Consequences

Three weeks ago, I posted about the Bible, and came to the apparent conclusion that, in the last two thousand years, “we’ve learned, most of us, to approve of fun and play, and disapprove of slavery and capital punishment for heresy. In other words, we’ve...

2
0

Visiting a mosque

Almost by chance (thank you Facebook, and my cousin Helen) I learned that last Sunday was Visit My Mosque Day. In February 2016 80 British mosques opened their doors to visitors; this year it was 150. Oddly none of the mosques in Nottingham took part,...

2
0

Sam Gamgee’s choice, from book to film

After last week’s diatribe, I thought I’d go for something lighter and fluffier this week. It hasn’t turned out to be quite as fluffy as hoped, but at least it’s got nothing to do with Donald Trump. It’s generally agreed that on the whole Peter Jackson...

2
0

What we have learned

Here are a few statements that I think all my readers, and indeed almost everyone in Britain would agree with: If you’re ill it’s often a good idea to go to the doctor; Devoting your professional life to improving other people’s lot on earth is...

0
0

Richard Adams

Richard Adams, who died in December aged 96, wrote a surprisingly large number of books. I have only read one of them, Watership Down, which was published in 1972. As everyone knows, it’s a book about rabbits. There are books about animals, and most of them...

4
0

In which I utter platitudes

One of the most telling memes on Facebook in the last few months has been a picture of a row of history books or chronicles: 2014, 2015, We Don’t Talk About This One, 2017, 2018…. For many people, 2016 would be a nice year to forget,...

2
0

O Come All Ye Faithful

(Happy New Year to all readers!) I know, I know, Christmas is over. But before stashing away the decorations, I thought I would just contribute a few thoughts on the great church debate of the festive season, which of course centres round the fourth verse of...

1
0

Nahum Tate

I would like to write a few words about Nahum Tate (1652-1715). The Wikipedia article on him provides some fascinating facts. However, according to this, he is best known for his 1681 adaptation of Shakespeare’s King Lear. This raises an interesting point about the meaning of fame. Adapting...

1
0

Christmas books

As we wander round the shopping centres or do the washing-up, favourite Christmas songs and carols come at our ears from all directions. And every family has its Christmas film and TV traditions. What about books? I am not here talking about Advent reflections, which I...

0
0

This blog one year on

In November 2015 I established this website, and on 19th November I posted the first entry in this blog (https://www.penelopewallace.com/introduction/ ). In it I listed the purposes of the blog as follows:   Publicising my work. If you have already viewed the rest of the site (if...

0
0