The word of life which was from the beginning
we proclaim to you.

My apologies. For various reasons no TBTM today. But in my stressed out state, this video (HT Tim Abbott) really made me smile.

I wonder if I could do this running round the altar?

This is SPARTA!.

Of course, I realise that there are tensions with my pacifistic inclinations, but I loved the book. “Tonight, we dine in Hell!!”
Cracking.

Well, it’s a catchy blogpost title. Have a read of this – the man doubtless thinks that my sermon last night is utter heresy. What a plonker. Has he even read the prophets?

Or, more precisely, WOBbing, is the sin of placing white text on a black background – which apparently makes things difficult to read. So I’m going to experiment with some changes to the look of the blog – I’d be most grateful for feedback from people about the look of the blog, both it’s present format and any of the alternatives that I’ll experiment with in the next couple of days.

NB if you use Firefox (and I imagine if you use IE) you can automatically change the text size by using the ‘view’ options.

VERY good article over at Casaubon’s book, well worth a read (and it’s so good I’ve added the author to my blogroll). Extract:

“What the bathroom metaphor actually does is equate “freedom” with “no limits” – it says that freedom and dignity are constructs of privelege and lack of constraint. That is, you have the perfect freedom of the bathroom when you never have to wait, or accomodate anyone else, adapt to or respect anyone else’s needs. But that is *not* what freedom is – and I think this is an important point, because our consumer culture tells us over and over again that freedom is the ability to have whatever you want, whenever you want it. Freedom is “freedom of choice” and that is the equivalent of 63 choices of soda on the grocery store aisle, rather than the freedom from want, or freedom from repression – freedoms that only work when other people are aware of and attentive to others. Freedom, according to Dick Cheney, is the American way of life being “non-negotiable” rather than an egalitarian, shared and just life that extends beyond the borders of America. The bathroom example perpetuates the “freedom is choice” notion – that being free means never having to say, “excuse me.”

I think that’s truly and deeply wrong, and if we think this way about the population issue, we are perpetuating our most foolish habits of thought.”

Critique of Western foreign policy from a (newish) Conservative MP, who is reputedly close to Cameron. Encouraging that someone that high up is so well-informed about Islamism. I found the material on Sir Iqbal Sacranie fascinating – perfect illustration of what is wrong with the prevailing attitudes.

I greatly enjoy reading Bryan Appleyard’s blog, and his articles, which never fail to either inform or entertain – and often both (he was the man who switched me on to peak oil). There is an interesting interview with him at the Independent today: “The only thing I’m sure I am is culturally conservative – the only way you have a culture is being conservative.”

Or as Show of Hands have been singing: we’ve lost more than we’ll ever know, round the rocky shores of England.

The bigger the better, says Ollie.

My friend PB took me off to see Show of Hands perform at the Half Moon in Putney last night, which was a thoroughly excellent evening’s entertainment. I hadn’t heard anything by them before, but this is going to be an anthem for me; at least for a while:

And we learn to be ashamed before we walk
Of the way we look and the way we talk;
Without our stories or our songs
How will we know where we’ve come from?
I’ve lost St George in the Union Jack
It’s my flag too and I want it back

Seed, bud, flower, fruit
Never gonna grow without their roots
Branch, stem, shoots – we need roots

Haul away boys let them go
Out in the wind and the rain and snow
We’ve lost more than we’ll ever know
Round the rocky shores of England…

PS the support band were Megson – see here for a taste – thought they were pretty good too, even if we only heard their last two songs!