Purple Words on a Grey Background

A little bit of dissent

2012-01-28T17:02:00.000Z

The Archbishop of York, John Sentamu, has been making headlines over the issue of gay marriage. In opposition to proposals supported by David Cameron, he opposes the possibility of gay marriage, stating that marriage is a bedrock of society and that it would be wrong for the definition to be changed to include same-sex couples.

I've been thinking about this issue for some time - I blogged about it back in 2009, when I suggested that the 'undermine marriage' argument against civil partnerships was unsustainable. Indeed, I suggested that having a means to register legally long-term faithful same-sex relationships should have an ordering and stabilising effect on society, rather than the opposite.

But what of the symbolism of the terminology involved? The legal status and consequences might be the same, but civil partnership doesn't sound the same as marriage. For some gay people, this is seen as a positive. I once heard a lesbian student explain why she would not want a marriage, even if it became legally available, as the term 'marriage' was tainted by patriarchal oppression of women. Likewise, there was an attempt by a heterosexual couple to change the law to allow a civil partnership. However, for others the inability to call their commitment 'marriage' is a shortcoming.

And on top of all of this, the Church of England still has a prominent role in registering marriages, but a very hot and ongoing internal debate on the issue of homosexual relationships. Churches and other religious groups are also concerned that they could be legally forced to celebrate same-sex unions.

Here's a suggestion: why don't we take all the legal stuff out of the hands of churches? What if everyone had to register their relationship in a civil ceremony first, in order to satisfy all the legal issues. Then religious communities could be free to celebrate (or not) the relationships their beliefs could accommodate with complete freedom. For the C of E, that could have some interesting consequences - a step towards disestablishment some might say, not to mention the fear of losing fee income. But maybe that would be a new challenge - what do we want to celebrate with members of our community and why? And where would we draw the line, and who would we leave out?

On this occasion, I don't think the Archbishop has been very wise (if he has been correctly reported). It's perfectly possible to have a dispassionate debate about the definition of the word marriage, and whether it can be applied to anything other than a heterosexual union. Linguistically and culturally one could argue that case, even if you have no objection to same-sex relationships. But that's not what people will hear from the Archbishop, and it appears he was saying more than that. I fear it will only lead to the church as a whole being portrayed (again) as bigoted and prejudiced.

A test of your metal

2012-01-05T10:52:00.001Z

It was good to see some more coverage on the news today about the problems of metal theft. Churches are well-acquainted with this, with rising number of thefts of roof lead and the consequential damage and rising insurance costs.

However, it's not just a problem for churches. Other public buildings have also suffered, war memorials have been vandalised, commemorative plaques have been removed from cemeteries, and the ongoing transport disruption resulting from theft of cables from railways affects many people. The tragedy is that replacing the items stolen costs far more than the scrap value received for the metal.

One simple step to make life more difficult for the thieves is to make all money transactions for scrap cashless. This means that there is an audit trail for payments made for metal, which makes transactions relating to stolen metal more traceable. It won't solve the problem, but it should mean that such thefts are no longer such easy money.

It looks like government may act, either by supporting a Private Members Bill relating to this issue or by introducing its own legislation. If you would like to encourage this move, you can add your support via an online petition on the government website.

Is theism getting a bad press?

2012-01-03T19:50:00.000Z

I'm not very sure how to phrase this post correctly. I have been musing for a while about a change I've observed over the time I have been ordained. It seems that there are now significantly more atheist voices who are more vocal and critical of belief in God, especially in the media and in public life. The question is: why?

Looking at the kinds of digs atheists make online, they're not always very sophisticated or original. Some atheists even seem to mirror religious fundamentalists in their absolutism. Even when the critique is more considered, it's usually the case that Christians have been struggling with the same issues for centuries. Suffering, theodicy, Old Testament wrath vs New testament compassion, etc are all there in theology textbooks (but not any neat answers). Maybe that's the problem: people who want neat answers find a messy God difficult.

If there is a trend, my first hunch is that the percentage of people who don't believe in God may not have changed as much as we think; it's just that their presence is felt more now. It's not as if atheism was invented when Richard Dawkins started selling books about it - people who didn't believe have been around for a long time.

I also suspect that quite a lot of the British never really believed in God in any very specific way, if at all. However, at most they described themselves as agnostic. Not a few of them probably went along to church, because it was a 'good thing' and saw it as supporting community and family. The 'supernatural' bit passed them by, and there are still churchgoers for whom that is true. The stronger tag of atheist probably seemed a bit definite for those 20th century sensibilities.

What's become clear in recent years is that attitudes to organised faith/religion have changed. The Church of England was once seen as basically benign, if rather odd, eccentric, ineffectual and from a different era. Church of England schools and colleges would be seen as 'nice' places to study, even by those who didn't practise the faith in any committed way. There is now a debate as to whether these institutions should receive any public support at all, or even whether churches and faith groups qualify as charities.

So why isn't theism seen as benign for wider society any more? Religious conflicts must be part of the picture. These aren't new, either, and nor is sectarian terrorism. There was plenty of that during the 'troubles' in Northern Ireland. However, more recent developments such as suicide bombing and the description of such as martyrdoms has pointed to a difficult question. If it is believed that human existence doesn't depend on this material world, but upon a relationship with the divine, then someone can acquire an attitude that says this life doesn't really matter. And in case Christians start getting superior at this point, that tradition is there in our faith too. It hasn't worked itself out in suicide bombing, but in medieval times, being killed on the Crusades was regarded as tantamount to martyrdom. How do we hold that 'this isn't everything', yet still value the material world as real and precious?

Ethics and values have changed the goalposts too. Churches are often seen as maintaining sexist and homophobic values in an era when society's norms and the laws of the land have moved on from traditional standpoints. If the perception out there is growing that theism = prejudice and discrimination, then it's hardly surprising to hear a more vocal critique from theosceptics. (Have I just invented that word? Must look it up later)

If my hunches bear any relation to reality, I'm not particularly worried about these shifts in attitude. One the one hand, Christians should expect opposition if they are being true to the teaching of Jesus - it certainly came his way. I sometimes wonder if we shouldn't be a lot more unpopular about poverty, economic exploitation and injustice.

On the other hand, we also need to listen. The Bible and the Christian tradition are complex, and it's easy to confirm our own pet prejudices with careful selection of our sources. Sometimes a radical challenge from outside our comfortable circle of like-minded can jolt us into re-examining what we think and why we think it.

Perhaps most of all we need to be more willing to live more radical lives. Maybe the reason more people openly say they don't believe any more is that they can see precious little reason for belief in the lives of those who say they do.

Getting back into things

2012-01-03T14:14:00.001Z

It hasn't appeared on the blog before, but friends will be aware that this autumn has been quite eventful for the Peatpeople. We had quite a full session planned anyway, but none of us could have anticipated what happened to Debbie (brain haemorrhage) on the parish weekend. It makes you realise how life can just overtake you and throw any sense you might have had about the future. Certainly we were overwhelmed as a family, and I feel I'm only just ctaching up with myself 3 months on. On the positive side, Debbie's recovery has been excellent, and there appear to be no lasting effects other than a susceptibility to get tired much more quickly than 'normal'.

This time of year is full of speculation and predictions for the coming year. My prediction would be this: 2012 will have at least on significant unexpected event for all of us, and there's probably no way of guessing its nature. All we can do is get with life on the basis of what we know, and not on what we don't.

High Speed Trains

2011-12-03T14:16:00.001Z

I'm basically a railway fan. Time and time again, strategic mistakes seem to have been made in managing our rail network, resulting in towns isolated and cities badly served. Over the last 30 years we've seen old lines re-opened and even new lines built. On top of that, Britain has been a pioneer of railway technology.

However, I am a bit of a sceptic about the need for the High Speed 2 rail route. Billions of pounds (from where?), lots of countryside chopped up and hordes of nimbys protesting for years can only follow. It's seems to me that the problem facing our railways at the moment is capacity. Trains are crowded, and there just aren't the slots for expanding services - either passenger or freight.

Wouldn't it be better to look at making our existing network better? The West Coast Main Line capacity gets limited by the double track sections in very busy areas, especially in the Midlands. Why not spend a fraction of the HS2 money on dealing with some of those bottlenecks? Some would be difficult and expensive to fix, but nowhere near the bill for HS2! Or why not look at investing to reopen some of the routes which would take the strain off currently busy ones? The Woodhead route would relieve cross-Pennine trains, the old Midland route through Derbyshire via Matlock, Bakewell and Buxton would give extra north-south capacity, or why not go the whole way with the current partial reopening of the Waverley route from Carlisle to Edinburgh via Hawick?

I want to see more railways, more trains and better routes, but is the priority really getting from London to Birmingham in record time?

Going the extra 1.60934 km

2011-11-26T07:00:00.000Z

A few years ago we visited family in Australia, which was a great experience. Something you notice quite quickly there is that although you're driving on the left, speaking English, drinking tea and talking about cricket, something is different. All the road signs are metric. I understand that it took about 7 years to do most of it, with the final tidying up completed in the late 80s. The reason I remembered this was a line in a novel referring to something being 1km from a location in London. It's just not what you normally see.

Back here in the UK, everything I buy from the supermarket is packaged in metric quantities (except milk, unless you buy a litre), but recipes persist with ounces. I buy diesel by the litre, my car is rated at 109g of CO2 per km, but the road signs are in miles and it does 55 miles per gallon. If I buy beer in a bottle in a pub or a shop, it's usually in 250, 330 or 500ml bottles, but in a pub you buy draft beer by the pint (568ml).

My question is simply, why? What is it about pints, miles and gallons that means we have to have this messy left-over. I was learning about the metric system at primary school in the late 60s and throughout University had to use the SI system for all measurements. Why didn't we just go metric properly once and for all? Instead the old units linger. Even my kids use 2 systems.

No doubt full conversion would produce the usual anti-EU rhetoric from the more xenophobic parts of the press. Would it really rob us of our national identity to resolve the remaining issues? Not really - we have to use metric to trade with the rest of the world - it's just that market traders want to be free to sell pounds of bananas. It seems to me that the only credible objection to full conversion now would be the prohibitive cost, especially for roads and transport.

So stay calm, Britain, you can sleep peacefully in the security that you can carry on drinking beer by the pint, (as long as you don't drive any miles, burning gallons of petrol, immediately afterwards!)

Morecambe Parish Church Christmas Tree Festival

2011-11-25T11:52:00.001Z

We're rapidly coming up to that time when our church is filled with over 50 Christmas trees from local charities, businesses, organisations and individuals.

The festival is open 7-10 Dec. Wed-Fri 2.30pm - 8pm, and Saturday 10am - 6pm. The Sunday morning services will be held in the War Memorial Hall to allow time to clear the Church building.

Details on the image below. Click for a larger version.

It's not that bad, Mr Sainsbury

2011-11-25T10:44:00.001Z

It's been quite a while since I last posted anything on the blog. To get things restarted, I thought I'd share this bit of a Sainsbury's receipt that has already done the rounds on facebook. Sometimes there are just things you can't anticipate with abbreviation and initials.

It's actually cranberry raspberry and apple flavoured sparkling water and doesn't taste bad at all.

Don't get too excited

2011-09-23T20:54:00.000+01:00

The recent news about the speed of light being possibly exceeded by neutrinos is bound to set off lots of silly speculation. If I remember the little bit of the theory of special relativity that I ever learned, an object's mass moves to infinity as the speed of light is approached, and ever-increasing amounts of energy are required. I think time slows down too. So you wonder how light ever gets there - those photons know a thing or two.

One line of argument that religious fundamentalists use is that all science is unproven theory - hence evolution is only an unproven theory, alongside (they would allege) creationism, which they find altogether more convincing. I suspect we'll see people suggesting that if the speed of light (or the constant, "c") isn't what science thought it was, then how can we believe archaeology and carbon dating.Well, I guess it needs some honesty on both sides.

Of course all scientific understanding is based on ideas developed from experiments, which have been refined (and on occasion overthrown) by new data or results. However, that doesn't mean all scientific results are wildly removed from the truth; they may correct, they may just be 0.001% out, or the error may be larger. So the scientific establishment always has to have some degree of humility and openness, although it's usually broadly correct. Otherwise the technology on which we all depend would be completely unavailable, (instead of a little erratic).

But the religious who are anti-scientific have to ask themselves why they are so keen to discredit those who work so hard to understand the universe we live in. There is a strong Christian tradition of exploring and scientific investigation, which saw that endeavour as godly activity. So when science first challenged what appeared to be the Bible's chronology, the obvious thing to do was ask whether we were reading the Bible correctly, or were we asking it to yield data it was never intended to impart?

In a sense the same question is relevant to the scientific method. When scientists become obsessed with a result, they can 'read' the material world in a way that suits their purpose - personal pride has been known to taint objectivity even in a laboratory. We may have to review how constant the speed of light is, or it may be folks at CERN making mistakes or even someone wanting a headline. There may not be as much dark matter as they used to think, either.

Whatever the consensus that emerges, I hope that Christians and others with religious faith don't start to see it as some sort of 'victory' over science, because it isn't. This is an exciting moment. Science may have made an important discovery that affects how we understand the Universe, and if that is a better understanding, then we are all winners.

Climate Soapbox

2011-09-15T16:05:00.000+01:00

Enjoyed this rant from David Mitchell. His premise is that if there was even a small chance of something bad happening, you'd take precautions - e.g. product recalls or insurance against theft, so why not have the same attitude to climate change. Anyway, here it is in his own words:

Greenbelt 2011 Diary: Monday

2011-09-03T13:51:00.001+01:00

Image by Getty Images via @daylifeAlways feel a bit wistful on the last day of something like this. Just as you're getting used to camping, and have worked out the good food vans, and also have a clear idea where the decent loos are, it all comes to an end. Also tends to be the day when you bump into friends you were hoping to see all weekend, but somehow didn't.

The final Greenbelt day kicked off with a session led by Nadia Bolz-Weber (from House for all Sinners and Saints in Colorado) on the process of preparing a sermon. I've heard plenty of talks on how to preach - most of them very sound and very dull - and given a few myself. This was much more interesting, as she talked us through her week. Starting with reading the text for Sunday on Tuesday morning, and then processing all the things that happened and trying to discern the gospel - the good news - for her community. Having done that, she then preached the sermon. She used a fantastic image of wrestling with the text all week, preaching the sermon, and walking away limping. Despite being associated with the 'emergent' movement, she doesn't go in for tech or trendy presentation. She quite likes the idea of chuch being a bit odd.

As a recovering addict (clean 20 yrs) and having had quite a life, some of that colour comes out in her speaking and language, but the Lutheran theology that helped her embrace the possibility of faith still runs through her thought in a very compelling way.

Then it was an opportune moment to deconstruct the tent - didn't want to be doing that a) in the rain, b) in the dark, c) during something I really wanted to go to. Tent down and packed and lunch eaten, it was off to hear Andy Graystone's talk: Parts of me are dying. Andy is director of the Church and Media Network, which seeks to resource both the Church and the media in relating to and understanding one another. He has worked for BBC religion and produced radio and TV programmes.

Andy has an early diagnosed cancer, and spoke in a very amusing and engaging way about his experiences, the choices before him, and how he understands what is happening to him. One point particularly stood out - the terminology about cancer. He is uncomfortable with the fighting/battling talk, along with hero/victim terminology. As he put it, he sometimes feels an unwilling conscript in a war, not that he wouldn't want to be clear of cancer - it's the culture and mindset those terms imply. He also talked through how it focusses the mind on whether you actually believe in life after death or not.

The it was off to mainstage for a bit of Ahab. 'folk flavoured country-rock' was the description - an American influenced Uk band. Good fun and great live. They will soon be supporting Bellowhead on tour. Bit more Iain Archer on mainstage, but having already seen him twice, had a last look around. Then back for Kate Rusby. I'm not a full-on folkie, but she's very accessible, her voice is great, and I've rarely seen someone enjoy performing live quite so much. Apparently her first Greenbelt experience was as a teenager in 1990!

Then it was time for us to leave. Ron Sexsmith and Mavis Staples were to follow, so it was a strong line-up, but the M5/M6 called and we wanted to get home on Monday. Whether you're a camper or go for the soft option of an off-site hotel, whether you like it loud or quiet, whether you're a Christian or not, there'll be something somewhere in a Greenbelt festival that will make it worth your while coming.

Greenbelt 2011 Diary: Sunday

2011-09-01T12:48:00.000+01:00

Image via WikipediaSunday started slowly, which was nice, as it usually starts with a painful alarm at about 6.50 to get me awake enough to be showered, dressed, ready and set up for 8am communion. There are advantages in being a morning person, so any tips on converting to one would be welcome!

Back to Greenbelt. First appointment was with "the Rising", a session in the big venue (Centaur) where singer/songwriters talk about and perform some songs. Martyn Joseph was host, and the line up included Duke Special, Gordon Gano, Cathy Burton and the remarkable young talent that is Luke Jackson. Duke's idiosyncratic songs always tell interesting stories, and he sang one he had written inspired by old pictures. Cathy writes both worship songs and others that convey something about her faith. Gordon strummed his violin, and led us in an old song that he had adopted/adapted.

