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politicians

  • August 26, 2013

    Sniping at the holiday choices of politicians is a fixture of the Silly Season. Whatever they do, they lose. They are either self-indulgent and free-loading (Tony Blair) or grimly and self-consciously puritanical (Gordon Brown).

  • November 4, 2012

    During our Quaker Meeting for Worship this morning, a Friend asked that we hold in the Light the people of the United States as they choose their next president.

  • September 30, 2012

    For those outside the bubble of partisanship, the party conference season is likely to induce varying degrees of irritation and despondency.

  • September 10, 2012

    'Honour' is both an abstract noun and a verb. These characteristics have become somewhat confused as sacked government ministers are rewarded and Olympic and Paralympic athletes feted for the achievements which have delighted and inspired so many over the last few weeks.

  • August 30, 2012

    “A millionaire with a private cinematograph, all the necessary props and a troupe of intelligent actors could, if he wished, make practically all of his inner life known. He could explain the real reasons of his actions instead of telling rationalised lies, point out the things an ordinary man has to keep locked up because there are no words to express them. In general, he could make other people understand him.” So wrote George Orwell in his 1940 essay 'New Words'.

  • August 13, 2012

    Something unlooked for has happened over the last two weeks. Many of us have been turned from Olympic scepticism towards – if not an entirely uncritical enthusiasm – a frame of mind which acknowledges it has caught a glimpse of the kind of society which we could be, and has taken inspiration from it.

  • April 15, 2012

    It gets harder by the day to hear the still small voice. There is a stridency in our culture which makes dialogue, the resolution of conflict or even simple understanding increasingly difficult.

  • October 22, 2008

    Many believers want politicians to talk more about God and faith. Many secularists wish they would stop doing so. But are both missing the point?

  • October 22, 2008

    Measuring the number of times politicians mention or don't mention God misses the point, says Simon Barrow. The issue is whether the subversive language of the Gospel can challenge top-down religious and political systems.

  • September 18, 2008