So say the mighty words of the Bible (Luke 2:8-14) telling of the birth of Christ two millennia ago and whether one is a Christian, a Muslim, a Jew, a Hindu…….or of no faith at all, it would be pretty difficult to disagree with the sentiment – that there be peace on Earth and all men living in peace and harmony. Sadly, our 2025 world is far from peaceful or filled with good will and harmony: war in Ukraine, Gaza lying in ruins, starvation running wild in many places, once great nations like America riven with discord, division, hatred and violence, the so called “culture wars” setting one man against another………….we live in not only perilous times where “good tidings” – good news – is in short measure but where many are unable to “fear not” as the angels commanded the shepherds in these last days of 2025.
Twenty years ago, almost to the day, Pat and I stood in the sun looking out over a peaceful and happy Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia (see pics). We watched people enjoying the sun, the sand, and the sea - swimming, surfing, eating picnics and playing games. We laughed when we noticed several young men and women in their shorts and bikinis playing beach cricket all dressed in Santa costumes, complete with long white beards. We were at the beginning of a lovely, once in a life time holiday after my retirement and had already spent time en-route in Singapore before arriving in Oz to take in Sydney, Adelaide, Alice Springs, Ularu, Queensland, and Cairns, to swim at the Great Barrier Reef, and then on to the magic of Tokyo and Japan.
It was a holiday of so many precious memories: we met wonderful people, saw marvellous things, visited welcoming countries and were overwhelmed by the kindness and cultures that we experienced; and we both thought of this yesterday as we watched the dreadful pictures and followed the news broadcasts of the atrocities on that beautiful beach where so many lost their lives or where injured by two gunmen who clearly had no “goodwill towards men”. And I asked myself, as I seem to do so often nowadays, “What is happening to people, what’s going on the hearts and minds of so many, why is it that so many seem willing, able, or want to say or do things that once upon a time they would have been ashamed to think or say let alone do"?
Of course, we might say that the events yesterday in Sydney were a “one off”, so extreme that they do not fit a pattern and will not be repeated, but the reality is that as we know to our cost extreme violence born of a perverted mindset is becoming more and more common and worryingly normalised; the reasons or “excuses” to justify or seek to “explain” the event might vary but the end result is the same: Bondi Beach, Southport, the Manchester Synagogue attack, mass shootings in America, extreme, perverted and violent events in France, Germany, and a host of other places………………...are becoming more everyday and as they do so we cease to be horrified or offended; we say “It is what it is”, and we “move on”, “get over it” – until the next one occurs.
Sadly these once, “one-off,” extreme, events, now almost weekly news are no longer perpetrated by people so extreme or inhuman as to make them “one-offs”. Events such as those at Bondi Beach or the ruination of Gaza and its people or the Southport murders of three innocent little girls do not occur in a vacuum; they are part of the whole, both part of and a reflection of the world that we have created and in which we live. What was once unthinkable for ordinary people is now accepted as “modern life”. Look at any bit of social media and you will be horrified at what people will now proudly put down in print – and be unashamed to add their name to it, taking a pride in their obscenities and their perverted rhetoric. I'm often minded to reply to one of these posts by saying "Does your mother know that you have written this" - but I never have, I am afraid that I might be further disheartened by an equally obscene/violent/shameful reply from the poster's mother. There is no embarrassment, shame or fear felt by these people as they post their crude, ill thought and often violent messages, and in being so this creates a digital and wider world where violent words, obscene comment and extremist views are not only tolerated but become accepted, normal, alright, legitimate. And anyone is fair game: the girl next door, the Prime Minister, the gay couple that live down the street, the family seeking asylum, the single mother, the local school and it's teachers, the out of form footballer who is perceived to be letting the side down, the Muslim or Jewish worshippers going to pray at the local mosque or synagogue, the local town councillor who has not resolved some problem, the shopkeeper who put up his prices......anyone and everyone can be, and often is, "othered" in the angry world that is 2025. Against this background those of an extreme mindset become, in their perversions, credible and their actions justified, and innocent people become in the minds of some, fair game, potential victims deserving of their fate. Ninety years ago the owner of the Daily Mail, Lord Northcliffe, when asked in Parliament to explain the popularity of his newspaper replied: "I give my readers a daily hate". The Daily Mail has not changed, it still spouts it's daily hatred of all things and all men but in 2025 it is insignificant when one compares it to the vast opportunities for the spread - and with it the popularity - of hate, of othering, of vitriol, of obscenity, and of violent thought and action available on social media and the wider internet.
