Last Friday I was in Brighton to pick up a new record by the group Public Service Broadcasting (PSB). The band have a unique style that combines historic newsreel, big stories, sweeping soundscapes and interesting lyrics. The band deals with big themes: The race for space, education, the rise and…

I find newspaper obituaries fascinating. Last week I read one about the singer Sixto Rodriguez who had produced a solid body of songs in the 1970s but whose career stalled, leading him to return to construction work, studying philosophy and being involved in local politics. 20 years later a documentary…

(Please note: this article contains plot spoilers!) Barbie and Oppenheimer, two sharply contrasting films, were released on 21st July. The simultaneous release sparked the imagination of cinema goers to such an extent that it became a trend to see the films back-to-back on the same day. This has been credited…

Reading today about preaching in the 18th Century I came across the term “sermon proof’. It is a description of the condition of a congregation when, as a result of hearing the same message presented in the same way, a non-receptive mindset develops. …

I have noticed that friends have been posting pictures of their holiday reading on social media. Some of these lists are full of worthy Christian books (one pastor had even packed my God is in the House to read on the beach!) While I do read Christian books on holiday…

A change is as good as a rest. Last week I attended the Think Conference in London, spending 48 hours luxuriating in the riches of Matthew’s Gospel with Andrew Wilson guiding our thoughts. The event was a bran tub of good things, but one insight was particularly valuable. It started…

About 20 years ago I was asked to preach at a conference on the topic of the holiness of God. I thought long and hard about where to go in scripture for a text. I immediately thought of Isaiah 6 and the thought expressed by the hunchback in the Hunchback…

When Ben Stokes made a daring declaration at 393 for 8 in the first innings of England’s first Ashes Test match it was always going to be a genius move or an act of folly. As it turned out, the failure to take 20 Australian wickets meant defeat rather than…

I have just returned from my latest trip to Latvia. 20th May 2023 was the 30th anniversary of my first trip there. So many things have changed since then. The country has been transformed by reconstruction of its ageing Soviet infrastructure. EU membership has helped fund some of this and…