Closing the stable door....

In a belated attempt to regain some of the Methodist Church's shreds of good sense and dignity over gambling - lost during the disatorous reign of Racheal Lampard as our self appointed expert on "responsible gambling" - the Methodist Press office issued the following press release today:

Today the Commons Delegated Legislative Committee will review Government proposals to double the stake and the prize money for pub gambling machines. For the first time ever, this would increase the levels of prize money available to casual gamblers to above the level of weekly benefits.

An alliance of nine UK Christian organisations is calling for the Government to heed evidence published yesterday that further undermines the proposals. Their campaign, Fruitless, calls for the Government to rethink the measures. The groups claim that the Government is in danger of breaking its commitment to establish gambling policy on evidence, and to use regulation to minimise problem gambling.

Two reports published by the Gambling Commission on the eve of this crucial Commons vote offer substantial evidence that problem gambling is more prevalent in areas of social deprivation and amongst those who drink heavily or have poor health. This indicates that the proposals, which increase the potential for people to lose money in pub gaming machines, will hit the most vulnerable hardest.

The proposals have been criticised by faith groups, academics and commentators, as the Government has been unable to produce positive evidence to support the move.

David Bradwell, Public Issues Policy Adviser for the British Methodist Church, said; “In the light of the current economic situation and the growing body of evidence it would be irresponsible to increase the stake and prize money for pub gambling machines. We only have to look at the Australian experience to see the potential a poorly regulated gambling industry has to create social problems.

“At this time of over 2 million unemployed and many families facing a difficult financial future it cannot be right to encourage increased gambling amongst the most vulnerable in our society.”

Perhaps someone at Church House should have thought of this problem before we actually promoted "responsible gambling". We owe the thousands of families affected by problem gambling a huge apology - and certainly shouldn't be supping with the gambling "industry".

City Road now on Facebook

Being a PR pro I have to keep up with the latest channels or communication so I've been taking a look at Facebook. In the last couple of days I set up a page for City Road Methodist Church so if anyone with any connection wants to sign up as a "fan" please feel free to do so.

Today I finally found out how networks operate and did a quick search in the West Midlands. I was surprised to find that there were more than 500 people who described themselves as "Christian - Methodists". It was obvious that some were very committed to Christian life but others seemed to be very needy in seeking friendship and joining various dating groups.

I think once I've got the hang of it I'll invite them all to a networking session at the church - why meet someone online when you can meet in person?

Calling all film buffs

Nice little spread today in the Telegraph. There's an exhibition in New York showing how the Bible has influenced film makers. Too far to go but the Telegraph shows 18 of the posters.

At the edge of the NHS (1)

Earlier this week I asked for information about a drug called Sorafenib (Nexavar®).

There was a reason for this: my brother has been diagnosed with primary liver cancer. This is something that worries the whole family - out of my 14 closest maternal relatives 5 have now had some form of liver cancer.

Sorafenib (Nexavar®) is a newly developed drug that works by starving the tumours of blood, slows their growth thus relieving symptoms and prolonging life. This is, to say the least an agonising time.

The obvious next step is for the consultant to sign a prescription so that we can nip down to the pharmacy and start a course of treatment straight away.

Sometimes I read stories of parents in third world countries who have a sick child needing antibiotics. The simple drug that we take for granted may cost someone in a country like Upper Volta the equivalent of a year's salary.

We read the story and give thanks that in Britain we have the National Health Service. Thank goodness we think, nothing could happen like that here.

Not true. Suddenly my brother has reached the limits of NHS care: Sorafenib (Nexavar®) is not available as an NHS drug.

It is currently being evaluated by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence the NHS body responsible for vetting drugs that can be supplied free on the NHS. In the meantime local primary care trusts, theoretically the "commissioners" of health services, can give the go ahead for it to be supplied locally - the so called "post code lottery".

Apparently the PCT where my brother lives take a hard line, and normally don't make exceptions, so there is a real chance the drug will not be supplied free.

Naturally we've looked into having the drug supplied privately. Unfortunately that will set us back £36,000 over a twelve month period, not chicken feed.

Now I'm fairly certain that there are many people with conditions who do have treatment paid for by the NHS that is in excess of £36,000. I don't begrudge this, that is what the NHS is for, its socialism at work. However, just to make sure I know the full facts I have asked the PCT concerned for a breakdown by condition, cost and the standard measures of equality for people in their area receiving treatment in excess of £10,000 per year.

