John Hayward: George Osborne is right - debt is a recipe for inevitable disaster

Dr John Hayward is the executive director of the Jubilee Centre, a social reform organisation established in 1983 to explore an alternative social paradigm to capitalism, socialism and other ideologies from a distinctively faith-based perspective. He regularly blogs on a wide range of social, economic and political issues on the Jubilee Centre website.

If anybody still doubts whether the Conservative Party can be trusted with Britain’s economy, they should listen to today’s warning by the Shadow Chancellor George Osborne of the need to “confront some uncomfortable truths”.

Mr Osborne told a Birmingham business audience today:

“The unsustainable debts in our banks are a reflection of unsustainable debts in our households, our companies and our government. Our economy is broken and we need a new model of growth.”

Crucially, rather than seeking to find a scapegoat for the current global crisis - such as bankers, the Government, or America - he identifies the problem as the debt-based finance system that we all take for granted:

“We need to change from an economy built on debt to an economy powered by savings and real returns on effort. Increasing profits through ever higher debts is not a sustainable way to build a business.”

He is right. Debt is not a basis for growth. In fact it is a recipe for inevitable disaster.

Dr John Hayward: Primark and ethical consumerism

Dr John Hayward, executive director of the Jubilee Centre, a social reform charity that explores a relational vision for society. Their research has included areas such as criminal justice, asylum and immigration, the environment, care for the elderly, and credit and debt.

Even before Sunday night's Ten O'Clock News advertised Monday's Panorama programme exposing the use of child labour by some of Primark's suppliers in India, the discount clothing store had pre-emptively responded by cancelling its contract with the three factories discovered to be subcontracting work from children who carried out embroidery and sequin work in their homes. My immediate reaction to the news was to sigh, "Another group of children who will now end up in prostitution or more abusive work environments." It therefore came as no surprise to me when development charities working in the area began to criticise the retailer on precisely this point.

Primark's director, Breege O'Donoghue, has defended his company's decision to cease sourcing its clothes from the three suppliers by maintaining, "The relationship was broken." However, this simply serves to underline how disposable we in the West have come to view relationships. We appear blind not only to the impact of our consumerism on the physical environment but, even more damagingly, to its impact on the lives of other people around us. Thus, the increasingly dominant elderly section of our society is hidden away in care homes.