'To be fair, ‘Gordon denies rumours’ was in the Guardian as well, but that was a different Gordon. And different rumours.'

Steve Tomkins argues that Christians are well prepared for the economic downturn

I took a rare trip on the London underground yesterday and read one of the free papers that strew the carriage like a bed of autumn leaves.

Call me a snob, but I would very much have preferred it if it had had some news in it.

There wasn’t a single event of any significance in it, only minor stories from the personal lives of people who work in entertainment industry – Keira goes to a party, Britney has a security alert, Gordon denies rumours.

(To be fair, ‘Gordon denies rumours’ was in the Guardian as well, but that was a different Gordon. And different rumours.) Nothing that makes any difference to our lives.

But then as a friend once pointed out to me, he couldn’t remember when he had last heard anything in the news that made any direct difference to his life. Elections, speeches, votes, shares, disasters, inquiries.

Recession

I suppose that’s why the recession (which we’re still calling the ‘credit crunch’ because it just sounds more colourful) has been such big news.

It’s a national and international event that is actually part of our own lives. Pay freezes, job cuts, a temporary VAT cut, mortgage repayments and so on.

One thing that’s ironic about it, especially for Christians, I suppose, is that we’re always being told that we should live more simply, consume less, be less materialistic.

Now it appears that the truly selfless thing is go out and spend, spend, spend. It’s for the good of the economy.

And don’t spend the money on useful things for other people, that’ll just stop them spending the money themselves. Spend it on useless frivolities for yourself, then enjoy the warm glow of righteousness. Hmm.

It’s especially confusing when we’re all still busy learning the forgotten art of thrift. Global warming, the end of oil, and economic thin times all make it ever more important to use less and reuse more.

Doing our bit

We cook leftovers, mend instead of chucking, put on a thicker jumper before turning up the heating. All of which makes it rather hard to be also doing our bit to save the economy.

Whichever way we solve the dilemma, the problem of the economy will right itself sooner or later.

The problems of our environment and fuel will not right themselves and will be around long after Chancellor Darling has shown whether he can earn his name or not, and are already pressing a lot of people across the world rather harder than in this country.

If our credit crunch problems this Christmas amount to spending a bit less on presents and parties, that’s a thought that might help us to keep things in perspective.

Merry Christmas.

• Visit Presentaid, the virtual gift website from Christian Aid