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If you arrived here directly, then don't miss Holford Web Home of David's Mental Meanderings If you just want to find out who this strange bloke is, you'll need to go there as well. Your feedback about anything you read here is always welcome. Other blogs I enjoy reading: Doxos St. Stephen's Musings Robert's Cogitations This is Life Paradosis Natalie Solent Mere Comments Little Geneva Antioch Road The Edge of England's Sword flyingchair.net Samizdata Joshua Claybourn Between Heaven and Hell PC Watch Notes From a Hillside Farm Simeon's Hit and Miss of Filosofical Thought George Grant Lileks a conservative blog for peace You can also find me listed at Blogs4God Currently down from the bookshelf: Celtic Christianity in Early Medieval Wales: The Origins of the Welsh Spiritual Tradition by Oliver Davies Women in Purple: Rulers of Medieval Byzantium by Judith Herrin Recently finished: Give Me My Father's Body: The Life of Minik, The New York Eskimo by Kenn Harper John Quincy Adams: A Public Life, A Private Life by Paul C. Nagel Lancaster & York: The Wars of the Roses by Alison Weir Most recent acquisitions: John Major: The Autobiography Retreat from New Jerusalem: British Politics 1951-64 by Kevin Jefferys 
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Saturday, June 21, 2003
Truth and Consequences According to the Anglican bishop of Worcester, any bishops who oppose the consecration of Dr Jeffrey John as suffrigan bishop of Reading are inciting people violenltly attack gays and vitually doing the same thing by expressing their views. Peter Selby said, �I think what they are are bishops who are intelligent, conscientious, respectful people and because of that I find it very difficult to imagine they are doing something that actually supports outrageous and violent behaviour by other people. And although they would not go out on a Saturday night with a broken bottle and attack a gay person, and would be appalled if anybody did, the problem is that the instrument they are using, which is a pen, is very powerful to achieve a similar end.� He added: �There is no question that people use what they hear from religious people, especially conservative religious pronouncements, in support of behaviour that people who made those announcements would deplore." I wasn't aware that thugs attacking gays with broken bottles look to conservative Anglican bishops for their inspiration. At least he doesn't believe that these bishops would actually go out an do the same thing. He just can't believe such nice intelligent people would support such violence by going so far as actually do what bishops are supposed to do, proclaim the Truth that has been given to us and has been held by the Church throughout the ages. The BBC reported tonight that two secretly gay bishops had already been consecrated in the Anglican church. It also reported that 25% of Anglican clergy are gay. Neither of these things surprises me. Dr John is just the first bishop-elect to admit that he is gay, living with his partner, and determined to continue to do so. It was also reported that the Archbishop of Canterbury is very determined to consecrate Dr John. I hope he does. Those things being done in secret should be shown openly. I also hope that the Anglican Primate of Nigeria holds good to his threat to break communion with Canterbury. The whole thing needs to break apart. The wheat needs to be separated from the chaff, so that the chaff can be burned in the fire. You know the one -- where the worm does not die and the fire is not quenched. I have no doubt that when the break occurs, England will see the same situation as has occurred in the US. The orthodox Anglican Primates of the developing countries will have to send in missionary bishops, just as they have in creating the Anglican Mission in America. I also anticipate that this will have the same effect that introduction of purported ordination of women did, driving conservative Anglicans into the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches. I frequently serve in the altar at our church. I don't do a very good job, but I suppose two extra fumbling hands are better than none. I have been using a server's vestment that was originally intended to fit our priest's young son. The first time I put it on, it was clear that it wasn't exactly my size. Due to those fairly predicatable growth spurts over the past couple of years, it isn't exactly Samuel's size either. He is as tall as I am now, though not nearly as big around the middle. Our community priced the purchase of a new one at about �200. This seemed like a awful lot of money for a rather simple garment. Mrs Holford realised that with her burgeoning skills at the sewing machine, she might be able to do the same thing just a bit cheaper. She looked for days trying to find a pattern on the