Three pieces of recent news have spoken eloquently of the desperate state of our country.
First, the shadow home secretary, Chris Grayling, made a speech comparing parts of Britain to The Wire, a US television drama which portrays the reality of inner city drug gangs and violence. He may have been making a political point, but it resonated with many ordinary people.
Second, at the beginning of September, two brothers, now aged just ten and 12 years, pleaded guilty to torturing two other boys at Edlington in South Yorkshire in an attack likened to the murder of James Bulger. The brothers, well known to Doncaster Social Services, lured their young victims to heathland, promising to show them toads and foxes, before subjecting them to a prolonged and vicious attack which left one of them fighting for his life.
The re-emergence of heavy shepherds
What would you think if you received a letter from your church leaders that read like this? ‘Are church members …