Greenbelt 2013

Greenbelt reached it 40th edition this year. If you're not familiar with Greenbelt, it's an arts festival at Cheltenham race course, with a Christian background, but by no means limited to Christian input. Music, drama, literature, and talks addressing matters of faith and justice all feature, along with a good dose of silliness and fun. There are always several venues functioning, so there is plenty of choice as to how to spend the time. There are also plenty of stalls, (organic/fair trade/responsibly sourced) catering vans and displays to browse if you want to take a bit of time out. So what were my picks for 2013?

Jazz Church

Andy Flannagan and friends

There is usually some opening worship so we went along to Jazz Church in the Big Top. Some classic hymns to new arrangements mixed with a jazz take on more contemporary ones, including "Heaven" by Gungor. Not something you could sustain very often, but a great idea and a fresh take on some familiar tunes. I also got along to Ben Cantelon on Sunday doing set of contemporary worship songs in a (dare I say) more conventional way. Andy Flannagan closed things off on Monday with an interesting mix of him, a DJ and a man on a trombone. Somehow it worked.

Other options over the weekend, apart from the main worship on Sunday morning included eucharists from Blessed, an alt-worship sacramental community, another used music from Les Miserables, there was a U2charist and a goth mass. You could get close to nature with Forest Church, of you prefer it quiet, Quakers and Franciscans offer alternatives!

The range of music on offer is always a highlight for me. You can usually find a good selection of singer-songwriters around the place at the Performance Cafe (this year changed to a venue not a cafe!), the CD tent, the Christian Aid tent and the Shed - the youth venue. Martyn Joseph is usually on the list and he also hosts a session (The Rising) with musicians each day to talk about their work and share songs. We caught him talking to old-timer Garth Hewitt and two newer artists, Carrie Rodriguez and Blair Dunlop. The latter 2 were so good we spent 2 hours sitting on the floor of the Performance cafe for their afternoon sets. Blair Dunlop is a great guitarist and writes interesting songs; Carrie Rodriguez is more country influenced but avoids the country cliches. Ably assisted by Luke Jacobs on guitar and sometimes singing and playing the violin at the same time, she had real quality. Also caught Stylusboy from Coventry and Andy Howie from Scotland, but missed plenty more.

The Boxettes at The Performance Cafe

The word 'box' seemed to dominate music on Saturday. Boxes is a solo project by Carey Willetts of the band Athlete (who headlined our first Greenbelt in 2009). Playing solo with a variety of backing effects he did a good set. Later The Boxettes appeared. 4 singers and world champion beat boxer Bellatrix with no instrumentation or backing track, they delivered a great energetic set. More followed at the Performance Cafe, including an improvisation using three words from the audience. They're still unsigned and have far more talent than most 'girl groups', so somebody get them a contract! Also caught Black Rebel Motorcycle Club for some serious rock.

Panel discussion featuring Jim Wallis
and Richard Coles

The talks programme is always interesting, usually challenging, often inspiring and rarely without something controversial in there somewhere. Caught a nice little session with Martyn Joseph speaking about songwriting. Graham Cray spoke about what kind of church seems to be emerging for the future. Maybe I've been to too many sessions and read too many books on this, but I didn't find this very inspiring. However, Jim Wallis gave a very challenging, inspiring and yet very accessible address on 10 personal decisions you can make for the common good. I missed most of Steve Chalke, but I gather he was very good, but I did catch Rachel Mann on being a trans lesbian priest in the church today. that's not a talk I'd heard before, and it had a lot of insights.

Comedy from Paul Kerensa

The Christian Aid tent had a comprehensive programme. regular live music from Harry Bird and the Rubber Wellies, Paul Field and others. Interviews and panel discussions took place throughout and we also got some poetry from Harry Baker and comedy from Paul Kerensa, who writes for Miranda and other radio and TV shows. Meanwhile the cafe team made it a place to take a break and get some refreshment.

What else? Well there's always something going on. Giant puppets, a stage where anyone can have a go at a song, art installations, book launches, a beer tent (The Jesus Arms) and bumping into people you haven't seen for years.

This year there was little rain, no mud, and a new layout to avoid the quagmire of 2012. They did well, given the constraints, and we're sure to be back in future years.

A Very Quiet Protest

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.

Related articles

• The fight against library closures: will you be protesting? (guardian.co.uk)
• Save Our Libraries day: map your protest via Twitter (guardian.co.uk)
• Libraries protest day to be held (bbc.co.uk)

Wolf Hall

I have finally got round to reading the prize-winning Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel. Historical novels can often be rather stodgy affairs, feeling it necessary to fill you in with lots of history in a way that blocks the action. A strategy adopted by some is to make this palatable is to create a whodunnit - in very different ways the Shardlake series by C.J. Sansom and Ellis Peters' Cadfael books do this.

In Wolf Hall, Mantel majors on the rise of Thomas Cromwell, during the time of Henry VIII without having to resort to either of these methods. She portrays Cromwell more sympathetically than other accounts, and to some extent tries to explain his flaws and attitudes. She doesn't overdo the gruesome or the primitive aspects of Tudor London, but still manages to place the reader in a world that is very different from ours. Crucially, the people involved seem very real. They speak an English we understand, although the occasional Tudor word or phrase drops by, and they have feelings and instincts we can relate to.

If you are one of the few people left who haven't got round to it yet, it's well worth a fiver or so to get hold of a copy.

Critique of Dawkins

When I eventually read 'the God Delusion', I won't have a hope of writing a critique that opens as impressively as this:

"Imagine someone holding forth on biology whose only knowledge of the subject is the Book of British Birds, and you have a rough idea of what it feels like to read Richard Dawkins on theology." (Terry Eagleton, London Review of Books)

Click here to read the rest. Thanks to Mark Laynesmith for the tip-off.

Arthur and George

Just finished reading Arthur and George by Julian Barnes. It's one of those novels where characters develop in a parallel fashion in essentially alternate chapters. One eventually is revealed as a famous person; the other had a certain amount of fame for a short period of time. This maps how their lives are in many ways far apart, but also how they eventually intersect.

Beautifully written, and very interesting in the way it draws out issues of class, prejudice, religion and the pursuit of truth. Enjoy