Jude Smith

Given that I will be so caught up in Royal Wedding joy (sense the irony) nearer the event, I thought I would chuck in my thoughts on AV now.. I'm anti. It seems to me that AV gives an excuse to not reform constituency boundaries which is something which the country needs. It still bases an entire system on constituency MP's, which whilst honourable is actually somehow unworkable.. (its very difficult to be a good constituency MP if you have Government duties: not impossible.. my MP does it but its hard). However my fundamental objection to AV is that its a validation of the notion that we should the least repulsive. Ultimately in AV the middle wins. It becomes safe and dull.. In any kind of tight race it will be the the person who gets most second choices who will win. And that is a triumph of mediocrity. I don't think it bodes well.. I could refer to the era when the Church of England was run by the second choices, second sons who were safe and all that.. We still bear

Its 7.15am, and I'm in the midst of my most productive time of the day. 6.45- 7.30 seems to be my administrative high point just now. I'm wondering what it says about me and life. There's something about working in the dark. There is something about working when no-one else is up. There is something about the space and peace and knowing that very few people will be returning emails at this time of day. And somehow there is a small and sacred space for me where I hear God's whispers more clearly. Perhaps thats the product of all the other factors but there is a closeness in the work I do at this time of day.. The challenge is staying non tired enough to be able to be up this early..