Belonging
How the Government Plans to Tackle Loneliness in 2020
As human beings, we all feel lonely at one point or another throughout our lives. But none of us are alone. However, loneliness is one of the most prevalent issues in our society today, with somewhere between 6% and 18% of the population describing themselves […]
Widows and Orphans: a philosophy for action
I often hear asked, “As a person of faith, how do you approach working with people of other faiths?” People generally understand the interest in dialoguing together about faith (aka ‘interfaith’) and they understand that having a faith motivates people to act, to do good, […]
With thanks to you, our members…
What a year it has been! Characterised nationally by division, faith groups the length and breadth of the country have, nevertheless, continued to serve our communities and individuals regardless of the colour of their politics, creed, or national heritage. As we have so often found, […]
The FaithAction Manifesto 2019: part 2
As Elspeth outlined last week, FaithAction has some ideas about how we’d like to see this nation changed. The word that we believe captures our vision is decency. The promotion of the decent life should be a goal of all policy, domestic and foreign, but […]
Integrated Communities and Creative English
I wonder how many of you will join me in admitting that you love to watch DIY SOS on BBC1? I love seeing a house that is no longer suitable for a family’s needs being transformed into a beautiful and practical home. In a recent […]
Faith: the golden thread in society #MyManifesto
I was invited to a local community group last week. I spent time talking to a mixed group of people, ranging from an older man who suffered from schizophrenia to a 15-year-old school refuser (let’s call him Tommy) both of whom had discovered a sense […]
5 million people in the UK – are you next?
There are now 13 local authorities who have adopted the Faith Covenant created by the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Faith and Society (of which FaithAction is the secretariat). That means 5 million people are covered by the faith covenant in; Birmingham Leeds Northampshire […]
A Connected Society: one year later
It was one year ago… …that the government launched its loneliness strategy for England: A Connected Society: A Strategy for Tackling Loneliness. After committing to take forward a number of recommendations made by the cross-party Jo Cox Commission on Loneliness, and having already appointed a […]
Becoming butterflies
Our amazing volunteers often find that helping others also builds their own skills, confidence and connections in the community. Here’s one volunteer’s experience of how Creative English helped develop her own confidence. Before I started on Creative English, I didn’t get out much. I was […]
The Kindness of Strangers
In 1990 I was visiting Karachi, Pakistan. I was in a rickshaw with two other female friends and we were heading into town to meet up with some male friends who had gone off in a separate rickshaw. We had seen the other rickshaw go […]