Last week I heard from survivors of church-based abuse about the delays they’ve faced in having their cases reviewed. We had to update the story this morning because the one review which seemed to be going ahead was returned to square one. churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2024/…

Not a sentence I thought I’d ever read.

On the train to Bologna with Ned Boulting 🏳️‍⚧️’s enthralling book, gearing up to watch stage two of the Tour de France tomorrow

Two views of the same few seconds of today’s stage of the Tour de France, one from the roadside, the other on TV (in which you can see me, briefly, in a yellow t-shirt). Pogacar has attacked on the San Luca climb, Vingegaard has followed, and the crowd is very excited.

On the train to General Synod. Toddler sitting opposite is currently digesting the information, provided by her mother, that they are their way to York, and not New York. The kid seems quite dejected. One sympathises.

Debate on whether the CofE profited from slavery, aired on the pages of the Church Times, has surfaced at Synod. Stephen Lake: "It's not about the amount of money received but principle, and the action of taking human beings and turning them into commodities to be exploited."

Great thread on the possible dynamics of Church-State relations under a Labour government.

Synod coverage in the Church Times being disrupted by a funky insect landing on my laptop screen.

If the C of E is serious about returning to the highest level of sport, a powerful statement would be for the York Synod to include a traditional school sports day. Clergy v laity tug-of-war, three-legged race pairing evangelicals with catholics, a sack race for the bishops, etc.

A kid comes past me on the street, hauling a cart in which an older kid lies in state. “You watching the football?” they ask me. “Who are you supporting?” The kid pulling the cart is Spanish, and quite confident; the other kid is backing England, and reckons they’ll win on pens.

The tweet was just the set-up for a joke about those cloying op-eds on how football has brought us all together, etc, but I was too busy watching the match and forgot about it.

Conspiracy theories are a consequence of our modern assumption that life is rational and ordered. They are a mode of resisting chaos and complexity.

After putting a lot* of thought into my photo of the last edition and inexplicably not receiving any champagne, I’m refusing to get off the sofa for issue 20 of The Fence Magazine. Luckily it’s very funny and the features are good, so I don’t want to get off the sofa anyway. *some

Insight into how splits in the Russian Orthodox Church are playing out at the local level across eastern Europe. nytimes.com/2024/07/17/wor…

Special hopes and prayers for all the Enid Blyton characters receiving their A-level results today, as pictured on the C of E's results day prayer

Visited the Buckingham Palace state rooms with relatives today. They tell you that photography is prohibited. Out of curiosity I asked why, and was told ‘King’s orders’, which didn’t really answer the question.

“This trip was more than a work assignment; it was personal.” Great piece by Kelly Valencia 📻 on her trip to Central America, reporting on the visit of Archbishop of Canterbury premierchristianity.com/features/why-t…

“National renewal needs to be more than just material improvement” says Sir Stephen Timms, at Religion Media Centre lecture this evening at St Bride’s, Fleet St. He pays tribute to faith groups which “stepped up” when the UK was at “rock bottom” during the pandemic.