Flipping the meaning of Lent
Shrove Tuesday or Pancake Day? The consumerist flip.
How Good is Good Enough for God?
Are we good? Should we decide by comparing ourselves to other people or to God? Is goodness relative or absolute?
Whydunit?
Why does crime fiction fascinate so many people? What might this show us about people's concerns today.
Last Chance Saloon
The Lone Ranger (2013) has been such a flop at the US box-office that critics are heralding the death of the Western. Are these critics…
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
The dwarves have all the best songs. Whether they are singing raucous ditties about smashing Bilbo’s best crockery or low, mournful…
Don't Forget About the Baby
At one time, every parent and child knew all about Nativity plays. Many will have memories and photographs of tea-towel-adorned shepherds,…
Skyfall
M (Judi Dench) is nothing if not pragmatic. Before the opening credits of Skyfall have even rolled, she has allowed not one, but two of her…
A Vogue for Vincent
Vincent Van Gogh is now a solid fixture in our cultural vocabulary. I need only mention sunflowers or a bandaged ear to conjure up his life…
The Writing on the Wall
In The Writing on the Wall, Maggi Dawn sets about doing what John Stott called "double listening" – "it means that we’re called…