Any questions?

Been a bit busy this week. However family friends may like to tune into this week's edition of Any Questions? when it is repeated on BBC Radio 4 at 13.15 tomorrow or catch it on the BBC I-player, when it goes up tomorrow morning.

Preachers at the pit

This morning's post brought the latest edition of the Proceedings of the Wesley Historical Society.

I really can recommend an excellent and moving article by Jonathan Fryer, a postgraduate student at Keele University, called "Preachers at the pit".

Jonathan looks at Methodists and the County Durham mining disasters between 1880 and 1909, the year of the West Stanley disaster in which 168 men and boys died.

During and immediately after such large scale disasters Methodist local preachers provided an important spiritual and practical support to the communities devastated by a disaster.

In all four disasters claimed the lives of 622 men and boys (it is the "and boys" phrase in Jonathan's account that gives pause for thought). Methodists played important roles both amongst miners trapped underground and in meeting the needs of the distressed above ground.

Particular attention is paid to the contribution of Primitive Methodists John Wilson and John Johnson, both leading figures in the Durham Miners Association, of which about three quarters of the leadership had Methodist connections.

John Wilson had a "classic" Methodist conversion whilst nursing a hangover. He became a Member of Parliament. On one occasion he was preparing to leave for London when he heard of the Brancepeth disaster. He immediately made his way to the pit and went underground in the clothes that he would have worn in the Commons. The local Wesleyan magazine commented:

"There were many who looked with pride on Mssrs Wilson and Johnson as each day they returned from the pit with black faces and dishevelled appearance"

However the work was not without difficulty and Jonathan records the pettiness of some sections of the Anglican clergy.

Many of the people actually trapped underground were Methodists themselves. Four Methodist miners prepared for death by holding a prayer meeting, with there bodies recovered in a kneeling position.

Jonathan's short paper is well worth a read and a useful reminder of where Methodism came from and provides an explanation for the unique ability of some Methodists to combine social action with Evangelical theology.

Swine flu gets closer and closer

A few weeks ago I was on a telephone conference about swine flu when someone mentioned an outbreak in Birmingham not far from my son's school.

Since then the count has been steadily rising with several schools in the area closed as the infection spreads. My daughter's school now has couple of suspected cases.

I assume its only a matter of time before a member of the family goes down. If that happens I'll have all the time in the world to blog as my client won't want me on site until it has cleared up!

Early in April I posted some advice on how churches should prepare for an outbreak. My thoughts may be worth reading, they are based on advice I have given to several organisations on a professional basis. You can find the main item here. Or put "swine flu" in the blog's search box.

Citizenship scam at Methodist Central Hall

A sad story from the Daily Mail about Chinese immigrants being fooled by a bogus citizenship ceremony at Westminster Methodist Central Hall. It is worth recognising what a wonderful country we have when something as nasty as this happens to people wanting to be part of it. There is no evidence that the Central Hall management acting in anything other than good faith, as did many others, including the victims.

A criminal gang staged a bogus British citizenship ceremony - complete with a fake Home Secretary - in the heart of Westminster as part of a scam to con Chinese immigrants, a court heard today.

Xiang Li, 29, admitted being part of the gang, which hired a film crew and actors to play the Home Secretary, immigration officials, security guards and members of the audience to convince those who attended it was genuine.

The ceremony took place on December 7 2007 at the Central Methodist Hall, just yards from the Houses of Parliament and the new Supreme Court

Surprise, surprise, Obama is the anti-Christ

One of the downsides of being a Methodist blogger is that all sorts of people send unsolicited material.

In recent days I have been spammed a whole series of tracts full of "woes" and "sodomy" which "prove" that Barack Obama is the foretold anti-Christ. (Can't help feeling I've heard similar nonsense about Stalin, the Ayatollah, Jacques Delores, Tony Blair, Gorbochov and many more)

Apparently one of the clinching arguments is that Obama was originally a subject of Her Majesty the Queen, so that's us Brits in the doghouse of US end time lunacy.

