DHL Express...may the Lords of Darkness strike you down....

Today, DHL Express tried to deliver a package to my home address.

I phoned them to rearrange delivery. They wanted me to tell them a day when I was in all day. I couldn't. They could not arrange a delivery for a set time, not even a morning or an afternoon

I suggested another delivery address. They can't accept that from me, even though its MY BLOODY PARCEL.

So I have to ring the supplier and arrange for them to tell them the new address.

I have informed them that if they continue to use this company, they will get no more custom from me.

Changing Attitude?

This week the Primates of the Anglican Communion meet to discuss, amongst other things, the differences of opinion on gay relationships and ordination. We had a very valuable meeting tonight where we had asked some local evangelical clergy to talk about some of the issues with us . I think it was very helpful.

I will comment more on this matter at the end of the week when it is clearer what - if anything - is to happen.

Football violence

I didn't go to the match on Saturday, and I'm glad I made that decision.

But - a 5.30pm kickoff, with the pubs open all day beforehand, for a game that everyone , but everyone, knew would be tricky, and which was built up to be even more so by the media.

That doesn't excuse the shameful behaviour of those who were violent, but please, a bit of common sense next time....

One of my favourite Eurovision singers, Chiara, has been selected to sing for Malta again - its an excellent song, and I really hope can do well.

Our Royal 'Highnesses'

Now, to get something clear - I'm a republican. I have no time for monarchy and everything it stands for makes me wish to vomit copiously. The circus of the Windsor Corporation is something which should have been consigned to memory many years ago.

However, I think Charles should be able to marry who the hell he likes. If there hadn't been the need for a virginal bride to start with, then he could have married Camilla in the first place. As for the Church, well, we don't expect anything more than hypocrisy from them, do we - and the way things are going, it will be even less important by the time the succession takes place.

What is so amusing is the way that the Diana fan club and some conservatives are calling for abdication. The entire point of Monarchy is that people are not chosen for the job, but born to it - you can't skip a generation just because you feel like it. It would be interesting to remove all maritally unfaithful monarchs from history. Would any exist at all?

Oh, and the Zionist lobby are getting their knickers in a twist again over some rather intemperate but certainly no more, remarks from Ken Livingstone. When I start to hear apologies for the Israeli behaviour in Palestinefrom the lobby that supports that country no matter what it does, maybe I'll take their whingeing a little more seriously. Its always depressing to see the oppressed become the oppressor and then be totally unable to apply any sort of self-criticism.

Oh, there's nothing like the ESC....

Had a great ESC weekend with Iain and Anna from Hull.

We managed to watch 5 contests, and had a very enjoyable meal out at the Maharaja South Indian restaurant. And there have been two very good selections this weekend - Bulgaria and Netherlands have both selected a very good song - laid back and jazzy, and Whitney Houston-style big ballad respectively.

Less good was James Beattie's sending off ( naughty boy James - you may look like a rustic chunky hunk, but best for you not to behave like one, yes?) , so we lost to Chelsea. No disgrace, but with 11 men we may have held them to a draw.

At least that other team in our fair city lost too....

Getting ready for a Eurovision weekend!

A couple of friends coming over from Hull for an ESC weekend - lots of watching old contests and ESC chat!

Oh, fab it will be....

Time for some more...

Really must get into the habit of writing more regularly here.

So. To start, politics. We now have the spectacle of Tony's Cronies and Dracula's Dweebs trying to out-BNP the other on immigration and asylum ( oh, and its nothing to do with colour or race...) Right. Who the hell are they trying to convince? Of course it is. Even more good reason not to vote for either of them - it would be nice to hear politicians challenging bigoted populism rather than taking the lead on it.
Its a bit like the sheer hypocrisy of the residents of Formby camapaigning against mobile p[hone masts. Do they want to dispose of their mobile phones? I think not. And guess who is up on the platform, milking votes for all its worth - yes, its cable-TV shopping channel host and Tory candidate for Crosby, Debi Jones.

Teaching has statrted again and it seems to be going well so far. Have been offered a few extra hours in March or April, so that should keep me going till the viva. Still not quite sure what to do long term.

Went to a very interesting day conference on Saturday, looking at 'new ways of doing church'. It was very worthwhile, and I hope will lead us to move in new directions. To be frank, if we don't then I don't think there will be a lot of future for the Church. At present, elements of it appeal to those attracted by simple black-and-white answers - Adorno's 'authoritarian personalities' - but so many others are either repelled or simply disinterested. There is no real attempt made to connect.

ESC entries are starting to be selected. Not a great bunch so far, but Slovenia have picked a very strong ballad, and I like the Andorran entry. Estonia is crass pop, Cyprus a rip off of last years Greek entry, Poland is a sort of gypsy-wedding song - weird - and Belarus quite dreadful.

