• Sunday Trading and the Churches

    Dear the Churches of England

    If you campaign against Sunday trading you are going to seem to the People of England to be as bad as you are. Campaign instead for the rights of shop workers of all religions who work at all times and the People of England might be more convinced. If you take on the Sunday trading thing you are going to lose anyway.

    Here in Scotland things have been much more liberal for a long time. We did have quite strict liquor laws which meant you couldn’t buy booze on a Sunday morning anywhere. This meant you couldn’t buy an emergency bottle of wine for communion on a Sunday morning in case it led to drunkenness, which always seemed to me to be a little odd. Even this law has been relaxed now.

    Seriously – the fight against Sunday trading isn’t one that churches can win and look sensible or fair. Please don’t make the rest of us look foolish.

    Remember the Sabbath day and what it was about and keep what it was about holy. It was about making sure workers got rest. It was about making sure there was time for leisure. It was about making sure that there were opportunities for worship. Churches should campaign for all those things. In multicultural Britain these things do not coalesce any more in the idea of one shared day off a week which is inevitably on a Sunday.

    Dear churches of England and the Church of England in particular – pick your battles wisely.

    Thank you for your attention.
    KELVIN

4 responses to “In praise of Easyjet staff on a very bad flight home”

  1. Robin Avatar
    Robin

    I’m sure I should have reacted in the same way as Mr Angry, which is why I never fly. It’s a form of claustrophobia – I also never travel by train if I can possibly avoid it, because passengers these days are powerless to open the windows and doors, and even to travel in a car with central locking is an ordeal. So, in effect, I can’t travel nowadays.

  2. Rosemary Hannah Avatar
    Rosemary Hannah

    The last time I had a Mr Angry he was sat next to me in a very public place where my reputation was at stake. Also I have a professional connection with him. Inevitably I felt it all reflected on me. It was a bad experience. A really bad experience. Anger of that kind is, I suspect, needing professional help of some kind.

  3. Beth Routledge Avatar

    I’ve done the getting off the plane and spending the night in a hotel business, and I do not recommend it. 22 hours late. Our families were interviewed on local news.

    Still not sure I wouldn’t rather do that again than sit through what sounds like one of the worst non-crashing flights in commercial aviation history.

  4. Christine McIntosh Avatar

    Wonderful tale, Kelvin – we’re enjoying it as we sit with our feet up looking out over The Minch at the end of a perfect day on Berneray …(sorry!)

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