Don't these nutters have better things to do with their time?

Action for Children to freeze pay?

Action for Children, formerly the Methodist run National Children's Home may be freezing staff pay this year. Clearly, we must do more fundraising.

An urban myth that will fuel race hatred

I'm sure this item from the Mail on Sunday, repeated I notice in several papers, is an urban myth. Basically they say (mixing Black Country accents with Brummie accents) that the Taliban in Afghanistan is being assisted by people so Brummie that they have Aston Villa tattoos.

Now sadly I have been to several home fixtures at Villa Park. The one thing I did notice is how few ethnic minority people there were amongst the crowd. So I am spetical about reports of Villa supporters fighting for the Taliban. I supect this report is intending to stir up hatred of one section of the community, and I'm sure it is not Villa fans.

Talking up the Church

Several peple, including my daughter, have drawn this to my attention. Worth a listen.

Our present duty

I was having a bit of a tidy up yesterday and came across the sort of document that non-conformist Evangelicals such as myself rarely read.

Frank Weston, the Bishop of Zanzibar from 1908 to his death in 1924 was no friend of non-conformity. In fact he was a leading Anglo-Catholic who opposed working with Protestant denominations on the mission field.

By 1923 Anglo-Catholics apparently had great hopes of their growing influence on the Church of England.

Frank Weston, fresh from his work in Zanzibar attended an Anglo-Catholic Congress and gave the sort of speech which made people sit up and take note.

Like many prophets he was afraid that the battles won of yesteryear were leading people to become smug and complacent.

His sermon, entitled, Our Present Duty (and now I see available online) could, with a slight change of ecclesiastical language, refer to almost any expression of Christianity which lives on past glories and present comfort.

The final paragraph was printed as a card and hung in many a church porch. It would be interesting to know if any survive.

Just read this final paragraph to understand the power of what Weston was promoting:

There then, as I conceive it, is your present duty; and I beg you, brethren, as you love the Lord Jesus, consider that it is at least possible that this is the new light that the Congress was to bring to us.

You have got your Mass, you have got your Altar, you have begun to get your Tabernacle.

Now go out into the highways and hedges where not even the Bishops will try to hinder you.

Go out and look for Jesus in the ragged, in the naked, in the oppressed and sweated, in those who have lost hope, in those who are struggling to make good.

Look for Jesus.

And when you see him, gird yourselves with his towel and try to wash their feet.

A special day - well for me at any rate

It only seems a few weeks ago that I started using a bus pass.

I was a bit disappointed - even offended - that on the first occasion I used it, the driver didn't say something like "Look here sonny, you can get yourself into a lot of trouble pretending to be a senior citizen."

Well that was exactly one year ago today

As I was rooting around yesterday I found this charming little picture of me in a pram and thought it worth an airing to celebrate another year. I think this must have been taken in the winter of 1948/49. The coat had probably been put together by my mother or refurbished from a previous user - wartime rationing was still the rule and clothes were in short supply.

Readers in Hackney will be interested to know that it was taken by a photographer from Barbara's Studios at 140 Morning Lane, London, E9. I think the studios closed down several years ago!

West Brom Building Society - an accident waiting to happen

It is a big and worrying story around these parts. The West Bromwich Building Society is in trouble.

Although this has come as something of a surprise to the financial pundits, regular readers of this blog have been aware of the WBBS's problems since April of last year.

Then I commented:

"Expecting the poorest in society to be the foundation for a credit pyramid is an accident waiting to happen.

"Some lenders, including I noticed the West Bromwich Building Society, make great play of "self certificated" mortgages, "110%" mortgages and helping people with poor credit records. Encouraging people on low and uncertain incomes to take out huge mortgages to house themselves verges on the wicked."

Was it O'Kelly?

