The misery of April 1: Barry and his loan...
I felt complicit, if not a little dirty. I was witnessing something brutal. Barry a recent but frequent visitor to TSA either through need of the foodbank, our computers or simply in need of a chat, was completing his application for a loan. So this guy who needs help to get through his chaotic life misses his benefits appointment and is sanctioned. No money for two weeks. First solution a bit of reduced label swapping in ASDA's failed, so a loan with an eye watering 4124% APR it is. I stood watched, and was powerless. What I have slept walked into? Horsley & Siberman point out that within Jesus' life he suggested that God was establishing his kingdom by creating an alternative society pp54. He was speaking... ...into a society under the pressure of debt and taxation, ...into a system that had efficiently transformed close knit villages into badly fragmented communities of alienated frightened individuals pp55. ...into a people who may previously have felt a res...