Internet. All she found were people selling vestments. At the prices they were charging, it was clear they wouldn't want the patterns to go public. She finally found what appears to be the only pattern book on the market. She has just taken my measurements for a mock-up garment. Having never done this before, it is better to have a trial run with 99p/metre fabric before shelling out many times that for the shiny stuff. If this goes well, she is considering developing a subsidiary Holford Country Crafts. Any suggestions for a name? I have only just now figured out that I can post multiple times each day without having the day stuck to each post. I don't know why I didn't test this sooner. Now you have a chance to comment on each individual item! Friday, June 20, 2003
Today we participated in that venerable British institution known as PYO � pick your own. It is summer and time for fresh fruit. We were hoping to pick some raspberries but they aren�t in yet. We did pick about 1 � kilos of strawberries. Last year at this time, Aidie was too young to participate. We had to push him in his pram from row to row. This year, he was more than eager to help. He has bit of difficulty grasping the concept of only picking the red ones. Unfortunately, a significant number of strawberries will never live to ripeness as they were taken before their time. Of the red ones, he didn�t eat too many right on the spot. At dinner, Aidan immediately took to fresh strawberries and cream, even though Mrs Holford made a point of buy single cream instead of double cream. I�m not sure what the point of that was, since this just means twice as much is required in the bowl. By the way, Sainbury�s Single Cream comes with a health warning. You�re thinking something like, �Extremely fattening: may cause heart attacks�? No. It says �Allergy Warning: contains milk�. Thursday, June 19, 2003
Discarding Superfluous Babies Britain�s first designer baby has been born. The Jamie Whitaker was genetically engineered to be an exact genetic match to harvest stem cells for treating his older brother Charlie. The procedure had to be done in the US, because it was banned in the UK on ethical grounds. That something in the UK is banned on ethical grounds has to be a tip off that it is pretty bad. This form of genetic engineering does not require manipulating genes. It�s really pretty simple. It is just a matter of creating a bunch of babies and then killing off all but the one deemed to be the best match. Eight of Jamie and Charlie�s siblings were killed. What really struck me was what their father said on TV. He responded to criticism of the procedure by saying that no one should judge whether it is right or wrong unless they have been in his situation. How often have I heard this? It is situational ethics made to tug the heartstrings. It�s saying that when the going gets tough, the truth gets going. I have no problem with donating the stem cells from one child the help a sibling. It doesn�t not justify killing, though. Sweet Politically Correct Home From my parents today, we received the video of Sweet Home Alabama starring Reece Witherspoon. Holford and Holford give it two thumbs up. The film portrays the redneck Southerners in a humorous and at least somewhat positive light, particularly when compared to New York City. It was more than predictable that the soundtrack would include the eponymous Lynyrd Skynyrd hit. It is featured at least twice, including the segue from the last scene to the closing titles, performed by Jewel. Both times it is edited to avoid any political incorrectness. They got by with the second verse, since it would have been difficult to have played any significant part of the song without it. It would take someone with a bit of music history knowledge to understand the criticism of Neil Young. The third verse is a different story. I suppose no one wanted to catch the sort of flack Trent Lott did when he said something nice about Strom Thurmond. Better not sound favourable toward George Wallace: In Birmingham they love the governor In its place, Jewel threw in a bridge about everybody getting along. Seems like a subtle move to undermine the actual theme of the song. Of course, since Jewel was born in Utah, raised in Alaska, and settled in California, she really couldn�t understand the song anyhow. But after all, all they really wanted was the chorus to fit in with the film. Wednesday, June 18, 2003
