Jude Smith

I'm watching Question Time.. I think I stand by most of what I said before seeing it. I have been so impressed by Bonnie Greer- the artist, the muse.. the creative take on this.. subverting.. Its beautiful.. more Jesuslike than the "Christian" pretensions of Mr Griffin.. Great communicator.. Marvellous..

" If Nick Griffin's appearance on Question Time has the ultimate effect of shaking the 'great' british public free of their political apathy and encourages them to ask probing questions, then his appearance will be a good thing " Thats a quote off the BBC's comment board tonight. I am inclined to agree. The BNP polls at 6%. That may be a protest vote against the mainstream parties, I would suggest that it is a very real sense of disconnection among people who are scared. I wonder if they feel listened to at all. The views of the BNP are deplorable: but their headlines connect more with people than many would like to think. And that is where I feel the Question Time thing hasn't worked. For a start, most people who are being wooed by the BNP don't watch Question Time. Second, all the questions were (as far as I can tell and I confess I haven't seen the whole lot) about his views on race. If they had taken the time to ask about economic ...

I want to blog about The politicisation of the military: how its going to get worse before the election and how when its happened in the past its not been good for anyone. About the debate about the Catholic church where an Archbishop got whopped. I want to comment that if you want to debate about the church being a force for good then you shouldn't invited people from the top of the institution. Institution is rarely a force for good but people who, in spite of that, are faithful and follow the example of Christ probably are. About how life feels like its changed and I feel like I am uncontrollably losing touch with people: and how I don't quite know how to get that back and whether its my fault or I should expect more grace from friends. About how I am preferring X Factor to Strictly this year. About how I really want to recruit a team to this place: about how I feel God is up to something. I would so love to say more but I have to do reading for my MA course which star...

So much going on just now.. I am not finding the space to reflect and write very well at the moment: But I spent a couple of hours out on the very windy Dales today: photos below (or possibly above depending on what the formatting does!)