We have put in a request for an "individual case review" (in some areas known as an "exceptional case review"). The consultant has to prove an exceptional case for treatment. Last week was full of phone calls and emails trying to find out what the procedure was.

It wasn't helped when a well meaning but naive "PALS officer" rang to say that they couldn't answer our query last Tuesday "because the person who deals with this is on leave until Monday". Not the sort of thing you want to hear in these circumstances.

I got the distinct impression that persistence is important. I did ask that my original email was forwarded to the Chief Executive and Chair of the PCT concerned. I offered to meet with them as I would be in the vicinity on Friday - I was met by am interim customer services manager who struggled to answer my questions, though did his best, having to disappear back into the office to get answers to my reasonable questions.

Despite the fact that we were discussing my brother's health this meeting was held in the very public reception area which I felt was inappropriate.

Well we now know that the "Individual cases review panel" meets on Tuesday 14 April - which frankly seems to be an age away. Somehow the consultant has to make a "clinical case" for treatment. The panel will not take into account age, sex, gender, sexual orientation, social circumstances, intellect or any number of other factors - it has to be purely "clinical".

But the statistics seem to be against us. 2000 case of liver cancer are diagnosed each year. Across the country's 154 PCTs that means an average of one a month. What can possibly be the clinical cases for giving it to one, rather than the other eleven? It is a completely invidious position for all concerned.

On the basis of treatment at £36,000 each (though with smarter procurement this could surely be brought down?) treating those new cases, were they all to be suitable for treatment, would cost at most £72,000,000 across the whole country.

What little I know about cancer treatments is that they are expensive to start with as the companies seek to recoup their costs and take advantage of their market lead. The clinicians get smarter at prescribing, meaning that survival rates get extended. Other companies will come up with alternatives. What costs £36,000 now will cost a tenth of that in ten years time and be used routinely. Surely it is best to "front load" the initial phase now by using it as often as possible so that clinicians can learn how to make use of the breakthrough?

I note that NICE point out that primary liver cancer is often the result of hepatitis, and alcohol abuse. As a result it is expected that the number of people diagnosed with this form of cancer will increase over the years. I hope this doesn't colour the decision making, either with NICE or with the local PCT. In our family cases, there does seem to be a genetic factor.

What really upsets us is that suddenly we have found that the NHS has an edge that we never thought existed and my brother has now reached it.

Over the coming weeks I will follow this through. I'd certainly be interested to hear from anyone else who is in a similar position.

Thanks to Ian for pulling together this helpful bibliography, which I hope may be of interest to anyone else facing the same dilemma:

Nexavar website

Side effects

Buying online

New Zealand Approves - last Thursday

US approves

China approves

Sunday Times points out NHS resistance - two years ago!

Scientific study

An "individual case" where it was approved

Another case where treatment was approved

If only we lived in Wales....

Going to appeal

NICE procedure

A comment from the Daily Mail

A case of someone who fought back

Mothers' Prayers

My wife and I have recently come across a lovely little corner of Christian expression.

There's a movement, mainly among Roman Catholics, called Mothers' Prayers.

They meet in each others' homes and read together a simple and acceptable liturgy that could easily be used within the fresh expressions of Methodism.

So often when I preach I find afterwards during prayers of ministry that many parents and grandparents are eaten up with pain for their children and grandparents.

'Stop your crying and wipe away your tears. All that you have done for your children will not go unrewarded. They will return from the enemy's land. There is hope for your future. Your children will come back home. I, the Lord, have spoken'.

(Jer 31: 16,17)Good News Bible

Mixed feeling about some good news

I don't think anyone can feel anything other than delighted for Sean Hodgson who was released from prison today following a horrendous miscarriage of justice that continue for 27 years.

My sadness is that a man who became a friend, Harold Williams, from Hereford, who suffered a similar misacarriage, never had the moment when he could walk out of the Court of Appeal a free man. He died shortly before that case went to the Court of Appeal and then I saw at first hand the way in which the legal establishment looked after their own.

Harold was convicted of a murder. It is clear that the police had made up their mind to pursue Harold and no other suspects. Unlike the Sean Hodgson case there was no DNA, or any other forensic evidence, to review.

When Margaret was found bound, gagged, sexually assualted and repeatedly stabbed, every police office in the length and breath of Herefordshire visited the murder scene within hours.

The whole crime scene was contaminated. There were no hair samples, fingerprints, semen stains, or anything else to link Harold with the murder scene.

