Anthony

No issue more important than the single issue

It may not surprise you to learn that the leading anti-Europe party (sorry, Bob) is upset that everyone’s ignoring the European issue. The referendum may not be a fun process when it happens, but it has at least spared us [more of a] nationalism-based election campaign.

Even now

I’ve been enjoying Simon Goldhill’s Love, Sex and Tragedy, and was interested to note that the fourth-century bishop Tertullian decreed, among other things, that women should be veiled (hello burqa) to prevent men looking on them lustfully or their looking on men seductively.

Just another arrow in the quiver for those who believe that Islam is not the problem.

A new pope

We have a new pope – Benedict XVI. Now, what sort of tortured logic will the chiliasts use to work out that he’s the ‘glory of the olives‘?

A serious embarrassment for the Muslim Council of GB

A press launch is disrupted by militants who think voting is unIslamic.

MyDD handles the British elections

A good discussion of the British elections from a US perspective can be found on MyDD.

Circular logic

The dog whistle is being blown particularly hard today, with warnings of race riots if the Tories aren’t elected (I’m paraphrasing) – but, hearteningly for Labour, it may only be the faithful hounds who are listening.

But what do they do?

You don’t look to Sustainable Communities Update for purple prose, but even so, one article in the current edition just defies comprehension. This is what the new Academy for Sustainable Communities will do (from page 12):

ASC will have a wide stakeholder map that will
include people from national, regional and local
government; educators; Sector Skills Councils; the
property and finance sector; major employers;
the community and voluntary sectors; and the
media. It will develop close relationships with
regional stakeholders to build on existing
successful programmes and networks.

Its purpose is to inspire and enable people across
different fields to work together in a coherent,
farsighted approach to creating and renewing
communities. ASC’s long-term goal is to ensure
there are enough skilled and experienced people
working together effectively towards creating
and renewing communities.

Over the coming months, ASC will develop work
programmes that contribute to:

setting a new agenda;
creating the right skill set; and
engaging all parties.

So there we are.

Author: Anthony