a No Deal Brexit when local authorities are seeing yet another deep cut to their funding streams, forcing them to push up council tax bills to help pay for local policing. The “constructive ambiguity” approach that Corbyn has adopted will only be effective for a short while longer; he needs to make a brave choice before his opportunity to enact social change passes him by.

Disability Rights:

Disabled people in Lincoln and across the UK have continued to bear the brunt of austerity measures this year:

• Just this month the High Court ruled that a change to the Personal Independence Payment affecting people with mental health conditions was unlawful and discriminatory (164,000 people should have received a higher amount of PIP) http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/tory-refusal-hand-164000-people-11733688
• Loss of benefits has led to people having to crowdfund for basic equipment including wheelchairs (http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/philip-hammond-disability_uk_5a39671de4b0578d1beb73a7).
• The Government was publicly rebuked by the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons With Disabilities (CRPD) for its lacklustre approach towards fostering better rights for disabled people, concluding that the Government was “guilty of grave or systematic violations of the rights of persons with disabilities” (https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/04/austerity-disabled-people-rights-uk-un-government). 60 recommendations were made within a 17 page report and there's little indication these recommendations have been used to inform Government policy going forward
• More children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities are being home schooled in part due to a lack of school places (1,000 children are on the waiting list) https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/nov/30/uk-education-disabled-children-home-school-inclusion
• Chancellor Hammond was caught on record blaming an increase in disabled workers for the productivity crisis despite the fact that disabled people currently only make up 11.4% of the total number of workers in the UK and that for all the Tory bravado about improving employment figures, the “disability employment gap” between disabled workers and non-disabled workers has moved very little between July and September 2010 (31.26%) and April and June 2017 (31.35%) (http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/philip-hammond-disabled-people-workforce-responsible-for-productivity-problem-a8099436.html)
• Research by Scope has found that workers with a disability have to make 60% more applications to find a job compared with jobseekers without a disability.

It's really not good enough. Affirmative action needs to be taken to help empower disabled people and that means giving disabled people like myself and others the tools to enact change. I'm very much in favour of Marsha de Cordova's suggestion that there should be a public awareness campaign led by disabled workers which would include encouraging more small and medium sized businesses in rural areas to consider taking on apprentices who happen to have a learning disability or who are on the autistic spectrum and encouraging small and medium sized business owners and managers to attend training sessions so they are aware of the measures they can take to make reasonable adjustments in the workplace and understand the Access to Work Scheme. Equally the Tory Government should be made to promise that existing disability rights being brought into law through the Great Repeal Bill will not be eroded for the duration of this Parliament and to consider adopting aspects of the EU Accessibility Act which “would set new accessibility standards across Europe for ticketing and check-in machines for bus, rail and air travel, as well as for computers, ebooks and ecommerce” (https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/dec/12/marsha-de-cordova-disabled-minister-equality-battles and read more about the EU Accessibility Act here: http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=1202).

All public spaces and business premises, especially shops and restaurants should be accessible for disabled shoppers yet this is currently not the case; research by Scope has revealed that 75% of disabled people and their families had left a retail outlet or business premises because there were not making provisions for them, even though there is an existing legal requirement that businesses make reasonable adjustments to cater for disabled customers (https://news.sky.com/story/high-street-chains-exposed-on-shopping-trip-with-disabled-person-11184435). I hope the Government will consider strengthening the Equality Act so there is a duty on businesses that are customer-facing to have accessible facilities. That may send the necessary message to those businesses attempting to stall on making their premises more accessible.

Youthquakin':

The word of 2017 as decided by the Oxford English Dictionary is “Youthquake” and I have to say that I've been impressed by the sheer number of young people across the UK who have decided to make their voices heard, whether by attending anti-Trump and pro Feminism marches, by being brave enough to come out and talk about their ideas and opinions, risking bullying and harassment and discrimination as a result and by choosing to vote in the General Election. Very few political and cultural commentators thought that Corbyn's campaign could have energised and empowered so many but very few would now dare to underestimate the power of the Millennial and Generation Z vote. What was incredible in my own constituency was listening to a group of sixth form students choosing to debate vigorously and openly a few days before the election. Their passion for wanting to be part of the driving force that they believed could enact social change was truly inspiring and I am no longer as despairing for the future of the country at the end of the year than I was at the start because I know that even in a possible post-Brexit Britain there shall always be young people willing to stand up for liberal virtues of compassion, and openness.

