Greg's New Blog

Chrstmas greetings and Newsletter 2011

2011-12-16T13:15:00.001-08:00

Here beginneth the Annual Christmas epistle from the Smiths of Preston, And so in the 400^th year of the King James Bible an appropriate quote

2 Kings 4:14 And he said, What then is to be done for her? And Gehazi answered, Verily she hath no child, and her husband is old…

It feels a bit like that because 2011 has been the year of the empty nest. Martha left home for the Arts University College of Bournemouth a few days after her 18^th birthday and thankfully a year before tuition fees went up, to start a course in Arts events management. With Marcus in his second year of Theology at Kings College London (having a whale of a time sharing a house behind the Elephant and Castle with four others) and Oscar having departed to the Feline Felicitude cat’s home in the sky. With only Jane, Greg and the Mightly Labrador Pawz to share our spacious home, it seems even more spacious and quiet than usual.

Greg turned 60 in September – well of course that is not really old and I don’t feel old at all – just achy sometimes. But it has it’s benefits, free prescriptions and best of all the Senior Railcard, which makes traveling flexible and affordable, and even gets you £2 off on our local Ribble Steam Railway. Since March I’ve been working half time as Research Manager for the Evangelical Alliance which requires a fair bit of travel to London, the railcard is a real boon. The other half of working life has been co-ordinating the Preston Christian Action Network, bringing Christians together to tackle homelessness, poverty, unemployment and other forms of disadvantage in our city. I’m also fitting in a bit of academic work, published another paper on faith and volunteering and just got back from a conference in Antwerp, duly loaded down with photos of Antwerp and Brussels and Belgian chocolates. I’m feeling really happy and fulfilled in the current phase of my vocation.

Jane is still with the Lancashire Probation Trust, working long hours delivering group work programmes to high risk offenders across the county. She suffered the indignity of having to apply for her own job, but at least was reappointed.. Working in the public sector isn’t what it used to be with cuts and insecurities about jobs and pensions – so she was on the London demo and joined the strike at the end of November. Once a month on a Friday night she has interesting experiences in her role as a Street Pastor.

Together we have started this year to do fortnightly volunteering session fro the Wildlife Trust at their new Brockholes nature reserve. Well worth a visit if you are in these parts. We also moved to a new church this year, not an easy process as there were some push factors at St Stephens and we were pretty unsure about the pull factors in terms of a calling to St Matthews. But we have now settled in and travel across town on Sundays to a parish that serves the East End of Preston. It has most of the social characteristics of London’s East End – multiculturalism, poverty, low church attendance – but without the house prices, Canary Wharf or the Olympic building site.

We managed to get holiday breaks in Scotland with the relatives, with our friend Catherine in Swanage, and at Greenbelt. It was also a year of about four funerals and a wedding, not that all of us attended all of them, but we lost people in our friendship circle here and in Newham, and Jane’s nephew got wed in November up in Scotland. It’s also been sad to see people we know struggling with addiction after a period of stability, and others losing a job and struggling to get by. We really count our blessings in terms of good health, worthwhile employment, kids growing up, thriving and following Jesus and lots more.

We wish you all a Blessed Christmas and a Shalom filled New Year.

Luke 1 ⁷⁸Through the tender mercy of our God; whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us, ⁷⁹To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.

Yet another Christmas Letter:

2010-12-12T07:56:00.000-08:00

Are you fed up with annual round robin letters from friends you haven’t heard from for a year (or 30 years)? You may even be fed up of the ritual newspaper articles complaining or chuckling about this year’s crop of family trivia such as what you will find on the following web pages.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2005/nov/30/christmas.bookextracts

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7785410.stm

Go on keep clicking and you won’t have to read ours…

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1098882/Those-smug-round-robin-letters-curse-Christmas--stars-got-act.html

http://www.familyaffairsandothermatters.com/round-robin-christmas-letter-draft-1/

So if you got past that lot you really must be keen to know about what the Smiths of Preston have been up to in 2010. So I suppose if the Queen can send a message to the Commonwealth so can we… Here goes,

Dear ~~Subjects~~ Friends,

My ~~husband~~ dear wife and I began the year with a ~~state~~ visit to Spain to mark the occasion of the ~~500^th~~ 20^th anniversary of ~~the~~ our wedding ~~of Catherine of Arragon to Henry VIII.~~ If you want to see a photo of how we were in 1990 have a look on My Facebook. We were hoping to get away from the snow but guess what, it snowed there too.. (see http://picasaweb.google.com/gregmaistersmith/Madrid#5426712937163860930 and many more pix in that album). We ~~dined in state at~~ paid to get into the Royal Palace ~~and enjoyed meeting~~ ~~King~~ Juan Carlos a photographer from Madrid who is also on Picasa http://picasaweb.google.com/JuanCrls2009 had already taken a lot of photos which inspired my efforts…

Having just received a communication from the palace that HM’s message is copyright with a reminder of what can happen to wikkid leakers and bishops who disapprove of royalty I think we had better hand over to the usual speech writer..

In the Smith household in 2010:

Pawz the dog continues to demand long walks, regular swims in the river and prodigious amounts of food, while Oscar the cat asserts authority over him and the rest of the household. When we went away for a holiday in Cornwall in July, or to Scotland for niece Bridget’s wedding in October (photos here) the animals have a good friend Jill who looked after them.

Martha is in her A level year hoping to find a university place in fashion design while enjoying a great social life at college, at her church and with local friends.

Marcus is in his first year at university, doing theology at Kings College London seems to be doing well and enjoying life though it is all N.T. Greek to me. He is using a new road bike to commute through the streets between hall in Hampstead and lectures at college on The Strand in 20 minutes). Is it 30 years since his dad was doing similar speeds between Russell Square and Canning Town?

Jane is still working full time for Lancashire Probation and meets some really difficult characters (mostly staff and managers!). Too much evening work too often, but she usually can be at home on Fridays. She has also started walking the streets of Preston late on Friday nights as one of the Street Pastors team.

Greg would love to spend even more of his time travelling around taking photos, growing vegetables and cycling in the warm sunshine. Managed two days in the far north west of Scotland and a day in Cleethorpes as well as lots of Steam Trains. But in the real world there is work to be done and sometimes some money comes in return. Until September he worked for the Salvation Army, then took redundancy not knowing what was next. But Blessed be God and the Church Urban Fund who have taken him on (self employed for the time being) to develop a support network for Christians social action in this part of Lancashire. Have a look at the web site http://pcanprestonchristianactionnetwork.yolasite.com/ if you want more information about this. Also has managed to do some academic writing and conferences in the course of the year, been short-listed or interviewed for a number of posts but appears to be heading to a renewed calling in networking urban mission with some mix and match consultancy or research commissions.

We are still involved in the parish church round the corner, which acquired a new vicar recently. The future is open …and hopes include a senior’s rail card for Greg next year… but much more beyond that too. (Three of us have enjoyed reading Tom Wright’s “Surprised by Hope” this year. We still have an open door (literally most of the time despite the cold weather) and are usually quite hospitable if you are passing this way.

We are all on facebook too if you want to make contact that way.

Greg & Jane Smith 34 Broadgate. Preston PR1 8DU
Phone no. 01772 827987

Places to go and take photos in 2010

2010-01-02T08:32:00.001-08:00

Madrid ... booked Jan 8th-11th

Appleby Frodingham Steam Railway booked Jan 23rd

Didcot Railway Centre maybe in May

Jodrell Bank

Derwentwater

Castelrigg Stone Circle

Bamburgh and the rest of the northumberland coast

Forth Bridge planned for Easter

Skye... Elgol Beach Old man of Storr

Runcorn Bridge

Ennerdale Water

Singing Ringing Tree

East Lancashire Railway

Mow Cop

Any other suggestions welcome..preferably within easy public transport distance of Preston.

Bin store in Avenham Park: question for next Central Area Forum

2009-12-30T02:21:00.001-08:00

Pawz the Dog can smell "food" at 300 metres and has a habit of disappearing on walks through Avenham Park.. This explains the following email to the Council

Could you please arrange to deal with this question through the agenda of the next Central Area Forum.

Back in September I raised with the Environmental Health Department (with email copies to local councillors) the issue of the disgusting state and vermin risk of the bin store in Avenham park which serves the cafe in the Pavilion. Black bin bags full of food waste are often strewn anywhere about the area as the bins and or clearance regimes are obviously not adequate for the amount of waste produced. I have also raised the issue several times with park staff and with cafe staff. I have also now emailed three times oficers in environmental health. Apart from one email acknowledgement and promise to investigate from them, it is apparent no action has been takenand the problem remains as bad as ever. My question is this. Why has the council, now they are well aware of the problem not managed, to resolve it? Why can they not do the obvious thing which is to install an additional large bin, and / or increase the frequency of collections sending an invoice to the cafe as it is their business that generates this excessive waste?

If I get a reply I will post it on the blog

Nativity

2009-12-20T07:54:00.000-08:00

Of the Father’s love begotten, ere the worlds began to be,
He is Alpha and Omega, He the source, the ending He,
Of the things that are, that have been,
And that future years shall see, evermore and evermore!

At His Word the worlds were framèd; He commanded; it was done:
Heaven and earth and depths of ocean in their threefold order one;
All that grows beneath the shining
Of the moon and burning sun, evermore and evermore!

He is found in human fashion, death and sorrow here to know,
That the race of Adam’s children doomed by law to endless woe,
May not henceforth die and perish
In the dreadful gulf below, evermore and evermore!

O that birth forever blessèd, when the virgin, full of grace,
By the Holy Ghost conceiving, bare the Savior of our race;
And the Babe, the world’s Redeemer,
First revealed His sacred face, evermore and evermore!

This is He Whom seers in old time chanted of with one accord;
Whom the voices of the prophets promised in their faithful word;
Now He shines, the long expected,
Let creation praise its Lord, evermore and evermore!

O ye heights of heaven adore Him; angel hosts, His praises sing;
Powers, dominions, bow before Him, and extol our God and King!
Let no tongue on earth be silent,
Every voice in concert sing, evermore and evermore!

Happy Christmas and Annual News letter

2009-12-12T09:36:00.001-08:00

Yes straight from the allotment

It's the Smith's Christmas Round Robin

Happy Christmas

Dear Friends,

We are thankful 2009 has been a pretty good year for us overall, despite a world around us where there is so much strife, poverty and anxiety. To say nothing of West Ham results!

Greg continues to work at The Salvation Army running the community centre, the computer suite and the drop in facilities for the homeless. There is a new officer in charge and always a shortage of funds but some good work goes on. Since June he has also been doing some part time research work with the William Temple Foundation. Google it (and anything else we mention) if you want to know more.

Jane continues to work in group programmes with high risk offenders, in what is now the Lancashire Probation Trust. She's also doing a theology course! Eternal student! Recently she made a starring appearance on the One Show, since then the phone has not stopped ringing!

Marcus has left home and is thriving doing a gap year in Enfield with Oasis, living in a house with three other 18 year old volunteers and working in the local academy school, youth clubs and a new church plant. He did well at A levels and has a place for next year at Kings College London. A hair dye mishap has led to him turning ginger instead of the desired blonde (although he will deny this I you ask him).

Martha finally left the ‘despised’ Archbishop Temple with decent results, enjoyed a packed summer and is now at Cardinal Newman College, doing A levels in Textiles, Drama, Photography and English. She’s now attending Fulwood Free Methodist on Sunday’s, leading a very busy social life and desperately looking for any part time work (although she’s trying to forget that she lasted three weeks at a call centre – and was shockingly good at it!)

Pawz the dog is ever present, still demanding, hungry as ever, but we love him (some more than others, sometimes more than others!) We’re now also a one cat household as we said goodbye to our beloved Jessica AKA Fatty earlier this year, Oscar continues to believe that he owns the house and we are his simply his servants.

For holidays we did our usual trip to relatives in Scotland and, various individual trips and a long weekend at Greenbelt. If you want to see where we've been look at Greg's photos at http://picasaweb.google.com/gregmaistersmith

It's 20 years next month since Greg & Jane got married and to celebrate we are planning a long weekend in Madrid (together!).

At Church we've lost a vicar and gained a half time children and family worker. We are still finding the Church of England a bit uncomfortable but there is life, and good people and work to be done there.

Our door is usually open, yet we've had no burglars yet. So if you are in Preston come and see us. And you can also contact us by phone, email, Facebook or post.

Here's wishing you a very Happy Christmas and wonderful New Year

Greg Jane, Marcus & Martha Smith

Everything was created through him;
nothing—not one thing!— came into being without him.

What came into existence was Life,
and the Life was Light to live by.

The Life-Light blazed out of the darkness;
the darkness couldn't put it out.

Miller Park Art: Rourke's Drift Remembered or Colonial Wars Glorified

2009-08-09T02:12:00.001-07:00

Many Prestonians and visitors will have noticed the art installation in a flower bed on the terrace of Miller Park which depicts British redcoats in white pith helmets firing into the Zulu attackers at the battle of Rourkes Drift in 1879. The explanation given is a local connection with the army chaplain who served with the regiment during the campaign.

Personally I find the installation rather disturbing and inappropriate and my immediate desire is to paint a slogan saying "troops out" across the soldiers helmets. While I would not belittle the courage of the troops who were found worthy to receive 11 VCs or of military chaplains such as the one in question we do need to look at the context and the current relevance of the Zulu war.

While the artwork shows a Christian Bible decorated with a cross resting on an ammunition box I am reminded of the comment by Desmond Tutu that when white missionaries arrived in Africa "we had the land and they had the Bible, before long we had the Bible and they had the land." In the present decade where the UK has been and remains involved as a junior partner of the USA in two neo-colonial wars of doubtful legitimacy or necessity, evoking the spirit of Rourkes Drift is hardly wise, and could even be interpreted as buyoing into the fascist nationalist ideology of the BNP.

One can argue perhaps that the Bible is a greater treasure in the light of eternity, but only if it is opened and read. There one will find the message of Jesus Christ, the prince of peace, which commands us among other things to love our enemies and warns that those who take up the sword will perish by the sword. Therfore as a Christian pacifist, I for one want to disassociate myself from the implication of the art work that the Zulu war, and any other war undertaken by the British state was in any sense a Christian enterprise. If we ask the question "what would Jesus do (or have done)?", surely the answer must be that he would never advocate or take part in oppressing other people by military force.

William Temple online survey

2009-07-30T06:23:00.000-07:00

Hope you are all well..

I can't stop researching and I am currently (Summer 2009) working part time at The William Temple Foundation
on a research project where we are doing a survey on Religious and Spiritual Capital

I hope you may be interested in participating in this survey yourself or may be able to help us in forwarding and circulating this email widely in the religious sector.

Do you have a religion or faith?
Please can you help us do some important research?

We would like people living in the UK, aged 18 or over and who have a religious faith or spirituality and/or are active members of religious or spiritual groups, such as a church, mosque, temple, meditation group, study circle or prayer network to take part in this survey. We are especially keen to secure good representation from people of Muslim, Hindu and Buddhist backgrounds.

As part of our Leverhulme funded research project we are inviting people from a wide range of faith communities in the UK to complete our survey. To do this survey online please click here or paste this link in your browser

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=M64pyIA3VqF46UBcMLbM4g_3d_3d

There are around 100 questions and the survey should take about 20 minutes to complete.

This survey is looking at how and why religious and spiritual groups make a contribution to their communities. Please try and answer all the questions and give your personal honest opinions

Everything you tell us is completely confidential and anonymous.

