In Trafalgar Square Justin Welby achieved something remarkable
- 10 Jun 2019
Yesterday the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, did an extraordinary thing – he brought prayer to the heart of London. You would not know it if you rely on the mainstream media – newspapers, TV or radio – for your information because none of them covered the event in Tra...
Notre Dame is more than a building and it will rise again
- 16 Apr 2019
This morning Paris awakes to the stark fact that its skyline has been changed if not forever certainly for a long time to come. Notre Dame as we have known and inherited it has been lost. The embers of the great fire that reduced this much-loved cathedral to ash and rubble are...
The Archbishop, Brexit and an historic opportunity
- 2 Apr 2019
Brexit is an extraordinary phenomenon of our time. On the one hand it is destroying the prevailing political settlement, straining the bounds of our constitutional processes and dividing communities up and down the land. On the other hand interest in politics and the goings on...
Time for a General Election?
- 29 Mar 2019
There’s a very interesting received wisdom around Westminster that a General Election is unlikely. What would it solve? Mrs May has said she is leaving. What would the manifestos be? Ah, finger tapping the nose, you can’t because of the Fixed Term Parliament Act, and MPs would...
Lambeth Conference 2020 – does anyone care?
- 22 Mar 2019
Since becoming the 105th Archbishop of Canterbury in 2013 Justin Welby has been all action and decision. He has needed to be. From his two immediate predecessors he inherited a church that was in perilous organisational disarray and numerical decline. George Carey’s incompeten...
Cameron and Clegg’s idiotic reforms to parliament are making this crisis worse
- 22 Mar 2019
Everyone at Westminster is very cross and very tired. Senses of proportion and perspective have been jettisoned in favour of shouting, abuse, apocalyptic warnings about the state of democracy and the end of Parliamentary government as we know it. Meanwhile, outside of the SW1 ...
Parliament is doing its job and it is a magnificent sight
- 17 Mar 2019
As we stagger out of another week of Brexit drama, and before we stumble into the next one, let’s take a step back, take a deep breath and consider the scene. First and foremost we need to establish some sense of perspective. Our lives, liberties and safety are not at stake...
A new Elizabethan Settlement is needed
- 12 Mar 2019
Four Hundred and Sixty years ago this year the Elizabethan Settlement was born in “The Revolution 0f 1559”. Queen Elizabeth I ascended to the throne of a country riven by political and religious division. The divisions split the great political families and divided every hamle...
No deal Brexit is a myth
- 26 Feb 2019
Brexit is consuming Westminster politics. The big parties are fracturing in ways that were unforeseen. The gulf between government and business has never been wider. The time until the UK’s official departure from the EU can now be counted in days. Still, no settled position c...
Social Media - the good side
- 17 Feb 2019
This weekend my household suffered a minor catastrophe. On route by train to visiting a grandmother in Scotland one of my children lost their suitcase. It contained the usual essentials for such a visit - toothbrush, pyjamas, a book and a much loved teddy bear. In the scale of...