What truly matters - #CompassionateLincoln

I have written about school children writing their Magna Carta for the 21st century. Behind the scenes a group of us have been working out what a charter may look like for Lincoln.

It’s not about barons, great clashes of power, but ordinary people who live in this city. We’ve made a video of it. Please take a look.

It begins with the premise that everyone can make difference. You don’t have to be powerful or important; every small act of kindness can change someone’s day.

It is all about caring for our fellow human being, being compassionate; that is why we called it #compassionatelincoln.

It’s not trite; it matters. During and after the referendum campaign it became clear to me just how much it matters. It states our belief that everyone should be treated equally, with consideration and respect.

Who is ‘everyone’? I heard of a conversation between two people with eastern european accents where both agreed that, post Brexit, it was probably safer to speak only English. I was shocked and thought of the very long standing Polish communities in Lincolnshire. I also thought of a piece of paper I had found in my researches: the list of those British officers awarded Polish honours after WW2; my Dad was one of them. With the paper there were letters expressing in very moving language the gratitude of the Polish people. This is a relationship of equals that goes back a long way.

The charter goes on to say that we are a city that accepts everyone, whatever their situation, and gives them the support they need to play an active part in local life. That people are accepted matters, but mattering only really comes with involvement.

If I put on my Drill Hall hat, as an arts centre we can only truly do our job if we are there for everyone in our community. This is not just about everyone coming to watch professional performances, but also that we can be a space where everyone can perform.

All of us know that harm can come just as easily from words as from acts. The charter states that, through our words and actions, we take care of those around us and actively strive to avoid causing anybody hurt.

It is sadly true now that those of our fellow citizens who have come from other EU countries feel at risk. The confusing words coming from government don't help. Daily lives though run their course in spite of government, and so what truly matters is what we do and say each day. Is there something wrong with striving to avoid causing hurt?

Possibly one of the bravest claims in the charter is that compassion breaks down all barriers, whether they be political, religious, social or cultural. We need to be city without barriers. I remember leafletting on the High Street with ‘us’ on one side and the ‘opposition’ on the other. Somewhere in the middle was a group campaigning to save the Fire Station for the city. I think perhaps that they had a lot to teach the rest of us.

#CompassionateLincoln is a campaign for everyone. We all have a part to play. Where difficulties affect our city or our community, we all can help. You can find us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/compassionatelincoln/

This piece was published in the Lincolnshire Echo on 25 August 2016, although I must point out that I ceased to be Chief Executive of Lincoln Cathedral on 31 March 2014. I am now a writer and chair of trustees at Lincoln Drill Hall

Democracy without parliament

Jonathan Freedland, in Saturday's Guardian, got me thinking. He was emphasising the centrality of Parliament in the Brexit decision making process. He set against this the emphasis being placed on mass support by Mr Corbyn and others.

I suspect that Mr Trump would also favour the power of mass support rather than the well oiled democratic process in Washington.

Does this mean that our democratic machinery has failed? If so, rather like Brexit, there seems to little yet to put in its place.

I am truly worried if the leadership of a major UK political party could be contemplating bypassing Parliament. Surely they should focus on making this 800 year old institution work for the people whom it serves.  

Magna Carta 2.0

One of my ambitions for the Magna Carta anniversary was for school children to engage with the ideas behind the great charter and to write their Magna Carta for today’s world. One such group has been doing just this.

With the help of an organisation called Index on Censorship about twenty school children came together some six months ago to create a project from which would come a Magna Carta for today. They presented the fruits of their labours at the Collection on 6 July. I suppose I had expected a list of new Magna Carta clauses. What I found was rather different. It was all about how they would, and indeed will, arrive at such a list.

These 16 to 19 years olds were all involved in youth groups and had responded to a request for volunteers for the project. They didn’t know each other and so the first task was to do just that. It was about listening. The project could only work if they listened to each other, to the many people they would consult, to ‘experts’ - those who had been working in the area of free expression, and to voices from the past.

When I was a teenager, I don't remember listening as something I did. I had plenty of views and would happily talk about them, but listening, well not really. My wife would say that nothing changes. It did make me stop and think.

The young people explained that for them the means for their voice to be heard was to be found in the social media, Facebook and the others. I have certainly seen this, most particular since the referendum all sort of views have been positively flooding the ether.

At the presentation we were invited to ask questions and I asked, what about their contemporaries who are less articulate? How do they get their voice heard? The young people who presented were outstandingly articulate. They explained to me that with social media, anyone can express a view and long carefully constructed arguments are not needed. They felt sure that they would hear the views of a wide spectrum of young people.

So what about older people? This was my next question. They didn’t have an immediate answer but would work on one. I am certain that they will.

It was not a question I asked lightly.

These past few weeks have been a time for listening. As I have written before, I spent time on Lincoln High Street handing out leaflets about the referendum and people stopped to talk. I listened and, whilst listening, I became aware that much of what I was being told has not been listened to by those in power. People have been talking about fear, about loss, about anger. I have the impression of people living in a different world and, of course, it is. There are two worlds. Those of us just about keeping up with the pace of change, and those many who have been left behind perhaps without jobs, perhaps in neighbourhoods which have changed beyond recognition, who feel excluded.

I told the young people about this and they were outraged. To be listened to is a right to be defended. Something perhaps for our politicians to ponder.

