Category: First Thursday Archive

We met on the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings in Normandy, which perhaps began the final phase of the Second World War- though it must always be remembered that the main burden of the struggle against Hitler’s Fascism was borne by the Soviet Union, which lost some thirteen million of their armed forces killed…

Our first reading was Deuteronomy 7:1 to 9, where the people recently set free from slavery in Egypt are commanded to commit genocide on the inhabitants of Canaan, their new “Promised” Land. It was an injunction faithfully followed by Europeans, who similarly saw themselves as “God’s People”, when they invaded and settled in the Americas…

Debates about Brexit were dominating the UK Parliament, crowding out other matters that are equally important (or perhaps even more so). For example dealing with the issues of knife crime and violence among young people. There have been dissensions over the question of police numbers- whether the reduction in these has led to an increase…