Blog on the Learig

  30 January 2026 Matthew Syed was reporting on a recent visit to Florida where there is huge support for President Trump. He met a fifty-year-old woman called Jeanette who has voted consistently for Donald Trump in his bids to become President. Syed found himself pushing back against her admiration for the President. ‘But what about his lying?’ he said. ‘What about his serial deceit?’ A smile crossed her face at what she took to be his naivety and then she let the cat out of the bag, ‘Who cares about truth anymore?’ Clearly, Trump doesn’t care about the truth. Talking about British troops in Afghanistan, he caused outrage by saying that ‘they stayed a little back, a little off the front lines’. No less than 457 British soldiers were killed on the front line and many more injured and disabled for life. It was moving to hear the testimony of mothers of injured and dead soldiers and to see the fortitude of soldiers walking with prosthetic limbs and making something positive o...

  29 January 2026 It is almost thirty years since I read ‘The Diving-Bell and the Butterfly’ by Jean-Dominique Bauby. He had a massive stroke in his early forties and could only move his left eyelid. Nevertheless, he wrote this book of reflections and demonstrated something very important. No matter what happens to the body, the   inner live may still thrive and sustain a person with a spirit of hope. Health and wholeness may not be restored, illness and disease may not be dispelled but there may still be hope, meaning and purpose in life. Bauby wasn’t a Christian but he inspired me and enabled me to see the power of the inner life whether shaped by Christianity or not. It is a constituent part of everyone’s life and the medical world is waking up to this too. GPs and primary care-givers are being encouraged to consider this inner life. Dr. Ishbel Orla Whitehead, a GP, has been researching spiritual health and is pioneering a training programme for primary health giver...

  28 January 2026 We saw the film ‘Hamnet’ starring Jessie Buckley as Agnes Hathaway. We always knew her as Anne. Her husband, William Shakespeare is played by an equally accomplished actor, Paul Mescal. The former won a Golden Globe for her performance and has been nominated for an Oscar. Although the works of Shakespeare surpass any other, his part is subsidiary to that of his wife in Maggie O’Farrell’s novel on which the film is based. His character is more thinly drawn. It is remarkable that Mescal made so much of it.    The chemistry between husband and wife was  electric. The film focuses on the Shakespeares’ family life and the death of one of their twins, Hamnet. O’Farrell’s thesis is that Shakespeare’s grief over his son’s death was creatively worked through in his most famous play, Hamlet.    But is this true? Although the play is about a father and a son, both with the same name, it is about the murder of a father and the grief of his son. It is ...

  27 January 2026 – Holocaust Memorial Day There has been much concern about the number of schools who have declined to participate in this year’s Holocaust Memorial Day. In 2023, more than 2,000 UK Secondary Schools signed up to participate. In 2024, the number fell to 1,200 and last year it was 854 out of 4,000. The change has been wrought by the massacre of 1,200 Jews in Israel by Hamas and the subsequent retaliatory action by the Israeli Government. This has resulted in the decimation of Gaza and among the casualties have been many women and children. Parents in some catchment areas have been objecting to Holocaust Memorial Day being marked. For some, it is seen as a form of propaganda which favours the Jews. For others, marking this day should be accompanied by an opportunity to highlight the suffering of the Palestinians in Gaza. Three important things should be said. Firstly, the Holocaust was the systematic murder not only of Jews but of Roma, Jehovah Witnesses, peo...

  26 January 2026 Although I think it is an encouragement and an education for members of the congregation to hear about charitable work which they have supported, I don't think this should replace the preaching of the Word which is a central and an essential feature of our corporate life. The Sunday sermon should be sacrosanct. Preaching the Word is one of three marks of the Church. It defines it uniquely. In his letter to Timothy, St. Paul says that ‘All Scripture is inspired by God.’ This is our starting point. By prayerful study and reflection, the Word is enlivened in our day by the Holy Spirit. This is   a very important work. St. Paul goes on to say that the Word should be proclaimed in and out of season, when the times are favourable and unfavourable. The preacher cannot choose to preach this Sunday or that but every Sunday. It is a demanding task not least when the congregation criticise or complain or are reluctant to hear the message. It is a Word which is v...

  25 January 2026 – Burns’ Day For a’ that, an a’ that, It’s comin yet for a’ that, That man to man the world o’er Shall brithers be for a’ that. ‘Is There For Honest Poverty’ is one of Robert Burns’ most famous poems and songs, famously sung at the opening of the Scottish Parliament. It embraces the equality of every human being born out of the first page of Genesis where the author tells us that we were all made in the image and likeness of God. The sacredness of every human being is what inspires more secular laws about equality but the Biblical reference is to God not man. And one of the ways in which we can embrace this sacredness is to be compassionate, to stand in the shoes of another and see them as God sees them! For Jenny had her problems decorating her head with a fancy hat and thinking of herself more highly than she should. The louse which the poet saw crawling on her hat during the minister’s sermon was the inspiration for another of his famous verses, ‘...