Blogs

The decision by the General Synod to reject women bishops has left the Church of England in crisis.

On one side are the great and good of England’s established Church. The Bishop of Exeter, the Rt Rev Michael Langrish, was “strongly” in favour of women being appointed as bishops.

The Bishop states that "Many, right across the Church of England will be feeling stunned. The mood among all Synod members is subdued.”

"The rejection of the measure to enable women to be ordained as bishops will be a cause of disappointment, anxiety and even anger among those who...

It’s very nearly that time of year. The time of year we all start trying to sum-up the year which has gone, trying to make sense of all that went on and by doing so put our minds in a place to tackle the next 12 months. How do you sum-up a year? Look back on your year, what stands out for you? Was it a good year, or a bad one - hard isn’t it?

I'm going to cheat a little here. My 2012 is so tied up in 2011 that I have to start there. During 2011 I had the fortune of meeting a great bloke. I didn’t know it at the time but the meeting was going to be a life-changing meeting....

Leaves whirl off the trees, darkness comes early, the briefly lighter mornings darken too. The sun rises closer to the south, and at noon gets lower every day. A walk through the woods is a walk through lots of leaves, before they start breaking down to leaf litter. The last of the apples come off the trees, a rich cider smell rises, reproaching us for the apples we didn’t pick. I saw a robin, bold and curious, with that intensely sweet song, sitting on the wall in a watery gleam of sun, king in his own territory now the noisy summer visitors have gone. The fallow deer finish their rut,...

In his latest blog, Chris Whitehead, the Exeter Chiefs hooker, reflects on how retirement always looms large for the professional sportsman.

For people who love their jobs, the prospect of retirement is a frightening one and the spectre of how to provide for yourself and your family in retirement is ever-present.

In professional sport, though, it is something that hangs over your head pretty much from the moment you start your career - this must be the only profession in life where you have to find work post-retirement. If I had a pound for every time I have heard...