What is in Kelvin's Head?

  • What am I listening to?

    Oh, thank you for asking.

    Well, the days of listening to CDs seem to be long over, don’t they? I’ve not ditched all the CDs like Chris Pinnock has, but wonder how long I’ll go on with a cupboard full of little boxes.

    • Firstly and most splendidly there’s the Gyndebourne summer online opera festival. Oh yes, you can watch and listen to half a dozen or so glorious Glyndebourne productions. Like all opera should be, they are free at the point of delivery.
    • I briefly got sucked into the gay-country-pap of Steve Grand’s All American Boy the other day until I realised it was just like most representations of gay people in America – doomed to end in tears. (Cheyenne Jackson’s Don’t Wanna Know made me laugh, but it is more of the same – all American gay boys don’t get happy endings to their stories much in America).
    • Then something I saw somewhere reminded me of Alan Price’s O Lucky Man so I had a good listen to that.
    • I also came across Tom Gilfellon’s album In the Middle of the Tune on Spotify – something I’ve not heard since I ditched vinyl – here’s the first track The Banks of Red Roses.
    • Whilst I was getting stuff ready for Pride the other week, I needed some music to cheer me on my way so listened to Holly Near and sang along with Singing for our Lives.
    • Christy Moore’s Before the Deluge doesn’t get tired, does it?
    • Neither does Martin Simpson’s Prodigal Son album.
    • And did you know you can hear Frank Weir’s monumental 20th Century Folk Mass on spotify?  It is really a big band mass, but there you do.

    Spotify tried to get me to listen to Val Doonican the other day. I’m not letting on as to whether I did or not though.

     

8 responses to “A Christian Country?”

  1. Tim Avatar
    Tim

    Reality is pluralist; a secular basis is good to level the playing-field.

    I think Cameron is not so much failing to live in `now’ but hell-bent on dragging the country back to the 50s (mostly the 1850s).

    One of Blair’s very few positives was “we don’t do God”, or at least postponing doing God until mostly after he was out of Number 10.

    Reply
  2. Fr Steve Avatar
    Fr Steve

    Very good analysis. In Australia I still find I get prickly when people tell me I belong to the C of E! (It has not been formally such since the the 70s)
    It is good not to see ourselves in the light of another nation…England…but it is good to recognise to recognise our heritage …Anglican.
    I spent part of last year in Hawaii as a locum…..when asked last week by the Mothers’ Union..”What was the difference?” I was a bit glib…but could confidential say “Nothing at all!” Given the fact that 1/3 of the congregation were Filipinos it is an interesting reflection.
    Don’t think we should overstate it, but being Anglican is a great thing. But there is much about it that needs a good kick up the backside too!

    Reply
  3. Mark Avatar
    Mark

    Though we ought to, maybe proudly, remember that the SEC is not a daughter Church of the Church of England. I’m afraid Cameron isn’t doing himself any favours with the way he’s made these statements, and as far as Scotland goes there’s a large part that has been disenfranchised by any statements that Cameron or any English person says, because they view them as ‘english propaganda’. Sadly, I don’t view the Scottish Government with much love either, having used their position to unfairly tout their party’s stance. Between two opposite poles, both backed by Government, how is one to hear a balanced view, instead of that great love of Blair’s Government, spin.

    Reply
  4. Eamonn Avatar
    Eamonn

    ‘I do however have a big problem with starting up a new country and writing Christianity into the constitutional definition of what that country is.’ I agree totally. I lived for 26 years in a country where the constitution, in respect of family matters, reflected the views both of the majority RC church and the Church of Ireland. For example, in order to make divorce possible, an amendment to the constitution had to be passed by a majority voting in a nation-wide referendum. This was only achieved in 1995, and only by a margin of 50.28% to 49.72%. Constitutional definition of religious matters always leads to discrimination.

    Reply
  5. Robin Avatar
    Robin

    > ‘I do however have a big problem with starting up a new country’

    I have a big problem with seeing Scottish independence (if it were to be re-established following a YES vote in the referendum) as ‘starting up a new country’ . . .

    Reply
  6. Alan McManus Avatar
    Alan McManus

    I loathe the smug fortress mentality of many of my co-religionists in RC schools while noting that these schools perform at least as well as non-denominational. I loathe the cowardice of the Reformed churches in failing to speak out against the violence and prejudice associated with a certain group of charitable organisations every July and the complicity of local authorities who DO NOT assure the safety of citizens and of international visitors unused to the historical hatreds of the Scottish central belt. While the latter is true, I continue to support the former and look to Canada as a model of multicultural accommodation than to the aggressive laïcité of France.

    Reply
    1. Kelvin Holdsworth Avatar
      Kelvin Holdsworth

      Like this?
      [vimeo 69307025 w=500 h=281] 20130623 Kelvin Holdsworth Music Sunday from Kelvin Holdsworth on Vimeo.

      Reply
  7. Allan Ronald Avatar
    Allan Ronald

    Given the choice between the venomous and literally murderous hatreds of Central Belt sectarianism and ‘aggressive laicité’ I’ll take the latter any day.

    Reply

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