Non-apologies...

Outspoken Christians have been speaking out about homosexuals. The Church of England decrees that sex in gay or straight civil partnerships “falls short of God’s purpose for human beings”. Rugby player Israel Folau believes gays will join atheists like me in the fires of hell. The backlash has been immediate and life-affirming. Folau and the church have both apologised, kind of, while not moving from their original positions and not being in any way sorry.

The archbishops of Canterbury and York said they took responsibility for releasing the statement which “jeopardised trust”. They added: “We are very sorry and recognise the division and hurt this has caused”… while not retreating from the church’s anti-gay stance.

A statement from Rugby Australia states that “Mr Folau wants all Australians to know that he does not condone discrimination of any kind against any person on the grounds of their sexuality.” However, his grotesque opinions, unmodified, can still be found on his social media page. Let’s be honest: insisting that gay people will go to hell is almost a dictionary definition of “discrimination”… 

Drunken Duck...

A pic that keeps on selling... licensed again today. The Drunken Duck must get an honourable mention in any magazine article about gastro-pubs in the North of England...

Curry night...

It's curry night at the Black Swan, though I'm not persuaded by the vegetarian option...

Hell awaits...

Australian rugby player Israel Folau is back in the news, having signed to play for Catalans Dragons. As an Evangelical Christian, Folau has some trenchant beliefs, as illustrated in his Instagram post. He also gave a sermon a few days ago, in a Sydney church, during which he said that the bushfires raging across Australia represented God’s judgement on the legalisation of gay marriage.

Such views are to be found in many Christian churches which take the Bible literally, and are entirely mainstream in the Muslim world. Homosexuality is a capital offense in a number of countries - Afghanistan, Brunei, Iran, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, United Arab Emirates, Yemen and others - where legislation is sharia-based. Though this doesn’t mean that gay people will be executed, the law provides a template for discrimination against gays, atheists, apostates and those of other faiths.

In promoting his odious beliefs, Israel Folau has broken no laws, though his assertion that hell awaits atheists sounds like ‘hate speech’ to me. I’m gratified to hear that when Wigan Warriors play the Catalans, on March 22, the game will be designated as ‘Pride Day’, as the club looks to support the LGBTQ+ community. It's good to see the sporting world doing the right thing, for once…

Windermere Children...

When I clicked the link on the BBC website, for the Windermere Children, I thought I was just going to watch a trailer. Instead, ninety minutes later and with tears in my eyes, I’d seen the whole film. The story, of 300 Polish children rescued from the Nazi extermination camps in 1945, and brought to live near Windermere, was powerfully told. The only moment of sentimentality came at the end, when, as the children ran towards the lake, five of the boys were transformed into the men they became. There was nothing fictional about this redemptive narrative; the men - old men now - were all grateful to have been given hope, and a fresh start, in England…

The Royal Shepherd...

The backlash against the Church of England’s most recent ‘pastoral statement’ is gathering pace. The voices being raised don’t just belong to cynical old atheists like me, but to serving members of the church. The letters in today’s Guardian suggest that the church has “a death wish”, and that the time may have come for church and state to disengage.

A couple of excerpts from today’s letters… “An organisation claiming that so many have no right to a sexual life should have no official ties to the state, no automatic right to seats in our legislature and no role in running state-funded schools”. “Is it any wonder that intelligent human beings will simply think, as I do: what possible relevance does this ridiculous state institution have in the 21st century?” I can’t argue with that.

Licensed today: the Royal Shepherd pub overlooking a spur of the Leeds-Liverpool Canal in Skipton...

Laughing stock...

The Church of England’s recent ‘pastoral statement’ insisted that sex is only for married heterosexuals, and that “Sexual relationships outside heterosexual marriage are regarded as falling short of God’s purpose for human beings.” It sounded divisive and uncharitable to me… and now almost 3,000 people, including 800 members of the clergy, have signed an open letter to the archbishops of Canterbury and York, saying that the pastoral statement has made the Church of England a “laughing stock to a nation that believes it is obsessed with sex”.

The church is deeply divided over the roles of women and gay people in the Christian ministry, and the archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, has the devil’s own job in reconciling the liberal and conservative wings of the church. My question: why bother? As for “laughing stock”, well, I know funnier jokes. I don’t know why gay people would even want to join the homophobic Church of England. If the Church of England wants to issue another pastoral statement, maybe this would do:  “We appreciate that no one cares any more what we say, and that, essentially, we are just talking to ourselves”.

