The silencing of the Church

I was somewhat appalled to read this: "Our church buildings must now be closed not only for public worship, but for private prayer as well and this includes the priest or lay person offering prayer in church on their own. A notice explaining this should be put on the church door (please find template attached). We must take a lead in showing our communities how we must behave in order to slow down the spread of the Coronavirus." Who said this? The Archbishops and Bishops of the Church of England. Apparently it is giving a lead to the rest of society. 

As you may know, for many years I was a priest (technically I still am), and I looked after three churches where prayers had been offered daily for centuries or millennia. Now "Following the Prime Minister’s announcement last night, it is imperative that for the health of the nation and in order for the National Health Service itself to manage the increase in those requiring medical help, the Church of England strictly observes the new guidelines on staying at home and only making journeys that are absolutely necessary, such as shopping for essential items and to take daily exercise." Apparently without demur the Church has agreed that this previous necessary duty of the priest to offer prayers for his parish in the parish church is no longer essential. 

I appreciate that she or he may pray equally from her or his home, and that God does not dwell in buildings. But even so I would have hoped that the Church powers-that-be would have argued to the Government that, if only as a symbol of the essential importance of public prayer at such a time as this, the minimum of a priest praying daily for their community and nation in the central building of that community should continue.  (Maybe they did. If so, it would have shown clergy respect to have said so.)

We may mostly be confined to our homes, but the sign of the vicar or priest still making their way to the church building to pray for the parish and the world every day would be a powerful sign. "Ah, there goes the vicar to pray for us all. Thank Goodness." It is a sign of committed love and care. People notice.   

In my view it's an absolutely necessary journey. I trust that those who continue to make it aren't disciplined by the Church or fined by the State. 

We live in strange times indeed. This week we'll live an one-party state with no checks and balances, answerable to no one. What's more, as my wife and I discovered when we received texts from UK_Gov telling what we "must" and must not do, it's a one-party state which knows all our private telephone numbers. Worryingly, even the Church, which has in the past spoken truth to power, seems to be silently compliant. Perhaps it will in time find its voice. Meanwhile I like the majority of us hope and trust that the Government, which is facing an unprecedented global crisis and has expert advisers - expertise is no longer despised -, is acting in the interests of the common good. And like a good chap stay at home, and muse.

An interesting after-note
A retired judge has pointed out to me that the complete sealing of churches is not the law, simply ecclesiastical guidance. The relevant piece of legislation is this: 
Statutory Instruments
2020 No. 350
Public Health, England
The Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (England) Regulations 2020
Made
at 1.00 p.m. on 26th March 2020
Laid before Parliament
at 2.30 p.m. on 26th March 2020
Coming into force
at 1.00 p.m. on 26th March 2020

Further restrictions and closures during the emergency period
5.
(6) A place of worship may be used—
(a)for funerals,
(b)to broadcast an act of worship, whether over the internet or as part of a radio or television broadcast, or
(c)to provide essential voluntary services or urgent public support services (including the provision of food banks or other support for the homeless or vulnerable people, blood donation sessions or support in an emergency).

Criminal beauty

“Oh not HIM again!’ I said to Jane. ‘Haven’t we seen more than enough of him by now? It’ll just be the same old thing - again.” I was talking about Gareth Malone and “The Choir”. Same old formula, I thought. Goes to a bunch of uninterested kids/women/workers, and magically transforms them into a choir that brings tears to everyone’s eyes. The first series was at a West London comprehensive of rough kids. Then he went to a housing estate, military wives, hospital, factory and ferry workers, a school right next to Grenfell Tower - and now he was off to Aylesbury Prison, a secure unit for the worst male young offenders. Here we go again… the same magic touch and we’ll see the teenagers transformed into a Welsh male voice choir, or more likely a swinging gospel choir.

How wrong I was! You may have seen it. We watched the two programmes on catch-up, and they were moving, largely because Gareth didn’t succeed - well, not like elsewhere. He had underestimated the scale of the mountain he and the inmates had to climb. For one thing, they weren’t petty criminals. They were there for long sentences, for crimes like armed robbery, stabbing, drug-dealing. They were violent. They formed themselves into gangs even in prison and so there were fights and injuries several times a week. Many of them were struggling with mental and personality disorders. At every point, it seemed, they and any visitors were searched for weapons. Getting a group together was impossible. The most he managed was three. “This is the hardest situation I’ve ever faced,” he said and he almost admitted defeat.