And the latest....

Teaching began again today. The group are almost the same as last term and I thought today's session went well.

I still feel that I am 'winding down' after the excitement (and relief) of handing in the thesis.

David came back from our church PCC on Monday. Sometimes its enough to make you spit. Would you believe that there are some people complaining about the Fair Traded coffee because 'they don't like the taste'.Now, this isn't finest Jamaican Blue Mountain, but instant granules. You know, the sort of crap you add water to and...bingo. Coffee! Well, thats one word for it. Frankly, it all tastes much the same, and to whinge about what it tastes like without any thought to the principles behind a Church baing a 'fair trade' church shows just how much education is still needed. I sometimes think, what exactly is the point of the Church? Correction. I daily ask myself 'what is the point of the Church'? When I conclude my answer, I'll let you know. Cynicism rules, OK?

Went to a new South Indian reataurant in Liverpool this evening. We loved it.Its called the Maharaja, in London Road, near the Odeon and the Empire Theatre, central Liverpool. Well worth trying.

What a surprise to see the Tories playing the race card again - and equally , what a surprise that the four Guantanemo Bay prisoners have been freed. Given that they didn't do anything other than be Muslim and in pakistan at the wrong time, no surprise there. Now, how about this so-called Labour government abandoning its shameful alliance with Bush?

Our equally so-called Labour MP. the highest expenses claimer in the whole House of Commons, is still milking as much political mileage as she can get for her public support of Sierra Leone : of course, it is nothing to do with her wanting to gain votes. Nothing at all. Oh, and for those of you who don't know, her (very high) office expense claim is for the office situated in her home in the constituency, and her personal secretary is her husband, a deselected ex-councillor who was turfed out by his ward last year.

Andorra have selected their Eurovision entry, and its really rather good!

Today I submitted my PhD thesis...

...so now I have to await the viva and hopefully, a doctorate this summer.

Harry Hewitt

Just a thought, but doesn't Prince Harry look more like James Hewitt every day?

The latest....

The bibliography is now complete - so as long as my supervisor doesn't want any more amendments, its done! Had a break from cooking last night and visited the very good Puschka restaurant in Rodney Street. Very good food, and atmosphere, but the service can be a bit haphazard.

Went into college today, to collect some exam papers to mark, which I shall do over the next couple of days.

Have also been doing a bit of 'catching up', organised a meeting of the Gay and Lesbian Police Liaison Group for a couple of weeks time. Also, on Sunday, spent a very pleasant afternoon over at Neil's (hi Neil; hope you get to read this! ) Fellow Eurovision enthusiast, we watched 1965, and 2002. I'm pleased to see that the singer of one of my alltime favourite Eurovision entries, Chiara, who sang The One That I Love, in 1998 for Malta, is singing in their National Final again. I do hope she wins - its one of her own songs too.

Looks as if there is definitely going to be a general election this year. I don'tknow who I'll be voting for. Not Tory, obviously. I have no intention of going through the reasons why, it should be obvious. But I don't really want to vote Labour. I see no reason why I should support a slavish Blairite toady whose only rebellion has been in the service of her religion in opposing the Mental Capacity Bill. She thinks it quite OK to vote to kill a few thousand innocent Iraqis in the cause of re-electing Bush and oil supplies, but won't allow people to make their own decisions about their own death. If we had a halfway decent MP who thought that her job was about natiuonal politics, rather than behaving like some sort of unqualified busybody welfare worker, I may be persuadable. But Ms. Claire Curtis-Thomas MP doesn't fulfil what I want to see from an MP. She is the sort of person who could easily fit into any political party ; the fact that she has no qualms in appointing a known Tory (who has NEVER voted Labour in his life!) to compose most of her public statements and speeches says it all.

So, it looks like the LibDems for me this time. There are many things I approve of in their policies in any case - much stronger commitment to civil liberties - more enthusiastic towards Europe, and so on.

But it was encouraging to see Charles Clarke make it clear that he is not going to bring forth legislation to make it OK to shoot anyone who comes near your house . I can imagine Blunkett issuing us with all the guns. No doubt if Labour get back in, the repulsive Blunkett will be back in some guise or another - another Daily Mail styl;e social conservative. And what about Ruth Kelly? Known homophobe ( she has avoided every single vote on anything gay-related), against abortion, contraception, a member of Opus dei, that far-right neo-fascist organisation well known for its support of Franco in Spain. How can someone with views like these even be accepted as a member of the Labour Party, let alone one of its senior ministers?

I hope the electors of Bolton West see sense and turf her out next time. The omens are good, the majority is only 5000 and there'snot a single Labour councillor left in the seat. Its one of the few places where I'd say it doesn't matter if a Tory does get elected, and it may even be worth voting Tory just to ensure Kelly's demise. people like that are a menace within any sort of left-wing, progressive movement.

