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fish on the grounds that only fish were to be seen through the window next he wiped out sold because a business couldn t simply give the fish away for free here could go it s obvious that you wouldn t be advertising for somewhere else you can imagine what he did with the word today and pity the poor fishmonger the whole sentence was redundant if you think that makes choosing words challenging then have some sympathy for the politicians signing up for the makerfield by election coming soon words they have used in the past and thought were redundant might now be held in evidence against them choosing words wisely is equalled in importance only by hearing language accurately not bearing false witness against your neighbour essentially means not misrepresenting their case in other words speaking writing and reading demand critical thinking not always obvious or easy this is really important language works in different ways at different times and in different contexts you can t approach mythology as if it were history you can t read a poem as if it were a scientific treatise and you ll get into trouble if you take metaphors too literally now if this applies when we listen to the news or read a newspaper it is essential when reading religious texts for example if i went down to the woods today i wouldn t expect to hear applause because a psalmist once wrote that the trees of the field will clap their hands when i say the lord s prayer which word do i stress your kingdom come your kingdom come or your kingdom come as opposed to other kingdoms values and rules i happen to think that last one is the intended meaning praying that the way of jesus christ will be lived on earth rather than say the violence of a caesar how i say it implies what i assume it means so words really matter in fact they become flesh as someone once wrote share this share share on x opens in new window x print opens in new window print share on facebook opens in new window facebook like loading may 4 2026 may the fourth posted by nickbaines under radio tags achilles anger bbc radio 4 homer iliad justice odyssey today leave a comment this is the script of this morning s thought for the day on bbc radio 4 s today programme good morning and happy star wars day may the fourth be with you i know but like the more solemn remembrance day in november if we didn t have it we d probably have to invent it the yearly cycle needs a day or two when like it or not we are compelled to think again about who we are where we have come from and why anything matters anyway which is where star wars comes in developing stories we read in ancient classical literature my retirement reading has begun with homer s the iliad and the odyssey stories that spawned a thousand other stories talk about blood and gore conflict and character violence and mortality there s a great line in the iliad where the god apollo speaks to the trojans of the great warrior achilles sitting beside the ships and ripening his anger to cause more heartsickness this might have been written over three thousand years ago but doesn t it sound like a throbbing refrain beneath the rhythms of threat fear violence and hatred that seep through the news of our world every day the ripening of anger in the case of achilles this sulking fury keeps him out of the battle resentment turning his friend into an enemy and consequently taking his focus off the real enemy the trojans in other words this carefully nurtured bitterness damages himself his people and his cause no wonder a repeated mantra in the hebrew scriptures is the calmly stated notion that anger lodges in the bosom of fools and should be handled slowly how well that comes down to us being centred as an individual or community in a worldview and values that hold us constant amid the turmoil in which we find ourselves caught up which is where for example whatever happens to me or us is responded to through a deep rooted conviction that personal offence matters less than justice for all now this is not sentimentality to not be angry at injustice lying or oppression by powerful people is to be indifferent the bible i read is full of expressions of anger but that anger is directed at injustice oppression and the failure of a community one that claims god s name but whose social order fails to reflect his character so no bribes fairness before the law care of poor refugee and marginalized people that s not the same as exacting vengeance against personal affront furious anger and conflict aren t inevitable nor is our response to them may the fourth be with you the force of love and mercy and justice not the destructive rage that creates chaos share this share share on x opens in new window x print opens in new window print share on facebook opens in new window facebook like loading march 17 2026 reimagining europe a christian reflection posted by nickbaines under church of england politics tags church democracy ecumenism europe habermas hoyer politics reimagining europe victor klemperer 2 comments i have just published a report on the future of europe i spent the last couple of years as bishop of leeds and in the house of lords interviewing a large number of remarkable people across the political and perspective divides politicians diplomats university and school students lords and ladies journalists academics ecumenical partners and so on i am hugely grateful to all of them the report however is my personal take on what we heard and what i distilled from those rich conversations i have done this report because i have always strongly believed that the church should not simply react and respond to what goes on in the world but also contribute to shaping the future being a victim of other people s vision is inadequate especially when the world is in a precarious place my question was where is the vision setting or the imagining that goes beyond the narrow life of the church and seeks to understand explore and offer a contribution to the imagining of a different future the report can be found here some churches on the continent are already initiating moves to reawaken democratic commitment and help christians to think seriously about the challenges we face in a changed and changing world the report is offered as a stimulus to debate coincidentally it was announced this week that the german public philosopher jürgen habermas had died emerging from the ravages of the destruction of german democracy and the second world war he wrestled publicly and intellectually with the demands of democratic thought and process he shaped the following generations as democracy grew and before it became taken for granted katya hoyer has written an excellent reflection here coincidentally again i am reading the 1933 45 diaries of the german jewish philologist victor klemperer when writing he didn t know what the future would hold but noting observations on everyday life his obsessions with health his profession and house etc he illustrates the gradual subsidence of democratic germany built on the shoulders of great enlightenment thinkers such as goethe and schiller into the destruction and genocide of the holocaust this destruction didn t happen in an instant it was slow and gradual a little bit more being given away every day and klemperer sees how people give it all away in their self protective silence their collusion their apathy and fear there is an urgent need now for thinkers to shape public thinking