And yet, he didn’t give up. He always saw possibilities in the offenders, even though society and they themselves had written them off. Their world and their music were totally different from his. They could lose their cool at any moment and walk out. But he told them when they had “done good”; he recognised and affirmed their talents. And in the end, in an empty wing of the prison, a handful of them gave performances of work they’d written themselves to their parents, staff and visitors. It was a huge achievement for them; they realised they weren’t lost causes. Happily, although Gareth’s time there ended, the impressive female governor was going to continue a music programme building on his foundations.

However this isn’t just a story about a handful of young criminals. It’s about seeing the good in others, even when we think there isn’t any - because there IS. In everybody. We’re all made “in the image of God”, and whatever that means it must be good. Jesus called himself the Light of the World and one thing light does is reveal beauty. In those young people there was music and poetry, and a longing to be better. It’s easy to write people off. God never does. He sees beauty - and hope.

(First appeared in Grove Community News March 2020)

Gotcha! Or how I was duped Oukitel, line and sinker

"He went like one that hath been stunned
And is of sense forlorn;
A sadder and a wiser man
He rose the morrow morn" (The Rime of the Ancient Mariner).

I considered myself savvy concerning scams, phishing and hoaxes on line - once. But pride comes before a fall….

It all goes back to the end of last year when my wife’s faithful old Alcatel flip-shut phone came to the end of its days. I had been promising I’d get her a smartphone next year, and in the circumstances it seemed mean to delay the purchase. At much the same time we were visited by a professionally techy chap and his family whom we’d not seen for years. In conversation he mentioned this amazing smartphone developed by some former silicone valley boffins, without all the frills and bells - at less than half the price of its rivals. He had one. I thought he said it was the XOnePhone. Remembering this, I searched the internet and soon found it.

Wow! It did look good - and it was only £152 on a half-price offer. I read the reviews - all good, although in retrospect seemingly copied and pasted from the manufacturer’s blurb. I seem to have missed various warning entries.
 

Don't be fooled as I was!

For example:
“Fake news, fake hype.
The Adformercial on YouTube tries to imply some fictional hotshot from a company implying Apple, doesn't actually say the brand name, got so annoyed by their increasing prices and decreasing quality, that he gave up his job because he felt brApple were taking the mick out of its customers, so he made a company to make phones that were out of this world but at a great price. (Hijacking OnePlus' mission statement).
MediaTek CPU? Cutting edge? Sounds like they just did a parts bin raid of old Amazon tablets and slapped a phone circuit in it.”

And here’s a recent review from Jamie on Trustpilot
"AVOID
I would give zero stars if I could. Like the many other reviewers, I saw a Facebook ad about an ethical company of ex-Apple engineers producing a high quality sustainable (X-One) phone that would last a long time. Thanks to Trustpilot, i almost immediately realised this was a scam of a new sort, in which having got your money they play for time for as long as possible. Probably everything in the ad is fake. You will see their responses here. Sorry you're having problems, please return for full refund (to China!), 10% discount etc etc. Nearly two months after my being stupid enough to order without checking with Trustpilot first, I'm pleased that Paypal have reimbursed me in full. Three lessons: 1. Beware Facebook ads - it's not just about Brexit that you can be lied to 2.Always check with Trustpilot (or other review sites) before buying. 3.Be wary of positive reviews that may also not be what they seem.
Above all, avoid this company.” (The company is Hyperstech.)

It turns out the phone we received is an Oukitel C15 Pro, which is all right - and costs £79.99 on Amazon. It’s easy to be wise after the event. I’m sorry, dear wife. 

And I'm sorry that the excess I paid will none of it go to the low-paid Chinese factory workers who produced it (that wouldn't be bad) but all of it to the fat-cat scammers who duped me.

Beware, reader! Be warned by me.

Mr Corbyn - in the spotlight

A comment I heard last night at our local coffee shop has driven me back to my blog. It went something like this, “I don’t know who to vote for. I might put an X by all the candidates and ‘Blow you for spoiling my Christmas’ at the bottom. My grandad was a true Labour man, but I’ve always been a Conservative. I don’t trust Boris but I’d never vote for Corbyn. He’s even worse.” When I asked why, she couldn’t really tell me. But I think I know the reason as I explained a week ago on Facebook. I think she’s been poisoned.

“I'm dismayed by the sustained disinformation attack orchestrated, I suspect, from Conservative HQ on Mr Corbyn ever since he became Labour leader. Like a snake's tongue it is two-pronged - that he is a communist (or as Boris would say, stalinist) when he's in fact a democratic socialist, and that he is anti-semitic, when in fact he's anti-racist but opposed to expansionist zionism. I'm more dismayed that mainstream media so regularly reinforces the myths. And I'm even more dismayed that the poison is so widely swallowed. It is not good for the political discourse in this nation.”