The memorable moment, however was Luke. He has a great voice, a striking guitar style, inspired by a number of other acoustic/roots players (he even refers to Richard Thompson as an inspiration. A 17 year old who has heard of RT?) Perhaps the most remarkable thing is his own songwriting - his song about children leaving home, told from a parent's point of view is a song he shouldn't be able to write yet. He hasn't lived either side of that experience. He's hanging out with Martyn Joseph and Steve Knightley (Show of Hands), so watch out for this one. This sampler was so good, we made sure we caught his set in the Perf Cafe. His own songs, plus a couple of great mixes of others, a genuinely original cover of Blowing in the Wind and cracking version of I Need a Dollar. Covering all age groups in the audience nicely there. Luke.

The paella van was good, as was their mint lemonade.

The CD tent 'G-Music' hosts small gigs, and always provides some variety. Rodent Emporium were unforgettable, especially their final song I'm a Man. More intriguing was Andy Hunter, who equipped with Macbook, small keyboard and some more kit, provided 30 mins of dance music inspired by his faith. It wasn't really something I had experienced before, and although the genre isn't my home territory, it was fascinating to seem him at work, and also to try and understand how the sound landscape he produced was expressing his spirituality. It would have been interesting to see him at work at his Big Top gig, but I was elsewhere.

A regular feature of Greenbelt (Glastonbury and others) is the Tiny Tea Tent, a wonderful structure with rich colours, lanterns, wood-burning stove, and a constant supply of great music. This year was the first time Debbie and I had ever got a seat inside. We met up with friends who assured us they always got seats, and sure enough going with them we did. Must be a bit like Diagon Alley in Harry Potter - you need to know where to knock. Fantastic warm apple and cinnamon - the perfect drink on a cool evening.

Day was rounded off with a bit of the Idlewild gig on mainstage. Don't know much much the Scottish indie-rockers, but they seemed on good form. They said it was the nicest festival they'd been to, which was encouraging!

Greenbelt 2011 Diary: Saturday

2011-08-31T14:56:00.001+01:00

Image via WikipediaIn a rare burst of energy, we all got up, breakfasted and got across to the Big Top for some morning worship with Rend Collective Experiment. Contemporary worship band, but from Northern Ireland and with a more open-minded view of theology and what worship should be. Slightly crazy shindig finish, and a nice update of the lyrics to Be Thou My Vision. (They felt a fresh translation into English was due, and coming from the island of Ireland felt they were entitled to do one!)

Next up in the same venue was a fascinating interview with Billy Bragg about Jail Guitar Doors, an initiative he started to help rehabilitate prisoners through music, and also use music to process issues in their lives. He also brought along Leon Walker, a former inmate who is now making his way as a singer-songwriter. Billy spoke passionately about the importance of resources for rehabilitation, not out of being 'soft' on crime, but ensuring all is done to prevent further crimes being committed, more victims created and more lives ruined. Leon was even more compelling. He spoke very movingly about how music helped him to express himself, work through his issues, and have some hope at the end. It helped him find a positive focus in prison and a contructive outlet when he got out. Now he's playing gigs.

Part of Greenbelt is the wandering around, bumping into people you used to see more often and hanging around in one of the venues with seating and a coffee stall. The Performance Cafe is one such place. Acts are mainly acoustic, the volume is set well and you can sit further back if you want more conversation. It's good just to be there and see what happens while munching a nice cake and having a coffee. Likewise the CD tent and Christian Aid tent also host music.

At 2pm I went along to an event launching a new study guide and to hear a couple of songs by Gareth Davies-Jones. The tent was nicely filled but not packed, yet we were treated to a Brian McLaren interview, a resource launch and half a dozen songs from Gareth. I think this was the best kept secret all weekend. On to the Performance Cafe for 3.15pm where Yvonne Lyon played a set with her husband, David backing her. Her new album More than Mine had been out one day, so I got a copy later. More piano and quite wistful, it showcases Yvonne's voice superbly. Good to hear some older tracks too.

After a quick tea break, it was off to the Big Top to hear a talk by John Bell of the Iona Community. Titled Ubiquitous Gayz, I wondered what we were in for, but I knew he would be challenging and interesting. This was one of the few big talks I attended, but I'm glad I did. We were taken through a journey of how we make decisions, and what determines the issues that we hold important. It was a characteristically different take on a recurring question for Anglicans, coming from a person who isn't involved in Anglican politics. Challenging, humorous, candid and always taking seriously and grappling with the Biblical text. Well worth a download if you only buy one.

After a delicious crepe from a beautifully restored classic Citroen van and a bit of time with a socket in the grandstand to charge my phone, there was time to chat with friends, catch Iain Archer in the Perf Cafe, have a final drink and finally head back to get some sleep.

Greenbelt 2011 diary: Friday

2011-08-30T20:26:00.000+01:00

This year's Greenbelt Festival is definitely the best I have been to yet. I'm quite a latecomer to this August arts festival held at Cheltenham Racecourse. Friends went Greenbelting back in the late 70s and early 80s, but I never got round round to tagging along with them, which was a shame as a young U2 played a 25 minute set on borrowed instruments in 1981! Coming late to the party in 2009, I've been very impressed.

Greenbelt is organised by a Christian trust, but its content isn't confined to input from Christians, and it doesn't limit itself to one particular standpoint. There's lots here to challenge, inspire, amuse and entertain. That's what I like - other Christian gatherings tend to focus on one particular theology or style of worship and therefore attract people from that background. It can end up being an exercise in confirming everyone's prejudices. Greenbelt is different.

Image by fidothe via Flickr
This year's programme had an impressive line-up of music and speakers. I started Friday at a special event for people who support Greenbelt through the year. Iain Archer came along to play a few songs amongst the presentations. I glimpsed the end of Blesséd - a eucharist in the Big Top which was both Anglo Catholic and hi-tech. That left time to grab some food from the many and varied outlets (often organic/Fairtrade etc and much better than most places!) before Milton Jones. Milton did a short routine and then talked a bit about a new book, being a Christian and a comedian and some of the issues around that. The rain discouraged me from going to mainstage for Martyn Joseph, but luckily Jono found Largo Embargo (a ska band from Bath!) doing a small gig somewhere warm and dry. Great musicians, one or two strong language moments, completely contagious rhythms and a great cover version of Message to You Rudy.

After some more music in the Performance Cafe, including Duke Special, we adjourned to the late night Last Orders event. More from Milton, music and comedy from Folk On and more took us well into the early hours. Being later and better equipped for cold nights meant the best night's sleep I remember at Cheltenham.

Heretic

2011-07-13T15:59:00.002+01:00

Education isn't like it was when I were a lad. Back in the 1960s at Meadow Lane Infants and later at College House Junior School, the uniform had just been abolished. Homework was a dire threat that people at secondary school talked about, and in 4th year at juniors (aka Year 6) we had a cool teacher who filled lesson with interesting music and craft projects. We even made pottery in a kiln, little suspecting that our children would be doing SATS at the same stage in their education.

At some point I have vague memories of my parents talking about the fact that grammar schools were to be abolished and a new comprehensive school was being built locally. In a last ditch attempt to get me to what they saw as a better school I was duly entered into exams which subsequently gave me a scholarship covering all the fees for me to go to Nottingham High School. Although state grammar schools had gone by the time I started there, the local authority continued to make these awards for a places at this independent school, so off I went.

Wind forwards 30 odd years and uniforms are back, primary school kids get homework, and we even still have grammar schools in some counties, including Lancashire. Despite having benefited from a highly selective school system myself, I have to admit that deep down I believe in a fully comprehensive education system. Something in me just isn't convinced that people's educational fate can be decided by an exam at 11. The problem is that the implementation of comprehensive education had early failures. It's notable that local schools which have a non-selective intake refer to themselves as 'high schools' not comprehensives. However, given we have a grammar system round here, I fully understand people participating in it; I just wouldn't have designed it that way in the first place.

Of course, selective schools get the results at GCSE and A level - they ought to, as they start with the brightest kids. My school was no exception - it was very efficient. There were lots of A grades even when they were relatively scarce, and a batch of boys off to Oxford and Cambridge each year. But is that everything that education is about?

I know people will regard this as education heresy, but it's an important question to ask. Some advocates point out that selective education can also be a source of social mobility and I guess it was for me. I ended up at secondary school and University with all sorts of people I would never have met otherwise (including former education minister Lord Adonis!). But my being lucky doesn't make the system the best we could have; it just means I was lucky.

Midlander

2011-07-12T12:30:00.000+01:00

The issue is this: I spent the first 20 years of my life a two-hour drive to the sea, and then the first 12 years of working as a clergyhuman in the Midlands, including 8 in Coventry, which is nearly as far from the sea as you can get in the UK. As a child, I saw the sea maybe twice a year - once during our main summer holidays (usually in the West Country) and probably another short break/day trip to the East coast. The first glimpse of the sea was always an exciting moment.

So there is something hard-wired in my system that says that having the view at the top of this blog a few hundred yards from where I live is all wrong. Not wrong in the sense that I don't like it or don't want it; more that I always feel a bit surprised and excited that the seaside is there. If you have lost that feeling (or never had it) I can only prescribe living in Meriden for 10 years and then coming back!

Ordination Weekend

2011-07-05T14:53:00.000+01:00

Church of England ordinations are quite an occasion. A two hour service, often in a cathedral, when nervous candidates wait for the moment when the Bishop puts his hands and their head and they become a 'Rev'. I still remember the drive from [sadly closed] Morley retreat house to Southwell Minster on 1 July 1990, with a slight discomfort at the newly acquired piece of white plastic in my shirt collar. So it was good to be there on Saturday to share in that transitional moment for 8 candidates in Blackburn on Saturday.

Ordinations are a particular genre of Church of England - lots of cathedral pomp (more in some than others!). Blackburn Cathedral has at least a three second reverb in the building (I counted) which either makes preachers acquire a parsonical voice and pace to their delivery, or means their words get lost in the mush of the echo.

For Cathedral ordinations, there is always lots of beautifully sung choral music. The snag is that it's wasted on me, although I know when it's done well (and when it isn't). Blackburn was no exception, and the choir were in excellent voice. However, I do find choral settings of communion services frustrating. The choir sing the 'congregational' sections to you, when they are the parts of the service where the congregation normally get to join in. I always feel a bit cheated at that point, although those who enjoy listening to [insert composer]'s mass in B minor presumably are glad to be soaking it in.

For me the most important part was seeing people setting off on a new chapter of their lives and ministry within the Church. Whatever your theology of what ordination does or doesn't do to you, life is never the same again, and for all of us it's a journey into the unknown to some extent. The Church of England will be going through some interesting times in the next few years, so my prayers go with those who continue to offer themselves for ministry.

Blog photo glitch

2011-07-05T14:24:00.000+01:00

Not sure what has happened to the photo in the previous blog post. It was displaying correctly and now it isn't (at least in my browser). Not going to waste time trying to fix it - time to move on.

Never too late to learn

2011-06-16T14:51:00.000+01:00

I suepect most clergy have some scepticism about "in-service" training events, and I am no exception. So it was with some curiosity that I turned up for a course for new area deans at Hinsley Hall in Leeds. A remarkable venue, it used to be a Methodist training college, but more recently was acquire by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Leeds as a pastoral and conference centre. One room is still called the John Wesley Room in acknowledgment!

Organised by some of the Yorkshire Dioceses (Ripon & Leeds, Bradford, Sheffield and Wakefield), the course was the first of its kind that was feasible for me to attend. The content was very good, and the group of people attending were good company. It was especially useful to be with people from other Dioceses where models of working were different (as were levels of staffing!)

As is often the case, I don't know how it will emerge in the way I do my area-deaning, but hopefully it will mean that I have some useful ideas and ask the right questions in the right places!

Masonic Bishops

2011-05-15T15:01:00.001+01:00

There has been a bit of a fuss over the last few days about the announcement of a new Bishop who was known to be an "active and senior [free]mason". The Bishop in question is Rev Jonathan Baker, named as the new Bishop of Ebbsfleet. This is one of the posts for traditionalist Bishops who are available to parishes who seek oversight from a Bishop of that tradition.

There have long been concerns about the compatibility of Christianity and freemasonry. The Roman Catholic Church has strong prohibitions. However, only a few decades ago, many Anglican clergy and bishops would have been members. In the Church of England, a debate followed the publication of GS 784A in 1987, which endorsed the report and expressed a number of concerns. Among these were questions about the religious (and some would even suggest occult) nature of some of the language and rituals, the secrecy of the organisation and the oaths which demand primary loyalty. (A further criticism of freemasonry has been the male-only nature of lodges, but the Church has hardly got a clean record on gender equality!)

In this context, it was rather surprising that a known senior mason would be approved for appointment as a bishop. Since the fuss hit the press, Rev Baker has said that he will resign from his masonic commitments. Perhaps what is more surprising is that a clergyman, who is very committed to a traditionalist catholic position within Anglicanism, should be a member of an organisation that Catholicism prohibits. Presumably he doesn't see it as big an obstacle for eventual unity as ordaining a woman as priest.

Ubiquitous Music

2011-05-14T14:09:00.002+01:00

Perhaps not the technically correct use of the word, but hopefully it caught your attention!

I was having a conversation with Steve, and we were talking about Adele's latest album '21'. We both agreed that it was one of those comparatively rare albums that is both hugely popular and very good. So question 1 for blog comments and/or responses on the facebook feed is what other albums fit that description. I'll put Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band up for 1967's candidate.

Then we got talking about the albums that seemed to be in everyone's record collections whenever you went round to their house/student room. Bridge Over Troubled Water and The Beach Boys 20 Golden Greats seemed to be nearly everywhere at Uni (even though it was the 80s!) Dark Side of the Moon, Making Movies and later Thriller feature on the list.

Any other suggestions?

Election Reflection

2011-05-06T20:54:00.002+01:00

The dust is starting to settle, and it now seems clear that the Lib Dems have lost badly, the SNP have exceeded even their wildest dreams, Labour have had a patchy performance, and the Tories have done much better than they must have feared. And Northern Ireland has yet to declare. The BBC's Nick Robinson notes in his blog that elections are certainly exciting again.

The most obvious thing is that the public are punishing the Liberal Democrats for their role in the coalition. No doubt, LD stalwarts will point to the concessions they managed to squeeze out of the Conservatives, but there is a public anger over Nick Clegg's seemingly happy acceptance of things he previously ruled out. His apparently fresh approach that won him so many points in the TV debates have proved to have little substance. His party has gone from seeming centre-left (and at times to the left of New Labour) to supporting the political right. A more distant operating agreement might not have had the same consequences, but the cosiness of the last year has come back to haunt him.

With tonight's result, electoral reform will be off the agenda for many years, so it's back to negative and tactical voting for many. Good job I now live in a marginal. Part of the problem was that we never really had a proper electoral reform debate. We were offered one new option, rather than a fuller consideration, and I suspect the No vote is so emphatic, not just because of the ludicrous scare stories from the political right and its press, but also because it was seen as a way of kicking Clegg. He was also on record describing AV as a "shabby compromise" - Lib Dems have long been committed to a proportional system.

It's worth noting here that Labour failed to deliver their 1997 manifesto commitment about electoral reform - the Jenkins Commission having recommended AV+. In the end it was too great a risk for the new government. Ed Milliband supported AV, but that won't do any enduring damage to him - all eyes are on Nick Clegg. More worrying for Labour is that they don't appear to have picked up all the fleeing LD voters - they seem to have done OK in England and Wales, but the SNP got them in Scotland. That means an independence vote, which could yet go any way, and will pose Westminster some tricky issues whatever the outcome.

Another mystery is why the Conservative Party hasn't also received the wrath of the voters - as things stand, they have actually gained councillors and councils. After all, the cuts programme is primarily their initiative, and they are the major governing party for the UK. It all goes to show that being the larger coalition partner is an advantage. To a lesser degree, Plaid Cymru have had a parallel experience in Wales. Being in government with Labour in Wales made it harder to campaign effectively against them, and they seem to have underperformed.

Perhaps the greatest irony is this: the SNP have an overall majority in the Scottish Parliament and Labour almost won the Welsh assembly. Both are elected by a partially proportional system, whereas FPTP gave us the coalition. Ain't life strange?

Risky Cycling

2011-05-05T15:53:00.000+01:00

Most car drivers have experiences of cyclists not following the highway code especially well, and I know the reverse is also true. Last night when it was dark I saw a cyclist wearing dark shades with no front lights riding at speed towards a mini-roundabout. (he did have a rear light, strangely). You have have to hand it to him, that's quite a combination of risks to take on: not being able to see, not being very visible on approach and a mini-roundabout. Just needed a lion on the loose to complete the scene.

The Death of Bin Laden

2011-05-04T07:00:00.001+01:00

An American friend with conservative leanings made this comment at the news of Osama Bin Laden's death:

"No celebrating in the streets. We want to be better than our enemies."

I think that's about right. The celebrations in the streets of New York and Washington were very understandable, given the experiences of those cities, but I watched them with some unease. The world has breathed a sigh of relief at the news that Bin Laden is no longer around to mastermind atrocities, and those who have suffered at his initiative will understandably feel some sense of justice. However, a time for remembering and reflection is more appropriate for most of us.

