Credo - The Times newspaper

On occasion the Credo column of The Times is to me at least worth a read.

Thus todays column  by Melanie McDonagh is interesting;

Approaching its 250th anniversary, the country is still reflexively religious, for all the pains the founding fathers took to avoid an established church. Vance is typical of many Americans in the various stages of his religious trajectory, for this is not just a memoir but an account of his conversion to Catholicism.

He represents a notable recent trend in religious identity in the US. “Roman Catholic churches see a surge of new converts”, The New York Times reported in March. It surveyed the convert numbers in two dozen dioceses: “Each reported a significant jump.” The bishops themselves were puzzled about what is behind it. “Of course, we think the Holy Spirit is,” Cardinal Robert McElroy of Washington said. “But we are kind of stymied.” Obviously, the figures only count the numbers entering, not leaving. Yet it’s a discernible change.

Approaching its 250th anniversary, the country is still reflexively religious, for all the pains the founding fathers took to avoid an established church. Vance is typical of many Americans in the various stages of his religious trajectory, for this is not just a memoir but an account of his conversion to Catholicism.

He represents a notable recent trend in religious identity in the US. “Roman Catholic churches see a surge of new converts”, The New York Times reported in March. It surveyed the convert numbers in two dozen dioceses: “Each reported a significant jump.” The bishops themselves were puzzled about what is behind it. “Of course, we think the Holy Spirit is,” Cardinal Robert McElroy of Washington said. “But we are kind of stymied.” Obviously, the figures only count the numbers entering, not leaving. Yet it’s a discernible change.

Her articled extracted above tends to be supported by the increasing numbers apparentl attending mass in my own Wimbledon parish.

World Cup 2026

 

England winning their first match 4-2 was a great result but overall, is the world cup in the USA, Canada and Mexico an huge success?

Clearly from the point of view of football results time will tell next month although England is on what appears to be a good track thus far.

There are nonetheless many complaints at least in my book about the 2026 World Cup: 

Surely the $1000s required for most for seats is absurdly high for ordinary supporters many of whom come from  third world countries?  I recall securing seats to watch the Olympic women's football finals at Wembley in 2012. USA v Japan as I recall 2012 Olympic Football. Tickets were priced at about £50 and even allowing for inflation would still be affordable for many, Similarly prices at Wembley for AFC promotion to division 1 final as recently as 2025.

Then there is FIFA. Why are so many questions raised about some FIFA management? Is FIFA responsible for the huge prices for seats at the football stadia? 

The three minute breaks for drinks during matches  spoils the flow and is surely unnecessary at least in air conditioned stadia?

The cost of travelling in the USA at least appears to have risen during the FIFA  World Cup. Why? Transport fares for the 2012 Olympics did not alter during the sports at the time so why for the  2026 World Cup, especially as the USA is the richest nation on earth?

Then the number of teams entered to play. There are so many 48 I believe,. so no wonder the games will take weeks to reach the final stage by which time many may have given up watching.

Overall as football fan I am content to watch some matches but suspect that other sport for example Wimbledon Tennis, will soon command more attention.

• Attribution
   

Margate

The above picture was in fact taken at Broadstairs and is of a Charles Dickens commemoration procession which we chanced upon. The photo below is of the closed double Dungeness Nuclear Power stations. 

Also at Dungeness local fisherman have a beautifully arranged fish shop the like of which I had not seen before, also a lunch shack. We enjoyed a fish lunch  in the open air with views over Dungeness towards the sea on one side and the nuclear power plants on the other.

Many memorable moments but the most dangerous  made only by younger brother and myself,was  a long beach walk along the beaches from Margate to Broadstairs where there was a long section of rocks and stones under the cliffs. Thankfully younger brother and I reached Broadstairs without injury.

We were thankful to take the train back to Margate. The journey  and ticket costs.back to Margate illustrated for me at least, how far we had walked.

Overall, an excellent break away for arranging which, many thanks to sister in law Jan

St Georges NHS Hospital Trust

Having my annual infusion for osteoporosis earlier  this week was informative. The bus to St Georges NHS Hospital Tooting was the sensible way to travel there as car parking is difficult. There was little queuing for the infusion and I was treated promptly.

The helpful infusion nurse upon seeing the book I was reading, mentioned that her father was reading the same novel The Predicament by William Boyd. I told her my view that the book was fascinating but probably more apt for male readers than female; but who knows?

The infusion went well and quickly, possibly because one or two other patients may not have turned up which is a waste of NHS time and money. Later I was asked to attend the St Georges Pharmacy receive two weeks supply of vitamin D globules. 

Amazing that the visit to St Georges the supply of the globules and today's visit to the Raynes Park GP surgery were all free of cost to me. 

The doctor at Raynes Park told me that my kidneys were deteriorating  and that this resulted from a number of factors. about which she will liaise with St George's.

The GP who told me that she had a full working today today (Saturday) said that she would  let me know if   the St Georges Rheumatology department  advised on  any further action that I could usefully take, beyond my daily walks over Wimbledon Common.

