Ruth Gledhill - Times Online - WBLG

Britain on course for first woman bishop

Oxford graduate Dr Alison Peden has been chosen as one of three candidates for the vacant episcopal see of Glasgow and Galloway in Scotland. If she is elected on 16 January, she will become the UK's first woman bishop. It would in many ways be fitting for Scotland to be the first UK province to have a woman bishop. The US had the first one in the world, Barbara Harris, who incidentally was nominated back in the 1970s by Mary Glasspool, now lesbian bishop-elect in Los Angeles. Scotland and the US church go back generations. After the American Revolution, the Bishop of London, who had previously ruled over the American church as if it was a far-away London parish of little importance, refused to give newly-independent US Episcopalians a bishop of their own. So they went to Scotland, which duly obliged. The surprising thing about Scotland is that it has taken this long to put a woman on a shortlist after their General Synod voted in favour back in 2003.

Tony Blair would still have gone to war without WMDs

In our splash this morning, David Brown and I report on Fern Britton's interview with Tony Blair to be broadcast on BBC1 at 10am tomorrow.

This is one of the first examples of excellence under the new Aaqil Ahmed regime at BBC religion. Some Church of England clergy were sniffy about his appointment, but here in this show he vindicates entirely the wisdom of those who selected him. Expect more strong religious stories from the BBC under his leadership.

Some of the most interesting parts of the interview are transcribed below.

Lesbian bishop-elect pledges gracious non-restraint

Canon Mary Glasspool graciously consented to speak to me yesterday. Some clerics, when you speak to them on the phone, are so holy it is impossible to get a news story out of them. Others are so political that it is equally impossible, but for opposite reasons. The best, like Canon Glasspool, syncretise wisdom and innocence, making them compelling to listen to and a joy to interview. In today's material world, it still takes my breath away to encounter men and women like this, reminding me of why I love this job.

Out and Angry: Colin Coward on being gay priest in today's church.

Colin Coward, pictured here by George Conger with Davis MacIyalla at the Lambeth Conference, has now blogged himself on my article in today's paper. Anglican Curmudgeon has a top class analysis of the pickle in which the Archbishop of Canterbury finds himself, and comes out in robust defence of Dr Rowan Williams. He writes: 'We have thus the best of Archbishops, and the worst of Presiding Bishops. It is the best of times, and the worst of times.' Anglican Samizdat notes: 'For some mysterious reason, the Anglican Church attracts a disproportionate number of homosexuals into its leadership ranks. Once they arrive, understandably, they can’t see why their presence is resisted; even though I disagree with the promoting of practising homosexual leadership in the church, I have some sympathy with them because Anglican liberals have “included”, “tolerated” and befriended homosexuals into an illusory sense of leadership entitlement'

Lesbian Bishop: Archbishop of Canterbury warns of serious questions

Further tragedy is unfolding in the Anglican Communion as the Archbishop of Canterbury is condemned on all sides, it seems, by critics of his failure to comment strongly on Uganda, where people's lives are at stake compared to his quick rush to comment on Los Angeles, where a harmless monogamous woman has been elected as a bishop. In The Times on Tuesday, a former student Colin Coward, of Changing Attitude, describes how he feels betrayed by his friend. Meanwhile the Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church, Katharine Jefferts Schori, has done what Dr Williams' can't and openly condemned the outrageous new death law for gays in Uganda.

Archbishop of Canterbury in 'intensive' efforts to combat Ugandan anti-gay death law

The Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams has been criticised widely for failing to speak out against the new anti-gay law in Uganda that could see some homosexuals being executed. But there is method in his silence. Today, Lambeth Palace told me: 'It has been made clear to us, as indeed to others, that attempts to publicly influence either the local church or political opinion in Uganda would be divisive and counter productive. Our contacts, at both national and diocesan level, with the local church will therefore remain intensive but private.'

Christian shame: 'The Holly and the Ivy' or 'The Olive and the Army'

Uatvukwe posted this video on YouTube, recorded at a pro-Israel rally outside the Palestine Solidarity Campaign Christmas concert at Bloomsbury Central Baptist Church on Tuesday of this week. The carol concert featured Caryl Churchill, author of the controversial play Seven Jewish Children, which critics say demonises Israel and suggests that Israeli parents teach their children to hate Arabs. David Gifford of the Council of Christians and Jews is among those who are concerned that the church is aiding in politicising the Christmas message. This issue could become more controversial next week.