Thank you for your help

Dr Chris Baker and Greg Smith
William Temple Foundation,
Luther King House,
Brighton Grove,
Manchester, M14 5JP.
Telephone: 0161-249-2502

Alternative Contact
Greg Smith gregwtf@maister-smith.fsnet.co.uk

website www.wtf.org.uk

For all business concerning St Stephens I intend to use this address
church@maister-smith.fsnet.co.uk Please respond to this address and add / update all your email address

It's official - walking and cycling are good for you

2009-03-25T01:28:00.001-07:00

SEE THIS LINK

http://www.idea.gov.uk/idk/core/page.do?pageId=9424989

Education ... Education.... Education

2009-02-23T12:03:00.000-08:00

It's a great privilege having teenagers in the house, especially when it's not just your own and you can go beyond the parental moans about tidying your room (you should see Dad's study!!), doing some work for your GCSE's and squandering the family inheritance before we've even popped our clogs. You hear some interesting, inspiring and sometimes alarming things, at least when the've stopped reciting the middle names of all the characters in "Friends".

I think the most alarming thing these days is what our society and schools are doing to our youngsters. It's bad enough that schools are mainly a sausage machine pumping out GCSE passes and A Level grades to keep them near the top of the league tables. And it's mainly an emphasis on pretty mechanical and boring subjects.. now in my day even O level latin had its interesting side. I also remember teachers who were both inspiring about their subjects and quite good fun as well (though I know I've obliterated from my memory the horrible ones). I don't hear kids saying that about many teachers these days.. and when I meet them I think I know why.

Then there is the emphasis on conformity, apparently at one local school you can get a yellow card and put in solitary confinement for not having your tie straight and leaving your top neck button undone. Well back in the 60's we did have to wear school caps or berets... but I can't remember anyone getting in trouble for wearing them backwards.

Finally and worst of all is what I hear about surveillance in schools. Of course there is CCTV everywhere and electronic registration sytems. At one local school all the kids are fingerprinted and need to use their fingerprints to get into the classroom. Of course the really serious burglar only has to kidnap a student, chop off the middle finger and use this as a magic key to gain access. At another local, quite elite school, they are installing metal detectors and apparently the police are often waiting outside randomly frisking youths for weapons or whatever.

What is all this paranoia and social control doing to our young people? Why is no-one willing to trust young people as a species?

Official Answers Greg's Seasonal Quiz for Groan Ups!

2009-01-01T12:05:00.000-08:00

And the prize for the best entry (18 out of 20 correct) goes to the Von Pratt family ukele band

Number	Answer
1	Christmas Carol
2	Christmas Crackers
3	Christmas Post
4	Christmas Present
5	Christmas Pudding
6	Christmas Humphreys
7	Christmas Island
8	Christmas Decorations
9	Christmas Party
10	Christmas Cactus
11	Christmas Stocking
12	Christmas Lights
13	Christmas bell
14	Christmas menu
15	Christmas Robin
16	Christmas Turkey
17	Christmas Oratorio
18	Christmas Number Ones
19	Christmas Cards
20	Christmas Spirit

Happy Quizmas

2008-12-21T08:18:00.000-08:00

Greg's Seasonal Quiz for Groan Ups!

This year's seasonal quiz is rather easier than that for 2007.. answers will be posted here early in the New Year

Number	Clue	Answer
1	Vorderman by Dickens	Christmas __________
2	Something to do with nuts (I mean crazy) and biscuits	Christmas __________
3	Last ------ heard in November	Christmas __________
4	Ghostly Gift	Christmas __________
5	A London lane where a fire started	Christmas __________
6	A lawyer / judge and a famous Buddhist	Christmas __________
7	The bomb went off here	Christmas __________
8	A VC and an OBE	Christmas __________
9	Vote for us	Christmas __________
10	Flowering pot plant	Christmas __________
11	Where on defeat?	Christmas __________
12	Ain't heavy	Christmas __________
13	Sound as a Tinker	Christmas __________
14	Fellas wanted but there's only two of us	Christmas __________
15	Stealing the bird	Christmas __________
16	Dramatic flop in Europe and Asia	Christmas __________
17	Bach, the Musical	Christmas __________
18	Bob the Builder, Mr Blobby and Cliff all had these	Christmas __________
19	Pontoon bridge snaps wistfully	Christmas __________
20	No need for whisky or brandy for this	Christmas __________

Winter Sunset over Kent Estuary at Arnside

2008-12-13T08:06:00.000-08:00

Olde Smith's Almanac 2008 -2009

2008-12-13T03:20:00.001-08:00

This year's Christmas Greeting and Smith family newsletter will be brief as it was written in early January, following last year's seasonal rush and a New Year resolution to do everything in good time. Read on and see how we correctly predicted the significant events listed below. If you want a traditional round robin you will find one (who lives on Greg's allotment) by clicking on this link http://picasaweb.google.com/gregmaistersmith/CoolPlacesOnTheWeb#5274502428228556754

And if you want to see some more of the places and situations where Greg's camera has been, browse through the galleries on http://picasaweb.google.com/gregmaistersmith

Prediction 1: Greg to continue working for The Salvation Army in Preston generally enjoying it and feeling our work makes a difference to the lives of many people in need in our city. He will find it hard to live without doing any research and will concentrate on the theme of Homelessness in Preston

Prediction 2: Jane to continue working in the Probation Service back in Lancashire and delivering group work programmes with sex offenders and domestic violence perpetrators. Although it's serious stuff and involves some crazy hours at times she will find it worthwhile most of the time.

Prediction 3: Marcus will become a barrister (actually he's working as a part time barista for Costa coffee!), pass his driving test first time, but remain unable to afford insurance and get any driving experience. In 2009 he will pass some A levels go on a gap year with Soul Survivor and prepare to study Religion, Philosophy and Ethics at Kings College London or some other university.

Prediction 4: Martha will lead an amazingly full and expensive social life at school, church, Christian youth groups, online and in Starbucks while occasionally doing some work for GCSEs and being creative in textiles, art drama and photography.

Prediction 5: Animals will have mixed fortunes as ancient feline Jessica finally casts of her mortal coil, second cat Oscar becomes a bit more human friendly while canine monster Pawz constantly demands attention, exercise, food, meals and more food. By the end of the year THAT DOG will have cost the family and Tesco Insurance over £400 as a contribution to the Vets' Enrichment Fund, but will have recovered from a painful front leg and a slight limp.

Prediction 5: Foul weather throughout the year will make slugs and snails flourish and will favour the less interesting allotment crops like marrows and kidney beans, while tomatoes and asparagus struggle.

Prediction 6: Anglican politics will make life in our local church somewhat uncomfortable for convinced non conformists. But with a sense that God is still at work, good fellowship with others and nothing much better on offer, the Smiths will hang on in St. Stephens for the foreseeable future.

Prediction 7: By the end of 2008 Gordon Brown will have been returned to power with a hugely increased majority after saving the world from economic disaster, a woman will be elected President of the USA, peace justice and prosperity will sweep through Africa and the Middle East, West Ham will be top of the Premier League and Santa Claus will bring us everything we ever wanted but could not afford. (Well you can't expect all our predictions to come true every year, can you?)

Have a wonderful Christmas and a positively unpredictable New Year

Autumn in the Lakes

2008-10-21T11:51:00.001-07:00

I took a few days off this October and using a rail rover ticket managed to get out and about in the lake district and Penines.. Highly recommend the Fredom of the North West Rail Rovers (you can do a whole week for £66 between Blackpool, Liverpool, Chester, Manchester, Leeds, Carlisle and Dumfries) and there is a 4 in * day one as well).

see http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/times_fares/promotions/rangers_and_rovers.html

Autumn in the Lakes can be spectacular and I didn't get bad weather, much better anyway than the church weekend at Rydal in September.. I had a nice walk round Grasmere with photos at

http://picasaweb.google.com/gregmaistersmith/Grasmere

Then on the Saturday I took my bike on the train up to Ravenglass and road up to Wasdale Head. This is more or less the first time I've been to Wast Water and I can see why many people think it is the most spectacular of all the lakes. The weather was good with sun burning through the cloud swirling round the high peaks.

I'm really very pleased with the set of photos which you can see at

http://picasaweb.google.com/gregmaistersmith/WastWater

On the Friday I went the other way to Halifax and Bingley.. More Urban but some great mellow yellow stone architecture. Before long the album of pix from that day will be up too.

All creatures great and (mainly) small

2008-09-14T06:30:00.001-07:00

Isn't God's creation wondeful!

My first decent pic of a spider is at http://picasaweb.google.com/gregmaistersmith/InsectsAndOtherSmallCreatures#5245799508873878498

and my best dragonfly of the year at

http://picasaweb.google.com/gregmaistersmith/InsectsAndOtherSmallCreatures#5206917759487759986

but why not run the slideshow of the whole album and just marvel...

For the most fantasic gallery of dragonflies (N. American) see http://picasaweb.google.com/michellelynnsts/Dragonflies

and there are damselflies too in
http://picasaweb.google.com/michellelynnsts/Dragonflies

In fact all the best nature photogrpahy I've found on Picasa in
Michelle's galeries
http://picasaweb.google.com/michellelynnsts

and more lovely dragonflies from across the pond at

http://picasaweb.google.com/vsenechal/DragonfliesDamselflies

Red with Rage with Orange

2008-08-27T05:35:00.001-07:00

Orange my internet provider have just acted outrageously in taking down the series of web sites at http://mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/credoconsultancy/uelhome.htm which I have developed over the past ten years.

They tell me they have discontinued their FTP websiste service and introduced a better one using a new content managment system.

Incredibly they are unable or unwilling to simply leave my pages on their server which as an archive site I would have been content with. Yet the pages I set up at http://www.maister-smith.fsnet.co.uk/familyweb/home.htm best part of a decade ago when they were "Freeserve" are still there.

Orange claim they emailed me some time ago but I have absolutely no record of this. One would have thought such a major change would warrant a snail mail letter.

I am now left with the prospect of several weeks of work which will involve:

changing my ISP as I no longer want to deal with such an awful company
setting up new email addresses for myselve and all the family
informing hundreds of people in my mailing lists of my new contact details
resetting large numbers of subscriptions to various mailing lists and on line resources, to my new emails
reconstructing from scratch a personal web presence and uploading a large archive of my papers and documents.

You can see why I am red with rage and I can't see why anybody would be green with envy to have an account with orange.

I'm protected by SpamBrave

Cycling in Broadgate

2008-08-24T11:28:00.001-07:00

For the Broadgate is Great Blog and next BRAG Newsletter

In a month when we should all be celebrating the magnificent success of British high speed cyclists in the Olympics it is a real disappointment to see an annonymous article in Broadgate News which rehearses all too familiar prejudiced arguments about cycling perceived as anti social behaviour!

As one of many local people who loves cycling for pleasure, I try to control my obesity and laziness by practising it, and find it a fast, convenient and green means of transport. I'd love to introduce everyone to the pro social joys of two wheeled pedalling. I fear the list of supposed illegal cycling practices in the newsletter will put people off the activity. Anyway, can we really imagine that the police have nothing better to do than to persecute and prosecute cyclists who ride on pavements, or bring to court those who have slightly dirty lights?.

I will admit that being hassled by inconsiderate cyclists is not a totally imaginary problem for pedestrians and that for some people, particaularly those who are frail or disabled, or in company of small children, it can be an upsetting and scary experience to be overtaken silently and without warning by someone on a bike. I guess its all the more scary if you believe all the myths and scare stories put out by Broadgate News and the LEP about young muggers on mountain bikes. But let's get it in perspective. These incidents are rare. Even accidents in which pedestrians are injured by cyclists are very infrequent, compared with the carnage inflicted on cyclists and pedestrians by motorists who make mistakes, or kill people while talking on their mobile, or after drinking to excess. If there is a problem it is about inconsiderate behaviour not about cycling. The same people are likely to be just as dangerous or abusive if they are on foot or behind the wheel of a car. Indeed, as drivers, such folk are likely to be a public menace and danger to everyone,, not just slightly anti social and annoying. Let's ban aggressive drivers and get them back on their bikes (after a comnpulsory cycling proficiency test of course).

The reader of Broadgate News is likely to assume that all inconsiderate cyclists are teenagers. This is not the case. As a pedestrian I have on a number of occasions recently been a victim of inconsiderate cycling, on pavements or shared use cycle/foot paths. I have to say I have voiced my protest, usually shouting out something like "aren't you old enough to cycle on the road yet?". But that's a good question as in every occasion I can remember the offender has been someone well over twenty.

Let's think about why cyclists cycle on pavements. If you are under 12 it's usually because Mum and Dad have told you never to cycle on the road as its far too dangerous because of all those cars. So we can't really blame any young person for doing this. Parents are right to be concerned, although in some ways they are misguided. It sometimes creates more danger for a child to be cycling on a pavement and then to come out onto the highway onto the street at a point where a driver would not expect anything to emerge. Cycling on pavements and wearing helmets can make kids think they are invulnerable when in fact the risks may be just as great. There is a case for training young kids to ride on the road under supervison so they learn proper road sense. Indeed my kids were brought up to cycle with me on the side streets and cycle lanes of London from the age of about six and have lived to tell the tale.

Fear of motor traffic is the reason according to surveys that so few people cycle as a means of transport. It must also be one of the reasons adult cyclists also take to the footpath. You can argue that this is encouraged by the fact that highways authorities have in recent years built numerous cycle lanes into pedestrian footpaths as shared use cycle lanes. There are some obvious examples in our neighbourhood, for example along Strand Road. The most recent stretch there (up by LIDL's) is a useless one for cyclists, an expensive white elephant of a cycle route which in my view actually makes things more dangerous for the cyclist. Instead of the simple white lined lane at the side of the highway which was there before, and which was both fast and safe you now have the choice of riding up on the pavement, avoiding pedestrians, slowing down to cross two or three side streets. Or you can, as I do, stay in the road and have a much narrower space mixing with the cars and lorries.

Like me the government and councils want to promote cycling. It's good for health (cyclists live longer than non cyclists, despite bad drivers!). Its good for the environment with minimal greenhouse gases. And within your household it's increasingly good for your budget. To encourage cycling properly, there just needs to be a bit more thought about making cycling facilities really useful and cycle friendly, designed by cyclists for cyclists, not just by planners in order to meet targets and tick boxes. There's a real opportunity for example to turn the river bank path by the docks railway into a proper cycle route to the cinema, to Morrisons and via the Docks, possibly all the way to Lytham.

It would also help if there was a bit less moaning about bad cycling and pandering to the tabloid press, and the prejudices of Jeremy Clarkson and his crew of motor maniacs.

Above all cycling is fun. Preston has a strong cycling tradition with strong racing clubs and set in a great location for cycling enjoyment. Broadgate in many ways is a great place to start. Even if you just want to ride to the pub there are safe ways down the back streets, along the river and through the park. Full marks by the way to the New Continental for putting in cycle racks. The tramway route up through Bamber Bridge to Whittle Le Woods is great for a family day out. Some of us from St.Stephens did a sponsored ride back in July on that route and a great time was had by all.

A bit further away is the Lancashire cycle way where you can ride all the way on country lanes to Lancaster and beyond. If you are really energetic there is the lovely 50 mile circuit round the Trough of Bowland. Or you can even try Land's End to John O Groats ans stop off in Preston for your dinner. The distance by road is 874 miles (1406 km), according to the much-photographed signposts at each end. By the way the official Road Records Association record on that route for rider on a conventional bicycle is 44 hours, 4 minutes and 20 seconds, set by Broadgate Resident Gethin Butler in 2001.

Bus stop clearways in Broadgate A Mad Proposal from the County Council

2008-07-31T05:49:00.001-07:00

I have just had through the door a letter from the County Council asking for my views on proposed bus stop clearways in our street. Frankly I believe it is a mad waste of public money even to waste breath talking about this without even a smidgeon of local knowledge or common sense.

In six years of living in this street immediately opposite the bus stop in question I have not become aware of one problem or incident with the current situation. And there are now no buses after six or on Sundays anyway. I've not observed anyone parking in the bus stop bay that side of the road in an obstructive way during the day time.

