Viewing all items in Resource Category: Editorial

According to the current Ipsos MORI Veracity Index, our faith in bankers is growing.  Public trust in Britain’s bankers has actually doubled in the past five years, with two in five of us now saying we would trust a banker to be truthful. The people we trust most of all are still our doctors and...

The story of the coming of the Magi grew in the telling.  By the 6th century they had acquired names: Gaspar, Melchior, and Balthasar.  By medieval times they were considered to be kings.  Whoever they were, we do know from Matthew that they brought three gifts to Jesus. What about their gifts of gold, frankincense...

Nearly 50,000 children in the UK are living with adults who are addicted to drugs or alcohol, according to recent Public Health England figures. That will include a proportion of middle class and professional families.

2018 has slipped away And a New Year now comes into view, What will it hold, no-one yet knows What will it bring –  good or bad news?   Whatever the way the wind will blow Our craft is safe in the Master’s hand, Whether placid seas or sudden storms The wind and the waves...

Satellite pictures of earth are usually beautiful, but not these: The Environment Agency has begun using satellite images to monitor plastic pollution off Britain’s shores, so that it can send clean-up teams in to protect wildlife. Each year the world makes about 380million tons of plastic.  At least eight million tons of the stuff ends...

I dreamed of storms of danger in the wind of being swallowed by water going down for the third time   I dreamed I was bleeding, in pain, addicted, and in the cold and heat there was no way out   I dreamed I was doing wrong but could not do right and in the...

Many saints have fed the poor, but not many were interested in actual food production.  Nathalan (died c.678) was, so perhaps he might be the patron saint of anyone who produces food – and gives most of it away to those in need. Scotland in the 7th century must have been a hungry place, especially...

Who thinks up tests like this?  Scientists have been out collecting spiders from rural and urban areas all across Europe, to test whether or not their natural fear of light is changing. They found that country spiders, regardless from which country, still prefer quiet, dark places.  However, urban spiders are becoming brazen, and are happy...

In winter when I drive my car I all too often feel a jar – That awful, cracking, grinding jolt Which brings my vehicle to a halt. I sit, and try to comprehend What’s brought my journey to an end? Then words and phrases can’t console – For I have gone and hit a hole!...

If you have nothing much going for you, Antony Pucci (1819-92) should be your patron saint.   He came from nowhere – a peasant family in Tuscany.  He went nowhere – he spent his life as a parish priest in the Tuscan city of Viareggio.   He was unattractive to look at.  He wasn’t good with words...

Were I to make a perfect prayer, designed To rid the world of selfishness and greed, With books of lore I would not tax my mind, For these two simple lines would fill my need –   ‘Renew, O God, within the hearts of men The Golden Rule, and give it life again.’  Anon

Children who spend more than two hours a day looking at a screen have problems:  their memory is worse than average, their language skills are more limited, and their attention span is shorter. Such are the findings of a major study recently published by The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health. Overall cognition skills were found...