Cathedrals need £100 million, says English Heritage, after stopping funding

We reported in yesterday's Times the latest English Heritage consultation which found that more than £100 million cash is needed within the next decade to keep England's 59 Roman Catholic and Anglican cathedrals standing. Creativity and Care, with a foreword by the Archbishops of Canterbury and Westminster, can can be downloaded here.

Minaret ban: Reputation of Switzerland on the line

Religious leaders around the world have condemned the Swiss decision to ban minarets. I can't understand the problem - the minarets would be silent, and in a land already blessed by great beauty, they could surely only enhance the glory of God's creation, as witnessed by our own Central Mosque at sunset which I photographed at the start of Ramadan this year.

Just today, in a statement from the C-1 World Dialogue in Basle, the co-chairs, the Grand Mufti of Egypt Dr Ali Gomaa and the Bishop of London, Dr Richard Chartres, have deplored the passing of the Swiss Anti Minaret Initiative.

Church of England to lose one in ten clergy: Littlebourne case study

Last week I went to a special parochial church council meeting in Littlebourne, Kent, in the diocese of the Archbishop of Canterbury. The benefice of four churches, one with just ten worshippers, somehow manages to raise £80,000-plus each year of which they give more than £50,000 to the diocese as combined quota payments. It costs the diocese about £40,000 to maintain the Rector, the Rev John Allan. When he retires, this hard-working, successful benefice, albeit with congregations of mostly elderly or retired people, will instead be given a part-time, unpaid 'house-for-duty' priest. Apparently, they have been told, they will not be given their own priest ever again, 'even if you raise £1 million.'

Shocking Abuse Cover-Up by Catholic Church in Dublin Unveiled

I quote:

'The Dublin Archdiocese's pre-occupations in dealing with cases of child sexual abuse, at least until the mid-1990s, were the maintenance of secrecy, the avoidance of scandal, the protection of the reputation of the Church, and the preservation of its assets. All other considerations, including the welfare of children and justice for victims, were subordinated to these priorities. The Archdiocese did not implement its own canon law rules and did its best to avoid any application of the law of the State.'

Read the full report by the Commission of Investigation into the Dublin Archdiocese via the pdf links, below. My own commentary in The Times is now online, along with David Sharrock's news report from Ireland.

A bit of a card, what? The Tories' PC Christmas

Two years ago, David Cameron, the Conservative leader, said banning Nativity plays and replacing 'Merry Christmas' signs with 'Season's greetings' risked offending people from other faiths by patronising them. Now the Conservative Party's own Christmas card has been released - and it substitutes Season's Greetings for Happy Christmas.

Thus has the ghost of season's greetings past visited a one-time scourge of political correctness, giving bloggers around the world an early Christmas present and proving once more that there really is a God.

Ha ha ha. Or should that be ho ho ho!

Protest at prelates shun attack on lesbian woman bishop

A new group calling itself The LGBT Anglican Coalition, network 'working for the full and equal inclusion of LGBT Christians within and beyond the Church of England', has sent an open letter to the Archbishop of Uppsala, the Most Rev Anders Wejryd and Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams at the Church of England's decision to shun the consecration of the new lesbian bishop Eva Brunne of Stockholm.

Archbishop of Canterbury in Rome: In giving we receive

The Archbishop invoked the Prayer of St Francis at evening prayer in Rome on the eve of his meeting with the Pope. You can understand why, given his latest admission that the Pope bruised his ego, as we report in Monday's Times.

Happy 'atheist bus' children are Christians

The 'free and happy' children featured in the latest Atheist Bus campaign are the children of one of Britain's best-known Pentecostal Christian families, The Times reveals today. They are Charlotte and Ollie, the children of Bradley Mason, web designer and drummer with the well-known Noel Richards band. Bradley and his family worshipped for years with Gerald Coates' Pioneer network and now attend a similar church, part of New Frontiers, having moved house recently.

Rowan in Rome: The Fightback Begins

Cardinal Walter Kasper, head of the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity, spoke to journalists after the Archbishop of Canterbury had finished speaking at the Willebrands Conference at the Gregorian University in Rome yesterday. See also Tom Heneghan's report on Reuters.

The sufferings of the Congo people: Great Congo Demo reprised

 

                                                           One hundred years ago today, the then Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Randall Davidson, led The Great Congo Demonstration against violence and oppression in Congo. Speaking at the Albert Hall, he condemned the 'great wrong' committed against the Congo people, acknowledging: 'We are ourselves in part responsible for the past, and, if that wrong be allowed to continue, by whomsoever carried out, we shall be answerable to God and man for its continuance.' Read the original letter to The Times in our archives.

