6 Britain
6 Britain March 2 2023 | World and Press C of E’s historic slavery fund – how far will it stretch across communities? ANGLICANISM Clerical leaders hope for ‘lasting legacy’ to serve places affected by past slavery trade. By Harriet Sherwood 1 THE CHURCHof England’s decision to set up a £100m fund for communities adversely affected by historic slavery is the latest – and biggest – step it has taken over the past few years to “address past wrongs” relating to its links to the slave trade. 2 The report on the origins of the C of E’s healthy £9bn-plus endowment fund correctly describes the 17th century slave trade as “abhorrent” and a source of misery and injustice. 3 It was “shameful” that the church benefited from slavery, said Justin Welby, the archbishop of Canterbury, adding: “I am deeply sorry for these links.” David Walker, the bishop of Manchester, also apologised and said he hoped the new fund would “create a lasting positive legacy, serving and enabling communities impacted by slavery”. 4 The C of E acknowledged on Tuesday that £100m was a large sum in a time of “significant financial challenges”. The amount may be generous, but it is likely to spread thinly across educational and other projects in West Africa Protesters in Bristol, England, with the toppled statue of slave trader Edward Colston. | Photo: Giulia Spadafora/ NurPhoto/ Picture Alliance ing statues, plaques, and admiring headstones in its graveyards. 6 In 2021, the C of E announced it was reviewing thousands of monuments in 12,500 parish churches and 42 cathedrals that contained such historical references. It told its clergy, officials, and congregations that ignoring contested heritage was not an option. Possible actions included the removal, relocation, or alteration of plaques and monuments, and the addition of contextual information. 7 The move came shortly after an anti-racism taskforce, set up by the archbishops of Canterbury and York, urged the C of E to take decisive steps to address the legacy of its involvement in the slave trade. “We do not want to unconditionally celebrate or commemorate people who contributed to or benefited from the tragedy that was the slave trade,” it said. 8 Since then, action has been taken in many places. After Black Lives Matter protesters tore down a statue of the slave trader Edward Colston in Bristol, Vivienne Faul, the bishop of Bristol, said the city should “repent of the evils of our slave trading past”. Bristol Cathedral later removed a window dedication to Colston. Other examples of action taken include the removal by St Margaret’s Church in Rottingdean, Sussex, of two headstones in its graveyard that contained racial slurs and the covering up by St Peter’s, in Dorchester, of a plaque commemorating a plantation owner’s role in suppressing a slave rebellion. © 2023 Guardian News and Media Ltd 0 – 2 (ENDOWMENT) FUND Fonds (zur Finanzierung gemeinnütziger Zwecke) — to stretch reichen — clerical leaders führende Geistliche — legacy Vermächtnis; s.w.u. Erbe — adversely negativ — to address wiedergutmachen; aufarbeiten — wrongs Unrecht — healthy beträchtlich — abhorrent abscheulich 3 – 5 shameful beschämend — archbishop Erzbischof — to acknowledge einräumen — to spread thinly (spärlich) verteilen — to erect aufstellen — plaque Gedenktafel — headstone Grabstein — graveyard Friedhof 6 parish church Pfarrkirche — the clergy die Geistlichen — congregation Kirchengemeinde — contested umstritten — heritage Erbe — relocation Verlegung — alteration Änderung — contextual information Hintergrundinformationen 7 – 8 to urge s.o. to do jdm. eindringlich nahelegen zu tun — unconditionally bedingungslos — to commemorate s.o. jds. gedenken — to tear down vom Sockel stürzen — to repent of bereuen — evils Sünden — dedication Widmung — racial slur rassistische Beleidigung — to suppress niederschlagen ‘Foreign investors turning away from unstable Britain’ BUSINESS Political chaos since Brexit is to blame, say manufacturers. By Robert Lea 1 THREE prime ministers, four chancellors of the exchequer, and three business secretaries in a year have cost Britain its appeal to foreign investors, say manufacturing bosses. Members of Make UK, the manufacturing trade body, have in previous surveys blamed the impact of Brexit on trade costs and customs barriers. However, it is the government’s management of the economy A worker at a manufacturing company in Birmingham, UK. | Photo: Rue Vieira/ Empics/Picture Alliance and the Caribbean, where the fund’s activities are expected to be focused. 5 Over recent years, the C of E has been made painfully aware of its historical slavery links. As well as the transatlantic slave trade being a source of income for it in the 17th century, the church has honoured many people with links to slavery and colonialism, erectsince Britain left the European Union that is now angering industrial leaders. 