Worse still from my point of view is that the Council are bothered with the stop on our side of the road, which to all extents and purposes is a phantom bus stop. It is there on the map they sent me. But are they not aware that the public bus service in Broadgate is a circular one and vehicles only pass one way and only require to stop on the river side to pick up and set down passengers?

Admittedly the bus stop on the opposite side in front of Number 38 is used once per day in term time only, by a school bus, and then only to set down a single passenger (my own daughter, provided she has not got off in town or stayed late at school). It hardly warrants the existing yellow lines, and is set back anyway in what looks like a parking bay. All we locals know it is never used ,and it is causing no problems if anyone parks there overnight or over the weekend or in fact at any other time.

So lets have some common sense and a big sign saying "you may park here free of charge at any time except between the hours of 3:45 and 4;15pm on weekdays in school term time!"

I nominate the LCC highways Department for the barmy bureaucrats of the year award!!!

[ACTS-TALK] Question

2008-07-30T11:06:00.000-07:00

I'm following this discussion (on ACTS-Talk)
http://listserv.messiah.edu/scripts/wa.exe?A0=ACTS-TALK

with interest from a number of angles and concur with the general point about the sadness of the situation where sociology and other qualifications are commodified and imagination,
creativity and the love of knowledge and wisdom for its own sake, and for
the glory of God are crushed.

As you know I love researching and writing within the social sciences
(never quite willing to pigeon hole myself within the discipline of sociology!)
though I've recently more or less given up on it and returned to community
work and urban mission practice. One factor was the sense that the acdemic
world was pressing me and colleagues towards "publications in reputable
journals" for purely instrumental reasons and there was little real concern
about extending the frontiers of knowledge, developing new perspectives or
seriously influencing the way the world, the church or the policy makers,
and in our media dominated age little possibility of achieving it. And the
small amount of teaching I was involved in appeared to be mainly about
ticking boxes and ensuring the institution recruited students next year in
order to bring in the fees that would fund its expansion.

So I dropped back out into managing a community centre for the Salvation
Army, working with homeless people and trying to encourage and resource the
churches in this city to engage with the crucial social issues of our age.
I have to say though there is a sense that the churches on the whole are just
as influenced by consumerism, where despite some resistance the focus is on
marketing the gospel, or rather the experience of church... (some of the
themes of rational choice theory in sociology of religion do seem to fit
the evidence as I observe it.. though you won't be surprised I resit it on
theoretical and theological grounds). Anyway the older I get the more
radical my discipleship wants to become... not sure if its just a grumpy
old man remembering 1968 with nostalgia or something more Christ centred!) And
I rejoice in expressing my God given creativity and a sense of wonder and
worship by growing vegetables and taking photos as much as by taking part
in church services.

The other perspective is that of my teenagers.. preparing to go to
university. I am really heartened that our son (who has not yet made an
explicit personal Christian commitment), who is bright and gifted at maths
and IT has decided as he put it that he is more interested in "making a
difference to the world" than in just making money. So he is applying to do
courses in international relations. I'm a bit worried about some of his
political perspectives but at least it won't be banking or computer
software for him. While my daughter who is the creative arty one, and very zealous
in her faith, is wanting to do art, photography, textile design and might just
be persuaded to do English as a concession to the academic world (and she
is certainly capable of high grades). I guess we fear that her problem is she
will never get round to earning a living at the same time as she has no
sense yet of when to stop shopping (with our money!)

So it may be there are hopeful signs among the young and the old alike...
For me the crucial thing in our vocation as Christians in sociology is to
keep challenging the church and the world to make those vital connections
between the sociological perspective and the life of faith and discipleship
in a complex world.. So brothers and sisters keep up the good work and keep
the faith.

Shalom

Fw: uncollected dustbins the ineffieciency of Preston City Council

2008-07-26T05:22:00.001-07:00

Dear Councillors

I sent the email below nearly a week ago. Nothing has been done about it. (not even a reply to the email) This morning I discover that one of the uncollected bins, full to overflowing for well over a week and still increasing has been tipped ouit and there is rubbish strewn all the way across the back ginnel. It is now going to cost the Council even more to come and clean it up before it becomes a pubnlic health issue.

Only trying to help you in your job but gwetting angry at the inneficiency and non response and the waste of council tax payers money

Greg Smith

----- Original Message -----

To: cleansingadmin@preston.gov.uk

Sent: Monday, July 21, 2008 1:14 PM

Subject: uncollected dustbins

Thank you for emptying our dustbin last Friday

Unfortunately two days later at least three dustbins belonging to various neighbours in the back ginnel behind our property are full to overflowing with several black plastic sacks on the ground bursting open. This is unsightly and fast becoming a health hazard.

We would be grateful if you could arrange an emergency collection of this trash and possibly take up the issue with the neighbours concerned as they are not very good at putting out and taking in their bins at appropriate times

Many thanks

Rant About Rail Ticketing

2008-06-26T05:44:00.000-07:00

So much for the railways’ heralded simpler fares and tickets system. I have for the last two days been trying to book tickets for one adult and one young person (WITH A 16-25 RAILCARD) to travel tomorrow from Preston to Birmingham University and back the same day.

No problem you would think. Journey planner says cheapest fare (Saver return) is £65.90 though there are restrictions which mean they can’t leave before 9.30.. (though apparently you can get that price on the earlier train if you split the journey with tickets to Crewe, then from Crewe to Brum though then there are more restrictions about time of return travel). No matter; we’ll settle for a 9.30 start.

But will the site link to a ticket retailer … No..!! So I then try to log in to thetrainline.com where I usually buy tickets, type in all the details afresh only to be told that it cannot sell be the tickets giving a whole page of possible reasons none of which seem to give an explanation.

So I then take time out to go to the ticket office at Preston station. Fortunately no queue. Now I ask if I can buy two savers for tomorrow, one of them to be used by my son with his railcard> Guess what ... they say no. He has to turn up in person, show the railcard and apparently can’t buy the ticket in advance. Of course there is a problem, we want to pay for the ticket on a bank card and he being less than 18 does not have one. So that means we have to send him with cash on the day (no reserved seat possible I guess on a busy service), or go to the station with him so we can buy on our credit card.

Can you tell me why? And where does it say in big letters that if you have a 16-25 railcard you have to turn up on the day you travel with cash in your hand?

Dear Mr Dentist : On deserting the NHS

2008-06-16T00:22:00.001-07:00

our family dentist has just told us he is going private only and wants us to sign up to pay £150 per person per year just for regular checkups. Following a recent unpleasant extraction this is what I wrote to him:

Dear Mr Dentist,

I enclose a cheque for £45 being payment for recent dental treatment. You will notice this is 40p more than your bill. I trust you will donate this to the charitable fund for financially distressed dental practitioners. Until you decided to send me a reminder of the unpaid bill in the post only 24 hours after the bill itself, I had not realised the gross economic hardship you and colleagues must be facing. If things get worse for you I can recommend a visit to the soup kitchen at The Salvation Army each Friday lunchtime where no one in need is turned away unfed.

Previously I had considered withholding payment as a protest against your immoral decision to withdraw from the NHS. I believe what you and many other dentists are doing in turning to exclusive private practice is totally reprehensible. In the first place you have acquired your skills and built up your practice with subsidy from the state but are now deserting the NHS because you seem to be more interested in filling wallets than teeth. The official figures show that dentists in the NHS are not badly paid in comparison with most jobs, and are much better off than the vast majority of their patients http://www.ic.nhs.uk/pubs/dentalearnexp0506

In leaving the NHS your are seeking to extract, or should I say extort, money from people who cannot afford it yet are desperate because of actual or possible dental pain. Though I personally can just about afford treatment under the NHS, millions of people who are on low pay or on benefits cannot. The shortage of NHS dentists in this region appears to be a cavity that cannot be filled so there is little possibility of finding treatment. The consequences of this for the overall dental health of the nation will be immense, as many of us will not have the opportunity for regular checkups or non-emergency treatment.

If you have a conscience I would urge you to reconsider in the light of some wisdom from the Bible.

Proverbs 22:1 A good name is more desirable than great riches; to be esteemed is better than silver or gold.

Proverbs 27:24 (obviously a verse specially for dentists!)
for riches do not endure forever, and a crown is not secure for all generations.

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More information on the Alma

2008-06-06T22:13:00.001-07:00

I've had the followingf feedback from someone involved in the Resident's Action group

As I was at the last meeting I can update you on how PC Carl Ingram reported the facts of the case, he said he and his colleagues had collected a thick file full of witness testimonies and evidence of different incidents that accumulated into an unanswerable case - and the residents who turned up did not dispute that there had been large numbers of drug related incidents and of disorder inside and outside the building, arguing instead that these incidents had now stopped.

Carl Ingram was quizzed closely about the fate of those who were evicted at the last BRAG/PACT meeting - it isn't true that there was only 1 hours notice, as several residents were at the court case itself to contest the closure (the landlord didn't bother turning up!) and knew that the place was to be closed. The landlord was also served a closure notice. A few of the most vulnerable people living there were rehoused, mostly in better accomodation, and this was set up before the eviction.

This is of course not true for everyone who was living there - some were treated as being 'intentionally homeless because of their lifestyle' in Carl's words. No doubt these are the half dozen you talk about who are now sleeping rough.

He also said he had worked hard to sort out accomodation for other residents, though some in his words just sat there drunk while he worked hard to find them somewhere to live - he said "These people were adults, but were doing nothing to help themselves while we worked hard for them, I'll sleep soundly in my bed knowing I did everything I could to find accomodation for those people".

A couple of plain clothes Nimrod police were there, they said that their work had resulted in the conviction of several people from the Alma for drugs offences.

A figure who escapes criticism in your article is the owner of the hotel, who basically encouraged the sub-letting culture by charging a £25 a week surcharge to the residents, unlike most other hotels. In my opinion, it was his willingness to exploit this group of people and his failure to employ proper managers that contributed the most to the problems of the hotel.

All he loses is 3 months rent. Neighbours lost out in terms of quality of life because of the disruption to their everyday life by the activities in the hotel, and some of the residents, as you point out, have lost a place to live.

I can also report that the mood of the meeting was overwhelmingly supportive of Carl Ingram and the eviction, though some people were concerned about the people who had been made homeless.

I'm glad to hear the other side of the story...and that at least there was some effort made... I therefore have to change quite a bit of my piece in the light of this information before

Apologies Carl that I didn't have the full facts or appreciate the care you'd taken in the process.

On the other hand I would still say...

1. a provocative argument such as the bit I posted has the virtue of showing that there are different ways to see such a situation and that its dangerous to simply accept the views of the press and the herd.. Challenge at least means people have to justify what they have said and done in public.

2. I still stand by the basic points that

closing the Alma in this way seems to have caused at least as many new problems in terms of rough sleeping as it has solved
the process of bringing in a closure order is morally if not legally suspect as residents are evicted and punished without any evidence being brought against them individually.

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Closing the Alma Hotel

2008-06-06T11:58:00.001-07:00

This week Lancashire Police applied to the courts for and were granted a closure order on the Alma Hotel on Fishergate Hill opposite County Hall.

http://www.lep.co.uk/news/39Drug39-hotel-shut-by-courts.4149203.jp

Undoubtedly many local residents were pleased as they saw this building as a blot on the landscape and were fearful and disapproving of many of the residents and of the activities alleged to take place there. Clearly it was one of the least attractive dwelling places in the city, it was the home for about twenty people who were at the bottom of the social scale, mostly workless and virtually penniless, and in many cases with complex social needs and histories involving addiction to drugs and alcohol.

The first indication of a move to close the Alma seems to have been in an report from the local police to the Broadgate Residents action group about a month ago. About a fortnight ago a closely typed legal notice was pasted to the door announcing an application had been lodged for a court order to close the place, later amended to indicate the date of the hearing as 3^rd. June. According to one of the former residents who I spoke to today on Wednesday the residents were given an hour's notice to collect their possessions and then evicted on to the street. I am told about half a dozen of the residents were given shelter in another property managed by the landlord, several of the others have found temporary "sofa surfing" places with friends, while at least half a dozen are for the time being at least sleeping rough.

It remains to be seen whether closing this unpleasant lodging house will improve the tone of the neighbourhood. Usually such actions do little more than displace the anti social activity to other neighbouring areas.

Whatever, the truth or otherwise of the allegations concerning drug dealing, and whatever the legalities of the process there are at least two things I found outrageous.

To evict poor and vulnerable residents at short notice while making no attempt to assist them to find alternative, suitable accommodation is inhuman in a way that recalls the "clearances" of the Scottish Highlands following Culloden. In that case the resentment has festered for two centuries. In the case of the Alma this may be more short lived but it is hardly likely to encourage them to co-operate with the authorities or to attempt to turn their lives around. And it is not fair on local charities like the Salvation Army and Fox Street Night-Shelter to expect them to deal with the human fall out.

To act against individuals in such a summary manner without bringing any of the individuals concerned before the courts seems to be against basic human rights. Surely if there was evidence of possession or trading of illegal drugs in the Alma hotel it should lead to arrests and prosecutions of the offenders. In British law a person is generally assumed innocent until proven guilty beyond reasonable doubt and should not be punished by the state unless found guilty by the courts. While it may prove popular with the locals to close down a "crack house" it seems to me that in this case the police have acted unjustly and without bothering to prove their case.

It worries me as yet another example of a political and cultural climate that is moving each day closer to fascism.

Vote for none of the above

2008-05-01T01:49:00.001-07:00

It's local election day today. What to do.?. I can never vote Labour again after the lies about the war and increasingly because of their neo fascist tendencies on crime and civil liberties, as well as what they have done to public services with more privatisation and managerialist target cultures etc.. Even the Tories seem more attractive with their opposition to ID cards etc.. they are positively libertarian.. But here in Preston they have control of the Council, with Lib Dem support and have just slashed spending on the voluntary sector including turning down applications for money to support my own post at The Salvation Army.

So I'm just off to vote now and probably will end up writing in "none of the above".

Still at least I don't have a vote in the london Mayoral race where another one I could not vote for is actually an old friend and colleague Alan Craig. http://www.thechristianchoice.org/

He presents himself as "THE Christian Choice".. and among his policies is opposition to building a mosque, which brings joy to the heart of fascists and white racists. Actually some of the other policy ideas are not bad... and it would be good to have some more Christian influence and thinking in politics. But not at that price, and not on the assumption backed by too many church leaders that there is only one Christian viewpoint on all these issues.

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Big Brother and the CCTV camera next door

2008-05-01T01:30:00.000-07:00

Here are a few more thoughts and questions about cameras in Broadgate and elsewhere.

I grew up before 1984, and read Orwell's book at school. Not surprisingly I hate the idea of Big Brother watching you, (or for that matter of watching Big Brother on TV!). I leved through 1984 and if you remember that was the year of the miners' strike when the forces of the state brutally crushed the communities that were fighting for their livelihoods. So from a personal point of view I'm very hostile to the idea of the police or government watching you and me all the time and the fact that we are the most observed society in the world. I just don't trust that those in control of the cameras will only use them to protect the public from crime and terrorism. And as far as I'm concerned the same goes for fingerprinting, DNA registers and ID cards.

In particular I hate the fact that there is a CCTV camera on my next door neighbour's house watching me every time I take the dog across the road to do his business. No wonder I always carry a pooper scooper and use it when necessary. I've actually asked politely three times now to have this camera removed, but to no effect, as neither the police, nor BRAG nor my neighbour seems to be taking responsibility for it. I understand I have a right to see all the pictures that have been taken of me, and I wonder what would happen if I made a serious formal request.

