Monday, 29 June 2009
Back In Hospital
For a week starting tomorrow. And then out of action for much of the summer. If there is nothing on here from about a fortnight's time, then I am dead.
Tu Es Petrus
Tu es Petrus, et super hanc petram aedificabo ecclesiam meam.
Ah, Faith of Our Fathers. Father Faber was the son of the Rector of Stanhope, and, like a striking number of Tractarian or Tractarian-influenced converts, his ancestry was largely Huguenot (as is part of mine, although another side is Highland Catholic). So his "fathers chained in prisons dark" were not quite as his thoroughly rousing hymn would suggest.
Ah, Faith of Our Fathers. Father Faber was the son of the Rector of Stanhope, and, like a striking number of Tractarian or Tractarian-influenced converts, his ancestry was largely Huguenot (as is part of mine, although another side is Highland Catholic). So his "fathers chained in prisons dark" were not quite as his thoroughly rousing hymn would suggest.
Total Victory
Thatcher's anti-union laws and her European Single Market are clearly in the same robust health that she herself is.
British Homes For British Workers
Of course people with local links should have first call on council housing. That is why it is run by councils and housing associations, not by central government.
It is good to see council housing being taken seriously again. Can we hope that the proposal to abolish security of tenure will be dropped?
And can we hope for a facing up to the economic, social, cultural and political damage done by the handover of the wealth that was council houses to people who were thus launched into the property market ahead of those who had saved for deposits?
It is good to see council housing being taken seriously again. Can we hope that the proposal to abolish security of tenure will be dropped?
And can we hope for a facing up to the economic, social, cultural and political damage done by the handover of the wealth that was council houses to people who were thus launched into the property market ahead of those who had saved for deposits?
Money Well Spent
69p.
To stop a politician (whether or not a party politician) from becoming Head of State.
To give a direct constitutional role to God Who is active in His world.
To embody sheer good fortune, which imposes responsibilities on the more fortunate towards the less fortunate.
To bind together the United Kingdom.
To define our nationhood in neither ethnic nor ideological terms.
And to bind us to the other 15 Commonwealth Realms (each of which, including Britain, remains so entirely by choice), to the 10 British Overseas Territories with permanent populations (which remain British entirely by choice), to the three Crown Dependencies (which remain so entirely by choice), to the three inhabited territories (voluntarily) dependent on Australia, to the one inhabited territory (voluntarily) dependent on New Zealand, and to the two states in free association with New Zealand, as well as the Melanesian half of the people of Fiji (the other half being descended from Indian indentured labour), whose Great Council of Chiefs (which elects the President) continues to acknowledge the Queen as Paramount Chief even though Fiji became a republic following two coups in 1987 (and has not exactly had a happy history since).
Money very well spent indeed.
To stop a politician (whether or not a party politician) from becoming Head of State.
To give a direct constitutional role to God Who is active in His world.
To embody sheer good fortune, which imposes responsibilities on the more fortunate towards the less fortunate.
To bind together the United Kingdom.
To define our nationhood in neither ethnic nor ideological terms.
And to bind us to the other 15 Commonwealth Realms (each of which, including Britain, remains so entirely by choice), to the 10 British Overseas Territories with permanent populations (which remain British entirely by choice), to the three Crown Dependencies (which remain so entirely by choice), to the three inhabited territories (voluntarily) dependent on Australia, to the one inhabited territory (voluntarily) dependent on New Zealand, and to the two states in free association with New Zealand, as well as the Melanesian half of the people of Fiji (the other half being descended from Indian indentured labour), whose Great Council of Chiefs (which elects the President) continues to acknowledge the Queen as Paramount Chief even though Fiji became a republic following two coups in 1987 (and has not exactly had a happy history since).
Money very well spent indeed.
Landscaping
Over on Post-Right, my views on the American Bishops and illegal immigration have attracted the comments of the tellingly named Thomas O. Meehan:
The church’s position with regard to illegal aliens is shameful. The Catholic Bishops idiocy on many issues over the years has been manifest. They are notorious for farming out their reasoning powers to “experts” in the manner of the Warren Court, whenever approaching the nexus between church teaching and the real world.
On the other hand, the jobs of many Catholic corrections officers, public defenders, bail bondsmen etc. will be made safe by continued immigration from Latin America.
And:
Saint Paul’s Catholic church in Princeton NJ erected an out-sized statue of St Mary of Guadeloupe to the right of the main alter. Spanish masses are now the norm. Left untended is the resident Black population who have seen their jobs taken wholesale by St Paul’s largely illegal parishioners. The days when an uneducated but upright black man could make a living in landscaping are over in the area.
No wonder that President Obama is not saying too much about Honduras. His black base is no happier about Hispanics than his white target audience is about allies of Hugo Chávez, with Irish Catholics clearly among those taking both views. And, thanks to a globe-trotting uncle, I have a Hispanic cousin now resident in Miami.
The church’s position with regard to illegal aliens is shameful. The Catholic Bishops idiocy on many issues over the years has been manifest. They are notorious for farming out their reasoning powers to “experts” in the manner of the Warren Court, whenever approaching the nexus between church teaching and the real world.
On the other hand, the jobs of many Catholic corrections officers, public defenders, bail bondsmen etc. will be made safe by continued immigration from Latin America.
And:
Saint Paul’s Catholic church in Princeton NJ erected an out-sized statue of St Mary of Guadeloupe to the right of the main alter. Spanish masses are now the norm. Left untended is the resident Black population who have seen their jobs taken wholesale by St Paul’s largely illegal parishioners. The days when an uneducated but upright black man could make a living in landscaping are over in the area.
No wonder that President Obama is not saying too much about Honduras. His black base is no happier about Hispanics than his white target audience is about allies of Hugo Chávez, with Irish Catholics clearly among those taking both views. And, thanks to a globe-trotting uncle, I have a Hispanic cousin now resident in Miami.
A Bit Of A Blur
Alex James must have been feeling as nostalgic as the rest of us, because he lit up a cigarette on stage. You are not supposed to do that these days. Still, what are they serving at Spectator lunches? He looked younger than I do.
Blur are not in fact younger than I am. But were they this year's only act not to have done Glastonbury because they were personal friends of King Arthur, or indeed of Joseph of Arimathea?
Blur are not in fact younger than I am. But were they this year's only act not to have done Glastonbury because they were personal friends of King Arthur, or indeed of Joseph of Arimathea?
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