Imagine trying to drive your brand new car in the garage with just tiny gap between your shiny new paintwork and the brick wall.  That was the challenge faced this week by the pilot of the Royal Navy’s latest aircraft carrier, as she left the dockyard and headed out into open water for the first time.  At 280 metres long … Read More

16 The disciples left, came to the city, found everything just as he had told them, and prepared the Passover meal. 17-18 After sunset he came with the Twelve. As they were at the supper table eating, Jesus said, “I have something hard but important to say to you: One of you is going to hand me over to the conspirators, one … Read More

Once upon a time the workings of the British Parliamentary system were a closely guarded secret.  Those in power didn’t want the rest of the population to know what they were discussing in their debates, and severe penalties were inflicted on any who dared to ‘leak’ information from either the House of Lords or Commons.  Of course there were plenty … Read More

Single man says no marriage in heaven.  Well he would, wouldn’t he?  Clearly the bitter musings of someone who has failed at love and wants to burst the bubble of those enjoying a happy relationship.  Surely it’s a human right to find love wherever and whenever we can, because our lives will be impoverished without it.   But wait a … Read More

10-11 Judas Iscariot, one of the Twelve, went to the cabal of high priests, determined to betray him. They couldn’t believe their ears, and promised to pay him well. He started looking for just the right moment to hand him over. 12 On the first of the Days of Unleavened Bread, the day they prepare the Passover sacrifice, his disciples asked him, … Read More

There is no doubt that Theresa May, the British Prime Minister, is a compassionate person who feels things very deeply.  Sadly, however, her decision not to immediately meet the victims of the Grenfell Tower fire has given the opposite impression, and her premiership may well be damaged as a result.  George Bush made the same error after Hurricane Katrina destroyed … Read More

Interesting to hear the host of the BBC Radio 2 Breakfast Show, Chris Evans, admit that in recent days he has taken to saying the Lord’s Prayer each night.  The admission came in the wake of the recent terrorist attacks in London and Manchester, and I presume that Chris, like many others, is reaching out instinctively to find something solid … Read More

14:1-2 In only two days the eight-day Festival of Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread would begin. The high priests and religion scholars were looking for a way they could seize Jesus by stealth and kill him. They agreed that it should not be done during Passover Week. “We don’t want the crowds up in arms,” they said.   3-5 Jesus … Read More

The summer of 1976 was one of the hottest ever recorded in Great Britain.  On 3rd July temperatures soared to nearly 36  degrees Celsius, and some parts of the country had no rain for 45 days.  Mains water supplies had to be turned off with people forced to collect water instead from standpipes in the street.  I was at boarding school … Read More

Sorting through the dustbins of Bogota in the late 1990’s dustman Jose Gutierrez came across a copy of Tolstoy’s novel Anna Karenina.  It seemed a terrible waste that the book had been thrown away, so he kept it.  Having found one he soon started to find others and before long his home had been transformed into a library of some … Read More