Category Archives: Uncategorized

Out of my comfort zone In 1982 I travelled outside Europe for the first time; two weeks on a market research trip to Jakarta, followed by a few days in Singapore. Before I left I called at Blackwells in Oxford and bought a street map, a Falk Stadtplan, of Jakarta. The map showed a lotContinue reading “Through a glass darkly – 39”

Sometimes I think that if I weren’t a Church of England vicar [retired], I’d be an anarchist. Not of the balaclava-wearing, window-smashing kind. And certainly not of the gun-toting, Trump-supporting, libertarian kind. But I can certainly believe in a society where power is devolved to the local level; where, in the absence of multinational companies,Continue reading “Through a glass darkly – 38”

At the bus stop Last week I was sitting at the bus-stop talking to Winston Churchill. I was telling him what an awful paper The Times is now, especially the Saturday magazine. He didn’t seem to know much about the magazine, but otherwise was happy to agree with me. Then this 1950s-style London bus cameContinue reading “Through a glass darkly – 37”

Socialists and Anarchists This year  I was going to read James Joll’s book on The Anarchists. But I found an earlier book by him on the shelves, and thought I ought to read that first. James Joll, born in 1918, was a Wykehamist, who read history at New College, Oxford. During the Second War heContinue reading “Through a glass darkly – 36”

Uniformity and diversity in church life There was a story in the papers at the end of December about a London church where attendance has grown dramatically since they switched their services back to the Book of Common Prayer, the 1662 traditional Church of England Prayer Book. Denis Lennon, my training Rector at St Thomas’s,Continue reading “Through a glass darkly – 35”

Looking forward, looking back The words sound familiar. Looking forward, looking back was an enormous hit for the Australian country singer Slim Dusty a couple of decades ago. People queue up on the internet to say that “this was Pop’s favourite record, and we played it at his funeral”. [I’m not sure that Canon JohnContinue reading “Through a Glass Darkly – 34”

Last March, in the very early days of the COVID lock-down [it feels a long time  ago], I read Peter Frankopan’s book on The Silk Road. It is an impressive, wide-ranging book which acted as a corrective to my rather blinkered, Eurocentric version of history. [New readers, if there are any, can consult TaGD -2.]Continue reading “Through a glass darkly – 33”

Mountains I am an awful wimp about heights. I used to think it was a severe case of vertigo. But now I think it is probably acrophobia; a state of great anxiety on tall buildings, mountain roads, cliffs and big bridges. A Christian psychotherapist once told me it was almost certainly related to child abuse.Continue reading “Through a glass darkly – 32”

Hail Mary, full of grace I see that COVID restrictions in France have caused the cancellation of Lyon’s Fête des Lumières this year.  Normally the Festival is held each year on December 8th, the feast day of the Immaculate Conception. Lyon thanks the Virgin for saving the city by lighting hundreds of candles which areContinue reading “Though a glass darkly – 31”

Changing Places Just typing those words brings up odd memories and connections. Changing Places was the title of a very funny campus novel [of 1975], in which the conformist University of Rummidge [Birmingham] lecturer, Philip Swallow, does an exchange with the ebullient, cigar-chewing Euphoria University [Berkeley] academic. Morris Zapp.   But in a very differentContinue reading “Through a glass darkly – 30”