I can understand why in some circumstances such as in shops, or stations or public buildings people think security cameras are necessary to help fight crime. But I'm not really convinced they are much help in normal residential streets. People say the presence of cameras deters crime, people wont risk doing something naughty if they are going to be caught. The first flaw in this is that it will only work if there is a really big obvious notice that "You are being watched on camera". As far as BRAG's cameras are concerned they are not obvious at all and may in fact be illegal without clear signage.

The second flaw is that if criminals know they are there it is still easy enough to move down the street to do their evil work. Or simply to wear a balaclava or a hoodie pulled up. Chances are that on a dark night the offender is not going to be recognised. Furthermore as most offences seem to involve drink, drugs or a raging temper the rational fear of being caught does not work too well for most cases. All we can hope for is to catch and convict them afterwards.

The final and worse flaw is that if we feel we need cameras in quiet residential streets this will simply raise everyone's fear of crime beyond sensible caution to panic levels. As a result even more people don't go out on the streets after dark. One result of this is that with no one around, empty streets more easily become the territory of anti-social elements who can more easily take control of a turf and really make it unsafe for ordinary folk young and old alike. It would be far better if the whole community spent more time hanging around on street corners passing the time of day.

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Church and CCTV : Letter to Lancashire evening post...

2008-05-01T01:29:00.001-07:00

I find it rather sad that a church in Fulwood (as reported in LEP 5^th Feb) is plagued by young people hanging around its premises, and that it has joined some of the residents in attempting to control, or move on the problem by installing CCTV cameras. I fear this will not be very effective, will only alienate the youngsters further, and anger many other young people who are already fed up with being lumped together and blamed for most of society's ills.

I speak as a 56 year old grumpy old man, grumpy because most of my generation wish the police would arrest, inflict physical punishment and banish all teenagers from our streets and public places. It is particularly sad when the church shows any sign of joining this prejudiced outcry. In the good old days when I was a teenager many churches, and other community organisations came up with a better solution, providing constructive leisure activities, sports and youth clubs and building relationships with young people, even with the "feral" teddy boys, mods and rockers who then roamed the streets of many cities.

Thankfully there are still a few churches, and other faith based and community organisations that still try to do the same, with committed volunteers and parents who give hours of their time to work with kids. Sadly it is far more difficult these days to do so, given the general hostility to the young, the shortage of volunteers, the highly regulated regimes youth services operate under, the pressure to meet educational targets and above all the lack of serious government funding to support general purpose youth work.

It is my belief that vast investment in youth work in the community would do far more to reduce crime and anti social behaviour than the repressive community policing and surveillance that is the current fashion. Recognising the positive contribution of the young to our society is long overdue.

One way some of us are doing this is to serve our own ASBOs on suitable young people. These are certificates stating that the young person in question is Alright, Sensational, Beautiful and Original and is making a positive impact for good in the community. I would invite all the churches in Lancashire to join this movement. Certificates can be downloaded from www. Fyt.org.uk

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Homeless Rough Sleepers and hostel dwellers ... What works?

2008-03-27T02:08:00.001-07:00

Having moved a couple of years ago out of the academic work back into
community work with The Salvation Army I'm not surprised to be encountering
fairly significant numbers of people who are on the margins of society,
caught in a web of poverty, homelessness and chaotic lifestyles often
compounded by alcohol and/or drug dependency, mental health and patterns of
offending behaviour and spells in and out of jail, on the streets or in and
out of hostels. We work with the Big Issue in the North and over just over
2 years we have enrolled 130 vendors in the hope that this might help them
out of their problems. The vast majority are male, not in any stable
relationships or families, long term workless and very rarely from an ethnic
minority background.

On a rough check I'm aware of only four of the 130 who have made it back to
anything like mainstream and productive lives, and a handful more who have
settled into a long term pattern of being a Big Issue seller and finding
some prurpose and income through this work. The majority slip back into a
pattern of dependency, begging and drawing on the support services of a
network of agencies include ourselves, other church based hostels, centres
and soup runs, drugs and alcohol agencies, job centre and benefits agencies,
and the police and probation service. None of this seems to be helping these
people very much or making much impact on the problem as a whole. A lot of
us are frustrated and looking for a better way to engage with the people and
the issue and provide interventions which make a difference (though of
course it's hard to see who would want to fund them).

What I'd like to know from the social policy community is who, (if anybody)
is doing serious research and thinking on this area of policy, and or
evaluating interventions as to what approaches (if any) are effective. In
short does anyone know on the basis of evidence what works?

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http://www.spambrave.com/

ASBO AWARDS FOR LOCAL KIDS

2008-01-30T10:04:00.000-08:00

‘You’ve been ASBO’d certificate’ is a stylish award that we want youth workers, teachers, parents, community leaders and any other adults to present to young people who they think merit this symbol to say that they are Alright Sensational Beautiful Original! We want to encourage you to download this free certificate, print on good quality card or photographic paper and make an occasion of presenting it to a young person that you think deserves it.

From Frontier Youth Trust http://fyt.org.uk/

As an alternative to the article in Broadgate News from the police we produced and circulated this as a centrespread

A letter to the Chief Constable about an appalling article in Broadgate News

2008-01-30T09:49:00.000-08:00

Chief Constable Steve Finnigan

Lancashire Constabulary Headquarters
PO Box 77,
Hutton, Preston,
Lancashire, PR4 5SB.

30 January 2008

Dear Mr Finnegan,

I am writing to express my grave concern about the latest issue of Broadgate News, a newsletter published by the Broadgate Residents Action Group, who are in partnership with and scarcely indistinguishable from the local PACT group. As a local resident I regularly have the publication dropped through my letter box. While I often find the content, especially the police reports negative and boring, I can see the value of a local community newsletter and some place for policing news within it. I also need to tell you that I was involved in the early days of the PACT meetings and BRAG group, out of a general desire to be active in the community and to support in broad outline community policing work, much of which is very good. Indeed the hard work and style of policing in by the beat officers and PCSO's in Broadgate is generally to be welcomed. However, I am no longer involved with BRAG as I feel it is dominated by one section of the community who have totally negative and right wing punitive attitudes towards offenders, and express offensive stereotypes of young people to such an extent that I cannot work with them. I need also to explain that I am an active member of St Stephen's church and am aware that the vicar and other members of the church have been involved and helpful to BRAG and PACT.

Therefore when I saw the latest issue of the newsletter in the foyer of the church ready to be delivered I took a look at it and was horrified when I saw the centrespread article. This develops a short article written by a member of the police entitled 'ASBO boy to be released' (in Broadgate police report p9), into a feature "Keeping crime off the streets of Preston" (p12 & 13). I would say both articles are inappropriate, needlessly offensive and inflammatory. They contain personal information about a young member of the local community, scarcely more than a child, who has been convicted and served a sentence and is now subject to an ASBO. Personally I have strong objections to the ASBO legislation especially as an additional punishment after release, and cannot see how it can be effective in reducing or dealing with crime. However, I recognise it is the law of the land and the police may be within their legal rights to publicise personal details. But I think you would be wise to do this sparingly, and certainly not in this case.

The article I am indignant about includes the address of the offender, and his release date, thus exposing not just him but all members of his family to un-welcome public attention and stigma, and being near to implicitly giving permission for members of the community to attack them, even violently. The tone of the articles are judgemental and vigilante in style and does absolutely nothing to aid community policing or building relationships or enhancing community cohesion. Worst of all is the photo. The quality of the image is poor and has been grossly distorted in such a way that it panders to the most offensive racial stereotyping. My first reaction was to think that publishing such an image in this context must contravene the human rights legislation, and might well be seen as committing the offence of incitement to racial hatred. I am sure this is not the impression that the constabulary wish to give, considering their serious and commendable attempts in recent to develop and implement a progressive diversity policy.

I first expressed by concerns about this issue in the middle of this week to other members of the church and our vicar, saying strongly that we could not allow the name of our church, and articles written on behalf of the church to go out alongside the offensive article, which directly contradicts a number of Christian principles about justice, grace, forgiveness and the possibility of redemption. They were convinced by these arguments and earlier today our vicar contacted your colleague David Foreshaw. I understand he recognised there was a problem and commendably promised immediate action to stop the magazine being delivered. We are working on a plan to replace the offending centrespread article with something more constructive, so that the church will be able to live a little more comfortably with the newsletter. However, for me personally, and for others close to me, damage has already been done. Renewing confidence in the police service will require some hard work, and further support of BRAG and the PACT process will be called into question.

I hope you and the authorities generally will learn some lessons from this incident and would suggest the questions to be raised about community policing include the following.

In publications with community partners such as Broadgate News who should have editorial oversight, and what standards should be set?

How can circulating information about crime and policing in local communities, especially at the level of detail we have seen in Broadgate News, do anything other than increase the fear of crime in the community, even at a time when crime statistics show downward trends?
How far is it right for the police to work mainly with self selecting community groups such as BRAG which tend to attract only people of a particular mindset, which may be at odds with other groups and sections of the community? What can be done to engage in dialogue with people who are currently excluded from the dialogue offered by PACT because of its culture and mindset?
How can we ensure in such mixed communities that particular minority groups, such as ethnic minorities, or my own teenage kids and their friends are not unfairly stigmatised by the use of terms such as "anti social behaviour" and "hoodies" and the connotations that go with them?
How can we ensure that offenders, particularly young offenders, many of whom struggle against the effects of difficult home backgrounds, and deprived circumstances, are given the best chance to develop constructive and pro-social lifestyles? And for those who have been convicted what are the best ways to maximise the chance of rehabilitation and reintegration into community life?

I realise that the last question in particular goes beyond the remit of the police alone, but is a wider question for criminologists, politicians and social and community workers, though it is hard to debate rationally in a context dominated by "tabloid headline culture".

I would value your response to this letter, and assurances that such problems will not arise again. I am sending copies of this letter to my MP, local councillors, and the secretary of BRAG.

Yours sincerely

Answers to Quiz

2008-01-06T12:01:00.000-08:00

Section 1 Seasonal Transport

Rude Olf the Rain Dear and his Slay
The Flight into Egypt
The donkey (Cervantes "Don Quixote")
I saw Three Ships come sailing in on Christmas day in the morning
Santa Special pulled by Thomas the Tank engine

Section 2 Famous Names and People

Noel Coward
Carol Thatcher
Noel Edmonds
Morecambe and Wise
The archangel Gabriel

Section 3 Food and Drink

Greece and Turkey
Stollen
Mince Pies (or Mint Spies)
Mulled Wine
Brussels Sprouts

Section 4 Christmas Songs

12 days of Christmas
Frostie the Snowman
Good King Wenceslas
I'm dreaming of a wight Christmas
We three kings of Orient are

Section 5 Christmas Traditions.

Mistletoe
Crib (cribbage - "age"
Tinsel
Holly and ivy
Fairy Light
Round Robin
Handels Messiah
Christingle Service
Pantomime Horse
A weigh in a manger

Hope you enjoyed it... As no-one submitted an answer sheet on line I win the prize myself.. Happy New Ear as the said to Van Gogh!

GREG'S FIENDISHLY DIFFICULT CRYPTIC CHRISTMAS QUIZ

2007-12-25T04:11:00.001-08:00

No Cribs or Yule Log tables allowed... Write on one side of the wrapping paper only; answers by Twelfth Night please. Will be posted on my blog then:

Section 1 Seasonal Transport

Sounds vulgar but wet and expensive way to kill.
Destination Cairo airport
Spanish writer rode one called "oatie".
Fore (-1)noon floaters
Rev Awdrey's No.1 annually pulls this.

Section 2 Famous Names and People

Seasonally fearful actor / playwright
Second generation old fashioned roofing worker
Mr. Blobby's Christmas companion
One out of Matthew 2 and the other out of North Lancashire
An old Ambridge family - archer than the others in Luke.

Section 3 Food and Drink

One country is useful for basting another
Shoplifter takes German cake
Espionage in the polo factory coins a fortune
Thought at length about an unpleasant noise
Thankfully there are few of these famous Belgians.

Section 4 Christmas Songs

includes numeorus jumping peers and a twitchers list
Kelloggs cereals may melt in the mouth
Royal Boxing Day expedition
Seasonal night visions about needles, cowes to ride and new port
Leyton Triple Crown

Section 5 Christmas Traditions.

thrush on the foot may be embarrassing to some
a card game without any birthdays
sounds like a prison made of Cornish metal
two evergreen female names
tinkerbelle ain't heavy
circular avian letter
Officers dine upstairs because of their elevated status, while the composer is on the way out
Liturgical name of indeterminate gender causes extremities to do this when snowballing
Northern trousers play without words but still lose their voice
Measure in kg in a stable environment

Charles Wesley born 300 years ago : A seasonal Hymn

2007-12-24T06:34:00.001-08:00

1 LET earth and heaven combine, Angels and men agree, To praise in songs divine The incarnate Deity, Our God contracted to a span, Incomprehensibly made man.

2 He laid his glory by, He wrapped him in our clay; Unmarked by human eye, The latent Godhead lay; Infant of days he here became, And bore the mild Immanuel's name.

3 Unsearchable the love That hath the Saviour brought; The grace is far above Or man or angels thought; Suffice for us that God, we know, Our God, is manifest below.

4 He deigns in flesh to appear, Widest extremes to join; To bring our vileness near, And make us all divine: And we the life of God shall know, For God is manifest below.

5 Made perfect first in love, And sanctified by grace, We shall from earth remove, And see his glorious face: Then shall his love be fully showed, And man shall then be lost in God.

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PRESTON CITY COUNCIL ASKED THESE QUESTIONS FOR PCN MEMBERS TO CONSIDER.....

2007-12-14T11:44:00.001-08:00

This is my response

You asked for responses to the questions below... Sorry to sound so negative and politically critical but at Christmas as a follower of one who was born homeless and soon became a refugee and in the words of the Bible

2 Corinthians 8:9
For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich

I have to say in response...(on the basis that I take equality to be primarily about economics and power, while I recognise there are structural inequalities correlated with gender, ethnicity, faith, disability etc....)

1. Can you identify any barriers to access to the groups you work with, to Preston City Council services?

The biggest barrier is the huge gap between people facing homelessness, poverty worklessness and lack of education and the official world with its commuting high paid professionals, administrative gobbledegook and procedures, and its buying in to the punitive and controlling culture of the present government. With the little chance of real help the Council can offer and the risk of losing what little resources, freedom and dignity poor people possess, it's not surprising many of them are very reluctant to approach any officialdom.

2. How can the services and functions of Preston City Council better promote equality?

They can't unless there is a huge political change at the national and local level which stops the obscene and growing gap between the super rich and the poor.

3. Can you identify any area of existing good practice within Preston City Council's services?

Not really... though there must be some as there are some genuinely committed and caring people among the staff and members of the Council... who make genuine efforts to help and empower local people.. eg. through some of the processes of neighbourhood management...

4. What else do you think Preston City Council can do to promote equality, both in service provision, and more widely?

Spend less time doing deals with the Duke of Westminster and his sort of capitalists and devote its resources to justice and equality for the poor who live in our community.

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My Christmas Card

2007-12-12T05:24:00.000-08:00

Annual Report to Stakeholders for 2007 from the Smith Family In Preston

2007-12-07T14:26:00.001-08:00

2007 has proved a reasonably successful year for our company, though it is as well that we are a strictly not for profit social enterprise, as takings have been slightly less than outgoings, and belts have become tighter all round. Some analysts suggest this might be due to rapid expansion, fuelled by over eager consumption of high value calorific items, even prior to the Yuletide season. Forecasts for the New Year suggest there will need to be investment in Boots (made for walking), a new turn in the economic cycle, and trading in Rosemary Conley derivative products.