Anglicans v Catholics: the Rome leg

                       When the Archbishop of Canterbury first heard that the Apostolic Constitution was pending, he telephoned Cardinal Walter Kasper, head of the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity, in the middle of the night to demand what was going on. Edward Pentin and other blogs have covered this, which came from an interview with Kasper in L'Osservatore Romano. As we report in The Times today, Dr Rowan Williams flew into Rome this morning, as did I, and this afternoon I hope to hear him speak at an ecumenical conference at the Gregorian university with Cardinal Kasper. Read the full interview with Archbishop of Westminster Vincent Nichols, blaming Anglican bishops and not the Pope for keeping the Archbishop of Canterbury in the dark, in tomorrow's Tablet.

Too many Muslims reject Darwin, claims Muslim academic

Earlier this week, we reported in The Times that Muslims in many countries are increasingly rejecting Darwin’s theory of evolution, under the influence of conservative elements in Islam.

Nidhal Guessoum, Professor of Physics and Astronomy at the American University of Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates, told the conference, being held in Egypt by the British Council, that in too many places students and academics believed they had to make a 'binary choice' between evolution and creationism, rather than understanding that one could believe both in God and in Darwin’s theory.

Oddly Enough: The Endangered Turtle Deity

People in eastern India are flocking to a temple to worship a turtle with natural markings on its shell resembling the eyes of Hindu deity Lord Jaganath, one of the incarnations of Vishnu.

The PTI news agency of India described the reptile as a soft shell Gangetic Turtle, which is on an official list of endangered species in India. Worshippers chased away forestry officials when they tried to rescue it.

Archbishop Rowan: Aid as a 'cloak for proselytism'

The Archbishop of Canterbury on faith and development at the RSA for the Tony Blair Faith Foundation. He spoke of the fear that religious groups use aid as a cloak for proselytism.

Listen here to an MP3 of the entire speech.

Archbishop Rowan: 'God knows what the future holds.'

The Archbishop of Canterbury has pleaded with the Church of England's Catholic Anglicans to remain in communion with Canterbury and resist joining the Pope's new Anglican Ordinariate. He referred to the 'chaotic and uncertain' future of the Anglican Communion but insisted that it was still possible to be holy, Catholic and Anglican.

Oddly Enough: US marine allegedly mistakes Orthodox priest for terrorist

A new category of blog post at Articles of Faith is birthed today. Oddly Enough shamelessly plagiarises the title of Reuters Oddly Enough news items which are my favourite reading on my Blackberry on the District Line home each night. However stressful the day has been, these weird and wonderful stories lighten it. Luckily there's no copyright in titles, and I expect some of the stories here will come from Reuters in any case. Not today's, though. We've the New York Times to thank for this gem, which AP ran first.

Atheist David Miliband to work closely with Pope for Arms Trade Treaty

Foreign Secretary David Miliband, on course perhaps to become Britain's first openly atheist  Prime Minister, has today, Armistice Day, published an article in the Vatican daily L'Osservatore Romano pledging to work with the Roman Catholic Church to secure an Arms Trade Treaty.

'My brother Archbishop? To Archbishop Rowan.'

Archbishop of Westminster Vincent Nichols yesterday gave me this video interview about the new Apostolic Constitution setting out the norms for the Anglican Ordinariate which I blogged on yesterday.

Pope: Married Bishops in all but Name

Tremendous day. The Apostolic Constitution has been published. It is all that Catholic Anglicans hoped for and more.While it officially keeps the door closed on any relaxation of the norms on celibacy - former Catholic priests who became Anglicans, married or no, will not be permitted to join the new Ordinariates -  it is clear from Article 11 that former Anglican bishops can become Catholic bishops in all but name, even where they are married. They will officially retain the status of presbyter, but will be allowed to be the Ordinary or head of the Ordinariate, will be allowed to be a member of the local Bishops' Conference with the status of retired bishop and, significantly, will be allowed to ask permission from Rome to use the insignia of episcopal office. This leaves the path clear for Bishop of Fulham Father John Broadhurst, married father of four, to head the new Ordinariate in Britain. Heady stuff indeed - and I mean that theologically and metaphorically.

