UK & Europe – Apr 13

Archbishop makes credit crunch case for monastic lifestyle in Easter sermon
David Batty, Guardian
The Church of England should harness public disillusionment with materialism to encourage people to pursue a monastic lifestyle, the archbishop of Canterbury said in his Easter sermon.

Rowan Williams said there could “hardly be a more propitious time” to promote a life of prayer and self-sacrifice than during the global economic crisis, which had “dealt a heavy blow” to the idea that people could gain fulfilment from a materialistic lifestyle.

“The present financial crisis has dealt a heavy blow to the idea that human fulfilment can be thought about just in terms of material growth and possession,” he told the congregation at Canterbury Cathedral.

“Accepting voluntary limitation to your acquisitiveness, your sexual appetite, your freedom of choice doesn’t look so absurd after all as a path to some sort of stability and mutual care. We should be challenging ourselves and our church to a new willingness to help this witness to flourish and develop.”
(12 April 2009)
Text of the Archbishop’s sermon

UK goes into ecological debt on Easter Sunday
John Vidal, Guardian
Think-tank study points to the date Britain’s ecological debt begins – when the country starts living beyond its means and relying on international imports.
(12 April 2009)

Weak pound heaps food price inflation on poorest households
Sean O’Grady, The Independent
The collapse of the pound on the foreign exchanges is keeping food price inflation at painful levels, with the heaviest impact falling on poorer households and pensioners.

The British Retail Consortium (BRC), which represents most major shop chains, reported yesterday a 9 per cent rise in the price of food in the shops in the year to March, against a fall in the prices of non-food items of 1.5 per cent. Prices were up 0.4 per cent month-on-month. Despite a general fall in inflation – the annual rise in the Retail Prices Index (RPI) hit zero last month – food prices remain stubbornly high, and rising.
(9 April 2009)

Mayor unveils plan to turn London into ‘electric car capital of Europe’
Nigel Morris, The Independent
Motorists would get at least £2,000 towards the cost of buying an electric car under government moves to revolutionise driving in cities.

In an interview with The Independent yesterday, Gordon Brown said that this month’s Budget would pave the way for the mass introduction of electric cars. But ministers acknowledge many drivers will need a cash incentive to be convinced to abandon petrol-run vehicles.

Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London, also said yesterday that he planned to create 25,000 electric car charging spaces in the city over the next six years. He hopes that 100,000 electric cars and vans could be using the city’s streets.
(9 April 2009)