The dutiful Queen
The image of Her Majesty the Queen seated alone at the funeral of her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, was one of the most arresting and abiding images of 2021.…
British Empire
Our Platinum Queen — the happiness of the United Kingdom
When we think or speak of the Elizabethan era, our minds turn naturally to the 16th century; to the golden age of peace and prosperity, of art and culture, of global endeavour and naval victories, of Renaissance, Shakespeare, Gloriana, and…
If ‘contested’ monuments, statues and memorials must fall, who shall stand?
The guidance issued by the Church of England in respect of its 'contested heritage' (specifically monuments, statues and monuments relating to the slave trade and/or colonialism) is confusing (to put…
David Lammy and the anti-Empire racism of religious illiteracy
When it transpired recently that thousands of black and Asian soldiers who died fighting for the British Empire had been 'unequally' commemorated in death, the absence of headstones and other…
BBC ‘Songs of Praise’ producer compares ‘Rule, Britannia!’ to the Holocaust
There has been much stuff and nonsense written about the 'Last Night of the Proms' and the BBC's decision to offer only orchestrated versions of 'Rule, Britannia!' and 'Land of…
Queen Victoria statue defaced: #VictoriaMustFall
The mob has now risen against a Queen Victoria statue in Leeds, which is perfectly reasonable considering she once ruled the Empire under whose aegis all those slave-traders flourished and…
Welby in Amritsar — damned if he does; damned if he doesn’t
The Archbishop of Canterbury visited the site of the 1919 Jallianwala Bagh massacre in the Punjabi city of Amritsar. He didn't merely visit it, he prostrated himself very publicly before…
Bishop says Brexit Euro candidates are ‘Traitors to the EU’
The Rt Rev'd Dr Graham Kings is Hon Assistant Bishop & World Mission Adviser in the Diocese of Southwark. He is a Senior Member of St Chad's College, Durham, and…
Darkness and devils: the inescapable framework of Brexit betrayal
"I've been wondering what that special place in hell looks like, for those who promoted #Brexit," tweeted Donald Tusk last week, as he made his State of the UK address…
Hunt pledges UK power and influence to stem global persecution of Christians
As promised in December, Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt has launched his independent review into the persecution of Christians across the globe. Flanked by the Rt Rev'd Philip Mountstephen, Bishop of…
Nigel Biggar on the degeneracy of academic civility
Professor Nigel Biggar has written for the Times: 'Vile abuse is now tolerated in our universities'. He tells us: "The spitting hatred I suffered over my views on empire shows…
Primates' Meeting 2016: separating the Eloi from the Morlocks
Primates’ Meeting, Canterbury: stardate 2016. These are the continuing prophetic voyages of Justin Welby. His continuing mission: to explore strange new reconciliations; to seek out new wine and new…
Non-Christian faith schools are "straining the State educational system to breaking point"
In his Lyndwood Lecture delivered to the Ecclesiastical Law Society last December, former Attorney General Dominic Grieve QC MP made a potent case for the continuing Establishment of the…
Why do bishops flaunt their Socialism but shroud their Conservatism?
When the Archbishop of York was giving media interviews recently to promote his book On Rock or Sand?, he made clear that "the theology of where I am coming…