The Tied Chair Dear friends, The Revd John Coulson won’t be a name familiar to you, but the keen-eyed can find it on the board with the list of Rectors at the back of Checkendon Church. He was the second incumbent (=Rector) to be appointed by University College, Oxford, in 1779, after the College had bought the rights to make the appointment…
History calling Dear friends, As weary and battered Palestinians trudge back up the road to their shattered cities, as green masked gunmen emerge from dark places to strut their stuff, as emotionally shredded Israeli hostage families weep with joy, as The President parades and preens, we wonder, “is this it?” Is this dreadful and appalling mess what history really looks like? A…
Brute (revival!) Dear friends, I’ve decided to join the ranks of celebs who launch their own brand of perfume. My creation harks back to the sexism and libertarianism of the 1970’s, with a fragrance just for men, especially those who are aspiring to leadership. There have been bulk orders from both East and West, and I’m working on a forthcoming Christmas ad…
A Humble House September has been a month of astonishing fruit harvest, as plum, pear, apple, greengage trees astounded us with their abundance. In the lanes and the woods the oaks, sloes, chestnuts and horse-chestnuts rain down their bounty. There has been a joyful outpouring of neighbourly sharing, and swapping, as freezers bulge and jam pans brim. We all stand humbled under…
George’s Gift Dear friends, One of the items I needed to clear from my metal trunk (in order that it could be used as a “treasure chest” in church on Sunday) was an old pharmaceutical chemistry text book. This was published exactly a century ago, and became such a standard work that it was still, just, in use at University entry level…
Days without hate Dear friends, We live in febrile times. The sheer number of people who turned up for Saturday’s march in London is a wake up call to those in mainstream politics; that there are many who are disenfranchised, and who feel ignored, taken for granted and generally left out. America’s more extreme version of the culture wars took a violent…
Missing the joke Dear friends, As a young curate in the Bradford Diocese back in the early 90’s, there would be the occasional Diocesan Conference, when all the clergy would be required to attend some large venue, and be engaged with speakers, workshops and such as deemed to be beneficial, and sometimes restorative, by the movers and shakers of the day. One…
Facial Recognition Dear friends, In recent weeks, police at events in both Cardiff and London were actively scanning the crowds attending. Cameras were monitoring proceedings, and the physical parameters of every face were being compared by computer with watchlists of known, or wanted individuals. Some civil libertarians complained about the intrusive nature of this action, some members of the crowd felt concerned,…
Truth Telling Dear friends, Going through some old university memorabilia a couple of weeks ago I found a “Michaelmas Term 1983” edition of the college student magazine. One of the contributors to this light hearted and sharply scurrilous organ was Chris Lambe, who was in the year below me. She is still writing, almost forty years on, having become one of the…
Something ridiculous Dear friends, The late theologian Hans Kung, in his vast work “Does God Exist?” sagely wrote that “any talk of God which does not begin, or end, in silence, knows nothing.” Those of us whose daily work revolves around words – their use, their arrangement, their creation, know that periods of inactivity, and revival are crucial to the engines of…