How strange to think that half my time on Thought for the Day was spent under a Tory Government. And at this point we had what seemed at the time to be a momentous transformation. It will be interesting to see as I work through those that follow whether there seems to be any change in what I'm saying. 

My 50th Thought for the Day, and the milestone comes at a strangely interesting time. Five years of reflecting on life, faith, the universe and everything, in the context of the daily news (mostly politics and the price of fish), and now that context has changed.

Of course we can't expect the Ship of State to change direction overnight, but the language is different, and amidst all the talk of caring and sharing and high ideals, the heady euphoria of the newly elected has infected the population at large, still coming to terms with the recent awesome demonstration of what can happen when the people remember that their relationship with Government isn't passive but participatory.

Yet soon enough the people will need something more tangible than high ideals. The Government must find ways to translate those ideals into practice. History shows how quickly cries of liberty, fraternity, equality, can become the accompaniment of tumbrils on their way to the guillotine. For caring and sharing isn't easy. It's not only the rich sharing what they've got with us. It's also us sharing what we've got with those with less.

Charity is a crucial aspect of being a muslim, a principle enshrined in the annual Zakat, a tax on wealth for distribution to the poor, and as much a religious duty as our prayers. Redistribution of wealth is not to be left entirely to whim when it's an essential constituent of a healthy society. It is formally participatory.

Our political leaders are there by our mandate. Let us hope that Mr Blair remembers his promise of Government at the service of the people as he becomes immersed in the morass of governmental practicalities. Let him not forget what the people can do when they feel that the service needs improving.

By the end of his life, the Prophet Muhammad was the unchallenged ruler of virtually all the tribes of Arabia. The system of political consultation in use might have been less structured than we use in a modern democracy, but he sat and ate with the poor, and walked the streets without a guard, and his response to any greeting was "At your service".

If Government is truly by and for the people, we must all be at each other's service.