The nation gives thanks to the Queen
The Queen’s faith has always been immensely important to her, so Her Majesty will have been disappointed to miss the Service of Thanksgiving at St Paul’s yesterday. Yet the Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell included metaphors in his sermon that the monarch, a racing enthusiast, will surely have relished as she watched from Windsor Castle. Her Majesty’s long reign, he noted, reflects “the distance of Aintree rather than the sprint of Epsom’’.
The great and the good flocked to the lofty surroundings of Wren’s Baroque masterpiece: prime ministers past and present, royals and dignitaries. In keeping with the day’s theme, public service, the congregation included more than 400 key workers and members of the Armed Forces. Children from nations where the Queen is head of state delivered the “Act of Commitment”, celebrating her reign and encouraging those listening to live out the values that Her Majesty embodies.
Amid these reminders of the future, the choice of hymns alluded to the passage of time. Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise speaks of the still and ineffable splendour of the Divine, but also includes the line: “We blossom and flourish as leaves on the tree, And wither and perish – but nought changeth thee.” But of all the musical choices, perhaps Christ is Made the Sure Foundation best sums up the Queen’s deeply held beliefs. As the Archbishop noted, she is “someone who has been able to serve our nation faithfully because of her faith in Jesus Christ”.
Christians will this weekend celebrate Whitsun, the feast of the Holy Spirit. It is also a salutary reminder of the foundation of the Queen’s reign, since the Holy Spirit is invoked at coronations. That the Monarch must be sacrally anointed underlines that this is no ordinary contract, like a business transaction, but a pact with God, comparable to a holy ordination. At her Coronation, the Queen wore the Stole Royal – a religious garment more akin to priestly vestments than royal pomp.
The Queen plays a pivotal role in religious life, as Supreme Governor of the Church of England and Defender of the Faith. She delivers what might be seen as the nation’s mostlistened-to sermon, her Christmas address, invariably replete with religious themes. Not only does Her Majesty talk about faith, perhaps more effectively than any bishop, she has also lived out her life in a spirit of duty, humility and self-sacrifice.
In the broadcast address on her 21st birthday, the Queen concluded her famous pledge of steadfast service by invoking the Divine. “God help me to make good my vow, and God bless all of you who are willing to share in it.” Her life of service has been a great blessing to this country. officially unemployed. The tendency in the past few decades has been to attempt to remedy such shortages by importing workers from overseas. However, immigration is already running at very high levels, and one of the drivers of the vote for Brexit was a desire among the public to control the numbers coming into the country.
In fact, as Fraser Nelson wrote on these pages this week, there is a hidden crisis of mass joblessness among British people, with millions living on benefits not being captured by the unemployment figures because they are not looking for work. It is cruel to condemn people to a life of dependency on the state. It is also expensive. There is no justification for paying anyone who is fit for work to do nothing, especially if the country desperately needs more workers.
This is one of many issues afflicting the country that the Government cannot put off solving any longer. Ministers sometimes point out that other nations are experiencing similar problems to the UK, whether that is high energy prices, a backlog in non-covid treatments, or the broader cost-of-living squeeze. It is true that almost every country is having to contend with the damage wrought by the pandemic lockdowns and Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. What they neglect to mention is that the situation is often worse in the UK than it is elsewhere, in some cases to a considerable degree.
Ministers have a tendency to coast from crisis to crisis, reacting to events and then failing to confront the fundamental drivers of the nation’s problems. One of the consequences is that the public debate regularly descends into a vitriolic and unproductive blame game, with nobody taking responsibility, as in the case of the travel chaos. Another is that the Government looks adrift.