Â鶹Éç

Available for over a year

It was Franklin D Roosevelt who coined the phrase ‘the first 100 days’ in a radio broadcast in 1933. And UK politics has in recent years taken on this American benchmark as a useful way to assess the impact of an elected government. Today is Day One. It’s the morning after the night before. And we’re waking up to a conservative majority government led by Boris Johnson. In our divided society, and seemingly with the return of two party politics in this 3rd election in 5 years, elections are in themselves a benchmark, a dramatic moment when ‘before’ becomes ‘after’ in the space of 24 hours. But on a day like today – on Day One – when campaigning must turn to governing, it’s a day to remember that political parties, for all the noise and argument that makes up an election campaign, are important organising principles for a democracy but they are absolutely not ends in themselves. Political parties, like elections, are part of the process, a means to an end. And the end is the kind of society we want to live in. The principles are the fundamentals; justice, cooperation, imagination, stability, peace and commitment to innovation combined with the celebration of tradition. And just as influential as the hard wiring of a society- our legislative, economic, political arrangements- are the less tangible expressions of who we are; the stories we tell ourselves, the faith we have in God or each other, the hope we have for the future, or the despair we feel when our lives just can’t seem to get going. Many people will be feeling relieved and energised this morning. Many other people will be feeling hurt and afraid. And much emotional reaction in between. Christian theology will always want to say that as well as being citizens in a democracy, as well as being consumers in a market economy, we human beings are soulful creatures, capable of astonishing creativity, spectacular generosity, burning love and costly forgiveness. So this morning, we might want to remind the new government that it governs a society not only of productive but soulful citizens that have hopes for a better world. And that the government’s accountability is not only to the voters but to the ideals for which we voted. Notwithstanding whether we feel we won or we lost last night, Day One is a day of reckoning, a day to pledge ourselves to the deep principles that make life worth living; not just for the elected but for all of us.