Nonetheless our board members and principal shareholders all remain in good heart, robust health a general contentment. Our senior partners have been in the firm now for about 18 years. Greg still manages the IT department, and the vegetable production section, while Jane continues to serve as director of finance, and domestic engineering. Outside the corporate HQ Jane has moved to a new post as a group worker for Lancashire Probation Service, while Greg is paid to do community work by The Salvation Army in Preston, but does much else besides.

Our first junior partner Marcus, after achieving some creditable results in recent tests has become an advanced level instructee at Runshaw college, and undertakes occasional lucrative external consultancies with a catering firm. The second junior partner Martha is worthy of her post as creative director, deeply involved in external networking, though the management sometimes question her understanding of cost control and gasp with incredulity at the monthly expense claims she submits. Finally there is our non-executive director, and mostly sleeping partner Pawz, who despite being three years old continues to act like a puppy and eat like a voracious tyrannosaurous.

Our coporate commitment to our local parish church remains strong, with a portfolio of directorships, responsibilities and (ethical) investments which are rewarding and encouraging.

For an illustrated guide to some of the things we have been up to (especially Greg) and some of the places we have been, Please explore this blog and the following web links:

http://prestonsa.redshieldnet.com/

http://picasaweb.google.com/gregmaistersmith

http://prestonchristianactionnetwork.blogspot.com/

http://www.homelessinpreston.btik.com/

http://mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/credoconsultancy/fishergatebaptist_files/frame.htm

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RECENT PHOTOS FOR YOUR ENJOYMENT

2007-11-09T08:57:00.001-08:00

At http://picasaweb.google.com/gregmaistersmith you'll find some of my best recent photos in the following almums

Reflections on autumn... http://picasaweb.google.com/gregmaistersmith/ReflectionsOnAutumn

October 20th Steam Trains http://picasaweb.google.com/gregmaistersmith/SteamTrainsOctober202007

Lake district / Coniston http://picasaweb.google.com/gregmaistersmith/LakeDistrict (at bottom of album)

Nature http://picasaweb.google.com/gregmaistersmith/Nature02 the dragonfly at http://picasaweb.google.com/gregmaistersmith/Nature02/photo#5118573245994879522 is a favourite.

Blackpool Iluminations http://picasaweb.google.com/gregmaistersmith/Blackpool (at bottom of album)

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Ribble Barrage .. an alternative plan

2007-11-09T08:40:00.000-08:00

In view of the news that the daft plan for a barrage on the Ribble has been "put on ice" see

http://www.lep.co.uk/news/Barrage-plan-put-on-ice.3451802.jp

I've written to the leader of the city council thus:

Dear Cllr. Hudson,

I was pleased to read in the LEP yesterday that plans for a proposed river barrage have at least been put on the back burner, and I would hope that it is indeed sunk without trace.

As a local resident with some experience in the world of regeneration and an interest in a sustainable environment I would suggest this decision offers the city a golden opportunity to develop a plan for the whole of the Ribble flood plain that could bring huge benefits to local people, wildlife and the economy. In the context of wider strategic plans why not seek to get the whole of the undeveloped / green part of the flood plain from the Tickled Trout, downstream to Longton marsh to be designated as a Country park / nature reserve / green corridor at the heart of Central Lancashire?

The arguments for this are environmental and recreational. Even though the area should essentially remain greenbelt, there could be some minimal development like improving pathways for walkers and cyclists, more interpretation boards or a field studies centre and more marketing so that the area is used more by local people and attracts visitors. I’m sure it would be worthwhile developing partnerships involving not only Preston and South Ribble Councils, but sports associations (football, canoeing, cycling etc.), the wildlife trust, the RSPB and even the cafes and pubs along the way. Sounds like a great opportunity waiting to be grasped, and the tidal flowing Ribble would be the central feature. There are similar models of riverside country parks which are worth looking at, for example the Nene Valley in Peterborough and the Mersey Valley Park nearer to home. I’d be interested to hear what you think of such an idea, and delighted if you could get your officers looking into it.

Yours sincerely

Greg Smith

For some of my latest photos of the river and surroundin area go to

http://picasaweb.google.com/gregmaistersmith/RibbleThroughPreston

You'll find the new ones at the bottom of the album

Curse of the Google Vanity Search Brings Identity Crisis.

2007-10-03T11:23:00.001-07:00

Dear Greg, & Greg, & Greg (that's me)

Oh the curse of the google vanity search.. I type in my own name and of course I get several hits... over a million to be precise .. the top four are these.. Well at least the top one is me..see below.

I discovered the (ranked at number 2) Greg Smith who is a sociologist at Salford a few years ago which was more than a co-incidence as I was at the time earning my living at the University of East London as a Social Researcher...

But the new (number 3) Greg Smith I've found he is hardly my alter ego.. a Tory Councillor in Hammersmith, who has been appointed Cabinet member for Crime and Anti-Social Behaviour. . With my politics being far to the left of anything left behind in the Labour Party..I must say I'm not surprised... on my list being a Conservative Councillor counts pretty much as a crime and anti social behaviour even if you don't make it to the cabinet.. and of course it has to be him who's grabbed the domain name http://www.gregsmith.co.uk/

The number 4 Greg Smith sounds more like me... an environmental scientist (I'm an environmental cyclist!) and working at my old alma mater.. the University of Reading... He even works in the Harry Pitt building, named after the Vice Chancellor of my days (early 70's) whom we used to refer to as the "BOTTOMLESS PITT".

I don't believe in reincarnation, or even in parallel universes but the proliferation of names sakes makes me think I'd better find out how to apply to copyright my identity, or register my name as a trademark. Still I don't think it adds any weight to the oppressive government plan to bring in ID cards and take DNA samples from everyone.. But as soon as I say that I'm sounding too much like a Tory!

For reference the top four UK googleable Gregs are..

Greg Smith UEL Home Page

Greg Smith's Urban Mission and Minstry Pages · Credo Consultancy Business Web Site Helping churches and community groups with research, information and ...
homepages.uel.ac.uk/G.Smith/ - 10k - Cached - Similar pages

(actually my real up to date home page and blog is now at
http://mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/credoconsultancy/uelhome.htm
Blog: http://gregsnewblogcredo.blogspot.com/

The University of Salford | Institute for Social, Cultural and ...

Dr Greg Smith, BSc (Salford), PhD (Salford) ... School of English, Sociology, Politics & Contemporary History. Email: g.w.h.smith@salford.ac.uk ...
www.iscpr.salford.ac.uk/people/staff/gregory_smith.shtml - 18k - Cached - Similar pages

Greg Smith - Councillor for Town Ward & Cabinet Member for Crime ...

Greg Smith is one of three Councillors who represent Town Ward in the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham. He serves alongside Councillor Stephen ...
gregsmith.co.uk/ - 11k - Cached - Similar pages

Greg Smith's Home Page

Greg Smith, Research Fellow, Environmental Systems Science Centre.
www.nerc-essc.ac.uk/~gcs/ - 9k - Cached - Similar pages

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2007-10-03T11:00:00.001-07:00

Letter to MP re end of local bus services

2007-07-31T03:16:00.000-07:00

Dear Mr Hendrick,

According to the Lancashire Evening Post

Preston Bus has revealed it has been forced into the first "retreat" of the city's bus wars.
The operator confirmed it is making sweeping cuts across its services as it battles Stagecoach for customers on its most popular routes.It has axed service number 21 to Broadgate, the 36 to Lightfoot Lane via Garstang Road and the twice-daily number 99 bus to the Royal Preston Hospital.

This leaves our community in Broadgate without a viable bus service which as a result of a mass local campaign three years ago was promised to be maintained. Furthermore the Council at that time instituted a one way system between South Meadow Lane and Riverside in order to make the route more viable. The bus service remains vital, especially to the many elderly people who live in the area.

Apparently the route has been cut because it is uneconomic and the rampant capitalist competition between rival bus companies. I am old enought to remember the campaigns of the 1980s against Thatcher's evil policies to privatise and deregulate public transport. Preston is now reaping the whirlwind of the failure of those campaigns.

But why on earth after 10 years in power has not your Labour government reversed the legislation, and put public service above economics? The question is even more relevant given what we now know about the devastation to the environment caused by among other things dependency on the private motor car.

Greg Smith

RECENT PHOTOS

2007-07-31T02:22:00.000-07:00

Mainline Steam Trains in the NW July 28th

More at http://picasaweb.google.com/gregmaistersmith/NorthernSteamJuly282007

Union of South Africa approaches Oxenholme

Holiday photos from the Moray Firth Scotland at

http://picasaweb.google.com/gregmaistersmith/Scotland2007

Bow & Fiddle Rocks Portknockie

Lake district landscapes at

http://picasaweb.google.com/gregmaistersmith/LakeDistrict

NW from Windermere

Bristol Graffitti.... Community Cohesion

2007-06-19T13:01:00.001-07:00

Another Daft government Policy

2007-05-30T13:49:00.000-07:00

I Had a destitute Romanian across my path today..

How crazy that they and Bulgarians can be here legally as EU nationals yet with no right to seek employment nor to claim on public funds.

see an outline of the situation on http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/5381990.stm

He'd even been thrown out of a homeless night shelter because they could not claim housing benefit on his behalf!!

Running Wild in Broadgate

2007-05-28T22:34:00.000-07:00

Back in the early spring a local open space back of South Beech Street was tidied up by Groundwork as part of their Small sites in west preston scheme. It looked really good, overgrown shrubs cleared out, litter remove, ground cover plants planted and all topped with a layer of woodchip mulch. Ir was an Avencentral SRB6 project so their logo got stuck up on some nice signs, designed by local school kids.

But look at it today 3 months on...

Why has it deteriorated so quickly...

There has been some deliberate damage with some plants ripped up.. probabbly by bored and possibly drunken people.. And maybe the choice of plants and quality of weed root removal was not good when the work was done

But the real problem is lack of maintenance... Why?

Because it was a short term project... Groundwork's funding came to an end on March 31st. and their staff are no longer around.. In an ideal world they would have left behind a community group to look after the place... But why should anyone want to work hard gardening a public space when we pay the Council to do that and we are all busy anyway? And the community development was just not done in the original project.

Formally the city council has the responsibility for maintaining the area.. But they are always and increasingly hard pressed for staff and funds.. If its not a high prestige area then they are going to neglect it.

So its yet another example of a short term scheme based on funny regeneration money ending up being a waste of effort, because there was no continuation funding...

The Lie and The Acts of Tony Blair

2007-04-27T23:02:00.000-07:00

In our recent home group Bible study we looked at the story of Ananias and Sapphira in.

Acts 4:32 - 5:11

It’s a frightening story if you take seriously the idea of the judgment of God against sin, be it in this world as in the Bible story or in the world to come. Our group concluded as many Bible scholars have before that the sin that made the apostles so angry was not so much the selfishness and lack of generosity that caused the guilty couple to keep back some of their wealth for themselves, but their deceit and hypocrisy when they made out that they were handing over the full value of their property to the fund for the relief of poverty. Indeed it is this lie and deceit, reflecting the character of Satan, the father of all lies, that is the sin against the Holy Spirit which as Jesus taught cannot be forgiven.

We all need to acknowledge as Isaiah did that “I am a person of unclean lips, and I dwell among a people of unclean lips.” This is especially necessary if we are to go on to critique others for their apparent deceit. There is always the possibility that we may be wrong in our judgments, or too harsh, for ultimately there is only one just judge, who sees all things clearly, that is the Lord God himself. But at least that confession of fallibility clears the way for us to speak the truth as we see it, in anger perhaps yet in love and concern and sadness as we see the possibility of a day of reckoning approaching.

I find it hard not to consider how this story compares with the present political situation in the UK.

A dozen or more years ago many of us were utterly fed up with Tory sleaze and their misguided policies. We were overwhelmingly cynical when Jonathan Aitken spoke of the “sword of truth” even as he was being convicted and jailed in a perjury trial. Ironically many years later he appears to have come out of it all quite well, as a repentant siner and changed character having found faith in Jesus.

Ten years ago on that bright May morning I, with many others who had stayed up through election night, and cheered heartily as Tory ministers and MPs (especially Michael Portillo) were unseated, we hoped it was a new dawn, and joined in the song that “things can only get better”. Personally, even then I was not totally convinced.

I had joined the Labour Party in Newham in 1980, and been active in it through all the Thatcher years. I’d been a branch chair and secretary, campaigned at every local and National Election and even considered going for selection as a councilor (In Newham it was selection that mattered not election as the “monkey with a red rose will always win” rule always applied.). Some of my friends got on the Council, one eventually became Leader, did some good things with a deft touch and eventually became MP.

In 1992 after campaigning at the general election, with a baby son I’d helped produce especially for Labour candidates to kiss, that despite the polls, I was devastated we lost again and John Major was back in Downing Street.

After that my enthusiasm waned. I was never a great fan of John Smith and when he died I soon understood that the young Tony Blair looked like a winner, and have to admit I gave him my vote in the leadership election. But from then on it was downhill all the way. Disillusion set in as I realised that even if Labour won the next election it wouldn’t make much difference, at least not on the great issues of poverty and justice at home and overseas. So it was that my activism died, I failed to renew my Party membership, and I played no part in the 1997 campaign. Ten years on I can’t even remember if I voted for them, but if I did I’m pretty certain it was the last time.

And now exactly a decade later it seems that Mr. Blair is packing his bags and about to leave Downing Street. And I am not just a half hearted reluctant fellow traveler as I was in 1997. I have instead become utterly and absolutely opposed to everything New Labour stands for, and to almost everything they have done or failed to do. I am convinced I will never vote for that party again, and am amazed that anyone else can contemplate doing so.

What has caused this? Above all I would say it is the culture of The Lie that has been at the heart of the Blair Project. It is a lie that has taken many shapes and forms but here are a few.

It begins with the culture of spin. The presentational and media control skills that were so important in winning the 1997 and 2001 elections have worn thin. Alaistair Campbell and Peter Mandelson have fallen from grace, but their legacy is one of deceit and cynicism. As perhaps never before no one believes a word that any politician utters, including themselves, judging by the way they constantly try to wriggle out of the traps they have set for themselves.

There is the lie that New Labour has a progressive agenda, that it seeks to work for the good of the many not the few. Meanwhile salary differentials and inequalities continue to increase, and the super rich prosper as never before. Recent changes to the income tax regime certainly fail to indicate a passion to benefit the poorest workers. The minimum wage and tax credits seem to have been helpful, though recent reports suggest more children trapped in poverty that elsewhere in Europe and the brunt of poverty wages and exploitation is now borne by expendable European migrant labour.

There is the lie that New Labour supports and invests in the public sector. Money may have gone in, but most of the effort has been to recruit and empower high paid managers and accountants. In truth most of the staff of the great statutory agencies are alienated by the slavery of target driven management, the devaluing of professional skills and expertise, the outsourcing to low paying private companies, and the general squeeze on pay and working conditions. And just ask someone from Preston how hard it is to find a local NHS dentist who will take new patients!

There is the lie of the new Labour mantra about rights and responsibilities. As I wrote ten years ago there is some good sense and Christian foundations to the political philosophy of communitarianism on which these arguments are based. But it has been transmuted into an oppressive regime where ordinary people are increasingly policed and under surveillance to impose responsibilities and increasingly rights are taken away. There is a coercive model of what constitutes the good active citizen, the adequate parent, the safe employer, the local community or faith group with which the state can engage. Yet at the same time despite human rights legislation, rights to privacy, independence and even freedom of belief and conscience are being taken away. The war on terrorism is used as a smoke screen to increase surveillance, bring in biometric ID cards, and reduce the right of habeas corpus. Meanwhile the big global corporations and anyone with lots of money is rarely challenged about responsibilities, and seem to have increased rights to make more money, influence government and (alledgedly) to buy peerages.

