Reflections for October 2025
The times we are in! I will write about hate. Hate is such a destructive emotion yet when it is expressed in anger it can release tension for a moment… and then immediately stir it up again.
Radio, TV, smart phones, newspapers, figures in the public eye, and us - the ordinary public - spread hate and fear in our emails and social media channels.
And then some politicians seeing votes to be garnered from angry, frightened, reasonable people – stir up hate and anger even more. They propose hateful solutions to the problems they assume to exist or that they have invented.
Thursday 2nd October: when I heard, read , or saw on TV, about the dreadful attack on the synagogue in Manchester on that most holy day, Yom Kippur, I thought again I must write about hate now. Within hours the attack was labelled ‘terrorism’: and the anger, the fear and the hate exploded as quickly as the bullets fired at the synagogue’s attacker. At the same time antisemitism was blamed as the motive for the murders. Jewish people in Manchester, the United Kingdom and abroad have been frightened and feel they are hated again.
The mental leap for the rest of us from cautious but fearful consideration to wild accusation and anger is quick. We cannot wait to learn all the facts to temper our response.
Perhaps we may be excused when important people have no restraint, who set a disgusting tone of hate - when the President of The USA says that the Mayor of London is a “nasty man” who has done a “terrible job”, and calls his own FBI chief a“scumbag” and “slimeball”… When Labour parliamentarians are hating the hate-party Reform but are divided hatefully amongst themselves – and they hate what is left of the Conservative party too.
Liberal Democrats are trying to stand clear of hate. That is partly and additionally due to the character of our leader. Sir Ed Davey is a good man - read his book Why I Care published this year. In addition to accounts of his own caring life the final hundred pages of the book show facts and offer his political philosophy, as well as practical policies and proposals.
Liberal Democrats all over the country are re-charging hate into positive good - good for others. And there are always people and places that need help and good done for and with them.
One example of needy people in distress: 1.2 million unpaid carers live in poverty, with 10% of them living in deep poverty (50% below the poverty line). This is a across all four nations. In the Forest of Dean (2021 census) approximately 8,050 people, just under 10%, were unpaid carers. So if you want to tackle this and other problems, join us – or if you are already a member, please persuade your friends to join us, or make a donation. A year’s subscription can be as little as £15 and you need just to follow the links on this page. Thank you.