This will probably only play for a little while as the BBC limits the time programmes are available
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1st collector for BBC iPlayer – The End of God?: A Horizon Guide …
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A friends showed me this earlier.
And as husband to the keeper of the best fed chickens in chickendom, I appreciated the sentiments, and was astounded by the imagination and execution-
Here is how it was described in the Tatton Park programme-
“Horrifyingly beautiful, the installation suggests a new (or perhaps ancient) and menacing presence eminating from the cast iron oven. Coiling, pluming and creeping through the kitchen, the work feels weighty, meaty. The visitor at once is taken by the gorgeousness of the piece itself – the assemblage of ‘common’ feathers presented as something completely exotic – and the shame involved in discarding objects of beauty for a perfunctory dinner.”
This fantastic piece is by artist Kate MccGwire and is made up of feathers of all the different birds that would have been cooked in this oven over the years.
They are coming to get you…
It has been wild here. Strong winds and really heavy rain showers.
Along the Clyde yesterday came a sight that must have once been common in these parts-
It anchored in the Holy Loch, like a thousand of it’s type before-
Before being replaced by paddle and screw…
Regular readers of this blog will know that I earn a living in social work- specifically, I manage mental health services, working mainly with vulnerable adults.
But the whole social work world has been hugely affected by the tragic circumstances of the death of Peter Connelly at the hands of his mother, her partner and a lodger.
And by the media circus that followed it.
It was interesting to hear Sharon Shoesmith, the former director of Social Work services for Haringey who was sacked following political intervention, speaking to a House of Commons Committee looking into the way we protect children.
She made the following points (some of which I had previously described- here.)
In her opening remarks to MPs, Ms Shoesmith said the statistics on child murders were shocking – and had stayed the same for more than 30 years.
The Baby Peter case had led to big changes in children’s social services, she said.
“For children, the impact has been far-reaching. Since 2008 the number coming into care has increased 30%. The number we have subject to a child protection plan has doubled. Yet this wider net seems to have had little impact on the number of children who die.”
She said in the year Peter had died – 2007 – a total of 54 other children in England had also died at the hands of their parents or other family members.
In the decade from 1999 to 2009, 539 children had died in this way, she said.
“These are shocking statistics and statistics that are not known. They are too abhorrent for us to consider,” she said.
She is right, I think, to point to the negative effect of the blame culture on those seeking to protect children.
The simple truth is that scapegoating obscures the real issues, and potentially real solutions.
I was asked to give a shout out about the Scottish Childrens Panel service- who are trying to recruit new members at the moment.
For Scottish based folk who might be looking for a way to volunteer and help protect and support the most vulnerable members of our society- this might be a life changing experience. Literally.
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I am just back from a road trip with a couple of friends- we drove down to Derbyshire in a rattly rented van to fetch a load of pottery equipment bought off ebay. A 7 hour drive each way, with an overnight at Michaela’s mums, and a few pints in the evening.
This included loads of glazes, clay, kiln furniture and not one, but TWO kilns.
Oh- and one of them weighed half a ton.
So there we were, Simon, Paul and I, along with two of Michaela’s uncles (The fantastic Ken and Phil- men who are used to hard work!) faced with a winding garden path, steps and low garden walls. Two previous potential buyers had taken a look and decided that fingers, toes and vertebrae were more valuable than the kiln.
But we were not to be so easily put off!
So about an hour of weedling, scraping, levering and hammering later, it was in the van and on the way up country. The unload was fun too (thanks Andy!)
We just need to empty our cellar of all the accumulated junk, install a new electrical circuit, and then people can get potting.
Not me- I have other gifts.
And anyway- I will be in traction for a few weeks…
Taken in Robin Hood Bay, outside the cottage where we had our honeymoon 20 years ago…
Today is our 20th wedding anniversary.
I can scarcely believe it.
We were young together Michaela and I- she was lovely and kind, I was awkward and mercurial, but she saw something in me that others did not.
And who I am today is formed out of what we became together. Her tolerance, my dreams. My wide horizons, her warm fireplace. Her hospitality, my shyness. My creativity, her nurturing. Her mothering, my fathering.
And lots of love.
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1st collector for BBC News – Professor Stephen Hawking says no Go…
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The news is strangely full of Steven Hawking’s statements about God and the beginning of the universe. It is suggested that he has changed his mind- about the lighting of the fuse of the Big Bang. He has suggested that the origin of the universe did not need a Creator, as it would have happened anyway.
Strange because it seems such an old argument- the old conflict between faith and science. Why on earth is it all news again? Perhaps it relates to product- Hawking has a new book to hawk.
But there is quite a bit of this around at the moment I think. Richard Dawkins has a series on channel 4 trying to evangelise the atheist gospel of purity through enlightened scientific knowledge. Dawkins has an ego the size of France and I am not sure many people are very interested in his ranting- any more than they are interested in Christians who use the same style of rant to propagate their own evangelical crusade, but it does seem strange that there is a renewed interest in these issues.
I wonder if it is at least partly because of the uncharted territory that physical sciences are finding themselves in at present? All those nano particles and Hedron collisions.
So we see God used even by scientist to explain things that they can not (Who remembers the so called ‘God particle?) until they believe that they now CAN understand, and so God is pushed back again. I have heard this kind of God described as ‘The God of the gaps’- he exists only to deal with that which we have not yet fully explored, then we have not more need of him.
But science and religion are like air and water. They do not mix, but are strangely made up of similar molecules. One can contain a little of the other, but only for a while before they are forced apart again.
One deals with how, the other why. One with process, the other with meaning. One with macro and global, the other with micro and personal. One with text books, the other with human encounters.
I am not a scientist- but I need science. And scientists- whether they know it or not- need poets.
Today, Jews celebrate Rosh Hashanah or Jewish New Year. A time when Jews remember Creation.
Before which there was nothing.
And poem was yet to begin.
I love this image- if it is yours, sorry I pinched it- from here…
Ways of life
.
For some life is lived in the measuring
Of every moment
In raising high the cup of experience
And drinking it dry
.
Life too is like a dark forest
A dark green shadow
Oozing out its fungal fingers
Spreading secret spores
Unnoticed
But irrepressible
.
Life may be a blazing flare
Across the stormy night sky
Burning an arc into the retina
Should you look its way
.
Life too is an ember whose glow
Was borrowed by proximity
Given
Then gone
.
Or life may be a bubble
In a clear blue stream
Dancing with the bouncing pebbles
And waltzing among the weeds
.
Then rising
.
Detained briefly by the surface tension
Going through
.
And beyond
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Emily showed me this today- made by some of her friends from school. I think they did a great job!
For people interested in the life of this area, there are a couple of other films in the series- Millport and Tiree, as well as others focussing on the Clyde..
Living in such places is a blessing, but as anyone here will tell you, the real issues are in the making of community- living in peace and harmony with those around you. The beauty of where we live is fantastic, but real life is not about scenery, it is about the more mundane and more human business of making communities work.
this fragile tent 