• Scotland says “I do!”

    News is just getting to me regarding the news that the Scottish Government has said that it will indeed legislate for gay couples to get hitched.

    I can’t help but feel immensely proud of all those who have come on board and made this the most positive campaign that I’ve ever been a part of.

    Scotland’s head can be proudly held up high.

    Several years ago, I took the decision that campaigning  on these issues within the church was not a terribly productive pursuit. Generally speaking most of my work in this area in recent years has been looking towards a change in the law. Quite a few of my friends thought I was mad. Many people thought it would come but not in my lifetime. I always believed this was possible within the lifetime of this Scottish parliament.

    The focus will turn to the churches soon. They will each have their own decision making process to follow. The key thing for me is that no-one in the Scottish Episcopal Church should be forced to act against their conscience – one way or the other. We’ve lived with different views on the marriage of divorcees for long enough now to know pretty well how we might proceed peaceably.

    There’s a lot more that I will say about all this later but for now, a great well done to all concerned.

    (oh, and by the way, Vacancy: Husband. All reasonable offers considered).

2 responses to “10 Things I learned from being a General Election Candidate”

  1. Father David Avatar
    Father David

    Your second point about people knowing almost nothing about the democratic process was demonstrated admirably in a recent television programme called “Educating Joey Essex”. The young man in question who came to fame via TOWIE interviewed three leaders of Political Parties – Messrs Clegg, Miliband and Farage (Mr. Cameron declined to be interviewed). By the end of the programme Joey had learned that Parliament was an institution rather than a person.
    May I add an eleventh point to your list of ten?
    In American Presidential elections it is often said that the candidate with the most hair usually wins (that bodes well for Hillary Clinton). I will stick my head above the parapet and say that the leader who wears a tie (i.e. Looking most Statesman like) will become Prime Minister. Throughout the campaign Mr. Miliband has consistently been seen wearing a tie and a smart suit while Mr. Cameron has been seen wearing an open neck shirt with rolled up sleeves and Mr. Clegg similarly attired with open neck shirt and a casual blue jumper. I therefore foresee that Ed Miliband will gain the keys to Number 10 following tomorrow’s General Election. Despite protestations to the contrary he will probably do so with the assistance of the admirable and formidable Nicola Sturgeon who is also a model of sartorial elegance. however my theory is at its weakest when looking at the way the leader of Ukip is also similarly smartly attired but thankfully and mercifully Nigel hadn’t a hope in hell of winning! Mind what does it say of our electoral system is the SNP get 5% of the vote and are rewarded with 50 seats and Ukip get 10% of the vote and only win 2 seats? Having said that, I’m still a first past the post man.

    1. Tim Avatar

      I’m still a PR chap but that scenario is a great argument in favour of FPTP 😉

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Previous Posts

  • Postcard Puzzle

    Someone put a postcard through my door last night whilst I was out taking a Vestry meeting. It has me puzzled. It is a nice picture of a stained glass window in Dunfermline Abbey. The back of the card is completely blank. It was in a brown office envelope which was sealed and bears my name…

  • Church Signs

    I remember the effort that it took to get the Church Sign boards updated when I first moved here. They were covered in cobwebs and offered in illegible script information o­n contacting a range of clergy, some of whom were no longer there and o­ne of whom was dead. There were also details of services…

  • Re-membering

    What is the opposite of remember?[Forget?]Well, in a sense, the opposite of remember is to forget. We do a lot of remembering in church, but what we are doing is not simply not-forgetting. Neither are we simply calling to mind.For the sake of this sermon, I invite you to consider that for the type of…

  • The Anglican view of Marriage

    I'm indebted to another member of the clergy for forwarding this o­n to me yesterday – it brightened up the day and made me laugh a lot:?The actions taken by the New Hampshire Episcopalians are an affront to Christians everywhere.  I am just thankful that the church's founder, Henry VIII, and his wife, Catherine of Aragon,…