I made the sensible decision: I went to bed. And I missed the TV programmes showing how Tony Blair became Prime Minister in 1997. And I have kicked myself ever since for not staying up. And whatever political colour you may have, or you may think I have, it was the most theatrical of nights. And I missed it. And so to Trimden Labour Club and Blair’s notice to quit. Now we await the coronation of Gordon Brown. I say coronation, for there won’t be a contest even if there is another contestant.

Somewhat nervously, I stand before you, to ask the question: what do we make of these last 10 years?

Somewhat nervously, because there are some who say that preachers and politics shouldn’t mix. Somewhat nervously, because I fear this is about me; I fear that some here may hear words in between words I am saying and come to make some assumptions - generally about what my political persuasion might be, or specifically what I think about Tony Blair, his politics and his 10 years in power. Somewhat nervously, because politics is a very personal thing and to bring it into the public arena is quite dangerous. Perhaps that is why we go into our private booths to mark our personal bits of paper when we go to vote.

But, we have to admit that this week has seen something quite, quite unique. After 10 years as Prime Minister, after 3 consecutive General Election victories and after making his own decision about when to quit, this is a unique achievement for a politician.

So, what should we make of it? Well, we can throw some facts and figures around. There are more doctors and more nurses, but there are hospitals closing and doctors leaving these shores because they can’t get a job here. There is more money spent on law and order, but there is a rise in violent crime. There are rising levels of attainment at GCSE and A levels, but there are more failing schools. So throwing facts and figures around doesn’t help us very much, because whichever way you spin it, you can win it.

So how can we get some kind of assessment on the last 10 years and particularly an assessment from the perspective of inside our Christian faith? And I want to suggest that it is not enough to ask what has been my experience of this Labour government. I want to suggest that it is not enough to ask ourselves, “Has my life been improved over the last 10 years?” It is not enough to ask, “Am I better off in 2007 than I was in 1997?” That is not the Christian way of assessing and evaluating anything, let alone 10 years of a particular political party’s policies. We have to think more broadly than that. We have to think about the effect on others.

So, amidst the facts and figures, amidst the political posturing, amidst the spin and the counter-spin, I want to offer you one photograph which I think must be taken into account, when we are assessing the last 10 years.

It is the photograph of Ian Paisley and Martin McGuiness at the bottom of the steps of Stormont on Tuesday. When deep hatreds and sworn enmity is put to one side, we have to acknowledge the changes. When people who would have killed one another, sit beside one another laughing and smiling, we have to accept that something worth while has been achieved. Both men, Ian Paisley and Martin McGuiness, both made reference in their speeches to the past and their hopes for the future at the Northern Ireland assembly launch earlier in the week. Ian Paisley said:

Today we salute Ulster’s honoured and unageing dead. The innocent victims, that gallant band, members of both religions, protestant and Roman Catholic, strong in their alligence to their differing political beliefs, Unionists and nationalists, male and female, children and adults, all innocent victims of the terrible conflict. In the shadows of the evenings and in the sunrise of the mornings, we hail their gallantry and heroism. It cannot and will not be erased from our memories.

And in replying to Ian Paisley, Martin McGuinness said:

Many others throughout our community have suffered and continue to suffer as a result of our difficult and painful past. So we must look to the future to find the means to help then heal.

In his speech Martin McGuinness, referred to some words of Northern Ireland’s Nobel Prize winning poet, Seamus Heaney. Quoting Heaney’s words: “For too long and too often, we speak of ‘the others’ or ‘the other side’. What we need to do is to get to a place of ‘through otherness’.”

For too long and too often we speak of ‘the others’ or ‘the other side’. What we need to do is to get to a place of ‘through otherness’.

My own hope, as I think of looking back over these 10 years of Labour in power, my hope is that alongside those things that I approve of and am happy about, and those things that I find difficult to think that a government has done in my name (I’m going to list some now, and you may second guess me if you wish as to which I put in which camp); but alongside these things like a rise in violent crime, like the intervention in Iraq, like the decision to replace Trident, like increased funding to the NHS, like the changed contracts for GPs, like the devolved governments in Wales and Scotland, the like the Commission for Africa, like a rise in teenage pregnancy, like the sleaze and the spin that besets every politician, I hope that alongside all of that I won’t forget the picture of Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness laughing and smiling.

And if those two men can begin to get that place which Seamus Heaney calls ‘through otherness’, then so can I. And if we all, if we all strive to get to that place of ‘through otherness’ then the world would be surprised by the proverb from the Book of Proverbs with which Ian Paisley opened his speech:

We know not what a day will bring forth