I was on the March for the Alternative in London on 26th March. People of all ages, from toddlers riding on their parents shoulders to old ladies walking with sticks or trolleys were there and they had come from all corners of the country in order to demonstrate their concern for their fellow people and communities, in the face of the forthcoming cuts in public spending. Everybody would have had their particular areas of concern. For me it was the cuts to housing benefit. In areas of the country where housing is very expensive – areas of London and the south east for example, housing benefit currently makes up the shortfall between the amount that people in low paid employment or no employment can afford to pay in rent and the actual cost of renting the property. With this amount being capped a large number of people will have to move out of those areas to cheaper parts of the country. Not only is this bad news for the individuals who will be uprooted from jobs, schools and communities, but it is very bad news for all of us. Parts of the country may effectively become working class free zones. A segregated society in which rich and poor, working class and middle class don’t mix impoverishes us all. We are all important, together we make up the whole. We need one another in order to grow. So I was on the march.
It was a truly wonderful day in which so many people from so many backgrounds came together unified in love and concern for their fellows. It was a “Kingdom of God” experience for me. People at their best.
