Blogs

In their newly published letter ‘Who is my Neighbour?’ the Bishops of the Church of England call on us to draw on our deeper consciences as we approach the General Election in May.

In particular they rightly call us to reassess the policies the political parties are offering us in terms of values.

How will this policy impact on the weakest in society? How will this affect future generations? Will this action bring about justice, peace and reconciliation? What makes for the common good? What kind of society do we expect to live in? It seems to me that at this time there are...

A recent scientific report has suggested that 4 out of 9 ‘planetary boundaries’ have been crossed*.

If pushed beyond safe limits, the Earth may become less hospitable for humankind to prosper. In this update on the boundaries, the authors found that climate change, the loss of biosphere integrity (through species extinction, and the loss of genetic and functional diversity), land-system change (for example deforestation), and biochemical flows (such as phosphorus and nitrogen from fertilisers) have passed beyond safe levels. The other five processes relate to ozone depletion, ocean...

Paul Diviani sends New Year message to East Devon residents:

In the darkest, nay, dampest, days of winter, I always feel driven to think positively of the future. It seems so long since 2008 when the financial world changed and with it the world of local Government.

Over the years, we have always been a cautious Council and that has largely paid off when the going got rough. We have protected our frontline services and cut and trimmed our back office requirements. Our satisfaction ratings are the highest they have ever been with the exception of planning – but the latter is...

Let’s be honest, Christmas in Britain today is a messy shambles as a religious occasion.

The original story of an unknown Jewish family struggling with tyrannical life in Roman-occupied Palestine has been almost tinselled to death. Layers of cultural interpretation over two thousand years have brought us to a grossly consumerist ‘celebration’ which is totally soaked with meaningless stress, tat and emptiness. We are already saturated with plastic gifts paid for by debt through plastic money. When gross images of Father Christmas urge us to spend more and more, the red-robed Santa...