January 2011
1 post
Petitioning the universe
Last night at Fuzzy (I’ll explain what that is one day), we were invited to do something that felt all wrong: to write a prayer for ourselves. We were invited to follow the example of the central character in Elizabeth Gilbert’s Eat. Pray. Love in unashamedly petitioning the universe.
I was in a weird place anyway. I’d just found out that I’d been appointed as the...
December 2010
3 posts
A Nocturnal upon Saint Lucy's Day
‘TIS the year’s midnight, and it is the day’s, Lucy’s, who scarce seven hours herself unmasks; The sun is spent, and now his flasks Send forth light squibs, no constant rays; The world’s whole sap is sunk; The general balm th’ hydroptic earth hath drunk, Whither, as to the bed’s-feet, life is shrunk, Dead and interr’d; yet all these seem to laugh,...
From pillar to post
Nanny State? Or Big Society? I suspect that, when it comes to schooling, we need a bit of both. (Whatever we mean by those terms.)
I say this because I’ve recently been affected – as a parent of children at school and as a friend to a teacher who looks set to lose his job – by the increasing power of the role of the Head.
The government’s mantra is to let the Head manage the school....
No special defence
Today has seen the first ‘Not Ashamed’ day here in the UK. I’m not sure where to begin in trying to outline my unsease with the whole project. But why not with this:
The 1st December has long been established as World Aids Day. So it seems pretty bad manners to launch something you want to garner national press attention on the same day. Either bad manners, or perhaps it...
October 2010
1 post
3 tags
The past will seem like another country
Kester Brewin’s poignant blog post on the imaginable end of arts degrees as we know them brought me up short.
In my local University of Gloucestershire, this is a process that has been happening for some years already. It’s ironic that, after years of battling for hallowed ‘university’ status, the institution now offers far less of the vital ‘waste-of-time’...
September 2010
4 posts
2 tags
They're one. But they're not the same.
As the dad to identical twins I am fascinated – in a pseudo-scientific way, you understand – to observe their development and interaction and to hatch pet theories as a result.
Identical twins have long been the focus of medical research into issues of nature and nurture. (Ours are part of a nationwide study being done at UCL into childhood obesity – and one of them is doing his level best to...
3 tags
The new broom
Photo – thanks Dave Morris.
There’s a new head teacher at our boys’ school. He seems like a nice bloke. He inherits an institution with a very particular and established ethos: easy-going, bordering on slacker. It’s one of the main reasons we chose the school, to be honest.
What’s interesting to watch is the subtle changes that are being introduced as this new head tries...
3 tags
Pope Benedict: silence in class.
Pictured above: Leonardo Boff (thanks)
As the wind gathers strength in the hours before Pope Benedict’s state visit to the UK, I am reminded about the time I came across the man. It was when I indulged myself in a little theological reflection a while back (10 years ago now, in fact) and found myself reading some great liberation theology by one Leonardo Boff.
Among Leonado’s books...
4 tags
Blair: which project?
A Banksy in Bethlehem – on the way north out of the little town before the encircled Rachel’s Tomb and the Gilo checkpoint crossing up into Jerusalem.
Dear Tony,
I was dismayed to read your thoughts on the Middle East Peace process here.
As one of the people you cast as wanting to ‘de-legitmatise’ Israel in an insidious and camouflaged manner, I must respond to your partial...