July 2011 Blog Posts (17)

Reorganisation of dioceses in the Church of England doesn’t sound like the sexiest of subjects, does it? Especially in a week that has seen the slaughter of so many young people in Norway and the tragic death of Amy Winehouse – to say nothing of impending economic meltdown in the USA and the…

Slaughter in Norway. The sad, sad death of Amy Winehouse at only 27. Reports of continuing…

Following a report in the Daily Telegraph last week, I posted an explanatory blog…

This morning (while I was in meetings all day) The Guardian published a commissioned article on ‘faith schools’ and it sparked an interesting – though sometimes…

Was it just a matter of days ago that politicians were too fearful of the consequences of taking on Rupert Murdoch? The News International debacle has been so fast-moving that we easily lose track of time. Yet, until very…

Archbishop Daniel Deng has published the following statement on the Church’s commitment to the new nation of South Sudan:

Pastoral Letter Advising the Sons and Daughters of the…

The Daily Telegraph reports this morning a comment I made in a General Synod debate yesterday which I posted on last night. The Telegraph report says:

“Christians should learn how to be a ‘minority’ from Muslims, bishop says.

Christians should learn from Muslims how to exist as a…

One of the myths that flies around about the church is that church schools are divisive. Actually, to be precise, the myth is that ‘faith schools’ are divisive and ‘church schools’ get uncritically and illegitimately subsumed into this category. Church schools have a different remit.

This…

It’s always an odd experience debating liturgy on the General Synod. Having been away for the last six years, not a lot seems to have changed.

How do you write poetry on a committee of 400 people?…

A day of legislation at the General Synod of the Church of England is a prospect unlikely to get the pulse racing. So, at least yesterday began with…

When Sudan went to the referendum polls last year, it seemed that partition was the only way this divided nation could move forward in relative peace. I look back and accuse myself of both ignorance and romanticism.

It looks obvious on paper. The Muslim north could live with their own…

So, the News of the Screws is closing. I doubt if there will be a great deal of sadness around. But, two questions arise:

First, despite the language of contrition used by James Murdoch, is this anything more than a brutal…

One of the tragedies of the current News of the World scandal (which, for once, seems too mild a word) is the law of unintended consequences.

I have argued many times on this blog for outside regulation of the media – particularly the printed press. Repeated intrusion, misrepresentation…

Just a quick break between meetings (of which there are currently shed loads). A quick look at the BBC website:

• The News of the World…

Several years ago I was at the Royal Albert Hall for the annual Jools Holland gig. Support acts are sometimes a bit hit and miss, but that year it was stunning.

I’d never heard of…

One of the reasons time has been too short for decent blogging (or, for that matter, indecent blogging) is my having taken on too many speaking engagements which required proper preparation. One of them was a contribution to a multidisciplinary conference on…