Yesterday's terrific gamble by the Chancellor will be hotly debated today and for a long time to come, but the plain fact is, everyone living in these Islands must get used to the idea of living with debt. Most of us are probably still too stunned to take in all the facts and figures, let alone consider how it is going to affect us as individuals. I suspect that people like ourselves, who spend most of their income on food and energy, are going to start wondering yet again how long the Welfare State can continue and whether there is anything that can take its place. Little by little, Religious Orders have withdrawn from education and healthcare, for example, leaving the work they used to do to lay people. Nothing wrong with that, but when there's no money left, we cannot expect lay people to work for nothing in the way we can and do expect Religious to work. Do we face a future where the State will no longer be able to maintain its care for the poor, the sick, the elderly and the handicapped, and there are no longer any Church-based institutions to take over? Where overseas aid will be cut off entirely? Living with debt is never very comfortable; living with a huge national debt is less comfortable still. Let us pray that the Church will be equal to the challenge we now face. Whatever else happens, we have a duty to help others, especially those who cannot help themselves.