What is in Kelvin's Head?

Review of Predictions for 2018

31/12/2018

On 1 January I made predictions for the coming year. Time to see how I got on.

1 – General Election in the second half of the year.

Well, no we didn’t and the government linger on. Not right

2 – “…and as the polls close, our exit poll predicts that the Conservative Party is unlikely to be able to form a new government…”

Well, the government did linger on of a fashion. N/A

3 – The next but one leader of the Conservative Party becomes Ruth Davidson MP.

Too soon to tell. Not right yet.

4 – The hipsters get bored of vinyl and discover cameras with actual, you know, film.

In September, I happened upon three or four hipster types from Denmark in the cathedral grounds taking photographs for a fashion shoot in Belgium. They had stopped shooting for a moment…. to reload film canasters. Right – but likely to become more common yet.

5 – No date for a new referendum on Scottish Independence.

No date for a new referendum and no great call for one either. Right.

6 – No progress for LGBT affirming Anglicans in England.

Sadly correct. Right

7 – Progress for LGBT affirming Anglicans elsewhere, particularly Brazil.

Stunning progress in Brazil – marriage agreed by huge majority on synod floor. (And who else saw that coming!) Right.

8 – Increasing realisation that sexual abuse is part of church culture. #churchtoo #metoo.

Yes – meetings happening all over the place trying to work out how to respond. Few coherent policies yet. Right.

9 – FTSE lower at the end of 2018 than it is at the beginning. (7687)

As I write this the FTSE is at 6728 – worst year in a decade. Right

10 – The end of the beard.

Those with style, manners and culture have seen the error of their ways and shaved. A few young and misguided types cling on. Completely and utterly right.

Not a bad year, I think.

7 responses to “The Antisemitism Notice”

Gordon

25/03/2026

Helpful, thank you

What is the concern with the reproaches? I’m not familiar with them

Reply
1. Kelvin
  
  25/03/2026
  
  They can be interpreted as being directed at us the listeners. But they can also be interpreted as speaking to Jewish people as all the imagery is from the Hebrew Scriptures and doesn’t reference the experience of those who actually were around Jesus during his life on earth.
  
  For example:
  “I led you out of Egypt, having drowned Pharaoh in the Red Sea:
  and you have delivered me to the chief priests.”
  
  Who is being addressed here?
  
  Reply
  1. Nick Drew
    
    09/04/2026
    
    That’s interesting, because whenever I have sung the Reproaches I have always felt them as being expressions of personal repentance rather than accusations thrown at the listener.
    
    Reply
Rosemary Hannah

25/03/2026

I must admit I had always read the Reproaches as directed to the listener. That the Egypt from which we are delivered is the Egypt of the modern world, the slavery of ghastly jobs (I’ve had a few, in fact a lot) and the oppression of terrible political systems. But I come from a totally different thought world to that of most people today, and I absolutely see they wouldn’t commonly be read that way.
But I think it would benefit everyone to find a way of expressing BOTH what faith can offer in terms of freedom AND the mess we do make of the world, and sitting with that tension.
And I think the church as a whole urgently needs to find a compelling and deep reaching way of doing both.

Reply
1. Kelvin
  
  25/03/2026
  
  You might be interested that we’re looking at Isaiah 59 as a helpful text for this year, given the current ways of the world.
  
  Reply
2. Christine McIntosh
  
  25/03/2026
  
  I’m of much the same mind. (A mind that is still blown away when I hear them sung)
  
  Reply
Dan Floyd

25/03/2026

Thank you

Reply