Comment

I spend 75% of my time, working in Erbil, in Kurdistan.  When I am there I worship at Mar Elia Catholic Church in the Christian area, called Ainkawa.   The story related here http://tinyurl.com/qb257rn tells part of the story of what is happening. Just before these refugees departed Erbil, I attended …

The UK government need to accept the time has come, any political manoeuvring on the subject has moved on, there is nothing to gain by keeping Sgt Blackman in jail any longer. Let’s not get stuck on the rhetoric of “he killed a prisoner” as some sort of moral justification …

Jacob Rees-Mogg, whilst answering a question on Heathrow’s 3rd Runway, turned a quip from David Dimbleby straight back at him, in hilarious fashion. In fact, I’d go as far as saying The Mogg stole the show on BBC Question Time tonight, if the plaudits on Social Media were anything to …

From the Andy Griffith Show and It’s a Wonderful Life to Dan in Real Life and E.T., the small town is where we escape to when the big city gets too big. The tea is sweeter, the people are nicer, and the football is better. It turns out that as …

A trend is increasingly creeping into our language and practise, where out of heightened perceived sensitivity to people of other faiths (or none), people now say Happy Holidays when they really mean Happy Christmas. I have enjoyed the pleasure of working and living among Muslims and when the feast of …

Until relatively recently most Christians in Europe thought that their beliefs could be imposed on others. There were religious wars between Catholics and Protestants in order to do this. At times the law said I had to practice Christianity in this way, at times it said I had to practice …

I hesitate to put a number to it, since it is increasing so rapidly, but more than 400,000 people, in the UK, have petitioned the UK government to ban GOP hopeful Donald Trump, from visiting the UK. The cause is said to be his statements that America should ban all …

When a burglar enters a property, a “home invasion” to borrow the rather apt American terminology, the intruder does far more than simply cross a threshold uninvited. The victim, excluding any financial and sentimental losses incurred, is often left with a heavy psychological weight, the sense of safety and security …

I have written  before about Fracking and pointed people to the demolition of the lies and stunts,  performed by Josh Fox in his Gasland movie, in the .documentary Fracknation.  Some might say that it is unfair to use facts to demolish fantasy but as a grown-up…. Anyway, today, the UK …

If you could replay May and June 1940, I think, nine times out of ten Britain would emerge defeated. If our armies had been destroyed at Dunkirk, we would have surrendered. It took an unlikely combination of German incompetence and something approaching a miracle that this did not occur. The …

Oldham West and Royton, with a (shock?) status quo result tonight, has re-ignited the debate over the validity of Postal Voting. Let me set you straight upfront, so we don’t have to do the normal dance on Twitter, where you hurl me all sorts of ‘Kipper-related insults. I am not …

Hilary Benn, Shadow Foreign Secretary in Jeremy Corbyn’s troubled Labour Party made the speech of his life tonight in the House of Commons. He may well have went against the wishes of his leader, but Hilary earned a lot of respect from both sides of the house. The debate over …

It has ceased to be amusing. In the seemingly endless joke, for which the Labour Party performs the roles of both protagonist and antagonist, the humour has dissipated and the desire to ‘see the funny side’ grown stale. Where there were once mirth-filled jabs about Trots and Stalinists, and jocular …

The UK political scene and media are awash with people putting the case for the UK to not ‘bomb Syria’, as if we are about to embark on a 1940’s style bombing of Syrian cities. Let me explain, in layman’s terms, some of the misrepresentations being made in the furore …

When did the SNP last support a war? Was it in 1314 or was it in 1745? They certainly didn’t support “England’s war” in 1939, nor as far as I recall have they supported any war since. Nicola Sturgeon might have pretended that she would listen to the arguments made …

By George, Osborne has done it again! Once again, the Chancellor has politically outmaneuvered his opponents, both in the hapless, little red booking Mao quoting Militant retirement home led Labour party, and in his own party. Today’s Daily Telegraph front page declares “The end of austerity” and from what I have …