Church of England
It was never going to be a equal fight but it is one that has to be had. Justin Welby, the archbishop of Canterbury, made a statement about aiming to bankrupt Wonga a legalised loan sharking company because it was making poor people even more poor with it obscene rate of interest which could be over 5,000+ %. The only problem with this noble cause is that the Church of England has shares within Wonga.
It has been known for a long time that the Church of England has shares in some really dodgy companies, the sort of companies that make a living out of peoples misery. It is not my position to condemn the church but it must realise that in this age of information overload you cannot preach moral uplifting sermons at the same time make money out of weapons, extortionate banking and other dubious vehicles.
When Jesus chucked the money men out of the temple he did it for a reason. Having £5 billion of investment does not look good. So the ‘Church’ will need to do some stuff that will challenge the hypocrisy of its own position starting with the fact that the Queen is head of the church, and, going right down to opening the church buildings to credit unions who are the modern day equivalent of the mutual societies.
In the meantime Wonga are loving it! They are getting free publicity because there are people out there who will take out the loans due to sheer desperation. For gamblers the payday loan is either a god send or a fool’s errand depending on if they win or lose. Justin Welby, the archbishop of Canterbury, will have to get a better grip on his concept and plan. On paper he does have a good policy but as they say the road to hell is paved with good intentions.