Licensed today: St Oran's chapel on the Isle of Iona...

Skin deep...

Just read a fascinating article on the Guardian website, to promote a book - How to Argue With a Racist - by Adam Rutherford (to be published on Feb 6, and available to read on my Kindle soon after). The more intently we look at race, the less there is to see. One by one, our blithe, knee-jerk assumptions - mostly based on skin colour - are revealed to be nothing more than social constructs. Mostly concocted over the last three hundred years, our ideas about ‘pure blood’ and indigeneity (“England for the English”, “Send them back to where they came from”, etc) were designed to create a hierarchy of races… with, of course, white Europeans at the top.  

Britain has been colonised and invaded so many times that a term like ‘English’ makes no objective sense whatsoever. There are no ‘purebred’ humans; we are all mongrels. And yet I only have to wander into the public bar of the village pub to hear racist banter…

Wharfedale barns...

Licensed yesterday: walls and barns viewed from the limestone escarpment on the Dales Way...

Waiting for the echo...

Reading the latest ‘pastoral statement’ by the Church of England is like dropping a rose petal down a well and listening for the echo. “Sex”, according to the church, “is only for married heterosexual couples”. Couples in civil partnerships, whether gay or straight, should abstain from sex altogether, because “sexual relationships outside heterosexual marriage are regarded as falling short of God’s purpose for human beings.” According to the latest British Social Attitudes survey, only 2% of adults aged 18 to 24 now feel any affiliation to the Church of England. Still waiting for the echo.

Licensed today: an image of the market square in Ripon...

Auschwitz and Pie Night...

I can't complain about the village pub marking the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz on their Facebook page. But the juxtaposition of photos is, to say the least, unfortunate...

Another old schoolhouse...

Licensed today: the schoolhouse in Hawkshead where the young William Wordsworth learned his ABCs (and carved his name on his desk)...

Hand on the tiller...

Skipper Cliff contemplating a trip on his narrowboat… maybe to the other side of Lemonroyd Marina…

Let it snow...

The weather is warm. Too warm. We’re halfway through January, and the catkins are already out. The Old Sunday School is comfy, even without lighting the woodburner, but isn’t it time we had some winter? Otherwise we may have snow during the cricket season.

Another nondescript pic, just licensed...

Doves...

The doves next door, going through their road safety drill...

New year...

Krishnamurti sums up my feelings about our ‘new year’ fetish…

"I wonder what we mean by a new year. Is it a fresh year, a year that is totally afresh, something that has never happened before? When we say something is new, though we know that there is nothing new under the sun, when we talk about a happy new year, is it really a new year for us? Or is it the same old pattern repeated over and over again? Same old rituals, same old traditions, same old habits, a continuity of what we have been doing, still are doing, and will be doing this year.

“So, is there anything new? Is there anything that is really afresh, something that you have never seen before? This is rather an important question, if you will follow it - to turn all the days of our life into something which you have never seen before. That means a brain that has freed itself from its conditioning, from its characteristics, from its idiosyncrasies and the opinions, and the judgements, and the convictions. Can we put all that aside and really start a new year? It would be marvellous if we could do that. Because our lives are rather shallow, superficial, and have very little meaning. We are born, whether we like it or not we are born, educated - which may be a hindrance too. Can we change the whole direction of our lives? Is this possible? Or are we condemned forever to lead rather narrow, shoddy, meaningless lives?”…

BBC...

The BBC has engaged an employment consultancy to help tackle their well-publicised gap in pay between men and women. Unfortunately, the gender pay gap for the employees of the Croner consultancy is twice the size of the corporation’s. The BBC mandarins seem to be making the problem worse, not better… 

Camilla's Bookshop...

The moment I wandered into Camilla's Bookshop in Eastbourne, I knew I had to take some pix. With all three floors filled with books, I did wonder whether the building might simply collapse under the weight. The top pic was licensed today (though I prefer the shot below, with Camilla)…

Book cover...

Another decent fee this morning for a pic - featuring the facade of Winchester Cathedral - which will appear on the cover of a book... in Italy...

Sober concerns...

David Nutt was a government advisor on drugs until he was sacked, in 2009, for saying what the government of the day didn’t want to hear: that our views about recreational drugs - and their relative dangers - were mistaken.