Harold was convicted purely on circumstantial evidence around the supposed time of death and his inability to provide an alibi for a Friday night that satisfied the jury.

Even the time of death was disputed. Witnesses who said they saw Margaret the day after Harold had supposedly killed her were "encouraged" by police to think again - after all a police doctor had said that the "science" had pin pointed the time of death to the FRiday evening

There is no way that such a prosecution would even been brought today.

I just hope that Hodgson release prompts someone, possibly even the keeper of this dark and miserable secret, to come forward and clear Harold's name. Surely, after all these years they can have thje decency to do that?

Sorafenib Nexavar® - infomation needed urgently

Sorafenib (Nexavar®) is a recently developed drug for the treatment of primary liver cancer. I urgently need more information.

It seeems to be in a "no man's land" between full support by the NHS prescribing watchdog NICE and locally made decisions at primary care level.

Those coming here through bloggers4Labour may be best qualified - feel free to link if some of your readers may have the information we need.

I'm especially interested to hear of any cases in England and Wales where there has been some controversy about this prescription. Please leave a link here or contact me via the email address on the sidebar. As I say, this is urgent. Thanks.

Bless the poor bookies

Times are hard. Last night the Isle of Man based "gambling consultant" Warwick Bartlett sent this heart rending appeal to the London Evening Standard:

Give bookies a hand

"....The betting shops are holding up, but the recession's full effects will take up to a year to work through. The Government's various innovations in gambling have done nothing to help the industry, which is loosing £16 million a year to the Gambling Commission that has been of no benefit to the punter. Ministers now have a fantastic opportunity to create 10,000 jobs by scrapping the tax on betting and bringing off shore bookmakers on shore"

My heart bleeds. In the fairy tale land of Warwick Bartlett recession hit families would be given even more encouragement to enhance their income by spending more time and money on gambling. Surely now is the time to start reducing the number of gambling opportunities?

What a selfish........

Fascinating morality tale from one Simon Jones in today's Sunday Times . Clearly a man who prefers objects to real people. A useful sermon illustration.

A new quote needed for the "rent a quotes"

Today's Sunday Telegraph carries a mildly hysterical article about a European Parliament guide to the use of gender neutral language. A couple of generations ago, when I was a lad, it was rarely a problem for example the Head Teacher in a school was invariably a Head Master.

Needless to say the Telegraph thought this was great story so they looked for a "rent a quote", a role that I must confess to having filled myself on occasions.

However the hapless Telegraph hacks fell upon one Struan Stevenson, a Scottish Conservative MEP who, guess what, described the guidelines as "political correctness gone mad."

If you put the phrase "politcal correctness gone mad" into google it quickly finds 70,000 entries. Clusty is a little more restrained with just under 10,000.

With the European Elections in the offing I suspect that the Tories and other parties of the right will be dragging out this tired old cliche. Surely the time has come for someone to invent a more creative quote.

Incidentally, I've never met anyone who has ever admitted to promoting the concept of "politcal correctness" having only heard the phrase as a negative response to any and everything vaguely grown up.

Gambling on a free lunch

Hats off to David Bradwell, Public Issues Policy Adviser for the British Methodist Church who is opposing the latest proposed victory of the spivs who run Britan's gambling "industry".

Methodism, of course, sadly lost the plot six or seven years ago, when our leadership ended up supporting the recent expansion of gambling, even providing, much to our shame, a fig leaf.

Sadly for David Bradwell, he has little contact or understanding with the way in which the gambling industry lobbies for its profits. They don't put out sternly worded press releases. Far from it, day after day they are working quietly in the background influencing the policy makers and regulators.

One such body is the Gambling Commission which "provides independent advice to government on gambling in Britain". But just how "independent" is the Gambling Commission? How often do they have meetings with the David Bradwells of this world? If they do, David Bradwell, doesn't exactly put his hand in his pocket. Nor does the Methodist Church, his employers.

However the gambling industry is not so reticent. In the year April 2007 to March 2008, the ten commissioners and their staff enjoyed 108 meals paid for by the gambling industry. Somehow, I can't imagine that the gambling industry provided the watercress sandwiches and luke warm tea so beloved of Methodism.

For example on the 27 April 2007 Peter Dean, Tom Kavanagh, Neil Walsh enjoyed lunch with the British Bingo Association.

On the 12 July 2007 Peter Dean, Tom Kavanagh, Roy Penrose, Bob Good had dinner provided by the British Casino Association.