Young people can generate some truly inspiring ideas and be amazing campaigners in their local communities and on a national level. Too often there are narrow-minded people out there who refuse to listen to them just because they consider them “too young” to be politically active. This cultural attitude needs to change. My hope is that in the coming year will see a commitment made by more liberal Conservative MPs towards giving young people aged 16 and 17 the right to vote and putting in place the education they need to help empower them to consider going to the polling stations. It cannot possibly be acceptable for a 16 year old to pay National Insurance, get married (albeit with parental consent) and not have the ability to help shape the policies that affect their day-to-day lives. Rather than disillusioning young people in our sixth form colleges, further education colleges and who are on an apprenticeship, we should be encouraging them to enjoy being citizens and that means continuing to energise them to vote.

LGBTQIA+ Rights:

Not much progress has been made on improving rights for non-binary or intersex people in the last year despite vigorous campaigning by activists. A national LGBT survey has been commissioned by the Government which is designed to help inform decision making going forward. There was meant to be a review of the Gender Recognition Act 2004 to make it easier for trans people to obtain a Gender Recognition Certificate but that seems be parked now till at least spring 2018 and the release of the LGBT survey results because of fears expressed by radical feminists and right wing media types. It seems 2017 has been defined by a real flaring-up of stereotyping and vitriol against trans and non-binary people with certain elements of the mainstream media (particularly The Sunday Times) eager to fan the flames of discord. A moral panic on heat so to speak has ensued. Some of the articles that have been published do betray a lack of even basic knowledge of legislation or terminology on the part of the journalists who wrote them whereas others were quite clearly crafted in a radical feminist vein, honestly reflecting the views of the writer. Whilst I am someone who understands the value of living in a society that respects freedom of speech and the right of newspapers to vet what they print relatively free from government control, I have at times this year questioned the judgment of some of the editorial teams involved and would caution them in the future not to give out the appearance of favouring a particular ideology (Radical Feminism is an ideology, after all) in order to pander to a particular group of readers. As the ever insightful David Levesley pointed out in his iNews opinion-ed “The media needs to stop weaponising children in their crusade against trans people”, the never ending stream of opinion-eds by cisgender people has been mostly unhelpful; trans rights campaigner Ashley Talbot stated quite rightly: “I have plenty of opinions about things but I don't have free reign to write about them in national newspapers and then claim I'm being silenced when people point out how offensive it is” (https://inews.co.uk/opinion/comment/media-needs-stop-weaponising-young-children-crusade-trans-people/). I am not naive enough to surmise that articles questioning trans people's right to be themselves will stop in their entirety but I do hope there will be more newspaper editors willing to publish articles penned by non-binary activists, experts and ordinary hard-working people or maybe perhaps editors who will consider taking on more non-binary columnists and journalists to better reflect the experiences of non-binary people across the UK. The talent is out there; editors just need to be bothered enough to seek them out. In the meantime, cis (and some trans) people opinion-eding should read the existing oeuvre of non-binary people and educate themselves before presuming to pass judgment on them. Think before you write!!!

Money:

The amount of income that working class people have across the UK to spend continues to be unsatisfactory. Latest figures released by the Trade Unions Congress (TUC) demonstrate just how woeful wage growth is in the UK compared with other countries: a study of OECD figures has revealed that the rate of wage growth in the UK will be “the lowest of any wealthy nation” with workers “seeing their earnings decrease by 0.7% in 2018 when inflation is taken into account (https://www.theguardian.com/money/2017/dec/29/uk-to-sink-to-the-bottom-of-oecd-wage-growth-index-in-2018). The Resolution Foundation has also concluded that wage growth in real terms will stagnate in 2018, although they acknowledged the increase in the National Living Wage will help workers marginally. This is very worrying news for young workers already struggling to afford to pay their rent, utilities and food bills who hoped that the Conservatives would have introduced radical policies to help them in light of the GE result. The Lloyds survey conducted in November only confirms the nation's current feelings regarding the economy: “63% feel negative about the current state of inflation, up 14% since last November” and “2/3 feel negative about the UK economy” (https://www.theguardian.com/money/2017/dec/27/zero-real-wage-growth-britain-end-2018-forecasts).

