Archbishop Outlines 'Hopes for 2007'

On Trident, the Archbishop suggests that the coming year provides the opportunity to properly debate the renewal of the missile system and Britain's nuclear policy and hopes that this might result in "the brakes being put on before we commit astronomical sums to this system."

On the eve of his pilgrimage to the Holy Land, the Archbishop also writes of his concerns and hopes for the region in the months ahead:

"I hope that something can happen to stop the escalation of crisis in Israel and Palestine. We're near a moment of irreversible tipping over into chaos... Pulling back from the brink is not impossible: could this be the year?

Describing the picture painted by much of the media throughout 2006 about expressions of faith in public life and the limits of that expression as "surreal", the Archbishop hopes for a different approach in 2007, which better recognises the vital role faith communities play in everyday life:

"Perhaps we might be allowed to ask for a bit of a reality check here- even to hope for a bit of recognition of how much basic bottom-line work for cohesion and access and emergency care depends on none other than these 'faith communities' in most of our urban and many of our rural settings."

The Archbishop's article is for the current, Christmas, edition of the Big Issue Magazine, published on December 18th. The Big Issue aims to help homeless people.