Courtesy of BUGB e-news sweep, a couple of things to note.

Firstly a blog to look out for - the blog of the BUGB/URC/Methodist Joint Public Issues Team (JPIT) here.  Why BUGB and not BUS?  Well BUS aren't part of CCTBI and haven't quite got their collective brains around ecumenism yet.  Well, that's to say, they haven't formally.  Whether people in BUGB really have is also debatable.  Anyway, worth a look-see if public issues interest you.

Secondly one to coagulate my blood (blood doens't boil irrespective of what the popular saying may suggest)... BBC staff moving to Salford are evidently so stressed they need a clergyman (sic) to help them, here.  Of course moving is stressful, and of course enforced relocation is more so, and it's great that Auntie Beeb is seeking to offer support to people affected.  I just resent the inference that north (of England) is scary, harsh and foreign.  Salford being the city immediately adjacent to Manchester is a place I know a little and Salford Quays is very upwardly mobile.  No doubt many BBC people will afford to live in the leafy south Manchester suburbs or some of the delightful north Cheshire villages.  Hardship?  Hardly!  I feel for those who must up sticks, leaving behind friends and family, and hope the vicar proves a good investment.  But the implicit south-centrism annoys me (just in case you hadn't noticed).  NW England is a friendly, welcoming place to be, so let's hope folk give it a chance...

Lastly my essays have now been posted.  Hurray.  Now I can concentrate on other equally urgent, and far more pastorally significant, tasks.