Plan B Forum

BANKERS, politicians and newspaper editors should be legally required to spend a couple of hours every year working with the poor and needy to remind them of the purpose of their power and wealth, the Archbishop of Canterbury has said.

Rowan Williams made the comments on Maundy Thursday, the day of the Last Supper when Jesus washed the feet of his disciples, and said the public would benefit from a return to the mediaeval tradition of monarchs ritually washing the feet of the poor

In his contribution to BBC Radio 4's Thought for the Day slot, he asked: ''What about having a new law that made all cabinet members and leaders of political parties, editors of national papers and the hundred most successful financiers in the UK spend a couple of hours every year serving dinners in a primary school on a council estate?
Advertisement: Story continues below

''Or cleaning bathrooms in a residential home? Walking around the streets of a busy town at night as a street pastor, ready to pick up and absorb something of the chaos and human mess you'll find there, especially among young people?''

Dr Williams said the Bible made clear it was the duty of the powerful to ensure ordinary people were ''treasured and looked after'', particularly those without the resources to look after themselves. ''I've no doubt some of our public figures do this sort of thing privately, and good for them.''

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/world/rich-powerf ... z1KI8GSh10