The views of the Archbishop of Canterbury on the Iraq war and the ordination of gay bishops: challenges to the exemption of the churches and other religious bodies from the new legislation banning discrimination in employment practices on grounds of sexual orientation.
Frustrating encounter with a central heating insurance company, typical of the impossibility of getting any sense out of private companies.
Why the malicious media attacks on Ulrika Jonsson when reliable witnesses testify to her charm and decency?
Was the government’s public case for joining the Americans in invading and occupying Iraq firmly based on reliable information in its possession, or did the government dress it up, embroider or otherwise misrepresent it in order to gain public support for the war?
Once again I have to say I’m sorry that this is the first new entry in Ephems for several weeks, indeed months. It has taken even my hi-tech son and his arcane skills this amount of time to re-establish the ability to upload fresh material to the web site. However, I’m back at last, hoping I haven’t permanently lost too many previously loyal and regular visitors during the closure.
Just time to scribble a few notes before J. and I go off tomorrow for three weeks on our third cruise — this time to the Mediterranean, the Dardanelles and the Black Sea (including Yalta as in Conference and Odessa as in Steps), stopping off at Istanbul among other places on the way. I’ll try to write a cruise diary on the laptop as we go along and put it on the web site when we get back. The diary of our last, all-too-eventful cruise last year is a reminder of what can easily go wrong during a life on the ocean wave. Better luck this time, we hope.