In all our sanctuaries we sit at risk

Category: The press

  • The Dance of the Emperor who Wears no Clothes

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    The Brexit dance continues. And in London, a court case has just come to an end, in which lawyers have been debating whether or not Parliament should have influence over the Brexit process. We shall hear the result of that court case in the near future. But its implications are profoundly important and the discussion…

  • The late David Jenkins, Bishop of Durham

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    Following the death of David Jenkins on September 4th, I want to bear witness in my own small way to his great stature as a man and true priest. The first obituaries I read gave prominence to his Virgin Birth and Resurrection “denials.”  And of course, in his time, he was called “The Red Bishop”…

  • Sayings

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    Reaching for words is like searching the earth for stones and then shaping them one after another into a path.     Your words took my breath away. They killed me with their song. They made my womb turn over. Sing to me again.   The words I must speak will sentence me to death.…

  • Can Liberal Democracy Survive our Tumult ?

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    Can liberal democracy survive our tumultuous, bewildering, frightening, dangerous times ? Can it surmount them ? Can it contain and even direct the flailing social forces at work towards positive solutions, a viable human future ? As things stand, it seems not to be coping at all. It is surely in great danger of allowing…

  • Democracy & the Lie: do they go hand in hand ?

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    During July, two articles by Andreas Whittam Smith appeared in The Independent newspaper on successive days.  Here are the links to them: http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/broken-democracy-spin-doctors-destroyed-uk-politics-theresa-may-repair-it-a7135146.html ; http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/fix-broken-democracy-smash-political-class-two-simple-things-a7137131.html Whittam Smith co-founded The Independent and his two pieces are worth reading. They explore the Brexit campaign’s “victory” and contain proposals for starting a process of renewal of the UK’s…

  • Report

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    I wish to report a strange man of average height, indeterminate skin colour but a knowing look who sidled into town today wearing an immaculate top hat and shoddy trainers. He said he was searching for a convenient park popular with the townspeople where he could set himself up to sell his famous elixir.  …

  • Six Truth Works Three Tattoos

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    Here in the UK, recent elections and this Summer’s cataclysmic EU referendum have been opportunities for liars, demagogues and PR specialists to practice their skills on the population, in order to sway it to their will. The phenomenon is not unique to the UK, nor of course is it unprecedented. But the pervasive dishonesty, recklessness…

  • “The People” is Sovereign. To defraud the sovereign is a capital offence.

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    In the UK following its EU referendum, “the People’s Will” is a phrase now often being quoted with reverence as something unarguable, final, almost sacred, however uncomfortable. The phrase is being quoted most often and with greatest reverence by the public figures who helped to secure the Brexit vote by whatever means they could –…