So why, if that’s true, does he not just come out and strongly deny the accusations raised against him and apologise for the few errors of judgement he may have made? I believe that, in fact, once he realises he’s made a mistake, he has admitted it and apologised, for example in the case of the Mear One mural. Partly I think it’s explained by his nature and his manner, perceptively observed by the distinguished linguistics professor, Noam Chomsky, on a lecture tour here a couple of years ago, in an interview with The Guardian. ““There are various reasons for that – partly an extremely hostile media, partly his own personal style which I happen to like but perhaps that doesn’t fit with the current mood of the electorate,’ he said. ‘He’s quiet, reserved, serious, he’s not a performer. The parliamentary Labour party has been strongly opposed to him. It has been an uphill battle.’
“He said there were a lot of factors involved, but insisted that Labour would not be trailing the Conservatives so heavily in the polls if the media was more open to Corbyn’s agenda. ‘If he had a fair treatment from the media – that would make a big difference.’”
 
And there is of course an honourable tradition of silence in the face of false accusations both in literature and life, from Cordelia to Jesus. If an accusation is groundless, an answer merely fuels the myth-making. We’re all familiar with journalists pressing for some slip-up. The fiercer the denial, the greater the doubt.
 
One line of criticism often raised against Jeremy Corbyn is that he has met our “enemies”, such as Palestinians, Irish Republicans, Libyans or Venezuelans, and even talked to them. When he reasonably asks in Parliament for evidence a precipitate government action, we’re told it demonstrates his lack of patriotism, not the scrutiny appropriate to a responsible opposition. As even Donald Trump recognises, progress in diplomatic relations depends on meeting the “other side”, talking to them, listening to them, building a relationship, even a friendship, with them. To demonise your “enemy” is only to deepen divides; whether individually or corporately one does not love one’s enemy by ignoring them. Accepted, as Mr Corbyn does, that defence of the realm is a priority, it's still true that jawing is better than warring. If we ever hope for peace with our “enemies”, escalating the means of violence is the answer of fools.
 
Of course, the most insidious accusation raised against Mr Corbyn is that of anti-semitism. This has most recently been voiced by the Chief Rabbi, the leader of the United Synagogue (membership about 40,000, out of the estimated 284,000 Jews in this country). This was unfortunately soon followed by a general comment about hate speech by the Archbishop of Canterbury, eagerly seized upon by the press as an endorsement of Rabbi Mirvis’ attack on Mr Corbyn. It’s worth examining his record which seems consistently to contradict the verdict, for example since being elected leader 20 new measures to counter anti-semitism in the party have been introduced. 

The Jewish author and poet, and former Children's Laureate, Michael Rosen’s Facebook comment on the matter is worth reading in full. Here are the last five paragraphs:
“Further: the whole question of 'antisemitism' has been fogged by an unknowing or unwilling lack of clarity over distinctions between slurs, prejudice, bias, discrimination, persecution, incitement to antisemitic violence, and the violence itself. There are times when you might have thought that UK Jews were experiencing a pogrom.
“Secondly, the minimum requirements for a claim that there is a 'problem' in a given area (e.g. antisemitism in the Labour Party) is that it is distinctly and measurably worse than in other places or in society as a whole. If that hasn't been shown (and it hasn't been), it's not a Labour Party problem it's a societal problem.
“I've known Jeremy Corbyn for 30 years. He is no antisemite. He has put his neck on the line hundreds of times in opposing racism, antisemitism, far right fascism, holocaust denial.
“For the record the sudden loss of Jewish support for Labour came when Miliband was leader who the Jewish Chronicle described as 'toxic' for Jewish voters. Miliband is Jewish. It was his support for recognition of Palestine before negotiations that did for him, they said. Being Jewish was no shield against this hostility.
“Ask me, who am I 'safer' with: a Johnson-led government with its record of the 'hostile environment', persecution of Windrush generation, and persistent antisemitic jibes from leading party members or this Labour Party, and I say, Labour every time.”
 
The witness of a 30-years’ friendship to me outweighs the slurs of a plutocratically owned press and broadcast media which generally dance to their tune. My observation of Mr Corbyn has been of a principled politician who sincerely wants the best for ordinary people, and they certainly need a champion. Mr Corbyn was initially a reluctant leader, but how much this country needs integrity, honesty and principle in its leader now! He's no more a saint than I am; yet I for one have to concur with Michael Rosen’s conclusion.

