Once again, antisemitism is in the news. A celebrity has been sounding off on his twitter account, threatening to take on the whole Jewish community, comparing Jews to the KKK, encouraging the usual tropes about Jews controlling the world’s money. If we thought that antisemitism had gone away with the change of Labour Party leadership,… Continue reading Antisemitism is racist – no ifs no buts
Category: Opinion
It was the Russians
Finally we have had the report about Russian interference in elections. If I understand things right, there’s some evidence of attempted interference in some campaigns and none or little for others. However where there is no evidence of interference that proved that there must have been interference and the government have intentionally looked the other… Continue reading It was the Russians
Ssh we don’t talk about money
So the other day I got one of those awkward English messages. If it had been a verbal conversation it would have begun with a nervous cough and a glance at the floor. The person was a facebook group moderator and it had been drawn to his attention by some of the group members that… Continue reading Ssh we don’t talk about money
Stop worshipping at the foot of the magic money tree
It’s the 2017 General Election, the Tories had gone into the campaign, fully expecting a landslide victory but had then proceeded to self destruct whilst Jeremy Corbyn’s campaign had too off with the promise of investment and handouts. Central to the Labour campaign was the commitment to abolish student fees. Then you may remember that… Continue reading Stop worshipping at the foot of the magic money tree
Don’t forget about asylum seekers
This week, the Guardian reported on an attempt to deport a young girl at risk of experiencing FGM. Now, if the child’s mother or father were attempting to take her out of the country to face this horrific abuse, then the courts and the Government would rightly be doing everything in their power to stop… Continue reading Don’t forget about asylum seekers
How Theological College helped prepare me for Gospel ministry
I’m republishing some articles I wrote a little while back about training for urban ministry. I want to share a few thoughts here about the positives of formal theological education and why I recommend it.[1] There’s a temptation to see training as primarily academic and therefore irrelevant to the day to day life of ministry. … Continue reading How Theological College helped prepare me for Gospel ministry
Rishi’s gamble
Will you be off out for your half-priced meal in August? Don’t forget “eat out to help out.” Rishi Sunak has turned into a kind of 21st Century milky bar kid, Nandos Chicken and your Beefeater steak are on him. Yesterday, the Chancellor announced some significant measures to help the economy avoid a deep recession… Continue reading Rishi’s gamble
As we re-open church buildings we need to be transparent about risk
It is important that as we begin taking those baby steps to re-opening our church buildings that we are open and honest with each other about what the risks are. We should not be gung-ho, rushing in and saying “It is back to normal. There are no risks.” There are always risks involved with organising… Continue reading As we re-open church buildings we need to be transparent about risk
Following the science – but which science?
From the start of Coronavirus the Government have repeated the mantra that in all their actions, they have been “following the science.” However, the idea that there is this thing called “The Science” is rather misleading. It misses two points. The first is that there are various fields of science. This of course includes the… Continue reading Following the science – but which science?
Qualifications matter -why an appeal to authority isn’t always wrong
A follow on from the Douglas Carswell tweet which I mentioned in the previous post was, a twitter interaction with someone that went something as follows: Them: “The WHO have been dreadful during the virus. A lot of the measures including the 2 metre rule are nonsense.” Me: “Are you a doctor or epidemiologist? Do… Continue reading Qualifications matter -why an appeal to authority isn’t always wrong
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