Virtual Methodist

HUGE backlog... so much so that when I went back to my list of links I couldn't think why for the life of me I would have wanted to pass some of them on... Ah well, such is the ephemeral nature of the interweb... But there is still a huge collection here... So I will keep my comments to a minimum and just throw them out there under a few broad headings... Some are, as the signpost says, useful, others merely funny, and just because I've put them up here doesn't mean I necessarily agree with everything in them... but they are worth thinking about or will at least give some of you a giggle... OBITS I said the last time that there would probably be lots of pieces on Seamus Heaney in my next Saturday Supplement following his sad demise. Sorry to disappoint. I only offer this one by Roy Foster in the O bserver, as well as another one from the Guardian the next day by Mark Lawson on David Frost who has gone to the great eternal interview...  SYRIA One of the areas ...

I don't know whether it was the shadow of Seamus Heaney looming over me, or due to biting off more than I could possibly chew, but I have never had so much difficulty distilling my thoughts for Thought for the Day, into this single thought... If you didn't hear it live and would like to "Listen again", you will find it at 25minutes and 85 minutes in to Good Morning Ulster for Monday 2nd September on BBC Radio Ulster's iPlayer. Like many I was saddened on Friday to hear of the death of Seamus Heaney, that most humane, humble and humorous of poets… I was waiting to pick up my son from school, the school I used to attend… the school where, in the midst of the troubles, I first read Heaney’s poetry … a school where, because of the mixed religious backgrounds of the pupils, we practised the art of evasion famously identified by him as a characteristic of our conflict… “whatever you say, say nothing…” The church has been repeatedly accused of doing that in this pro...