There is the lie about being tough on crime and the causes of crime which was the catch phrase of the earlier Tony Blair. Want seems to have happened is that New Labour has widened the definition of crime, criminalized and locked up record high numbers of people (mainly young working class and ethnic minority men) and invented the category of Anti social behaviour to allow more people to be treated as criminal and excluded without the need for judicial process. More young people feel more alienated, and it’s not surprising they wear hoodies, distrust authority and in some cases turn to armed violence. There is little attempt to understand the causes of crime, and the probation service which traditionally had that role has been left with offender management and risk containment, is driven by irrelevant, unachievable and trivial targets, has a work force who are de skilled and demoralized, and is heading for privatization. Fear of crime seems greater than ever and community policing where it succeeds in engaging established older residents encourages lynch mob mentality.

Then there is the biggest lie of all the war in Iraq. It is bad enough that in ten years Blair has committed UK troops to numerous international conflicts more regularly than any other recent PM. But who would have believed that in 2003 a Labour government, following the lead from a right wing neo conservative, US President, and despite the opposition on the streets of millions of concerned citizens would invade a middle Eastern state on the back of a propaganda campaign about non-existent weapons of mass destruction that could be used against us within hours! If this was a genuine mistake on the part of the intelligence services then they and their political masters ought to be sacked. If it was not a genuine mistake then the deceit is monstrous, causing hundreds of thousands of unnecessary deaths and suffering. If the war had been portrayed as an honest attempt to overthrow a tyrannical brutal dictator, even a pacifist might have tolerated it. Even an explanation that the west needed to secure oil supplies would have been more honest. Four years since the invasion the war continues in much more chaotic ways and it seems impossible to find an exit stratgegy.

For these and other lies I shall be glad to see Tony Blair go. In 1997 his message was “Trust me”. He has betrayed that trust, and as a result my and many other people’s trust in politicians has evaporated. For the rest of my life I shall be in active opposition to the Labour Party to which I once belonged. When Thatcher was in power I knew there was an alternative. These days, this side of heaven at least, I am not so sure.

Both Tony Blair and George Bush have publicly declared their Christian faith. We can only hope for their sake that God, who knows and sees all things, and represents perfect justice, will be more generous in his judgment than I have been, and more lenient than He was with Ananias and Sapphira.

MARCH MONEY MADNESS

2007-03-29T08:22:00.000-07:00

It's the last week of March, the end of the government financial year and most people in the public sector, and voluntary organisations like ours who draw down public money are rushing around like the proverbial blue-bottled fly trying to spend every last penny of their budget before the hour glass runs out.

We've got two projects where we've got money to spare and to spend this week..

Our garden project has been given £4000 by the County Council for which we are very grateful. But actually it seems they were bending over backwards to get rid of the money before the end of the financial year... And we've done our best to spend it for them and work is going on this week, and plants have been bought and wait to be delivered..And thankfully we are not being pursued too hard to make sure every receipt or invoice is dated before 1st April.

Our other project is a computer suite where we have put together a complex funding package from SRB6 and the Safer and Stronger Communities Fund Actually it is a very exciting project and again we are grateful for all the funding we can get.

There really is a bit of madness in this as the first funder is only supporting us for next year (07/08) while the second is offering matched funding from this year's budget (06/07). This means that we have had to spend £5k on equipment this month and submit claim forms and invoices, while the actual installation of the computer suite to make sense of the whole project cannot start till April 1st and will have to be claimed for in the first quarter of next year. And the same goes for the output monitoring, we have to write in the figure 1 four times in a spreadsheet for the SSCF claim to show that we had a target and achiecved it for the last quarter of 06/07 which actually amounted spending the money to buy some cameras and computer equipment. The reality is the government does not believe anything exists unless you can count it (and I'm told a tick in the box won't do as apparently the Treasury can't handle binary maths!)

In our case and with lots of other voluntary agencies we haven't yet officially heard whether revenue grant applications to fund next years salaries are coming through. So we have a double madness of frantic last minute capital spending while people on short term contracts are leaving their jobs or being made redundant at the end of their project

At the same time other public sector bodies such as hospitals have already spent all their dosh for this year and are having to cancel operations.

Surely there must be a more rational and sustainable way of funding public sector programmes and voluntary sector projects. Still I suppose the present regime does keep accountants and auditors in work on a long term basis!!!!

Why are some Christians so Islamaphobic?

2007-03-29T06:52:00.000-07:00

I just received this chain email ... about the mosque in West Ham which is in the headlines in London.... I've reordered the sections so it makes sense sequentially ending with the responses I've made to the friend who sent it to me and to Alan Craig in Newham...

I find it alarming that Christians react in this way....

Apparently there is a SE London network of evangelicals at the root of it

Nick Wynne-Jones [mailto:nwwj@ccb.org.uk] is something to do with Christ Church Beckenham and has to bear responsibility for spreading what must be a false statement that Ken Livingstone is planning to use tax payer's money to build an enormous mosque costing an estimated 100M in the docklands

and nelsonp@ntlworld.com (see his disclaimer right at the bottom of his email)

I think they need a rebuke!

If you check the Evening Standard article (by Mira Bar-Hillel .. )
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23390637-details/Unelected+quango+to+decide+on+mosque+for+Olympic+site/article.do

they are very careful to limit it to the group has been accused of drawing young men towards an extremist version of Islam.

It's clearly been a Wikipedia approach... in the sense This section does not cite its references or sources.
But it is worth exploring for a more rounded view of Tablighi Jamaat

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tablighi_Jamaat

ORIGINAL EMAIL BEGINS
From: Nick Wynne-Jones [mailto:nwwj@ccb.org.uk] Sent: 28 March 2007 10:22 To: nelsonp@ntlworld.comSubject: FW: London Olympics & Mosque - please voteImportance: High
Dear Nelson
I have received this and thought it would be something on which members of your circulation list might wish to express their concern through voting.
Every blessing
Nick

(NO SOURCE IS GIVEN for this) I don't know if you have heard about this but Ken Livingstone is planning to use tax payer's money to build an enormous mosque costing an estimated 100M in the docklands. What do you think about it? Wouldn't it be better to spend the money on a new hospital or improved transport facilities?? Bigger than St Paul's! The plan is for the mosque to be so big that people flying in from all over the world for the 2012 Olympics will it see it as the biggest landmark in London, bigger than St Pauls, Westminster Abbey or Wembley Stadium

Take a second to cast your vote in The Evening Standard on-line poll to determine public opinion about whether a mega mosque should be built for the Olympics. The vote so far is 62 % in favour. It looks like the Muslim community is casting its vote in droves, and as usual the Christians are burying their heads in the sand....

After voting, forward this to as many people as you can. Here's the link: http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/poll/poll-18791-details/ques-18669-id/%C2%A3100m+mosque:+Vote+now/poll.do

---------- THIS IS THE Forwarded message That came with the first email ----------
From: Nelson Pallister <nelsonp@ntlworld.com>Date: 28-Mar-2007 11:17
Subject: FW: London Olympics & Mosque - please voteTo: Nelson Pallister <nelsonp@ntlworld.com>

This is the 3rd petition notice I have received and this time the link works, so I am passing it on.
I was present recently at a debate in the House of Lords on Religious Freedom with particular reference to the right to change one's religion. Alan Craig, the Christian Alliance Councillor from Newham, was speaking on the issue of the mosque. He said he gets on well with Muslims and agrees with them on many issues. However, he is opposed to the mosque for the following reasons:

1. It is very close to the West Ham Football Ground which itself creates serious traffic congestion. Another even larger building with its attendant traffic generation will be very disruptive for the area.
2. A massive mosque right at the entrance to the Olympic Stadium would send a message to the world (think of all the TV coverage including views from the air) that Britain is now a Muslim nation.
3. There is already evidence of Muslims moving into the area to be near the mosque and this could create a ghetto-like area (contrary to Olympic principles).
4. The particular Muslim sect (linked to the Wahibi sect) takes an isolationist, separatist stance and has a history of radicalising young Muslims.
5. This sect has its UK HQ in Dewsbury where they have created a separatist parallel society and structure intent on imposing shari'a law in their part of the town. It has become quite intimidating for anyone not associated with the sect to even walk in the street.

Alan Craig said that in Newham 2500 had signed a petition against the mosque and many of those were in fact Muslims. Further questions that could be asked include:

How many women are there on the management committee?
How many Muslim women competitors are there in the Olympics?
How much of the funding for the sect comes from Saudi Arabia (not necessarily from the Government but from other sources there)?
Can people carry a Bible down Riyadh High Street? (There was recently a case where an Air Stewardess was not even allowed by a British airline to take her Bible with her when flying to Saudi Arabia.)

I am not sure about Ken Livingstone using taxpayers' money. Is this correct?

Nelson
I have undertaken to become a distribution point for information of interest to the Churches in Orpington and if appropriate to people in a wider area. I always distribute using the "bcc" option so that no-one's email address is passed on. People wanting to inform others of Inter-church events contact me and if I consider it appropriate, I pass the information on. I do so in good faith, expecting that those who initiate the communication will have ensured accuracy and that all other interests will have been considered. Occasionally I have information that applies to a wider audience than just Orpington and area and I will extend the distribution. If anyone does not want to receive these communications, please ask me to remove you from my distribution list. Please bear in mind, however, that removal from a list means that no communication relating to matters of even more limited interest may be sent to you.
Nelson D A Pallister 07956 237152 Fax: 01689 602961 Email: nelsonp@ntlworld.com

my response to the friend who sent it...

Dear A***
Please do not circulate this sort of thing assuming it is innocent Christian comment... there are political and possibly racist implications very near the surface. It is positively dangerous to egg on Christians and encourage their persecution complex in this way given the polarised nature of communities in Preston and Lancashire.

Alan Craig is an old acquaintance of mine from Newham. I believe Alan is an honourable and sincere Christian guy though I have often disagreed with him and been on opposite sides of political struggles to him in the past. I would take everything he says with a very large pillar of salt! While there are some valid points in the questions he poses these should be asked in face to face dialogue with Muslim leaders, rather than in the megaphone atmosphere of the Evening Standard and internet petitions.

On facts as I understand it
1) the mosque is over a mile from the current WH U F C ground.
2) It is also a mile or two from the proposed Olympic stadium
3:) The area has had a significant Muslim population for well over 30 years and the growth of the Muslim population has resulted from three things, a) the flight of white people including Christians away from the area b) young age structure and high fertility rates in the local Bangladeshi and Pakistani population c) some recent migration into the area of Muslim people from other overseas countries and to some extent from within the UK.

It would probably be illegal for the mayor of London to use tax payers money to build any place of worship..in any religion.. Any subsidy can only be given in the form of regeneration funding for social action or social welfare projects which are open to all as we have received as Christians both in this our Project and in the case of yours! .

In the history of this mosques application for planning permission which goes back ovesidy for 10 years there was a point when Newham Council actually asked the mosque for several million pounds subsidy for the renovation of the derelict River Lea waterfront which adjoins their sight.

If Christians want freedom of religion in this country we should avoid knee jerk reactions like this, at least check our facts to ensure we are not bearing false witness against our neighbours, and be arguing for freedom of religion and justice for our Muslim neighbours

Greg Smith

What I wrote to Alan Craig was this

Dear Alan
I hope you and yours are well... and that life in Newham is good... If you read through the thread of Email correspondence below you'll see a complex chain of how something you said arrived up here on the Christian grapevine and in my view as a result of "Chinese whispers" (sorry for the non PC term) has become in my view quite dangerous for inter community harmony in Lancashire..

It's not absolutely clear to me what are your words and what others have added..

You won't I think be surprised I disagree with some of your views... and it would be great to debate face to face on some of them like we used to...I'll admit you do pose some important questions.. and I hope I haven't been to hard on you or unfair in my critique.. And I hope I have got my facts right now I'm out of touch with the Newham context... I certainly uphold your right to say these sort of things...and in the public domain if you feel it necessary.. In fact it's not you I'm angry about.. but the naievity of understanding of many Christians who pick up and pass on these things as part of their "martyr complex"...and nostalgia for the days of Empire....

We've actually got a similar planning dispute running over a mosque development in Preston at the moment..in a white upper middle class neighbourhood a conservation area like the woodgrange estate.. And while the car parking and architectural blending issues have come to the fore, it has also brought out the BNP racist tribes in leafleting and the local press...which I think you would agree we can do without...

Of course the answer to the parking problem in Newham is for the Hammers to get relegated to the Conference (as they may well be soon!) and for Kingsway and Glory House to move out to Essex!! as I understand the former will be doing..

Meanwhile I will of course vote in favour of the mosque development!

Shalom Greg Smith

71000 Duke of Gloucester Cumbrian Tour 10th March 2007

2007-03-12T13:35:00.000-07:00

Crossing the Kent viaduct between Arnside and Grange over Sands

BIKES FOR SALE

2007-03-12T13:34:00.000-07:00

Pinarello Road Bike, small frame, suitable for 8 -13 year old taking up competitive cycling, Preston area, will accept offers around £180

Also very basic tandem, suit one average adult and one small adult or child. In need of some attention will accept offers around £120

And Girl's Mountain bike suit 10 year old: £30

Contact : greg3@maister-smith.fsnet.co.uk /01772 827987

Light and Shape : Preston UCLAN March 2nd 2007

2007-03-07T11:05:00.000-08:00

Tulketh Mill Preston

2007-03-07T11:00:00.000-08:00

Saturday March 2nd 2007.. 4;30pm.. the light was great, the building left over from the age of cotton mills is now a call centre for Carphone Warehouse.

Canalside Photos Hebden Bridge

2007-03-07T10:57:00.000-08:00

check out the location at http://www.hebdenbridge.co.uk/tourist-info/

Dipper on Hebden Water

2007-03-07T10:53:00.000-08:00

I was really lucky to get these pictures of one of my favourite birds on February 24th near Hebden Bridge West Yorks. If you want to know more about the species click
http://www.rspb.org.uk/birds/guide/d/dipper/index.asp

Voluntary Sector is "full up"?

2007-03-01T04:34:00.000-08:00

BBC web site reports http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6402965.stm

The government has won a vote over plans to privatise the Probation Service, despite a backbench revolt. MPs voted 293 to 268 in favour of the Offender Management Bill - cutting the government's majority from 62 to 25. Critics said letting firms and voluntary groups in England and Wales run services would increase reoffending rates and destroy "local connections".

When one’s partner is someone who has worked as a probation officer for over 20 years waking up to this news is not a pleasant experience, as it was me and the dog that were lightning conductors for anger directed at John Reid and the stupid government..

But the issue it raises for me is where will the governments expectations of the voluntary sector end? In one area after another they are looking to the third sector, the voluntary, community and faith groups to take on work loads, and compete for contracts that in previous times were seen as the natural task for the local or national state.

My own local experience in this sector is suggesting that we ought to recognize there is an absolutely limited capacity in the sector to do any more and that before long we shall need to put up signs saying “sector full up” or “services suspended due to staff shortages”.

For example I was at a local neighbourhood management board this week, trying with others to move forward co-ordinated local regeneration action and service delivery. While I find this commendable in terms of the desire to collaborate and implement joined up planning, and in the desire to give local residents a voice in the way their locality develops, the practical reality is somewhat different. There were about 15 (good and committed) people in the room. Four or five were local residents although two of them draw a salary from an organisation working in the area, which is largely funded out of the public purse and were there in work time. The rest were all employees of statutory bodies or their arms length agencies, including the police, the city council, two registered social landlords, an FE college, and SRB funded community projects. Only three people were giving unpaid voluntary service in attending this meeting, although at least 10,000 local residents would be eligible to be involved in the process of neighbourhood management. Community meetings in this city typically follow this pattern, despite calls for widening participation in volunteering and community governance, there appears to be a small pool of “active citizens” sometimes known as “usual suspects”, and most of them are paid.

