Support the demands for the GAGAing order

Private Eye has reported that there have been growing demands for the issue of a "Gagaing order" on the publicity-seeking celebrity known as Lady Gaga.  (Some people have complained that her music drives them gaga.)

This superstar injunction would attempt to shut the chanteuse up for a bit; perhaps it would make her disappear from feature articles and red top newspapers until further notice.  Is this too much to ask?

It is considered to be a matter of genuine concern and in the public interest.  The British public has a right to know a lot less about Lady Gaga and spared the sight of intimate photographs of her wearing weird clothes and sometimes hardly any clothes at all.  Vegetarians and butchers have complained about her outfits made out of meat.  One butcher objected to the outfits because they would have a bad taste. But to be fair they would become very attractive...... to flies.

FC Barcelona triumph over Manchester United at Wembley this evening

FC Barcelona, the Catalan masters, were worthy winners when they beat Man. United at Wembley by three goals to one.  Barcelona were simply too good for the English Premiership Champions.  The standard of football was wonderful and it was great to see a brilliant side win the Champions League trophy with such aplomb.

Barcelona are the best team in Europe, perhaps the best club team in the world.  Some commentators and critics believe that they may be the best team of all time. They have players who are world class with exceptional ability.

Lionel Messi has been praised very highly and crowned as the best player in the world.  Xavi, the team captain, and Iniesta, his magnificent midfield partner, are ranked among the greatest players in world football.

Well done Barca.  Well done Pep Guardiola.  You have shown us the beauty of football.

Lord Hanningfield, you are guilty as charged!

Lord Hanningfield, who had claimed his innocence time and time again, was found guilty earlier today at Chelmsford Crown Court.  He was, evidently, not whiter than white but a liar and a cheat according to the evidence presented by the successful counsel for the prosecution.  His dark deeds have been exposed.

Lord Hanningfield is considering an appeal but the evidence against him seems to be clear.  He falsely claimed for bogus travelling expenses and other funds that he was not entitled to receive under strict government accounting regulations.  There was deliberate fraud.  He was found guilty on all six counts of false accounting.  Essex Police are now investigating his claims for expenses as leader of Essex County Council.

Paul White, Baron Hanningfield, is in disgrace.  He took tax-payers' money wrongly, so that makes him a robber baron.  He robbed from the poor tax-payer to enrich himself.  I have no doubt that he loved his dog and did a lot for charity.

Lord Hanningfield thought that his hard work and years of service entitled him to commit fraud.  He has trotted out the old excuse: "others were doing it."

Some wit has suggested that a ducking in Hanningfield Reservoir should be an appropriate part of his sentence if his appeal fails.

It is tragic that a hard working and highly motivated politician went astray; it seems he became entangled in a web of self deception which corrupted him.

Delectable Dedham Vale - pray day photographs

Last Saturday, when the weather was really beautiful, I spent the day out in Dedham Vale.  It was the day of the annual prayer walk, a pray day.


Psalm 85: 4-5

Blessed are those who dwell in Your house; they are ever praising You.

Blessed are those who strength is in You, who have set their hearts on pilgrimage.

I took photographs, as is my custom.  I hope you like them.  It was a pleasure to be there on such a lovely day.

Dedham Vale is a delectable area of England.  I often reflect on John Bunyan's description of the country of Beulah, "whose air was very sweet and pleasant, the way lying directly through it, they solaced themselves there for a season. Yea, here they heard continually the singing of birds and saw every day the flowers appear in the earth, and heard the voice of the turtle in the land."

" Now as they walked in this land, they had more rejoicing than in parts more remote from the kingdom to which they were bound."

The Jos Crisis in Nigeria

Comments by a Christian friend should have a higher profile.  Please read these comments and then pray for the situation in Jos.

It is sad that wealthy Nigerian churches in the UK have not openly or perhaps quietly raised funds to assist the victims of the Jos crises. However, it will be good for the readers of this blog to understand some fundamental truths about the Jos crises. This is no more a civil/political unrest than the crises in the south-southern Niger-delta regions of Nigeria. The root of this problem is a political war between the original indigenes of the ‘plateau’ (Jos) and migrant core Northern Nigerians who are predominantly Moslems. These core northerners do speak out that the war in Jos is not between Christians and Moslems but a tribal dispute. It is well understood that Moslems in Nigerian would always seek such opportunity to turn to Christian institutions to unleash their anger. This is so because a typical Nigeria Muslim sees any provocation from a non Muslim to be an attack from a Christian. So without an effective control these go overboard in their demonstrations. Therefore at the surface, Nigerian Muslims were ‘killing Jos Christians’ but the reality is a fight between two tribes. It is unfortunate that some gullible church leaders have also seized the opportunity to seek donations from foreign churches falsely in order to divert the money to their private use. I would advise any foreign organisations willing to help the actual victims to go through international organisations with great reputations such as International Fellowship of Evangelical Christian (IFES) with HQ here in the UK. The Nigerian arm of this organisation is the Nigerian Fellowship of Evangelical Students (NIFES) with HQ in this same Jos. NIFES is the second largest national member group in the IFES after the IVF of the USA. During those crises which I understand is continuing, NIFES locally called on all her graduates worldwide (yours sincerely inclusive) to donate money for ‘mercy outreach’ to those villages. They bought large amounts of food items, materials and money, and recruited students and available alumni to physically visit the villages and the people to do ministry amongst them. Foreign Churches and Organisations that might have given money to private local church leaders for this course might have as well enriched some ‘smart’ wolves who are not prepared to lift a single cry to God for those poor people. Ask before you act!

Verses for today and time such as this?

Matthew 10


²⁷ What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs.
  

Luke 8

¹⁷For nothing is secret, that shall not be made manifest; neither any thing hid, that shall not be known and come abroad.

The current privacy laws and gagging orders are unsustainable.  Fornicating footballers who play away from home causing marital mayhem and domestic discord, and who also cloak and dissemble, will be found out.

Thank God for the freedom of the press.  Woe to those who try to suppress the truth and peddle lies plus poisonous rumours.

CS Lewis' house in Risinghurst, near Oxford

On my way home from Oxford I decided to see the home of CS Lewis.  Having read many of his letters and books, I wondered where The Kilns was situated near Headington Quarry.  When I was at Regent's Park College, as a postgraduate student, I met a young lady who was a custodian of CS Lewis' house in Risinghurst.  I recall that she wished to undertake postgraduate studies in apologetics and CS Lewis' thought.

Today I telephoned the number on the gate and spoke to one of the current custodians, who is a member of the CS Lewis Foundation.  I asked permission to take some photographs, gave her my card and expressed a keen interest in the CSL Foundation.  It was a very pleasant May evening and here are the photographs.