Here is your weekly reminder that this could not have been an executive summary of this. That would have been impossible, since they bear no resemblance to each other. It is all here, including on the ludicrous definition of "grooming" that was used to hound Canon McCoy to his death, and including on the nonsense about Timothy Gardner. Something has changed since 3rd May. What is it? And where is the original report?
I do not resile from this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this or this. Rather, I reiterate every word of each and all of them. There was no cathedral sex party. The move from the old Bishop's House to the new one made a profit. There was no allegation of sexual assault against Bishop Robert Byrne CO, who should sue every media outlet that had suggested one.
I may not, but I may, accept the present report when Bishop Byrne had done so, and to the extent that he had done so. His Lordship has yet to do so to any extent. At least while that remains the case, then I reject the whole thing out of hand, and so should you. The sum total of the charge sheet against Bishop Byrne is that he did not automatically do as he was told by the hired help. But Pat Buckley does not like Bishop Stephen Wright, so Bishop Wright must be all right.
Indeed, His Lordship preached well at his Enthronement. He clearly has a deep spirituality. There was also a speech by a self-identified survivor of clerical sexual abuse, one Maggie Vickerman. Neither her case, nor those to which she referred, had anything to do with Bishop Byrne, if they really happened at all. How do we know? At most, they were long before his brief time in this Diocese. If anything, certain people with some responsibility for them were in that sanctuary. Nor did Ms Vickerman make any attempt to disguise her theological agenda. Well, nor do I make any attempt to disguise mine.
Tony Blair now sounds like Peter Hitchens (or any Daily Mail, Spectator or Telegraph columnist) on net zero and China. And the Daily Telegraph notes he is right: “”Britain must play its part. But its part frankly is going to be less to do with Britain’s emissions. I mean, one year’s rise in China’s emissions would outscore the whole of Britain’s emissions for a year,” the former Labour leader said in a magazine interview.
ReplyDeleteHe added “”Don’t ask us to do a huge amount when frankly whatever we do in Britain is not really going to impact climate change””
Sir Tony was correct to note that in some years the rise in China’s annual emissions have indeed been greater than Britain’s total CO2 output. Most recently this was true in 2021 – 2022’s figures are not yet available – and in 2019. In 2021, Britain’s emissions per capita stood at 5.2 tonnes – excluding Covid-stricken 2020, that is the lowest level since the 1850s. China’s, by contrast, hit a record high of just over 8 tonnes per head.»
Is this an opportunity for Labour to outflank the Tories on the Right on net zero and further extend its poll lead?
The Right? Don't be so ridiculous. Dear old John Gummer was on the radio earlier, pointing out perfectly accurately that Net Zero was pure Thatcherism, and she would have objected only to the Government's tardiness in pursuing it.
DeleteThe right-wing media are a bunch of grifters who almost never believe a word that they are very well-paid to spout. Watch them cheer on the Government's Corbynite approach to child poverty in the runup to the General Election. That will indeed be a very clever move on Sunak's and Hunt's part. And a very welcome one.