Virtual Methodist

When my sister in law drew my attention last week to  the Daily Torygraph's article about David Cameron's Christian credo and his description of Britain as a Christian country , I have to say I wasn't terribly surprised. It was off the back of a Church Times article where the PM seems to have been fishing for the support of the nice, middle of the road, Vicar of Dibley-esque wing of the Church of England against all those nasty Bishops and pink-tinged foodbank volunteers who have been giving him and his government a hard time recently. My sister-in-law was of a similar mindset to those who wrote  a  letter to the Telegraph to express their belief that his description of Britain as a Christian country would prove divisive... Well, clearly it has... it has divided the country into those who write letters about such things and those who don't. I also don't want to cast doubts on David Cameron's faith, as Tony "Does he think of himself ...

I haven't had a good old fashioned rant in a while, so here goes... "Selfies" and "onesies..."  Have there ever been two words and concepts that sum up a civilisation in serious trouble as powerfully as those two? "Onesie" has been an acceptable word in the eyes of the OED at least since 2007 when it appeared in the Shorter OED, but it will never be acceptable to me, either as a word or a garment... As both word and garment it represents, to me, the infantilisation of the English language and western society... Adult baby-grows described in baby talk... So family members may take back any humorous Christmas "onesie" intended for me, as one would be Queen Victoria-like in one's lack of amusement if presented with one... But I loathe "onesies" much less than the concept and word "selfie". Others have been ranting about this " OED word of the year " since it was declared such last month. I have onl...

A bumper bonanza issue of the supplement due to a two week backlog of stuff I'd compiled... (you can save some of it for Bank Holiday Monday if the weather's bad and you have absolutely nothing better to do!) Ongoing Fun and Games ...not a reference to the World Police and Fire Games, which seems to have been a great success, but to the fact that after the fun over the flag at Christmas and the annual riot-fest around the Twelfth... this year we had the added bonus of a right royal ruckus in Royal Avenue in response to a Republican Internment Parade... This has led (among other things) to much activity in the virtual sphere... A few of the more interesting pieces include: "What does the Outside World Think of Us" - this is a question I ask myself all the time given that I have spent a fair proportion of my ministry interpreting the Northern Ireland situation to visitors from the US and elsewhere, and my FB is usually filled with questions and concerned com...

I was just going to include this story with others in another linkdump on Saturday, but the more I've thought about it, the madder I have become... After David Cameron announced yesterday at Prime Minister's question session in the House of Commons, a Downing Street source is reported to have said that food banks were to be welcomed as an example of "the big society"; so far, so predictable. But then she is said to have added: "Benefit levels are set at a level where people can afford to eat. If people have short-term shortages, where they feel they need a bit of extra food, then of course food banks are the right place for that. But benefits are not set at such a low level that people can't eat." The last statement may be currently true, although with below inflation increases to benefits already proposed by the government for the next three years against increasing food, fuel and transport costs, together with announcements today about council...

A slightly longer (and less politically neutral) version of this morning's Thought for the Day on Good Morning Ulster. "Two posh boys who don't know the price of milk".  A splendid soundbite slapdown of our Prime Minister and his mate next door, George Osborne, the Chancellor of the Exchequer. which was only surprising in that it came from an MP from their own party, Nadine Dorries. She went on to say "they are two arrogant posh boys who show no remorse, no contrition, and no passion to want to understand the lives of others – and that is their real crime." This then prompted laughable comments by David Cameron defending his man of the people persona by saying "‘I go to Sainsbury’s in Chipping Norton on a Friday or a Saturday. I do a lot of the family shopping. Sam does a lot of it on the internet."  Before asserting that he pays just under 50p per pint. But this is no more about the price of a pint of milk any more than the great Corni...

So Super Gordon has "saved the world". Has ever a slip of the tongue been so swiftly and cruelly pounced on? Instead of saying that his government had "saved the banks and led the world" on tackling the downturn, Gordon Brown managed to leave out a few words leading to howls of derision from the House of Commons and the accusation from David Cameron that he was "so busy talking about saving the world, he's forgotten about the businesses in the country that he's supposed to be governing." A great soundbite… But a colleague of mine , who is generally relatively apolitical in his posts, rightly pointed out in a letter to Mr Cameron that “saving the world” is not such a bad aspiration, and that whilst we should look out for the disadvantaged in the UK, we must also remember those who are infinitely poorer throughout the developing world. But whilst I will never cease to advocate and work for social justice at home and abroad, believing that it is integ...