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Real-life cost of the credit crunch
SO THE end of 2008 was well and truly dominated by our deteriorating economy and it seems more likely than ever that the whole of 2009 will be the same.
We hear so many statistics every day – so many thousands of jobs lost at yet another High Street chain that has closed its doors. But these are not just statistics. Each job lost means an individual or a family plunged into turmoil.
At worst it may mean a home repossessed or the descent into fuel poverty; at best cutting holidays and eating out. But it also means deep uncertainty and insecurity. I'm not going to apologise for such a negative start – for an increasing number of people the reality is that times are tough and may get tougher.
There is another repercussion of recession that is actually avoidable but that, as Shadow Minister for the Cabinet Office, I am becoming increasingly familiar with.
My role includes responsibility for the crucial issues of social exclusion and the Third Sector – which includes non-governmental organisations such as co-operatives, community and voluntary organisations, charities and social enterprises – which are at the heart of British society.
In a recession it's understandable that people, in their anxiety about the threat to their own livelihoods and their families, end up retreating into themselves; that society becomes more fragmented. In adversity people may become more isolated from each other.
But it can go the other way too. People can be drawn closer together, understanding that we really are all in this together and that we are all stronger when we help each other. After all, there is such a thing as society – it's just not the same thing as the state.
It may sound like a clich but it's never more true than in times of war or recession – the whole really is more than the sum of its parts.
The most obvious way this can be shown is through volunteering. At a time when the economy is in decline, we can either allow society to decline in parallel; or we can build it.
Many people in the Horsham area are going to find things tough in 2009. But our community spirit is incredibly strong; local people give up their time and energy in so many different ways – the visits I have made to so many organisations in Horsham throughout my almost 12 years as MP have shown me that.
I have also learned that volunteering, whatever it involves, brings as much benefit to the person donating their time as it does to the people on the receiving end of it. So here's to 2009, whatever it may bring, and here's to that great British activity – volunteering!
A Happy New Year to all County Times readers!
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Weather for Horsham
Thursday 24 May 2012
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Thunderstorm
Temperature: 14 C to 26 C
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