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Reflecting on some unforced rhythms

 I have recently reached an exciting milestone with my website/blog: overall, I have had over 5,000 views of the website, with a total of over 1,000 hits on my home page in the past year. My hope is that at least some of the resources I have put there, and the regular (or not-so-regular) blogs I post, are proving worthwhile and inspiring/challenging to at least some of my readers.

So, seeing that led me to wonder what it is that people are drawn to on this website, and what, indeed, leads anyone to read yet one more blog or webpage when bombarded with so many words and so much information all the time?

Of making many books there is no end, and much study wearies the body.

Ecclesiastes 12: 12

 

Most popular blogs

So, what have been the most popular blogs/pages? brexit

Two stand out by a long way:

On seeing my daughter in her wedding dress, with 252 views, and

Brexited, with 231 views.

Esther 1992

 

 

 

 

 

Top ten blogs/pages from the past year (well 11 – the last two had the same number of views):

On seeing my daughter in her wedding dress 252
Brexited 231
Pathways to harm, pathways to protection: a triennial review of Serious Case Reviews 147
Seeking peace, justice and wellbeing: why I believe we should stay in the EU 126
A Sacred Gaze : encountering Jesus through art 119
Fighting terror with terror: a letter to my MP 115
SIDS, restorative justice and big tobacco: why I’m feeling angry 114
Banksy on the mount I: The Beatitudes 101
Banksy on the Mount III: The Lord’s Prayer 100
Daily Meditations around the Advent Wreath 97
To a semi-circle 2: seeking joy 97

 

It’s interesting that this running list encompasses all four elements that I have tried to capture through the Unforced Rhythms website: some personal perspectives as an ordinary person trying to be a good father and husband, and not always getting it right; aspects of social justice and the sorrow I feel with so much of the darkness, violence and greed in our world, particularly the grief that I seemed to share with so many others over the outcome of the EU referendum; elements of my work in child protection and preventing child deaths; and some approaches to contemplative spirituality, particularly Lois’ meditations for Lent and Advent, and my melding of Banksy’s art with Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount.

 

The 100 words featuring most frequently in my top blogs
The 100 words featuring most frequently in my top blogs

 

So, if you are one of those who have found Unforced Rhythms to be helpful, or enjoyed my gentle (or sometimes not so gentle) ramblings, thank you. I will continue to post blogs within all those themes as Lois and I continue to find our way as tentative pilgrims journeying together through life’s ups and downs; rejoicing in the blessings of family and friends, beauty, celebration and rest; and agonising over the injustices, violence and greed we see in our world, and in which we are so often (perhaps inadvertently) a part. And I will hope that, for some at least, these musings may offer some encouragement, hope, and a bit of fun.

If you would like to be informed of future blogs, please do click the link at the bottom of the page to receive email updates whenever a new post is made. And do please feel free to share Unforced Rhythms with others who you think might appreciate it, to comment on any of the blogs, or to feedback any ideas of ways I could improve the website, make it more useful.

‘For those of us who walk the path of contemplation, it is important to see that, while our individual stories are unique and personal, they are shared by us all. It is a relief to see that our own pain, struggle, loss, joy, and victory are woven into the much larger fabric of tall those who seek the face of God.’ – Martin Laird, A sunlit absence

 

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Moving towards a fair, equal and Green Britain

 

It has been really exciting to be at the Green Party conference in Birmingham today. To witness the election of Jonathan Bartley and Caroline Lucas as the new, job-sharing leaders of the party, and to hear an inspiring, hope-filled speech.

It is encouraging to see how far the Green Party has come over recent years, and how robust, just and forward-thinking their policies are.

Lucas and Bartley spoke of the rich heritage of the Quakers in the West Midlands and the Green revolution taking place today. Lucas BartleyThey spoke of the fear and divisions that have been stirred up by the recent referendum, of the destructive nature of unbridled capitalism, of inequalities and injustices. And they spoke of the Green policies that can counteract those: of social justice; inclusion; protecting workers’ rights; a Green Industrial Strategy; climate security; a radical redistribution of both wealth and power; and taking back control.

 

Green politics is about giving people real control – and that means looking forwards not backwards.  

Taking control of our democracy  

Taking control of our railways so they are owned by the public.  

Taking control of the NHS, and keeping it firmly out of private hands  

Taking control of our energy systems, our banking system, our schools, and our communities.  

They belong to all of us and the politics of hope will give all of us control. 

Caroline Lucas

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Time to call for a maximum wage?

A report from the High Pay Centre this morning told us that the bosses of Britain’s biggest companies take home an average of £5.5 million, having seen their incomes rise by 10% during 2015.

This is a travesty that should have us all shouting for justice every bit as much as the travesty of people sleeping on our streets, queuing at food banks or struggling to live on a minimum wage that doesn’t even cover the basics of life.

The median pay of the chief executives of London’s FTSE index 100 firms rose to £4 million, 144 times the median wage of the average British worker (£27,600).