Nathan to the rescue

I need to add an appendix to my last post, as I am now at home and ON LINE. You’d have thought frustration levels couldn’t have risen from Monday, but there were a number of developments in our Virgin Media saga. 

1. On returning from the internet café I saw some neighbours who also use Virgin Media and learned that they were having no problems. Conclusion it was not an area problem. We passed the information on to VM.

2. I began to receive text messages:

“Virgin Media Outage Update – ID F…..532. We’re pleased to tell you this issue is now fixed. Best wishes, the Virgin Media Team.” Great news – except it still wasn’t. So I wrote a message saying, “No, it’s not. Please come and sort it out.” Only it refused to be sent. Presumably Virgin have a one-way only text number. 

3. On Monday evening and again early on Tuesday, we had phone messages from Bangladesh saying a technician would come and sort things out for us. Yippee! But 30 minutes and 60 minutes later we received more phone messages telling us the issue was now fixed. It wasn’t. And so I rang VM and told them. As Jane was out I couldn’t go through their standardised rigmarole of checking the router lights etc which Jane had done twice before. 

Somehow the chap in Bangladesh understood me sufficiently and in the end said that indeed a technician would come and help that morning. Well, Nathan (for he was the longed-for technician) arrived. He ran checks and changed the router. Still it was not working…. So he went to the local junction box and found that our line hadn’t been labelled and had a “noise blocker” on it. When and why it was put there is a mystery, but now at last we’re on line again. Phew! Nathan said we might receive a customer satisfaction survey. That was to do with his performance – not Virgin Media’s. If it were the latter, it would be way into negative scores. Nathan’s would be highly positive. Thanks, Nathan.

Automated falsehoods?

On Friday our internet went down. We’re with Virgin Media, which has served us well thus far. After a time we rang the help number and heard a message apologising for the break in service to our road’s post code, and as it was more complex than usual it would take longer but their engineers were hard at work on it.

The next day it still wasn’t working and so we rang again. The same message. We gave a mobile number for text updates. This morning three days after the original fault and after no texts we decided we wanted to hear something more than an automated message, and so we navigated through to a voice (possibly in India). The nice lady told us there was a local outage and it should be sorted by Friday… A good thing I’m not employed from home. Then Jane pointed out there’d been no engineers in the area. The troubleshooter then ran some diagnostic tests on our system. “Make sure all the plugs are in the sockets. What are the lights doing? Push the switch on the bottom. Etc etc.” Naturally we wondered about the “area outage.” Don’t worry, we were told, we would now be “escalated.” Jane hoped there'd be some rebate on our bill. I think she was told that there was a standard OffCom compensation of £8 per 24 hours - maybe Virgin Media will be paying us next month....

So I have come to our local internet café to catch up with emails – and to vent my frustration with what are apparently automated obfuscations – or possible lies. Perhaps when I get back, our home internet will be restored – some hope!

In praise of physiotherapists

Dedicated to Emily

I'm fortunate to have had excellent physiotherapists, starting of course with my lovely wife (MCSP [distinction]). Then in addition for many years the specialist neuro physio, Lesley, who last year passed me on to Emily. When you've been used to someone, there's always uncertainty when you have to transfer to a new professional; but I needn't have worried. Emily is brilliant. How lucky am I!

To give you a small example: I have been finding walking round the house with my rollator (zimmer frame on wheels) increasingly difficult and slow. My legs have been tending to cross over and my feet land on each other. Every now and then I had to call Jane to untangle me. Emily suggested a free metronome app on my phone might help. She set it at 42/60 - not fast but my sort of average rate. It has transformed my walking. The reason is, I think, that walking is now no longer a reflex action but I have consciously to move each leg. ie I have to concentrate on each step. Before the metronome, my brain, willy-nilly, would wander down its own wayward neural pathways. Now the metronome calls my brain to attention every beat and doesn’t let it  wander.

I now have a heavy cold and am feeling unduly sorry for myself, but still the metronome dragooned me from the lift to the breakfast table. As Jane commented when I had sat down without much fuss, “You’d never have been able to do that before the metronome.”

Of course that’s not the only thing Emily sorted out. I have a whole sheet of exercises to stop me going utterly flabby, including boxing (!), stretching and pedalling. I’m having time off, pleading sick leave, at the moment, but the prospect of a phone-call when she’ll check up on me should be sufficient to keep me at it! I’m so grateful for the NHS through whom I receive such skilled treatment – as well as from my dentist, doctor, OTs and hospital clinic. May they never be privatised!