2012 sees the bicentenary of the birth of Charles Dickens.
I am just reading his novel Hard Times, set against the backdrop of the friction between the masters and the workers in the fictional industrial conurbation of ‘Coketown’.
November 30 saw friction as nearly two million public sector employees from 26 unions took part in a day of strikes over pensions and pay. They feel they are bearing too much of the burden of government cutbacks necessary in the light of the national financial crisis. Schools, courts, government offices, rubbish collections and other services were brought to a standstill. In hospitals most non-emergency operations were cancelled.
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 …