Why I'm voting Yes for AV

2011-05-03T09:32:00.004+01:00

Let's be clear to start with. No voting system is perfect, as it's always possible to work out scenarios where a system fails in some way or other. The question on Thursday is whether alternative vote (AV) is preferable to the current first past the post system (FPTP) for General Elections. It's tempting for those who want to get at Nick Clegg to vote 'No' anyway and for those who want to give David Cameron a problem to vote 'Yes', but our referendum vote ought to be about the system, not political personalities.

Likewise some are judging the vote on the systems on the basis of which party(ies) they think it would favour. The truth is we don't know how people would vote with a new system, but clearly parties would need to be mindful of having some appeal to people beyond their core support. If some parties fear AV more than others, that would seem to be a party issue, not a voting system question.

I'm voting 'Yes" because:

AV eliminates the need for tactical voting. In several recent general elections, people have found themselves voting for a party/candidate they don't want because they want to try and stop the candidate they really don't want from getting in.
Campaign leaflets often talk about 'wasted' votes for candidates who are deemed likely to be 3rd or 4th. AV eliminates this. You can put your genuine first choice first and then rank the others, according to their relative merits in your eyes.
Many voters are not neatly defined in one political box. They do have relative preferences. AV enables a consensus to be established as to who is the most acceptable candidate to most of the electorate.
In a genuine 2 horse race, FPTP works fine. However, in constituencies where 3 (or even 4) parties do quite well, it's possible to be elected by FPTP with 30% or less of the votes. AV helps to sort out who is the best candidate to represent the interests of the majority.

The General Election of 1983 showed that FPTP produces results substantially at odds with actual votes cast (25.4% of the votes produced 3.5% of the seats for the Lib/SDP Alliance). However, the proponents of FPTP point to it avoiding the coalitions and instability of a proportional system. It must be acknowledged that AV isn't a proportional system, it retains the structure of a constituency with an MP, but it does give us as voters more say in establishing who is best to represent the majority of the electors.

Here's a mathematical take on it all.

Holy Week & Easter

2011-04-25T00:13:00.001+01:00

Holy Week involved meditation on the wounds of Jesus, so on Good Friday we had 5 prayer stations reflecting those themes. Thanks to Sue for ideas and materials.

His back

His head

His Hands

His feet

His side

No photos of Maundy Thursday, but we set up a table in the sanctuary and sat around it, sharing communion in a meal-like setting and passing communion to each other.

On Good Friday we put out cocoons that Junior Church had made, but on Easter Day they reappeared complete with butterflies emerging to show the new life of the resurrection.

Meanwhile the teams have been very busy with flowers, Easter garden, new Paschal candle and all the trimmings to make the whole building speak of new life.

It been a very exhausting but very rewarding week!

Oil, coal and climate denial

2011-03-30T12:20:00.001+01:00

Image via WikipediaThe recent events at the the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear reactors in Japan are restarting the debate about the future of our global energy supply. I live near Heysham nuclear power station, where a third reactor is a possibility for the future. I suspect a reassessment is taking place right now about if and when it may ever happen.

Also, over recent months, there has a been a steady stream of people denying that climate change is attributable to emissions generated by human activity. I remember being alerted to the parallels of CO2 levels and climate as long ago as the late 70s in New Scientist, and it seems to me to make the most sense of the available data.

But even if one could prove that climate change was entirely natural and in no way related to fossil fuels and flatulent livestock, surely there are reasons to change our dependance on fossil fuels? The need for security and stability of supply must make us look to alternatives to oil, gas and even coal. The problem is that the much heralded revival of the nuclear option to solve the energy gap has now been questioned.

It seems to me that the UK needs much more focus on energy conservation, and renewable generation for reasons beyond the 'green' (much as I agree with them). If we were really serious about it, then we would be seeing a huge expansion in solar, wind and water-based generation just for self-interest. And relatively modest investments and incentives could provide jobs and long-term consumption savings. For example, if solar panels were mandatory on all new buildings, they could be fitted for much lower costs than retro-fitting, and the ongoing benefits would be substantial for the occupants. But where is the drive from government?

Meanwhile, I look at our church roof. Like most churches, we are east-west aligned, with a south-facing pitched roof, perfect for solar generation. That would be a start - every parish church in the land becomes a little power station. I bet most churches could generate more than they use. It's just the problem of getting English Heritage to let us put PV panels on them...

Bank Holiday Relocations

2011-03-04T09:13:00.001Z

I was looking at the latest proposals about moving the May Day Bank Holiday to the autumn. In a year like 2011, when Easter falls late in April, we do end up with bank holiday congestion - Good Friday, Easter Monday and the May Day holiday all occurring within a couple of weeks, with another at the end of May. Contrast that with the long haul from August to Christmas (or New Year to Easter) and you can see the point. May Day has long-established traditions, but in the last century became associated with the political left, so I am sure there are plenty of Conservative politicians who would like to see the end of it.

One proposal is to move to St George's Day in England (Apr 23) and St David's Day (March 1) in Wales. That doesn't really solve the congestion issue. Another is to go for an autumn slot. Trafalgar Day is one candidate (Oct 21) which seems a sure-fire way of upsetting our French and Spanish partners in the EU. In many countries, All Saints Day (Nov 1) is a bank holiday, but that might seem a bit too Christian for some - although Hallowe'en would probably command popular support. We'll probably end up with the last Monday in October to coincide with half-term week.

Unions point out that Britain is quite stingy with its public holidays, so they would go for a "both-and" approach. I suspect in these austere times that isn't going to happen.

A Bit Late to the Rob Bell Party

2011-02-28T21:16:00.000Z

Quite a remarkable amount of fuss took place online about a Christian book that hasn't even been published yet. Rob Bell, who has become well-known to many for his Nooma videos, is founding pastor at Mars Hill Bible Church, near Grand Rapids Michigan.

His informal and engaging style has made him a popular speaker. Having seen him in action at Greenbelt and in Manchester, he certainly knows how to handle an audience. He provides a more inclusive and questioning account of Christianity in a genre that many modern evangelicals warm to. Some would describe him as part of the 'emergent' movement; others might label him post-evangelical (especially now!). He certainly connects with a post-modern generation, especially those for whom the traditional formulae have become empty or meaningless.

However, the recent fuss is over the publicity for his forthcoming book "Love Wins" which drops a pretty heavy hint that it will present a case for what is usually referred to as universalism. In other words, it isn't just the Christians who make it to heaven (although I'll unpack this a bit more later) Now, it's not new that Christians have adopted this kind of position with regard to heaven, hell and judgment - there's been plenty of stuff out there for a very long time. What's generated the stink is that a lot of evangelicals thought Bell was "one of them" and he has now challenged the traditional and conservative views - even on the promo video.

Not having the book, I'm not going to comment on it. But universalism it becoming a big question for Christians, especially (but not exclusively) those from an evangelical background. You can identify a spectrum of views on who's "in" and who's "out" (which in itself is terminology I'd prefer not to adopt!)

An exclusivist view would regard only those who explicitly follow Christ to be those who are promised a place in heaven. even here there is variation - ranging from only those who are Christians and have all the correct doctrines to a slightly more generous position that would also allow in others who might struggle to articulate a commitment, such as young children or those with learning difficulties. Usually this view looks back to a Calvinist/reformed position that sees anyone getting into heaven as an undeservedly generous act of grace on God's part as we all deserve condemnation. The summary of the Calvinist position is often called TULIP - a 'pessimistic' view of humanity, and a commitment to a position that limits salvation to the elect.

The problems are obvious: those who don't hear the message through no fault of their own, those who got a very bad presentation of the gospel and so rejected it, let alone the problem of a few enjoying eternal bliss in the knowledge that most of humanity is suffering in hell forever.

An inclusivist position would see things differently. In non-technical speak, it can be summed up as judgement based on one's response to the light one has received. In other words God's mercy and grace extend beyond the bounds of those who have specifically chosen to be Christians - revelation is present in nature and experience. The question then is about what people made of what they glimpsed of Christ.

Universalism takes a number of forms, ranging from a very generous version of the inclusivist position above, via an "all roads lead to God" view of all faiths, through to a view that everyone will end up in heaven - because in the final reckoning the love of God will be irresistable, both in drawing all people to him and in transforming them for that new reality. Here the question is what, if any, uniqueness is there in the person of Jesus for a Christian universalist?

All of this casts the issue in terms of the human. As Bell points out, these questions are really about the kind of God we believe in. Let's try and look at it from God's point of view, and I have to credit Thomas Talbott's Chapter in Universal Salvation?: The Current Debate for the idea. You can view a fuller account here (go to page 43) He suggests 3 propositions [and I abbreviate them]: 1) that God loves and desires salvation for all. 2) God will triumph and accomplish his will. 3) Some human sinners will never be redeemed.

Talbott points out that if (1) and (2) are true, then (3) can't be. If God desire redemption for all and he gets his way, then noone can be left out. Hence Calvinists don't subscribe to (1), as and Arminians [who place more emphasis on human choice] don't hold to (2) as they both accept proposition (3). Christian universalists say (1) and (2) are both true, and hence (3) has to be rejected.

On the face of it, universalism seems a lot nicer, but it's not without its problems. What might it mean for a concentration camp victim and their Nazi guard to share heaven? Where does justice come in? Is it possible to think that everyone could be transformed? Is there a spark of good in every soul, or are some people just plain evil?

When the hype and furore is over, it will be interesting to see just how Rob Bell handles these questions.

Earth Day and Good Friday

2011-02-24T07:00:00.005Z

By a coincidence of the calendar and lectionary, 2011 sees Good Friday fall on April 22, which also happens to be Earth Day. Founded by Gaylord Nelson (that's not a made-up name) in 1970, Earth Day was seen as key to the birth of the modern environmental movement. Good Friday moves around, of course, as it is related to the complex calculations concerning the date of Easter, so this coincidence won't occur again for a while (2095 in fact).

That got me thinking about life and death, which are such features of the story of Good Friday. Jesus, goes through the ordeal of suffering and death, yet is the source of healing and life. He is a pioneer of the path through death to resurrection and new beginnings. Could that narrative provide an inspiration for environmental action as well as spiritual and personal transformation?

If this Good Friday, we could all "put to death" one specific action, habit or practise that damages our earth, perhaps we could all share in being the means by which hope of new life comes into being. And what better day to celebrate that new life than Easter?

Cathedrals

2011-02-23T20:30:00.000Z

It was nice to get a mention on Mark Beach's blog, so I'm returning the compliment. Mark and I were curates in neighbouring parishes in Southwell Diocese, and he is now Team Rector in Rugby, in Coventry Diocese, where I use to be before moving up to Lancashire.

Mark has just blogged a response to a piece about Cathedrals by Peter Ould. Peter asks why all cathedrals maintain traditional worship, and whether they are really any more than big parish churches. Mark's response focuses on the particular kind of role that a cathedral has, and the way its life can impact on a Diocese.

Coventry Cathedral obviously has a very particular story, but its ministry of reconciliation could only have come about as a result of it being a cathedral. Many churches were bombed in WW2, but only one English cathedral suffered such destruction. Coventry is actually on its third cathedral, which perhaps underlines the fact that the heart of such a church goes beyond even the grandest buildings and architecture.

Mark's blog post points to these things - life, prayer and resourcing the life of the Diocese. When I was in Coventry Diocese, many parishes had a cathedral liaison officer, and the cathedral was usually represented when new clergy were licensed. That sense of connectedness meant that we felt we had a stake in the cathedral - an example being that the confirmation service at the cathedral felt a highlight and culmination of the course, not a second best to doing it at "our place".

However, both Peter and Mark in their own way offer challenges to Cathedrals today to embrace life, prayer, community and also contemporary developments so that they can be seen and 'owned' by the whole Diocesan family.

Electoral Reform

2011-02-21T21:08:00.003Z

Ever since I've been old enough to vote (and possibly before) I have believed that the First Past The Post (FPTP) system of voting for Parliament was deeply flawed. In days gone by when essentially 2 parties fought general elections, it was probably not too unjust, but the 1983 election showed the flaws. The SDP-Lib alliance got over a quarter of the votes, but 3.5% of the seats on offer. It's an election usually referred to as a Conservative landslide, but in fact the two main opposition parties got 11% more of the popular vote.

The problem is what you change to. The Jenkins Commission recommended "AV+" in 1998, but the promised referendum never came. It was a system that aimed for greater proportionality, but would have required massive constituency changes and a second type of MP. The more complex STV system is said to provide a better proportional result but again requires change to multi-member constituencies.

So Alternative Vote (AV) is the only practicable choice from FPTP. It isn't perfect (what system is?) but I think it has some features that commend it. In constituencies where one party is unlikely to win, under FPTP a party's supporters are faced with tactical voting or staying at home in despair. Under AV at least they can vote for the party they actually believe in as their first preference. And candidates would need an eye on the 2nd preferences, so negative campaigning would be less effective - which would be welcome.

Oddly, one of David Cameron's points against AV was its disproportionality. In fact it's an unknown what effect it would have, as we don't really know how people's voting would be shaped by a new system. It would probably exaggerate a landslide situation, but would certainly not permit government by a party which didn't have some consensus of popular support. If Cameron really wants a proportional system, I would welcome him introducing a bill to achieve just that, but I suspect his enthusiasm would fade pretty quickly!

One factor may be that the current Conservative administration thinks it would be disadvantaged by AV, but that's not necessarily true. It all depends on the political climate at the time. In the 1980s, 2nd preferences would almost certainly have gone Lab to Lib/SDP and vice versa, but we can't guarantee that now. The 2nd preferences of LD voters may go different ways depending on whether it's a LD-Lab or LD-Con fight (and you can work out the other permutations). It seems to me that no party has necessarily anything to fear from AV; however they will need to present their case and campaign in a different way.

The main objection to other voting systems is that they are indecisive and produce unstable government. I think the most recent general election proves that nothing is certain whatever the system, so why not go for one which might actually more accurately reflect the overall preferences of the people?

Fairmined gold

2011-02-21T20:21:00.000Z

It's great to see that the Fairtrade movement has now managed to get a standard for gold, called Fairmined. As well as offering a fair price to small scale miners, the certification requires that the extraction of the gold is done without toxic chemicals (such as cyanide and mercury) and with a regard for the environment.

It is estimated that 100 million people depend on small scale mining, but they find it hard to get a fair price on the open market.

The good news is that the royal jewellers, Garrard, have already indicated that they wish to use Bolivian Fairmined gold.

Anti-Apartheid Movement logo

It's not the first time that the sourcing of gold has been used as a way of achieving greater justice. In 1991, we bought a wedding ring for me from Traidcraft, who offered rings made entirely free from South African gold. The negotiations for transition from white minority government to democracy were underway, and this was a small gesture to maintain pressure. It also gave other gold producers a place in a market dominated by South Africa. As well as the usual hallmarks, my ring has the anti-apartheid logo stamped into the metal. A reminder of very different times

Thankfully that era is over, but a fair deal for small, responsible producers and the campaign to stop "dirty mining" are still greatly needed.

Staveley Mill Yard

2011-02-15T20:11:00.001Z

I haven't blogged about places lately, but Debbie suggested Staveley as a day-off trip out on Monday. It's just off the A591 Kendal-Windermere road. As you go through the village, the entrance to Staveley Mill Yard is quite an unassuming one. However it's worth persevering to explore this developing centre.

Within what initially looks like a little industrial estate is Wilf's Cafe, which does delicious food but not at full-on Lake District prices. Next door is the home of Hawkshead Brewery, which has a very stylish beer hall with all the ales on tap and in bottle. Nice pint of draught Red was enjoyed, and in bottles I recommend Brodie's Prime - all the proof you need that porter is an excellent drink.

Add to that the More? artisan bakery and some very pleasant riverside walks (which also generates a proportion of their electricity) it makes a worthwhile place to call at just a slight remove from the more picture-postcard locations in the Lakes.

I'll be back.

A Very Quiet Protest

2011-02-05T10:40:00.000Z

The cuts in public spending pose threats to many aspects of life at the moment. Today will be a day of action to protest against the possibility that up to 400 libraries might close. It's all very polite - as you would expect from the library service. Read-ins, storytelling sessions, and a library where everyone has been asked to turn up and borrow their maximum allowance to empty the shelves are some of the eye-catchingly discreet protests.

In the midst of the flashmob book-reading and other protests, there's a serious point. Libraries have had to change as technology, access to information and culture moves on. But libraries give people access to a huge resource, and they are places where people find new possibilities. There is strong evidence that children, in particular, benefit greatly from access to public libraries.

Whisper it, if you must, but save our libraries.

A Local Radio Moment

2011-01-30T16:55:00.002Z

I caught a bit of the BBC Radio Lancashire Sunday morning show today. They did a feature prompted by the Bishop of Sheffield getting people to listen to a Lily Allen song. Looking at song lyrics and then looking at issues of faith isn't that new - I was doing it with Steve Tilley in the early 1980s, but I am all for looking at themes in contemporary culture. Check out Culturewatch for a site that has loads of resources based on books, film, music and more

Anyway, back to this morning. Some vox-pops of suggestions for songs that have Christian themes were sought out on the street.