2 “There is evidence that the political instability of the last 12 months has damaged the competitiveness of the UK as a manufacturing location,” said Make UK of its survey published today. “The number of companies believing the UK to be a competitive location has halved from last year, down to 31 per cent from 63 per cent.” Make UK continued: “Over four in ten companies, 43 per cent, believe the UK is now less attractive to foreign investors, while more than half of companies, 53 per cent, believe that political instability is damaging business confidence.” 3 Investment intentions by Make UK member companies have turned negative for the first time in two years, although the body concedes that this will have as much to do with manufacturers’ single biggest worry, which is increasing energy costs and uncertainty over future bills, as about instability at Westminster. The government will shortly announce its plans for continuing support with energy bills for businesses. 4 The survey of 235 senior executives, done jointly with PwC, the accountant, found that twothirds of business owners will be reducing production, headcount, or both, irrespective of the government’s energy support package. … 5 “A potent mix of factors is testing the resolve of manufacturers,” said Stephen Phipson, chief executive of Make UK. “Ongoing supply chain disruption, access to labour, and high transport costs that show no sign of abating can be added to a growing sense of economic and political uncertainty in their main markets. The biggest risk, however, remains the eye-watering increase in energy costs, which has the clock ticking for many companies.” … © The Times, London/News Licensing This article originally appeared in The Times, London. 0 – 1 TO TURN AWAY s. abwenden — manufacturer Hersteller — chancellor of the exchequer brit. Finanzminister(in) — business secretary Wirtschaftsminister(in) — appeal Attraktivität — manufacturing trade body Verband der verarbeitenden Industrie — customs barrier Zollschranke 2 – 3 competitiveness Wettbewerbsfähigkeit — manufacturing location Produktionsstandort — to halve s. halbieren — business confidence Geschäftsklima — investment intention Investitionsabsicht — to concede einräumen — uncertainty Ungewissheit 4 – 5 senior executive Führungskraft — accountant h.: Wirtschaftsprüfungsunternehmen — headcount Personal — irrespective ungeachtet — resolve Entschlossenheit — chief executive Geschäftsführer(in) — supply chain disruption Lieferprobleme — labour Arbeitskräfte — to abate zurückgehen — eye-watering horrend
World and Press | March 2 2023 Britain 7 Sheep kept in a pen at a croft near Argyll, Scotland. | Photo: Universal Images Group/Getty Images How community crofting experiment could help repopulate the Highlands SCOTLAND It is hoped Glengarry’s affordable woodland homes scheme could provide answers to Scotland’s rural housing crisis. By Severin Carrell 1 “IT’S VERYexciting,” said Colin Grant, a fifth-generation farmer in Glengarry near Fort William. Grant has seen his community dwindle over the decades, but now the village is at the centre of a novel experiment that could help repopulate the Highlands. Local people in Glengarry are creating woodland crofts in nearby forests – affordable family homes designed for craftspeople, carpenters, and small-scale farmers, using a shared ownership model designed to combat the soaring costs of scarce rural homes. 2 Glengarry’s experiment is being watched closely by rural housing and land reform campaigners across Scotland, as well as Scottish government ministers curious about whether this model could help solve rural Scotland’s housing crisis. 3 There has been a recent surge of interest in woodland crofts, caused by the COVID crisis, Brexit, and a growing desire for low-carbon living, said Jamie McIntyre, who co-founded the Woodland Crofts Partnership, an advocacy and advice campaign. “The COVID pandemic caused a lot of people to reassess and look for a different lifestyle, and we see that in the rural housing market as well,” McIntyre said. People now realise they can work remotely. “On an individual level, living and working on a woodland croft is low-carbon living par excellence, ideally in a timber-built house, heated with fuel and eating food grown on land around you.” 4 “It’s very exciting, this project, because there has been a need for affordable housing for quite a few decades,” Grant said. “There’s a positive feel about it amongst a vast majority of the community. It’s seen as strengthening the community.” Over the decades, he said, Forestry Commission workers moved out, as did the hydro engineers. The village shop closed 30 years ago. In a trend repeated across rural Britain, cottages were bought up for second homes and holiday lets, driving up prices; around a quarter of local homes are frequently dark and empty outside the holiday seasons. “Jobs have just vanished, and while tourism has grown, it’s not enough. There’s a need for more job opportunities.” 