Alister mac gille Uidhir

Toy Monkey sitting cuddling a watermelon design cushion.

The Return of Minky, the Learning Monkey. New friends and followers may not be aware of the Adventures of Minky the Learning Monkey. Well, now he's back with a massive 🍉, most concerned about all the tensions in the world and telling us all to 'Kalm the Fudge Dahn'.

The same boy harassed an Iranian girl who'd lost half her family in the Revolution.

The hard right have neither sense nor empathy.

1979 - At school (in England) a fellow pupil, who joined the NF, told me to Foff back to Scotland. I replied: "my ancestors lived all over Britain for a few thousand years before your ancestors arrived - so why don't you F off back to Germany, where the Saxons came from?" He just looked confused.

Pet peeve no.325

There's a special place in Hades for the person who designed mixer taps to be directly over the drain and plug. Really inefficient for draining the basin when you've cleaned your teeth

Painting in cool shades of blue and green. Mary Magdalene stands tall, her head raised and turned looking up to her right

Artwork of the Day (22 July): The Tower [Mary Magdalene, Apostle to the Apostles], by Casey Wait, 21st century

Reminder:

Deliberate targeting of children in conflict is, by definition, and form of genocide

Targeting hospitals and schools is a war crime

Collective punishment is illegal under international law

Banning protest is un-democratic, and a violation of basic rights

Remember folks, when you call them 'grifters' their practically illiterate followers think you mean 'grafters'. They think it's a compliment.

Don't say 'grifter', say 'freeloading crook'

The Supreme Court reiterated that Gender Reassignment remains a protected characteristic, and that the protection applies to all transgender people.

The ruling on 'biological sex' was strictly limited to the definition of sex in the EA. The ruling didn't define 'biological'.

However the 'statutory guidance' is challengable on the following grounds:

Misinterpretation of the Supreme Court Ruling

Failure to conduct equality analysis, as required by the PSED

Discrimination of people on the grounds of 'Gender Reassignment' as per the Equality Act

Worse than Section 28. Section 28 only applied to Governing Bodies and not to the teaching profession. But the fear it caused was enough to silence people. This new 'statutory guidance' applies at all levels.

...

And now we have this transphobic government guidance continuing that scientifically illiterate, unkind and awful narrative. At what expense? People's lives?

So angry

This is abhorrent.

The Supreme Court ruling applied only to the definition of sex in the Equality Act. The SC specifically highlighted protection from discrimination for Trans people.

The SC's understanding of 'biological sex' was described by actual biologists as 'scientifically illiterate' ...

So the CofE has finally ditched "Issues in Human Sexuality" and the requirement for ordination candidates to say they agree with it.

So, presumbly everone who successfully candidated for CofE priesthood since 1991 either agreed with it or lied.

That's quite upsetting

Today is St Swithun's Day, and it's been raining all day. You know what that means ...

Absolutely nothing, it's just folklore

I re-introduced this to a congregation just this morning. The Parable, the Art, the artist's story, and a theology of mercy.

Highly recommended

The cover of Henry Martin’s 2021 book, Vincent van golf on the good Samaritan, showing a photograph of the van Gogh’s rendering of Delacroix’s picture of the Good Samaritan

If encountered the Good Samaritan in this morning’s lectionary,
you might enjoy exploring this book,
“Vincent van Gogh and the Good Samaritan”

dltbooks.com/titles/2345-...

My response was "Good, thank you" - which got an affirming nod

I'll leave the "went well" to the others. One very experienced Methodist minister (a retired Forces national Chaplain), whose opinion I often value, said it was "suitably uncomfortable".

We had a conversation about Vincent's Starry Night, in which the only building not illuminated is the church

@h3nrymartin.bsky.social

Given the lectionary tomorrow is the Good Samaritan, I will be referencing your marvelous book (with credit). I hope I do it, and you, justice.

I have (possibly) invented a Bloody Carmen: like a Bloody Mary but with Gazpacho rather than tomato juice.

Bona lallies!

Harry RAMADAN's!!!
For that great tradition of fish and chips imported to Britain by Portuguese and Jewish immigrants

Satire post staring that the USA was created by 13 territories of undocumented immigrants who declared independence from Great Britain

Reminder:
The founding fathers were the colonists, undocumented immigrants, occupiers, and slave owners.

The USA revolted against Lord North's government of a nation with a constitutional monarch (Geo III) with the help of an Absolute monarch (Louis XVI), to create, in effect, an elected 'monarchy'

Reminder:

Deliberate targeting of children in conflict is genocide

Targeting hospitals and schools is a war crime

Collective punishment is illegal under international law

Regime change is against the Geneva Convention

Banning protest is un-democratic

I've never understood why some people can only see conflicts as binary 'right/wrong' - no nuance, no possibility that both sides are wrong, no idea that there are more than two sides, no idea that nations, governments and populations are different things.

Always step back before you jump in

*prevenient grace*
Bloomin' autocarrot

I meant prevenient grace, of course, but the autocarrot got there first 🙄

I know a joke about preventing grace, but it got there ahead of me

Moment with a minor celebrity: I once shared a stage a former member of Pan's People.

Minor moment with a celebrity: one, in Boots (the chemist) Leighton Williams reached for some toothpaste at the same time as me.

Another day with a numb mouth - this time with 4 stitches in my tongue too. Don't you just love going to the dentist?!