Muslim gunman shouts 'Allahu Akbar' before 13 shot dead

Reports coming out of America suggest that soldiers who witnessed Major Nidal Malik Hasan gun down fellow soldiers in his crazed rampage at Fort Hood heard the him shout 'Allahu Akbar!', Arabic for God is great, before opening fire.

David Cameron 'does God' in fuzzy, sort-of-Anglican way

We all suspected that when Alastair Campbell told journalists that Tony Blair did not 'do God', this was because of the uncomfortable truth that the then British Prime Minister did God rather too well for comfort. Best to ignore his faith altogether than have to face questions about praying with President Bush about going to war or deny reports of pending conversion to Rome that everyone knew would turn out to be true. Denialism is after all a heresy not listed in the Catechism of the Catholic Church - yet.

It is a relief for those of us who have to fish facts from this slippery net with our pens to discover that will be no need for any comparable Christian coyness from David Cameron's advisers. How reassuring to discover that  Cameron's version of doing God is so very Church of English.

This revelation comes in an interview with Evening Standard editor Geordie Greig, published today.

Chief Rabbi: fundamentalism heading our way 'with force of hurricane'

At Theos this week, the Chief Rabbi, Lord Sacks of Aldgate, took on the neo-Darwinists in a typically challenging and amusing lecture with many points for debate and interest. The lecture is now available as a podcast at TimesOnline.

The final question, on which my story in the paper was based, was asked by the BBC's Christopher Landau. He has a knack for asking good questions. Long-time readers here will remember that it was Christopher Landau who asked the Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams about the introduction of Sharia into Britain on BBC Radio 4's World at One, and we all know what happened then!

Scandal as US nun helps out at abortion clinic

A US nun is facing excommunication and possible dismissal from her Dominican order after an investigation by the order found she was indeed acting as a volunteer at a Chicago abortion clinic. LifeSiteNews has the latest, after breaking the original story. It comes as the US Catholic bishops launch a massive anti-abortion campaign in the light of health care reforms going through  Congress. Quite a few religious and non-religious have been asking recently why the Holy See has launched a groundbreaking investigation into US nuns. Maybe this story gives us one possible answer.

When care for the environment is a religion

It sounds like good news for religion and the environment. Tim Nicholson has won the right to sue his employers on the basis that he was unfairly dismissed for his environmentalism. The judge ruled that 'environmentalism’ has the same weight in law as religious and philosophical beliefs. Nicholson claims he was sacked by property company Grainger for his strong views on climate change. So why are so many people, including the Christian Legal Centre, unhappy?

Mohammed the Movie without Mohammed

As IMD reports, a $150 million movie about the Prophet Mohammed is underway. But because some influential parts of Islam forbid figurative representation, especially of the Prophet, the movie will not actually show the Prophet. Behind the project is Barrie Osborne who made one of my favourite movies of all time, The Matrix.

The 'crossing' at Oxford Circus

Of course any religious symbolism that can be read into the new pedestrian crossing at Oxford Circus is entirely coincidental but even so, in today's pc world - a world where I was gently chided the other day for using the phrase 'Brownie points' in a lecture - it is good that this has been allowed. Having been stuck for nearly 20 minutes at Oxford Circus the other day, squeezed between hordes of frantic shoppers, none of us able to move an inch, I pray obeisance to the wisdom that inspired Boris Johnson to let this through. Even if accidental, there is now a strangely Christian symbol at the very centre of  the capital of British consumerism.

Rowan's bishop friend condemns Pope 'bad manners'

A friend and former chaplain of the Archbishop of Canterbury has criticised the Pope's 'ecumenical bad manners' and accused him of fomenting division. In a debate on BBC Radio Wales to be broadcast tomorrow morning, on the All Things Considered programme, the Bishop of St Asaph Gregory Cameron challenges the Pope's move to welcome disaffected Anglican Catholics. It's 'not the way we do things,' he says, focusing in particular on the failure to consult with the leadership of the Anglican Communion. The transcript of some of Father Gregory's comments is below, along with the response of Mgr Andrew Faley of the Bishops' Conference.  Vatican Radio today has issued a clarification on some of the speculation around the delay of the written Apostolic Constitution with a statement that suggests a slight shift on the traditional Roman insistence celibate seminarians.

BNP 'irredeemably evil' says Carey

Lord Carey of Clifton in tomorrow's News of the World: 'What a pity that none of the other panelists challenged Griffin's deceitful attempt to align his despicable policies with Christianity. This squalid racist must not be allowed to hijack one of the world's great religions.

