Together for the common good logo
Contact
Image
  • About Us
    • Who we are
    • Our Purpose
    • What we do
    • Our history
    • Common Good Thinking
    • Catholic Social Thought
    • Our Founder Director
    • Team & Partners
  • Stories
  • What you can do
    • Build relationships
    • Invest in T4CG
    • Discover Our Resources
    • Pray
    • Subscribe to our newsletter
    • Events
  • News & Views
    • Our News
    • Leading Thinkers
    • From Jenny Sinclair
    • Leaving Egypt Podcast
    • T4CG podcast
  • Events
    • Upcoming T4CG events
    • Previous T4CG events
  • Newsletter
Schools
Donate
  • Our News
  • Leading Thinkers
  • From Jenny Sinclair
  • Leaving Egypt Podcast
  • T4CG podcast

Maurice Glasman


Ever Ancient, Ever New

See Next >

This talk by Lord Glasman was the focus of “The New Era: The Constructive Gift of Catholic Tradition”, an event held by Together for the Common Good at the WeBelieve Festival of Catholic Life at St Mary’s Oscott in July 2025.

Pope Gregory I wrote that the primary virtue is Gratitude. I agree.

Glory be to God who described himself on Mount Sinai when he stood face to face with Moses as a God of mercy and grace, slow to anger and abounding with kindness and truth. Kindness and truth, not kindness or truth. Ever ancient, ever new, my first gratitude is to God for the enormity of his blessing.

I bow my head in gratitude also to the Mother Church, protector of the flame, the burning bush that is never extinguished, the embodiment of kindness and truth.

I wish to express a personal gratitude to the Catholic Church for the gift of Rerum Novarum and the Encyclicals which have shaped my ethics, my politics and my life. Ever Ancient, Ever New, I will always be faithful and grateful.

Blessed is the memory of Pope Leo XIII and blessings to Pope Leo XIV that he may be true to the name he has chosen.

Gratitude too to for the invitation to speak here. I am an Orthodox Jew and a Labour politician. Members of my Party were enthusiastic about decriminalising abortion at nine months, increasing the incentive to urge suicide on our parents, and the Government of Israel rains down missiles on defenceless people in Gaza. I think there are many reasons to not invite me to a convocation committed to the proclamation of the truth of the Catholic Church, ever ancient, ever new. It means a lot to me that you invited me to speak to you. It is an act of grace.

And finally, gratitude to Father John and to Jenny Sinclair. Father John has been by teacher, my mentor, or tormentor and my friend for more than 20 years. While he tends more to the truth than to kindness in his words to me, I note that this is not the case when he speaks to others. I don’t think I have ever refused a request from Father John. My trust in you is unbreakable. And to Jenny, the most faithful pilgrim on her journey through the shadow of the valley of death. Even when you can barely walk you never rest. Only health and strength to you. Glory be to God.

Selah.

In a moment of clarity, the late Pope Francis said that ‘we are not living through an era of change but through a change of era.’ On this he was profoundly right.

Before I begin to describe the era that is forming now, which I call the Era of Restoration, it is necessary to describe what it is replacing. It was a period of historical time that was mercilessly initiated by Margaret Thatcher in 1979 and immaculately consummated by Tony Blair and I call that the Era of Progressive Globalisation. It was the Common Sense for forty years and its assumptions still dominate our economy and government. The problem is that no one believes in it anymore. The tragedy for progressives is that the future is not what they thought it was going to be. The more the future slips away the more they double down on their greatest weaknesses and follies. The more liberal, the more authoritarian, the more diverse, the more homogenous of thought. The future is dissolving before their eyes and so they fight to preserve their power by forcing through legislation based on their values and beliefs. And the more they do that, the more unpopular they become.

The people have restored their belief, you have restored your belief and they can’t believe it, it defies belief. The truth is not kind for them. It is very hard for me not to relish in their discomfort but I am obliged to at least try. And this age of restoration is paradoxical: dark and light, loving and hateful, violent and holy, fearful and hopeful.

Let me try to explain by way of contrast, the scale of the transformation we are living through. The old era was contractual, the new is covenantal. The old era was characterised by the domination of financial services in which money became the ultimate measure of value, whereas the new requires industry and a priority for national security. Free movement will be replaced by borders, corporate social responsibility by a national economic strategy, innovation by invention, reform by restoration, process by courage, diversity by solidarity. Most importantly the old era was progressive: do you remember ‘things can only get better’? The emerging era is tragic. The previous era was procedural, legal and administrative. The new era will be political, democratic and volatile. It is also a shift from Protestant to Catholic, from individuals to institutions, from self-definition to the authority of tradition. The election of Donald Trump was the final confirmation of the end of the old, which had been brewing for two decades. But it is only the beginning.

We are only just emerging from the fog of progress, in which up is down, bad is good, weird is normal. Human Rights mean you can’t tell the truth, justice is the defence of corporations, democracy is liberalism, sovereignty is obedience to multi-national treaties, freedom means compliance, creativity is marketing and diversity is homogeneity. Two generations have been sacrificed to this idiocy masquerading as reason, and universities have been the main incubators. And by the way, men are women and Islam is a religion of peace. And if you don’t agree we’ll take away your lanyard and you won’t have a job. Honestly.

