27 September 2018
Letter to the Editors
Archbishop’s Speech
from Anthony Bradshaw
Dear Sirs
John Watson’s thoughtful article on the Archbishop of Canterbury’s recent speech on a Christian approach to national economics matters rightly calls for courteous consideration of what Mr Welby has to say, and indeed for a wider national debate on how funding our social infrastructure might be modernised. Mr Welby has had a wider ranging career than most of his predecessors and indeed most senior figures in public life, and what he has to say ought to be interesting. Ought to be, but as it turned out, his views failed the tests of originality; more a reprogramming of old ideas that did not work very well first time round.
More disappointing perhaps, and lacking what one might hope to hear from a churchman of any creed or persuasion, is that the Archbishop did not venture into a spiritual examination of our society, and of work itself, of social division, equality, responsibility, and all those things which economic production goes to underpin. Mr Welby might make a much greater contribution if he reminded us that there are other dimensions to our toil on this earth, and that inner peace does not always require cash.
Yours faithfully
Anthony Bradshaw
