Business and Society

Lord Glasman Excerpts

Wednesday 12th June 2013 Lords Chamber

[Lord Glasman]

My Lords, it is always an honour to participate in a debate introduced by the noble Lord, Lord Sacks, the Chief Rabbi, who has led my community, the Jewish community, in an exemplary way. He has renewed our most important tradition, modern orthodoxy, and made it relevant for the modern world. As ever, he has it completely right by bringing our attention to the relationship between business and society. There has been a rupture in that relationship, and it is extremely important to reconceptualise it.

I want to concentrate on the issue that the noble Lord brought up regarding youth unemployment and the way that faith can cast light on it. He has a unique voice, but he is not alone in what he said. Two weeks ago, I was invited to Rome, where I received a medal from the Vatican. One must understand that, as someone who grew up in Jewish north London, receiving medals was not something that I ever expected to happen. They would normally have been for sporting or military activities, neither of which, according to the comparative division of labour, was a speciality of Palmers Green and Southgate Synagogue.

However, the Pope also has a very pro-business and pro-worker agenda. Issues regarding usury and interest rates are extremely important to that. Above all, what faith brings, and what we neglect, is the realisation that there is no solution to youth unemployment without bringing older people into the equation. There needs to be intergenerational solidarity. Traditionally, we have always put a strong emphasis on our elders. It is essential that we retrieve the idea of vocation and bring in older people, who should not be abandoned and whose wisdom and experience are so important in generating the values that will be essential to earning a living in the world and generating employment. We need to find ways to allow older people to relate to younger people, who should hear their stories and learn their skills. I commend the Chief Rabbi for this debate.