On 1 August 2007 Graham Turner and David Bragg nipped down to Ladbrokes in Rayners Lane for a "working lunch". (Incidently take a careful look at the Labrokes page and see if you can find where it offers the "responsible gambling" link).

Not to be outdone a fortnight later on the 14 August 2007 Bob Good, Keith Morgan and 8 trainee "CMs" slipped out of their Birmingham office, wondered down Broad Street to Grosvenor Casino for a rival "working lunch" As you can see from the casino's website this happy band didn't take the opportunity to point out that "responsible gambling" isn't even mentioned on their site.

Neil Walsh was off to Stirling in bonny Scotland to meet Carlton Bingo for a "working lunch", immediately after the August Bank Holiday, but this was in the days before skype became widely accessible.

Peter Dean managed to squeeze in "lunch" on 11 September (it was not officially a "working lunch") with John Brackenbury the Chair of an organisation called Business in Sport and Leisure apparently a front organisation for the gambling and liquor industries.

October turned out to be a bit of a bumper month, all thanks to just one event over two days. Peter Dean, Tom Kavanagh, Ruth Callaghan, Rachel Lampard, and Jenny Williams enjoyed two lunches and a dinner courtesy of the Reno Nevada based gambling giant Harrahs who funded a conference on "responsible gambling"


Come November 2 we find that Sharon McNair and Hazel Canter need a "catch up meeting" over another working lunch kindly provided by their hosts the British Amusement Catering Trade Association which represents the slot machine trade.

If Bob Good, David Thornton and Peter Kirkbridge had a fireworks party in mind on November 5 they would have had to hurried home from a working lunch at the G Casino in Blackpool.

On November 7 the Gambling Commission go mob handed to lunch with the British Casino Association. Peter Teague, Jenny Williams, Ken Duncan were there as was Bob Good who had met the BCA in July for dinner. They must have a lot to talk about.

But blow me down apparently the BCA had over ordered the food! The very next day Jenny Williams, Peter Teague, Bob Good turned up for seconds and brought with them Tom Kavanagh, Hazel Canter and Peter Dean. How thoughtful.

November was quite a social whirl for the Gambling Commision. John Travers was the guest of the Racing Post at an awards ceremony for the "Bookshop Manager of the Year", Bill Butler had a breakfast provided by PKF and Jenny Williams found time to have breakfast with Project Associates.

There was a bit of a lull in the social whirl in December, but come the New Year, the working lunches began in earnest.

No less that ten Gambling Commissioners and staff made it to the Amusement Trades Exhibition in London on the January 22 2008 for a working lunch: Brian Pomeroy, Jenny Williams, Tom Kavanagh, Nick Tofiluk, Hazel Canter, Ruth Callaghan, Stuart McPhee, James Holdaway, Julia Mackisack and Erica Young. Presumably they all travelled second class from Birmingham?

Commissioner Tom Kavanagh can't get enough of the British Casino Association. Having enjoyed their hospitality in July and November he turned up at their Annual Ball for "dinner and entertainment" as the guest of Gambling Compliance. Now why on earth would a firm like that want to splash out on an independent regulator?

Before January was out yet another Gambling Commission mob handed lunch invite. Eight of them (Andrew Lyman, Bob Good, Andy Turrell, Barry Stone, Chander Kala, Anne Maginnis, Scott Marwick, and Wayne Pearson) have lunch courtesy of Progressive Gaming during a training course on the Endex system. Sadly for this happy band their day out was not to the company's headquarters in Las Vegas but to Oldham.

The collapse of American evangelicalism

Michael Spencer from Kentucky was is described as "a postevangelical reformation Christian in search of a Jesus-shaped spirituality" has made a real wake up call to Evangelicals.

His blog Intermonk seems a bit negative but earlier this week a challenging article appeared on the Christian Science Monitor website and will appear in the printed editions later this week.

As I read his article I can't help feeling that this is one rare instance where the UK is already well ahead of the US. There is no doubt that the "Charismatic Revival" and "Restorationist" period of 20th century British Christianity has left little behind. More poignantly as I look round many Evanglical congregations I recognise that little or no alcohol, no smoking, a healthy diet and the "socialised medicine" of the NHS are really what is keeping the flame alive rather than the proclaimation of the Gospel.

Spencer challenging views are worth reading and for an American seems open minded.

Here is a flavour:

We are on the verge – within 10 years – of a major collapse of evangelical Christianity. This breakdown will follow the deterioration of the mainline Protestant world and it will fundamentally alter the religious and cultural environment in the West.

