Of course I should have written and posted a blog on the 12th of the 12th 2012 preferably at Noon.
Having failed to catch the moment I have to wait a whole century until 12th of the 12th 2112.
But by then things will be very different.
If the trends continue as they have been reflected between the 2001 and the 2011census then it seems likely that there will be few if any left who will identify themselves as religious, almost an 11% increase by those reporting no religion means that a quarter of the population now identifies itself as having no religious affiliation, projected forward, if the increase of 11% every ten years continues as a straight line, year on year increase then by the 12th of the 12th 2112 God will not only be dead but buried.
However the other reported increase is in those born outside of the UK and again a trend, whilst not as marked, suggests that the UK is becoming a society that can be properly described as multi-cultural, with London and other large cities hosting the largest multi-ethnic populations.
By definition a multi-cultural society can be accurately defined as a big society.
There is something energising and enriching about living in a society where many people from different faiths and nationalities can co-exist with mutual respect for different traditions, practises and habits.
At the very least food becomes an essential characteristic of such a society with different cuisines broadening our appetites and helping us share and experience difference as a positive aspect of our cultural experience.
The biblical image of the nations sitting in peace and sharing a banquet is a very powerful one and whilst religion appears to be declining at an accelerating pace, this image of the peoples of the nations breaking bread together in peace works as both a religious and a secular image.
But what else will change by the 12th of the 12th 2112?
The UK may well have lost and regained and lost its triple A credit rating a few times by then.
The very well named Standard and Poors, the rating agency appears to have identified falling standards in GB Ltd's trading performance and decided that we are set to become poor.
So despite the protestations of the Chancellor and the Treasury it seems that GB Ltd is set for a poor performance over the next few years.
This may be a good time to identify and root out the carpet baggers from our midst.
If we do lose our triple A rating as a country it will be almost certainly possible to see where the money went, identify just who ate the pies, see who got rich quick through scams and schemes, and who having taken the money ran for cover.
The most recent use of the term carpet bagger came when individuals were identified moving into mutual organisations such as building societies in order to de-mutualise them solely for personal gain, although it has to be acknowledged that the success of some of these schemes owed a great deal to the fact that some members of the mutuals saw a short term advantage opening up and a quick profit to be made.
Now of course the shoe is on a different foot, or the carpet on a different floor, now the success of mutuals is beginning to look more attractive.
There are different forms of mutual organisation but what they have in common is that they are member owned, some businesses are employee owned such as the John Lewis Partnership, some are customer owned such as the CWS and some like credit unions are owned by the savers and borrowers jointly.
It is interesting that the Shadow Chancellor is a Co-operative/Labour MP and it will become more evident I suspect as the Labour Parties Manifesto begins to be written that what will be on offer is a more mutual form of arrangement in both financial services and commercial activity generally.
Pursuing my theme of the big society however I find myself making another different and somewhat speculative connection between the recently published results of the 2011 census and the possible loss of the Triple A rating.
Over the last ten years religious faith has quite clearly been on the decline whilst carpet bagging was on the increase?
In a decade when the Labour Party was relaxed about the filthy rich it seemed that Gordon Gecko style greed was good, it was somehow assumed or implied that we all benefitted when the money trickled down until the trickle dried up because the money was in a carpet bag in the overhead locker of a jumbo jet.
Now we have Labour Politicians lecturing major companies on when tax avoidance as what is legal comes to be seen as immoral.
I have an altogether old fashioned sense that somewhere in all this there is a link between the decline of religious belief and the increase in fiscal immorality.
Whilst Christianity continues to be the largest faith group in a declining community of those claiming religious affiliation, down from 71.7% to 59.3%, the smallest faith group by number, Islam increased from 3.0% to 4.8%.
Watch this space.
In Jewish, Islamic and Christian economic teaching there is a fascinating distinction between price and value and an emphasis on social responsibility, it is a distinction and an emphasis that will become increasingly important as the economic debate builds in the lead-in to the next election.
