What is in Kelvin's Head?

Predictions 2022 – How did I do?

31/12/2022

Time to see how I did with my predictions at the start of the year.

Boris Johnson will be replaced with a Prime Minister who is more competent, more right wing and more difficult to beat.

Well, if we skip lightly over the horror of Liz Truss’s premiership, I’m going to claim this one as fulfilled. Left and right designations in politics mean less as the years go on. Prediction fulfilled.

A good year for Michael Gove (who is almost invisible at the moment).

I’m claiming this one too. He’s back in government and less invisible. If you don’t agree, you probably don’t read the Daily Telegraph. Prediction fulfilled.

Church of Scotland General Assembly votes to allow same-sex couples to be married in church. More significantly, almost no-one leaves in a huff.

Exactly what happened. Prediction Fulfilled.

No progress for those seeking marriage equality in the Church of England.

Sadly. Prediction Fulfilled

US Republican Party do well at the November midterms.

Gloriously, prediction unfulfilled.

Midnight Mass will happen at St Mary’s Cathedral, Glasgow – some people will still be wearing masks but it won’t be mandatory.

Yes, I did see a few mask wearers but we were getting back to prepandemic levels of attendence and Midnight Mass was a blast. Prediction fulfilled.

Lots of people discover that cryptocurrency is not the sure thing that they thought. (Losses will disproportionately affect young people).

Oh my, yes. What a mess some people have got themselves into. Prediction fulfilled.

Nicola Sturgeon will be forced to announce a proposed date for an Independence Referendum against her better judgement.

She announed on 23 June 2022 that it would be held on 19 October 2023. (Spoiler alert – it won’t happen on 19 October 2023). Prediction fulfilled.

Lambeth Conference will take place but some people forced to participate virtually due to continued pandemic in developing world. (No new sanctions against pro-gay provinces).

Well it took place but I’m not sure whether or not there were virtual participants. However, there were no new sanctions against pro-gay provinces. Prediction largely fulfilled.

Working from home/hybrid working becomes normalised for big companies. Consequent increase in ransomware demands.

Working from home is certainly still going on and there are many big companies that are planning for it continuing in some form. (Here’s a government report about it). And yes, ransomware has increased. (Here’s a paper on it from the Chartered Institute of IT).

I’m guessing that one or two people might want to argue about whether I got this all as right as I think I did – particularly the first two, but not a bad year overall.

12 responses to “Christians and Jews in Holy Week”

FakePete

31/03/2015

Very good piece. Often we overlook the fact that so much anti-Semitism comes from liberals and the left.

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1. Jo
  
  01/04/2015
  
  I’ve moved in left-wing circles for a long time and I don’t think I’ve encountered much by way of anti-Semitism. Not saying there isn’t any but I don’t recognise your “so much”.
  
  Reply
  1. fakepete
    
    01/04/2015
    
    I don’t know what your FB stream is like but during the Gaza conflict – wow, my leftie friends went into meltdown talking of neocon cabals, the cult of bankers, they spoke of excessive influence of Israel on US foreign policy and they got much angrier about Israeli bombs killing Gazans than anyone got when the UK was killing people in Iraq. I was shocked.
    
    Reply
    1. Kelvin
      
      01/04/2015
      
      Just to note that this isn’t a post about Israel or Gaza and that the leap from speaking about the experience of being Jewish to current Middle East politics is part of the problem I’m highlighting.
      
      Reply
margaret of the sea of galilee

01/04/2015

First of all, well done on the spelling of “supersessionist”! (“s” not “c” since you go back to the French/Latin)
Seriously…excellent writing and perfect timing
Come over for a visit and we’ll show you modern Judaism up close. As well as a cute wee Church of Scotland and a lovely piece of water. Oh yes…and where Jesus was too!

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Marion

01/04/2015

Thank you. Just, thank you. (And I’ll see you Good Friday)

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Gordon

01/04/2015

Have a look at http://www.keshercourse.co.uk/
An increasing number of evangelicals are celebrating Jewish festivals and imitating Jewish practices or even styling themselves as “messianic jews” even though they are not of jewish birth.
What do jews make of this? Is it not a wee bit insulting or maybe imitation is the best form of flattery?

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1. Tim
  
  01/04/2015
  
  How would we feel about practising Jews deciding to make a Last Supper of their Passover meal?
  
  I’m normally wary of taking offence on others’ behalf, and it has been said that Christian supersessionism need not denigrate Judaism (David Novak, via wikipedia). But how do I know what flavour of supersessionism my neighbour or leader understands?
  
  The bishops’ guidelines at the start of http://rcdow.org.uk/att/files/faith/catechesis/eucharist/passoverguidelines.pdf seem not unreasonable, “In all events, Christians should take every care to ensure that the correct Jewish ritual is followed and that the Seder be respected in its full integrity”.
  
  Reply
  1. Kelvin
    
    01/04/2015
    
    I think that, in the same way that in our tradition, Christian ritual demands that it is conducted by Christians (and licensed ones at that), …
    
    Reply
Kelvin

02/04/2015

Just to note that I’m allowing comments on this post that are relevant to this post, which is about Christianity and Judaism and how Christians and Jews relate at this time of the year. I’m filtering out all off-topic comments about modern Middle Eastern politics.

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1. FakePete
  
  02/04/2015
  
  I understand and support your desire and right to keep things on topic but I’d personally be interested to read those even if not in this particular thread.
  
  Reply
Elizabeth

03/04/2015

Thanks for posting this. I didn’t know that Scottish Jews were feeling more unsafe, that is troubling news indeed and all the more reason to think and talk about this kind of thing. I think it’s important for Christians to understand the history of anti-Jewish violence around Holy Week and Easter, as distressing as it is. It’s a good week to read Adrienne Rich’s ‘Yom Kippur 1984’ (I wanted to include a quote but can only wish to include the whole thing – so please, everyone go read it http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/240472 )

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