Low wage growth has inevitably meant more households turning to loan companies to provide them with the money necessary to pay for car repairs or rent deposits. Recent Labour research using statistics from the Office for National Statistics which includes student loan debts has found that “unsecured debt is on course to exceed £15,000 per household next year” (https://www.theguardian.com/money/2017/dec/27/uk-household-debt-john-mcdonnell-warns-alarming-increase). The Guardian has already examined unsecured consumer credit debt and discovered there are 8.3m people in the UK classed as having a problem debt. Action is going to have to be taken to bring this number down, whether it be limiting access to credit for those who have already borrowed a certain amount of unsecured debt or are struggling to maintain payments and scrapping or at least capping the interest rate on consumer loans, including student loans (or at least scrap the 3% rate above inflation which is at 3% and costing students currently around £3,000 a year) so people are not saddled with an increasing burden which they may never have the means to pay off, thereby costing the taxpayer even more money (a proposal already suggested by David Willetts, the former universities minister who engineered the plan to raise fees to £9,000 a year).

Housing and Homelessness:

I have always believed that every person living in the UK deserves a comfortable, safe and secure place to live. Yet events this year have shown that we are far from achieving this dream of universal comfortable housing. The tragedy of the Grenfell Tower fire demonstrated the inadequate fire safety and building regulations we currently have in the UK as well as the chronic shortage of affordable housing in metropolitan consistencies and the reluctance of certain housing organisations and local authorities to listen to and take action on legitimate safety concerns raised by tenants. There needs to be a cultural shift in the way social and council housing is managed as well as ensuring that high rise buildings of any nature have essential fire safety features built-in to their design. As the Lib Dems called for at their Autumn Conference, all high rise buildings should have sprinker systems fitted as standard, with fire retardant cladding fitted and annual fire drills planned for all residents (https://www.libdems.org.uk/conference-autumn-17-f21-safe-building-standards-for-all-homes). 

Councillors and managers of housing associations should also be held more accountable for their actions and forced to resign in the event of mismanagement, including ignoring tenant's valid safety concerns.

Thousands of people remain homeless in the UK at the end of this year. Current figures released by the Department for Communities and Local Government show that 15,290 households were accepted by local authorities as being homeless between the 1^st July and 30^th September with 79,190 households in temporary accommodation, up 65% from 48,010 in December 2010 (https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/dec/14/number-homeless-households-risen-official-figures). Many more families are classed as hidden homeless, sofa surfing with family members, friends and colleagues whilst they try and find an affordable place to call home. The number of homeless households with a family member with a mental health condition has risen from 3,200 in 2010 to 5,470 in 2017 and the number of homeless households with a family member with a physical health condition has risen from 2,840 in 2010 to 4,370 in 2017. Tens of thousands of young people have approached councils in England, Scotland and Wales because they are homeless or at risk of being made homeless. Figures released by 234 councils as a result of a Freedom of Information request by the Lib Dems have shown 45,000 18-24 year olds have approached their local authority in the past year yet with more than 100 councils not sharing information on youth homeless, the figure could be as high as 70,000 (https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/dec/25/tens-of-thousands-of-young-people-affected-by-homelessness-data-shows). The Government wants to block these young people from routinely collecting housing benefit, claiming that benefit payouts aren't sustainable (an ageist and heartless move from a Government that has implemented numerous ill-thought out, discriminatory policies) and instead are trying to minimise the effects of this policy decision by contributing to a “Fair Chance Programme” which has already been in place since September 2015 and will end in the next year and which only helps those young people defined as NEET (not in education, employment or training). The Fair Chance Programme interim reports have admitted that “securing and sustaining suitable accommodation (tenancies) for young people was widely seen as a prerequisite to progressing towards education, training, volunteering and employment outcomes” (p4) and the number of young people on the programme is small -1,909 young people were recorded as being on the programme as at December 2015 but pleasingly 1,637 had entered accommodation by December 2016 with 81% of those having achieved “a 6 month sustained tenancy”...https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/660583/Fair_Chance_Fund_interim_report_Year_Two.pdf). https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/fair-chance-fund-evaluation-interim-reports

Short-term piecemeal solutions are not going to help reduce the problem of homelessness. The Government should commit to building far more council houses than they have currently announced: new council homes with the cheapest rents are only being built at the rate of 6,800 a year (https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/dec/27/housing-crisis-could-radically-alter-uk-politics-says-ex-whitehall-chief-bob-kerslake) and these homes should have 5 year guaranteed tenancies as standard. Eviction is still the primary cause of homelessness (as a result of families not being able to pay the rent due to housing benefit cuts or losing their job) and local authorities should be given more funding to intervene now and pay outstanding rent arrears in order to prevent evictions, especially of families who are beholden to the Universal Credit system (which needs administrative change to become more efficient and process claims faster).

