JP's Corner of The Blogosphere

I had a wonderful evening yesterday. Following Evensong at Teddy Hall, where my dad was preaching, I enjoyed a quality dinner and hospitality in the SCR. What I really enjoyed about it was the surreal and combination of people; I certainly never expected to be dining with my physics project supervisor and the Bishop of Rochester (Michael Nazir-Ali) at the same time. The conversation flowed and included a very interesting dialogue on Free Speech, which I think I will post about another time. To my delight, dessert in the SCR included the classic combination of port and fruit that posed the question of 'how does one eat that?' In this case, I'm not even sure what the fruit was. It was small and orange, and apparently has a name which "sounds like Syphillis" according to one of those gathered. And yes, that comment was made in front of two vicars and a bishop. It's been very busy recently - hence the lack of posts. Largely this has been down to lots of wo...

I see that the Kaiser Chiefs did well at the Brits this year. Good for them; I quite like their music. However, I have not bought their album, and neither do I plan to. Why? Because I am quite a stickler for the Commandment "do not take God's name in vain". It annoys me when people use "oh my God" as an exclamation and though the song with that title is (irritatingly) catchy I don't get on with it lyrically. To say I find it offensive might be a bit of an exaggeration, but I certainly don't want to endorse it. I guess that in a world of free speech people can sing about what they like. There are doubtless many Christians and Jews who find The Kaiser Chiefs' song offensive, but who just get on with life quietly. But would the reaction be the same if the song was about Mohammed for example, or would we see more extremists inciting murder and burning embassys? The lack of respect for God's name which has developed is quite interesting; no-one...

I had another 'only in the Oxford Bubble' moment on Friday; I was at Choir Dinner and was confronted at dessert (which comes after pudding) by the problem of how to eat a kumquat. The answer, apparently, is whole - and very nice it was too. I was slightly 'under the weather' unfortunately but I didn't let it spoil what turned out to be a superb evening.

I had a quality interlude yesterday morning; Ian's Blog came in to my RSS reader and I noted he was in Starbucks in Oxford. So having confirmed that he was still there I nipped out to see him. It was a great (albeit brief) time and we were both amused by the slightly random way in which the Blogosphere had caused an off-chance meeting. Anyway, Ian had recently been to lunch in Christ Church and commented on how there was much more to Oxford than the shopping streets and buses which meet the eye. This got me thinking; I know that I've posted here before about the randomness of life within the Oxford Bubble (like the time no-one batted an eyelid at the dude with fairy wings) but I feel it's time for me to share a few more thoughts. When I visited Sam in Leeds we were passed in the street by some girls, one of whom proclaimed loudly that "Evolution is s**t". Sam confirmed my suspi...

I went to a fascinating debate at the Oxford Union last night, entitled "Darwin & Humanity: Can we rid the mind of God?". The two speakers were Alister McGrath and Susan Blackmore , and the forum focussed largely on the idea of Memes . One of Richard Dawkins' creations, "Memes are habits, skills, songs, stories, or any other kind of information that is copied from person to person". The concept of God is merely a meme, apparently. The idea, it seems, is that human beings are merely machines who replicate information or 'memes'. To be fair Dr Blackmore did have something of an uphill task given that she had to explain memes before she could infer why they meant we could rid the mind of God - but her argument lacked coherence and was less than convincing. The theory of memes has evidently evolved, leading to a distinction between those who follow 'Dawkins A' (memes can be objects) and those who follow 'Dawkins B' (memes are all in ...

Following my trip last month on The Airline, on which I was told that student discount is only available for Brookes' students I wrote to the Oxford Bus Company, asking why this was the case and enclosing a copy of my NUS card - which is just like the ones issued to Brookes' students. They replied this morning, explaining that the Brookes' discount is due to mutual agreements made with the University, something which they've not managed to acheive with Oxford University at this present time. Fair play, I guess. But then they assume that they can make it all better by informing me that "Senior Citizens travelling on the Airline receive a 50% discount as a result of a government initiative to reimburse coach operators for the difference in fare". A difference in fare compared with what, exactly? And how is their treatment of old people meant to compensate for the lack of student discount? Given that without discount the Airline is somewhat pricey my boycott o...

