ME19four: life, faith and role-playing games
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Fahrenheit 451 - or "Book burning at Borders, by and by..."
What ho! Shocking news, old boy. That well-known purveyor of fascist propaganda, Borders, is up to it's beastly old tricks again. Peddling offensive literature about those chaps of a different skin colour, what?
Or put it more simply the Campaign for Racial Equality want to stop us reading Tintin!
I should add at this point that I've never been a great fan of Tintin, but this does seem a tad silly. I'm sure I could, as a consenting adult, buy a copy of Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf - for all I know it's available as a Penguin Classic - or something by David Irving, who was banged up in Austria not so long ago for Holocaust denial. But to complain, when the offending (and offensive?) book has already been moved into the adult section...
Before you know it they'll be goose-stepping down Whitehall and burning Biggles books for being nasty about the Huns and Noddy books for daring to mention Gollywogs!
Except of course that some re-issues in recent years have bowdlerised Biggles and re-cast Imps for Gollywogs in dear old Blyton's writing...
Or put it more simply the Campaign for Racial Equality want to stop us reading Tintin!
I should add at this point that I've never been a great fan of Tintin, but this does seem a tad silly. I'm sure I could, as a consenting adult, buy a copy of Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf - for all I know it's available as a Penguin Classic - or something by David Irving, who was banged up in Austria not so long ago for Holocaust denial. But to complain, when the offending (and offensive?) book has already been moved into the adult section...
Before you know it they'll be goose-stepping down Whitehall and burning Biggles books for being nasty about the Huns and Noddy books for daring to mention Gollywogs!
Except of course that some re-issues in recent years have bowdlerised Biggles and re-cast Imps for Gollywogs in dear old Blyton's writing...
(And of course I understand the reasoning of the CRE, and have no objections to careful and sensitive revision to books that might, might I hasten to add, mis-shape the young mind, but there do have to be limits. I'm not sure I totally agree with a statement I came across many years ago, but you will guess that I sympathise with it - "All books are books, and therefore sacred." Now I wonder who wrote that?)
Labels: Grumbles, Life, Recommendations
¶ 12:30 pm 0 comments
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
What the politicians don't understand....
(Beware: this might count as a rant!)
I can't remember who it was on the Today programme this morning, George Osbourne? Anyway a Conservative wannabee minister, but he summed up a lot of what has gone wrong to my mind. Forget about the Conservatives being the new Blairites. Maybe they are, but I tend more to Old Labour and socialism, ayway. But that's not the point.
They just don't get it do they? It's not about choice. As a parent, I don't want the right to choose the best school for my children. I don't want the choice of the best hospital for my operation. NO. I just want the local one to be good! I don't want OFCOM telling me they are no longer going to regulate call charges for BT now that competition has brought things into line. I just want a reasonably priced 'phone line (or gas provider, or electricity provider, or...)
Is a good standard too much too ask? (And yes, I WOULD be willing to pay more taxes, that's what the government is for, to provide me with the services). Public services which serve the public, like public transport....
And I might as well wish for a National Trust for Churches while I'm at it... :)
(I'd like to say I feel better for that, but I'm not sure I do...) ¶ 2:03 pm 0 comments
I can't remember who it was on the Today programme this morning, George Osbourne? Anyway a Conservative wannabee minister, but he summed up a lot of what has gone wrong to my mind. Forget about the Conservatives being the new Blairites. Maybe they are, but I tend more to Old Labour and socialism, ayway. But that's not the point.
They just don't get it do they? It's not about choice. As a parent, I don't want the right to choose the best school for my children. I don't want the choice of the best hospital for my operation. NO. I just want the local one to be good! I don't want OFCOM telling me they are no longer going to regulate call charges for BT now that competition has brought things into line. I just want a reasonably priced 'phone line (or gas provider, or electricity provider, or...)
Is a good standard too much too ask? (And yes, I WOULD be willing to pay more taxes, that's what the government is for, to provide me with the services). Public services which serve the public, like public transport....
And I might as well wish for a National Trust for Churches while I'm at it... :)
(I'd like to say I feel better for that, but I'm not sure I do...) ¶ 2:03 pm 0 comments
When I survey
Not the title of the Easter hymn, but simply one of many titles I could have found for this post (and probably the safest).
I may, or may not, have mentioned recently that I needed to do a survey in MLPK about the need and desire for some sort of church/community building. The content of the questions and the strategy of sampling were broadly agreed, and two weeks or so ago the questionnaires went out.
The 5 questions asked whether a dedicated centre for Christian Worship would be helpful, whether additional community facilities would be useful as part of it, whether people would be willing to make a financial contribution, ideas for a suitable place, and because other local ministers asked, whether local churches met the respondents "spiritual needs." For each there were "Yes", "No" and "Don't Know" tickboxes, with space for additional comments.
174 were delivered over the 100 or so streets, using a systematic sample, going to the same house numbers on each street. Although I'm not totally sure of the total number of letterboxes in MLPK that represents somewhere between five and ten percent of all households. That makes it a pretty good sample rate if my memory is correct.