Within two generations, evangelicalism will be a house deserted of half its occupants. (Between 25 and 35 percent of Americans today are Evangelicals.) In the "Protestant" 20th century, Evangelicals flourished. But they will soon be living in a very secular and religiously antagonistic 21st century.

This collapse will herald the arrival of an anti-Christian chapter of the post-Christian West. Intolerance of Christianity will rise to levels many of us have not believed possible in our lifetimes, and public policy will become hostile toward evangelical Christianity, seeing it as the opponent of the common good.

Millions of Evangelicals will quit. Thousands of ministries will end. Christian media will be reduced, if not eliminated. Many Christian schools will go into rapid decline. I'm convinced the grace and mission of God will reach to the ends of the earth. But the end of evangelicalism as we know it is close. Read more

Communicating with teenagers

I'm the father of three teenage children and know how easy it is to lose credibility with the under 20s. That goes for churches, political parties, businesses and Dads!

I was sent an interesting article this morning by Rod Laird. It focuses very much on the need to create electronic space in which to communicate. Well worth a read for anyone running a church with any members under the age of 50.

Incidentally if you want to experiment with one form of electronic media - sms text messaging, feel free to go onto one of my commercial websites, www.churchcall.co.uk.

Methodism and the coal strike

I read with interest the account given by Arthur Scargill in today's Guardian who led the National Union of Mineworkers during the momentous strike of 1984/1985.

He claims that there were several attempts between the union and the Coal Board management to settle the dispute but these were blocked by the Tory government which was determined to defeat the strikers.

The Tory energy minister at the time, Peter Walker, is quoted by the BBC as saying that no such talks took place.

Walker is wrong. Discussions did take place and the President of the Methodist Conference at the time, Gordon Barrett, worked hard for several days to achieve a settlement.

I had a ringside seat as Gordon tried the torturous role of peace maker. At the time I was working as his press officer at the National Children's Home of which he was Principal and acting as press officer for the Connexion at Westminster Central Hall.

Gordon's Presidential year had started in June 1984 and I think he was genuinely shocked as he made his way around the country and met the bitterness that the strike was engendering. I know he was particularly upset when he heard of Methodist churches that were split on the issue, especially where members of the same congregation found themselves on opposite sides of the picket line - some as strikers, others as working miners or "scabs".

In those days - just 25 years ago - to be President of the Methodist Conference was a status that was readily understood by the public and the media. Methodism had strong roots in most of the mining communities - South Wales, Yorkshire, Staffordshire and the North East.

The Prime Minister of the day, Margaret Thatcher, was a cradle Methodist, though had transferred to the Anglicans. The President of the National Children's Home was George Thomas, recently ennobled as Viscount Tonypandy and the former Speaker of the House of Commons. A recently appointed Vice President of NCH was Len Murray, who stood down as General Secretary of the Trades Union Congress in September 1984. That is a cast of Methodist characters that we could not assemble today.

During the autumn of 1984 Gordon decided to use these connections.

George Thomas arranged for him to meet the Coal Board boss Ian McGregor. Len Murray (through an intermediary because he and Arthur Scargill had a difficult relationship) arranged for Gordon to meet with Arthur. This strand of discussion was all very hush, hush and Gordon never got the public credit for his efforts. In fact I suspect this may have played a major part in scuppering the idea that he should be elevated to the House of Lords.

Over a period of about thee weeks Gordon shuffled backwards and forwards between the two camps. On one occasion Arthur Scargill and Mick McGahey arrived in a taxi at the NCH headquarters in Highbury and we rustled up a breakfast for them.

Gordon felt progress was being made. From what he said I had a feeling that talks were also taking place along a parallel strand. This is not unusual: sometimes participants in a dispute like to develop alibis to enable them to make progress. I did quite a bit of research, including reading, I forget why, an entire six month's supply of The Sun newspapers at their offices in Bouverie Street (this was just pre-Wapping)!

However after a few meetings the whole initiative came to a halt. The miners were keen to talk, the Coal Board was keen to talk. The stumbling block seemed to be the government. By that time they were not prepared to do anything other than settle for unconditional surrender.

Those poor souls only able to claim £52 for their lunch

My heart went out to the staff of Goldman Sachs, one of those firms you hear a lot off but don't really seem to know what they do, as I read this morning's Guardian.

