蜜芽传媒

Good morning. This is the period of year when most of the national newspapers, and indeed the 蜜芽传媒, have appeals for charities and when we are likely to receive some through the post. Sometimes the sheer number and urgency of these appeals can feel too much but at a time when there is so much in the world that is dark and depressing our human capacity to come together with one another to respond to human need is I think something greatly to be celebrated.

Charities play a huge role in our national life. There are some 166, 000 of them registered and many thousands more that are not. Their turnover is nearly 拢44 billion a year. 27% of the population do voluntary work through an organisation at least once a month. These charities come in all shapes and sizes. On Wednesday I was in Cardiff with a small group learning from some of them in South Wales about their work and the issues they face. As well as charities dealing with homelessness, children and substance abuse there were a number I had no idea existed, one providing cycles for people with special needs for example, another helping people with a particular kind of brain injury.

This tradition of coming together to help others either directly or through changing a law or political policy is deeply embedded in our history. That鈥檚 how our hospitals and schools, social housing and hospices came about; that鈥檚 how the great changes like the abolition of slavery or child labour happened. In 1920 for example there were 6.6 million members of friendly societies and 2.5 members of co-operative societies as well as 2.5 million members of Trade Unions. Of course since 1914 the state has quite properly taken over many of these roles but the good will and energy to respond to need, so deeply rooted in our history is still part of us. Society is not just made up of government and individuals, crucial to it are voluntary associations, what Edmund Burke called the little platoons of society.

Most of this charitable work in our history was of course of Christian inspiration but this itself was rooted in the Hebrew Scriptures with its imperative to care for the fatherless and widows and to include the stranger. Since the 19th century this tradition has often been reinvigorated through secular initiatives and now of course it is being enriched by other major religions with their own charitable impulse. So don鈥檛 let all these appeals with their stark pictures of human need get us down. Rather, they remind us that as well as the dark and nasty side of human nature there is part of all of us that is sensitive to the hurt of other people, that genuinely wants to help, and that we can work with others to make a difference.

Show less