Those who know my fascination with Methodist history will understand why I am excited by this item from Firehouse.com a US fire and safety site. The idea that O'Kelly went so far as to burn down the vainglorious Cokesbury College in Maryland - named after the first Bishops Francis Asbury and Thomas Coke - places a lot of Asbury's subsequent correspondence about O'Kelly into context.

Personally I suspect a raiding party of British Methodists sent over by the British Connexion. John Wesley was appalled when the American superintendents became "Bishops" and then named the college after themselves.

We must scrap the list system for the Euro poll

Ever since the very first direct elections to the European Parliament, way back in 1979 and at five years intervals ever since, the Monday after a European Election has always been a little odd for me.

Of the seven elections since 1979 I have fought four and been an agent on the fifth. In 1989 I lost by just 2,000 votes amongst 250,000 votes cast. In the morning I was being cheered to the rafters for an heroic defeat, in the afternoon I was helping police diffuse a hostage situation after a member of our church broke into a local day nursery and threatened her own children.

Five years later, in 1994, I was the toast of the country having defeated the leader of the Conservative Group in the European Parliament. Five years after that, I faced the desolation of knowing that I had been comprehensively shafted by elements of my own party determined that no one of my ideological perspective would hold office again.

A mixture of bitter sweet memories that always will make the day special for me at least.

Like other Labour party members I was desperately upset at the results from Thursday's polls.

During the controversy that raged about the proposed electoral system that was bought in for the 1999 elections, many of us pointed out that the peculiarities of the regional list system, combined with the D'Hondt formula would inevitably open the way for crack pots, party favourites and extremists. The results of the 2009 elections show just how accurate this prediction was.

I well remember a particularly ill informed members of the Methodist Church's own public affairs unit - without bothering to first speak with any Methodist MEPs - say what a wonderful system was about to be introduced: it would enable the parties to increase the representation of ethnic minorities and women.

Well you only have to look at this year's results to see that the representation of women and ethnic minorities has taken a massive set back. The election of the BNP must mark a particularly unpleasant depth in the success of this project.

When I was working in the European Parliament my continental colleagues were envious of the single member constituency concept. Pop into any national party office and there would be a map with the region or country divided up with specific responsibility allocated.

In my single member constituency I was able to build up a reputation and a profile - not always easy across half a million people - but build it I did. I was not an anonymous party apparatchik, but a real person doing a real job and having a personal relationship with each constituent.

Now I'm happy to argue about the "first past the post" system of allocating seats. Personally I would prefer some form of simple alternative vote which would enable a winner to emerge with the support of 50% of the electorate. That will enable more political diversity but without the over representation of political minorities which is now the result of the regional list system.

I hope that lessons are learnt from this hare brained regional list system and that future elections will be fought on a more mature basis.

Last week's election was an accident waiting to happen. And this was made clear at the time.

Let us hope that in five year's time we can have a turnout and a result of which our democracy can be proud.

Being a Methodist can get you into trouble

Please remember that there are parts of the world where being a member of the Methodist Church can get you into big trouble. We must pray for our brothers and sisters in Figi.

Barry's celebration

At 2.30 pm today I shall be leading the committal service for my brother Barry at a crematorium in Leicester.

Our intention is that it will be a dignified celebration of a life dedicated to proclaiming the Gospel. Barry led a small Christian fellowship, formerly part of the 1970s house church movement. He will be especially remembered for his witness in the heart of Leicester during Saturday shopping time.

We have been touched by the many tributes and messages of support over the last weeks or so. Our sincere thanks to you all.

Yesterday morning our preacher at City Road was Frances Young. She prayed for our family in the time of our bereavement, something I've done for thousands in my work as a local preacher, but thankfully never been so directly the subject of the prayer. It was a great comfort and it reminded me that both my parents continue to enjoy good health, so a blessing to count at a difficult time.

Goodness knows how we will cope with the service, but we have placed it in His hands.

Tonight I will be blogging as usual.