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Joseph Ratzinger’s final calling? | 02/11/2013
Disclosure: I am a Northern Irish Protestant who has prayed with Rev Ian Paisley. My wife is a Catholic. Together we went to see Pope Benedict XVI preach at the Colosseum in Rome on Good Friday 2010. I believe he is a Christian who is as human (and therefore fallible) as the rest of us. […]
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Personification Through Pethood | 02/09/2013
The food supplier, Findus, is destroying 380,000 frozen ‘beef’ lasagnes. By my reckoning, that’s 150 tonnes of perfectly good food: much of it probably horse meat… What a waste. There is no evidence of a risk to human health, and the Food Secretary, Owen Paterson, said he would be happy to eat it with ‘no hesitation […]
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An overwhelming majority, but no consent for women bishops | 11/20/2012
A clear majority of all three Houses of the Church of England General Synod have voted in favour of the appointment of women bishops: In the House of Bishops: 44 in favour; 3 against – a majority of 94% – carried In the House of Clergy: 148 in favour; 45 against – a majority of […]
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Olympic gold with a dodgy knee | 08/08/2012
Team GB’s middle distance legend Seb Coe was watching as the men’s 1500 metre finalists set off, a race that would last just over three and a half minutes. First over the line was the Algerian runner Taoufik Makhloufi in 3:34.08. It was a comfortable victory, but for a short time his place in the […]
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Why give 100% in the hunt for a medal? | 08/02/2012
For four years, maybe many more, you’ve been working towards an Olympic gold medal. Your struggle has carried you into the quarter-final of your chosen sport. Win that match and the next for a silver medal; win the final for gold. But first you have one more group match to play. The result matters little, […]
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Historic – just not historic enough | 07/08/2012
I was wrong. I imagined it would go to five sets, but declined to predict a winner. Instead the Wimbledon Gentlemen’s Singles Final was decided in just four sets. And Roger Federer claimed the title for the seventh time. It can’t be easy to take on such a dominant player, but Andy Murray gave a […]
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Gay persecution – a challenge to the Church | 06/18/2012
The Italian football striker Antonio Cassano has said he hopes there are no gay players in his national side. Following media reports of two metrosexuals and two homosexuals in the squad, Cassano was asked at a news conference whether he believed it was true. In his response he said he had been warned to expect […]
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HMS Dauntless: A peace-keeping deterrent in the South Atlantic | 02/12/2012
I reckon few Britons know this (and for that matter, probably few Argentines). The Falkland Islands are not ‘just off the Argentine coast’. At the closest point, they are 185 nautical miles (or 213 statute miles) from Isla de los Estados, just off the south east tip of Argentina. They are about 250 miles (nautical) […]
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Movember is over – thank you! | 12/09/2011
Movember (the month formerly known as November) is over. I spent 30 days cultivating a moustache to promote the cause of men’s health. I was motivated by the case of my father who was diagnosed with potentially terminal prostate cancer earlier this year. Along the way I’ve been compared to a Mexican bandit, a Texan […]
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I won’t be shaving much in November. Here’s why… | 10/26/2011
The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labor and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away. (Psalm 90v10, KJV) Three score years and ten… Or in contemporary street slang, seventy years. According to the […]
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Member of the Finance & Audit Board, Member of the Burdett Estate Board