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Comprehensive Spending Review

The reading comes from ““Proverbs””, chapter 31, verses 8 and 9:"““Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves;""oppose any that go to law against them;""speak out and pronounce just sentence""and give judgement for the wretched and the poor.””" I am grateful to Lexden Methodist church in my constituency for its notices for the week of Sunday 24 October and the thought for the week—political concerns. I mention that because of the deafening silence from the Church in the broader sense on issues of social concern, housing benefit and the housing crisis. There are enough bishops at the other end who could speak out on such issues, but I am still waiting for the Church—archbishops, bishops and cardinals, the whole lot—to speak. I am grateful to Lexden Methodist church for allowing me to put that on the record and I welcome the concept of fairness. I am not one who says that all private is good and all public bad, or vice versa. It is important to keep a mixture of the two.