'All of us who believe in tolerance and decency must stand shoulder-to-shoulder in rejection of Griffin's notion that "Christianity" has any place in his bigotry. I tend to agree that the BBC was mistaken to give the BNP such prominence. To use Margaret Thatcher's phrase, it was the "oxygen of publicity" that propelled the insignificant and undeserving party into the Big Time. The BBC's Director General errs in arguing that in a democracy all views should be heard. The views of the BNP are not simply false, they are dangerous, indeed irredeemably evil.'

If I were Cormac I'd throw a sickie

The title of the former Archbishop of Westminster Cormac Murphy-O'Connor's lecture at Worth Abbey next week:

'ARCIC: Dead in the water or money in the bank?'

The blurb says: 'Cardinal Cormac Murphy O'Connor will be coming to Worth Abbey, West Sussex on Thursday October 29th 2009 to give a lecture reflecting on his many years involvement in ecumenism and especially with regard to ARCIC, The Anglican - Roman Catholic International Commission. This Commission was appointed by Pope Paul VI and Archbishop Michael Ramsey in 1970 to study the issues that divide the two Churches. The Cardinal was for many years the Catholic Co-Chairman of ARCIC.'

What on earth is he going to say?

Papua New Guinea: 'We don't want to go to Rome!'

This picture shows the spouses of the bishops of Papua New Guinea in traditional dress at the 2008 Lambeth Conference. Their details are at the end of this post. There is increasing speculation that Papua New Guinea might go to Rome as an entire province into the new Anglican ordinariates unveiled by Rome this week. You can read the latest Times report here, Libby Purves' analysis and the tale of two priests who might go with their congregations. 

Pope challenges bankers to adopt Catholic ethics

The Archbishop of Westminster Vincent Nichols today organised a private seminar for top City financiers and bankers. The Pope sent a personal message to the meeting, which I have also posted below, and seems a further sign of the growing confidence and vitality of Catholicism in Britain today.

Will Michael Nazir-Ali go to Rome?

A number of people have been asking whether Dr Michael Nazir-Ali might be among those who take the road to Rome under the arrangements announced yesterday. If married bishops are to be permitted, which admittedly seems unlikely, he could conceivably emerge as the ideal ordinary for Anglicans under the new Apostolic Constitution.

A former Catholic, he was received into the Anglican church into his country of birth, Pakistan, at the age of 20. He is married with two children and has just retired as Bishop of Rochester in order to work with the persecuted church.

He does not describe himself as Catholic or evangelical, but as 'orthodox'. He bridges both ends of the Church of England. He spoke at Gafcon in Jerusalem last year and this weekend will speak at the Forward in Faith conference in London.

Rome parks tanks on Rowan's lawn

Read our news story now online on the dramatic development today in Anglican-Roman Catholic relations. The Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams discovered just two weeks ago that the Holy See was preparing to set up an Apostolic Constitution to provide Personal Ordinariates for Anglicans and former Anglicans who wish to enter into full communion with the Roman Catholic Church. Thank you to the Acts of the Apostasy for this wonderful picture.

This podcast is of Archbishop Vincent Nichols talking at the press conference. 

This is the question and answer session on podcast.

Another RC diocese seeks bankruptcy as salvation from sex abuse claims

A sex abuse case against Delaware’s Catholic Diocese of Wilmington and a former priest will be delayed after the diocese filed for federal bankruptcy protection on the eve of trial, AP reports. The bankruptcy filing on Sunday delays a lawsuit that had been due to start today in Kent County Superior Court, the first of eight consecutive abuse trials scheduled in Delaware. In a separate development, the Catholic hierarchy, religious, priests and laity in Ireland are braced for the publication of a report on Friday into sex abuse by priests in the Dublin archdiocese. The Government report is the result of an investigation into how allegations of child sex abuse involving a sample of 46 priests were handled by State and church authorities between January 1975 and April 2004, when Cardinal Desmond Connell retired as Archbishop of Dublin. The present Archbishop, Diarmuid Martin, has repeatedly warned that the detail of this report 'will shock us all'.

'Popped in the oven with no hope of resurrection': It's your funeral, Vicar!

