Citizens' initiatives and Sunday trading

Quote

"All that is necessary for evil to triumph is that good men do nothing."  Edmund Burke

News

A little-known provision of the EU's Lisbon Treaty allows citizens to gather signatures in order to petition the European Parliament to debate new legislation.  The rules being proposed are that one million signatures would need to be gathered from people in at least nine European member states over a 12 month period.  If campaigners succeed, European officials would be required to prepare draft legislation or give a reason why not within four months.

Martin Kastler, a member of the European Parliament, wants to see a European-wide law banning shops from opening on Sundays, as in his native Bavaria.  Supported by trades unions and churches, his campaign has collected 17,000 signatures so far.  Britain's Keep Sunday Special campaign managed to prevent Sunday trading for 8 years from 1986 to 1994, after which large shops were permitted to open for a maximum of 6 hours on Sundays.  Now the big retailers in Britain are seeking all out deregulation - the last hurdle in the way of a 24/7 shopping culture. 

It is highly commendable that the EU should permit citizens' initiatives to increase accountability and prevent the European Commission - the appointed officials who currently have a near monopoly on introducing European legislation - from being wholly out of touch with the views and wishes of ordinary citizens.  A wide distribution of political power is essential to a relational society.

Read on...

The Keep Sunday Special campaign is run by our colleages at the Relationships Foundation; to read a brief summary of the campaign and the main reasons for protecting Sunday as a shared day of rest click here www.keepsundayspecial.org.uk/Web/Content/Default.aspx?Content=80

Walk the talk

Often when we see someone in the street gathering signatures for a petition, we give them a wide berth!  Perhaps the next time this happens, you might stop and commend the person for their time and effort in involving other people in trying to change a law - whether or not you approve of the petition itself.

Alternatively, you might want to sign the European-wide petition on Sunday trading - www.free-sunday.eu/en/content/landingpage and the Keep Sunday Special petition against any extension of Sunday opening hours in UK - www.keepsundayspecial.org.uk/Web/Petition/.

The last word

From the Bible, Proverbs 15:22  "Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed."

UK prison reform

Quote

"Vile deeds like poison weeds bloom well in prison air, it is only what is good in man, that wastes and withers there."  Oscar Wilde, from The Ballad of Reading Gaol 

News

This week Britain's prime minister backed justice secretary Ken Clarke's proposal to reduce the number of shorter prison sentences in exchange for community punishments and rehabilitation measures. 

Community punishments that involve the local population in deciding on what offenders should do is a step in the right direction, because a relational approach to justice starts with the premise that every crime represents a breakdown of relationship between the offender and victim, and between the offender and the community. 

Custodial sentences exacerbate relational breakdown as prisoners are separated from their partners and children, often leading to family breakdown, and are kept in an environment of abuse and violence.  On release they find it very hard to reintegrate into the community they come from, and alienation from family and community is more likely to drive them back to offending.  

The more the criminal justice system considers the relational infrastructure around prisoners, seeking to strengthen not erode it, the more effective it might become in reducing the reoffending rate (notwithstanding the role of drug addiction). 

Read on...

This short video is a remarkable story of the transforming impact of a relational approach to criminal justice, as told by a hardened criminal and one of his victims of burglary and assault.  It's well worth the 10 minutes it takes to watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YYZ1bGo8wc

Walk the talk

For parents: time out can help a child calm down, but if you punish your children by sending them to their rooms in "solitary confinement", then make sure to be deliberate about welcoming the child back afterwards, once appropriate apologies have been made, so that normal family relations can be restored.

The last word

From the Bible, Matthew 5 v. 25: "Settle matters quickly with your adversary who is taking you to court. Do it while you are still with him on the way, or he may hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and you may be thrown into prison."