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'What is the colour of money?'

This St Mary-le-Bow Panel Discussion launched a new book, Money, by Eric Lonergan (author and hedge fund manager at M&G). The panel included the author, Philip Goodchild (Professor of Religion & Philosophy, Nottingham University), and Philip Coggan (capital markets editor, The Economist) with Dr Mark Vernon (journalist, writer and broadcaster) in the chair.

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Eric Lonergan began with an analogy to his daughter's interest in the acquisition of Pokemon cards to show that financial problems arise not because of the nature of money, but through the way in which humans copy each other's behaviour. nevertheless, money and finance are extraordinarily useful to society.

Philip Goodchild explained the nature of 'debt overhang' and why the Credit Crunch was not merely a redistribution of wealth. Money determines our conduct, which is not always a good thing.

Philip Coggan observed that money was a 'grey' medium through which transactions took place. The alternative is a resource-based economy (farming, say) which can lead to monopolies. Trading internationally broadens the mind.

left to right: Dr Mark Vernon, Philip Coggan, Professor Philip Goodchild, Eric Lonergan

'Out of sight, out of mind: prisons and mental illness'

This Cheapside Debate - in association with the Sheriffs' & Recorder's Fund - took place on 20th November 2009.

Ruth Bond (Chair, National Federation of Women’s Institutes) began by reminding us that the WI is a non-political organisation. Last year it began a campaign to stop the inappropriate detention of people with mental illness. Local voices can make a great difference when it comes to decisions on the priorities of funding for primary healthcare. Voluntary sector organisations can become directly involved in prison. Recently, WI members became mentors to a group of women prisoners as part of a pilot scheme, later to be rolled out countrywide. The scheme extends to helping the families of offenders too. Although there is care in custody, what is often needed is care, not custody.

Judge John Samuels QC (a member of the Parole Board and Chair of Prisoners’ Education Trust) was in the Chair.

Alan Duncan MP (recently appointed Shadow Prisons Minister) said prison should not be treated as a 'social dustbin' for those who are ill, ignorant or addicted. The government's system is too big and too centralised to work. Prisons should be for the correction of offenders, not merely their collection. When prisons are as full as they are, their potential is reduced to mere incarceration. Of the 85,000 in prison, perhaps 15,000 have some identifiable mental disorder; of those, probably 10,000 have a mental illness rather than a criminal inclination. Prison is surely not the place for them. They should be in secure accommodation with access to relevant treatment. What is needed is a local network that can draw together social services, the probation service, the NHS and prisons themselves, for a far more coordinated approach.

Burnbake Trust

Sheriffs' & Recorder's Fund

'Ethical witness: Christian and Islamic evangelism in a climate of toleration'

This Cheapside Debate took place on 10th November 2009

Dr Andrew Smith (Director of Youth Encounter for Scripture Union) said that he objected to the kind of evangelism that could be intimidating. Many people are suspicious of evangelists for good reason. Ethical guidelines are useful in helping us ask, 'How do we stop acting suspiciously when evangelising?' Evangelism is no something that we can ignore: it is how many Christians and Muslims live out their faith. Love of neighbour and love of God are both essential to an evangelism that takes the other person seriously.

The debate was chaired by Simon Keyes (director, St Ethelburga's Centre for Reconciliation & Peace) with assistance from the Christian Muslim Forum.

Shaykh Ibrahim Mogra (Assistant Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Britain and Chair of its Inter Faith Relations Committee) recognised that some Muslims can be over enthusiastic in inviting others to Islam. The Koran talks of the the right of individuals to be free and to believe in God or not; compulsion to follow Islam is forbidden. Muslims should respect others for being who they want to be, he said. The Christian-Muslim Forum's ethical guidelines explore how we can be true to our faith but respectful of others who choose to be different.

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