Having failed to catch the moment I have to wait a whole century until 12th of the 12th 2112.
But by then things will be very different.
If the trends continue as they have been reflected between the 2001 and the 2011census then it seems likely that there will be few if any left who will identify themselves as religious, almost an 11% increase by those reporting no religion means that a quarter of the population now identifies itself as having no religious affiliation, projected forward, if the increase of 11% every ten years continues as a straight line, year on year increase then by the 12th of the 12th 2112 God will not only be dead but buried.
However the other reported increase is in those born outside of the UK and again a trend, whilst not as marked, suggests that the UK is becoming a society that can be properly described as multi-cultural, with London and other large cities hosting the largest multi-ethnic populations.
By definition a multi-cultural society can be accurately defined as a big society.
There is something energising and enriching about living in a society where many people from different faiths and nationalities can co-exist with mutual respect for different traditions, practises and habits.
At the very least food becomes an essential characteristic of such a society with different cuisines broadening our appetites and helping us share and experience difference as a positive aspect of our cultural experience.
The biblical image of the nations sitting in peace and sharing a banquet is a very powerful one and whilst religion appears to be declining at an accelerating pace, this image of the peoples of the nations breaking bread together in peace works as both a religious and a secular image.
But what else will change by the 12th of the 12th 2112?
The UK may well have lost and regained and lost its triple A credit rating a few times by then.
The very well named Standard and Poors, the rating agency appears to have identified falling standards in GB Ltd's trading performance and decided that we are set to become poor.
So despite the protestations of the Chancellor and the Treasury it seems that GB Ltd is set for a poor performance over the next few years.
This may be a good time to identify and root out the carpet baggers from our midst.
If we do lose our triple A rating as a country it will be almost certainly possible to see where the money went, identify just who ate the pies, see who got rich quick through scams and schemes, and who having taken the money ran for cover.
The most recent use of the term carpet bagger came when individuals were identified moving into mutual organisations such as building societies in order to de-mutualise them solely for personal gain, although it has to be acknowledged that the success of some of these schemes owed a great deal to the fact that some members of the mutuals saw a short term advantage opening up and a quick profit to be made.
Now of course the shoe is on a different foot, or the carpet on a different floor, now the success of mutuals is beginning to look more attractive.
There are different forms of mutual organisation but what they have in common is that they are member owned, some businesses are employee owned such as the John Lewis Partnership, some are customer owned such as the CWS and some like credit unions are owned by the savers and borrowers jointly.
It is interesting that the Shadow Chancellor is a Co-operative/Labour MP and it will become more evident I suspect as the Labour Parties Manifesto begins to be written that what will be on offer is a more mutual form of arrangement in both financial services and commercial activity generally.
Pursuing my theme of the big society however I find myself making another different and somewhat speculative connection between the recently published results of the 2011 census and the possible loss of the Triple A rating.
Over the last ten years religious faith has quite clearly been on the decline whilst carpet bagging was on the increase?
In a decade when the Labour Party was relaxed about the filthy rich it seemed that Gordon Gecko style greed was good, it was somehow assumed or implied that we all benefitted when the money trickled down until the trickle dried up because the money was in a carpet bag in the overhead locker of a jumbo jet.
Now we have Labour Politicians lecturing major companies on when tax avoidance as what is legal comes to be seen as immoral.
I have an altogether old fashioned sense that somewhere in all this there is a link between the decline of religious belief and the increase in fiscal immorality.
Whilst Christianity continues to be the largest faith group in a declining community of those claiming religious affiliation, down from 71.7% to 59.3%, the smallest faith group by number, Islam increased from 3.0% to 4.8%.
Watch this space.
In Jewish, Islamic and Christian economic teaching there is a fascinating distinction between price and value and an emphasis on social responsibility, it is a distinction and an emphasis that will become increasingly important as the economic debate builds in the lead-in to the next election.
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