If your friend came to you and said, “The woman next door is a witch, and her spell is the reason my brother got cancer,” you would not believe him. Would you? We're all civilised nowadays. In 1900, Frank L Baum published a story called “The...
So far, in my posting about Esau, I have concentrated on the case for the defence – Esau’s alleged sinfulness, and God’s choice. And of course it’s very reassuring that God can still “choose”, and certainly use and bless, someone like Jacob. Someone whose life from...
Diana Wynne Jones’ children's fantasy “Howl’s Moving Castle” starts: “In the land of Ingary… it is quite a misfortune to be born the eldest of three. Everyone knows you are the one who will fail first, and worst, if the three of you set out...
This post is a day early, because tomorrow I shall be at a family event in Birmingham. I am finding Facebook, although terrifyingly time-wasting, a source of a lot of innocent fun, gossip and useful information (as well as those pesky cats). (I'm still refusing to...
Greetings on a sad day. International Last night someone in a lorry mowed down and killed eighty-four people who were celebrating Bastille Day in Nice. May God help the bereaved and injured, the security services, politicians and media in France, and anyone in the country who is or...
By the way, it has been pointed out to me that my unscientific recap of Jane Austen-themed works foolishly omitted the film "Clueless", an excellent updated version of "Emma". Including it would have helped to redress the balance away from the otherwise rather dominant "Pride...