Blog

Been an interesting weekend. Yes I did watch the longest Wimbledon final ever, and admire both players, so was happy for Federer and sorry for Roddick, and would have felt the same if the result had been the other way round. And sat Sunday evening, from 7.30'ish p.m. to 8.30'ish p.m., in my garden, sipping tea and reading, on a warm balmy evening with no midges in sight. And this in the West of Scotland in July!

Saturday we went to the People's Palace on Glasgow Green and spent the morning revising my Scottish political history of the past couple of centuries. The banner carried by the Suffragette's in 1910; the manifesto signed by a dozen ILP activists in the 1930's; archive films of strikes, marches and protests that took place in Glasgow in the past century. These included footage of the early 1970's Upper Clyde Shipbuilders' work in, inspired by Jimmy Reid and for those of us who remember it, a still potent reminder of how organised labour can at times grow out of and express the deep social, moral and human concerns of ordinary folk, in the face of political indifference and economic decisions made with little thought to their social consequences. I am a Baptist, a paid up member of the dissenting tradition, an upholder of freedom of religious conscience and of the right to think differently from the prevailing establishment. Being Baptist also commits me to communal action and a valuing of community as a primary context for human development and spiritual formation.

Amongst the exhibits in the People's palace is the corner given over to Rangers and Celtic football clubs, the "Old Firm". To get to the Palace on Saturday morning we were held up at Glasgow Cross as the annual Orange Lodge Parade passed. Eight thousand marchers, 90 bands, and music that was martial, belligerent and religiously validated as militantly Protestant and anti Roman Catholic. The marching season, whether under the Union Flag or the Repaublican Tricolour, creates a problem for me as a Baptist. On the one hand I believe deeply in religious tolerance, the rights of people to express and support their religious convictions without intimidation. But it doesn't commit me to endorse activities which have only a tangential connection with religion, and which by their very nature are intimidatory – the words that accompany the tunes, whether the marchers are blue or green, and whether the words are sung audibly or not, are intentionally offensive, like playground taunt songs laced with menace. Sectarianism isn't a mere confrontation of religious differences; it is a social toxin distilled from bigotry, overblown historical myth, and a people blindness largely caused by the psychological need to find security by identifying a common enemy to demonise as 'the other'. And the hate virus infects both sides. (The photo is deliberately chosen for its light-hearted seriousness).

It is when such language and social attitudes surface that I am in a dilemma as a Baptist Christian. I find it impossible to make any connection between those banners, sashes and tunes with their vitriolic intent, and the Jesus encountered in the Gospels, the living Lord of the Church whose ministry is reconciliation. I wholly support the Scottish Government's initatives to tackle sectarianism, which is both a religious and social reality in the West of Scotland. And while I am committed to freedom of religious expression, I recognise that such a conviction cannot oblige me to legitimate or defend these annual hate-fests of blue and green marches through the streets of a City where in a proud history, others have marched and suffered to win those human rights, civic freedoms and social values that safeguard and undergird responsible citizenship. And where many still live in peaceful co-existence with neighbours whose differences are cause for interest and celebration and welcome, rather than suspicion and ridicule and segregation. For those interested, there's an earlier post on sectarianism over at this post.

An interesting weekend, with much to ponder, enjoy, and ponder again.

The Great Train Robbery happened over 40 years ago. I remember the mixture of romanticised hero worship, fascination at the ingenuity and audiacity of stealing such a huge amount of money, and anger at the violence against train staff. Then the finding of fantastic sums of money, bags of it, in various locations across England. I also remember the unprecedented lengths of prison sentence, more than the tarriff required of most murderers. Then the escape of Ronnie Biggs, and again the public fascination, even at times secret admiration for this high flying crook. His return to the UK in 2001 to resume his prison sentence was surrounded by a media circus, much of it orchestrated by Biggs himself.

So I listened to the reasons given by Jack Straw, the Justice Minister, for refusing parole to Ronnie Biggs. Significant among the comments made was that if he had not escaped, he would have been freed long ago. These are complex decisions, and I realise that public perceptions of law and justice are not inconsequential in an age when respect for fundamental institutions is easily eroded. Mr Straw speaks of the demands of justice, and the requirement that criminal act and due penalty should be demonstrably upheld and consistently equated. But there are other issues here. The Parole Board recommended release. Biggs is clearly an old and much weakened man. There is pressure on the present Government to show it can be tough.

And something more, which I don't put forward as an argument, more an observation disguising a plea. Ours is now one of the least generous, and most hard-edged societies I can remember in my lifetime. The sickening crimes of violence against children, the levels of greed that till very recently have been socially validated, corroded standards of public courtesy and respect for persons, creeping indifference to the plight of elderly and vulnerable people unable to command the clout to secure adequate late life care, and a level of outrage at the financial abuses exposed in MP's expense claims that perhaps shows where our our society's heart truly is – the temple of mammon.

Which brings me back to Ronnie Biggs. Criminal, violent gang member, unrepentant thief, – and ageing human being. What might have given us more dignity as a society, would have been a decision to uphold the Parole Board recommendation, but to set it in the context of mercy not justice. Such decisions have profound moral resonance when the majesty of the law is expressed in mercy rather than retribution, and when natural instincts of humane responsiveness are at the right time, allowed to ameliorate the demands of the law. I don't blame Jack Straw – nor question his integrity.  But I wish I could admire him more for moral imagination, that capacity for applying the law in ways that can be recreative of public virtues such as mercy, that demonstrate also the majesty of compassion and show that legal power harnessed to humane ends, strengthens and does not weaken the fabric of our society.