Attack on message
sible to address hunger if there is the political will.
He said: “We seem to be able to find £35bn to pay off our contractual debts to the EU. Clearly, there’s money around in the world.
“We know that there is more food in the world than is needed to feed the world but it’s just in the wrong places.”
He is a strong supporter of the UK’s commitment to invest 0.7% of GDP on international development.
“One of the things that I’m immensely proud of in relation to the UK Government is that it’s maintained its commitment to foreign aid,” he said.
Acknowledging the controversy the issue attracts, he said: “You can never guarantee every penny is absolutely copper-bottomed properly spent but, again, I think there are sufficient controls in place where expenditure is carefully monitored; not everybody does everything perfectly but one mistake doesn’t mean to say you abandon the principle.”
As Britain goes into the next stage of Brexit talks, a key concern is that the country should not become cut off from its neighbours. He said: “The one thing that I would certainly hope is that outcome would not be in any way shape or form the isolation of the UK.”
The 64-year-old Anglican leader is excited by ideas that promote “human flourishing” and “human dignity” and contribute towards the creation of a “just society”.
Falling attendances at services mean the Church in Wales is under pressure to connect with contemporary society but in the Christmas story of angels appearing to shepherds he sees an example of the Church’s message reaching ordinary people.
He said: “I tend to think of the shepherds sometimes as the guys on zero hours contracts... They are the ordinary people, the humble working people, but Jesus has got something to say to them.”
His own message to people across Wales this Christmas is: “Enjoy it. Have a wonderful time, but try to understand what’s at the very heart of it.”
In conversation, the archbishop stresses that “power comes with responsibility”.
Both in politics and across society, he stresses the need for those in positions of influence to model good behaviour.
In particular, he regrets “the way in which soccer players behave in relation to referee decisions,” adding: “I think it’s just such a bad example.”
One of the defining trends of 2017 in much of the world was a deepening awareness of the problem of sexual harassment with people stepping forward to tell their stories.
The archbishop said: “Anything that is an affront to anybody’s dignity or their gender, I think, is to be deplored... It’s been part of human society for as long as there’s been such a thing as human society, that the powerful will take advantage of the vulnerable. The fact that it’s now [being] exposed much more clearly, I think, is a good thing.”
The archbishop is in no doubt about the PR problems the church has to overcome
He said: “There are popular caricatures of the church... Churches are against things, churches are interested in self-preservation, churches do awful things and so forth.”
But he argues the “church is about creating community,” working for the common good and sharing a message of “abundant life”.
The father-of-two is the 13th Archbishop of Wales and pays tribute to how his family have helped him adjust to the new responsibilities. He said: “My family [keep] me very much earthed. I am an ordinary person and I have ordinary issues of impatience and frustration and so forth but I’ve just got an extraordinary job.
“I think that if I didn’t have my family and my sense of humour then I’d find it very, very difficult.”
When he does need to escape he goes with his wife, Jo, an emergency nurse practitioner, to a “cottage in Mid Wales” to “get away from the computer”.