The first one was so good, Little Britain couldn't have scripted it better:

Person: "The one by Billy Joel about the woman... you can be just yourself, and he loves you just as you are."

Reporter: "She's always a woman to me. That one?"

Person: "Yes that's the one."

No, I don't think it was. If you don't believe me go here, click Listen now and wind forward to 1hr 20. You have 7 days.

Politics and Religion: that old dualism

2011-01-26T07:00:00.001Z

A couple of weeks ago our local paper [Morecambe Visitor 12th Jan] published an article about the concern the Bishop of Blackburn had expressed about the impact of cuts on the most vulnerable members of society. It was good to see him making such a clear and public statement about his concern, and that the cuts will have a substantial impact on vulnerable members of our society.

It was disappointing, therefore, to see our MP respond by voicing his"..concern that the Bishop is becoming embroiled in a political argument that goes way beyond his remit as a religious leader." Desmond Tutu once responded to a similar comment that he thought the other person must be reading a different Bible.

We live in an era of fear of politicised religion, and no without justification. The religious right in the US, and extreme Islamist movements both understandably scare people of a secular mindset. However, given the Bishop is a person with influence and a public voice, and (whether you think it right or wrong in principle) he currently has a seat in the House of Lords, it is absolutely right that he speaks out for the poor and vulnerable.

Ironically, one of the thinkers behind the Big Society, Phillip Blond, would be very clear that there should be no dualism between the secular and spiritual. He is very strong on having a holistic and integrated way of thinking about the relationship between the divine and the material world. If a Bishop speaks theologically, he will be speaking politically.

It's also worth remembering times when Churches have privatised religion and limited themselves to speaking only of religious matters. It's not always very comfortable reading. For example, it happened in Germany in the 1930s, albeit with some heroic exceptions. Sometimes those with no public voice need someone to speak for them when it counts, and the Church must play its part.

What price remembering?

2011-01-25T22:07:00.000Z

One sad consequence of the current cut-backs is to the National Coalition Building Institute, the organisation that works to build community relations and understanding. This year they are no longer in a position to organise the more formal observance of Holocaust Memorial Day on Jan 27th outside Lancaster Town Hall. There will be an informal gathering to light candles at 6pm, supported by faith groups and others who believe this important day should be marked.

Here are a few statistics to reflect upon from the HMD website. The site also give information about the genocides in Cambodia, Bosnia, Rwanda and Darfur.

It is estimated that up to 6 million Jews were killed between 1933 and 1945 under the Nazi regime.

Upward of 200,000 Gypsies were murdered or died as a result of starvation or disease.

Significant numbers of Gay men were arrested, of whom an estimated 50,000 received severe jail sentences in brutal conditions. Many kept their experience secret after the war because they could not be open about their sexual orientation.

It is estimated that close to 250,000 disabled people were murdered under the Nazi regime.

Approximately 2,000 Jehovah’s Witnesses died under the Nazi regime, 250 of whom were executed for refusing to take part in armed conflict.

It is estimated that the Nazis killed at least 1.9 million non-Jewish Polish civilians during World War II.

Lay Presidency

2011-01-12T20:49:00.000Z

When I was training for the ministry, I remember someone drily commenting that the word president came into use for church orders of service around the time of Watergate. It wasn't the best start for the word used in Church of England service books to refer to the person who has the overall responsibility for officiating during a service of Holy Communion.

Apparently the C of E considered various options - putting priest probably upset people who prefer the word presbyter, and explaining that it includes bishops makes it all a bit wordy. Some churches use celebrant on their own leaflets, but that wasn't adopted. The movement to renew the liturgy, both in the Roman Catholic and Anglican churches in the 60s and 70s took very seriously the participation of all the people. As all the people gathered are celebrating, they didn't single out the person overseeing the celebration. In the end they settled on president.

My experience is that whenever anyone suggests lay people might preside at an Anglican communion it prompts a reaction. In the comments on my previous post, it was called 'daft'. I have witnessed otherwise reasonable Anglican clergy get very upset - often very much more upset than they do about lots of other issues. So I thought I'd use this post to muse a little about the issue and, having lit the touch paper, wait for some reaction.

Opponents are often dismissive, or resort to an appeal to tradition which is little more than "we've always done it this way, so it must be right". It may well be right, but it needs better argumentation. We can't be entirely sure of what happened in the very earliest days of the church - the New Testament indicates a period of transition, so I suspect it wasn't as tidy as some would suggest. However, it would be hard dispute that our current Anglican practise mirrors what most of the church has done for most of its history. Whether it has an authentic continuity with that historic ministry remains a very big question in Anglican-Catholic relations.

Let's do a thought experiment, which is contrived and silly, but might help us to get started. Imagine you're invited to Desert Island Communion. You're all lay people, washed up on a desert island with little immediate hope of rescue - it's a Robinson Crusoe job. Remarkably there is bread and wine, and with no prospect of a suitably ordained minister being present, the gathering has an ad-hoc communion. The question is whether it's a real communion or not. For some people, it would be irregular - put crudely, it's not conforming to the normal rules of the church, but as it's exceptional circumstances God turns up. For others, it will be impossible for that to be true. Depending which side you you land probably determines a lot of the rest of the discussion.

Over the years, my observation is that the proponents of lay presidency (which is what we call it in the trade) fall into a number of categories. However the different character of the arguments is rarely addressed, and is usually just dismissed.

The first example I came across in my school Christian Union. We had a weekend away, and some people wondered if we could just 'do' a communion. It was innocently proposed as a nice idea, but for reasons I can't remember it didn't happen. I don't recall having an opinion at 16, and I suspect quite a lot of people don't. The second are people from church backgrounds where an ordained person isn't required, but have subsequently started attending Anglican churches. "Having someone authorised makes sense, but why can't the Reader do it?" said a Baptist to me once. From their previous experience, it was a reasonable question.

However, there are people with more of an axe to grind - either simply rebels or pragmatists who think that the solution to the communion problem (see previous post) isn't extended communion, but lay presidency. As I've already said, I don't think any of the available options should be adopted as a quick fix for that issue, so my answer to them would be the same; it's answering the wrong question.

The most interesting rationale I heard for lay presidency was described by Tina Baxter at a meeting I attended in the early 90s. It was more persuasive because it didn't ignore the importance of history or ordination in the Anglican tradition and sought to put the possibility of lay presidency into an Anglican structure. Her argument was essentially that ordination to the priesthood/presbyterate was primarily ordination to responsibility - for the life, nurture, ministry and mission of a church. Priests delegate and share many of these responsibilities - including ones which are key to people's spiritual life and nurture - notably teaching the faith and leading some of the liturgy. In extremis lay people can even baptize, but all under the ultimate supervision of a priest/presbyter. Her question was, therefore, why is eucharistic presidency different. [That's my brief recollection of a discussion from 17 or 18 years ago, and it was a question, so don't hold her to that!]

Personally I think lay presidency is theoretically possible - I don't regard ordination to the priesthood as being primarily ordination to preside at the eucharist. Nor do I regard appeals to historic continuity as ultimately persuasive. Other ancient churches regard me as a lay person, so even my qualification to preside is already a matter of opinion and dispute. However, I don't think it's a constructive proposal in practise. We're already a church plunged into disputes about the legitimacy of people's ministries - based on gender, sexual orientation, doctrinal belief and so on. The last thing we need is another. And I suspect that the only driver to consider it would be pragmatism, which is the last reason to proceed.

New Year, New Layout

2010-12-30T15:02:00.000Z

I decided it was time to ring the changes with the appearance of my blog. In a slightly scary correlation with what my Myers-Briggs personality type predicts, I get bored with things being the same all the time. I used to change the Chaplaincy website template periodically, and the blog gets the same treatment from time to time.

Quite pleased I have now managed to include a new photo and get purple words on to a grey background for the first time in the life of this blog.

Little things please little minds, I guess.

Communion by Extension

2010-12-17T15:11:00.001Z

Despite the title, it's not about church services in conservatories. It's quite a churchy thing, so if you're not interested in that sort of thing, feel free to call back later!

I keep meeting people who talk about church services moving to communion by extension, led by an authorised lay person. This happens in some places because in the Church of England only people ordained priest can preside at a communion service, and there aren't enough priests to take services in every location and at every time that churches currently require. The logic goes, therefore, that if consecrated bread and wine can be taken from one venue to another by a lay person and then distributed by them, this can meet the requirements.

Aware that I may be accused of all manner of things at this point, perhaps I should clarify before I go on:

I think the celebration of holy communion is central to the life of the church, and should be available to the whole people of God on a regular basis.
The ministry of lay people needs to be expanded and developed and is sometimes restricted unnecessarily by clergy - either through insecurity or an inflated sense of their own importance.
Communion by extension is what several of us do in my own parish when we take communion to individuals or small groups of people who are housebound or in residential homes.

However, I think communion by extension is not the way forward for the Church of England's Holy Communion service staffing problems. It's a reasonable answer to the question: "how can we maintain the present system, with its patterns of services, congregational expectations and church structure". There are other solutions - fast track ordinations for local leaders or even allowing lay people to preside (which would be hugely controversial). But I think they are all answers to the wrong question.

We should be asking what the church needs to look like in order to develop and grow communities which can transform both individuals and neighbourhoods with the love of God. I don't think that necessarily means providing Holy Communion at every venue and in every time slot that we have become accustomed to. Change won't be popular, of course, and some people get very agitated about it - I've heard people talk about "my communion" which they would defend at all costs.

If the Church of England is going to do more than "keep the show on the road" we need to have a bigger picture in our imaginations than communion services. We need to get away from thinking of communion as a commodity we're entitled to at XX o'clock on a Sunday, and rather as a gift we appreciate whenever it is available. We need to move away from being parochial in our vision - what about thinking in terms of areas or Deaneries with a certain number of celebrations at specific locations, but other forms of worship elsewhere which lay people can lead. I even dare to ask whether not having communion as a weekly routine might actually make us appreciate it more when it happens.

My own view is that participation in the eucharist or communion isn't just about consuming the elements - it's about the entire journey of the communion service. In some traditions that is affirmed by the fact that people unable to consume the bread or the wine are still deemed to have received by being present (it's in the 1662 Prayer Book, for example) If we drift into a widespread practise of communion by extension, we potentially lose that insight. And maybe it's an undervaluing of non-eucharistic worship to assume that it cannot feed people's spirits adequately - assuming they are still able to attend the eucharist sometimes.

Depending on our upbringing or spiritual preferences, we'll react differently to some of these ideas. I grew up on communion once a month - and it was a special occasion; those of a more catholic tradition may find it more difficult, although in the developing world the mass is sometimes an infrequent but joyful occasion. However, we need to be thinking about these things now, before expediency takes over and we acquire habits and practises which we might not have chosen if we had paid more attention.

On the map

2010-12-10T15:28:00.000Z

Since the beginning of November I have been Area Dean of Lancaster (more work, same pay!) This means I have a role in liaising between our Diocese and the clergy and parishes of our Deanery. The Church of England is broken up into Dioceses, which are often approximately the size of a county. They come under a Diocesan Bishop, who is often assisted by one or more other Bishops. Dioceses are then made up from smaller areas called Deaneries, and a clerge is designated Area Dean, to offer support and care to the clergy, feed back concerns to the centre and pass on information and other stuff from the centre to the parishes. We also have an involvement in recruiting and interviewing prospective new vicars.

Having had that role for one month, I am now (wait for it) Area Dean of Lancaster & Morecambe. We thought that our area ought to include the other major town in its title, and as I live there it seemed a good idea. It won't change the world, but it seemed the right thing to do. Good job I didn't get any headed notepaper made!

Christmas Tree Festival

2010-12-08T17:44:00.003Z

Morecambe Parish Church is up and running with the 2010 Festival. Open 2-30 to 8pm Thu & Fri, 10am-8pm Sat, and after church (approx 11-15) to 2-30pm on Sunday. 74 trees to see.

£1 admission for adults. Children free.
Tea/coffee/squash, biccies and cakes on sale all the time.
Light lunches served on Saturday
All profit goes to charity, once essential expenses have been met.

Advert over. Here's a blurry piccie from my phone

-- Post From My iPhone

Ranting Repent

2010-12-06T19:56:00.000Z

Yesterday morning, I really enjoyed preaching about John the Baptist from Matthew 3. There's plenty about John that's disturbing - not least his choice of clothes and food. Most people's mental picture is probably of someone slightly deranged, or perhaps someone rather like the ranting kind of street evangelist that you cross the road to avoid.

But I think it's not doing John justice to dismiss him that easily. He's not a finger-pointer, wanting to highlight faults, dish out condemnation and generally make people feel worse about themselves. He's a man on a mission, and a very single-minded man.

The clue is in the text itself. All the condemnation language is aimed squarely at the Pharisees and the Sadducees. Although the two groupings were at odds with each other, they both represented religious and moral pride. John blasts them about depending on their heritage to make claims upon God, rather than living lives which bore fruit fit in keeping with someone living a life changed by God.

For everyone else, John gives a call to repent. Repent is one of those words which has been much misused and maligned. The Greek word for repentance, metanoia, means change of mind, or change of thinking. It's about turning, changing direction. For me, that's an incredibly hopeful and positive concept. Change is possible. This isn't "the end of the world is nigh, and everybody is going to die" of the street ranter; this is good news that the kingdom is near and it's changing the world.

Musing about sport

2010-12-05T07:00:00.000Z

Image via WikipediaWhich is your big sport story (assuming you're bothered)? England playing well in the Ashes series, or the failure to bring the FIFA World Cup back to England in 2018? We probably ought to wait to the end of the series before saying anything too much about cricket, but it seems to be going well to date.

The World Cup bid debacle was fascinating. No-one ever thought it was in the bag, but the story goes that 7 votes were agreed on handshake, the technical report and presentations all went well, and all the big names were there. Whether it was Panorama, the wider British media, backroom deals or something more dishonest may never be know, but those votes evaporated. It did seem odd to do 2 bids at once - horsetrading was bound to result, rather than assessing each on its merits. And then, surprise, surprise, the idea of taking the World Cup to new countries was heralded. If we'd known that at the start, we wouldn't have bothered - it's a perfectly laudable aim, but you've wasted our time and money FIFA.

One question: if you discover allegations of corruption and make a programme about them, should you wait out of expediency or expose it immediately?

Meanwhile the domestic football action has had its moments. Chelsea wobble, other 'big 4' teams have their moments, Liverpool FC recover or do they, Blackpool entertain every time, and Bolton Wanderers start playing a passing game. After a poor start, Nottingham Forest have been moving up the table and acquire Aaron Ramsey for a loan period, but Morecambe look like they may be in a relegation battle.

In the FA Cup we nearly had Wimbledon vs MK Dons, and theoretically we could still see Man Utd come up against FC United of Manchester, the team formed as a protest against the Glazers. Now there's a game I want to see.

Technology, iTunes and funerals

2010-12-04T21:01:00.001Z

On Friday I met up with a family to arrange a forthcoming funeral service. They were great to talk to, and we ended up talking for an hour and a half. During our chat, we discussed possible options for music to be played at the beginning and end of the service at the crematorium, and once we had identified the songs, there was the question of which versions of the songs to use. After some discussion, it occurred to me that I could look up iTunes on my phone and play some samples. After a little searching we listened to some versions of the songs in question and sorted it out in a few minutes. I just had to download the tracks and burn a CD.

It would never have occurred to me beforehand to have done that, or even that it might be appropriate, but actually a bit of technology helped to put everyone's mind at rest. Hopefully everything will work fine on the day too.

I'll post what they chose after the service has taken place. What would you choose?

Familiarity breeds what?

2010-12-04T12:24:00.001Z

It's always a challenge to think of something new to do with the big festivals in the church year ( and I don't mean Greenbelt ). This is my 21st Christmas as a 'Rev' and I'm not someone who thrives on doing the same thing in the same way year after year. On 'normal' Sundays the readings go on a 3 year cycle, so that maintains the variety, but Christmas is, well, Christmas. And I have always held the view that if you only meet people's expectations in your programme, you're never able to challenge or stretch them.

This year we're looking to take part in Lancashire Sings Christmas, so that will be something new to put energy into. It's an interactive carol service, in partnership with BBC Radio Lancashire, to be held at venues that aren't church buildings. If you're in Lancashire, there's still time to get organised and join in (or if you're in Leicestershire, the original Sing Christmas will also be taking place).

Sometimes I've inserted a more challenging reading, such as a poem or meditation into carol services. I think it's good to stimulate thinking or even be provocative, and not just tell the predictable story in the way they expect. The problem is, of course, that you get complaints. in my experience they have always come from non-regulars who come to church at Christmas. I well remember using a resource from TEAR Fund when I was a curate. A few days later we received a letter from a parishioner, who only came occasionally to things like carol services, complaining about the sketch and its script and referring to this 'outfit' who wrote the material. We replied politely, gently pointing out that the Bishop of Southwell was a prominent supporter.

