Author: faithrootsdw

Unburdened by doctrine?

They saved the two best speeches until the end.  Rishi Sunak left Downing Street speaking humbly rather than defiantly, apologising for his failings and then praising his successor, acknowledging that Sir Keir Starmer is a decent, public servant and encouraging everyone to see the new PM’s successes as “all our successes.” Starmer on his part… Continue reading Unburdened by doctrine?

Prophecy and the excluded middle

Sometimes’ a football team’s strategy is to hit the ball long, consistently bouncing it between defenders and strikers so that the midfielders become passive observers.  The middle of the pitch is excluded.  There are ways in which we can exclude the middle too. There is a tendency I think for churches to think in terms… Continue reading Prophecy and the excluded middle

Should we make our church harder to join?

“Yes and no” The question is raised by Tim Suffield here. Or rather, Tim answers the question from his perspective with a hard “yes”. He argues that we shouldn’t be too easy to join, that “welcome requires walls” and that this means a church should be clear in communicating what makes it distinctive and what… Continue reading Should we make our church harder to join?

Total Recall and VAR (lessons from Harry Kane’s penalty for cultural analysis)

In both of England’s recent Euro semi-finals, there’s been penalty controversy. Some pundits branded the decision in favour of Kane the other night “a disgrace.” At the time, I agreed with the VAR decision but have found the lively, good natured social media debate fascinating. Many England fans have argued that it should not have… Continue reading Total Recall and VAR (lessons from Harry Kane’s penalty for cultural analysis)

The future of the centre right

At the General Election, the Conservatives were reduced to a rump of 121 out of 650 MPs.  If we consider Reform, or at least their voters as belonging to the centre-right too, then we are still only looking at 126 seats.  However, that’s one part of the story.  Whilst barely 24% of the electorate voted… Continue reading The future of the centre right

The future of the centre-left

People are now beginning to develop their reflections and analysis from the recent General Election.  In terms of trying to piece together what went wrong and what they might need to change for the future, the big focus is on the Conservatives following their heavy landslaide defeat. So, it might seem strange to be asking… Continue reading The future of the centre-left

How accurate are our memories?

England are in the Euros’ semi-finals.  Apologies to Scottish and Welsh readers but I cannot help but link today’s blog with that fact. Of course, England being England, they’ve not made their route this far easy.  Southgate and the team have come under heavy pressure particularly about their performances. Pundits who never made it to… Continue reading How accurate are our memories?