Arts
O Come, O Come, Emmanuel
Today is the first Sunday of Advent. It is time to light the first candle. #Hope. O come, O come, Emmanuel, And ransom captive Israel, That mourns in lonely exile here, Until the Son of [more…]
Christianity
Authoritarianism
Lockdown Mark 2
What the bloody hell are the motives behind the second lockdown? Given that the official line seems to hold less and less water, it’s no surprise people are coming up with crazy sounding theories. Even [more…]
Arts
AWS, News at Ten, in Church
Dong! Puffin reads in church. Dong! Puffin makes a mess of it. Dong! Puffin advised not to look at the comments. As the rules for such things changed yet again, and as such a thing [more…]
Christianity
Hydroxychloroquine and Abortion – Helen Whately, Minister of State for Care
“Two weeks…” was the refrain back in March when the world’s media got hold of the COVID-19 story following the outbreaks of the virus in China, then Italy, at the beginning of what was soon [more…]
Arts
The Conques Tympanum Decoded
Introduction Back in the 1990s while returning from a jaunt into Cathar Country in our VW camper, quite by chance we made an overnight stop in the ancient village of Conques in the Aveyron region [more…]
Arts
Lent & the 40 Days in the Old and New Testaments
In continuing my series of articles on the striking consistencies of theme and message within the Old and New Testaments, it seems apt not to discuss Lent and Jesus’ Forty Days in the Wilderness which [more…]
Christianity
The Old Testament Prophets in Retrospect
The Major Old Testament Prophets – Making Sense of Them We have now reviewed in some detail the major Old Testament Prophets: Elijah, Elisha, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel, the ostensibly minor prophet Jonah, and [more…]
Christianity
Daniel – a Prophetic Vision Part 5
Nebuchadnezzar’s Madness, Belshazzar’s Feast and the Fall of Babylon In a prophetic book of such striking imagery and dramatic scenes as that of Daniel, the accounts of Nebuchadnezzar’s madness, Belshazzar’s Feast and the Fall of [more…]
16th Century
The Grand Siege of Malta 1565 – Part 4
Senglea and Birgu On the day St Elmo fell La Valette received news that a relief force had landed in the north of the island. Under pressure from the Order, the Viceroy had sent two [more…]