It seems to me that one rarely sees a priest who happens to be a woman happen to wear a maniple.
Actually, one doesn’t see many people wear the maniple these days, for reasons that I’ve never quite understood.
Why, when one does see such a thing, does it seem invariably to be sported on the left forearm of a priest who happens to be a man?
Your thoughts please.
The way the story has been presented in the press is somewhat misleading. What Glasgow Libraries are offering is not a new service. ICT equipment and training has been available in libraries throughout the UK, since the Blair government made the funding available in 1997.
One of my first tasks in East Dunbartonshire was to write the successful bid for government funds from what was then known as the People’s Network. PCs, because that was the cutting edge technology at the time, were installed in libraries across the UK. Buddies were recruited for training programmes. People were taught, and can still be taught to use the appropriate technology in classes run through the various library services.
Unfortunately, once the initial tranche of funding was exhausted, libraries were required to have their own sustainability programmes, but no funding was ring-fenced for this purpose.
It is hardly surprising that there are differences in digital uptake between Dowanhill and Possilpark, or between Shawlands and Cardonald. Glasgow Libraries are now trying to deal with that digital difference, without any funding from the Scottish or UK Governments to do so. It is my view that they should be applauded for this initiative, which is an extension of the work that has been done over the last 18 years.
You are quite right to say that this is a social justice issue. It is also vital to the success of the economy of the country. Perhaps we need to think about the creation of a new tranche of funding so that libraries can offer the cutting edge resources in ICT that people across Scotland need.
How lovely to read the following quote from Sir Roy Strong, sometime director of all lovely things at the V & A: "I want to make people realise that churches change the whole time. We are so conditioned to look at churches solely as architecture. I want people to see what went on and goes…
The blog is working again, and with a new theme. The updated comments module is much better. You can post comments in your own name without being logged in.Go on – try it for size.
I’ve just had to turn comments off. More comment spam to deal with. Ugh.
The "trim the enormous beech tree" project is underway even as I write. I do wish that whoever has planted that tree had planted something a good deal more demure and petite. We have lots and lots of leaves. Next door has lots and lots of of bird dung. Hopefully this will help. Perhaps thinning…
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