The fantasy is over and the truth is kind; only our delusions make us tremble. It enables me to say to you, without fear of being called nostalgic or outdated, that the first point – ever ancient, ever new – is that the free market did not create the world.

‘In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth’ is the first sentence of Holy Scripture. Without following Aquinas too closely, we can define Creation as ‘human beings’ and ‘nature’. The definition of capitalism is the commodification of both. The exploitation of human beings and nature in order to turn them into commodities of fluctuating price in competitive markets is the definition of capitalism. Pope Leo XIII called this a system of ‘modern slavery’ and Saint John Paul II wrote of a ‘structure of sin’. It desecrates the human status of the worker. The highest return at the greatest speed is its objective and the status of a worker limits that return. Capitalism is like diarrhoea; it liquidates the blockage.

The second truth is that the State did not create the world either. The preservation of the sacred status of human beings and nature is the primary role of politics. Subsidiarity is the best way to temper the Pharaonic tendency of centralised power. Sovereignty is necessary to resist the domination of capital and subsidiarity is required to resist the tyranny of the State. And all this is predicated on democratic Solidarity as the fundamental ethic of society. Cain made a very big mistake. He was his brother’s keeper; we all are. This is the political position of Blue Labour in British politics, and it is based entirely on Laborem Exercens and Centesimus Annus.

The fundamental teaching of Catholic Social Thought is that tyranny is a real threat in the economy and the state and that only a Christian Democracy founded upon solidarity, the sharing of the burdens of this hard and merciless life, can generate a virtuous politics through domesticating the demonic energy of capitalism and of the State. Solidarity, Status and Subsidiarity are the three pillars.

That is why I argue, as a Jew, and an Orthodox one, that in politics, Christ is King, that in honouring the name of God we honour his Creation, incarnated. That the attributes God gave to himself when he spoke face to face with Moses on Mount Sinai are the very condition of Citizenship. Mercy, Grace, Kindness and Truth. That is why secular republics fail: it is not only that they yearn for a King but they reject the very idea of nobility that is essential for virtue. Ever Ancient, Ever New. Trump’s inauguration was a very interesting experience. They are yearning for a King and an aristocracy and all they have is Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos. There are many rich people but very little nobility.

God described himself to Moses as a God of mercy and grace, slow to anger and a God of enormous kindness and truth. This is the paradox of God, for the truth is not kind, it hurts one’s feelings. In order to be kind however, we must honour the truth. In order to honour God, we must honour his Creation and recognise the truth that the last thirty five years have been a desecration of all that is sacred. Pope Leo XIII and Pope John Paul II understood this better than anyone. Even better than Marx who wrote:

‘All that is holy is profaned

And everything solid, melts into air.’

The gift of Catholic Social Teaching speaks to us now, as clearly as God spoke at Mount Sinai, ever ancient, ever new. We are not commodities; we are not administrative units but social beings yearning for love and meaning. Solidarity, subsidiarity and the dignity of labour are the foundations of the Encyclicals. There has never been a greater need for the Catholic Church as the leading moral force in the restoration of our nation.

Maurice Glasman

Birmingham, 27 July 2025


Lord Glasman is the Director of the Common Good Foundation and the founder of the Blue Labour movement. A life peer in the House of Lords, he has been a key figure in the battle for the soul of the Labour Party, challenging the leadership to return to its founding principles. Alongside his academic and political work, he has for many years been involved in authentic community organizing, as he is today in Grimsby. He is the author of Blue Labour: The Politics of the Common Good.

This 40 minute session at the 2025 WeBelieve Festival was hosted by Together for the Common Good, also featuring Jenny Sinclair and Monsignor John Armitage. Thanks to Radio Maria, a recording of the session is available here

This is a revised version of a longer talk given in Warsaw in June 2025, downloadable here

This talk was featured in the Summer 2025 edition of the T4CG Newsletter, available here

Blue LabourCatholic social thoughtLord GlasmanMaurice GlasmanWeBelieve Festival
  • Contact
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
Twitter
Instagram
Linkedin
Facebook
Signup to our newsletter
Comments box
CCLA - Good Investment

Copyright © T4CG 2025 - All rights reserved. Together for the Common Good (T4CG) is a Registered Charity, No.1172113

Designed by The Fable Bureau.
Developed by Sam Cockrill.

X
Image

Subscribe to our newsletter

"A great source of information and inspiration"

Our free e-newsletter comes out every 6-8 weeks packed with commentary, resources and a unique helicopter view of Common Good activity across the churches

* indicates required

EXPLORE PREVIOUS EDITIONS HERE >>

  • About Us
    • Who we are
    • Our Purpose
    • What we do
    • Our history
    • Common Good Thinking
    • Catholic Social Thought
    • Our Founder Director
    • Team & Partners
  • Stories
  • What you can do
    • Build relationships
    • Invest in T4CG
    • Discover Our Resources
    • Pray
    • Subscribe to our newsletter
    • Events
  • News & Views
    • Our News
    • Leading Thinkers
    • From Jenny Sinclair
    • Leaving Egypt Podcast
    • T4CG podcast
  • Events
    • Upcoming T4CG events
    • Previous T4CG events
  • Newsletter

Subscribe to our newsletter