15 52 weeks ago today the Prime Minister announced restrictions urging over-70s to shield. Little did we realise at that stage what lay ahead. It’s probably as well that we didn’t. If we had known that we’ve have nearly 12 months of severe restrictions on our movement (and the balance made up of not-quite-so-severe […]

You may recall that in August last year there was a massive explosion in the port of Beirut. 80,000 children lost their homes. 700,000 homes were damaged. All this while Covid-19 was rampant. Unemployment and inflation soared. Over 75% of the country’s grain reserves were lost.   Embrace the Middle East (www.embraceme.org), has been supporting

13 This weekend marks the 80th anniversary of the Clydebank Blitz, which also affected neighbouring towns like Dumbarton. As the years go by, there are fewer and fewer people who were present when the devastation was wrought upon the town. In due course it was rebuilt – but was the rebuilt town the same as

12 Yesterday we reflected on what a ‘new normal’ might be like. In recent days we have heard many women express their concerns about safety when out on their own, and the need to address ‘chauvinist’ attitudes to women’s appearance, clothing and what is regarded as appropriate language and behaviour. This comes on top of

11 As we look forward to the easing of Covid-related restrictions, it is easy to talk about getting ‘back to normal’. But will that happen? What does ‘normal’ mean? What kind of ‘normal’ do we want? It is entirely possible that some restrictions like ‘physical distancing’ (and maybe face-coverings in confined places) could be with

10 Some small but welcome moves to ease lockdown restrictions were announced yesterday – being able to meet more people outdoors, engage in more outdoor exercise, more pupils returning to school, and re-opening of places of worship for up to 50 from 26 March. We are still awaiting details from the Church Offices about re-opening

9 The media are full of their reactions to the television interview aired last night. Although the story relates to the royal family, apart from the publicity it could so easily be a story from any family up and down the country, or around the world: someone doesn’t ‘fit in’, someone doesn’t feel accepted, a

8              International Women’s Day I remember a conversation some years ago with a friend, who is a well-qualified biologist, about the preponderance of drakes rather than ducks on a pond or river. Her answer was along the lines of: the females tend to stay in the background, while the males put on a lot of