What is in Kelvin's Head?

Review of Predictions for 2018

31/12/2018

On 1 January I made predictions for the coming year. Time to see how I got on.

1 – General Election in the second half of the year.

Well, no we didn’t and the government linger on. Not right

2 – “…and as the polls close, our exit poll predicts that the Conservative Party is unlikely to be able to form a new government…”

Well, the government did linger on of a fashion. N/A

3 – The next but one leader of the Conservative Party becomes Ruth Davidson MP.

Too soon to tell. Not right yet.

4 – The hipsters get bored of vinyl and discover cameras with actual, you know, film.

In September, I happened upon three or four hipster types from Denmark in the cathedral grounds taking photographs for a fashion shoot in Belgium. They had stopped shooting for a moment…. to reload film canasters. Right – but likely to become more common yet.

5 – No date for a new referendum on Scottish Independence.

No date for a new referendum and no great call for one either. Right.

6 – No progress for LGBT affirming Anglicans in England.

Sadly correct. Right

7 – Progress for LGBT affirming Anglicans elsewhere, particularly Brazil.

Stunning progress in Brazil – marriage agreed by huge majority on synod floor. (And who else saw that coming!) Right.

8 – Increasing realisation that sexual abuse is part of church culture. #churchtoo #metoo.

Yes – meetings happening all over the place trying to work out how to respond. Few coherent policies yet. Right.

9 – FTSE lower at the end of 2018 than it is at the beginning. (7687)

As I write this the FTSE is at 6728 – worst year in a decade. Right

10 – The end of the beard.

Those with style, manners and culture have seen the error of their ways and shaved. A few young and misguided types cling on. Completely and utterly right.

Not a bad year, I think.

10 responses to “Tented Villages”

TIm

28/10/2011

This would be fine & well if one has reason to believe one’s cathedral to be under some kind of threat.

I don’t see that being the case in St Paul’s – the evidence I’ve seen so far is that the various Occupations have been entirely peaceful apart from when the police start bullying them. The published “uh, think of the fire hazard” document reads like the most specious excuse they could invent to justify playing victim – let’s not forget it’s *their own* front door they’ve *chosen* to shut in the face of population, diocesan Mission directives notwithstanding. It’s about being Establishment versus free natives of the planet with a Christian-compatible social & justice message; I see St Paul’s have chosen their side.

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1. kelvin
  
  28/10/2011
  
  I must admit that for all my liberal instincts and progressive values, I don’t see this issue as being nearly so clear cut as that.
  
  Reply
Uncle Al

28/10/2011

I wonder what Oscar Romero would have done?

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1. kelvin
  
  29/10/2011
  
  Probably call the nation’s attention to the scandal of poverty. Unlike any of the players in this drama so far.
  
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william

29/10/2011

Point to explore:
When Jesus said – that the poor we would always have with us – what point do you consider he was making, and therefore would want to make to us today in the UK, about the scandal of poverty?

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Zebadee

30/10/2011

Dear William It is not a question of what others would do about the scandel of poverty the question is what are YOU doing about it? Having worked at a drop in centre and at other places that attempt to deal with this problem in the UK I know that there are no easy answers but have come to a conclusion that it is an individual responce more than a corporate one.

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Agatha

30/10/2011

William, perhaps Jesus was well ahead of himself and was referring to relative poverty. My grandfather’s family were so poor he trapped rabbits, his brother got ends of bread from the vicarage and another brother picked up the vegetables that had got dropped on the ground from market stalls. A century later and the “poor” organise protests via blackberry.

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Ryan

30/10/2011

Agatha,

Isn’t that still progress of sorts, or should we be pining for the days of absolute poverty in the UK? Poverty, absolute or otherwise, is surely always worth challenging?

Gap Yah types and their blackberry diversions will probably be with us always too, alas.

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Rosemary Hannah

31/10/2011

More flat-footedly, Jesus’s remark was in a context – a perceptive woman in a moment of love and gratitude, seeing the cost of her brother’s having been liberated from death, poured an entire jar of expensive anointing perfume over his feet. Judas carped. Jesus defended the woman: the moment was right, the action prophetic. That does not mean Jesus wanted to keep the poor poor. He was saying that if Judas felt that strongly about their plight he would have plenty of time to take action over it. That moment, that particular moment, belonged to Jesus. We no longer have his physical feet, but we do still have his poor. We are not absolved from taking action in the world because we love him.

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Agatha

31/10/2011

Ryan, of course its progress. But lets not forget there are people in the world that are still in absolute poverty. And I know which I would rather champion, those without food and water, not those who can only afford a 32″ TV.

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