Viewing all items in Resource Category: Editorial

This, the Archbishop’s statement on assisted suicide below, was made ahead of a recent new Private Member’s Bill introduced in the House of Commons. “Though our society might be divided over the question of assisted suicide, we all ultimately want the same thing for those who are suffering. We want compassion offered to those in...

That coin in your Christmas pudding How much will you spend on Christmas this year? What does your TV licence cover? Think twice before buying that goat in Ghana What sort of a Christmas card person are you? Restrict number of dogs that can be walked ** Editor:  David Pickup considers the coin in Christmas...

It was back in 1954 when the charity, BibleLands Mission Aid Society, first tentatively decided to print a colourful compilation of popular Christmas carols, alongside images of some of the people BibleLands served. From the start, the scheme was an immense success. The carol sheets were so popular that even that first year, 100,000 copies...

Did you know that mince pies have been traditional English Christmas fare since the Middle Ages, when meat was a key ingredient?  The addition of spices, suet and alcohol to meat came about because it was an alternative to salting and smoking in order to preserve the food. Mince pies used to be a different...

There is a tradition, which dates from the Middle Ages, of putting silver coins into Christmas puddings. The first coins used were a silver farthing or penny. After World War One, it became a threepenny bit and then a sixpence. Finding one was supposed to bring you good fortune, but probably it was more likely...

The status of hedgehogs in western Europe has recently been downgraded to “near threatened”, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List. If European numbers decline any farther, hedgehogs will be listed as being at risk of extinction. Numbers have shrunk in more than half the countries where hedgehogs live –...

The Archbishop of Canterbury recently made a ‘personal statement’, with regard to the historic slave trade.  “I have recently discovered that my biological father, the late Sir Anthony Montague Browne, had an ancestral connection to the enslavement of people in Jamaica and Tobago. His great, great grandfather was Sir James Fergusson, an owner of enslaved...

Since the beginning of the Living in Love and Faith process, people across the Church of England have been studying, praying and sharing together about sexuality, identity, relationships and marriage. That process has revealed profound differences in theological conviction and biblical interpretation. But that does not change the fact that every group and every Christian...

Matthew 1:18            Joseph’s dilemma This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about. His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit….” It is not clear at what point Mary told Joseph the news of her pregnancy,...

You will probably spend about £600 during this festive period – what with Christmas gifts, food, decorations, socialising and travel. Over half your budget will go on gifts for others, followed by food and drink (18%), travel (6%), gifts for yourself (4%) and decorations (2%). About a third of us will still be shopping during...

A charity based in the UK is sending emergency vets to care for donkeys in Gaza. Safe Haven for Donkeys was set up about 20 years ago to treat working donkeys across Israel and the Palestinian Territories. But the charity says that its mobile first aid team is even more necessary now, because with fuel...

As you prepare for Christmas this year, spare a thought – and a prayer – for our teachers.  Their job is even more demanding at this time of year, as school Christmas activities are added to an already over-crowded school curriculum. Also, recent figures from the Department for Education show that, for whatever reason, our...