A majority of pubs display a notice warning customers to “say no to drugs” and stating that anyone dealing in drugs on the premises will be reported to the police. The irony is lost on both pub landlords and their customers. The idea that alcohol, too, is a drug, is a truth we seem unable to grasp, with the result that too many people die of alcohol-related diseases. According to Nutt, in an article in today’s Guardian, alcohol is the leading cause of death in men under the age of 24, responsible for 26% of their early deaths.

Now free to do independent research on drug use, unencumbered by governmental diktats, David Nutt is presenting us with some uncomfortable conclusions. This graph, illustrating the relative dangers of ten commonly-used drugs, should represent the start of a long conversation in the public square. However, thanks to the power and influence of the alcohol lobby, that conversation will no doubt be postponed almost indefinitely…

Fast food in Oakham...

I take stock pix without ever knowing - in advance - how or where they will be used (and the majority of my pix will never be used at all). I also have a soft spot for Rutland, our smallest county; it's where I went to school, and I could ride around the county, on my bike, in an afternoon, while checking out the birdlife on Eye Brook Reservoir.

This is a pavement café in the county town of Oakham: currently in the news because McDonald's have (finally) persuaded the council to rubber-stamp their plans for a drive-in 'restaurant' (though is it really a restaurant if, instead of giving you cutlery, they tip your food onto a tray?). It will be the first fast-food joint in Rutland. For older residents this will mean the end of the world as we know it; for younger folk it will an opportunity to earn minimum wage while wearing an 'I'm Lovin' It' T-shirt...

Fantasy flavours...

Following on from Gwyneth Paltrow's vagina-scented candles, I read an article in today's Guardian about the history of crisp flavours. I can remember Smith's crisps, with little blue sachets of salt (and the possibility that a packet might contain mostly salt sachets with just a couple of crisps). Then we had cheese & onion, salt & vinegar and - urgh! - prawn cocktail flavours. For years the repertoire of crisp flavours was limited, with only the occasional foray into fantasy flavours (I recall asking in a pub for “a packet of cheese & onion crisps”. “I’ve only got these”, the barmaid said doubtfully: “West Country Chedder and Caramelised Onion Chutney flavour”). Hedgehog-flavoured crisps were a tasty novelty, and the packet reassured us that no hedgehogs were harmed during their manufacture. Roast Ox flavour too - mmmmm. According to the packet they were “suitable for vegetarians” (unlike the ‘cheese & onion flavour”, bizarrely).

Then it all went crazy. We now have flame-grilled steak flavoured crisps (I like them medium rare). Walkers Market Deli Crisps, cooked “in small batches”, have tasting notes on the back of the packet. Last Christmas, Walkers were selling sprout-flavoured crisps (they were green, as were the Shamrock-flavoured crisps I found in Ireland). This year their festive crisp offering is roast potato flavour. Now you can buy Truffle and Champagne flavour and 'Fiery Woodsmoke BBQ’ (even though ‘BBQ’ is a method of cooking, rather than any kind of foodstuff; you might as well have ‘stove’ or ‘frying pan’ flavours).

Stupid crisp flavours might be a test of the nation’s gullibility. My theory, worth as much as you paid for it, is this: if people can really believe in these crisp flavours, and take them seriously, they will be prepared to believe just about anything. There’s hope for religion yet…

Does what it says on the tin...

Gwyneth Paltrow has been flogging scented candles on her Goop website. Apparently, they smell like her vagina. I only know this because that’s what’s printed on the label. According to the website, the scent is a blend of "geranium, citrusy bergamot, and cedar absolutes juxtaposed with Damask rose and amber seed”, which seems to ask more questions than it answers. I won’t be buying one. Firstly, I can find a better use for £58, which is what the candles cost, and secondly, because they’ve sold out. Insert own joke here; we seem to be living in a land beyond satire…

Hull Marina...

Yachts in Hull Marina, licensed today...

Abomination...

Reynhard Sinaga, a mature student from Indonesia described as “Britain’s most prolific rapist”, has been jailed for life. When he was visited, before the trial, by his mother, she hadn’t even known he was gay. As she told the Sunday Times, “We are a good Christian family who do not believe in homosexuality”. Homosexuality is a sexual orientation for which 'belief' isn’t necessary. It is mentioned in the Bible, albeit in unfailingly negative terms. “You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination” (Leviticus 18:22). Such Bronze-age attitudes obviously have staying power…

Harry and Meghan...

