‘Ghana was the crime scene’: The country leading the demand for slavery reparations presents three quite different perspectives. The wicked West is perhaps the mostly fondly held in the present age, but that is to disregard the rôle that at least one of those nations played in both the abolition of the trade and slavery itself, though not without much opposition from many who lived in West Africa even until living memory. That of King Tackie Teiko Tsuru II, which is not given the space it rightly deserves in this article, is the least likely to be heard, and most likely to be rejected, but in Coco’s understanding probably much closer to the truth that many would wish to acknowledge. The third view is that which describes the corruption of some of the modern efforts to alleviate some of the poverty, which existed before even the West was involved, by the personal economic interests of organisations involved.
Continue readingFaith
The folly of science
Editors, if not reporters, really should understand the meaning of words but often they seem to mis the point and are happy to quote a putatively authoritative figure even when he speaks out beyond his realm of expertise. It is very easy to do that, speak outside your realm of expertise, as Coco knows only too well, and in professional life must take especial care not to stray into areas which are either forbidden due to a lack of the appropriate piece of (electronic) paper or inappropriate for lack of skill.
Continue readingAugust 2026
Though winter nights are far away
They cannot e’er be kept at bay.
The declination of the sun
Tends toward its end to run.
The summer days, the heat, the light
Are those in which we do delight.
When darkness falls upon the earth,
Yet still we find in it some mirth.
Augustly we prepare for it
The seventh being brightly lit
With joy and light, coffee and cake
We’d gladly join in with the wake*
May this day to you be
A day of warmth and joy;
And may the mercy of the Lord
Be your full and great reward.
*In its broadest sense!
Image: All things new – Mandy Long © 2026
Indulgences
Perhaps Coco may be forgiven for thinking that indulgences had ceased after 31 October 1517 following the posting by Martin Luther of his 95 theses at Wittenberg five hundred years ago, but what do we find? Not only are indulgences still available, there are some who think that even our governments should provide them.
Would you, dear Reader, like permission from your government to break the laws without fine or penalty for four years? You would be free to do whatever you wished, at whatever cost to anyone else, and get away with it. But hold on a moment, if you may obtain such an indulgence from your government, may not another, and another? What then? The other does something that affects, damages and hurts you, and now you have no redress. Is this really a good idea?
Continue readingJesus is King
I have set my king on Zion. Three thoughts on the consequences
Jesus is our God and king
He lived and died new life to bring
He shall return judgement to bring
When the trumpet loud shall ring
Jesus lives and is our king
He who died and rose now reigns
He’ll come again judgement to bring
Upon us all as he ordains
Jesus lives! He is the king
Who gave himself for sin to die.
He shall return judgement to bring
Be ready now, the end is nigh!
- Why do the nations rage, and the people plot a vain thing?
The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against his anointed, saying,
“Let us break their bonds in pieces and cast away their cords from us.”
He who sits in the heavens shall laugh; the Lord shall hold them in derision. Then he shall speak to them in his wrath, and distress them in his deep displeasure:
“Yet I have set my King on my holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree:
The Lord has said to me, ‘You are my son, today I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I will give you the nations for your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron; you shall dash them to pieces like a potter’s vessel.’ ”
Now therefore, be wise, O kings; be instructed, you judges of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little.
Blessed are all those who put their trust in him. ↩︎
Un-Iberian Astrolabe
Coco noted it in a very interesting article about an astrolabe about to be sold at auction:
Courtesy Sotheby’s
Beware of your appetite
It was in a BBC article, Your pictures of Scotland: 10 – 17 April, that the thought was provoked in Coco’s head. The article contains several quite delightful photographs including one of a short-eared owl in flight near Caithness, but it was not this that inflamed Coco’s thoughts.
But rather one of some large mammals in a field. The caption catches the attention:
Travelling through Embo, we came across this scene and wondered… just what was it that someone had fed those horses.
Allister Fraser © 2026
A song for April 2026
When April arose to bring us her help,
Didn’t she know we had run out of kelp?
The salt’s in the sea, the breeze in the air
But kelp is a find if it is anywhere.
Deep in the ocean stramenopiles thrive
Do we not know, they are truly alive
Doing their business, breathing their air
They turn the sun’s light into forests most fair.
When we do find them, they’re dry and forlorn
Looking like daggers on beaches at dawn
Pneumatocysts pop, releasing the air
Which may be much fun for the babe and the bear.
Now what has this kelp to do with your day?
We haven’t so much as an answer to say.
We speak to the sea, the earth and the air
But they do not listen, they have not a care.
When April arose with help on her wing
The kelp on the beaches began to sing
To sing of a day, to sing to the King
Who good gives to all, may he it to you bring.
Two doors
You may know the riddle of the two men at the fork in the road. You are walking along the road and you know that there is a fork, one way of which will lead you to Althringham the other to Seudhampton. You wish to reach Althringham. There is only one signpost but both pointers say Althringham, how do you know which way to go?
Well you wait and hope that someone shall pass who will be able to help you. In due course a man comes along the road. You do not know where he comes from or where is he is going, but you do know that a man from Seudhampton will never the tell the truth, and a man from Althringham will always tell the truth.
Continue readingDavid
No, not king David this time, but Ashforth of whom it has been said:
Continue reading“Consider the ministry. You will have lots of time for reading, and will be able to run your own show by thirty.” Such was the claim made by the Rev. David Ashforth, coordinator of the West London Chaplaincy, an ecumenical student ministry at various colleges in West London (UK), including my own Royal College of Music, in the late 1970s. His hope was that at least a few of us students might consider post-graduate study in theology and possibly ordination. Most would continue in sciences, mining, engineering or as with myself in the arts. David made his appeal at a time when many churches in Western Europe and North American still had buildings and could financially support the staff to run their programmes. There was an inkling however, even then, that things were about to change.
Ken Gray, a recently retired Anglican priest and Cathedral Dean living in Kamloops, BC Canada