Blogs

It seems to be more British to mutter quietly under one's breath than to make a direct complaint. When it comes to television programmes, I am more likely to switch off when offended than to express my views to the broadcaster. But perhaps we should take more time to feedback to broadcasters how we feel about the material they present to us?

Three partially sighted mice,
three partially sighted mice;
see how they ambulate at a less than optimal pace
on account of their vision impairment.
See how they ambulate at a less than optimal pace
on account of their vision impairment.

From a brief exchange on Facebook:

Rob - you can't outthink God.

A friend of mine - Did you try?

A slightly controversial poem I wrote on 6 March 1996; it speaks for itself.

Some time in 1994, Sharon and I met a lovely Mormon girl. She had a lot of questions and was exploring the reaches of her faith. I wrote this poem for her. It's a little rough, but this is pretty much as it came out, first draft:

Replacement batteries for laptops can be quite expensive, so here are a few ideas to get the most out of your battery in terms of charge and overall life.

I wrote this short story some years ago. Caution: Some readers may find the subject matter traumatic.

The doctor had his back to her and was tapping on the formica top. A nurse hovered at the opposite side of the room, unsure whether her presence was still required. The patient understandably feared the worst.

When the doctor turned round his face was grim. She heard very little of what he said. Indeed she did not need to hear. She looked across to the nurse for support, but the nurse would not meet her gaze.

A colleague at work passed an old laptop to the department - the intention being that we put it with the other Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment for disposal. It's an old Toshiba Portégé 3300CT which would originally have been supplied with Windows 95 but which was now running Windows 98. "Running" like a three-legged dog. It's a sweet little laptop though and I couldn't quite bring myself to consign it to the scrap heap, particularly when it seemed to be fully functional. "It needs Linux!" I thought to myself.

I've been a Christian for 30 years. That feels like quite a long time. Certainly long enough for me to forget the impact of my conversion experience.

I woke up with a strange but profound analogy going through my mind this morning: no matter how often I use a screwdriver to prise out nails, this will never make it a crowbar. And it may well break the screwdriver. I said this to my wife and she had no idea what I was talking about, so perhaps I had better expand on that. (In her defence it was 7am - a bit early for spiritual parables.)

Much as I am constitutionally disposed to resist being pigeon-holed, I guess you could describe me as a conservative Charismatic. Although I am a firm believer that the gifts of the Holy Spirit are rightly in active use today, I am troubled by some of the excesses witnessed in modern churches, blamed on "moves of the Spirit". I would align myself with all mainstream orthodox (little 'o') Christian beliefs and creeds. So that sets out my stall/bias in writing this article.