Humpty Dumpty

Can I believe the Bible? Good question? No. Here’s an answer that puts us altogether on the wrong track. Think for moment about the story...

It takes a good man to start asking questions. It takes a better man to ask the right questions. And it takes the best of men to find...

Everybody knows MOTD, Strictly, Bangers and Cash. Living as we do in the days of smart one-liners, slick editing and honorific titles, we...

Big movements generate song. If we wish to understand the French, we shall find ourselves singing ‘La Marseillaise’. There is nothing...

When I am anxious to be belittled, I have a remedy to hand. A big company, a utility, a marketing organisation is only too ready to help....

‘OMG,’ we allow ourselves to say. Once upon a time that would have been called a minced oath. The G stands for God. Similar mincing...

Dairy products, steaks and red wine are brought to the table for Christians. Pigs and cows are just as welcome as part of a diet but not...

If we regard the Psalms as one of the lost treasures of the Bible, we can do worse than go back to number 121. This may have echoes of...

Noah had an ark. He also had a hobby. He was the first vintner. It went to his head. As well as building a great seagoing vessel he...

In Psalm 73 the writer complains bitterly about his lot. He has the dirty end of the stick while his wealthy neighbour has all the...

Luther was inspired by psalm 46 to write his hymn ‘A mighty fortress is our God’. In one verse after another the poet exalts the power,...

‘Well, I was a right wally,’ I told myself. I had got the date for a medical appointment wrong. It was, shall we say, a misunderstanding....

Ah, busy days! For some the 13th century was the busiest of days. Dante was writing his ‘Divine Comedy’. Petrarch was to follow him. Two...

Punch began his career in the UK at the same time as the Book of Common Prayer. The two could scarcely have been more different. Punch...

As is the case today, not everybody welcomed Jesus. He upset convention, gave a voice to the oppressed and befriended outcasts. You might...

When Disraeli made his maiden speech in the House of Common, the members jeered at him. His response was: ‘Though I sit down now, the...

Where’s that key? Where’s that mobile? Where’s that torch? Where’s that stubby pencil? At the back of the sofa? I turn over the cushions....

We’ve all heard of ‘hoi polloi’. Literally the many, it is a word used to describe the mass of people, the proletariat, the citizenry at...

Direct action such as blocking highways and occupying key units is often seen as the only way to get things done in our democratic...

‘They were more astonished than ever,’ Mark tells us (Mark 10.25). They had just heard Jesus say that wealth could not gain entry to the...