More thoughts:

2017 has taught me the continued value in trying to be compassionate to others who may not share the same views on life as myself. It can be hard to have the wherewithal to sit down with those who may never accept my gender identity as being separate from my sex assigned to me at birth or accept that I have an emotional attachment to my European and liberal identity that will never be severed, regardless of where Brexit happens in the end or not. I remember having an interesting conversation with an older gentleman in my ward, Birchwood who could neither accept my wish for the UK to remain in the EU nor my non-binary status. He did however want to talk to me about the value of a strong community: “it's a shame that people don't talk to their neighbours much anymore.....my Mum and Dad used to invite Mrs Samuels (the next door neighbour) to tea every Wednesday afternoon and they were always going to baptisms and marriages and funerals a few times a month. Everyone in the street looked out for each other. I don't know my neighbours next door at all...they just seem to play loud music a lot. I do feel lonely sometimes; I wish they'd come and speak to me”. The recent report on Loneliness, published by the Jo Cox Commission on Loneliness made clear that the experiences of the gentleman I met were repeated across the UK: over 9 million adults said they are often or always lonely and according to Age UK, 3.6 million people in the UK aged 65 and over said that the television was their main source of company. Loneliness isn't something that affects older people either: Action for Children figures reveal that 47% of 17-25 year olds who are using Action for Children services have experienced problems with loneliness (https://www.ageuk.org.uk/globalassets/age-uk/documents/reports-and-publications/reports-and-briefings/active-communities/rb_dec17_jocox_commission_finalreport.pdf). There's far more we need to do as a country to tackle loneliness, with people across the country being empowered to set up community based projects that bring people together, whether through volunteering their skills or attending a tea dance or cookery class. In order for such projects to be viable, there needs to be a sustainable source of funding and I hope in the next year the Government will implement the recommendations of the Loneliness report and create an “innovation and spread fund” to provide seed funding for new community based projects as well as allowing existing projects to scale-up. I know such funding would be invaluable for projects based in Lincoln, particularly those that help to facilitate intergenerational dialogue and I would love to set up a project myself encouraging people from different political and social backgrounds to meet up and come up with their own community based projects; breaking down barriers and empowering people should be what I focus on in the next year – in the vein of Jo Cox, Jesus Christ and other inspirational folks with JC initials.

Conclusion:

Next year I hope there will be more of an effort to implement some of the solutions offered to the issues that have been so prevalent this year. We can all play our part in trying to reduce prejudice, stigma and suffering, whether that be volunteering for a few hours a week to help a local charity or third sector organisation with the planning and provision of services, spending some of our time speaking to others who do not share and may never share our own outlook on life and participating in local (and potentially national elections) to help shape policy ideas for the UK going forward. The best of humanity is often demonstrated in times of crisis and hardship and the resolve and kindness of many families who are Just About Managing towards others regardless of their background should be celebrated. The country continues to be plagued by low wage growth and unsustainable work opportunities; a report issued by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation stated that just under 400,000 more children and 300,000 more pensioners are considered to be in poverty than 5 years ago and 1 in 5 people living the UK are now classed as living in poverty. Yet kindness and compassion has not been rationed by people who find themselves in reduced circumstances. Those of us fortunate to have a stable household income stream, food and drink a plenty and opportunities to go out on leisure activities like shopping and clubbing without worrying about the heat and lighting bill should be proud to learn from those who have little but never seemingly complain about their situation. Christians have a responsibility to fight against poverty and whilst at times it may seem hopeless, hope for a brighter, better future is what keeps us strong. Brexit may be happening at the moment which many of us do not agree with but we should not give up trying to help others. Such compassion will be greatly appreciated in the coming year.