This morning I listened to the radio news to be told about...

Hopsitals in England failing to care adequately for older patients

Roads in England being in a dreadful state due to bad weather

Sex offenders in England and Wales including many under 18.

Notice a bit of the theme here?  All the bad stuff is happening in England (and sometimes Wales).  I need to listen more closely to see if the good stuff is too.  I have a suspicion that maybe it's just any stuff that happens in England.  Maybe the BBC should be renamed the EBC?!

It's a distorted picture for sure...

I have seen older people being neglected in hospital in Scotland

The roads in Glasgow are in an appalling state after two hard winters

I haven't a clue about sex offenders in Scotland because no-one tells us.

I guess the flip side of this is evident in the reporting of the General Synod of the C of E and lack of reporting of the General Assembly of the C of S.  So we hear loads about the C of E tying itself in knots over the questions around who may or may not be ordained or appointed as a bishop and almost zilch about the C of S when it debates similar topics.

Courtesy of the e-news sweep from the BUGB (that's the Baptist Union of England and a bit of Wales, plus three in Scotland and one in Spain) I have been pointed to some reporting on the C of S debates about the ordination of openly gay clergy.   The position is quite simple, they've agreed that those already ordained can carry on and they will go away and think for a couple of years about what next.  Whether that's a helpful decision is another thing, but it's not exactly all that far from the C of E fudges at various times.  I felt it was telling in this report when the minister who was contemplating leaving the Kird said he'd be discussing things with his 'evangelical brothers'... are there no evangelical sisters?  Oh, silly me, they should be making tea not serving as ministers of the Kirk!

sassa frassa rassa university!

So, the person who can fix the glitch isn't in today and "might" be in tomorrow.

Hurrah for my supervisor who said 'well, we'll just have to extend your deadline then' - thank goodness for a teeny bit of common sense.  Medal for Dr Scott methinks.

No, not my thesis (mutter, mutter, mutter) but the book containing one of my essays.  It arrived this morning.

Baptists and the World: Renewing the Vision, edited by John H Y Briggs and Anthony R Cross, is a selection of papers from the Baptist Historical Society Congernece held in Prague in 2008.  The delay in publishing is largley due to the demise of the Paternoster series, and it is great that regent's Park College have taken over the outstanding (i.e. remaining) titles.

I am secretly chuffed that my essay is Chapter 2, following on the heels of the keynote paper.

So there you have it, I am now a published theologian, woo hoo! (In addition to the couple of journal articles I've also had published of course)

Researching for Sunday's sermon, I read the following in a commentary on John 4:

"Jesus came to the fountain as a hunter... He threw a grain before one pigeon that he might catch the whole flock... At the beginning of the conversation he did not make himself known to her, but she first caught sight of a thristy man, then a Jew, then a Rabbi, afterwards a prophet, last of all the Messiah.  She tried to get the better of the thirsty man, she showed dislike of the Jew, she heckled the Rabbi, she was swept off her feet by the prophet, and she adored the Christ."

Ephraem the Syrian cited by J A Findley in The Fourth Gospel and Expository Commentary, London, Epworth, 1956, in turn cited by George R Beasley Murray, Word Commentary John, Waco, Texas, Word Books p66

I think I like it!

So, the Danes have added Marmite to their 'banned substances' list along with Ovaltine, Horlicks and a fair number of breakfast cereals because they contain added vitamins.  What can I say... their loss.

The Guardian online has a nice response here.