Friday, 25 March 2016

Letter on Good Friday: the limitless love of God


“After this, when Jesus knew that all was now finished, he said (in order to fulfil the scripture), ‘I am thirsty.’ A Jar full of sour wine was standing there. So they put a sponge full of the wine on a branch of hyssop and held it to his mouth. When Jesus had received the wine, he said, ‘It is finished.’ Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.”
(John 19:28-30).

Dear Reader,
Good Friday is, undoubtedly, a difficult day. I have been moved to tears before on this day. It is difficult because we are forced to confront the hardest truth of our Christian faith.

Wednesday, 23 March 2016

It's about time politically-correct students just shut up

“Have you heard about this campaign for disabled students?” My friend’s question seemed fairly straightforward. Was it about financial support? Was it something national? Was it about highlighting the support needs of disabled students? “Which one would that be?”
It turned out to be none of these things.

Sunday, 13 March 2016

Letter on Sunday: learning from an adulterous woman

This Sunday’s readings are:
Isaiah 43:16-21, Philippians 3:8-14, and the Gospel of John 8:1-11.

Dear Reader,
We all know the story in today's reading from John's gospel, of the woman caught committing adultery, in which Jesus invites whoever is without the first sin to cast the first stone, thereby setting the condemned woman free.

Wednesday, 24 February 2016

Why I'm not buying in to 'Brand Positivity'

What is Facebook’s most important question when hiring candidates? Here is the answer. The most important question is this: “On your very best day at work – the day you come home and think you have the best job in the world – what did you do that day?”
As million dollar questions go, you would be forgiven for hoping the sentence construction was a little more graceful, but the lack of elegance is far from the most sinister feature of such a question.

Saturday, 20 February 2016

Cameron's phony EU battle is over; let the real battle commence

Another EU summit, another all-nighter, another pretend game of brinkmanship, but last night David Cameron emerged triumphant, proclaiming with confidence that he now believes he has secured the reforms required for him to be able to recommend our continued membership of the EU. And here it is, ladies and gentlemen – Britain’s new deal. It is the deal that, for David Cameron, apparently changes everything.

Friday, 29 January 2016

Question Time review: buffoonery and the demeaning of tragedy

One can only hope that last night’s Question Time did not reflect the extent of debating skills in this country. IF it did, and it wasn’t just a classic lefty hijacking (as all episodes lately seem to be), God help our politics.

Tuesday, 19 January 2016

Britain can ban Donald Trump, but it can't ban the Trump effect

Is there anything more embarrassing than the British Parliament indulging the nonsensical idea of banning US presidential hopeful Donald Trump from entering the country because he said something we didn’t like about Muslims?