Personal diary of John Barnabas (aka Barney) Leith
From the monthly archives:
I’ve just returned from a weekend in New York. I flew from London to JFK on Friday and flew back overnight last night (Sunday night-Monday morning).
Midtown Manhattan is much cleaner than I remember from my last visit (which was before 9/11) and it was really wonderful see that amazing city again. I was really there [...]
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This story on the BBC News website shows that the present debate about the Muslim veil has some interesting resonances in English religious history.
The story quotes Steve Tomkins, author of A Short History of Christianity:
In the days of Elizabeth I and James I/VI, the English church was riven by the Puritan controversy. The main [...]
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Young Jacob Weights with his parents
Tom and Vicky stayed last night. Hari and Doug came over for dinner. Jakey was already here – Erica looks after him several days a week so that Hari can get on with her PhD.
Vicky’s expecting, so here she is practising with Jake.
And Tom always makes faces for the camera.
[...]
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Signs of autumn: berries on a tree in next door’s garden.
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According to the Science Daily website:
Whereas brain development during adolescence may initially serve to “safeguard” youth from certain effects of alcohol such as intoxication and [/tag]hangover[/tag], it will also likely make them more vulnerable to the longer-term effects of alcohol. A first-of-its-kind study uses rodents to examine development of acute tolerance to alcohol-induced social impairment [...]
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This post by Nick Seddon on the Civitas website makes some interesting points about the debate about the veil worn by some Muslim women.
First of all, some Muslims have welcomed Jack Straw’s intervention:
…by expressing concerns about the potential divisiveness of the niqab, Mr Straw has evidently spoken on behalf of a wide range of people [...]
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This story on the BBC News website highlights a report by WWF that claims that by 2050 we’ll need two planets to meet global demand at current levels.
Current global consumption levels could result in a large-scale eco-s ystem collapse by the middle of the century, environmental group WWF has warned.
The group’s biannual Living Planet [...]
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The High Commissioner of Singapore couldn’t come to the Baha’i Centre after all. His office called to say that there was a Singaporean government minister in town and that His Excellency couldn’t come round for tea today.
Ah well, it meant I could give more time to finishing my departmental budget for the next financial year. [...]
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“Are you all right?” A lady several steps higher up the escalator turned and looked anxiously down at me as I sprawled over several steps.
“I’m fine, thank you.” I smiled, pretending that it was nothing, pretendgin that my hands weren’t hurting from their contact with the sharp edges of the escalator steps, pretending that my [...]
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The Week of Prayer for World Peace (WPWP) is an annual time in the UK for faith communities and peace organizations to come together to pray for peace.
This year it was the turn of the UK Baha’i community to host the main national WPWP event at the London Inter Faith Centre. The programme [...]
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