Confidence

Tomorrow its our Church Army conference in Swanwick for 4 days, and we are excited to have Jackie Pullinger with us to challenge and inspire. The conference kicks off with a keynote address from me as the CEO. I have to try to inspire and enthuse people, set the right note for the rest of the conference, and also outline some of the challenges we face in the year ahead. I have taken a long time to prepare this speech, in many ways it feels a bit like a Prime Minister making his speech to Party Conference!

As I have been writing my speech, I remembered the saying attributed to Lincoln, that the challenge for a leader was to make sure the good angels in his head were not shouted down by his demons. As I pondered that saying I have been reflecting on the state of affairs in our political life as a nation. I don't think in my lifetime I have seen such disillussionment with politicans. We have the outrage of MP's expenses, the way in which as our nation is tightening its belt our politicians are riding the gravy train. We have Labour peers apparently willing to negociate speeches in the House of Lords for the right fee, and we then to cap it all off we have the email scandal and smearing from Number 10.

I like Gordon Brown. I believe he is a good guy at heart. His work on international aid, fair trade, and his reforms to make Britain a fairer place are all good. But over the past few weeks we have seen the smear tactics, the control freakery, and the bunker mentality. The Gordon who led the G20 so ably, seems intent as well on plotting in smoke filled rooms. I wonder are the demons in his head shouting down his better angels.