The Archbishop of York has published this article in The Observer today: John Sentamu: the scandal of the millions not paid enough to live on. The article is also available on the Archbishop’s website.
Also in The Observer are these two articles by its political editor Toby Helm.
‘The scale of low pay in Britain is a national scandal,’ says Sentamu
Welcome to York, the city that wants to launch a living wage
Daniel Johnson reports on the Archbishop’s article for The Telegraph: Archbishop of York calls for living wage to tackle ‘national scandal’ of low pay.
This is a man who lives in a palace because he holds a position that is barred to women.
What a joker.
Well done, Archbishop! Thank you.
In the past 30 years wages have been squeezed and reduced as a proportion of GDP in exchange for cheap food and credit and tax reductions. Food prices have to rise; credit is often simply not available (and the poorly waged are often driven to loan sharks), and the poorest in society pay a significantly larger proportion of their income in tax. Sentamu’s campaign is something every Christian should support, whatever you think of him , and it’s incredibly lazy CRW to dismiss him as you do.
Well done, Archbishop! This is the essence of the Gospel – where real problems beset God’s people, the voice of the Church should be heard.
Good for the Archbishop. One does not need to be perfect to speak the truth and preach the Good News. Credibility will affect how strongly the words are received. But it is important to utter the words. It comforts the afflicted and afflicts the comfortable, and that’s usually good.
Its not enough to get people into work, in order to present low unemployment if even those in work are effectively destitute. A living wage is desperately needed. Thank you to the Archbishop for giving such a strong lead, especially important for the Northern regions of this country who are so often marginalised when it comes to equitable distribution of wealth and employment prospects. CRW – he may live in a palace but he doesn’t own it, and although I hope with all my heart the episcopate will be open to women soon, I’m also glad of the spiritual leadership… Read more »