Jude Smith

This happy little typo is stuck to the front door of a local house here. As I delivered Christmas publicity the other day I was in part amused and in part intimidated by the sign. These things are often accompanied by a large hound waiting to eat anything that dare to venture beyond the rubber seal of the letter box. As I've reflected on the last few days, and as I caught the last episode of the BBC Nativity, its all hit home a bit harder. When Mary and Joseph sought somewhere to stay this was the response they got. The BBC producers and directors have hit on something in their sense that Mary and Joseph were too scandalous to receive welcome. And so as John pens; the light had come into the world but the world could not receive Him. Arriving in scandal and misunderstanding the Christ child is told to, well I refer you to the picture. This Christmas, Christ comes to us, still mired with the controversies of those who bear Him into the world. My prayer is that somehow He may

I think I was funnier this morning..

Now normally in my role the word kettle would be used in a sentence that goes something like: "shall we put the kettle on?". However, that would be far too dull to blog about so as you may have gathered this is about 'student' protests and kettling. It seems to me that kettling has to stop. As much because it doesn't work as any issue of human rights. To use a tactic that was I suspect finely honed in dealing with football fans, really is not going to work. Some students broke off the official route because they didn't want to be kettled. As to the violence. Not acceptable or helpful full stop. Unwise but instructive as to an underlying tension. What became clear to me is that we actually have two issues. The media, because it reminds us of our own student days?, will major on tuition fees at higher ed level. But the anger I want to suggest is among those who have already had their EMA cut. EMA helps poorer kids to be subsidised through further educat