Blog

A good meeting of the Book Club last night, discussing Iris Murdoch's The Bell. I am not sure that we ever decided what the Bell itself represented, if anything, but the conversation along the way was interesting.  I was the o­nly man there, as usual. Do men read fiction?Part of the discussion became focussed o­n…

For reasons too complicated to go into here, I need to revive computer programming skills that I last used 20 years ago. I have a particular task, to do with mapping the local council wards, which I think can o­nly be perfomed using Prolog. I was always fascinated with this logic based language but never terribly competent.…

I am interested in a metaphor that is doing the rounds at the moment. Clare Short has said that Tony Blair is now reaping the whirlwind. This is in relation to the terrorist attacks that seem to have become more likely since the war in Iraq.The metaphor comes from the Bible (Hosea 8:7) and is…

Two worlds collide in my weekend. To Perth today for a conference o­n the proposed new method of electing people for local, perhaps even national government, STV. Single Transferable Voting is fair but complicated. Then tomorrow, the feast of Christ the King, which I am making much of in church. Choir, string quartet and special…

A rather fine circle of toadstools has appeared in the front rectory garden which has given me much pleasure in the last 24 hours. I've told the cat that there are fairies at the bottom of the garden, but she just yawns.

Church AGM last night went very smoothly. It is not the same without a half hour controversy over the position of the bishop's chair, but we somehow we managed to get by without this. Yesterday was spent doing the annual church statistics, something which I enjoy doing more than I would normally let o­n. I…

To my delight, I've just discovered that I cannot post certain words o­n this blog – postnuke (my blogging software) is a prude. I cannot say cock, for example, nor cock, cock or cock. The words get replaced by stars. What I have not found out yet, is where the list of words is which…

Mickey Mouse is apparently 75 years old today. There have been a number of programmes o­n the television and the radio charting his progress from the days of Steamboat Willy to the present. Apparently, to celebrate this milestone, the Queen has invited Mickey Mouse for a State Visit, which is causing some distresss to Londoners…

I'm amazed at the way in which sermons have a life of their own o­n this blog site. I know that they are read far away from Bridge of Allan. It is becoming not uncommon for people to call me up from far away about something else and end up discussing a sermon that they…