Viewing all items in Resource Category: Editorial

The old adage that dogs take after their owners may be more true that we realise.   For a new study has found that when dog-owners suffer from on-going anxiety, so do their dogs. Scientists measured the concentration of cortisol, a stress hormone, by taking a few centimetres of hair from a number of dogs and...

The Bible Society’s Open the Book (OtB) programme offers primary school children an opportunity to hear the major stories of the Bible through the academic year. It is a three-year rolling programme of chronological stories.  Volunteers from local churches present the stories during assemblies using drama, props and costumes.  OtB meets the criteria used by school inspection...

The robin sang, the flowers bloomed all nature played its part, The only discord in this scene was man’s reluctant heart. The Creator’s manual he ignored so a path of pain he trod, Thinking that he knew the best man turned away from God.   The mess we’re in has been self-made, all answers lie...

When a close friend dies, it hurts. Very much.  But now an analysis of bereaved people has found that women suffer more, emotionally and socially, than men do, when they lose a close friend. Women friends can take up to four years to recover, probably because women tend to share tighter ‘socio-emotional’ bonds with one...

After St Paul, who was the most influential Christian writer ever?  St Augustine of Hippo (354 – 430), whose feast-day is on 28th August.  He lived and wrote in a time of social and spiritual chaos.  The Roman Empire was collapsing, the world was about to slide into the dark ages and the Church was...

Churches were encouraged to offer a place of sanctuary for young people as part of efforts to combat knife crime and serious youth violence, in a key debate held at the General Synod last month. The Revd. Canon Dr Rosemarie Mallett, a priest in Angell Town, south London, urged parishes to consider opening their doors...

The ethnicity of churchgoers has been measured across thousands of churches in England in the English Church Censuses of 1998 and 2005, and numbers for other years can be estimated from these.  The proportion of White worshippers is declining, compared with the emphatic growth of many Black churches, especially in London.  In the year 2000...

Sunday trading was legalised in England and Wales 25 years ago, on 28th August 1994. Until then, under the Shops Act of 1950, the situation had been rather chaotic, and some of the rules laughable, but Sunday had been recognised as a ‘special’ day. The Shops Bill of 1984, which would have allowed widespread Sunday trading,...

Going on holiday with the parents this year?  If they are elderly, you might want to use the time to keep an eye out for any signs of depression or dementia. It is not a cheerful thing to do on holiday, but one which is recommended by NHS England’s national clinical director for dementia and...

Fair is her foot and smooth is her hand, And graceful her form upon the strand, Winsome her voice and gentle her speech, Stately her mien on the ocean beach, Warm doth she look, and mild is her face, While swelleth her lovely breast of grace Like black-headed seagull up and down On the gently...

More of us need more help.  Fewer of us are getting it.  The crisis in the social care system in England continues to grow.  Local council spending in real terms is now £700million below what it was in 2010/11. The findings come in a recent report from the King’s Fund think tank, which found a...

Spare a thought for John the Baptist: however rough your local sandwich bar may be, it probably doesn’t serve you locusts with a honey dip; you won’t be imprisoned for saying derogatory things about the local MP’s wife, and even the boss from hell is unlikely to have a daughter who wants to hip-hop about...