First they came for Blair Cottrell, but I was not Blair Cottrell

Worth having a look at the Blair Cottrell case decided in Melbourne yesterday if you have a moment and care about free speech.It does not matter that it occurred on the other side of the world. It does not matter that he was protesting about the building of a mosque in Bendigo. It does not… Continue reading First they came for Blair Cottrell, but I was not Blair Cottrell

When science and religious cults collide

For good measure about the ‘climate change causes bad things… look, see it’s flooding, therefore it must be’ debate, and yes I know it’s from Breitbart, but it should give the more rabid and uninformed warmists just a teensy weensy pause for thought about whether stuff is cause and effect or just effect. Dr. Duane… Continue reading When science and religious cults collide

The final act in Drama

Here’s one you may have missed. Firstly, it might make you smile that there is a town of 44,000 people in north eastern Greece where it meets Bulgaria called Drama. The story is a poignant Easter/Passover one of loss, isolation and a hint that maybe all religions are simply, at the end of it, one religion. It’s… Continue reading The final act in Drama

Cherished by the Puritans

This is how Chambers Book of Days in 1869 explained Thanksgiving to the British. You just have time to read this before settling down to an evening of “rustic games and amusements”. THANKSGIVING DAY IN AMERICA The great social and religious festival of New England, from which it has spread to most of the states of the American… Continue reading Cherished by the Puritans

The night the Pope stole a baby

Child abduction is a terrible heart wrenching crime, pure and simple. You let the child out of sight for a second and your baby never comes back. At least one thing’s for sure. At home — right there in front of your eyes — they are safe.Well, that’s what Mr and Mrs Mortara thought, until… Continue reading The night the Pope stole a baby

More from The Graphic

There was more on that same page of The Graphic dated August 17th 1895 than just a review of a pheasant shooting handbook (see below). Right beside it was the news that a man who wrote the songbook of the American Civil War had just died. As the obituary recalled, George Frederick Root “…is better… Continue reading More from The Graphic

Graffiti in church

Nowadays English parish churches are quaint, underused decorative motifs for period costume dramas and Kodak moments — but it seems that they weren’t always that way. Fascinating research that is at a very early stage of data gathering seems to point to a completely different role for the medieval church. The middle class Georgians and… Continue reading Graffiti in church