So whilst I won't be using it in our carol service this year (as it's already planned), I fully recommend reading a reflection on Christmas by Martin Wroe, which is on the Ship of Fools website. SoF is best known for its satirical monitoring of the Christian world, but it has a more serious side, and I thought this piece was excellent. If you're feeling brave and you haven't planned your carol services in detail yet...

Colin Slee

2010-11-26T09:25:00.000Z

Yesterday I picked up the news that Colin Slee, the Dean of Southwark, had died of pancreatic cancer. Colin Slee was a formidable champion of the liberal wing of the Church of England. He was probably best known by the wider public for his robust defence of Jeffrey John whose appointment as a bishop was derailed by the revelation that he was homosexual. I'm sure that if I had ever sat down for a conversation I would have disagreed with him on all kinds of things (not least his insistence that all cathedral clergy wore black) but somehow I feel the Church of England will be a less interesting place without him.

It seemed a rather sad irony that he died of pancreatic cancer in Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Week. Only 3% of sufferers survive, mainly because detection is too late. Here in Morecambe we'll be helping with an event tomorrow, with prayers in church at 4pm, followed by a walk along the prom to the Midland Hotel. Events continue through the weekend.

Episcopal Foot in it

2010-11-22T21:27:00.002Z

My previous experience of Pete Broadbent, the Bishop of Willesden, was pretty positive. I heard him at Spring Harvest about 10 years ago. He was engaging, challenging and also clearly had a passion for social justice.

So it was with some surprise that I read of his offensive comments made in an exchange on facebook relating to the forthcoming royal wedding. The press were quick to report it, and the wrath of the Daily Mail descended. They soon came up with "loony Pete". It's worth noting that in the midst of a royal photo-fest, the very same Daily Mail described the Royal family as "one of the most famous – and notoriously dysfunctional – families in the world". [just search for "dysf"; it's there]

Thanks to the Church Mouse, those of us who don't have access to Bp Pete's facebook profile can now see the actual text from the exchanges he made. They were obviously made in a more off-guard moment, and Mouse gives us a very balanced analysis of what went wrong and the difference between comments that he was fully entitled to make and ones which were out of order. He also clarifies what was said and the context, so it's worth reading.

I have no problem with +Pete being a republican - to me it's always been hard to see how heredity can be justified as a means of choosing a head of state. As someone whose political tendencies have always been left of centre, I don't have problem with that either. Furthermore, when Charles and Diana got married I went walking in county Durham to avoid having to watch endless coverage of it, so I also quite liked the idea of a party in France to keep out of the way this time around. There are also legitimate questions about cost, although the VAT take on associated memorabilia will probably cover that nicely. It would even have been fair to signal concern about the pressure the future marriage will be under.

However "I managed to avoid the last disaster in slow motion between Big Ears and the Porcelain Doll, and hope to avoid this one too." was just plain nasty. And no clergyperson, should be making negative predictions about a forthcoming marriage, let alone one under such scrutiny between people he admits he doesn't know. It's a very bad error of judgement and fundamentally undermined the perfectly fair questions he sought to raise.

I'm very pleased and relieved to see that the Bishop has apologised unreservedly on the Diocese of London website. It was the right thing to do, and hopefully that will bring things to a close.

I suspect the media will be less forthcoming with an apology for any of its actions. In the meantime, I recommend you read what Church Mouse says and the very considered first comment from Bishop Alan Wilson.

Lack of blogging

2010-11-22T10:52:00.000Z

One appointment finished earlier than expected and the next is due in 15 minutes, so as a bit of a break, I thought I'd take a look at the blog. I've just realised how long it is since I last posted anything.

I think one reason is time - a lot of other things have taken my energy, so I haven't go round to it. Another is that one or two things I would have liked to talk about weren't appropriate to publish in a public context (not that that stops some people!) The third is that in that blogging hour - 1030 to 1130pm for me, I've been looking in on Twitter or catching up with TV I couldn't watch because there was a committee meeting.

However, I have missed it - I started blogging as a way of processing those ideas which go round in your head. Maybe I just needed a blog holiday.

Time to put the kettle on for the next visitors

Elgar on BBC4

2010-11-12T09:31:00.000Z

Image via WikipediaAlthough I will be over in church for some music he probably wouldn't approve of, I'll be recording the BBC4 programme on Edward Elgar this evening. One of my precedessors as Rector of Morecambe Parish Chuch, Canon Gorton, befriended Elgar and persuaded him to take part in the Morecambe Music Festivals. All this was at the turn of the 19/20th century. Elgar stayed here in the Rectory, and it's been fun to speculate whether the bedroom locally referred to as 'the Elgar room' is actually the one. I have sometimes wondered if he was thinking about any of his famous works as he looked out across the garden.

Poppies and Martin

2010-11-11T09:31:00.002Z

In my previous job, today was an even more complicated mixture of issues and emotions than it is now. November 11th is not only Armistice Day, but it's also St Martin's Day, so we tried to mark that each year in the Chapel of the College that bore his name. Legend has it that one of the previous chaplains used to do a firework display to celebrate St Martin and regularly received complaints from people who saw it as disrespectful to the fallen.

Martin himself was a soldier who became a bishop and a scholar. Given that he is the patron saint of both France and soldiers, it is perhaps no coincidence that the Armistice was eventually signed on his feast day, although I have never read of any direct connection being explicitly made.

In the UK, many will pause today at 11am for 2 minutes of silence to remember those who have died in conflict. Likewise there will also be similar observances on Remembrance Sunday with red poppies at the centre and worn by all present.

As in previous years, there has been a debate about poppies. Some people find their association with the casualties of WW1 difficult. The poppies had Haig Fund in the middle - the name of the general widely regarded as responsible for the campaigns where so many British (and other) soldiers lost their lives. White poppies have been available to provide a positive alternative to abstaining.

I don't have a problem wearing a poppy on the day; what I find difficult is that poppies appear earlier each year, and seem to be increasingly compulsory, and sometimes even seem to have become a fashion item. The anti-poppy protest at a recent Scottish football match has clearly upset people, but it does seem odd to me that every Scottish Premier League player will have to wear a poppy at the weekend. What about those players whose native countries weren't involved or were on the other side? More to the point is whether remembrance is something you can impose?

If the controversy focuses on the external symbols of remembrance, then we're missing the point. Wearing a poppy doesn't create respect for those who have died - respect is something that has to come from somewhere deeper than that. For others, remembrance is something they wish to keep discreet and internal, and not be forced into expressing it in a fixed form dictated by society at large.

So I won't judge anyone on whether they happen to be wearing a poppy or not. I will be wearing one today and on Sunday as I remember the tragedy and loss of war, so much potential and possibility cut short and as I pray that wars on such scale are never seen again.

My grandfather survived the trenches. I think he only ever spoke 5 or 6 sentences about it in all the time I knew him. He remembered, and I got the impression that he would have been all to happy to forget most of what he had witnessed. We remember his companions who didn't return, and their suffering and sacrifice in the hope that it will inspire future generations to seek justice and peace in a troubled world.

Time, talents and twitter

2010-11-04T20:49:00.001Z

I have had a number of interesting conversations recently about what clergy should and shouldn't prioritise in their work. In all previous posts in churches (clergy and lay) regular operation of the duplicator ended up being a major feature, so it's quite a relief not to have that weekly expectation. However, on the relatively rare occasions I do run something off, I actually find it quite satisfying. I also enjoy creating document masters, powerpoints, websites and, of course, blogs and social networking.

So I have been reflecting on that. Being interested in methods of communication seems entirely appropriate for anyone who is seeking to communicate something of the Christian faith, or to raise awareness for a cause. The relationship between ministry and communication is obvious. In an era of new media and social networking, preaching the Gospel includes the use of blogs, facebook, Twitter and whatever comes next. That doesn't replace or supersede 'real' contact - far from it, but it can extend the reach and impact of a message or cause.

Having first worked with computers 30 years ago, and having stayed with them ever since, I am enjoying drawing on that experience. Computers are becoming ubiquitous, easier to use and a lot more fun.

There's also something else. I suspect quite a lot of clergy like to do certain kinds of tasks every so often which have a clear and well defined beginning, end, and (if possible) a 'product'. So much of what we do is intangible and difficult to quantify, and goes on indefinitely. You might take a service or make a visit, but you know the next one is round the corner. At one level a sermon is a 'product', but there's always another to write - the "tyranny of the sermon" as Abp Donald Coggan put it. Sometimes you just want a beginning, middle and an end.

So cutting some bushes or setting out some tables and chairs can be surprisingly refreshing and rewarding in a life full of ill-defined boundaries. Even writing a blog post can help you feel you have achieved something specific at the end of a day which feels full of activity but not achievement - it was one factor in me taking up blogging whilst a Chaplain.

Just wish it would stop raining long enough for me to hack some bushes or dig some earth.

Evil Music?

2010-10-07T17:18:00.002+01:00

The Israel Chamber Orchestra has caused a lot of controversy in its home country about its decision to play at the Bayreuth festival, which celebrates the music of Richard Wagner. Despite being long dead before the Nazis came to power, his anti-semitic writing led to admiration by Adolph Hitler and it is said that his music was played at the concentration camps where so many Jews died. His music has been, therefore, shunned by most Israeli musicians.

Not being a classical fan, and certainly not of opera, I don't have any particular desire to try and rehabilitate his music from an artistic point of view. However, it does beg an interesting question: does enjoying the music equate to condoning the views of the composer/artist? It all reminds me a bit of the debates in Christian youth circles in the late 70s and early 80s about so-called back-tracking.

Most notorious was an alleged expression of admiration for Satan in Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven", which, it was claimed, could be heard if you played the track backwards. Lots of vinyl albums suffered damage as a consequence, and a test on our student flat's record player was unclear! Other examples have been quoted and demonstrated with varying degrees of plausibility. The debate centred around whether the hidden message was there, and even if it was, did it matter? After all we don't know all the views of every musician, and can't you just take a song at face value.

Returning to the more serious issues around Wagner, the question is whether his music can ever shake off their associations, and be appreciated as music, rather than political or ideological statements. If something is beautiful [not that I personally think Wagner's music is!], is it just beautiful?

Everything has associations, and music can be especially evocative of memories. It may be that one day, when all living memory of the Holocaust has gone, that people can listen to Wagner just as music. In the meantime I suspect that a rehabilitation, even by an Israeli orchestra, is not possible.

Late Afternoon, Morecambe Prom

2010-10-05T07:30:00.001+01:00

Took this while walking the dog. As it came out rather well, I thought I'd share it.

Child Benefit and the rich

2010-10-04T13:01:00.000+01:00

My immediate reaction to the news that child benefit was to be cut for those on the higher tax rate is very positive. It does seem odd to be giving benefits to people who can't possibly need them in the same way as those on lower incomes. Universal benefits can just end up subsidising extra recreational activities for middle-class kids, which can't be priority in the present climate. As I understand it, however, there will simply be a cut-off, so that when you hit the higher tax rate, it stops.

Not being in a position to do the maths properly, I had wondered whether it would make more sense to make child benefit taxable, but I guess that may yet come!

A welcome return

2010-10-03T23:19:00.000+01:00

Just wanted to say that I am delighted to see that The Beaker Folk of Husbourne Crawley are blogging again. They took a break which looked rather final, but it looks like they couldn't resist a comeback. Burton Dasset, Archdruid Eileen and Hnaef are all back in business. If you're new to this phenomenon, try this post to get you in the mood. People suffering sense of humour failure need not apply

The Cheapest (pay) Car Park in Britain?

2010-10-02T17:10:00.000+01:00

Just off the Promenade, a short walk from our house, there's a pay-and-display car park. Most people wouldn't even notice that it's there. As you can see from the photo, it charges 50p for up to 24 hours, which is a fraction over 2p per hour

You might think that such a car park would be very popular, but at 1645 today, this was the full extent of the clientele.

To be fair, it's well used by coach tours, but it could be Morecambe's best kept secret.

A test run

2010-10-01T17:58:00.001+01:00

This blog post has no significance or value, other than to prove my mobile blogging software works. To finish the job, I'll photograph my dog using the picture option. Back to normal next time!

-- Post From My iPhone

A response to atheists

2010-09-17T21:54:00.001+01:00

As I write this, the media is full of news about the papal visit. The headlines and articles are a jumble of points, relating to child abuse by priests and whether there was a cover-up, criticism from more strident atheists about a state visit by a religious leader, questions around sexuality and related issues, and other wider questions about whether activities run by agencies with a religious background can really be good for the whole of society. The problem with all of the noise that’s being made is that cheap shots about wayward priests, or even militant religious groups around the world, get put alongside serious debates about God and the role of religion in society. So is there any way Christians can respond to all of this in a positive way?

The first thing to avoid is argument about who’s better (or worse) than whom. History is littered with the tragedies and mistakes of those who have acted in the name of religion - from the Crusades to 9/11. We could equally quote atheist regimes such as the USSR under Stalin or Mao’s China in the catalogue of cruelty. But God’s existence or the debates about the worth of state-funded Church schools can’t be settled by some crude calculation of these events. The fact there were nasty people carrying an atheist or a Christian label doesn’t really help us today. For Christians the fact of what we call sin is hardly a surprise – it’s to be expected. The Gospel isn’t about proving we’re better than other people, but about reconciliation for people who fail.

A second pitfall in the current climate is the focus on the allegations that the present Pope failed to act in cases where priests had committed abuse. A recent Panorama demonstrated that the issue is extremely serious, and there are still key questions that need to be answered, but there is a difference between naivety or incompetence, and wilful concealment. The issue won’t (and shouldn’t) go away, so I am sure that much more will emerge as time goes on as to where culpability lies. However, even if the Pope is culpable of serious errors in this area, it would be hugely unfair to smear all Catholics as a result. A failure in leadership in this area damages trust in those who hold responsibility and in the institution they serve, but it’s not decisive proof that everything Catholicism (or individual Catholics) does or stands for must be suspect or damaging.

I’m not even convinced that trying to have any debate at a more intellectual level with people like Richard Dawkins or Christopher Hitchens gets us anywhere either. In some ways they can end up being a mirror image of religious fundamentalists in their pronouncements – absolutely unmoveable and unwilling to see anything good in the other side.

Some of the Pope's statements about secularism in Europe do seem rather dramatic, but something has changed over recent years. Churches used to be portrayed as generally benign institutions (albeit with some flawed exceptions) - and often the object of kindly joking. The shift to a point where church schools are now seen as a problem by a significant voice in society represents a shift in culture.

Christians could still be heroes in the 1960s (Martin Luther King) and even the last Pope was seen as instrumental in the changes which eventually brought freedom and democracy to Eastern Europe in the 1980s. Now the Church is seen as an opponent rather than a source of freedom.

It's OK to have prayers and rituals in places of worship, but the public sphere should be secular (based on the questionable assumption that secular = neutral). The rise of Christian fundamentalism and the religious right on one hand, and Islamic extremism on the other, seems to have questioned the motives of everyone with a faith.

It's tempting to do the thought experiment where 2 people say to each other in a Pythonesque way "what have the Christians ever done for us", with architecture, sponsoring great art, founding universities, providing healthcare, free education, abolition of the slave trade being some of the answers. "Well apart from art, architecture, hospitals.... what have they ever done for us..." the conversation would continue.

In the end, the Pope's visit raises specific questions with regard to issues that he has been involved in - both in what he teaches and the failures of the Catholic Church with regard to safeguarding. However, it highlights issues that were already there in public debate about the role of religion in society, rather than creates any new ones. I suspect that big events and big gestures aren't actually the way any Christian individual or community can commend their faith or themselves. In that sense, on the big public stage we can't 'win' - even if we thought that 'winning' was what it was about (which I don't).

Up and down the land Christians and churches run and host groups and activities for kids, young families, lonely pensioners, people struggling with issues like addiction, they accommodate youth clubs and uniformed organisations, choirs, lunch clubs, after-school groups and so on. If you waved a magic wand and got rid of the Christian contribution to society tomorrow, communities throughout Britain would have significant amounts of their life removed, and not simply the active worshippers. People may not be in church on Sundays in huge numbers (although attendance has stabilised) but the positive impact of local churches extends much further into the community than is often realised, especially where other community facilities and resources are few and far between.

Perhaps the best argument Christians and the Churches can put are the many small, but good stories that come out of those many situations, both for people of faith and people of none. The big story in the news is the Papal visit, but the stories that actually change lives are probably much nearer to home.

The Red Shoes

2010-09-17T15:16:00.002+01:00

There's a rather striking photo of the Pope and his papal red shoes on the front of the Church Times today. The previous Pope abandoned such things for Polish made brown shoes, but Benedict has brought them back. Apparently they symbolise the blood of the martyrs, but I suspect it's a piece of imagery that has been less effective since they made The Wizard of Oz. Given all the vitriol in the media surrounding his visit, it's just as well he doesn't have red gloves... you can write the headlines.

Living Stones

2010-09-15T10:53:00.000+01:00

The cartoons of Dave Walker always capture brilliantly the more absurd side of church life. It was good to come across this one again

So it was with some trepidation that I led our all-age service on Sunday. We used the idea of living stones to think about what the community of the church should be like, but illustrating that was quite a challenge. Dead stones was easy - a giant Jenga set, courtesy of the scout headquarters fulfilled that need. Every stone in its fixed place, inflexible, only aware of its immediate neighbours, and likely to topple if one or two foundation pieces get removed.