5 So Grant and his neighbours, about 100 of them, set up a community-run company called Glengarry Community Woodland which now owns 78 ha of forest and open land, backed by £193,000 from the Scottish Land Fund, a government body that part-finances community buyouts. In collaboration with the Community Housing Trust, an affordable housing charity that bought 19 ha immediately beside Glengarry’s largest 47 ha plot, they plan to build four affordable homes and create six woodland crofts, offering those as a mixture of tenancies and self-build projects looking south over Loch Garry. 6 It will be partly financed by income from six new off-grid forest cabins for holiday lets the community group is building, with larch from their forest, after raising just under £250,000 from crowd-sourced equity funding in December, to cash in on the growth of eco-tourism. 7 Tom Cooper, Glengarry Community Woodland’s development manager, said these homes would mix the strict rules of crofting tenure, where crofters, registered by the Crofting Commission, have to actively work and live on their land, and the principles of shared equity. The community trust will part-own the land. “We’re expecting crofters to be able to manage the woodland, and will have to demonstrate that when they apply for the croft,” he said. “They’re not just going to be open to everyone. … Very few crofters want to make their sole income from the croft. You might work part-time in tourism, which is a very seasonal industry here. You might work at weekends on the croft to bring in additional income.” 8 There have been numerous privately owned woodland crofts dotted around Scotland, and the first community-owned scheme began in north-west Mull in 2012. 9 McIntyre has recently tracked projects springing up across the Highlands and Islands, including on Skye, at Kilfinan in Argyll, and Tiroran on south-west Mull. Near Ullapool, Loch Broom Community Renewables, which already runs a 100 kW hydro power station, is buying 94 ha of surrounding forest for woodland crofting. It feels like a tipping point, he said. 10 The Crofting Federation, a campaigning group, wants 10,000 new crofts built in Scotland: half should be woodland crofts, it believes. McIntyre has lobbied Forestry and Land Scotland, the state-owned forestry agency, to allow crofts on its land. “You should do woodland crofts on the national forest estate: that would be a really important natural next step,” he said. 11 Ronnie MacRae, the Community Housing Trust’s chief executive, said Glengarry’s model could provide proof that collaborative, mixed-tenure crofting works. It met several needs: affordable rural housing, net-zero living, and sustaining rural economies. “We know that there’s demand, and I think that’s growing,” he said. “There’s a big appetite from most small rural communities to get more housing choices.” 12 Grant said Glengarry hoped to become a pioneer. “The thing which is exciting us, if it goes well, it could be a model for others to follow. That’s what we really like about it. Its reputation and a proven track record could go a long way.” © 2023 Guardian News and Media Ltd Starker Abipartner | Foto: Pixabay 0 CROFTING schottisches System der Bewirtschaftung von Land; s.w.u. croft kleiner Hof — to repopulate wieder besiedeln — woodland Wald- — scheme Projekt — housing crisis Krise auf dem Wohnungsmarkt 1 to dwindle schrumpfen — novel neuartig — craftspeople Handwerker(innen) — carpenter Tischler(in) — small-scale farmer Kleinbauer(-bäuerin) — shared ownership; s.w.u. shared equity gemeinsame Eigentümerschaft — to combat h.: entgegenwirken — soaring steigend — scarce knapp 2 – 3 campaigner Aktivist(in) — surge starker Anstieg — low-carbon CO 2 -arm — to co-found mitbegründen — advocacy campaign Kampagne zur Unterstützung e-r Idee — to reassess umdenken — to work remotely ortsunabhängig arbeiten — timber-built Holz- 4 – 5 Forestry Commission brit. Regierungsbehörde zur Unterstützung nachhaltiger Forstwirtschaft — hydro engineer Wasserbauingenieur(in) — holiday let Ferienwohnung — to back unterstützen — fund Fonds — government body Regierungsbehörde — buyout Aufkauf — in collaboration with in Zus.arbeit mit; s.w.u. collaborative gemeinschaftlich — trust Stiftung — plot Grundstück — tenancy Pachtverhältnis 6 – 8 off-grid abgekoppelt vom öffentlichen Versorgungsnetz — cabin Hütte — larch Lärche — equity funding Eigenkapitalfinanzierung — to cash in on profitieren von — tenure Pachtrecht — sole alleinig — dotted around … überall in … 9 – 12 renewables erneuerbare Energien — hydro power station Wasserkraftwerk — tipping point Wendepunkt — federation Verband — forestry agency Behörde für die Bewirtschaftung der Wälder — chief executive Geschäftsführer(in) — net zero klimaneutral — to sustain unterstützen — track record Erfolgsbilanz — to go a long way (fig) Erfolg haben; h.: viel bewirken können Themensammlungen • Glossare Übungen zu Hörverstehen Wortschatztrainer Trainingshefte www.sprachzeitungen.de/abi-eng