For those involved in the Third Sector research and policy making it poses these key questions:

1. Do we have a clear definition of what “voluntary action” means and an understanding that much of what goes on in the “voluntary sector” is no longer truly “voluntary”?

2. Are there measurable limits to the quantity of voluntary action or potential volunteer hours available within the population of the UK and in the context of other demands on peoples time, (e.g. earning a living, caring for self and family, being a consumer, leisure and entertainment) are we nearing that limit? Is any one (Institute of Volunteering Research??) doing research on this?

3. Given the wide range of opportunities for unpaid contributions to the community which choices do volunteers make? My impression is that lots of people offer time in sports clubs, in religious groups, in some campaigns, in fund raising drives and in some hobby and leisure groups, but that apart from the few “usual suspects” most are reluctant to engage in neighbourhood community action, in committee and trusteeship work for the sector and in anything to do with politics. I should think the data from the Home Office citizenship surveys bears this out, though I haven’t had time to check it.

One final thought with Red Nose Day coming up. I wonder if in our celebrity and consumer culture we are seeing a phenomenon of “vicarious volunteering”. In sociology of religion Grace Davie and others have argued that the typical form of English religion in the late 20th Century was “vicarious Christianity”. People believed in a vague way but didn’t bother to belong to a church or take an active role, or give more than a few pence, but expected the church to be there to pray for them to christen, marry and bury people as necessary and to offer practical help in time of need. How far is it the case that the general public feel warm that Lenny Henry, Bob Geldorf and their mates organise TV charitythons, might give a few hours of their time and a couple of quid to the collection, but are really quite relieved that a few other people are paid to deliver charitable service to the homeless, the refugees, the children with cancer and leaning difficulties? Is anyone doing current research on the contemporary culture of charity and volunteering? What do you think they would discover?

Web resources for Fundraising

2007-02-08T07:07:00.000-08:00

Hope these links are useful

FunderFinder is a small UK charity producing software and other resources, mainly for grant-seekers. Some of the things produced are free, some cost - though many people use the software we sell at no cost in a library or resource agency. ..... specialise in information and advice about charitable trusts and foundations that fund in the UK.
http://www.funderfinder.org.uk/index.php

The premier online database of UK sponsorship opportunities
http://www.uksponsorship.com/

Fundraising UK Ltd is the UK's leading Internet fundraising consultancy. Founded in 1996 by Howard Lake, it helps charities in the UK and internationally to use the Internet as a fundraising tool to enhance and extend their existing fundraising activities.
http://www.fundraising.co.uk/index.php

=
The Association of Charitable Foundations (ACF) is the UK wide support organisation for grant-making trusts and foundations of all types. the ACF website does not contain any information about ACF members, other than links to their sites
http://www.acf.org.uk/linkstrusts.htm

Although Voluntary Arts England itself is not a grant-making body, this section of the site aims to give you the advice and guidance you need when seeking or applying for funds.
http://www.vaengland.org.uk/cgi-bin/website.cgi?tier1=england&tier2=funding&fp=true

More on equality diversity and monolithic uniformity

2007-01-31T12:29:00.000-08:00

Well I thought I would provoke a debate and for the most part I think I provoked a reaction!

posting my piece to the VSSN list has generated a thread of nearly a dozen replies! you can read them in the archives at http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A1=ind0701&L=vol-sector-studies-network

This is my response

If you read carefully what I was trying to say the "problem" is not gay adoptions or equal rights for gay couples, but whether government should impose a monolithic model of provision of any service on a sector which by nature includes a wide diversity of groups, with strongly held values.

Tony Hermann latched on to this in a most helpful way and the example of the diverse translation services and the pragmatic solution is an excellent one. In the real world of course this pattern of service operating through consumer choice will lead to de facto discrimination

In the same way I would support state funding of various telephone help line services for particular niche markets, e.g. one for women at risk of domestic violence, child line and a gay and lesbian help line. And of course similar patterns do occur in the case of state aided faith based schools, or the tax relief given to almost every religious congregation and place of worship even though membership is only open (either de jure or de facto) to those who share particular beliefs and rituals.

So why do secular equal rights activists want to impose uniformity on religious groups who have a conscience on particular issues that are not shared by the whole of society..?

Equality Law Contradicts Diversity Policy

2007-01-30T11:22:00.000-08:00

The decision by the UK government not to allow an exemption on the regulations on gay adoptions seems to me a perverse and dangerous one, threatening the whole concept of the independence of civil society organisations who work from a strong value base... For the full news story see the Guardian article at.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/frontpage/story/0,,2001834,00.html#article_continue

It doesn’t really matter what one thinks of the RC church and its supporters who included the two Anglican Archbishops in general, or in the case of this political protest. My view (as I’ve already blogged) is that this was the wrong (minor) issue for Christians to get fundamentalist about. The reality is that the secular fundamentalists have imposed their will in a manner which has rarely been seen since the French Revolution or the demise of Joseph Stalin.

I never feel comfortable to be in agreement with Ann Widdecome but this time I am. According to the daily Telegraph

the former Home Office minister, said she was not surprised that Mr Cameron had not intervened in the debate so far but added: "I would hope that he will come out in favour of freedom of conscience. "It’s one thing to say that gay people can adopt and quite another to say they must be able to adopt from a specific agency. It’s like saying someone not only has the right to have an abortion but they also have the right to demand an abortion from a specific doctor, regardless of that doctor’s freedom of conscience."

There is a supreme irony in that it was the secular enlightenment that fully developed the idea of diversity and toleration in civil society, though its roots in England go back to the religious tradition of Christian Dissent. Voltaire I think it was who said "I may disagree with your belief but I will fight to the death for your right to believe it". But now the state seems to be saying that all religious and voluntary groups must believe in and practice equality as set out in the law, even if this is anathema to the individual and group conscience.

There seems then to be an inherent contradiction, or at least tension, between the diversity and equality agendas. We are still encouraged to celebrate diversity and ensure public services reach all sections of society. I was at a seminar today where the local NHS mental health service for children and adolescents was enthusiastically trying to communicate with, learn from, and build partnership with, the representatives of many of the diverse faith communities in the city. But we can only wonder if clergy and religious youth workers really are going to be allowed to counsel and work with youngsters with clinical depression along cultural and faith lines they are familiar with, or whether the state is going to step in and insist on some treatment with some universal Prozac.

The other current example of this state control freakery is around the social cohesion agenda. Multiculturalism is being attacked from all sides and the very ideology that led to gay pride is overwhelmed by the revived rhetoric of citizenship and integration. Only the not so new Labour government seems to be able to determine what is appropriate and permitted behaviour for the “good” British citizen. Implicitly their definition means you can’t be a committed Muslim, a faithful Catholic, a born again Christian or even a Scots Nationalist and still remain a true Briton. Still less can you be an asylum seeker or refugee, a hoodie, a kid who hangs out on street corners etc. But apparently you can be a casino entrepreneur, an arms trader paying bribes to secure business, or David Beckham, and still present a perfect image of a good citizen. There is either a whiff of hypocrisy or a corruption of values in this approach.

One can understand why a government so desperate to retain votes goes down this route as they continue to listen to polls and focus groups. In a post 9/11 context, in response to the discontents of globalization, in the maelstrom of diverse and ever changing social identities many in the mainstream feel insecure, and clutch for straws of imagined traditional certainties. And it is the mainstream groups that swing elections. Of course the media, especially the tabloids develop the theme. Or more often trivialize it around celebrities as in the recent Celebrity Big Brother case.. see http://media.guardian.co.uk/site/story/0,,1994828,00.html And the politicians give us all a pat on the back for our supposed “tolerance” as a Great British virtue.

It is very disheartening that a government who for ten years have been pushing the benefits of partnerships involving faith communities and religious social welfare organisations should have ended up like this. Perhaps it always was a sham and they only wanted to take us over on their secular terms. There have been plenty of policy reports that have picked up the issues and tensions that were unresolved in these policy areas and in my view the policy makers just haven’t understood.

Faced with a strengthened secular establishment what are churches and value based groups going to do? Inevitably some will continue to sup with the devil as government funding is the only way their organizations can survive? Others will try to remain in critical solidarity, at least on the issues that they agree with the government, but I suspect will find it increasingly difficult to remain true to their own ethos. And some will decide on the purist option refusing to take government money with strings attached and closing down some of their services. A few may even decide to carry on in their own sweet way, either retreating into their own silo, or engaging in various levels of civil disobedience.

The law of unintended consequences will surely apply. In seeking to impose equality the government is attacking liberty, and fracturing fraternity/ community. The very policies they see as enhancing social cohesion and building social capital are leading to even lower levels of trust and fragmentation.

Research documents on community life in Preston in 2007

2007-01-29T11:08:00.000-08:00

This is just a selection of web resources about community life in Preston... useful for anyone wanting to understand the local social and economic context.

Most of my own research stuff about Preston is at or linked to
http://www.arts.manchester.ac.uk/cit/preston/

or http://mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/bridgebuilderpreston/index.htm

PSP Quality of Life Survey

In 2005, the PSP commissioned MORI to carry out a Preston wide Quality of Life survey. This included over 1,500 face to face in home interviews with people from across all 22 wards in the City during winter 2005. http://www.prestonstrategicpartnership.org.uk/News.asp?id=SX9B6B-A77F56C9

Community Mapping Report 2003 \t http://www.avencentral.org.uk/aven_central_area.php
The Community Mapping Report identifies all community facilities that are situated in the AvenCentral area.
The report lists community facilities by neighbourhood and contains information regarding staffing, the premises and what activities are available at the centres, is available online by clicking the following link. Note that you will need Adobe Reader to view this file:
Community Mapping Report - PDF Format 323Kb

You also need to know about Neighbourhood Management
see
http://www.prestonstrategicpartnership.org.uk/Category.asp?cat=797

and the wider development context and issues around unitary authorities.. see
http://www.preston.gov.uk/news/News.asp?id=SX9452-A780A140

and the central Lancs. city consultation
http://www.centrallancscity.org.uk

a lot of the crime stuff is covered at
http://www.saferlancashire.co.uk/local_areas/preston/

For a zany idea in public art!!!!! look at
http://www.flocktothecity.com/

and for what the Vision Board is plotting
Please have a look at SAVE THE RIBBLE http://save-the-ribble.blogspot.com/

More on anti discrimination and sin

2007-01-17T11:12:00.000-08:00

David Barratt wrote in response on the socrel list

I don't think anyone suggested the obvious solution to the Christian B&B owner in the Lake District: put twin beds in the bedrooms rather than double beds. That way he'd be giving the opportunity to two straight men, or two straight women, to share a twin room to save money, as probably most of us have done over the years -- or would he quiz them as to their sexual orientation as they stood on his doorstep? (I wonder whether he asks every male-and-female couple whether they are married before allowing them upstairs?) But if he provided twin beds he would be providing both homosexuals and the unmarried with the option of not sinning, surely a thoroughly blessèd thing for him to do.... :-)

To which I responded

Good point David...... you have actually highlighted the point that some evangelical theologians have often made in the past that it is not orientation or sexuality / identity that is the issue it is the behaviour and even as Jesus would have it in the sermon on the mount even the inner heart attitude that is the problem...

It's not that long ago in our culture in situations of poverty that it was commonplace for people of the same sex to share a room and/or a double bed without any suggestion that they were doing anything other than sleeping.

It should be easy enough to understand that it needs neither a double bed, or any bed for any of us to sin in the area of sexual practices... My theology (and experience) would suggest sin is all too possible even for a married couple or a celibate heterosexual. The Christian doctrine of total depravity/ original sin makes it clear that we are all "living in sin" and every aspect of life needs divine grace, redemption and transformation which is not fully achievable this side of heaven.

So if the hotel owner wants to impose morality or holiness on his guests he needs to have a much more rigourous "thought police" approach.

To be fair though I suppose what he is really objecting to is that gay couples who are "out" are acting in a way which he finds offensive to his sense of morality (and of course by denying them a room he is being offensive in return.

But there is the issue that if a hotel or a conference centre is specifically promoted as "christian" there is an implicit assumption of a set of traditional norms that customers will stick to... and the safety of those norms is actually a selling point to potential customers from within the Christian community. Such norms also often include restrictive behaviours around alcohol, drugs, gambling and what activities are permitted on Sunday. And presumably there are Muslim and Hindu conference centres which also cater for a parallel niche market and have their own norms and house rules (dietary, worship and prayer times etc.)

So the difficult question remains as to whether the law should allow a religious community to run institutions of hospitality which are not genuinely open to the public as hotels?

Are You a Humanist?

2007-01-16T12:37:00.000-08:00

A Recent Email I received said this

Subject: BHA Job Opportunity: Campaigns Officer
Campaigns Officer
British Humanist Association, London WC1
Permanent full time post, salary in the range £21,000 - £23,000

The British Humanist Association (BHA) is the national organisation supporting and representing the non-religious. Our campaigning work is based on our commitment to human rights, democracy, equality, and mutual respect and we work for an open and inclusive society with freedom of belief and speech, and for an end to the privileged position of religion in law, education, broadcasting and wherever else it occurs. In recent years the profile of issues to do with religion and belief, equality and human rights has increased and so has the volume of campaigning work we take on. The BHA is now seeking to employ an additional member of staff to work in this area.

You will need to have excellent oral and written communication skills excellent communication, administration and IT skills, and be able to produce press releases, research papers, briefings, and submissions to Government or other external political audiences.

I couldn't resist a comment so I wrote and posted to various lists thus

Interesting job advertised here

But does the title / subject line mean that as a Christian I am not encouraged to apply for this post.. Does the law on religious discrimination allow Muslims, Christians and Hindus to be excluded from consideration? Should it?

It would be really ironic if indeed the BHA campaigning work is based on our commitment to human rights, democracy, equality, and mutual respect and we work for an open and inclusive society with freedom of belief and speech,

And there were several responses which I distilled and recirculated

Readers of these lists probably realised I wanted to stir a debate... and of course I wouldn't really want to apply for the job with the BHA. I've had several responses from various quarters and the whole issue demands a more considered response.

My question I believe raises an interesting policy issue... both in terms of the law and the practice of Voluntary and Religious organisations.

The reply that came from Ray Thomas who had posted the ad was clear and fair enough

No-one is barred. But I imagine that the BHA would assume that applicants had read the job description and would show in their application that they had read it.....If you do subscribe to these values, you have until 5 February to get in an application for this modestly paid job.

Mike Reddin then asked me

If I were resolutely committed to blocking off the Ribble and turning it into a 6 lane motorway would you accept my application for a post as Publicity Officer for 'Save The Ribble'?

It's an interesting point to debate whether Save the Ribble could employ an anti-environementalist but the whole profession of the law is based on the idea you can employ a barrister who doesn't believe in your case...to say nothing of the case of the PR person or professional spin doctor..

Both comments raise a philosophical issue for any value driven organisation (be it religious, anti-religious, political or charitable. Does a person need to be a "Believer" in order to work (in a paid or unpaid capacity) to promote the cause? The short answer of course is "not necessarily" although it sure helps in terms of extra commitment, job satisfaction and integrity of conscience and public perception.

The problem with the original ad is the subject line of the email which implicitly excludes this possibility... and in some ways is to be lauded for its up front honesty..which I know is not always the case for religious organisations advertising posts or seeking funding...

There is a policy issue at stake in terms of the current law.

As Graham Bowpitt wrote

My understanding of the law is that believers cannot be prevented from applying (for the humanist post) because there is nothing in the nature of the post that would render them incapable of performing its duties.

and David Voas helpfully spelled it out thus

Under the Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) Regulations 2003 it is illegal to discriminate against people on the basis of their religion or beliefs.

