NEWS is dramatic at the moment.

Election campaigns in America, wars in Ukraine and Israel/Palestine, and new government in the UK. All of these will have big effects on our lives.

But sometimes a headline doesn’t make the front page, but is likely to have even more far-reaching effects.

As I write this, there is news that a Portsmouth University study found one in five Britons can now be classed as having ‘low integrity’, up from just one in 14 a decade ago.

Those who thought it never OK to falsely claim benefits had fallen from 85 per cent to 67 per cent, fraud against business was increasing by 11 per cent per year, and 12 per cent admitted committing insurance fraud, up from eight per cent in 2021.

I think these figures are deeply worrying for the long-term health of our society. I don’t doubt the benefit figures will be spun by some to critique ‘benefit spongers’.

I wouldn’t be quite so quick to judge those who experience the grinding poverty endured by many people.

The fact is, this dishonesty seems to be across the board, and increasing. Healthy societies run on trust.

If I can’t believe what you say, I need to be protected by a whole set of rules and regulations (which need people to enforce them).

Fiddling the insurance may be tempting with the short-term gain, but if enough people do it, prices go up and no one wins.

There is evidence that we are all getting buried under a mountain of compliance, health and safety, and other regulations. They are there because we can’t trust each other to do the right thing.

There is no such thing as a victimless crime. The costs of this ethical free-for-all all across the board are mind-boggling – billions of pounds a year.

The two commandments, you shall not lie and you shall not steal are in the list for a very good reason. If you ignore them, community collapses into a selfish free-for-all.

Trust is at the heart both of community and Christian faith. The Greek word for faith actually means trust.

We stake our lives on something we believe to be true about God. If we can’t do that with one another we are in a pretty bad place indeed.

RT REV RICHARD JACKSON

BISHOP OF HEREFORD