I spent last night helping out in a refuge for the homeless (as I do from time to time.) It is an interesting venture, known as Inn Churches, and it involves local churches opening their premises during the worst of the winter months in order to provide shelter for those who might otherwise find themselves sleeping on the streets.
This post will be very brief, because I only managed three hours of sleep. Somebody needs to be available at all hours of the night in case of need. So, not surprisingly, I’m not feeling too alert just now.
I would be interested to know how other countries shape up in this respect. Certainly the problem of homelessness has come to be recognised in recent years as a national scandal, with several hundred people dying each year because of the lack of shelter. Meanwhile, our politicians bicker spitefully among themselves, preoccupied with the question of our relationship to the European Union, motivated by pursuit of either their own careers or some ideological dogma about “sovereignty”. It is a national disgrace that political priorities have become so distorted. I try to do my bit to resist this, in a small way, but it is all I can do.