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.

Chapter 6 of PhD finished

I've finished the sixth chapter - one more to write plus final edit and amendments and I'll be ready to submit....

Junior Eurovision....

In all the crisis of the computer problems, I forgot to mention the Junior ESC held in Lillehammer,Norway, on Saturday.

Not quite the excitement and fascination of the 'real thing', but certainly keeps us ESCfans going till next May.
What the two contests had in common this year was a dreadful winner. The Spanish entry won - a 'proper little madam' dressed like an elf who semi-rapped and semi-sung a slightly Middle Eastern sounding song. If thats what you can call it. Well performed, yes, but not one of the best. I preferred the UK - far better than our recent entries in the main contest - France, a very 'French' song, and Romania - probably the best song of the night, but the singer went out of key in the middle of the song. Shame.

I hear that Ukraine is in conflict tonight, and wonder if Government instabililty there as the pro-Soviet element tries to fix the election may affect next year's contest?

Fox hunting...

Couldn't really let this pass without a comment.

I don't hunt. Actually, I'm happy to consider myself a through-and-through urbanite, I regard the country as something one goes through on the way to visit a city.

Hunting is of no interest to me, and I don't feel strongly about it as an issue in itself. Indeed, I regard it as unimportant. However, thereare some issues raised which I think are of concern.

First, that to justify something because it is 'traditional' is a non-starter. Plenty of things were traditional, and now no longer exist.
Second, the foxes are going to have to be killed one way or the other, and there has been some failure of honesty amongst the antis to recognise this.
Third, should we turnm the killing of an animal into a sport? This is the real question which I think has been avoided by the defenders of hunting.
Fourth, should the House of Commons be able to decide on this issue - the unequivocal answer has to be yes. There have been 10 votes. Each has produced a sizeable majority against hunting. I think it is perfectly reasonable to expectr that decision to become law.
And if the Countryside Alliance seriously think they can present themselves as a beleagured minority - don't make me laugh. Just about everything in the countryside is subsidised to the hilt. To compare their 'plight' with discrimination against gay or black people shows how pathetic their arguments have been . They couldn't have run a more inept campaign if they had tried.

Let's be honest. I can't say I am particularly drawn to the representatives of the CA, in their hunting pink, with their plummy voices and their seeming belief that the world is theirs to run. Where were they when the mines were being shut and the docks sacked hundreds of workers? Voting Tory - thats what. And now they expect us to sympathise because a handful of people who work within the hunting industry may lose their jobs - which they wouldnt if they all switch to drag hunting and forego the pleasure of the smear of blood on their cheek after the kill.

No, the truth is, I don't like the braying fascistii of rural Britain ; and the ban is worth it to see them get a taste of their own medicine.

(Yes, I know this isn't a very Christian attitude.)

Computer crash and civil partnerships....

Thought I had lost everything on the computer - but thanks to the two Andy's, Heath and Strain, all is well again....

And the Civil Partnerships Bill has been passed and is now an Act - ande David and I will be taking advantage of it when it becomes law...

More on this and other things soon.

Spent the day on the thesis - made some progress but not quite as much as I wanted to - but have more direction for tomorrow.

Yesterday evening went into town to the FACT centre, Liverpool's arthouse cinema, to see Eres mi Hero - a Spanish coming of age film set in Seville in the 1970's, and featuring some wonderful Spanish music from the era - notably Mocedades' Eres Tu, which should have won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1973 when it came second. Its an ethereal Iberian ballad, harmony singing, acoustic guitars, a bit like a Spanish version of the Fifth Dimension ( you young things won't remember them)

I have quite a fascination for Spain. Maybe its the ethnic connections - adopted part Spanish-American - but I always feel that I could live there and maybe will one day on each visit. When the PhD is finished I shall maybe learn Spanish although I'm not a natural linguist.

The Civil Partnership Bill is returning to the Lords on Wednesday after being overwhelmingly passed in the Commons last week. I hope that it goes through without delay but one can never be certain about these things.

And Colin Powell has resigned. No surprise there, but a concern that a reasonably moderate man has left the asylum, leaving the lunatics to further cement their hold.

We went over to Manchester this afternoon to catch a performance of 'Beyond Belief' - excerpts of the inquiry into the Harold Shipman case. I find serial killers strangely fascinating - which worries my partner - but in this case, the fact that he was only ever found out because he overreached himself once too often is very worrying. I wonder how many more therearewho are never caught - being realistic, the number of missing persons who are never found must end up somewhere.

We had booked a table at a restaurant, the 39 Steps, afterwards, but when we arrived they weren't open for half an hour after we had made the booking - brilliant. So we ended up at the Arminian Taverna.

Throat still feels like a ferret has crawled into it and found whilst listening to a Eurovision CD on the way back from Manchester that I can't sing at all....