News of a little spat concerning the Keswick Convention has been circulating in the Christian media. It concerns a small, anti-abortion organisation called Brephos who organised what they refer to as a “public education” event to coincide with this year’s convention in Keswick town centre. It seems like their event caused a bit of upset… Continue reading Brephos, Keswick …and when things may not be quite what they seem
Category: Opinion
Talking up the threat (more reflections on responding to the riots)
I’m writing on Thursday morning. Last night there was a lot of nervousness about potential further riots and disturbances around the country. I’m encouraged that the night seems to have passed off fairly peacefully. I’m not sure though that I share the optimism of the media or Christian leaders that a far right mob was… Continue reading Talking up the threat (more reflections on responding to the riots)
How do we respond to the riots?
The last few days have seen a wave of violence across the UK. The trigger point was the horrific knife attack in Southport and murder of three little girls. We are seeing this stirred up with stories, rumours and blatant untruths circulated online and not helped by politicians’ comments. Passions are being inflamed. There is… Continue reading How do we respond to the riots?
An open response to an open letter in Evangelicals Now about training future pastors
This first appeared as a letter in Evangelicals Now here. Evangelicals Now have recently published an open letter from John Brand, principal of Edinburgh Bible College. It’s addressed to “church leaders training men for ministry.” Well, that kind of sounds like me, so I hope that John and EN will accept an open letter in… Continue reading An open response to an open letter in Evangelicals Now about training future pastors
Offended?
One of the incidents in the Olympic opening ceremony that caused most controversy was the decision to create a tableau mimicking Leonardo Da Vinci’s “The Last Supper and featuring drag queens. The incident was seized upon as offensive to Christian viewers around the world, something that the organisers have since accepted whilst denying that this… Continue reading Offended?
Imagine: The Paris Olympics and how a song and a ceremony offered the only message they could
The idea of an opening ceremony for something like the Olympics seems fairly straight forward. You welcome the contestants, spectators and referees/umpires, you declare the event to have begun and then you let everyone sit back and enjoy the spectacle to come. The thing about sport is that it is an incredible visual spectacle and… Continue reading Imagine: The Paris Olympics and how a song and a ceremony offered the only message they could
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
How did we get here and where next – preliminary reflections on the General election result
As I write, there are 5 seats left to declare. Labour have won 411 and are expected to win a few more, the Conservatives have been reduced to a rump of 119 meaning they’ve performed even worse than the Exit poll projected though slightly better than some of the polls were suggesting they might. The… Continue reading How did we get here and where next – preliminary reflections on the General election result
Journalists should stop trying to be the mediators
Whatever our views of individual politicians, good political debate can be helped or hindered by the journalists reporting, interviewing and debate moderating. I think Nick Robinson modelled reasonably well how to do it when interviewing Sunak but suffered from time constraints. I’m sure previous elections have seen a longer format. The moderating of the BBC… Continue reading Journalists should stop trying to be the mediators
Is John Stott’s successor my friend?
Evangelicals Now reports that the rector at All Souls, Langham Place, Charlie Skrine has said in a speech in Sydney that “Justin Welby” is not his friend. Looking on as an outsider to the Anglican scene, this strikes me as yet another example of why the internal Anglican debate and even more so the debate… Continue reading Is John Stott’s successor my friend?
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