Ten points for questionnaire return were provided, in schools, gym, pub, coffee shop, doctors' surgery, supermarket, community hall, golf club as well as the vicarage. Just about anywhere that anyone in MLPK might reasonably visit in a normal fortnight.
I have only two collection boxes left to bring in (from the schools) - and I already know the sort of number of responses in one of them.
Given that, and knowing that a response of about 30% is generally regarded as a good one (53 of the questionnaires distributed), how many do you think I've got back?
100?
75?
Taking my cue from Abraham (Genesis 18) how many do you think?
50?
45?
40?
30?
20?
10?
The Answer....
... wait for it...
2.
That's right: 2.
1.15% of the total survey.
I had expected to be disappointed. I had expected to not reach a significant threshold. But 2! And, of course, to add insult to injury the one location I'd suspected might return the most response (the temple to bodily perfection) can't find the return box. In other words whoever I spoke to either couldn't care less or didn't have the authority to give me permission to install the box in the first place.
I don't know whether to cry, seethe, rant or just despair at the minute.
Am I living in Sodom? (Possibly). Apathy City? (Absolutely)
I already knew that the Church of England, even Christian faith, is of marginal value here in MLPK, and nationally I suspect, but any illusions I had have been blown away again.
So, if you responded, thank you. Oh, and by the way, to say to the question "Do you feel the local churches meet your spiritual needs?" that you "have not explored them" is more telling than you think. MLPK in a nutshell. A practical statement that says "we have no spiritual needs, thank you."
In the week after Pentecost I'm sorely tempted to ask God to let the fire fall, and the fire of Genesis 19) not the fire of the Spirit.
In the mean time maybe I need to find another job. Door to door double-glazing sales, perhaps?
Meanwhile I'll take my cue from The Animals:
¶ 1:08 pm 2 comments
I may, or may not, have mentioned recently that I needed to do a survey in MLPK about the need and desire for some sort of church/community building. The content of the questions and the strategy of sampling were broadly agreed, and two weeks or so ago the questionnaires went out.
The 5 questions asked whether a dedicated centre for Christian Worship would be helpful, whether additional community facilities would be useful as part of it, whether people would be willing to make a financial contribution, ideas for a suitable place, and because other local ministers asked, whether local churches met the respondents "spiritual needs." For each there were "Yes", "No" and "Don't Know" tickboxes, with space for additional comments.
174 were delivered over the 100 or so streets, using a systematic sample, going to the same house numbers on each street. Although I'm not totally sure of the total number of letterboxes in MLPK that represents somewhere between five and ten percent of all households. That makes it a pretty good sample rate if my memory is correct.
Ten points for questionnaire return were provided, in schools, gym, pub, coffee shop, doctors' surgery, supermarket, community hall, golf club as well as the vicarage. Just about anywhere that anyone in MLPK might reasonably visit in a normal fortnight.
I have only two collection boxes left to bring in (from the schools) - and I already know the sort of number of responses in one of them.
Given that, and knowing that a response of about 30% is generally regarded as a good one (53 of the questionnaires distributed), how many do you think I've got back?
100?
75?
Taking my cue from Abraham (Genesis 18) how many do you think?
50?
45?
40?
30?
20?
10?
The Answer....
... wait for it...
2.
That's right: 2.
1.15% of the total survey.
I had expected to be disappointed. I had expected to not reach a significant threshold. But 2! And, of course, to add insult to injury the one location I'd suspected might return the most response (the temple to bodily perfection) can't find the return box. In other words whoever I spoke to either couldn't care less or didn't have the authority to give me permission to install the box in the first place.
I don't know whether to cry, seethe, rant or just despair at the minute.
Am I living in Sodom? (Possibly). Apathy City? (Absolutely)
I already knew that the Church of England, even Christian faith, is of marginal value here in MLPK, and nationally I suspect, but any illusions I had have been blown away again.
So, if you responded, thank you. Oh, and by the way, to say to the question "Do you feel the local churches meet your spiritual needs?" that you "have not explored them" is more telling than you think. MLPK in a nutshell. A practical statement that says "we have no spiritual needs, thank you."
In the week after Pentecost I'm sorely tempted to ask God to let the fire fall, and the fire of Genesis 19) not the fire of the Spirit.
In the mean time maybe I need to find another job. Door to door double-glazing sales, perhaps?
Meanwhile I'll take my cue from The Animals:
¶ 1:08 pm 2 comments
Thursday, May 03, 2007
Democracy in action?
3 candidates,
2 parties.
2 votes,
1 pencil.
No point,
no relevance?
Local democracy in action. Don't hog the pencil.
Honestly, I really find it hard to say very much good about the whole proceedings. All I can say is that because I know one of the candidates a little that I know his intentions are good and honourable....
and that's enough to quash the cynicism, if not to raise the excitement.
2 parties.
2 votes,
1 pencil.
No point,
no relevance?
Local democracy in action. Don't hog the pencil.
Honestly, I really find it hard to say very much good about the whole proceedings. All I can say is that because I know one of the candidates a little that I know his intentions are good and honourable....
and that's enough to quash the cynicism, if not to raise the excitement.
Labels: Grumbles, Life, Ponderings
¶ 1:07 pm 0 comments