Well, I thought Aidie was a handful. At least he hasn�t be disqualified from driving, like a 10-year-old who has committed driving offences on three separate occasions. He received his first driving ban last year. Last month he took the car again, but only got out into the road as he reversed into another car. This month he was at it again. He isn�t even eligible for a driver�s license for another eight years, yet he has already been convicted of driving while disqualified, as well as aggravated vehicle taking and driving without insurance. Joyriding isn�t the only evidence of his problems. He also admitted stealing a bicycle and possessing equipment for theft. More Anti-social Behaviour If he doesn�t change his ways he could end up like the man who smashed over forty store windows in the centre of Cardiff. He did an estimated �75,000 worth of damage to 23 businesses using a shovel. He was dressed only in his underpants. He is being held by police while a bed is being found in a psychiatric hospital. Speaking of crazy people in Cardiff... What is the Welsh Assembly doing with all it�s power? Recently it ordered the Powys County Council to prosecute Dot Humphreys. Why? She has refused to remove a collection of garden gnomes outside her caf� five miles north of Machynlleth. The gnomes have been there for five years. Somehow the Assembly decided that the gnomes were a distraction to motorists and a hazard to pedestrians, even though there has never been an accident in the area. The prosecution was brought and the magistrates decided in favour of Mrs Humphreys. They even went out and looked at the gnomes themselves. The Welsh Assembly wasn�t happy. They decided to appeal against the decision. Now, �27,000 of taxpayers� money later, they have realised that their appeal didn�t stand a chance and have withdrawn it. I�m not so sure that Cardiff is ready to be a centre of political power. My opinion hasn�t stopped them from spending millions and millions of pounds on a new Assembly building. Estimates of the actual cost vary. The official estimate is �47 million, but thanks to the Millennium Dome, we know how accurate Labour is when it comes to guessing the costs of building projects. The official estimate started at �12 million, and the finance minister admits that she doesn�t know what the final costs will be. The Conservative Leader of the Assembly estimates it at �100. This may be, in fact, a conservative estimate. This is a building that was supposed to be complete in the spring of 2001. It was later put back to this year, and now the official guess is that it will open in the autumn of 2005. Tuesday, June 17, 2003
Living with a toddler is the most exhausting thing I've ever done. Okay, admittedly I have never gone out of my way to find exhausting things to do, but nonetheless, Aidan is a handful. Today, we feared he was going to get a black eye. I don't know how many 17-month-olds get black eyes, not to mention in a self-inflicted manner. While we were in the supermarket, he demanded to hold a can of beans. This is not unusual. He generally demands to hold whatever is the first item retrieved from the shelves. Today it was Tesco Vinaigrette mixed bean salad. Being the active boy that he is, he was swinging it around and around, from side to side, up and down, and then whap! he beaned himself in the eye. Given his vast experience with canned goods -- particularly in removing them from the cabinets and caryying them about the house -- I was particularly surprised at this move. At the time of the incident in question, it appeared that there would be some swelling. However, any evidence of his self-inflicted wound soon disappeared. Our new phase is knocking. It started with knocking on doors. If one of the internal doors in the house is closed, he uses this opportunity to knock, even if he can just reach up and open it. When we go outside, the first thing he does is race across the hall and knock on our neighbour's door. Fortunately, this has only once been loud enough for them to answer it. Now he is using knocking as a way to get attention. If I am attending to something other than giving him my undivided attention, he will come up and knock on my arm. Or if I happen to be resting from a particularly long stint of undivided attention, he will knock on my chest or stomach or head. I have been afraid that when he goes to baby group that other parents might mis-interpret his intentions if he knocks on their little youngsters with his closed fist. He already didn't like him going around and hugging everyone. We are still working on vocabulary at a heightened pace. My favourite new word is "beverage." How many toddlers do you know that can only say "dink, dink". Aidie doesn't ask for a dink. He clearly knows what he saying, because when we are eating dinner, I will often say "Do you want a beverage with that?" and he picks it up from his tray for a swig. We've made advancements in the area of beverage containers. Sippy cups are okay for walking around the house for that drink on demand. However, at the table we have moved on to regular open-topped glasses. Well, plastic glasses. And there are the constant reminders to use both hands and the occasional spills when the reminders don't come in time. That's today's briefing from Parenting 101. Monday, June 16, 2003