In some ways I'm quite a fan of the monarchy - I think that Prince Philip and The Queen are both rather cool in their own special way. In that vein I thought this snippet from The Times is worthy of a mention: > Her Majesty and a battle of the bards Ray Davies of the Kinks, who was shot during a mugging in New Orleans last year, was shocked when the Queen told him: “I hope they catch the b****** who shot you.” Davies claimed the Queen said the rude but quite cool thing while he was picking up his CBE insignia at Buckingham Palace, according to GQ magazine. A Buckingham Palace spokesman has denied the quote, saying: “I think it’s highly unlikely she spoke in this manner.” So what did the Queen say? Obviously, as an elder statesman of rock, Davies’s hearing has taken a high-decibel battering over the years, so it must have been something that sounded a bit like “b*****”. “Last bard”, perhaps — the Queen assuming that Davies, as a fairly forthright individual, has had many “run-in...

I read this little snippet on the BBC News page earlier. 'Ex-Transport Secretary Stephen Byers has been cleared of lying to MPs about Railtrack but told to apologise for telling an "untruth".' My initial response is sadly unprintable, but can you believe it? The number one definition for 'untruth' on dictionary.com reads as follows: 'Something untrue; a lie.'. So the little snippet from the BBC could just as easily read 'Ex-Transport Secretary Stephen Byers has been cleared of lying to MPs about Railtrack but told to apologise for telling a lie.' What rubbish. So, Mr Byers was dishonest. Like most of his other comrades. In my book he should be out of a job; plenty of others have forfeited all after lying and I don't see why we should put up with it. Whilst we're on the subject of Railtrack I learned something at the weekend which made my blood boil. You may be aware that Virgin Trains are offering discounted walk-up fares on Sundays at...

I went to a very interesting session at my church this evening at which Simon Ponsonby gave a lecture on “The Holy Spirit and Justice”. It was thought provoking to say the least and highlighted why as Christians we have a duty to care for the poor and the world around us. As someone said to me afterwards (quoting, I think, William Booth) “Sometimes we get so involved in saving people from the hell of the next world we forget to save them from the hell of this”. I’d highly recommend downloading the MP3 when it gets posted at media.staldates.org.uk over the next couple of days. If you’re a Christian it will challenge you and encourage you to think more about social justice and social action. If you’re not a Christian it might make you realise that Evangelicals do care about ‘the social Gospel’. Walking home however we came across someone selling the Big Issue. Spurred on by what we’d just heard we duly coughed up, only to realise that this wasn’t an official Big Issue seller. Mayb...

I have had a very busy few days but in a slightly paradoxical way I have a few blogworthy non-events to share with you. Let’s start with the opening of the apparently ‘new’ Superdrug store in Oxford. Superdrug is a convenient place to stock up on the essentials such as toothpaste and I needed to pay a visit last Friday (bear with me, this story does have a point). It normally opens fairly early but at 9.10am there were some people waiting outside and the doors were shut. Looking past the sign which gave the opening hours as 8.30 am onwards I noticed that the staff were all stood round inside and there was a banner across the doorway. One of the others waiting outside pointed out the poster advertising the ‘New Look’ store which opened on Friday with 10% off everything. I’m glad the posters were there because otherwise there was nothing to suggest the store was in any way ‘new’. After a minute or two a member of staff popped out to tell the assembled group that “the shop will ope...

I've just enjoyed a very pleasant Formal Dinner in Hall; Greek Salad followed by steak and then cheese and biscuits. Yum. Over the course of the meal however someone basically asked me why, if my faith is so important, do I not talk about it much. Surely, his line went, if it's that great and means that much it's selfish not to share it. Ouch. That got me thinking... So, if you're a believer get on and talk about it. It is definitely something worth sharing and we shouldn't keep it to ourselves. If you're not a believer, why not ask someone who is about their faith.

I was reminded last Wednesday that I had evidently once again forgotten about my frozen beer. Well, fear not, I completed the experiment and having been reminded will now post the 'results'. You'll be pleased to know that it made neither me nor my brother ill, and really it tasted like any other can of beer. Which is disappointing in a way as I had hoped for something more exciting. Well, obviously I didn't hope that it would make me ill, but you know what I mean. The only thing of note is that Carlsberg Special Brew is very strong at 9% and is probably best not consumed on an empty stomach. Not that it did me any harm...