Trying to get the idea of living stones into a physical object proved more difficult until we remembered the giant bean bag. It seemed to work - every bean matters - they are dynamic, adaptable to new circumstances, constantly circulating. Ok the analogy breaks down after a bit, but it got the point across.

Finally everyone had to find 3 people they didn't know - an extended exercise during the Peace involving name stickers and then sitting in a different seat for a new perspective. The choir were great - they mingled too, and for the next bit of the service were scattered around the church (a few brave non-choir people even sat in the choir pews)

Feedback was very positive, especially considering we had taken people out of their comfort zone, and hopefully some new links were made that will help to build community and relationships.

If only Dave had been there - I'm sure he could have made a great cartoon out of it all.

Archbishops and Popes

2010-09-13T18:38:00.004+01:00

As a county ecumenical officer, Debbie gets invitations to a wide variety of events and services from all church backgrounds. She recently got an invitation to Westminster Abbey for a service of evening prayer in the presence of Pope Benedict and the Archbishop of Canterbury. It's the first invitation to a service I've seen where you are asked to bring ID, such as a passport, but it's all security, I guess.

She was also recently given a copy of a special booklet with the congregational texts for all the services during his visit, called "Magnificat". Given Debs isn't going to London, we thought we'd have a look at what she's missing. It's fairly predictable stuff, until you get to the exciting moment where (and I quote verbatim) "The Pope and The Archbishop exchange Addresses"

Rowan: "I live in that rather large place across the River. Lambeth Palace - yes the post-code is SE1 7JU. Do you need my mobile?"

Pope: "No, I prefer things in writing. Send anything to The Pope, The Vatican. It should reach me OK".

Following that the Dean will get the incense out and venerate the Altar and the Church Leaders. I'm not an expert on holy smoke, but I've never come across Church Leaders being venerated before. Must be an ecumenical matter, Ted.

Yvonne Lyon & Gareth Davies-Jones (with David Lyon)

2010-09-11T18:54:00.003+01:00

Last night was a brilliant evening of live music at Morecambe Parish Church. Having heard great reviews for a couple of years, I eventually saw Yvonne & David Lyon at Greenbelt 09 in the Performance Cafe. It seemed good to try and get them to the north west, so when the opportunity came up, I took up a slot in a tour that Yvonne and Gareth were doing. As things turned out, they were fitting Morecambe in between Glasgow and Edinburgh, so a lot of travelling involved. We times the gig to happen just before the Poulton Heritage open days, so there were other things going on around the buildings too.

On the night we had about 100 people there, which was above our target, and they gave us a wonderful gig with songs telling stories, painting pictures and expressing feelings. Squeezed on to our modest stage (thanks to Poulton-le-Sands C of E Primary) the quality of the musicianship, vocals and performance was superb. The church's acoustics proved to be excellent too.

A lot of folks there were new to the music, so hopefully that's generated quite a few new fans and followers and certainly some CDs sold. Also plenty of Fairtrade stuff went in the interval, which has been a big interest for Yvonne and Gareth - they toured together as part of the Make It Fair campaign.

We'll try and do this again sometime. Quite a few people had to miss it, and performances this good are well worth seeing again.

Yvonne's website http://www.yvonnelyonmusic.com/

Gareth is at http://www.garethdavies-jones.com/

On this tour, David provided a wide range of additional musicianship and backing vocals. Hear his work at http://www.myspace.com/davidlyonmusic

All available on iTunes too.

Muse. Old Trafford Cricket ground. 4/9/2010

2010-09-06T15:23:00.001+01:00

Every now and then [son] Jono and I spot something we'd both like to go to and have a 'boys day out'. MPH at the NEC has featured heavily over the last few years. We spotted Muse were on in Manchester and thought it might be good. Neither of us knew a lot of their stuff - first contact was the FIFA07 soundtrack with Supermassive Black Hole, and since then spotting them on TV at Glastonbury, etc. The fact they successfully sued Nestle for using their version of 'Feeling Good' in a commercial commended them to me (especially as they donated most of the proceeds to Oxfam)

They're a band who defy neat categorisation - with pretty heavy guitar stuff sitting alongside synth, dance beat, some remarkable vocals and harmonies, and at times some passages showing their influences from Queen. Maybe it's 21st century prog rock.

Live on stage they certainly deliver in style. The entire cricket pitch was carefully covered - we stood on the [extra-protected] wicket area, and the stage sat in the midst of what was made to look like the corner of a large building with distorted perspective. Images then danced across the entire structure - sometimes working with the office-block look, and sometimes making the 'windows' disappear altogether.

In the midst of all this Muse delivered a huge sound (not just loud, but 'big'), which is quite an achievement for a trio [they also have a fourth low-profile member on keys live] What surprised me what how much of the 2-hour set was familiar - and not just because I downloaded a copy of the The Resistance album last week. All round they're great musicians and Matthew Bailey is probably one of the few guitarists of a more recent generation who carries the 'guitar hero' tag convincingly, using guitars of his own design. He's a decent pianist too!

All round a great gig, and despite being in the centre, we avoided cupfuls of lager (or worse) being chucked all over us!

Christian apps

2010-09-03T08:00:00.042+01:00

A few months ago I spent some money I'd been given in lieu of a birthday present on an iPod Touch (16Gb by the way) It now serves as my diary, address book, to do list, Bible, and if I've got a Wifi connection I can check email, Facebook, Twitter, news headlines, etc. Nothing especially novel there I hear you say. In fact, I can now see why people get iPhones, given the extra flexibility it gives of not having to be near a Wifi connection.

However, here are three useful apps I have found, relating to my work as a minister.

Biblereader from http://www.olivetree.com/ Back in my Palm using days, I used this, but the iPod/iPhone implementation works really well. You can even display the same text in parallel versions, Greek, Hebrew, the lot. Reader is free, as are a number of non-copyright texts, and you simply pay for the other versions you require.

Methodist. Yes, I know I'm an Anglican, but it's a good and free app. News, thought and prayer for the day, Bible studies, podcasts and more.

My Diocese. An app which gives news from various dioceses of the Church of England, daily prayers and readings, information about the church, and you can locate your local churches. Not all Dicoeses (including mine) involved yet, but hopefully will develop into a comprehensive resource in the future. Well done Guildford Diocese for getting this off the ground.

Also a big thank-you to Simon Kershaw for his work in making PDA lectionaries you can load into Outlook and iCal. Synched to my iPod Touch, that means I always have the readings of the day and the Sunday and festival collects without even needing a book.

Any other suggestions out there?

The Choc's in the Post

2010-09-02T21:23:00.000+01:00

Some people might remember my brief flicker of fame when I won the Church Times caption competition. (subscribers can see the evidence here) Since the 4th June when this was announced, the Peatman household has been eagerly awaiting the legendary Divine chocolate prize. Sadly none arrived.

Concerned I decided to contact the Church Times, only to discover that my subscription had run out. Today I went to the website, subscribed, checked the contacts page and emailed to ask where my chocs had got to. To be fair, I received a swift reply from Edd, saying that it was ready to be posted tomorrow.

So, my prize will be on its way only 3 months after I won it, and only a day after I renewed my subscription and emailed to see what had happened. Someone more suspicious than me might think they had forgotten...

Greenbelt 2010

2010-08-31T20:52:00.001+01:00

Just back from my second Greenbelt. Around 1979/80, various friends told me I should go, and sure enough I should have gone - U2 played. But having come to it late, the festival certainly continues to deliver at all sorts of levels.

Richard Rohr - who manages to be innovative, Franciscan, Emergent, spiritual and still lead retreats gave some inspiring words. Stanley Hauerwas provided a fascinating analysis of 'America's God', and the music, comedy and talks all could have filled the days.

An extra treat was when an unbilled Tom Hollander turned up for the day and joined in the 'in conversation' with James Wood, the writer of "Rev". 900 of us watched 12 mins of clips first, and that was the first time they had experienced audience reaction in that way. Lots of real Revs there and we liked it. The big surprise for them was the cheer for Colin.

All this and the best range of food stalls I have ever seen - including the fabulous Tiny Tea Tent. Nights were cold, but the experience was great.

Yvonne Lyon and Gareth Davies-Jones in concert

2010-08-20T12:52:00.003+01:00

We're looking forward to hosting this concert at Morecambe Parish Church. Two great singer-songwriters are coming to us on September 10th. Tickets on sale now.
A high-res version of the poster can be downloaded by clicking on the image below, or clicking here

Doing it by the book

2010-08-17T11:08:00.003+01:00

This year I have set a new record. In 18 years of being a priest in the good ol' C of E, I officiated at 3 services of Book of Common Prayer Holy Communion (or 1662 for short): Long Itchington, Preston Bagot and Longridge if my memory is still functioning. I had attended a few over the years, but it's different when you're up front. By Christmas 2009 I had had already quadrupled that total, as we have it every week here at MPC at 8am. It wasn't a result of a conscious effort to avoid it, I just didn't serve in churches that used it; nor did they have 8am communion services.

Now anyone that knows me will be aware that I'm not my sparkling best first thing in the morning, so 8am communion every Sunday has proved a challenge, especially when conducting a service in language from Shakespeare's era. However, I have managed to remain coherent every Sunday, pronounced everything correctly, and put the correct length pauses in for all the subclauses in the very long sentence structure.

Having a year's worth behind me to reflect upon, I do find it intriguing that people get up to attend church that early in the morning. When I had a parish in Coventry, a neighbouring mainly middle-class parish had quite a thriving 8am communion service (modern language service, talk and 2 hymns) with about 40-50 there. They were people who wanted to do church early, so they had the rest of the day for their leisure activities, such as sport, hiking, boating, etc.

I don't know if that's true for any of our 8 o'clockers. Some come because they find the business and length of the 10am too much; others come at that time of day as it's their opportunity to share in communion using the old wording - in a language very different from what they would use in everyday life. Although we call it 1662, the service is a revised version of one originally compiled in 1552, yet it remains part of the official prayer book of the Church of England. Over the years I have come across many different reasons for people choosing these services. Some see modern language liturgy as vulgar or dumbing down, some want to preserve our historical heritage, and other have a theological agenda, seeing the Book of Common Prayer as a reformed Protestant foothold in a church infected with other theological tendencies. I suspect most people go because it is what they are used to or what they grew up with.

I have come across a few BCP enthusiasts who extol its virtues and like it done 'by the book', which is ironic, because we never do it by the book. For a start, a large section of the communion service is left out (the Exhortation) and the congregation usually joins in with prayers that the book says should only be said by the priest, such as the Lord's Prayer at the opening, the opening collect and what we usually refer to as the Prayer of Humble Access (don't worry if you've no idea what these are). Most congregations also give a response when the gospel is read, although the BCP contains no such words. I did once hear of a vicar who was pressured into resuming BCP communion by his congregation, so he decided to do it completely by the book - reading everything out and then refusing to give anyone communion because they hadn't given him a week's notice, which is what the book requires! I guess he didn't have a great relationship with his people...

Meanwhile, we'll stick to doing it not by the book, just like we always don't.

Radio 4 food

2010-08-14T20:09:00.001+01:00

This evening we had stuffed onions with parmesan breadcrumbs. Not sure I got it quite right, but it still tasted very good and I even found everything I needed in Morecambe Morrisons. It wasn't in the plan, but they were referred to on Saturday Live this morning, and one look at the recipe meant it became the cooking to unwind to, following two weddings and a funeral visit.

Always worth keeping an ear open for Radio 4. Recipe is here.

A Blogger catch-up

2010-08-10T16:47:00.001+01:00

Taking a week's holiday seems to have taken me out of the pattern of blogging at all. As I'm taking a few minutes out, it seemed a good moment to catch up a bit.

Not wanting to bore you with too much holiday stuff, but we spent a week in the middle of Lincolnshire doing very little except being looked after at our favourite guest house. One brilliant experience was watching the (surprisingly good) Toy Story 3 at the Kinema in the Woods at Woodhall Spa. In the middle of the picture, there was an intermission, and out of the floor came the Compton Organ. Not an original fitting, apparently, but enhance the sense of being in an historic building (it's been a cinema since 1922). However, we had to miss Woodhall's worm-charming festival, which was probably just as well.

I have also missed out on blogging about Rev when it was still current. It was, at last, a series which took comedy about clergy and the church into new and edgy territory. Dibley and Derek Nimmo were never like this as Rev captured something much more authentic. They got so much right - the vicarage itself, complete with 1980s kitchen cupboards and left-over washing-up, the topical issues, the ecclesiastical terminology, and even the 'types' in congregation bore a striking resemblance to some people I have known.

It also managed to capture experiences using situations that would never quite happen, but which carried the same feelings. The Archdeacon with his black cab was a brilliant way of picturing of what has been a very real experience for some people I have known. What was remarkable was how respectful it was of Adam's prayers and how painfully it depicted his breakdown. And most churches have a Colin. Good reviews on Bishop Alan's blog and also Steve Tilley's.

Meanwhile now I'm back this month seems busier than almost any other - weddings, baptisms and holiday club are filling up the space pretty thoroughly, along with not a few other concerns. And in the midst of all this, tragedies of landslides and flooding remind us of the consequences of climate change, and the urgency to address it. Why not visit the Disasters Emergency Committee website if you haven't already donated.

OK, that's everything bubbling at the top of my brain at the moment. Hopefully I'll be a slightly more regular visitor to my own blog in the coming days!

Something about Swithun?

2010-07-20T15:35:00.001+01:00

Image by neilalderney123 via Flickr

Saint Swithun's Day [or Swithin] is July 15th (along with St. Bonaventure). He was Bishop of Winchester in the 9th century. The proverb (or is it a superstition) goes that the weather on his feast day will continue for 40 days, and sure enough it was raining on Thursday in Morecambe and has continued to do so ever since. Not sure I'm up for another 35 days of this, but at least my broad beans are growing well.

There are various theories about how the saying came about - from the weather when his remains were reinterred to a storm on July 15 in the 14th century. In fact, there is some scientific evidence to suggest that the jet-stream settles into a pattern which is steady through late July and August, so the weather mid-July may well indicate what is to come.

Wonder what happens in a leap-year? Anyway, it's very wet and shows no sign of letting up.

Train Journeys

2010-07-14T11:20:00.000+01:00

Full marks to Northern Trains, Virgin and B- to First Great Western. I went down to see Steve in Nailsea last week, and did the whole thing by train from Morecambe. Everything ran on time except the FGW bit from Temple Meads to Nailsea, which ran late in both directions.

Couldn't help wondering if the Morecambe ticket office has ever sold a return from Morecambe to Nailsea and Backwell before. It won't be the most obscure train journey, but it can't be a frequent occurrence.

Praise and Blame

2010-07-07T14:58:00.000+01:00

I was intrigued to hear a story on radio news that Tom Jones had been criticised by the v-p of Island Record for making an album of "hymns" which he labelled a "sick joke". Now the discussion is whether the 'leaked' email was, in fact, all part of the pre-release hype.

Having seen a few clips on the profile of Tom Jones on last night's Imagine, it seems remarkably uninformed criticism. This album isn't Harry Secombe territory; it's John Lee Hooker's "Burning Hell" and Bob Dylan's "What good am I?". In many ways, it looks like a return to the gospel and blues roots that Tom was so good at delivering in his early days, before he got sucked into pop songs, US TV variety shows and the whole Vegas thing.

Just wish he'd kept with the blues in the first place!

Do things come in threes?

2010-07-06T15:56:00.002+01:00

Image via Wikipedia

Don't subscribe to it myself - I think people retrospectively group events together. However, there has been a triplet of headaches for the good old C of E over the last few weeks.

First of all we had a problem with hats. The old tradition was that women wore hats in church and men didn't. However once you're a Bishop the reverse appears to apply. Katharine Jefferts Schori, presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church in the USA wasn't allowed to wear a mitre at Southwark Cathedral.

No doubt this was an attempt to placate conservative opponents of women becoming bishops, but it ended up looking hugely discourteous and failed to placate anybody. Just her being there at all was probably more than the most vocal opponents could stomach. Meanwhile, others saw it as an insult and a failure of hospitality to a senior member of the clergy. The irony is that mitres are entirely optional in the Church of England - they're not required by church rules and only became commonplace in the 19th century. Perhaps the more courteous thing would have been for everyone not to wear one!

The second problem (sorry I forgot; challenges) is the legislation currently being processed in response to the General Synod's vote to go forward with ordaining women bishops in the Church of England. It would be too long and dull to say why this takes so long, but the whole process was thrown by a new amendment being proposed by the Archbishops of Canterbury and York for the latest meeting of Synod. Called "co-ordinate jurisdiction" essentially this is a further concession to conservative concerns and is seen as giving a greater voice for traditionalists who find themselves in Dioceses with a female Diocesan Bishop. A full analysis of all the amendments is here, which ably demonstrates why I couldn't face standing for General Synod at the next election. I still maintain that the simpler the better is the best way forward - anything else is papering over some very big cracks.

