2 Children’s Mental Health Week Yesterday marked the beginning of Children’s Mental Health Week. For many adults, especially of more senior years, talk of children’s mental health is a fairly new concept. No one talked about it when we were young. Yet how many lives might have been better if it had been? Mental health […]

1 February There are stories in the news of people being arrested at anti-government/ ‘release Navalny’ protests in Russia, and of the arrest of government leaders and others in Myanmar (formerly Burma). They are not isolated incidents, but reflect a pattern found in many countries – and in some cases people are simply arrested and

30 Another recurring question is: ‘when will the schools go back?’ There seem to be different opinions among government advisers about the role played by schools in transmission of the disease. Whilst children are probably not at high risk of contracting it, there seems to be some link between schools being open and increased transmission

29 Vaccines and vaccinations have been in the news a lot lately: how are governments in Britain performing against the targets for vaccinating priority groups; should teachers, police, transport workers and other ‘front line’ staff become priority groups; the development of another vaccine; and the dispute between Astra Zeneca and the European Union. All important

28 In the past couple of days the number of deaths in the UK where Covid-19 appears on the death certificate has passed the 100,000 mark. Every death from whatever cause is sad, as someone who touched the lives of others slips away and becomes a memory rather than a living presence with them (though,

27           Holocaust Memorial Day Two days ago we were marking Burns Night. Behind some of his greatest poems and songs we see the inspiration of the European (and Scottish) Enlightenment, and Revolutionary thinking in in America and France: The Declaration of the Rights of Man, Liberte Egalite Fraternity etc. Then let us pray that

26 ‘Yes, but..’ Two words that seem to sum up quite a lot about life at the moment. The vaccination programme is rolling out, but questions keep being asked about the speed, who should be given priority, the flow of supplies, the effectiveness of current vaccines both in the longer-term and against new variants. With

The Rev Ian Johnson, Minister of the Church of Scotland Linkage in Dumbarton Today marks the end of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, and Burns’ Night. I’m not sure what Burns would have made of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. He could be fairly scathing in his depictions of the Established

Oli Higham, Pastor of Rock Community Church This week we have been reflecting on the theme of Christian Unity.  Perhaps our best example of this is found in God himself.  The Franciscan friar, Richard Rohr says “In the Trinity, the three must be maintained as three and understood as different from one another. Yet the