In all our sanctuaries we sit at risk

Author: Rogan Wolf

  • Let the bird of paradise speak loud from his cage

    Posted:

    I want to recite to camera a long poem, originally by John Skelton. And I want to do so from the top of the Tyndale Monument, a tall tower on a hill near Bristol.  William Tyndale and Skelton both lived in the reign of Henry VIIIth but they have more than that in common. The…

  • The sky is cloudy, the coast is nothing clear. Is there anything we should be doing ?

    Posted:

    I was contacted recently by a friend and colleague now retired. She was an NHS mental health worker, who gave her all for years flat out, feelingly and wisely. Now she paces and grieves. Here is a slightly abridged version of what she wrote : “I have met with several ex-colleagues recently. On Saturday I…

  • Time for leaving, time for anything

    Posted:

    I am about to move house and to start a new life in a city still strange to me.  Among all the many moments I have to give to packing and managing the move, I have found a few spare to write this. But snatching at moments seems an image for us all, in our…

  • WHERE ONE IS THE OTHER MUST BE

    Posted:

      This England this Bling land   this Bling and Buy Land this Hack and Spy Land   this Try a Lie Land this Me and My Land   We’re all in this together in Me and Mine Land.   What price the soul in Buy and Lie Land,   my lord ? “Price ?…

  • The Night Before

    Posted:

    I wonder when the point of exhaustion is reached, north of the border. By now, most people know what they will vote tomorrow and many have anyway already voted, casting their die. But some there will be who even now don’t know and may be agonising tonight. They may be the best of all the…

  • The Scottish Referendum : odd thoughts

    Posted:

    The campaign has not just energised Scots and many more – it will surely have embittered many, too. How will Scotland fare once the decision is made and the “sides” stand back from the barricades, the losers looking at the winners in the eye ? Will they help each other put the barricades away ?…

  • Fable Sixteen – The Fatal Allure of Fundamentalism

    Posted:

    This short piece examines the topic of fundamentalism and offers some thoughts on its origins in human nature and behaviour. The piece opposes any notion that fundamentalism is limited to religious faith, or – for that matter – that false or idolatrous worship is limited to issues associated with religion. But there are principles that…

  • Diary of a Time-Traveller

    Posted:

    Morning, first thing.  Before packing and leaving, I booked some train tickets online, for another journey due in a week‘s time. I hate and still fumble at dealing online. I feel lonely and a bit panicky in the whole robotical procedure, with the pretend friendliness and informality of the words onscreen only adding to my…