Answered prayers...

Just read an inspiring article on the Guardian website, for which people who went through intensive care with Covid were reunited with those who nursed them back to health. Very moving, though one quote, from a 60-year-old Salvation Army minister, left me feeling rather queasy. “From day one there were hundreds, if not thousands, of people praying for me. And I believe to this day that those prayers were answered”.

Sentiments of this kind have a superficial appeal - a good news story to counteract so many Covid-related tragedies - but only until we give them a moment's thought. The faultlines in such faith-based certainties soon become apparent. God, the minister is suggesting, could have saved everybody else in the intensive care unit, but, for whatever reason, he chose not to. What a morally bankrupt idea!

Licenced yesterday: children playing on a beach at Eyemouth, Scotland…

Burnley...

According to a report in today’s Guardian, the Indonesian army will no longer be subjecting female recruits to a virginity test. The procedure, known in Indonesia as “the two-finger test”, is carried out by doctors, to check whether the hymen is still intact. If not, the candidate is rejected. There is, of course, no test for male virginity (and we can be pretty certain that nobody is looking for one).

Licenced today: Burnley at dusk...

York protest...

Shot yesterday as a favour for an old chum from York: a protest about limited access to the city centre for disabled Blue Badge holders...

Bungay...

Licenced today: a street in Bungay, Norfolk...

Calke Abbey...

Licenced today: a bedroom in Calke Abbey, Derbyshire. When the house was handed to the National Trust in 1985, many of its rooms had been abandoned for decades and were in a state of rapid decline. The NT decided not to restore these rooms, but rather preserve them as they were found...

Redcar windfarm...

Licenced today: offshore windfarm and kite surfer at Redcar, North Yorkshire...

Solar panels...

Licenced last week: new homes on the outskirts of Kendal, with pre-installed solar panels...