Fortnum & Masons Tea for Three

Youngest sister very generously provided a tea for three at Fortnum & Masons for mrs maytrees, herself and myself as a birthday present which we enjoyed enormously  earlier this week. The picture above was taken after we had consumed  not only much of the tea but also the top up sandwiches wihch were kindly provided for no extra cost.

Mrs maytrees and I arrived slightly early so were able to enjoy looking at the Fortnum & Masons food and wine shopping areas. Sweet Alice biscuits which I recollect from a visit some 50 years previously are no longer on sale presumably because the manufacturer has disappeared. None the less there were some wonderful  foods, teas, drinks and biscuits, beautifully displayed for sale in the crowded shopping areas.

Some 15 minutes before our high tea was due to commence, we took our seats in the restaurant foyer on the fourth floor. There was a comfortable sofa for us to occupy whilst we waited and an excellent pianist played on the nearby grand piano.

An elegant lady soon came over to guide us in to our table where shortly afterwards we were joined by youngest sister,

The  tea was of course delicious especially as I had opted for the savoury version whereas mrs maytrees and youngest sister had chosen the normal cream tea.

The waitress told me that the large tea room had been opened to celebrate HM Queen Elizabeth's Diamond Jubilee, explaining why last time I had visited the F&M tea room, the venue had been much smaller and on a lower floor.

The tea itself was delicious as one might expect, though the price had risen somewhat since my visit  years ago.

After tea, we walked  through crowded Piccadilly to nearby Hatchards bookshop,  taking the Jubilee line back to London Waterloo, thence home.

 

Maurice and Maralyn

A friend of mrs  maytrees gave me the above as part of a birthday present from her husband and herself a couple of weeks back. 

Thank you Lynette, a very interesting read.  of an exciting true story and quite unforgettable.

The account starts with the  couple buying a suburban house and preparing to live  normal suburban lifestyles. However they fairly quickly become bored  and decide travel for a new life in New Zealand.  They sell their house and use the proceeds to build  and stock  a sailing boat whilst avoiding installing any modern communications instruments such as a radio, on board.

Eventually the voyage commences and the couple travel alone in the Atlantic across to the Pacific Ocean with a view to arriving in New Zealand several months later where Maurice already had new employment organised.

Disaster then strikes when their sailing boat is struck by a whale and despite attempts to prevent  sinking the boat goes down leaving them with a dinghy and raft. Before the boat sinks however the couple were able to store tins of food and water onto the dinghy including a bithday cake which had been brought to celebrate Maralyn's biithday due to take place during their voyage.

The account continues with details of the couple's attempts to survive and the passing by of many ships which failed to spot what must have been a small speck in the sea..

The absorbing account  also details dreadful pain, diarrhea and illnesses affecting the two of them. Their fishing attempts given that the absence of fishing hooks  and their eating of turtles, flying birds as well as fish are set out and are fascinating. Yet when almost faced by death,, salvation occurs..

The book continues with details of their survival; radio and TV appearances and how they felt but the above is sufficient for this blog post leaving any blog reader who is interested, with the task of buyng the book to read the full story.

UK Politics Today

 

Politics in the UK has changed substantially  in recent years though in my view, not for the better.

Reform is a comparatively new political party that people are voting for probably because Nigel Farage and his team have not yet been in full national government. Reform's local government victories meanwhile do not appear to illustrate that they are any better than the more established political parties, as many of  the local councils they now hold are  embroiled in arguments.

The Green Party has altered from being a party principally  concerned with the environment, to being a political  party on the left of Labour. 

Like Reform, the Green's political successes to date have not given the areas  they have  won, any advantages over those previously 'enjoyed'. Like Reform's leader Nigel Farage, the Green's leader, Zack Polanski is embroiled in argument. In the former's case about  failure to declare  promptly, large donations and in the latter's case about non payment of Council Tax over some years.

The Conservative Party has previously had so many issues  of malfeasnce that it was trounced  by the Labour Party in the UK general election some two years ago.

The Lib/Dems seem to me to change their policies from time to time. to suit their political situation, Thus when in power with the Tories they dropped their promise to reform the university student  finance system, though to me, their current leader Sir Ed Davey, is their largest failure given his various non political gimmicks.

Not being Scottish I know nowt about Scottish politics save for their enthusiasm for independence.,They apparently signify that  England should pay them  on independence  rather than the Scots bearing their share of the national debt if/when going alone.

The Labour Party is currently in turmoil. There is as yet no leadership contest but their current leader Sir Keir Starmer is weak having made U-turn after U-turn. Whether Andy Burnham the current mayor of Manchester wins the by-election that a resigning Labour MP has created for him is as yet unclear but that will take some weeks, during which time the grand ship UK will be almost rudderless. 

Currently the Tories in my view are being led by a competent politician  Kemi Badenoch but she will need time to secure more support in the country given her predeccssors' many failings.

Labour is in disasster territory but as the picture above, of the PM visiting AFC Wimbledon illustrates, they did well in the recent local election in Merton having seen off the Lib Dems, possibly assisted by the huge payment received by Merton Council upon selling off their company CHAS,  owned since 1996,for £186m.

Still, other international democracies are suffering their own problems the USA  for example. I hesitate to add the EU which is not actually a democracy though that trading group is undoubtedly suffering..