Humpty Dumpty

When a policeman tells a driver to stop, he stops. The man in uniform is acting with authority. That authority is declared in the...

There’s no doubt about it. Jesus upset the apple-cart. Matthew’s Gospel, for instance is quite clear. The whole town was of one mind....

Still it is the case that when lovers are head over heels, they contemplate marriage. The kisses and cuddles make way for serious talk...

Religion? You’ll never get to the bottom of it,’ people have said, (particularly perhaps after reading Romans 9-11). And they are right....

For 6,000 years we have had salt on the table. With its companion, pepper, not to mention mustard, it offers flavour and has a place in...

A sales pitch on the doorstep has become an art-form thanks to the digital revolution. We are flattered, bribed, teased and overwhelmed...

We like kings, sleuths and outlaws who never existed. It spares us the hard work of ferreting out facts, family trees and in some cases...

Milk: it comes full strength, semi-skimmed or skimmed. We take our choice. Calves have the choice made for them. Milk is not the only...

We call it the New Testament. That suggests a connection with some past organisation. And the parables and teaching of Jesus had that...

Today’s blog is different. It’s something for you to say to your mum next Sunday. Add one of these to Sunday’s greeting card. DEAR...

It’s a wry observation but a common one: 'The best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men gang aft a-gley.’ Robbie Burns knew a lot about human...

‘There is a happy land, far, far away, where saints in glory dwell…’ Ask the author of Psalm 144 what heaven is like and you will get a...

Before the beautiful game came into being and before bat and stumps helped to define an English gentleman, somebody had to invent the...

I get lucky. I witness a feeding frenzy. Not in a zoological garden where these things are time-tabled. Not in South Georgia where the...

Victorian songs about the hereafter and the journey to get there were often maudlin. Some contemporary songs evince the same...

‘The Church, as it now stands, no human power can save,’ said a well-informed commentator in 1833. He feared that England should come to...

Most of us will be living in a freehold or leasehold property. That means we own the land where we eat and sleep. Or we pay a rent or a...

People remember the puritans because they became the target of witty comments. Macaulay, for example, said: ‘The Puritans hated...