Unfortunately my splurge from G&Ds last week was not recoverable but not to worry. I shall ramble in much the same way again, but without the accompaniment of a Mad Cow coffee (coffee containing a scoop of G&Ds ice-cream. mmmm). It's been a busy couple of weeks - with more work than I'd hoped for and an application form for an MSc to be handed in. I managed it though, but this week could be potentially just as crazy. Last night was great though because it was a joint birthday and I enjoyed a quality evening, enhanced by the presence of many big names who have sadly moved on from life in Oxford. It was awesome. I think I will talk a bit dad's induction at his new church, which some of you may have read a bit about it on Sam's blog. It an amazing occasion, and it was great to see so many friends and family. Afterwards we stood at the church door as a family to meet everyone, including the new parishoners who have been so very welcoming to us all. It was di...

It appears that I am having some technical difficulties with my blog – my last post, which was sent in via email has not appeared and I am not getting notification about comments as I should.   Grrr .   I’ll try and resolve the problems in due course, and see if I can re-post the missing items.

I travelled home at the weekend for my dad's first Sunday service as vicar in his new patch. It was, incidentally, very good. I enjoyed the sermon (even if I am biased) and there were a surprising number of people in church. The atmosphere was generally very friendly, and I really enjoyed the kids' service that came later in the morning. I was going to travel home by train, and attempt to catch up on a few things, such as my blog, en route. However, my plans were scuppered when I discovered that the line was being dug up between Didcot and Oxford (again????) and the replacement bus would have added an unbelievable 90minutes to the overall journey time. So, I went by bus to Gatwick ('The Airline') where I was picked up. It was, it has to be said, very comfortable and I did smile at the slightly cheesy safety video ("we're going to be cruising at 62mph at a height of about 4ft...exits are here....."). However, I was appalled when my request for studen...

I have just completed my first assignment of term, to what I hope has been quite a high standard. I am currently feeling very happy and quite pleased with myself, but I am a little worried that in order to complete all the questions I used up 25 double sided sheets of A4. OK so I have big writing, but even so...it doesn't bode well for when I need to complete two or even three such assignments per week as the term gets underway. As you can imagine, doing the problems has taken up a rather large chunk of my time recently. Now to get back to exam revision for Collections on Friday :S

"...forgive us please, as we fight for this broken world on our knees". That is the passionate cry of Martin Smith - front man of Delirious? - in the song 'Our God Reigns', taken from the new album, The Mission Bell, which I purchased back in December. It's been a while since I talked about music on this blog and I've decided that this track is worthy of a mention. The Mission Bell is very much one of their more overtly Christian albums and perhaps slightly disappointingly it is not as accessible or as raw as some of their earlier work is. But it's really grown on me, and it's musically pretty good. I think that 'Our God Reigns' is a particularly powerful track, despite the inclusion of some cringeworthy lyrics. It successfully combines a reflection of the mess we've made in this world with a poignant, powerful, and joyous reminder that through it all - above all, even - Our God does indeed reign.

Many of you will know that I am not the biggest fan of the Liberal Democrats, and I don't think that Charles Kennedy would make a good PM. But you've got to give credit where it's due, and I respect his honesty in admitting his drink problem. It's also got to be noted that the party did get its best election result under his leadership. My opinion of the party as a whole however has not budged an inch from rock bottom given the way that many of the members are handling the issue and not showing him any support. I think that some of the BBC Have Your Say comments have put it better than I could. "The Lib Dems who have signed against Charles Kennedy have signed their own political death warrants. He led the party to win the most seats they had in years, yet when he admits to a problem, they all want him out. They have no idea about alcoholism if they cannot empathsise with what he has had to do yesterday. Alcoholics are usually the last to know they have a probl...

I read yesterday on the BBC News Page the rather tragic story of a radio show caller who passed away whilst on air. Upon reading the article however I came across this paragraph: "The DJ, concerned when the line went dead, abandoned the show and rushed to the man's house in the Old Swan area". Does anyone else find this bizarre, and - dare I say it - slightly amusing, despite the obvious tragedy of the story?

I have picked up vibes suggesting that "politics and religion" is not a great combination with which to start the year. This is not a dinner party, you know, but I have taken note. I have also noted that the person responsible for such comments has not yet left a greeting under my Happy New Year post... So in racking my brains for something a bit more light hearted I have decided to relay my Christmas shopping experience in Horsham. Before you decide to stop reading now I urge you to give this particular anecdote the benefit of the doubt. It might turn out to be quite amusing. But if it doesn't, please don't sue. So there I was, in Horsham, a town with which I was unfamiliar looking for a Christmas present for my mum. Specifically I was looking for a small two-cup teapot (I might have been at least partially responsible for the breakage of her old one). I'd not had much success in London the day before, but to be fair I'd not devoted much time to it. P...