The fate of churches

Derelict church near Ashford, Kent, jwfairley, 2008.

If it were possible to measure such things as the happiness or self-assurance of a nation, and if such records had been kept in Britain for the last fifty years or so, the resulting downward graphs would, I'm sure, closely match the graph of church attendance over the same period.

Terriers

Terrier by Stephen Parker.

Almost every morning in my local park a large, heavy-set man can be seen walking his three curly-haired, black terriers. The dogs, who look almost identical, all have pretty-girl names and are probably sisters, if not triplets. It is difficult to keep a straight face when he calls out to them, but keep it you must, because by the look of him he could (and possibly would) punish you for so much as a titter.

Why are they there?

Linda Norgrove, 1974-2010.

The full facts surrounding the tragedy of 36-year-old Scottish aid worker Linda Norgrove, abducted in Afghanistan's Kunar province and killed during a rescue attempt last Friday night by US special forces, have yet to emerge. That the US military were willing to mount such a dangerous operation to try and rescue her tells us something about how potentially damaging such kidnappings are to coalition public relations.

Humans versus animals

On the front page of my local paper this Saturday evening is the story of a young man caught on CCTV punching and kicking his pet dog, in a drunken attack lasting twenty minutes. The man currently awaits sentencing whilst the dog, a Staffordshire bull terrier, has been taken into the care of the RSPCA, who are seeking a new home for him.

Lions led by donkeys

Perhaps it is an indication of how emotionally frozen we have become in this age of immorality and mayhem that we are rarely moved by the things we see in newspapers. Even the most sensitive individuals, it seems, become desensitized to continual barrages of appalling news.

A crime to be a Christian?

"We are entering the early stages of what could become persecution and outright criminalization of Christianity if it is not exposed and fought vigorously by all freedom-loving people." Joseph Farah.

The Cestello Annunciation, Sandro Boticelli,
c.1489; Uffizi, Florence (source Web museum).

Was Mrs Whitehouse right?

One of my boyhood heroes was the comic Spike Milligan, a manic-depressive eccentric who consistently broke the rules of TV comedy, and came to exert a powerful influence on successive generations of "alternative" comedians, from Monty Python onwards.

My favourites of his shows were the Q-series on BBC2, which began in 1969 with Q5. The shows were brilliantly anarchic compilations of (sometimes unfinished) sketches featuring memorable creations such as The First Irish Rocket to the Moon, the Pakistani Daleks, the Cock-A-knees (cockneys) and Adolph Hitler doing an impression of George Formby.

Dealing with the internal terrorist threat: the case for deportation of suspects

In the period preceding the outbreak of World War Two, the British government had to decide what to do with tens of thousands of "enemy aliens" – mainly Germans, Austrians and Italians living in Britain – and also British citizens of foreign descent. Though it seemed likely that most of these people were no threat, still it was the duty of government to address the real possibility of sabotage and espionage by fifth columnists amongst their number.