Bless 'em the credit crunch has hit them hard:

This time last year, Goldman Sachs issued a memo to its staff saying lunch should no longer cost more than £52 per person - unless prior permission was obtained. Even more dismally, the bank extended the opening hours of its in-house cafeterias to 9pm, while prohibiting its bankers from claiming expensive meals ordered in to have at their desks. "The maximum reimbursable amount for cafeteria meals has been adjusted to £10 to reflect the cost of a full meal within the firm's cafeteria," said the memo.

Last week I had dinner at a fairly fashionable Covent Garden eaterie and it came out at £26 per person, it was something of a special occasion and not often repeated The evening before I had a wonderful carribean style chicken stew with rice and peas from the Calabash in Ilford for £7! Dinner the following evening at the Spice India in Barking came in at just over £15 - and that included a couple of Cobras.

How on earth does anyone get round to spending more than £52 per head on lunch? And where else can staff reclaim the cost of food from the works canteen - I hope the Inland Revenue have cut out this little story.

However this gives us all a valuable insight into the world that our bankers have inhabitted for the last few years. Never mind those of us who work, save and invest, at the end of the day we are the mugs footing the £52 per head bill.

I know you, I've seen your picture on your blog....

.....well what a boost to an occasionally flagging ego. I was at a function last night, that I will not post about but am very tempted, when someone actually said he know me from the picture on this blog and was an occasional reader! It was Labour blogger Luke Akehurst who now represents the area in which my aunt lived on Hackney Council.

Recognition from the blog has never happened before and probably won't ever again.

"You shouldn't shake the hand of a scab"

It seems impossible to believe but the miners strike started 25 years ago today. I had just been selected as a Labour candidate for the European Parliamentary elections. My patch took in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Cannock and South Staffordshire, all mining areas. In addition I had a string of villages in Shropshire where miners from the mines closed earlier were bussed across to Staffordshire.

I have many memories of that time: the attempt by myself and the President of Methodist Conference to make peace; picketing mines and power stations late into the night; seeing the convoys of police vehicles heading north each Sunday on the M1; reading the outrageous lies in the press about the miners; the anger that NCH colleagues from the mining areas felt about the crisis; the indifference of those enjoying London's financial boom and the anger at those miners who drifted back to work, the "scabs".

During the next twelve months I may record some of those memories on here in more detail.

One incident I do remember vividly was when I was on a campaign "walkabout" in Cannock. I was then, and still am when given the opportunity, an "old style" campaigner who enjoys meeting and greeting in shopping centres and high streets.. I approached a middle aged man, introduced myself and offered him my hand. The gesture was not reciprocated, which is actually quite unusual.

"Sorry," I said, "have I offended you?"

"No", he replied "I am a Labour man through and through but I have my principles."

This puzzled me and I asked why he wouldn't shake my hand.

"You are Labour candidate. You are standing the place of people like Jennie Lee (a former local MP who was married to the legendary Nye Bevan). You shouldn't shake the hand of a scab." At that his eyes filled with tears and he walked away.

That vicious, nasty strike, did so much damage to so many. I find it impossible to now sit back and say - as some do even in the Labour movement - that "Thatcher was good for the country".

Welcoming Poland to our European home.

It has been a great joy in recent years to welcome many young Polish people eager to contribute to the UK's economic expansion. Way back in the 1950s and 1960s many of my school friends in the East End were the children of Poles who had fled Fascism or Communism.

Whilst in the European Parliament I was one of those pointing out that "Europe" should include the states to the east of the Iron Curtain.

So it was with a broad grin that I read the latest doings of a right wing party campaigning against Polish immigration. They have produced a poster headed "The Battle of Britain" and illustrate it with a picture of the iconic Spitfire.

There's just one snag, the picture they chose was of a Spitfire used by a Polish squadron during the actual Battle of Britain - a reminder that Polish pilots helped to defend these shores during our darkest hours.

Underwhelming statement by the churches

I was a bit disappointing that in the midst of the economic recession the leaders of the Baptist, Methodist and United Reform Church could only issue a press release rehearsing the tired arguments about climate change.

Isn't it time to be a little more prophetic?

A break from the pew

Instead of spending Sunday morning in a nice warm church I was on the touchline as the under 15s (which included my younger son) from Tat Bank Road took on the might of Dudley Kingwinsford.

DKs are quite a match at any level and our lads did well in the first half, especially in the mauls and line outs. I was especially proud of a brilliant tackle by my lad. The 47 - 0 scoreline did not do justice to the spirit our lads displayed for much of the match.