Words have consequences and social media and the 24 hour global news cycle under which we now all live multiplies this many times to generate profound and terrible consequences. When Donald Trump last week referred to Somali immigrants as “garbage” and suggested that they were unfit for America…. that “they come from hell and they complain and do nothing but bitch, we don’t want them in their country. Let them go back to where they come from and fix it,” his bigoted tirade was not said in private but in front of the world’s press. His comments were not a “one off” or something he later regretted but built upon his previous statement: ”Why is it we only take people from shithole countries, right?' Why can’t we have some people from Norway, Sweden, just a few? Let us have a few from Denmark. Do you mind sending us a few people? Do you mind?'" How can comments like that not impact upon the hearts and minds of others – either for good or ill; they give licence to those disposed to act against Somalians and create an atmosphere fear and antagonism amongst the people at whom Trump’s comments were aimed. Last week, our own King Charles made an announcement about the progress of his cancer treatment. Whilst the majority of responses on social media were supportive and wished the King well a significant number of others were filled with venom and obscene comment. I’m no great supporter of the monarchy but, I ask, what has happened to the Christmas imperative of “good will toward men”? In recent weeks here in the UK Reform Party leader Nigel Farage has faced a barrage of criticism from across the political spectrum because of extreme racist comments he made in his teenage years. He has not denied these or apologised – and the reason? He knows that he doesn’t need to because he also knows full well that in the hearts and minds of millions there is a large measure of agreement with his crude and hate filled views; in the couple of weeks since the allegations were made his ratings have soared across the UK – hatred is very much alive and well in contemporary England; we should not be surprised, therefore, when events like the Manchester Synagogue tragedy or the Southport killings occur - we are reaping what is being sown This is not about being "woke" - it is about common decency and humanity, and both those attributes are, in my view, in retreat; what Hilary Clinton once called "a basket of deplorables" are in the ascendency across the world, in our towns and in our streets, in positions of power and in their social media posts.
Experience has taught me to take care when posting on social media. Comment upon anything that does not “follow the herd” and it’s a sure recipe for receiving hate filled, obscene, or even threatening replies to one’s post – and the consequence of that is that the thread inevitably becomes more extreme; it becomes self fulfilling. Donald Trump, Nigel Farage, Benjamin Netanyahu, and a billion other “influencers” in the media and on social media know this well and it is against this backdrop that those who eventually act out that hatred generated through the media gain their credibility and justification for their actions. The innocent victims on Bondi Beach or in the rubble of Gaza or in a dancing studio in Southport or outside a Jewish Synagogue in Manchester are, in my view as much victims of the world’s increasing use of hate filled rhetoric on social media and its decreasing desire to ensure “peace on Earth and good will towards men as they are victims of the deluded and evil mind of the perpetrator himself.
When I led school assemblies I very occasionally read a particular poem to the assembled children, and asked for their thought on what it meant. I haven’t thought of the verse for many years, although I can still repeat its words by heart. It was written in 1834 by Leigh Hunt, an English writer, poet and academic and I first learned it from my mother, who often quoted its words. When I remembered it today I thought how, in 2025, it sounds so old fashioned and twee - and that very fact tells me how far we have declined as a society in the past twenty or so years. But, I then followed this up with the sadder thought that perhaps today’s brash media using society and its children would find it a little incomprehensible, out of their understanding. And more worryingly, I reflected further, that if I was standing in front of the assembled school today and read the poem to the children would I tomorrow receive harsh criticism, obscene comment, and hate mail from Reform Party supporters, Tommy Robinson adherents, or the other "basket of deplorables" who fill social media with their hate and expletive filled rhetoric accusing me and threatening me of promoting Islam, enforcing “un-British values” or “indoctrinating” young minds. I hope not, but I fear it might be so – and that is what is so worrying about the world we now live in; common decency, good intention and humanitarian action is being side lined by brutal and brutish hate mongers across the world; the good people of Sydney and wider Australia know this all too well. We would all be well advised to ponder Leigh Hunt's little verse:
Abou Ben Adhem
"Abou Ben Adhem (may his tribe increase!)
Awoke one night from a deep dream of peace,
And saw, within the moonlight in his room,
Making it rich, and like a lily in bloom,
An angel writing in a book of gold:—
Exceeding peace had made Ben Adhem bold,
And to the presence in the room he said,
"What writest thou?"—The vision raised its head,
And with a look made of all sweet accord,
Answered, "The names of those who love the Lord."
"And is mine one?" said Abou. "Nay, not so,"
Replied the angel. Abou spoke more low,
But cheerly still; and said, "I pray thee, then,
Write me as one that loves his fellow men."
The angel wrote, and vanished. The next night
It came again with a great wakening light,
And showed the names whom love of God had blest,
And lo! Ben Adhem's name led all the rest".
A happy Christmas and “Peace on Earth and good will toward men.”
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