The job specification for this post says that candidates must have 'Humanist beliefs, or an empathy with humanism sufficient to explain and promote humanism, humanist policies, and the aims of the BHA.' I doubt that (as a Christian believer) you'd be a good candidate, but if you felt comfortable promoting the non-religious agenda of the BHA then you're not excluded.

Note that 'employers with an ethos based on a religion or belief' can specify their religion as a job requirement even if it isn't actually necessary to do the work.

In that respect the BHA, the National Secular Society and other campaigning non-religious groups suffer from unequal protection under the law: they could only require job candidates to be non-religious if it's a 'genuine occupational requirement'. Your church, by contrast, could legally refuse to hire a cleaner who didn't share your beliefs.

And Helen Meads gave an example : When Friends (Quakers) advertised for a new Recording Clerk (equivalent to a charity CEO) exemption from the relevant discrimination legislation was obtained on the grounds that one had to understand Quakerism from within in order to be able to do the job.

As I read it then the BHA are within their rights to claim the exemption and specify that candidates shared secular humanist beliefs.. But the irony in that is that they would be admitting that they held a belief system that was in some sense a religious world view... yet if they barred anyone because they held a supernatural world view they would be contracting their values about equality etc... So it is necessary to rely on something more implicit.. the commonsense assumption that potential candidates will have at least an affinity towards the BHA set of beliefs and values..

Yet if a Christian or Muslim organisation advertised a post in, say youth or community work (especially if it had any element of public funding), under the heading "are you a committed Christian/Muslim ?" I suspect the secular fundamentalists would be the first to cry foul and bring a test case under anti-discrimination law. True, they might be a bit more tolerant if the post was that of "preacher" and all the salary came out of the pockets of the congregation. And I can see there is a valid distinction there, although there are many cases in real life where it is hard to draw clear boundaries between religious and social activity.

David Voas also added:As the demonstrations last week illustrate, some religious groups in the UK are far from happy with moves to promote equality, mutual respect and an open and inclusive society where attributes like homosexuality are concerned.

Obviously this is the case and in my view it is unfortunate in that it shows a desire to control and dominate others in terms of the beliefs, values and behaviours that are allowed rather than the grace and tolerance which are central to my understanding and practice of Christianity in face of the question "what would Jesus do?".

I understand of that homosexual practices are condemned in the Bible and Christian tradition, (together with many other sins from unbelief in God to murder, to coveting your neighbours ox most of which, in the light of the sermon on the mount, we are all in our hearts guilty. There is of course a Christian response in terms of grace and forgiveness available through trust in Christ's death...which is mumbo jumbo to the BHA yet life transforming to many of us.).

I am in sympathy myself with Malcolm Duncan of Faithworks (an ulster pentecostal by origin) who has critiqued the approach of Anglican Mainstream and other non anglican conservative evangelicals who are livid about the gay rights issue..and anti discrimination law currently before Parliament.. http://www.faithworks.info/SubSection.asp?id=7305

Theres also a bit more of news and my views in this area on my blog http://gregsnewblogcredo.blogspot.com/2006/10/christians-inciting-hatred.html

In short my view is that, while I understand that many Christians have a conscientious objection to personally promoting or condoning homosexual activity I don't think they have a right or duty or responsibility to demand these standards of others, let alone to discriminate in the provision of services (or the offer of jobs). I sympathise with their dilemma but believe they should spend their time doing more constructive things that reflect and faithfully follow their beliefs and values, such as living in loving, faithful, monogamous marriage, graciously promoting the faith, and following Christ's teaching and example of caring for the poor, healing the sick and liberating the oppressed.

In terms of policy and practice I think there is much common ground between me and the BHA... Maybe we should simply recognise and allow communities and organisations to operate on the basis of affinity, shared values or constructed identity and be honest about it rather than imposing legal requirements.

Yet if we hadn't got anti-discrimination law we might return to the days of signs saying "no coloureds, no Irish". The hope expressed in the first Race Relations act was that it would be educative..The best law indeed is the one that is so widely accepted it is never broken and never comes to court.

I'd love to hear other people's reaction to these musings...

New published paper based on an old piece of work

2007-01-10T12:06:00.000-08:00

[FIR 1.3 (2005) 291-311] Fieldwork in Religion (print) ISSN 1743-0615
Fieldwork in Religion (online) ISSN 1743-0623

Greg Smith

Religious Identities, Social Networks and the Power of Information:

Fieldwork Issues in Mapping Religious Diversity in London

If you'd like a pdf copy please email me at greg@maister-smith.fsnet.co.uk

More Photos from the Lake District: January 2007

2007-01-08T12:51:00.000-08:00

Mainly Derwentwater at Keswick, the Honister Pass and Crummock water

Riverworks Preston

2007-01-04T12:18:00.000-08:00

The debate about the plans to "regenerate" our local river have surfaced again with last nights front page story in the Lancashire Evening Post see http://www.prestontoday.net/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=73&ArticleID=1953277

The story and editorial comment is not that bad and will help provoke much needed debate: But I'm a signed up supporter of SAVE THE RIBBLE and their blog is great http://save-the-ribble.blogspot.com/

My Letter to The lancashire evening post:

Dear Sir

I appreciated the fairness of you leader article of 3rd January although I felt the news coverage in the same issue relied over much on the viewpoints, language and press releases of Mike Brogan and the Preston Vision Board. Ever since I first heard of the Riverworks Project I (as a riverside resident) have been convinced of two things : Firstly that any barrage or weir that destroys the flowing stream and the tidal nature of the Ribble would be an environmental disaster, especially for the precious wildlife living there. Secondly that destroying the greenbelt on the Penwortham side by the injudicious building of housing on the floodplain would rob us of one of the greatest attractions of our neighbourhood. Open country so close to our city is probably the greatest environmental asset we have (and my dog and hundred's of others agree!).

There may well be a number of good ideas for useful urban regeneration to be found elsewwhere in the Riverworks report. We could certainly make more of the River Corridor, Canal and Docks in economically beneficial and environmentally sensitive ways. How about for example developing the docks rail corridor into a tram system with a huge new park and ride at the western edge of the city and a wall across the Blackpool Road to keep out unwanted polluting traffic from the Fylde?

However, it is hard to judge the value of the proposals since until now the report appears to have been treated as a top secret document. It seems to me the unelected Vision Board who most probably represent big business, and well paid planning consultants and senior council officers much more than local residents, have shot themeslves in the foot by denying us the chance for proper consultation at an early stage. They may not wish "to raise false hopes or fears" over a pre-feasility study, but they have achieved just that in a remarkable way by their cowardly secrecy. An early consultation would make it clear from the outset what the public will or will not stomach. It would probably knock on the head any crazy ideas such as a barrage, without the need to waste further public money on investigating the idea. And it might generate a number of exciting and more feasible suggestions for improvement from the people who know the neighbourhood far better than any of the external consultants.

At least some of our local councillors, claim that they have not yet sold out to the Vision Board's ideas and are engaging in the debate. I am no fan of New Labour either at the national or local level, but it is to the credit of the local members for Riversway ward that they have invited residents to contribute, in a fairly open ended way to a consultation exercise covering at least a part of the Riverworks proposal. It is to be hoped that many local people will make their views heard, that the council will listen carefully and respond to the good sense of the majority of local people who oppose much of the scheme.

The Bible tells us that "without a vision the people perish". I fear that the with the mistaken and blurred vision of the Vision Board it will be Preston's people who suffer, and the river Ribble that will die.

Liverpool in Winter Sun

2007-01-02T09:47:00.001-08:00

Liverpool has long been an iconic city, now nominated European City of Culture and in the winter sunset light of December 30th 2006 (for five minutes at the end of a gruesome wet grey day) looked magnificent.

How should one react to Liverpool... ? I honestly don't know if I love it or hate it... But at least I enjoyed taking the photos..

The city that ran the Slave Trade when 2007 marks the bicentenary of abolition (for Christian response see http://www.setallfree.net/index.html)

The regenerated docks with the galleries, museums and cafes now a rather pleasant tourist attraction. http://www.albertdock.com/

The city of the Beatles and "Ferry Cross the Mersey"

Mersey Ferries - Home of the world famous Ferry Across The Mersey
Operates in the River Mersey, will take you on a journey past all the fascinating waterfront of Liverpool and Wirral, also available to hire privately for

Ferry 'Cross The Mersey
Fan site for Gerry and the Pacemakers includes news, discography, history, filmography, and

A city of two cathedrals, once strongly divided between orange and green... less so since the work of Bishops Sheppard and Worlock see http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1260179.stm

And two football clubs The Reds http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/ and the Blues http://www.evertonfc.com/index.php both of whom regularly beat my team http://www.whufc.com/index.php

But it's also the city of the "Toxteth Riots" of 1981... of the Miltant struggles of the 1980s and of continuing poverty and deprivation... Lots of interesting research reports on

http://www.liverpool.ac.uk/University/arts_ses/civdes/msio/

Advent Candles Welcome and Reveal The Light Of the World

2006-12-27T01:10:00.000-08:00

Don't just curse this winter darkness, Light a candle in the darkness...

John 1:9

The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world.

Winter Dawn over the Ribble

2006-12-21T00:28:00.000-08:00

Discovering new gifts and ministries

2006-12-19T08:47:00.000-08:00

At Preston Captain Janet Martin feels called to develop a new ministry of shadow puppet evangelism.

Although the gift is not specifically mentioned in the New Testament it seems particularly appropriate at Christmas Time when we reach out to those people who are still walking in darkness.

Poverty At Christmas

2006-12-19T07:57:00.000-08:00

Our Salvation Army centre in Preston has this week been throbbing with activity and looking like a Toys R Us warehouse and a Kwik Save supermarket. Our team of volunteers has spent hours stuffing gifts of food and toys into plastic bags and answering phone calls from health visitors and social workers as to when they can come and collect the parcels for their clients. We've had hundreds of referrals about people in need across this relatively small city. And we try our hardest to make sure no family is disappointed, though with so many cans of baked beans in the food hampers one wonders about the impact on the health of the nation, let alone the gaseous contribution to global warming.

Without a doubt this generous giving is both welcome and necessary, and many people in poverty will be glad to receive something that helps them enjoy their Christmas. But it must leave us with lots of questions:

Why only at Christmas is the wider community so sentimentally concerned for the homeless and the poor, when so much more could be done by sustained giving by direct debit, or even by taxation?

Does small scale charitable giving make a real long tem difference to people's lives when we all know there are deeper causes behind poverty, or does it trap them in dependency?

What is the role of government as opposed to / or in partnership with the charitable sector in making an impact on these problems?

To their credit the Tory Party has been doing some serious work and analysis on these issues and you can read their report on http://povertydebate.typepad.com/voluntary_sector/

Their analysis is heavy on family breakdown, addiction and educational failure as the main causes, and it is not surprising there is a lot of criticism of current government policy. To be fair they have done a lot of listening to organisations in the Third Sector and picked up a lot of issues we have been highlighting for ages.

There is an intersting comment on the social policy list at

http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A2=ind0612&L=social-policy&T=0&F=&S=&P=2067

which suggests that the Royal Family is a pretty dysfunctional family the only difference being that it has a lot more (tax payer's ) money.

There is also an interesting recent analysis of poverty statistics at http://www.jrf.org.uk/knowledge/findings/socialpolicy/1979.asp

As usual I want to ask WWJD "what would Jesus do?"

Of course we could quote his saying "the poor you have always with you" Matthew 26:10-12 and take it as a fatalistic acceptance of the status quo and a command to concentrate on worship and spirituality. While the context of a woman pouring expensive perfumed ointment on the Saviour's feet does support the second part of that reading I believe we should reject any suggestion that Jesus condones involuntary poverty.

Indeed it is interesting that he was saying this to a bunch of disciples who included Judas Iscariot, the group's accountant, who loved money and betrayed him for cash a couple of verses later..

And it was also undoubtedly a reference to

Deuteronomy 15:11There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your brothers and toward the poor and needy in your land.

Which in the context of the earlier verse

Deuteronomy 15:4However, there should be no poor among you, for in the land the LORD your God is giving you to possess as your inheritance, he will richly bless you,

suggests poverty is a result of sin... not the sin of those who have become poor but the sin of those who have failed to share equally the riches God has blessed them with..

Even Paul ( often thought to be a conservative) spells this out more clearly than Karl Marx ever did

2 Corinthians 8:13Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are hard pressed, but that there might be equality.
14. At the present time your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need. Then there will be equality,

I wonder does he mean just a little charitable giving at Christmas? Or Maybe something much more radical... at which we all consistently fail and need God's forgiveness and grace. For after all this is the model we see in the incarnation, in the birth of Emmanuel, as a baby in squalid temporary accommodation and before long as an asylum seeking refugee.

2 Corinthians 8:9For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.

Celebrating Winter Binge

2006-12-10T09:01:00.000-08:00

While the tabloid press mislead everyone with the urban myth of the banning of the traditional English Christmas by politically correct secular councillors, and the great and the good including archbishops and even their Muslim friends tut tut in horror some of us as Christians feel a much greater issue is at stake.

Of course Christmas has not been banned; the furore is just part of the racist hysteria and backlash against those who have struggled for years to promote diversity and racial justice, and serves as just another weapon in the vilification of the "other" in our society.

At this time of year I remember with affection Oliver Cromwell who for very good and Christian reasons in the 1650's actually did ban Christmas. And I lament the downward slide back into the secular winterbinge we now suffer. Charles Dickens and the late victorians who invented Santa have much blame to bear, for it was they who trivialised, and sentimentalised the nativity season. The secularised English winterbinge with its images of snow and robins, reindeer and bauble bedecked spruce trees is a very late invented tradition. As everyone says it gets earlier and worse each year and the biggest joy that marks a successful Christmas is booming retail sales which boost the flagging British and global economy.

Of course there is goodwill, and some extra giving to charity.. see For a few days homeless people may be taken off the street and kept warm and well fed, toys are collected and given to the poorest families, and the height of radical Christmas chic is to buy a goat for a farmer in Africa as the present for the auntie who already has everything (see http://shop.christianaid.org.uk/ ). Yet the injustice and suffering and warfare contiue around the world for the other 364 days each year. There's a warm self righteous glow, but nothing is really changed.

For most people though the festive season is just that. An orgy of spending followed by an orgy or eating drinking, sub-misltoe kissing and worse! And a guilt filled January where resoultions for a healthier lifestyle sometimes make it to about the 15th.

What a tragedy and a travesty of the feast of the Incarnation.. !

There is one tradition of the English Christmas that is beyond compare. The performance of Handel's Messiah (which I was privileged to hear last night in Preston's Guildhall). There is no way of avoiding the mystery and the challenge of the story for the words that are set to music are pure Scripture, glorious in ispiration and revelaing the greatest story every told. What a wonderful way to memorise Bible verses. No wonder everyone stands as the choir booms out the Hallelujah chorus. One only wonders how many of the singers and the orchestra fully understand the significance of the lyrics.

Indeed at its root the celebration of Christmas should be about the miracle of "the word made flesh",

As Charles Wesly put it
"our God contracted to a span, incomprehensibly made man"

As Graham Kendrick put it

From heaven you came, helpless babe,
Entered our world, your glory veiled;
Not to be served but to serve,
And give Your life That we might live.

Come see His hands And His feet,
The scars that speak of sacrifice;
Hands that flung stars Into space
To cruel nails Surrendered.

If this is the true meaning of Christmas it should transform our lives, it should transform our world..

And it is something to celebrate, with a song and a carol or two such as "Joy to the World"

Joy to the world! the Lord is come:
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare him room,
And heaven and nature sing (x2) And heaven,and heaven and nature sing.

And even I will not say no to a helping of Christmas pud

and at least one more beer.

A virtual christmas card

2006-12-10T08:54:00.000-08:00

HAPPY CHRISTMAS AND BEST WISHES FOR THE NEW YEAR