It is obscene, and as George Monbiot put it, ‘high pay is both counterproductive and unnecessary.’[1] To be earning 7 figure salaries cannot count as anything other than greed.

‘The successful bank robber no longer covers his face and leaps over the counter with a sawn-off shotgun. He arrives in a chauffeur-driven car, glides into the lift then saunters into an office at the top of the building. No one stops him.’ – George Monbiot, Guardian 23.1.12

 

But does it really matter?

The answer to this has to be a resounding yes.

 

Last week I reviewed a paper for a journal which, once again, pointed out the links between income inequality and child mortality. This is not just an issue for developing countries – it is a reality in our own, Western bloc.

The impact of income inequality (as measured by the GINI coefficient) on infant mortality in high income countries, has been highlighted in many scientific papers, and is neatly summarised in this figure from The spirit level[2]: those Western countries with the highest income inequality (USA, Portugal, UK, New Zealand) have the highest infant mortality rates, while the Nordic countries and Japan, with far more egalitarian societies have the lowest infant mortality rates. The only exception to this rule seems to be Singapore.

IMR income inequality Spirit level

 

‘a 43 per cent increase in income inequality, which was observed in the UK over the period 1975–2006, would correspond to a 10.6 per cent increase in child mortality for boys and a 12.6 per cent increase for girls.’[3]

 

And the effects are not just in life expectancy. Income inequalities have been shown to be correlated with measures of child wellbeing, mental illness, drug use, obesity, teenage pregnancy, and much more.

 

So perhaps the time has come to speak out and make it clear that we don’t want to live in this kind of society. The idea of a maximum wage is not new, but perhaps it is starting to gain momentum and to be seen as a credible policy that could, perhaps, do as much for restoring justice as the minimum and living wages.

 

 

 

[1] https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/jan/23/george-monbiot-executive-pay-robbery

[2] Wilkinson R, Pickett K. The spirit level. London: Allen Lane; 2009.

[3] Roberta Torre & Mikko Myrskylä (2014) Income inequality and population health: An analysis of panel data for 21 developed countries, 1975–2006, Population Studies,68:1, 1-13, DOI: 10.1080/00324728.2013.856457

[4] http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/11/bernie-sanders-used-to-think-there-should-be-a-maximum-wage/416790/

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The anarchism of the Gospel

The BBC's adaptation of Tolstoy's War and Peace
BBC’s adaptation of Tolstoy’s War and Peace

Giles Fraser’s latest Guardian column on War and Peace is one of his finest yet.

It is a while since I read Tolstoy’s great epic, and I found myself uninspired by the first episode of the BBC’s adaptation of it, but I remember at the time thinking that there was great truth and wisdom in its pages.  Giles Fraser captures this magnificently, pointing out how Tolstoy’s practical, non-violent theology was a threat to both the church and the state.

Giles Fraser“War and Peace is an extended argument for that most foolish of moral wisdom: pacifism”

 

 

With some of my recent blogs and Facebook posts, trying to explore issues of social justice, non-violence and radical hospitality, and through friends around the world who are standing up for similar principles, I have become acutely aware that such a path is often seen as both foolish and threatening.

“Tolstoy reminds us that to be a Christian is to be a fool and a social outcast, that anyone who wishes to follow Christ has to be prepared to die as an enemy of the state, nailed to the cross. It’s a little bit more than a few verses of Shine, Jesus, Shine on a Sunday morning.”

 

I would really encourage you all to read Giles Fraser’s piece:

Tolstoy’s Christian anarchism was a war on both church and state

 

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The pounding waves

IMG_1625b

 

For me, sitting relaxed in a beach-front café, watching the sun set over the Indian Ocean, the fishing boats setting out for the night present an idyllic scene: life in all its richness, there for all to enjoy.

For the stripped-down men, battling their way against the incessant, pounding waves, the reality is so, so different. Night after night the beat goes on. Every four seconds another wave builds , curves, and crashes down, hungrily sucking up the warm salt tide. On and on, a relentless cycle, heedless of the sultry weather, the oppressive thunder, the tranquil beauty.

Give us this day our daily grind.

Continue reading “The pounding waves”

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Dear Pope Francis

I may not, strictly speaking, count myself laudato-si-enone of your ‘flock’. Nevertheless, I thought I would write a response to your recent Encyclical Letter, Laudato Si’[1]. I do this for three reasons: first, because you have addressed this Encyclical not just to members of the Roman Catholic Church, but to ‘every living person on the planet’; second, because the issues you touch on in your Encyclical are so crucial to the wellbeing, hope and survival of our planet – as you put it, we need to ‘acknowledge the appeal, immensity and urgency of the challenge we face’; and finally, because I see, in the clear links you make between care for creation, social justice, and personal spirituality and lifestyle, a strong resonance with my own journey of discovery.

Continue reading “Dear Pope Francis”