about the future of our continent everything is shifting on our planet history tells us that no future is guaranteed hence the ruminations in this report i hope it sparks some debate i hope my mistakes will be opened up for correction it is a decidedly christian contribution however a christian contribution must of necessity take seriously the perspectives of other faiths and those of little or no faith the future of europe includes us all share this share share on x opens in new window x print opens in new window print share on facebook opens in new window facebook like loading february 9 2026 what are you looking for posted by nickbaines under radio tags bbc radio 4 gchq lent today wlod otocki 2 comments this is the script of this morning s thought for the day on bbc radio 4 s today programme 45 years ago i met a man whose story intrigued me his name was dr wlod otocki and he came to cheltenham once a week to give russian conversation practice to me and colleagues when we were training at gchq i only knew him for six months or so and he died in 1985 i think his story haunted me over the years because it was hard to believe he was born in russian occupied manchuria during the russo japanese war in 1904 lived in kyiv during the russian revolution fought in poland as part of the resistance during world war two took part in the warsaw uprising was a prisoner of war more than once then spent the post war years in london with the polish government in exile he was clear that his vocation was to live long enough to document everything from those times so that the soviets could never deny the truth of what had gone on in poland what s always intrigued me is this what drove him to really dangerous choices that put his life on the line repeatedly which choices would i make if i were faced with the violence of corrupt government power and could either avoid conflict or stand up to it am i brave enough this month sees the beginning of lent in the christian calendar which surprisingly is not about having a break from chocolate or booze in fact lent creates space for asking hard questions strip away the stuff of life that distracts me from facing up to who i really really am and what really really drives me then i might have to face hard choices it s no coincidence that the first words of jesus in john s gospel have him asking a hard question what are you looking for we could paraphrase it what do you want from your life what actually is really driving you according to the other gospels jesus could do this because he had already had to face them himself in the desert what is your kingdom really about a quick route to glory or the road to a cross such questions probe our fundamental motivations but they open up the mind and imagination to the possibility that there might be more to my existence and our common life in society to truth integrity courage failure and fear very contemporary i want to know more about what made wlod otocki choose but i also want to examine myself in order to sort out the truth from the fantasies that so easily obscure reality share this share share on x opens in new window x print opens in new window print share on facebook opens in new window facebook like loading november 27 2025 sudan posted by nickbaines under house of lords sudan tags archbishop of sudan house of lords humanitarian aid sudan 1 comment this is the basic text of my final speech in the house of lords in a debate on the humanitarian situation in sudan i retire from the house today my lords i am grateful to the government for granting this debate at a very opportune time with lady sandwich in the gallery and gallery and a detailed report rivers of blood being delivered this morning to the appg dedicated to the late lord sandwich i thank the minister for her commitment to addressing the urgent and long term situation in sudan a country i love where i have friends and which i have visited a number of times most recently in june 2024 my concerns and engagement will continue after i retire from this house this afternoon albeit in a different way the humanitarian situation in sudan is so dire that the word urgent does not do justice to the need for action i won t repeat here the many reports from agencies engaged on the ground in sudan but they make for harrowing hearing and reading a number have provided briefings in parliament in the last few days we had planned for the archbishop of sudan to be here today but he has had to return to port sudan a couple of days ago the lack of attention to sudan in western media is bewildering in many respects but it seems that increasing attention is now being paid the suffering in sudan is almost unbearable the worst humanitarian catastrophe on the planet and it is not new nor simply a phenomenon of only the last three years whatever the causes of and motivations behind the current conflict it is civilians women children young men and vulnerable ethnic groups that are being targeted and abused in the most inhumane ways a few numbers it is estimated that up to 150 000 have died 13 million have been displaced 9 million internally and 4 million in exile 25 30 million people are hungry malnourished or severely malnourished save the children estimate that 16 million children are in need of aid and that in 2024 more than 2 000 cases of children being killed maimed abducted raped and violated sexual violence against children women and young men is out of control fuelled by an evident assumption of impunity and unaccountability by perpetrators shame is being weaponised in the most vicious and immoral way access to aid is frequently blocked and funding is inadequate to the need in so called illegal immigration to the uk sudan is now the most represented group migration to neighbouring countries such as south sudan and chad is in the millions according to several agencies on the ground the numbers of people killed or maimed by explosive weaponry either directly or from unexploded arms are increasing i could go on the siege of el fasher led to deliberate targeting of civilians widespread massacres and a targetted and systematic strategy of wiping out non arab africans with a view to erasing or re writing the country s history culture and identity at a briefing in parliament last week we heard that the script is already written as the rsf now move on to tawila and el obeid we can t say we didn t know what will happen in the kordofans as the rehearsal in el fasher was so successful for the rsf civilians humanitarian workers and volunteers are unprotected against both the saf and rsf cannon fodder in a war they didn t start my lords it is timely that sudan is now rising in prominence in both political and media spheres the usa is finally beginning to wake up to the crisis other noble lords will bring specific points to bear in the short speech time allowed so i don t want to cover every aspect of the tragedy we are witnessing i hope we won t have too much repetition deviation or hesitation but put on record the many sides of this conflict that need repeatedly to be heard noted and responded to i am grateful to the noble baroness the minister who has prioritised sudan and made herself available for briefings and conversations governments need to do more is a constant plea on many issues but i think there are one or two areas where more might be achievable now first the uk has a responsibility to step up its leadership of partner nations in working with the quad and others to apply d...