I.5 is Dead!

by New Worker correspondent

Two members of Just Stop Oil, the direct action climate campaign, were arrested last week after they spray-painted the words “1.5 is dead” on the grave of Charles Darwin in London’s Westminster Abbey. 
The protest followed the news that 2024 was the hottest year in human history, with the average global temperature rising by 1.6 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. 
One protest organiser, Alyson Lee, told reporters “2024 was the hottest year on record. We have already passed through the 1.5 degree that was supposed to keep us safe. Millions are being displaced. California is on fire.  And three-quarters of all wildlife has disappeared since the 1970s”.
 Alyson, a 66 year-old retired teaching assistant from Derby, said “ten years on from the Paris Agreement, we have already exceeded the so-called safe temperature rise of 1.5 degrees, and are heading for over 3 degrees of warming. This rapidly accelerating crisis means huge parts of the world will become unable to support life, resulting in millions of refugees, social collapse and extinction for countless species”.
She believes Charles Darwin would approve of their protest “because he would be following the science, and he would be as upset as us with the government for ignoring the science”.
The other protester, Di Bligh, a 77 year-old former CEO of Reading Council said “Darwin once said ‘it is not the strongest of the species, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change, that lives within the means available and works cooperatively against common threats’.
“Last year was the hottest since modern humans evolved. If we do not work together to rein in the corporations and billionaires driving us beyond our means, humanity will not be able to adapt to what is coming. We are on course to lose everything, and politicians are doing nowhere near enough to prevent it. How many will we have to bury as a result of climate breakdown and who will be left to mourn them?”

Ecclesiastical News

 By New Worker correspondent

About a fifth of workers at an important London establishment are at risk of redundancy when the government’s job retention scheme ends in October.

It’s Westminster Abbey, where funds are very tight because it has been closed to visitors and its income is down by more than £12 million. As the Abbey no longer has land and serfs it is dependent on tourists.

The Dean, the Very Rev Dr David Hoyle, said the coronavirus had dealt a “shattering blow” to the Abbey’s finances. It was truly heart-breaking to hear him add that the Abbey’s financial reserves would be depleted by a third from September and they would continue to fall as visitor numbers were not expected to return to pre-pandemic levels for up to five years.

In a normal July, the Abbey gets 1,000 visitors per hour, many of whom buy tourist tat to keep the Right Rev in surplices, but not this year.

As all New Worker readers will be aware, the Abbey is a Royal Peculiar, which means it is owned directly by the Queen and thus is not eligible for funding by the Church Commissioners.

The Abbey has already scrapped regular Sunday services in next door St Margaret’s and the professional choir at St Margaret's will be disbanded. Worshippers will be told to merge with the congregation in the Abbey.

Elsewhere the Church of England’s 42 cathedrals expect to be down more than £28.4 million on what they thought their budgets would be this year, with another £15.5 million expected to be lost next year. Lincoln Cathedral is already seeking voluntary redundancies or a reduction in hours amongst its 120 workers.

The Association of English Cathedrals warns that job cuts will hit all Anglican churches, but the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government says faith organisations have access to government support including the Coronavirus Community Support Fund.

Praying for Trident

outside the abbey

by New Worker correspondent

The great and the good turned up in droves last week for a bizarre Trident “national service of thanksgiving” at Westminster Abbey that recognised the “sailors’ sacrifice” in operating the American Trident nuclear missile system that Britain maintains as its so-called ‘nuclear deterrent’.

An Abbey official said the event recognised “the commitment of the Royal Navy to effective peacekeeping through the deterrent over the past 50 years and will pray for peace throughout the world”.

But as the worthies, led by Prince William, trooped in to the hallowed hall of the Church of England they were met with boos and jeers from peace campaigners who then staged a “die-in” during the service. Veteran CND leaders and supporters took part in the protest, including Bruce Kent and musician Brian Eno.