The sun came out yesterday, the sky filled with cotton wool clouds, and birds chirped merrily. An idyllic English afternoon in early Spring, in fact. Edward Thomas (1878-1917) in 1905 Rupert Brooke (1887-1915) in April 1913 - colourized by jecinci…
Today's reading is neither poetry nor fiction but is prose of a different sort. It is one of C. S. Lewis's great essays, one which feels more relevant today than ever. But it will make you think a fair bit.…
Thomas Gray by John Giles Eccardt, (1747-1748) Time to get out of the house. We're allowed out for up to an hour a day, which is just as well as we'd lose the plot otherwise, as would the dog. Followers…
I think this is him! Time to take a break from seriousness and intensity. Here's some much-needed light relief. Patrick Barrington, or as he was to become, the 11th (and last) Viscount Barrington of Ardglass and 11th Baron Barrington of…
R. S. Thomas, I imagine, would not necessarily have had much time for me. I don't really know why I think that (and I'm probably committing a gross calumny), but there's a severity and pointedness to his writing which suggests…
Sacred Treasure There has been much heat and hurt recently about power abuse and church ministry. It is something that I've been working on and engaging with for the last 10 years or so. Here are some of the better…
Previous posts Anti-Semitism in the UK: 1. 75 years after Auschwitz...Anti-Semitism in the UK: 2. The challenge of definitions Now I'm super-conscious that the previous post is controversial. But here's one difficulty with it in particular. Supposing, then, that it…
Click here for Anti-Semitism in the UK: 1. 75 years after Auschwitz... Now I'm horribly aware of the hot water I'm tiptoeing into. So let me say at the outset: I'm no expert; I fully concede that others spend vastly…
Sacred Treasure This is an extraordinary story that reads like a whodunnit: the stolen early manuscript of Mark? (long read but worth it)I'm an unashamed John Dickson fan - his new book on the historical Jesus looks great: here he…
Sacred Treasure One man mission - a fascinating story about reviving Welsh chapels - and fascinating it gets such a high profile on the BBCJames Hannam has written one of my favourite books of history (God's Philosophers: How the Mediaeval…