Viewing all items in Resource Category: Editorial

The battle rages:  just where IS the best place to store your ground coffee? Sainsburys, Morrisons, Asda, Marks & Spencer and Ocado are among the supermarkets that advise you keep fresh ground coffee in a fridge or freezer after opening. But Tesco, Waitrose and Harrods advise that you store ground coffee and beans in a...

Some time ago I was helping my grandson George into his car seat in the back of my car, when I accidentally banged his head. He started to cry.  ‘Come on, George, be brave,’ I said. ‘But I don’t want to be brave,’ he objected. I guess we all know that feeling. Sometimes life is...

One hundred years ago, on 15th May 1921, the British Legion was founded in the aftermath of the First World War, to provide support to veterans of the British Armed Forces, their families and dependants. It was created at a time when two million people were unemployed. More than six million had served in the...

Josephine Butler is the ‘saint’ for anyone who believes in social justice.  This remarkable 19th century clergyman’s wife became a renowned campaigner for women’s rights and for putting a halt to human trafficking. Josephine was born in Northumberland in 1828, the daughter of a wealthy family of liberal politics and committed Christian faith. They had...

The Church of England has recently published a detailed response to the recommendations of the IICSA (Independent Inquiry Child Sexual Abuse) report from October 2020. The response includes an admission that “the Church of England failed to protect some children and young people from sexual predators within their midst.” It goes on: “While the Church...

Ascension Prayer for Pentecost The Travellers A Lady with the Shot My Garden? Ascension ** Editor:  Ascension Day this year is on 13th May. Ascension (Luke 24:44-53)   Scriptures fulfilled, Minds opened, We followed Him to Bethany. And there was joy in the blessing Of our risen Lord, Jesus, God on earth.   And in...

Could you live happily without the BBC?   Just try it for two weeks. That was the recent challenge of the corporation’s outgoing chairman, Sir David Clementi, to a group of critics who said they resented the licence fee. Apparently, nine days later, two thirds of the critics had changed their mind and said that the...

** Mea Culpa A group of lads took a trip to France and decided to attend Mass in a small town, even though none of them understood French. They managed to stand, kneel and sit when the rest of the congregation did, so it wouldn’t be obvious they were tourists. At one point, the priest...

Amnesty International was founded in London 60 years ago, on 28th May 1961. A non-governmental organisation with its headquarters in the United Kingdom, Amnesty International focuses on human rights and is believed to have more than seven million members and supporters around the world. It was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1977 for its...

Two centuries after the death of Mary Bouffler, the first woman sent out in her own right by Church Mission Society to be a missionary overseas, CMS is honouring the achievements of inspiring women who followed in Bouffler’s footsteps, to share their faith and transform communities. Bouffler travelled to Sierra Leone in 1820 and tragically...

When Van Gogh painted ‘The Raising of Lazarus’, he turned to Rembrandt for inspiration. But in place of the figure of Jesus, he painted a warm, glowing sun, radiant in the sky, and shining out to bring renewal of life to Lazarus and his sisters. From time immemorial people have placed the sun at the...

How far would you go to respond to God’s call on your life? When, as the daughter of a peasant family in Champagne in 1426, 14-year-old Joan heard heavenly voices calling her to ‘save France’ from the English, she decided to obey the call, no matter what the consequences. Teenage girls who want to rescue...