A vicar in Tunbridge Wells is disgusted with 'crumbling clerics', secularists and others taking funerals. Father Ed Tomlinson, of St Barnabas, a Forward in Faith parish, complains on his blog about the 'death of death'. He says that he hardly ever gets invited to the crematorium to take a funeral any more, and when he is he doesn't like what he finds: people being 'popped in the oven with no hope of resurrection'. See our news story in The Times today and Canon Michael Saward's commentary. The only request Michael turned down in nearly 500 funerals was for Siegfried's Funeral March.

Gays and flat-earthers: Jack Spong attacks Pope, Archbishop of Canterbury et al

Remember Episcopal Church bishop Jack Spong and his Twelve Theses? Did you think he'd gone away? Well he hasn't. He's coming here soon, to promote his new book. And as a little curtain-raiser he's launched a new 'creed and manifesto', the basic theme of which is: 'I will not listen.' Some extracts are below.

Crucified ape unveiled in London

Off to see this work of art by Paul Fryer about to open to public view at Holy Trinity Church, One Marylebone. Fryer's website warns before you enter it, 'Prepare for annihilation.'

Archbishop of Canterbury on a mission to save the planet

Our story today on Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams' suggestion we cut down on imported vegetables and start growing our own to save the planet has become a talking point around the world. His  message, which takes in the 'sacred mystery' of the heating system at Lambeth Palace, was slightly at odds with that of the authors of SuperFreakonomics, who seem to be suggesting that, on the one hand, man-made climate change is a myth while proposing on the other to shoot gallons of coolant into the atmosphere to freeze us even colder than we already are. They also offer the rather depressing thought that anything we do as individuals will make such minimal impact it is hardly worth doing at all.

St Thérèse takes no prisoners

I wrote about the relics of St Thérèse of Lisieux when they arrived in Portsmouth. This week they've been in Westminster, and Archbishop Vincent Nichols has recorded a video about them. Ann Treneman links the saint with the sinners over at the Westminster Parliament. And Sophie Deboick has written a fascinating analysis of the politics and motives behind the original cult of St Thérèse (HT Luke Coppen.) But in a barely noticed excursion, the thigh and foot bones of St Thérèse also called in at Wormwood Scrubs, from where Martha Linden of the Press Association filed the report, below, that is such a nice read it seemed worthy of inclusion here. At one point, the relics were censed so vigorously it set off the prison's smoke alarms.

Swine flu: complacency or inoculation

 

This rather wonderful picture from The Association of British Hujjaj shows Lord Ahmed of Rotherham being inoculated by a Dr Hussain, with government minister Lord Hunt looking on. I am tempted to run a caption competition. But the message is serious. Because of swine flu, they are urging Hajj pilgrims to take health precautions before leaving for Mecca. 

Archbishop of York: Prostitution 'morally reprehensible'

The Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, is backing attempts to reintroduce the question of morality into the debate over prostitution, and to criminalise those who use prostitutes. Last week he tabled a question in Parliament about the measures the government is taking. In today's Sunday Times he writes:

'The Policing and Crime Bill is making its way through the House of Lords and it is important that everyone, regardless of political allegiance or background, unites to ensure the bill is passed so we can send a strong message that funding sex slavery, and the systematic abuse of women, is not acceptable in this country. That is why I feel the time is right to speak out.

'What seems to have been absent from the proceedings to date is an acknowledgment about how damaging prostitution can be. There has been much discussion of “civil liberties”, but little mention of how destructive sex for cash can be.'

Barack Obama wins Strictly Come Dancing

Ok, so he hasn't entered it yet, and the latest contest isn't even over, but that shouldn't stop him winning first prize. And it would neatly solve the race row currently engulfing the programme.

Yes I agree it is a ridiculous headline, but is it any more ridiculous than his winning the Nobel Peace Prize, which has left him as surprised as anyone? Jen Sorensen has uncovered the real reason he won the Nobel.

Robert Runcie's 1982 Falklands sermon in full

Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams has been receiving praise and criticism in roughly equal measure from Times readers for his sermon at St Paul's today. When writing it up, I was of course reminded of Robert Runcie's 1982 sermon at the Falklands thanksgiving service, also at St Paul's, which provoked Margaret Thatcher to wrathful fury because he dared to preach reconciliation and call for prayers for the relatives of the Argentine dead as well as our own. I was unable to find this sermon online anywhere, so am indebted to Anna James, assistant librarian at Lambeth Palace, who found a copy in an old book of sermons and, for the small fee of £1.75, photocopied it and sent it over. I now have the privilege of reproducing it online, below, for the first time ever, meaning that if you are interested, you can compare and contrast it with that preached by his successor at Lambeth today.