Since I don’t have a TV, and don’t read the tabloids, I wasn’t aware that Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, have been vilified in the media. But I could have guessed. I don’t know why the tabloids publish hyper-critical articles about the royal family and I don’t know why people read them. But they do… and they do.

I am no royalist, and would much prefer to be a citizen than a subject. But my antipathy towards the royal family has nothing to do with the people who currently occupy these roles. The criticism looks like bullying; if Harry and Megham want to renounce their royal responsibilities, good luck to them. Megham can go back to acting, and Harry could probably be trained to run a whelk stall. If they’re not dipping into the public purse, so much the better…

York...

For the first time since I moved to Asselby - last April - I’ve spent a few daylight hours in York. Though I enjoy having a few beers with friends, in one little local boozer or another, walking from one end of Coney Street to the other, against the tourist tide, is a bit of an ordeal. The city really is too small to accommodate everyone who wants to come; what the visitors see most of is each other. York is a money-generating machine, with a city wall around it, and the charm is wearing thin. I took a few pix, but my heart wasn't in it...

Ennerdale Bridge...

Licensed today: the village of Ennerdale Bridge and the Fox and Hounds, which is now a community-owned pub...

Back to work...

The lights stopped twinkling on Asselby’s Christmas tree a few days ago, because somebody backed their car into it. Now the tree itself is gone.

Licensed this shot today, of a horse and foal in the New Forest, for the best price in months (it's going on a book cover)...

God on our side...

“We have God on our side”, Donald Trump said yesterday at a rally of Christian Evangelicals, following the assassination of Qassem Suleimani, Iran’s most senior general. The Iranians say the same, of course, and when God is recruited to validate two opposing views, violence is bound to follow.

The wall over the woodburner in the Old Sunday School needs a picture, and this is the image I have in mind. The pub is the Fleece Inn, in the Vale of Evesham, which hasn't changed very much over the last 200 years. This old man was sitting in one of the high-backed wooden settles, and looked very much at home. The light came mostly from the fireplace to the left; fortunately I had my tripod to hand, and it wasn't too hard to persuade a man of 97 to sit still for a couple of seconds. His gaze is so direct, so dignified...

Bisexual umbrella...

As I read in today’s Guardian, Lib Dem MP Layla Moran has come out as “pansexual”. Asked to define the term, she said: “Pansexuality, to me, means it doesn't matter about the physical attributions of the person you fall in love with, it's about the person themselves. It doesn't matter if they're a man or a woman or gender non-conforming, it doesn't matter if they identify as gay or not. In the end, these are all things that don't matter - the thing that matters is the person, and that you love the person”.

According to the LGBT Foundation, “Being bisexual means being attracted to more than one gender, while being pansexual means being attracted to people regardless of gender. Pansexuality is included under the bisexual umbrella, which covers anyone who experiences sexual or romantic attraction to more than one gender."

Sexual orientation is getting ever more complex these days, and and I’m not sure I’m keeping up with developments. But one thing I do know: what people get up to, in a consensual relationship, is no business of mine. I can happily leave the judgement of other people’s sexuality - and sexual behaviour - to the religiously affiliated, who seem happy to oblige.

After two years of wrangling over the validity of same-sex marriage, leaders of the United Methodist church - America’s second-largest Protestant denomination - have announced plans to split the church in two: pro-gay and anti-gay. Churches have traditionally found it easier to break than bend; splits and schisms have been a common feature of the last 2,000 years. This explains how we now have 40,000 denominations which call themselves Christian… all convinced that they - and only they - have unique access to the truth…

Broken bridge...

An even more boring pic... but it sold today. This is Pontefract. I have lived, as a proud Yorkshireman, for 68 summers, without realising that Pontefract means 'broken bridge'...

Delivery...

Another mundane pic... but it sold!

New year...

The new year was going to arrive anyway, whether I was in a drunken stupour or asleep, so I had an early night… only to be woken at the stroke of midnight by fireworks. Can there possibly be another spectacle as bereft of meaning as a fireworks display (and the bigger the display, the emptier it is likely to be: a perfect metaphor for the dawning of another year and the ‘magic’ of round numbers)?

At least we can say goodbye to the season of prescribed greetings. It’s “Merry Christmas” and “Happy New Year” (not, please note, “Happy Christmas” or “Merry New Year”). The days are just starting to get longer, today is sunny and unseasonably warm, and I don’t have a raging hangover…

The first pic sale of 2020 is my only night shot of Drax power station (in the news because it is now fuelled by biomass)…