Viewing all items in Resource Category: Editorial

PCR tests are a fact of life for most of us at the moment. As a biologist who was doing this procedure long before most people had heard of it, I take secret delight in people’s use of the acronym. Let me open the laboratory door and share the wonders it conceals. The swab that...

‘Where is it that you call home?’ I wonder how different people would answer that question. It’s so much gentler than asking ‘where do you come from?’ That question declares that clearly you don’t come from around here so you must be a stranger in these parts. But the question about home is much deeper...

Thoughts on the Crucifixion accompanied with a painting This is not a nice picture. In fact, it is pretty horrible. But then that 2004 film, The Passion of the Christ was pretty horrible. It was controversial for its goriness and violence. Yet the director Mel Gibson deeply wanted it to be true to life, without...

The English have a patron saint who isn’t English, about whom next to nothing is known for sure, and who, just possibly, may not have existed at all. But that didn’t stop St George being patriotically invoked in many battles, notably at Agincourt and in the Crusades, and of course it is his cross that...

The International Day for Street Children, first launched on 12th April 2011, is a response to the desperate need of hundreds of millions of children world-wide who are forced to live or work on the streets. The UN admits that although there are millions of such children, official figures are virtually non-existent. Tragically, these children...

The war in Ukraine is moving fast and threatening millions of people’s lives. Many of us feel overwhelmed by the scale and complexity of the threat. Several Christian organisations have posted prayers which may help your readers to formulate their prayers. We offer three such prayers here.   Prayer from the Church of England (https://www.churchofengland.org/prayer-and-worship/worship-texts-and-resources/praying-peace-world)...

Members of the Church of England General Synod have unanimously backed a motion of support for churches around the world as a bishop warned of the “monstrous evil” of the “wholesale denial” of freedom of religion or belief in many countries. The motion called for dioceses and parishes to pray and offer other practical help...

One thing you need to put at the top of your list this Spring is to simply MOVE. Whether you like gardening, cycling, jogging, walking or any other activity, make certain that you do some of it every day. As Prof James Goodwin, of the Brain Health Network in London explains, “Only 25 per cent...

The Saint of an English Army before he was Patron Saint of England, St George may have been a soldier, but he was no Englishman. Some stories say that he was an officer in the Roman army under Diocletian, who refused to abandon his faith during the Terror, and was martyred at Lydda in Palestine...

Editor:  looking forward through Lent to Palm Sunday and Easter … Good Friday, in a way…is not Good Friday at all. It is Black Friday – a very Black Friday. It is Good Friday only in the sense that we know Easter will follow.  – J E Lantz He has outsoared the shadow of our...

Why do you like the music that you do? It may depend on your personality traits. A recent study has found that agreeable people tend to favour mellow music such as reggae, while neurotic people, struggling with suppressed anger and frustration, will tend to prefer intense styles such as grunge and metal. The study spanned...

Have you seen the film How to Train your Dragon? It’s set in a Viking village under attack from dragons, who steal livestock and burn down houses. Hiccup, the village Chief’s son, invents a machine to capture dragons. However, when he catches one of the most dangerous dragons, he cannot kill it, when he sees...