davidbeesonrandomviews.blogspot.com
Random Views: February 2015
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Friday, 27 February 2015. JIhadi John and breaking the human bond. It seems that Westerners have flocked to Syria to fight with ISIS – maybe as many as 3500. But the saddest spectacle of all, certainly for anyone in Britain, was the three girls, a sixteen-year old and two of fifteen, who travelled out there last week. Bright, well-adjusted, educated girls, who have left loving and now distraught families behind them. Voluntarily travelling towards a miserable –. And probably short –. Sadly, that isn̵...
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Random Views: June 2015
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Monday, 29 June 2015. Greece and the EU: who's been betrayed by whom? It seems that Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission, feels betrayed by the behaviour of the Greek government. The purpose of a union is to create something that is greater than the sum of its parts. By pulling together, the nations of the European Union agree to work together, giving up some of their individual freedom of action, because they believe that in joint effort they can achieve more. The result is that it ...
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Random Views: January 2015
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Saturday, 31 January 2015. On learning each other's languages. With a passing thought about Quakers. For their tolerance and gentleness, Quakers have always struck me as one of the most attractive faith communities I know. And my admiration has been shared by many down the years. Here, for instance, is an extract from an eighteenth-century account of a visit to a Quaker:. William Penn, in the plain garb of a Quaker. His agreement with Native Americans was unsworn, and unbroken. Amsterdam is a city where ...
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Random Views: Time to "rediscover what it is to be human."
http://davidbeesonrandomviews.blogspot.com/2015/08/time-to-rediscover-what-it-is-to-be.html
Sunday, 2 August 2015. Time to "rediscover what it is to be human.". It’s good to see religious leaders standing up to denounce immorality – especially when for once it isn’t sex they’re talking about. It’s particularly welcome when it is a Christian leader revealing how deeply unchristian David Cameron is, despite his frequent professions of faith. In this instance, the speaker was the bishop of Dover, Trevor Willmott, commenting on the so-called crisis of migrants in Calais. The bishop, talking with th...
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Random Views: A fairy tale with a touch of reality: not sparing the rod, to make the Prince
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Saturday, 1 August 2015. A fairy tale with a touch of reality: not sparing the rod, to make the Prince. Remember all those fairy tales we’d hear as children, with their courageous, handsome princes, who’d suffer a bit (perhaps living as a frog for a while) before everything worked out just fine? It strikes me that adults ought to be able to cope with truer tales of princes and their changing fortunes. I happen to have one right here. I hope you enjoy it. Sadly, the Prince had certain behaviour traits tha...
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Random Views: December 2014
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Wednesday, 31 December 2014. At the end of 2014: a glimmer of hope for 2015? If 2014 had a dominant issue, it would have to be immigration. Citizens of a Christian nation show their compassion. Much of the hostility comes from significant sectors of the working poor, traditionally the natural supporters of the Left, so it too feels pressured to make concessions to views it should be resisting. The attraction of making immigration the issue is that immigrants are generally easily identifiable, whereas the...
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Random Views: April 2015
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Wednesday, 29 April 2015. Cameron's empty gimmick. But might it work? I t would appear that anxiety about the coming British General Election is intensifying in Tory ranks. Let me assure you, based on my many visits to Scotland, and conversations with SNP supporters, that they’re really not that fiendish at all. Indeed, compared to David Cameron and the Tories, they’re positively angelic. None of this has dented Labour’s. It’s a glorious notion. The UK is a nation without a written constitution...Unmade ...
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Random Views: Two stories that deserve to be true. And provide a smile among all the bad news
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Tuesday, 4 August 2015. Two stories that deserve to be true. And provide a smile among all the bad news. It was a pleasure to read about Buzz Aldrin’s expenses claim. For a trip to the moon ($33.31 using a “government spacecraft”). A pleasure and also a relief, in a week dominated by news that is dull (the fabricated crisis over migrants at Calais), depressing (the death of Cilla Black) or both (Calais migrants again). Hence the “good luck, Mr Gorsky” comment from the moon’s surface. Good luck, Mr Gorsky".
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Random Views: Labour: the greatest fun for the greatest number
http://davidbeesonrandomviews.blogspot.com/2015/07/labour-greatest-fun-for-greatest-number.html
Wednesday, 29 July 2015. Labour: the greatest fun for the greatest number. No one’s ever disappointed by the British Conservative Party. It always entirely fulfils expectations, which it has learned to set painfully low. So it generates indifference rather than enthusiasm, shrugs rather than frowns, murmurs of “whatever” rather than cries of “betrayal.”. Labour's way of spreading delight across the political spectrum. YouGov had Corbyn winning over Andy Burnham by 53% to 47%. Another poll, organisati...
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Random Views: September 2014
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Tuesday, 30 September 2014. It just takes a little patience, and a bit more money. A homeowner with a leaking roof called in a man who claimed to be a roofer. 8220;Ah,” said the roofer, “it’ll cost a lot and it’ll take at least a year.”. After grumbling a bit, the homeowner agreed to the terms, even though the sheer cost meant a lot of pain, cancelling a holiday, not entertaining friends, even eating rather less. At the end of the year, the roof was still leaking. He waited six months but no funds showed...