You can find out more about the project on their website http://www.whataliberty.co.uk Magna Carta 2.0 @magnacarta_2016 Facebook/Magna Carta 2.0

Lincolnshire Echo 14 July 2016

Underlying the Lincoln Brexit vote

I am certain that the writer in last week's Lincolnshire Echo is right to point to the underlying reasons why so many Lincoln people voted to Leave the EU.

During the campaign, whilst leafleting on the High Street, the one thing that struck me most clearly was that many people were simply angry. They had concerns, and, yes, one was immigration. These concerns were not new; they simply had not been listened to by government. Now, at last, there was a chance to be heard.

To vote to leave the European Union was a pretty blunt instrument and one which will have ramifications for many years to come.

I just hope that the new Prime Minister, whoever that will be, has heard the underlying concerns and will now act.

March for Europe

Time for an initial reflection on the March for Europe.

Many thousands of passionate angry people, all ages, families, very many young men and women marched today. They are the ones who can see clearly what they stand to lose.

Absent were those who believe they have been forgotten and shouted loudly on 23 June.

Parliament cannot abrogate its duty. It is for parliament to consider the result of the referendum. We are a parliamentary democracy.

MPs must debate in Parliament whether or not to advise the new Prime Minister to trigger Article 50. In doing this they must take serious note of the referendum result and of the claims and counterclaims made that have influenced the result.

They must listen to the voices that had not been heard. People are fearful of immigration; they have lost the world of traditional jobs and they see people from other European countries taking some of the jobs that are left.

MPs must also listen to the passionate people with whom I marched today and who truly care about addressing together the massive issues that lie ahead: the refugee crisis, global warming, global business and the gap between rich and poor.

MPs must consider what is best for Britain but not neglecting the effect on the rest of Europe and of the world.

Anger, hate and fear

We do not yet know the motive for the murder of Jo Cox. The due process of law will uncover that. It dose seem though that it came about most probably because of the growing atmosphere of hate that allows extreme expressions of anger. For most people this anger could be processed and expressed in other ways; for the murderer it took the form of extreme violence which is wholly unacceptable and will be punished.

Jo's family and friends are now faced with an irreplaceable loss; the nation has been robbed of an exceptional politician.

What of the anger?

I surmise that it was the far reaches of the anger felt by many as a result of their not being listened to. Some have tried to express their fears. Fears for their future where the world has changed and the jobs that used to be are no longer there. Fears about immigration which have been fuelled by newspapers and political movements, but no less real for that.

They have not been listened to and if people are not listened to, anger is the result.

This anger born out of fear produces hatred which then becomes the cancer of society.

This anger could now find expression in ejecting this nation from the prosperity and safety of the EU.

I believe that the anger has now been heard by all the major political parties. I believe that they have now listened to the fears and will take action.

In a few short weeks we as a nation have almost come to accept expressions of hatred and anger as the norm of political debate. They are not. They cause terrible damage.

The underlying fear, though, has to be listened to and addressed. This requires men and women of the stature of Jo Cox. Her husband has eloquently suggested that the whole debate on refugees and migration has to change and get to the heart of the issues.

I sincerely hope that the anger of which I have written does not take expression in a vote to Leave the EU. With equal sincerity I hope that, should we stay, we work hard to address the fears expressed by so many and build an EU worthy of Jo Cox.

The EU was born after two horrific wars - it's a baby too important to throw out

Babies and bathwater

Over the last weeks we have heard a lot about what’s wrong with the European Union, but

hidden in all that dirty water there’s a baby, and, like all babies, it is precious.

My daughter led me to stumble upon the heart of it.

By her own admission, she’s not the greatest historian. She was reading a novel set in 1916 and asked me whether that was in the First World War. It was. 

‘So when did it start and end?’ 1914 to 1918.

‘What about the Second World War, you know that your book is about?’

I said it started in 1939. I found myself adding that I couldn’t imagine what parents who had survived the first war could have felt watching their children go off to the second. 

Silence, and then she asked, ‘why hasn’t it happened again?’ 

This took me by surprise, but perhaps for someone who has grown up far away from war it was not so odd. 

The answer too was a bit of shock, The European Union: for it was those waring nations that came together in peace to make sure that it could not happen again. 

That is some precious baby.

As I pondered that, more of what the European Union has achieved came to mind. The former dictatorships that have joined and that are now democracies. The millions of employees whose rights are protected. The environment which is far better cared for. The fact that our young people are free to go and work in any member state of their choosing.

There is then perhaps the greatest strength now, the fact that we can together face the enormous challenges that the global economy will throw at us. Multinational companies, who try to pay no tax or who seek unfairly to dominate a market, are fearful of Brussels. There are others including, of course, migration.

Migration is the difficult one. Is it baby or bathwater? Neither, it is people like you and me. People who may be escaping oppression or worse, or those seeking a better life. The question is whether we pull up the drawbridge and hope the English channel will isolate us, or whether we engage with the issues.

The problem is huge and needs the cooperation of nations to address its root causes. We need to make home countries safe and and we need to invest to grow their economies. No one I met in Lesvos wanted to come here; they wanted to go home.

We are a nation of migrants. Saxons and Vikings, Normans, West Indians, Africans, Indians and so many more, more recently those from other EU countries. This makes for a rich and diverse culture. We have learnt a huge amount about how peoples from different cultures can live in harmony. We can offer this experience as these issues are faced and tackled in the years to come. As a nation we have always engaged with the world around us.  

The EU is not perfect. But it has the structures that can and do benefit us, other member states and indeed our world. As I wrote in my previous article, this needs the best people to get involved. It is about leading and not leaving.

This article was published in the Lincolnshire Echo on 16 June 2016