Jerry Springer - The Opera BBC2 10pm Saturday

Don't forget to watch it - its excellent, great fun and outrageous satire at its best.

And did you hear the evangelical despots screeching outside the BBC today? Just shows how dangerous they are and what society would be like if they had there way. Humourless, censorious, restrictive, censored.

The fact that they oppose it is good reasaon alone to tune in - and enjoy!

2-1 to EFC, amendments going well....

Well, not only have we signed a decent striker - James Bettie ( talented and hunky!) but also we beat Portsmouth in the dying seconds of tonights game. Fantastic.

And the amendments are going well. I asked an academic former colleague from the college where I teach part time to have a look at the thesis for some feedback and she was very complimentary - and made the same main suggestion as my supervisor!

So, that gives me some encouragement and hopefully i will complete the amendments process tomorrow.

Then its on to the bibliography....

Welcome 2005

And hello to the few readers who have discovered this blog. If you are one of them who hasn't yet contributed,please do sign in and say hello.

So, what for 2005?

Everton lost 5-2 today. Not good. We really do need to make a couple of signings - I hope James Beattie (because he's a good player and very good looking!) and maybe Leighton Baines from Wigan who shows potential. Robbie Savage would be worth thinking about too.

The cold returned and is now a chesty cough/mild bronchitis - again. Will I ever be free of it?

Went to church this lunchtime - I've decided that this negativity has got to go and it will only be contacted by some constructive thinking, so I have contacted our vicar to discuss the possibility of lay reader training. Nothing will change whilst i sit on the outside whingeing. Weare also to do a parish survey ( which I have designed) and I have arranged the first three of the six interviews I will be doing.

Have finished all my marking. Three cases of blatant plagiarism. Honestly, do students think we are entirely stupid? I pride myself on being a bit of a sleuth as far as internet plagiarism is concerned....

Have received some feedback re: my final chapter. Supervisor would like me to cut out a lot of the new theory introduced and I think he's right - shouldn't take me too long to re-structure. I have set two days by to do that this week.

Have heard the three finalists for the Belarussian Eurovision entry. They are quite unbelievably horrible. Last years entry was quirky but magnificent - a bit like the Corrs on acid - but all of these three are equally dire....the singing on one of them, by Nathalia, is particularly bizarre.

I shall try and contribute to this blog more regularly.....

Cold...

or flu, or whatever it is, is still with me. Not the best state to be in, and I wish it would hurry up and go. Soon.

Christmas happened. It was Ok but I've had and felt better....

But Everton won again. Third in the Premiership with more points than we managed for the whole of last season.

PhD is complete!

The writing has been done, just amendments and bibliography to go....even been looking at what the gowns look like online. I must be optimistic.

As we approach Christmas...

More and more, I am starting to think that the Church as we know it is essentially on its death bed in the UK - and that it only has itself to blame.

I posted this on a BB I sometimes contribute to. Any thoughts?

I think we have to exist in the age in which we inhabit. Yes, of course people are going to turn to God and believe almost anything which will give them hope in developing countries - what else do they have?

And I am a convinced late modernist. No, our current life is by no means perfect - but would I choose to live in another age? No, certainly not - the benefits of contemporary life for me, far outweigh the disadvantages. And I actually think that there is a real dissonance here between the nostalgia of many church goers and in particular, younger people.

What is the Church doing wrong?
* Part of it - the loudest part - expects belief in literalistic dogmas which make little sense and appeal largely to authoritarian personalities
* It will not admit openly, the faults, inconsistencies, contradictions, and sheer fantasy of the human production called the Bible
* It hasn't come to terms with late modernity and social change
* It expects people to come to it and either sit through tedious rote-learned events or mildly hysterical happy-clappy embarassments which it calls 'worship'. Most people find both of these utterly alienating
* It does not realise that Sundays are now spent in bed, shopping, taking the kids to footy or ballet - and in the light of that reality what it has to offer appears decideldly second best
* It constantly rants on about sex,in particular homosexuality, which is hardly an issue for most people and more and more is simply part of the fabric of life. The Church's at worst, hostility, or at best, reluctant tolerance, gives out a message about what sort of organisation it is

Where in this, is any sort of message of hope, of love, of affirmation of humanity and human flourishing? Where is a Jesus of hope, of optimism, of laughter?

Pie in the sky when you die might work in Africa. We've moved on, and if Christianity can't move on with us - then it deserves to be part of our past

Oh - and I've finished the final chapter!

Time for some more thoughts....

The weekend was a good one. A win against redshite is always worth celebrating for the BLUES, and it was a good game. The atmosphere was excellent. Standing second in the premiership wasn't exactly what any Everton supporter expected at this stage in the season, and the number of times I have seen our position 'explained away', I have lost count of.
But as long as we carry on playing well and winning games - the points speak for themselves.