Just when you thought it was safe, the news came through that the favoured candidate for Bishop of Southwark was Dr Jeffrey John. Dr John was, of course, the candidate for Bishop of Reading [suffragan to Bp of Oxford] in 2003. He was forced to withdraw from consideration after protests about his sexual orientation. Although he has declared his current circumstances to be in line with the Church of England's teaching, he hasn't repented of his previous relationship to the satisfaction of his critics. [Other Bishops don't seem to be subject to the same scrutiny as to whether their repentance matches their sins, but this is sex we're talking about...] Given Dr John entered a civil partnership in 2006, I suspect nothing would quell the more vocal critics. You can hear a Today programme debate here between Giles Fraser and Chris Sugden.

What intrigues me about is why Dr John's current appointment as Dean of St Alban's doesn't generate such a reaction. If the concern regarding him becoming a Bishop is about a gay man in leadership, or in a teaching role where he might 'mislead' people, or in senior office where the Church of England is publicly affirming a person who some find unacceptable, why isn't being a Cathedral Dean out of the question? The evangelical end of the C of E has often had a semi-detached relationship with its Bishops, so it's remarkable that episcopacy is suddenly so important to them. I can see that traditionalist Anglo-Catholics might have a particular problem with gay bishops, but on the whole they tend to make less noise about it.

The evidence suggests that Dr John has nurtured his Cathedral well, with a growing congregation that even pays its way and doesn't need to charge admission to visitors. Given he has been such a good steward of the responsibilities given him so far by the Church, I think it would be our loss if he weren't also given the opportunity to lead a Diocese.

BBC News: Johannesburg and London

2010-07-06T09:15:00.000+01:00

An item on the news last night described an area of Johannesburg as having been a muggers' paradise, but now is more like... London.

1) Didn't that sound just a weeny bit superior and condescending?

2) Are we to believe muggings don't happen in London?

Maybe someone needs a word with the editor

Celebration

2010-07-05T14:49:00.002+01:00

Debbie and I hadn't planned to do anything to mark 20 years ordained, but somehow it leaked to people who get things done in the parish. Result: a surprise party and celebration after church on Sunday. Great company, food and wine ensued.

Thanks to Jacqui for great cake. Should be working our way through that for a while yet.

Meanwhile if you'd like to see how it looked 20 years ago, you can have a laugh at this:

Doesn't seem that long ago. That's outside Southwell Minster, with (seated) the Bishop of Southwell, Pat Harris in the middle, David Leaning on the left (the Archdeacon of Newark, later Provost/Dean of Southwell), Archdeacon Clive Handford on the right, who became Bishop of Cyprus and the Gulf and then President Bishop of the Episcopal Church of Jerusalem and Middle East and to his right the DDO, Ian Bunting. I won't name the rest but yes, that's me on the left at the back.

Less than the sum of the parts

2010-06-19T22:11:00.000+01:00

Half of me wants to avoid any further World Cup comment, but the other half needs to get it out my system, so apologies to the uninterested. Please feel free to ignore.

All of the English football following public are now trying to understand why it is that England fall short of expectations every time one of these major tournaments come around. Somehow when it comes to the crunch, we rarely witness a competent and confident performance. Qualification is frequently a trauma, and when we do eventually get through, there's usually a bit of craziness - whether the 'Hand of God' in '86, sendings off or the nightmare of a penalty shoot-out. Even in 1990, England's best result since 1966, the team started slowly, struggled to win, and had 3 games in a row go into extra time.

To put it simply, the England team is usually less than the sum of the parts, and many of our fellow competitors are the reverse - this year think Switzerland, Serbia and even North Korea to name a few.

Quite apart from my personal (but not very serious) theory that England play better in red than white (think '66) there does seem to be a long shadow over English football. Maybe some of that comes from the win in '66 - there is always something in the air that says we ought to be able to do it again, whereas if England had never won, a quarter-final would seem a pretty decent outcome. Whatever the cause, good and occasionally brilliant players become ordinary and passionate players go flat. Mind you, England did badly in 1950...

So is it the manager? In Capello, we've got an expensive manager with a very good club track record. As a technician he has been very capable through qualification, but I do wonder whether it gets harder for a foreign manager to motivate a team when that seems to be the relevant issue. His reputation is as someone distant, yet England looked like a team that needed a good talking to from someone who's been there. Of course Pearce is available...

He also has seemed to be quite inflexible. One issue that seems to blight a lot of managers is having the nerve to leave out big names if they're not performing well. Sven and McLaren had their favourites, and so does Capello. Even if the team sheet is a secret until 2hrs beforehand, we know some of the names that will be there, which presumably makes it all the harder for those in the dark.

Lots of people are commenting on the formation. England have been devoted to 4-4-2 for a long time (although they won the World Cup playing 4-3-3 and Robson changed things during Italia 90.) Perhaps the obvious thing to say is that a formation should be chosen which brings the best out in the players - didn't seem to be the case for the last 2 matches. Also worth noting that although 4-4-2 used to be standard British tactics, the "big 4" don't tend to use it. Interesting to think what a 4-2-3-1 (Liverpool's shape) England would look like.

And that 2hr notice thing. David James certainly seemed less than impressed with how the goalkeeper situation had been dealt with, and how can a defence prepare as a coherent unit and team if they don't even know who's playing.

Ah well, it's easy to criticise from an armchair. History would suggest that England will revive, win the next game, and go through to the knock-out stage, thus raising all kinds of ridiculous hope. They will then crash out with a sending off or losing on penalties in a subsequent round.

A blast from my student past

2010-06-07T12:57:00.000+01:00

Image via Wikipedia

The other day I finally got round to buying a DVD I have wanted to have for some time - a compilation from The Tube, the Channel 4 live music show from the 1980s. I got a copy of the first series compilation for £5 here. This version has U2 performing New Year's Day (with Bono's voice cracking), the more recent version omitted that.

Fronted by Jools Holland, Muriel Gray, Paula Yates and more, it provided genuinely live performances from current stars and new acts, as well as some classics. There were also scenes from the nearby pub, which offered some great TV moments.

For most of my time at Uni, it was a fixture with some of the lads on the course, usually watched on my 12" black and white telly (except when we got control of the college common room's colour set) Only Whistle Test really matched it for live music (rather than the mimed/video of ToTP etc) and that was very late at night and pitched at a different audience (although great archives there, too).

Broadcast live on a Friday teatime from Newcastle, it was full of fluffed lines, mikes switched on slightly too late, presenters taken by surprise and some dodgy sound mixes. But that gave it an unpredictability that made it fun to watch every week. Anything could happen, and often did - the programme's demise came when Jools used a very naughty word in a live trailer at 5-30pm.

A DVD can't recapture that, but some great moments nonetheless. The Jam at the end of their career performing "Town Called Malice" and "Modern World" is a highlight, but the DVD also features U2, Simple Minds, Yazoo and Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five providing some early hip-hop with "The Message" to name but a few. Of course there's lots more in an archive somewhere - Madonna's TV debut, an early appearance by REM, and I seem to recall the bizarre spectacle of Cliff Richard winning over a sceptical audience with an impressively professional live set. I hope one day they manage to get some more footage issued.

So next time you watch Later with its multiple live stages, variety of music and interviews, you're seeing a more mature descendant.

Hope for Justice

2010-06-05T15:57:00.000+01:00

Last night at Manchester Apollo, I was providing transport for my son, Jono, to get to "The Stand". This was an event organised by Hope For Justice, which is campaigning to end human trafficking. The statistics are scary, and slavery is a reality, even within the UK. It's clearly a huge problem across the world, and the people involved on the frontline of helping people escape and then come to terms with their traumatic experiences face real dangers.

Hope for Justice campaigns in a number of ways - awareness-raising, legal issues, rescue and support, campaigning and, of course, fundraising. The Stand 2010 was an event with video, drama, music, prayer and a hard-hitting talk from Tony Campolo.

It was very refreshing to go to something which was contemporary and had a lot of energy and passion, but wasn't about the people gathered. There was no sense that this was about having a religious experience, or that the audience/congregation were there to be receivers or consumers of stuff from the front. This was about a problem in society and the world which needs urgent action, and a key part of being faithful Christians was about working for justice for captives. There was also no sense that this was evangelism 'in disguise'. The motivation wasn't that people rescued might be converts, but that it's the right thing to be working for anyway. There was also a very positive view of working with allies, whether Christian or not. Perhaps the biggest surprise was that people in the 'sex industry' were recognised as being on a spectrum, and some are willing to provide information and evidence with regard to trafficked women and girls.

Music for worship came from Ben Cantelon and Graham Kendrick. They represent the latest and the established in the area of worship music. Cantelon seemed more at ease with the format (gig venue, high volume) than Kendrick, but the older guy can still deliver.

Tony Campolo never pulls his punches, and he spoke very passionately about justice, and also how attitudes in society towards making women 'commodities' can help to create a climate where there is demand. He gave an interesting example of common ground with a passionate feminist on this issue, with whom he had plenty of other differences.

What's perhaps the most disturbing is that this may well be an issue on all of our doorsteps.

Not a great weekend to be English

2010-05-30T17:55:00.000+01:00

A very lacklustre performance by the England football [soccer] team against Japan leaves me thinking that we stand very little hope of making significant progress in the tournament. 1/4 final would be good going on todays' showing. At least Joe Hart's a good goalkeeper.

Meanwhile the UK comes bottom in the Eurovision song contest. I didn't watch. My friend Steve did, so read his review here

When is a partner not a partner?

2010-05-29T18:41:00.000+01:00

The current fuss over David Laws shows that defining relationship becomes difficult as soon as you move away from some kind of legal registration, which can give objective evidence that a connection exists - i.e. a certificate. Mr Laws' relationship wasn't a civil partnership, they didn't share bank accounts, they didn't have a public shared social life, and the information revealed thus far indicates that he didn't stand to benefit personally from any of the payments made as rental.

That leaves those investigating this case with a problem - where is the threshold if it isn't the legal registration of it as a marriage or civil partnership. It's not about the quality of the interpersonal relations - there are plenty of examples of bad marriages, and very good relationships between people who are not married/civil partnered. The issue is how can a relationship be evaluated objectively without the existence of some form of legal contract between the partners.

For example, two people could co-habit in a way that was clearly a lodger/landlord relationship. That wouldn't run into trouble. The landlord and tenant could be friends and still there needn't be a problem. People have sex with each other without wanting their relationship to become a partnership. So what defines David Laws' relationship, which may or may not be a 'partnership' in the eyes of Parliament?

In the end, it will be a matter of opinion as to whether this relationship crosses the line of the Parliamentary rules, and there will be a degree of subjectivity involved in the judgment. David Laws didn't want this relationship to become public, so he treated his rent on a business basis. The taxpayer didn't pay more for his flat than others, and his expenses overall are relatively low. He hasn't benefited personally, and he could have made a lot more money doing something else. But he did conceal with a degree of deception, and he has fallen into the grey area of when is a relationship a partnership. Some clarity is needed for everyone's sake, but I fear the media will judge him long before committees on MP's behaviour come to a mind on it.

Church, schools and government

2010-05-26T10:35:00.000+01:00

A few different thoughts have been coming together to prompt this post. The first one was the reaction of the people present at a recent public meeting about faith schools. There were a lot of criticisms - including suggestions of indoctrination - and a show of hands revealed quite a few people against any faith involvement in schooling.

In one sense, that was surprising, as we have a good local primary schools with a church foundation, as well as popular church high schools. However, I have also seen the concern and negative feeling about churches having any involvement in running institutions when a secular college was merged with a church one to form the University of Cumbria. The perception of the church as homophobic, sexist and bigoted runs deep. Furthermore, people question whether the state should support faith at all. In 2005, a Guardian/ICM poll recorded 64% opposing any government funding of faith schools.

Historically, the church was the first agency to provide schooling in England and many of the schools we now have in the state-sector are the legacy from the parochial schools which pre-date universal state provision. I suppose one could argue that if the church started schools and Universities in this country, it's a bit churlish to evict them them now.

I think there are several issues with faith and education. Firstly, is it indoctrination? Well, a school might have a very clear agenda to propagate a faith; others might have a "Christian ethos" (often vaguely defined) with no particular agenda. I have to say that if they are indoctrinating children, the net result seems to be pretty unsuccessful. In fact they often have the opposite effect, with overdoses of religion immunising people from faith later in life. For instance, my secondary school gave us daily assemblies, 3 of them were for the whole school with reading, hymn and talk. Of about 800, only a tiny handful ever met at Christian Union, and assemblies and RE lessons did nothing to help it sustain its activities.

Secondly, do they generate sectarianism? That's a harder question to answer. I haven't come across any militant Anglicans produced by Church of England schools. [Wonder what they would do? Guerilla jumble sales? Aggressively enlist people for evensong?] However in Northern Ireland people may answer that question rather differently. I remember students at St Martin's College, Lancaster who came from Belfast saying College was the first place they had ever got to know people from the other side of the divide, as their previous education was in a purely Protestant or Catholic environment. In the English context, I understand that C of E and Catholic state schools may not discriminate against people of other faiths in staff recruitment, except for RE teachers, and there are often non-Catholic or non Anglican Christians as well as other faiths, agnostic and even atheist teachers in such schools. That makes indoctrination rather difficult to achieve.

The third question is whether it's possible to provide a 'neutral' education. Suppose schools had a policy of no exploration of the idea of spirituality at all, which is what I presume some would want. That's a belief standpoint. By taking the possibility of the spiritual out of the education system, you have already adopted a stance, just as much as you would in a faith school. It seems to me the real question is how open and free pupils are to question and to explore ideas which are not the 'given' in the school they attend.

The important question behind all of this is whether any state resources should, in any sense, be invested in what atheist critics would regard as the propagation of religion. I can see the case that in a genuinely secular state that they should not (although faith groups often sustain community and charitable activity that augments state provision, so charitable status for tax, etc could be argued for even in a secular state). The difference in the UK is that we are not a secular state. We have an established church, the monarch is the supreme governor of the Church of England, we have Bishops on the House of Lords. The other side of that coin is that Parliament has a say over church matters (it had to approve the ordination of women, approves parochial fees, and the Commons threw out a revised Church of England Prayer Book in 1927 & 1928)

Perhaps some of the current proposed reforms may start to change that. I would certainly favour an elected upper house, provided it was elected by a genuinely proportional system such as Single Transferable Vote. However, if Parliament no longer provides a voice for the Church of England, then it ought to be time for the Church to be able to govern itself without reference to Parliament.

There is a perfectly logical case for the state becoming secular, but to achieve that aim is far from simple. There's plenty more to debate.

Tangerine Dream

2010-05-25T10:34:00.000+01:00

Image via Wikipedia

was perhaps the most predictable headline I spotted in reference to Blackpool's promotion to the Premier League. Celebrations dominated the town yesterday. Even as a Forest supporter, I have to acknowledge their achievement. Next season will be a huge challenge, but the experience of promotion has obviously been fantastic for the town, and will hopefully bring some much-needed new money into the economy. Meanwhile, not to be outdone, neighbouring Fleetwood Town FC also registered a more modest success by gaining promotion from the Blue Square North to the Blue Square Premier League. Only 4 more promotions to go, lads.

As the league seasons draw to a close, it's been interesting to see that the England World Cup preparations have been much more low key this time round. Capello's regime is obviously geared to less hype and more focus. I saw the last 20 minutes of the friendly game against Mexico, and it showed England in typically unconvincing mode, although the result was a positive to take away. Whether it helped the manager to decide on the 7 players to leave at home, I wouldn't like to guess, but Gareth Barry's fitness will probably make one decision for him.

The World Cup cometh

2010-05-15T20:09:00.000+01:00

Image via Wikipedia

Taking a look at a little booklet about the FIFA World Cup (not other lesser sports), I thought I'd check if there was any chance of following England's progress. In fact it's looking quite good. (please check with other guides before finalising your arrangements!)

The 3 games we can be sure of are:

England v USA. Sat June 12 @ 7-30pm
England v Algeria. Fri June 18 @ 7-30pm
England v Slovenia. Wed June 23 @ 3pm

If England win group C, the next game is Sat June 26 @ 7-30pm
If England are 2nd, the next game is Sun June 27 @ 3pm

Ok then it gets complicated if you're optimistic enough to think we might get this far. I think the following is correct, but please correct me if it's not.

If they play on Saturday and win, the 1/4 final would be on Friday July 2 @ 7-30pm.
If they play on Sunday and win, the 1/4 final would be on Saturday July 3 @ 3pm.

The July 2 match leads to a semi-final on July 6 at 7-30pm
The July 3 match leads to a semi-final on July 7 at 7-30pm

The World Cup Final is Sunday July 11 at 7-30pm. Should be back from Evening Prayer. Dream on...

Guarantees

2010-05-13T11:57:00.001+01:00

The usual rule observed in everyday life is that the higher the cost of a guarantee, the less likely you are ever to need it. A by-product of this is that when something goes out of guarantee, or you don't extend the warranty for a further year for some astronomical sum, the appliance fails.

