Is it just my malfunctioning computer, or does something seem to have gone wrong with the logarithms?

(Quick thought which I might want to return to)

When Gordon Brown inherited the role of Prime Minister he made it known that he wanted to rule by GOAT, a Government Of All The Talents:

Standing in Downing Street, Mr Brown confirmed he had accepted the Queen’s invitation to form a government. The new prime minister promised to lead a government of all the talents and spoke of the need for change within politics…. In a brief acceptance speech, Mr Brown repeated his unofficial leadership mantra to listen and learn to the British public. Mr Brown said: “And as prime minister I will continue to listen and learn from the British people. I have heard the need for change…. As the new prime minister prepared to finalise his first Cabinet, Mr Brown repeated the promise he would lead a government that “reaches out beyond narrow party interest”. [Politics.co.uk]

It swiftly broke down. The Prime Minister’s

…collection of businessmen, defence chiefs and sundry other non-politico types became known as the goats (an acronym of government of all the talents). Lord Jones felt less a goat than a guinea pig. It was a good idea to bring in outsiders and he found the Civil Service to be “honest, stuffed full of decent people who work hard”. Then he added: “Frankly the job could be done with half as many, it could be more productive, more efficient, it could deliver a lot more value for money for the taxpayer.” [Daily Telegraph]

Even so, is the problem the idea, its working out, or those involved in its working out? In other words, is GOAT in itself a good thing? If so, could it be applied to parish ministry? What would Ministry Of All The Talents (MOATT) look like?

The Church Times today presents a round-up of books for Lent. The reviewer, Peter McGeary, says some kind things about Circles of Thorns:

The author looks at the political, scientific, medical, and spiritual con­texts that would have been part of the artist’s world, and in so doing reveals different layers of meaning to the painting. Who are these people? What do they represent? Why is Christ looking straight at me, the viewer?

This is a very good extended medi­tation on a specific moment in the Passion story; it is also a good example of the quality of patient, intelligent attention that is (or should be) much more fostered than it has been of late in Christian spir­ituality. It is best read by indi­vid­uals rather than a group, I think, but might provide inspiration for a series of Lent groups focusing on something that can be seen.

Disappointing leaders and cynicism. Even on the day of Barack Obama’s inauguration the western world struggles with a misplaced definition of “realism”.

 

 3MT : The difference between optimism and realism [5:03m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (107)

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You may recall this:

Well, today I have the stunning news that Kill George is now:

77th bestselling book in the “Anglicanism” category!

I didn’t realise that Rowan Williams had written 76 books.

Even small things like the design of book covers shows our society’s obsession with the heroic loner. Is it all entirely healthy?

 

 3MT : Literature and the Lone Wolf [5:26m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (106)

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Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the desert…

May I draw your attention to the following, which appeared on Amazon.co.uk today:

Further down the Amazon listing we see this little piece of humility:

It is curious the number of people who try to tell me that I will never make any money from writing. I know! the evidence is there right in front of my eyes! (515,762nd best selling book!)

From The Guardian this morning:

If you meet a shark …

• Keep your eye on the shark at all times. Sharks may retreat temporarily and then try to sneak up on you

I can’t tell you how much I needed to be told that. It would be so very easy to be distracted by something else in the event of being attacked by a 16 foot Great White shark.

Anglo-Catholicism (n) : The Trotskyist wing of the Church of England.¹

1. It is significant that [several young gifted writers of the twenties and thirties] went almost invariably to the Roman Church, and not, for instance, to the C. of E., the Greek Church or the Protestant sects. They went, that is, to the Church with the world-wide organization, the one with rigid discipline, the one with power and prestige behind it. Perhaps it is even worth noting that the only latter-day convert of really first-rate gifts, Eliot, has embraced not Romanism but Anglo-Catholicism, the ecclesiastical equivalent of Trotskyism.

   George Orwell, ‘Inside the Whale’, New Directions in Prose and Poetry. 1940 [↩]

Tradition (n) : 2. Something the English do really well. See binge drinking and rural rioting.