Met up with the Eurovision gang afterwards. Never quite as much to talk about other than old contests at this time of the year - but the heats for the national entries will be starting soon so no doubt there will be plenty to keep us occupied then

Today, the Living Will legislation came to the Commons. My MP was one of the primary opposers of the legislation - giving me yet another reason NOT to vote for her at the next election. She uses the personalised situation of her mother, backed up by the fact that she is a convert to the Italian Mission, to oppose people's right to choose to die with dignity. Simply because she claims that her mother changed her mind is no reason to enforce unnecessary agony and suffering to those who have clearly indicated that they do not want it - but when did the Catholic Church ever care in the least about the rights of individuals? What a sick, sorry, corrupt organisation it is - frankly, most of the institutional Church has the same effect on me these days. Worth staying in to try and work towards equality, I have always said but I am seriously questioning my own place within it . It appears to me that it has precisely nothing to say to the vast majority of people, and what it does say appears to be mostly stuff I don't agree with. The view of God is still largely the benevolent, intervening 'daddy in the sky', which is based largely in pre-modern superstition.
The Church is essentially a force for reaction, and the areas it is progressive in, such as the Third World, are the very areas where I lean to a more conservative viewpoint.

Anyway, the legislation has gone through, but what the amendments or interpretataions mean are yet to be revealed. I feel sure thatin time the views of younger people - in my view, overwhelmingly pro-voluntary euthanasia, will have to make an impact upon parliamentarians. In the meantime, I shall certainly ensure that anyone who treats me doesn't have any affiliation to the so-called 'pro-life' movement.

The final chapter is moving along very nicely....

Return of the sore throat...

Which has re-emerged from I do not know where - but its annoying.

Full edit now done on chapters 1-6 which are now with my supervisor, Chapter 7 has been planned and will be written starting tomorrow. Fortunately, I have a lot of background information already drafted, and it will be more a case of adapting the main contours of the thesis to the theoretical material I have already, using some relevant examples from the data.

Not feeling very prolific at the moment. Inspiration, please?

More musing...

Well, the editing of the thesis is going quite smoothly - with only one piece of duplication so far, which in itself can be justified . Two more chapters to go, then the final chapter to write, then a final edit. Its a good feeling to think of the end being in sight!

Thought I would talk a bit about another one of my passions and interests, Everton FC. I am a latecomer to the joys of the beauthiful game. As a short-sighted, unathletic child, football held few fascinations, even the thighs of the most attractive players seemed to pass me by. Before I moved to Liverpool, I got to know Graeme Dodd, who is sadly no longer with us - he died back in 1993. Graeme was a passionate Evertonian, and I think some of the enthusiasm rubbed off on me, as when I moved to Liverpool, in the shadow of Goodison Park, I started to take a once-removed interest in the fortunes - or rather, the woes and troubles, of Everton FC! A few years later, I had the opportunity to witness the police procedures at Goodison, and got a freeticket to see the game afterwards - and I was totally hooked. I went to nearly every remaining home match that season and for the past two seasons have held a season ticket for the Blues.

As a club, we have a very strong and durable local following - I think even Reds would agree that they are outnumbered in the city by Blues ( and look at the attendance for Liverpool midweek home matches for evidence) - and last years poor season, followed by the boardroom troubles and the departure of Shrek to MancScumUnited, meant that we Evertonians were gritting our teeth for relegation. But now we sit at third in the Premiership, there is a financial deal on the horizon, David Moyes has re-signed as manager, and things are looking good. There are no real 'stars' in the team, but they work together well as a unit.

We all keep wondering if the bubble will burst, but if we can hold our nerve over the Christmas period, then some new signings ( I hope James Beattie and Scott Parker?) will help strengthen us further.

We have got tickets for the stage show of Little Britain - which we had to buy a year in adavnce. Just shows what a phenomenon the programme has become...

On Saturday we went over to Yorkshire, where I used to live, to give a talk to the Yorkshire LGCM on the future of the Church. I used to be an active member of that group,. and I am now part of a local Changing Attitude group for this diocese - our role is to work for the affirmation of gay and lesbian people within the Anglican church. I am inderpendent minded, and I think my considered view that the Anglican Communion should be swiftly confined to history may not be the dominant view amongst those in Changing Attitude nationally, but it was interesting that many seem to have reached the same conclusion although are not saying so quite as clearly. The Archbishop of Canterbury, to his credit, has raised the issue in a very fair and well considered Advent message, but has been criticised by conservatives as expected. Its a great shame that a wise and insightful Artchbishop, who is no politician, and who has on occasion lost his nerve and not stuck by what he thinks in the name of seeking unity, will probably see both the break-up of the Anglican Communion and the Church of England during his time of office. My own view is that these splits will be a beneficial thing.