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Archive for January, 2008
Wanted: A collective noun for retired generals
The retired Generals were out in formation at the Telegraph yesterday, harrumphing with the best of them from Tunbridge Wells in the comments to Peter Mullen’s article.
This is Rev Dr Peter Mullen on the modern church:
This is, of course, only political correctness tacked on to the failed collectivist social agenda that our rulers in the General Synod have foisted on us for a generation.
They have abolished the King James Bible and the Book of Common Prayer. Even in this desecration there was the pretence to literacy as they replaced the old books with new ones. Now there is not even the persistence of anything you could properly call a book.
There is something called Common Worship, which only really exists in cyberspace as a hailstorm of downloads. If they ever collected Common Worship in one place, you would need a wheelbarrow to carry it to church.
It’s a pantomime: a dumbed-down, clapped-out imitation of the entertainment industry combined with the newspeak of bureaucratic control. Once there was the Church of England. Now there is only the new Babel.
Read the comments:
Yes the CoE is bonkers - but look at the last 3 Archbishops and despair ! I cannot make up my mind whether Rowan Williams is Rory Bremner or vice versa.
and
Our poor Padre seems to work 24/7,and appears to be constantly worried about fund raising to meet various targets.
and
Wow, it seems that Revd Mullen is the kind of cannon that the Church of England needs, blowing a hole in the nonsense that it has come to espouse. Let’s hope there are enough who have the courage to stand behind him to stop the slide into political correct extinction and to reassert the Church’s real calling.
Hmmm. I’d love to hear Fr Mullen in debate with George Galloway.
Never mind “Hot Ginger and Dynamite” (one of the best political blog names in my view *), it would be Diesel Oil and Nitric Acid (for anoraks: that was a self-igniting rocket fuel used for a missile at Peenemünde).
(*) I can’t bring myself to do the “Hot, Ginger and Dynamite” punctuation as applied by some - too much like a Chris Evans fetish.
Freedom of Speech, An Archbishop, and Yankees Doodling Dandily
The Archbishop of Canterbury on Freedom of Speech and Blasphemy
This is an introduction to a short series of articles sparked by a note on Dave Walker’s cartoon blog about a speech by the Archbishop of Canterbury:
I was distracted this morning by the Archbishop of Canterbury’s recent speech about Religious Offence and who should be allowed to cause it. I haven’t decided what I think yet. He says some good things, but I’m not sure I agree with all his conclusions. All I can say is that it needs more thought than has been given by some prominent bloggers, who don’t bother to look up the original speech and just hurl abuse. This seems to be a more well thought out critique. I’d be interested to read comments by those who agree with the Archbishop.
There are two aspects to this: the debate that the Archbishop has entered and how that debate is being conducted.
Cowboys shooting from the Hip?
Some bloggers and commentators have been throwing buckets of bile in the ABC’s (ABC: Archbishop of Canterbury) general direction, without apparently having the foggiest understanding of the subject he was addressing - or the British context to which he was speaking. To quote a few comments:
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“Pointless man offers stupid opinion” (Link). These are comments on this post:
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“Britons already have allowed their right of self-defense to be taken from them; freedom of speech is always the next to go. If –Rowan had showed the slightest bit of common sense or intelligence in the past, I might surmise that he was angling for the position of High Chancellor.”
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“This is good news for America - they will see the scary effects of creeping fascism/Sharia in Britain, and thus the 40% of Americans who still have common sense will react to prevent this for going to far in the US. Sane Brits will move to the US or Australia. The rest will become Dhimmis.”
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“Swampy has turned out to be the most foolish Archbishop in living memory.Try as I might, I can find nothing Christian in his vicious idea.”
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“REPLACING BRITISH BLASPHEMY LAWS with a ban on being thoughtless and cruel.
How about a law against being laughable and pathetic?” (Link) (This one is a law professor).
There’s been a more informed debate going on over at Stand Firm in the comments, and at Dave’s own blog.
What is the Matt Wardman Daily Roundup Podcast?
The Daily Roundup is a “First Edition” roundup of news from the British and International press, media and the occasional blog:
- It is produced as a roundup article and short - roughly 4-5 minutes - podcast.
- We aim that the cast and article are published in the early hours to ensure that we are the first source checked by bloggers and opinion formers.
- The written roundup appears at the Wardman Wire, and on the dedicated Politics Daily website.
- The podcast feed is here.
Daily Roundup Players
There are also widgets available to put a “Daily Roundup” player in the sidebar of your blog or website. There are two advantages:
- The short audio programme gives your visitors new content every day - which is especially useful if you do not post daily (or if you are taking a break) as it keeps them coming back.
- Your blog becomes more “sticky”. Visitors will tend to stay for the 4 minutes or so length of the programme, even if they are reading other blogs in different windows, as leaving your site will cut the roundup short. The length is long enough to give time for visitors to read down your site, but short enough to prevent them becoming bored.
The two versions are below:
Single Edition
Multi-Edition Player
Wrapping Up
If you would like to place one of these on your website, then please email me at mattwardman AT gmail DOT com.
Tags: daily roundup podcast, matt wardman, podcast player, first edition, audio[tags]daily roundup podcast, matt wardman, podcast player, first edition, audio[/tags]
Daily News Roundup
A quick note.
The Daily Roundup for today will be out at 3pm.
I have been unavoidably delayed by a boiler crisis.
[tags]daily roundup, the skinny, matt wardman, wardman wire, mattwardman[/tags]
Comments off
Let’s see who hurts more, young man !
Gorgeous.
How to deal with “honkers” at a crossing.
Via Sparklematrix.
Tags: video, funny video, old man, pedestrian rights[tags]video, funny video, old man, pedestrian rights[/tags]
Alex Salmond and … : Double Trouble
Why every time I watch Alex Salmond make a speech, do I think of a …
 
…. space hopper?
Tags: Lookalike, Humour, Humourous, Double Trouble, Lookalike, Humour, Start the Day, alex salmon mp, scottish executive, snp, scottish government, scottish parliament[tags]Lookalike, Humour, Humourous, Double Trouble, Lookalike, Humour, Start the Day, alex salmon mp, scottish executive, snp, scottish government, scottish parliament[/tags]
Off with His Head: Sizes of Wine Glasses and Mr Greg Mulholland
Rumbold on Pickled Politics (who’s attitudes are on rare but memorable occasions as delightfully crusty as the Are You Being Served version) reports that the Liberal Democrat Health Spokesman Greg Mulholland is proposing that we should have an enforced requirement for wine to be available in 125ml size glasses in restaurants:
Liberal Democrat Greg Mulholland is to propose a bill in the House of Commons calling for the reinstatement of traditional 125ml measures.
The MP for Leeds North West argues that larger glasses are making customers “less aware of how many units of alcohol they are drinking”.
Many licensed premises only sell wine in 175ml and 250ml measures.
Rumbold is on form in his dismissal of this regulation for the sake of regulation:
A society that needs great swathes of law is sick (in the medical sense). Not because it needs so many laws, but because when it has them this breaks down our essential humanity. There will always be people or groups who fight to retain a particular law, which is why it is so hard to take laws off the statute book. We need a reformation of mentality, shifting from a society that welcomes new laws to one that distrusts them, and which can be persuaded for the need in very few cases.
Indeed - too many laws about minutiae undermine the need for individuals to act like grownups and take some responsibility.
But he is insufficiently vitriolic in his condemnation. This tendency is a poisonous multi-headed hydra that feeds on the need for politicians to justify themselves.
Read the rest of this entry »
