There is increasing evidence that the editor no longer reads the articles placed in the newspaper critically. Sometimes the most obvious mistakes are made, up with which the later Sir Winston would not have put but which featured often in the Grauniad. Take this as a recent example:
“Up to half of people died when the Black Death swept through Europe in the mid-1300s.”
Continue readingI normally think that when a thing is referred to by the initial letters of its proper name there is no need to add an S to pluralise it. The plural S is hidden behind the initial capital letter. So we have, for example, OS. You would not ask how many different OSes are there? You would ask how many different O(perating) S(ystems) are there. The plural s is hidden. There are exceptions of course but these prove the rule for the combination of the initial letters has become a noun in itself which does not describe the same thing as the string of words describes, so though we refer to LASER, if we have two sources we shall speak of having two lasers.
Continue readingIt is the end of harvest time.
If you received the letters ‘himnnsy’ in Scrabble, you might think you had been dealt a loser, unless you were second to play and the first word put down before you was ‘groin’. On the other hand ‘harvest’ is full of possibilities, you would stare at the vast array knowing that would not starve for choice as you share the heat with your opponents, just as the pastor demonstrated in his children’s talk today, and when you add a single letter to them the field is fully ripe to harvest. There will be no tares or tears when your turn comes round. But there were two words he did not mention, probably because they were not in line with what he wanted to say today, but do you see them?
Continue readingHave you read your budget commentaries yet? If not, I have no wish to distract you from them.
We read in David Copperfield that Mr. Micawber was waiting for me within the gate, and we went up to his room (top story but one), and cried very much. He solemnly conjured me, I remember, to take warning by his fate; and to observe that if a man had twenty pounds a-year for his income, and spent nineteen pounds nineteen shillings and sixpence, he would be happy, but that if he spent twenty pounds one he would be miserable. After which he borrowed a shilling of me for porter, gave me a written order on Mrs. Micawber for the amount, and put away his pocket-handkerchief, and cheered up.
Continue readingIt had escaped Coco’s notice, but in 2011 EIIR said:
Although we are capable of great acts of kindness, history teaches us that we sometimes need saving from ourselves from our recklessness or our greed. God sent into the world a unique person, neither a philosopher nor a general, important though they are, but a saviour, with the power to forgive.
On the other hand Georg Hegel said:
Continue readingWe were in the Republic when the day came, and even though not on this occasion in a Chambre d’hôtes where Louis XXII had once resided, great consolation was shown towards us, but it was not until subjects of the House of Orange also came for refreshment, rest and repast that in the brotherhood of equality, liberty was granted to cry out:
Continue readingThe BBC have run an analysis ‘Unvaccinated’. It is available for eleven months.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m0019g27/unvaccinated
‘Covid-19 is on the rise again in the UK. After multiple lockdowns and more than 197,000 deaths, experts are warning we’re now entering a fifth wave of the pandemic. So why are around four million adults in the UK still yet to receive a single dose of the vaccine? In this timely, eye-opening investigation Professor Hannah Fry seeks to understand why so many remain unvaccinated against Covid-19.
Continue readingAs summer yields her hidden fruit
And autumn cedes her golden charm
To winter days and frosty nights;
As long hours of aestivation
Through equal days of light and dark
To long shades of hibernation
Do resign; to escrivation
My pen does now with will embarque
To inscribe for you a meet word
To which with good will all shall hark:
For in august tones on a summer day
The new year’s ingression shall not inveigh,
But rather for your health and good essay.
The James Webb pictures have started to be released.
If you know anything about William Blake you will know of his impressive imagination. When you see something like Gerrard Hoffnung’s the Symphony Orchestra you might wonder whether it was inspired by Blake’s last judgement, turned on its head of course. What is the point of this? Well it was Martin’s The Great Day of His Wrath that set me off. It is but a short ride in a fast machine, if you can bear with it.
Continue reading| Now, Zacchaeus was a very little man, and a very little man was he. He climbed up into a sycamore tree, for the Saviour he wanted to see. And when the Saviour passed that way, he looked up in the tree, and said: Now Zacchaeus, you come down, for I’m coming to your house for tea. I am coming to your house for tea. Yes, I am coming. I am coming to your house today for tea. Now Zacchaeus went a very little way and a very little way went he; and when he welcomed Jesus in, some changes we would see. ‘I’ll split my goods in half’, he said; ‘Give one half to the poor; I will pay back what I’ve cheated you and times it all by four!” | Jesus said to him, today salvation has come to your house For the Son of man Has come to seek and save the lost Now, Zacchaeus was a very little man, and a very little man was he. but Jesus who was sent to us came to die on the Roman tree He came to look for those who were lost to find and save them all; and what he did for Zacchaeus he can do for you and me For God so loved the world He gave his Son to come and save us, So believe in him; receive eternal life |
You may have sung Zacchaeus to this tune once or twice before, but if not…
Words: Traditional/Unknown
Music Lambton Whorm Traditional/John Bull
The copyright of this arrangement of the music is held by Stuart Moffatt (© 2022).
The midi file was produced using Noteworthy Composer.
The mp3 was produced using Myriad software.
On NWC Scriptorium