Events in Downing Street and the Police etc raise questions about today’s standards in public life. Institutional racism and sexism in the Metropolitan Police may be “hang-overs” from a time before society’s attitudes changed, or a reaction again a so-called “woke” agenda. But either way have not been dealt with or even recognised. The old…
Author: The Meeting Place
First Thursday, January 6th, 2022
Summary We discussed the way many societies, when they feel under threat by something they do not fully understand, make a political shift to a more authoritarian, “right-wing” style of government, choosing leaders who claim to be able to simplify and solve problems for them, so avoiding the hard work of analysis which is needed…
Base Christian Communities
The Church of England, it seems, is having a debate with itself about the future of traditional parishes alongside more informal, lay-led worshipping communities: ‘A church without walls’: Anglicanism divided on shift away from tradition | Anglicanism | The Guardian Although the Church vehemently denies abandoning “old-style” and sometimes (though by no means always) ailing…
First Thursday, December 2, 2021
The UK at the moment seems to be treating Asylum seekers as if they are pirates raiding us- perhaps it would be more realistic if we recognised the great compliment being paid to us that people want to come here, for whatever reason. We should stop treating them like dirt, and recognise what it is…
First Thursday, November 11, 2021
We met on Armistice Day, November 11th. In the news was the continuing situation of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe in Iran, her husband’s hunger strike outside the Foreign Office, and the possibility of meetings between UK and Iranian diplomats. Since then, however, there has been little or no progress about her release or that of others detained…
For more than 500 years.
On October 31st 1517, Martin Luther is said to have nailed 95 Theses to the church door at Wittenburg in Germany (although some say he simply sent them to the Archbishop). Those Theses provoked what is known today as the Protestant Reformation. Since the time of Martin Luther’s Ninety-Five Theses Paul’s letters to the Romans…
First Thursday, October 2021
October 7th 2021 Summary Rising world gas prices were the first subject for our discussion. A good deal of blame has been placed on Russia, but that is probably unwarranted. The USA (and some others) are questioning Europe’s dependence on Russia for gas (through the NordStream pipelines), but Europe seems to be wanting to resist…
September 2021 First Thursday and 9.11
First Thursday September 2nd summary The history of Afghanistan explains a good deal of what has recently happened there: for example John Pilger’s article: https://newcoldwar.org/john-pilger-afghanistan-the-great-game-of-smashing-countries/ However his view received a rebuff in another article: https://medium.com/@pitt_bob/john-pilgers-fantasy-history-of-afghanistan-7a53d3c776d3 There is a need to understand histories, but which of us can give the time to the necessary research, especially…
Promoting Polyarchy
Polyarchy?? Oligarchy I recognise, and monarchy, and even anarchy, but who are you? (with apologies to Acts 19:15). The word was (first?) used in the mid-1970s, but “Promoting Polyarchy” is the title of a book published in 1996, written by William I. Robinson, an Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Tennessee. In it…
Universal Basic Income
Recently there has been plenty of discussion about reviving the UK economy after Covid to create new (and “greener”) jobs, especially to “level up” former “Red Wall” parts of the country, and “Build Back Better”. One solution gaining interest and scrutiny is Universal Basic Income, through schemes which guarantee everyone enough for their minimum needs….