Looking back on a year of change

At this time of year it feels right to take stock and look ahead. I've just read recent pieces by Ben Lowry (December 24), Owen Polley (December 26) and Ruth Dudley Edwards (December 27), and the most recent News Letter editorial (December 28).

Despite all our problems they point, with great insight, to at least some real positives.

I would like to give my own perspective on our positive future by looking at three issues, the King, the current Prime Minister, and the challenge of social justice.

Many will remember those who predicted, perhaps hoping to be proved right, that the end of her late Majesty's reign would be the beginning of the end of the monarchy.

I never believed that. When, just days after we lost the Queen, we heard football crowds singing "God Save the King" we could see a process unfolding, in real time, affirming our traditions and our history, and taking them forward with respect and confidence.

The next stage is the Coronation in May and it will be a wonder of the world. Just wait and see.

The King is going to be a success, and Prince William after him.

Turning to politics, it's not necessary to comment any further on Boris Johnson or Liz Truss, except to say that they should be ashamed of themselves. Rishi Sunak is clearly of a different order. He will probably lose the next General Election, but hand over a country in a far better state than he found it.

Inflation will fall next year. Industrial disputes will eventually be resolved. Our standing in the world is rising. I suspect that Mr Sunak is proceeding, in a steady, largely unseen and workmanlike way, to address many other key problems that have been ignored for years.

But, I fear, not even Rishi Sunak, because of the dead weight of his right wing, is going to be able to tackle two important subjects mentioned by Ben Lowry, high house prices and the still too low minimum wage. This brings me to the crucial issue of social justice :-

It may sometimes not feel like it, but we are indeed a largely prosperous and fortunate society. However, many young people are seeing the dream of home ownership slipping away from them. At the lower end of the income spectrum some people do not even aspire to home ownership, but would be relieved just to be able to buy enough food and other essentials, plus the occasional treat, for themselves and their family.

The Labour Party, currently set for a General Election victory, would surely increase the minimum wage and boost house building, and do much more besides. It would tackle the injustices that are weakening our national cohesion.

Some people in Northern Ireland are understandably suspicious of Labour. There is a casual support for a united Ireland among some party activists, unsupported by logical argument or significant knowledge of the subject. It would be interesting to ask such people to name the 32 counties and see how far they get. But, the Labour leadership, and ordinary Labour voters, are patriotic. Let's not forget that.

Which brings me to my final point. There is a threat to the Union that is even greater and more immediate than the NI Protocol, and that is Scottish independence.

A Labour Government would reduce that risk. Another Conservative government, even under Mr Sunak, might bring about the circumstances for a final successful push by separatists.

John Gemmell, Wem, Shropshire