Just at the moment we're living in the middle of an exception. 3½ years into a free 5yr warranty the Smeg* dishwasher gave up. Error code 6. Someone came, checked it out, ordered parts, came back, replaced parts. Next wash error code 6 is flashing. Canny engineer on 3rd visit spots that error code 6 came up 1 minute after the first error code (8) has flashed. Nifty concealment strategy from dishwasher is now thwarted. Parts are on order. 4th visit awaited.

It doesn't quite match the best warranty claim I've ever been involved with. At St James', Whitley we had a flat roof on the main body of the church, and one morning water was pouring through near the pulpit. Church roof + leak usually = large bills and an appeal. However Pete, the church warden, had the presence of mind to check the filing cabinet. The roof had been resurfaced and had a 10 yr warranty. Luckily the work had been done 9½ years previously. Result: a free repair.

Why can't it always work like that?

* I feel the need to point out this is a bog standard, white box dishwasher, not a v expensive retro-style brightly coloured one!

Greenbelt 2010

2010-05-12T16:24:00.001+01:00

The lineup for this year's Greenbelt is taking shape nicely. As an arts festival with Christian roots, it's never been afraid to take some risks in who it invites along. Eye-catching names already on the bill include Clare Short, Peter Tatchell and David Morrisey, although I think a lot of people will also know Simon Mayo and Janey Lee Grace from Radio 2. Oh and Roger McGough will be sharing poetry. Christian speakers include Richard Rohr, Rob Bell (he of the Nooma videos), John Bell from the Iona Community, Lucy Winkett and Stanley Hauerwas.

The headline musical acts aren't yet announced, but Athlete and Royksopp last year show the standard they aim for. Having said that, the smaller gigs are also excellent, so it's worth checking the lineup page regularly.

All this plus creative worship from all points of the Christian compass and comedy from Milton Jones. Well worth checking out

An Eventful Saturday

2010-05-09T23:30:00.001+01:00

It was quite a day. The morning was filled with the Run 4 the World fun run. R4TW is organised by Martin Bateman, and runs took place on the same day all around the world. 3/4 of the money raised goes to 3 projects around the world, with 25% going to a local concern. Morecambe Promenade saw 240 runners (the biggest single group worldwide) and so far nearly £4,000 raised. I foolishly ran most of the 5km and the legs are suffering now. Maybe next year I'll actually prepare for it. Respect to the front guys who did it in 18 minutes or so, especially with the wind against us in the 2nd half.

Then in the afternoon, off to Christie Park to witness Morecambe beating Aldershot 1-0 to get into the play-offs. Gary Hunter nicely tapping in a Paul Mullin cross sealed the deal. Morecambe actually finished 4th, so get the second leg of the semi-final at home. Didn't expect that earlier in the season. It was originally to be the final game at the old ground, but now there will be one more. Biggest crowd since the 1940s gave it a fantastic atmosphere. League 1 for the new ground? It's still possible.

So what happens now?

2010-05-07T11:44:00.002+01:00

There are still a few seats to come in (including those covering Morecambe and Lancaster), but it's already a mathematical reality that we have a hung/balanced UK parliament and the prospect of a minority government or a rather complex coalition.

It leaves everyone in a dilemma. The Conservatives can't offer the strong government they like to speak of, as they don't have the seats, but natural allies are few in number. Labour wants to carry on, but they are a clear 2nd, and an alliance with the Lib Dems still wouldn't get them up to the total required. The LDs meanwhile are faced with equally difficult options - a tricky alliance with the Tories (which would surely require electoral reform to be on the agenda), trying to keep Labour in office, which is potentially electorally damaging to them, or be blamed for plunging us into a 2nd election and the instability that may cause.

Given the turmoil on the markets resulting from Greece's woes, it's certainly a time for leadership by someone. It made me wonder how serious it would have to get before party considerations would be set aside. World War 2 put Labour and Conservative into a single government, so could we conceive of any other circumstances doing the same? How bad would it have to get?

Highlights? I think it's good to see an Alliance candidate - the first cross-community candidate to be elected to Westminster from Northern Ireland. I also think it's good for there to be a Green voice at Westminster (and at least that's one female party leader!) It was also a relief to see that the much heralded BNP breakthrough didn't actually happen. As for the rest, well given how interesting the campaign seemed to be, it all feels a bit strange the morning after.

Over to you, David, Gordon and Nick. We need some proper leadership and dialogue now.

It isn't decided yet

2010-05-06T15:54:00.002+01:00

And that's only the football. I'm looking forward to the last home league match at Christie Park on Saturday. Morecambe play promotion rivals Aldershot and one point would be enough to guarantee the Shrimps make the League 1 play-offs, which is quite an achievement for a club still fairly new to the League. It's great that the final match will have a cup-final feel. Morecambe are one of three Lancashire seaside towns with serious promotion hopes. Blackpool play Forest for a chance of Premiership football next season, and a bit further down the football hierarchy, Fleetwood are in the Blue Square North play-off final. Sadly Lancaster City FC lost their final to Colwyn Bay, having finished over 20 points ahead of them in the League.

Given the season has been full of surprises (who's have guessed Spurs 4th and Fulham in a European final?) I wouldn't want to make any firm predictions, but wouldn't it be great for the Shrimps to start their first season at the new stadium in League 1? I hope they make it.

This morning I also heard an item on the potential for the great British seaside to have a good season with the recession (not to mention volcanic ash) limiting people's ambitions to travel abroad. The reporter was in Skegness, which was the nearest seaside to where I grew up in Nottingham. When I was a kid, I remember Skeggy and Mablethorpe were full of Nottingham people, the shops sold the Nottingham Evening Post and the pubs sold Nottingham beer. In the same way, I gather that Morecambe was the resort of choice for some northern cities and towns, especially Bradford. Hopefully this trend for domestic holidays might bring new money, jobs and prosperity here this year.

Is Tactical Voting Intelligent?

2010-05-04T21:30:00.003+01:00

I am still reflecting on the recent hustings I organised with Paul our local Methodist minister. May blog about it in a day or two. What is clear is that a lot of people don't know what they want to vote, and are even unsure whether to vote at all. I guess in an election where the ideology of the parties is less of a divide than the pragmatics of getting us out of an economic hole, the choice becomes more personality based.

Meanwhile, Ed Balls and Peter Hain have been talking about voting tactically (or intelligently as Hain put it) Some would see that as desperation, whereas others would see it as a necessary consequence of a first past the post voting system that can elect an MP with under 1/3 of the votes cast (31.4% elected the Labour candidate Gordon Banks in Ochil and South Perthshire in 2005) Even the Daily Mirror says vote tactically!

It is frustrating for people who feel strongly that they want to support a party's policies but know casting their vote for their real choice is very unlikely to have any effect on the result. That's why I would personally favour a shift to another system such as alternative vote, where your first vote is for your first choice, but you can cast a second vote for another candidate (which could be one of the main contenders) Labour had a last-minute conversion to this, so it may yet surface in post-election negotiations.

If you're interested in thinking about voting tactically you can even look up online the stats. Tacticalvoting.org provides some advice and stats [not necessarily the views of this blogger] and suggests how to vote tactically either to block a party or for a hung parliament. You could also check out Hang 'em.

Of course, I wouldn't presume to tell you what you should actually do, but take a careful look at the stats.

How SHould Christians Vote

2010-05-03T10:29:00.002+01:00

Good post on thinking this through on the Trendlewood blog. Worth a read.

A Male-dominated Election

2010-04-29T15:19:00.003+01:00

A point raised recently on the news was that the main 3 parties all had male leaders, and women are still under-represented in Parliament, and especially in senior leadership. Certainly the debates have been a male-only affair (participants and TV hosts) At least Kirsty Wark and Emily Maitlis will be presenting the BBC Newsnight analysis afterwards.

It's not at all clear why there has not been a female leader of a major party since Margaret Thatcher (apart from Margaret Becket being acting leader of Labour after John Smith's death in 1994) Not all of the women who have occupied senior positions since have commended their case - Jacqui Smith, Harriet Harman, Theresa May. But there must be the talent out there. What is it in the system that stops it coming through?

However, it's worth noting that the Green Party of England and Wales has a female leader, Caroline Lucas. She's already an MEP and there is at least a chance of her becoming the first Green candidate to be elected to the Westminster Parliament as an MP. I suppose she is, theoretically, a contender for Prime Minister. After all, we haven't voted yet...

Bit of election fun

2010-04-28T14:20:00.003+01:00

The Official Monster Raving (William Hill) Loony Party has a very entertaining mancifesto [sic].

"1. Health & Safety: We propose to ban Self Responsibility on the grounds that it may be dangerous to your health

2. M.P's Expenses: We propose that instead of a second home allowance M.P's will have a caravan which will be parked outside the Houses of Parliament. This will make it
easier as flipping a caravan is easier than flipping homes

3. Eurofit: The European Constitution which will be sorted out by going for a long Walk."As everyone knows that walking is good for the constitution"

4. The speaker in the House of Commons will be replaced by the latest audio equipment

5. To help the Israel/Palestinian Problem, we will get rid of the old road map, and replace it with a new sat nav instead.

6. European Union: It is proposed that the European Union end its discrimination by creating a "Court of Human Lefts" because their present policy is one-sided.

7. Education: We will increase the number of Women teachers throughout the education System as we are strong believers of 'Female Intuition'

8. Immigration and Population: I propose that we cap the population of this country. We have too many people for such a small country, so we will Cap the number of people residing here at present rates (approximately 63 million, give or take 10 mill ) on the basis of one out, one in (excluding Births).

Regarding Immigration... Any Person who can prove that theyor their descendants emigrated to the U.K before 55 A.D can stay. All the others will be repatriated to their original country. (Well we haveto draw the line somewhere)

9. We will ban all forms of Greyhound racing. This will help stop the country going to the dogs.

10. Afghanistan, Iraq and the War on terror. There's nothing funny about this. however as we have not found any taliban terrorists in Derbyshire. Our Soldiers can all come home"

The late Screaming Lord Sutch would be proud of them

Chain Saw Sculpture

2010-04-27T15:23:00.004+01:00

For the last couple of days we have been watching Tim Burgess, a chain-saw sculptor, transform two tree stumps into the figures of a fisherman and fisherwoman.

The stumps were of two dead elm trees at the lower end of Morecambe cemetery, and it was felt that they ought to be turned into something which said something about the history and heritage of the local area. This is all part of the work going on to improve the general condition of the cemetery and to enhance it. Wild flowers, a conservation area and a guide to some of the more interesting gravestones is all part of the programme of improvements.

A lot of the carving is done with two petrol chain-saws, with some detail done with electric tools. It's quite extraordinary how he does it, and the quality of the results he has managed to produce. The finished products will look even better when the wood has been treated with the appropriate oil.

Meanwhile, I gather Tim himself will soon be competing for Britain in a chain-saw carving competition against German opposition. We wish him all the best with that. As long as there isn't a penalty shoot-out he'll be fine.

Here's a quick bit of video of Tim in action this morning.

I don't understand economics Pt. 3

2010-04-27T10:48:00.003+01:00

The third in a very occasional series. (click here for part 1, part 2) There's a lot of hot air around concerning a hung/balanced parliament and the economic uncertainty that is feared as a consequence. One thing's for sure: the Murdoch press and Daily Mail have made instability much more likely by talking it up. A sort of 'second-strike' revenge if they fail to get the Conservatives elected, I suppose. If it's not "the Sun wot done it", then they're talking us all down to show what a rotten lot the others are.

Anyway, one of the key points of the argument is that "business leaders" (whoever they may be) are concerned that a clear deficit reduction plan is in place - whether spending cuts, tax rises or some combination of the two. What no-one seems to be addressing is that the deficit, originally expected to be £178 bn was expected to be £167bn by the time of the last Budget. On top of that, major companies seem to be rather more profitable than was expected - BP and, surprisingly Lloyds Banking Group. That means extra tax receipts and, potentially a profit for the exchequer when Lloyds is eventually returned to the private sector.

Ok, I haven't got a degree in economics (but neither had Alastair Darling or George Osborne last time I looked), but those figures mean that at the very least we're in an £11bn better position than we thought (and also in following years). It may even prove to be slightly better than that. It's still a huge task, but the graph seems to be going in the right direction.

So even if there are a few days delay in sorting out exactly who does what job in the next Parliament, there's no reason for the roof to fall in. We just need the papers who are so keen on patriotic headlines and "backing Britain" to show a bit of genuine support for their country and to stop sowing seeds of doubt in the minds of investors and markets.

Creativity in the Cemetery

2010-04-26T15:46:00.004+01:00

Next to the churchyard of Holy Trinity, Poulton-le-Sands is one of Morecambe's cemeteries. Although not especially large, it's the resting place of many hundreds of former residents of our town, including relatives of Eric Morecambe and Thora Hird. I officiated at a burial in the cemetery just before Christmas, which was quite an unusual event - the first the undertaker had done there for about 13 years. We're not sure if anyone will ever claim any more of the remaining spaces in family plots, so it can't be deemed full and closed yet.

In the meantime, we're trying to make it a more pleasant environment to walk, explore and also discover the heritage of the town, or family tree information. As part of that, two dead elm trees are being carved into figures, representing the history of Poulton-le-Sands, so the first is well on the way to becoming a fisherman. The pic below shows one of the trees waiting to be carved, whilst the other one is taking shape

Local Accent

2010-04-25T17:13:00.003+01:00

Cover via Amazon

I find regional accents fascinating. At a funeral the other day, the undertaker checked that I had been saying 'Joan', as he thought I might have said 'Jane'. He confessed his hearing wasn't what it was, but I worked out the problem. I say Joan, to rhyme with 'cone', whereas in Lancashire a lot of people say Joan to rhyme with 'corn'.

My native Nottingham accent is a tricky one for people outside the region to get right. I noticed that it was announced today that Alan Sillitoe had died. Famous for his gritty realist 'kitchen sink' dramas, Saturday Night and Sunday Morning was probably his most famous, along with The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner. Set in Nottingham, depicting events in the life of a worker at the Raleigh bike factory, Nottingham people could spot when the accents drifted a little from Nottingham to Yorkshire. Depictions of D.H. Lawrence books suffer the same problem.

Anyway, I just thought I'd tell you what was goin' off, before I head off down the twitchell to go to church. Wouldn't want you gettin' mardy about it.

Nuclear Weapons: a vote winner?

2010-04-23T20:00:00.004+01:00

Image via Wikipedia

One of the surprises of the recent leadership debate was the firm line taken by Labour and the Conservatives over the replacement of Britain's ageing fleet of nuclear-armed Trident submarines. The question lurking in my mind is whether the general public in the UK really regard the maintenance of an independent nuclear deterrent capability a vote-winner.

Back in the 1950s and 60s, the USA and USSR found themselves in the midst of an arms race. Both wanted to ensure they had enough capability to knock out the other's and to avoid incurring large amounts of retaliation - so-called first-strike capability. These weapons could be used in response to an attack, or 'up front' as a final card in an escalating game of 'dare' between the two Cold War adversaries. During the Cuban crisis it all came perilously close.

This policy, appropriately, became known a MAD - Mutually Assured Destruction. Once it was established that any nuclear war between the superpowers would destroy them both (and most of the world with them) then it was in neither party's interest to start such a war. In the subsequent decades, negotiations have reduced the arsenals and that continues to be the case.

Britain was never in a position where it had enough 'kit' to launch a 'first-strike' attack on the USSR; our deterrent was 'second-strike'. In other words, our deterrent would be launched after Britain had been hit with Soviet warheads, and devastating some Soviet cities was a minimum requirement. Vulcan bombers, Polaris and now Trident have all served as our minimum deterrent.

Of course, this all presupposes a few things. First it assumes that a nuclear attack on a non-nuclear Britain was likely, and that the US (or any other major power) wouldn't provide any defence. Second, it assumes that the posthumous revenge of our missiles or planes would have been enough to deter a Soviet regime hell-bent on annihilating Britain. Behind all of that is the huge moral question as to whether one should ever countenance unleashing these weapons in any circumstance. Dennis Healey admitted in an interview that had it come to the crunch, even if Britain was devastated, he could have ordered the slaughter of millions of Russians - what would have been the point?

The world we live in now is very different. Anyone thinking of using a nuke against Britain now is likely to be either terrorists or a regime with an ideology that would not find being hit back in return such a deterrent as the USSR did. In a world a suicide bombers, MAD doesn't work. So even if you think use of nuclear weapons is morally defensible under some circumstances, against whom might a British government

Image via Wikipedia

conceivably use them?

The figure banded around is £100 billion over 25 years, with quite a considerable initial investment. Given the choice, I can't see why we would want to spend that much money on weapons, that we hope we never use, on an enemy we can't even identify. My own hunch is that neither does the majority of the British people.

I think it's correct that the Greens, SNP and Plaid Cymru are all committed to complete nuclear disarmament, whereas the Lib Dems want a review with a view to lower-cost options with lesser capability. Personally, I'd favour abandoning a deterrent altogether, and then use a significant slice of the money saved to invest in the communities heavily dependent economically on the Trident fleet. Another slice would be used to on ensure our conventional forces are fully supplied with the best equipment available, and that properly maintained and decent accommodation is there for their families.

Mr Brown would say I need to "get real".

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