Many thanks to Fr Pat Reardon for bringing my attention to two great pieces on Hillary and her book. These are definitely worth clicking over and having a look. On is from Ann Coulter and the other from Matt Labash. Being on this side of the Atlantic, sometimes I miss out on important milestones, even though I try to keep up with the American media. I have only now learned of David Brinkley's passing. Both George Will and Cal Thomas have produced very fine eulogies. Back on this side of the Atlantic, the quote of the day comes from BBC Political Editor Andrew Marr, after explaining on the Ten O'Clock News that cabinet reshuffles are supposed to be finely choreographed, likened the present situation to "Swan Lake performed by elephants". Sunday, June 15, 2003
I missed blogging yesterday because after spending the day with Mrs Holford manning her stall at the Craft Fair in Abergavenny, and after she spent much of the evening looking for patterns online, I finally had a chance to write and the modem died. Late this afternoon (after Liturgy and the mid-year parish meeting) I got another from PC World and finally got it to work. I can�t use it with Windows XP, so I�m still limping along on my old hard drive and 98. Holford Country Creations has gotten off to a slow start. That�s Mrs Holford�s new enterprise. She�s producing quilted wall hangings, embroidered pillows, smelly hot pads and coasters, and similar items with a handcrafted Americana look. Abergavenny was her first outing and it was plagued with extremely good weather, which kept people out of the Market Hall and out of town generally. Several of the veteran hucksters of this monthly event noted that it was the quietest day they had seen. It�s time for reassessing which products will work best and at what prices. She is very good at this sort of stuff and the whole project has a lot of potential. Look for her website, hopefully sooner than later. Descending into Chaos Tony Blair�s reshuffle of his Government continues to be farce. He�s created a new post of Children�s Minister. He�s appointed the MP for Barking, which is appropriate because she barking mad. She�s the loony lefty who used to be leader of the Islington council, one of the local government boroughs of North London. While Margaret Hodge was leader, Islington had quite a record when it comes to children. Newspaper reports indicate that at least 26 children were sexually abused while in the care of the council. �As far as services for children are concerned, we failed. I accept responsibility.� That�s what she said at the time. Why did they fail? They were too busy focusing on other very vital issues. And official inquiry noted that the children�s department of Islington council was �paralysed by equal opportunity and race issues�. These including a ban on singing �Baa, Baa, Black Sheep� in nursery schools because of its racist overtones. And as the Shadow Education Secretary (the person in the Opposition who has responsibility for following Government policy in that department) said, �We can only hope her views have matured since she launched a booklet discussing a ban on skipping ropes, musical chairs and GCSE grades below C.� The only good thing about this appointment is that she is no longer universities minister. Universities have accepted lower and lower and lower achievement at the secondary level as a prerequisite for admission. As a result, they are producing a worse and worse product out the other end. Great Scot! You know things are crazy when the Scottish Nationalist Party (SNP) wants to distance itself from the annual commemoration of the Battle of Bannockburn. The SNP Transport spokesman thinks it�s time to move on and get past the victory over the English 689 years ago next Tuesday. I think that the Scots no longer have a need to celebrate that victory over the English when Tony Blair has handed them an even greater one, without even the need for bloodshed. The Scots have taken over English government. The head of the English judiciary and legal system is Charlie Falconer, the new Lord Chancellor. He appoints all the judges in England and Wales � not Scotland, which has a completely separate judicial and legal system. In charge of health care in England is John Reid, yet Scottish health policy is controlled from Edinburgh with its own health minister. The same goes for Transport, where Alistair Darling is responsible for dealing with all the problems public and private means of getting from place to place. But only south of the border. Scottish Transport is the responsibility of a minister in the Scottish Executive. And where does Edinburgh get its lump sum of English money to spend as it chooses? From the man who holds the purse strings for all the UK, Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown. A Scot, of course. With all this, who needs to celebrate Bannockburn? |