Home and Away: Christians facing attack . . .

. . . and lies and misrepresentation and death and being discredited.

From the terrible acts of the IS forces in Iraq to the way that people are conspiring to make smoke so that others will assume there is fire - it's all part of the current trend of attack that is being aimed at Christians as I see it! Fuelled by the aftershocks that are Jimmy Savile, Stuart Hall and Rolf Harris and the desire for revenge ('they need to be made to pay' is an excellent cry until the microscope is turned on us) that puts aside justice and right behaviour and turns 'being famous' into something which legitimises what are in fact wrong acts in themselves!

In Cliff's case it appears that the complaint against him last year and yet it was, in what seems to be a media feast, only now (when the bloke is absent so that they require a warrant) that the 'raid' on his home took place. South Yorkshire and Thames Valley Police 'working with a media outlet' (which at first they denied) booked the media for the raid (not quite in keeping with  the guidance that 'searches must be conducted with due consideration for the property and privacy of the occupier and with no more disturbance than necessary') and had a press statement ready and waiting. Sounds like it was better scripted than an episode of 'The Bill' (and hopefully better than South Yorkshire's previous productions: Hillsborough, the miner's strike and Oh No it's Orgreave!). That said I now see the force are complaining that the BBC 'broke its own editorial rules', something the BBC deny (well they would, wouldn't they?). The Police claim that a BBC reporter (who knew of the investigation and was going to publish regarding it effectively forced their hands and say, in a statement, that:

"The force was reluctant to co-operate but felt that to do otherwise would risk losing any potential evidence, so in the interests of the investigation it was agreed that the reporter would be notified of the date of the house search in return for delaying publication of any of the facts. . . and, contrary to media reports, the decision to involve the BBC was not taken in order to maximise publicity, but to preserve any potential evidence".

In organising the raid as they did we are surely looking at something other than justice - if I didn't know better I would have to ask whether this was more about raising smoke and defamation of character - but if that was so then how can we hope to find the rule of law and integrity maintained as the agency whose duty that is are so negligent? Add to this concern the fact that the issue in question happened some twenty-five years hence, would there really be any physical evidence to be found there? Surely any evidence that remains is in the historic whereabouts of the accused and in conversation with them (or did they expect a wall of photographs of the event to take pride of place over the fireplace?).

Stopped in the street by someone yesterday, the conversation began with, "Oooh, what do you think about Cliff then? People always said he was 'funny' and there's no smoke without fire, is there?" Talk about QED :-(

What is sure is that all, and any claims, relating to child sexual abuse need to be investigated in the right way (and this is not trial by media) and I have a feeling this is not what it should look like. If it is true that the BBC have a hand in this, or have influenced the conduct of investigations, then something needs to be done about them corrupting and influencing the due process of law.

regardless - something's not right here, is it?

Made me laugh: Where'd they go?

This is one of those clips that you just hope has been staged and yet the image of the thick donut eating US Police officer lurks at the back of the mind and applauds!

Tamworth Street Angels - God's love on the streets

I was so immensely proud of all the people who don orange jackets and go out onto the streets of Tamworth to care for those people who need a friend for a variety of reasons (because people are vulnerable and in need of a friend for many reasons - not just because of the popular myth that it's all about alcohol!) for the reasons this letter gives:

Caption Contest - Friday the Thirteenth

Here's one to get the grey cells buzzing (I hope)!

If the mitre fits .....

Tamworth and Democracy in action

Wednesday 16th October sees the Tamworth Assembly Rooms open its doors for a 'Question Time' styled event which will give the people of Tamworth the chance to question a panel made up of local and county Councillors, the local Police Commander and others.

This is a great opportunity for those of us who live in the Tamworth area to get their facts directly from the people who know them and it's a great exercise in democratic government that needs to be applauded and engaged with - so here's something you can email to your friends, groups, school governors and church members:

This event will look at the issue of 'Safer Tamworth’ - something we all have an interest in I'm sure.

Wot - no Green Goddess?

So today, commencing at noon, there will be a four national hour strike by members of our fire services and standing in the gap, as always, will be members of the British forces. They've been training to operate the equipment and understand firefighting and will, I am confident, be doing a good job. Alongside them will be contract workers (generally ex-brigade members) and fire cover will be in place (hopefully adequately).

The strike is about pensions and whatever one feels about people taking any sort of industrial action I have to say that research undertaken some years back showed a correlation between early death and doing this job, for every time the bells go down the life of a firefighter becomes just a little less.

Every time an appliance leaves the station on a shout the potential for injury, death or mental and emotional damage exists.

The Bible tells us that we don't muzzle the ox that treads the grain - if they're doing the job then they get the rewards and I'm sure that no one who has had a house fire, been flooded out or been involved in, or witnessed the horrors of RTAs would begrudge them a good pension for what is all too often a reduced time in retirement.

So today please pray for:

Those who will cover the fire grounds of the strikers and attend shouts in their place

Those who are striking that an equitable solution will be reached, and

Those who today will need the presence of any of our three blue light services (and those who attend)

Pax