“Remember, remember the fifth of November- gunpowder, treason and plot!” So goes the old nursery rhyme and this Friday our youth club will do just that when we go to Crystal Palace to enjoy the annual fireworks display. Guy Fawkes famously stockpiled gunpowder under the House of Lords as part of a plot to blow up Parliament.
The other week our present government published their National Security Strategy, outlining today’s security threats. Top of that list were attacks on computer networks, closely followed by ‘flu pandemics and terrorism. It all goes to show that threats to our parliamentary democracy are nothing new and that we all have to be vigilant.
That vigilance should not perhaps be limited to security. For our Parliament to work also requires us to be informed and involved, so that we can hold our politicians to account. General elections are a fairly infrequent way of doing that. If, however, you want to have your say in the meantime, you could do worse than attend the regular surgeries for our own MP, Tessa Jowell , held in Kingswood House 13.30-15.00. (next one: 15 November.)
Such vigilance is a natural outworking of the Book of Common Prayer’s intercession;
“We beseech thee also to save and defend all Christian Kings, Princes, and Governors; and specially thy Servant Elizabeth our Queen; that under her we may be godly and quietly governed: And grant unto her whole Council, and to all that are put in authority under her, that they may truly and indifferently administer justice, to the punishment of wickedness and vice, and to the maintenance of thy true religion, and virtue. “
Something to consider as you light the blue touch paper and stand well back.
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