Talkin’ bout My Generation. (blog)

TALKIN’ BOUT OUR GENERATION I have just read the excellent article ‘Friends of a Certain Age’ by Alex Williams who reminds us how much more difficult it is to make and keep new friends as we get older; ‘The days of youthful exploration when life felt like one big blind date, are fading’. If not…

The English Reformation from The Perspective of the Eucharistic Debates upon Holy Communion; Body and Blood or Bread and Wine?

I would like to consider the revisionist historian’s response to two traditional interpretations of the Reformation from the perspective of the sixteenth-century theological debates around the Eucharistic liturgies and their practical application during the first one hundred years of religious reform in England. My assertion is that post Reformation reinterpretations of the nature of the…

Book Review by Stephen Bourke on, Kenneth Fincham and Nicholas Tyacke, Altars Restored: The Changing Face of English Religious Worship, 1547-c.1700, (Oxford, Oxford University Press).

If you have ever sat in an English medieval parish church to enjoy the tranquillity enclosed in those ancient stone walls and thought to yourself, ‘here, at least, is stability’, then think again. Altars Restored by Kenneth Fincham and Nicholas Tyacke is a fascinating survey of religious conflict viewed from the interior of the cathedral,…

Secularism and Religion, Two Sides of One Coin.

As a concept, secularisation generates an enormous chasm for debate, the word itself is difficult to define as it is fluid, ably used in different ways depending on the position or agenda of the user. The sociologist, anthropologist and historian use the term and refer to the concept according to their discipline and area of…

Review. MCDERMOTT’S 2 HOURS Vs. LEVELLERS & OYSTERBAND. ‘BESIEGED’

​  MCDERMOTT’S 2 HOURS Vs. LEVELLERS & OYSTERBAND Besieged Label: On The Fiddle Recordings 12-track CD OTF CD 028F Barcode: 5053760043676 Release Date: 8 February 2019. When writers wax lyrical about the rugged Celtic beauty that came to fruition with The Pogues and Shane MacGowan, they often seem to suggest that time has stood still…

Honest Heron. (poem)

​              Sat……stock…..still Crouched The cold green grass fluttered The stone grey path solid  Sat…… stock….. still Crouched Patiently Waiting Patiently….. patiently Fishing. ….. I had to stare Its’ presence  Inanimate Plumage Unfettered Is it a rock?  Is it an illusion? A reverse reflection  Of submerged silvery solid? I had…

No Fish, No Fishing Today (poem)

The buoys dance a jig out there delighted, like they were the cause of storm the jigged, jagged, broken bounce walls of sea-salt aqua. Wave? Ha! Like something friendly? Wave not,but rally against us all. You cannot tame angry fluid. Not waving, raging. And I so small,  un-laboured boy inconsequential  lounge by my rock pool…

The Brandy Thieves. ‘The Devil’s Wine’ EP Release. (review)

​The Brandy Thieves. Brand new EP ‘The Devil’s Wine’Launch. Soundhouse Leicester. Already renowned as one of the Midland’s best live acts, The Brandy Thieves gypsy rhythms and punk energy, ska grooves and folk storytelling create a sound that is uniquely their own. ‘Raucous’ ‘Infectious’ ‘Enthralling’ ‘Captivating’ and ‘Sweaty’ are just a few of the words…

Lankum: Gig and Album. (review)

There is only one thing I’d rather do more right now than listen to Lankum’s ‘Between Earth and Sky’ and that is go and see them live. Gushing a bit I know, but as someone oft accused of having music tastes severely in the past, my favourite two albums being The Fureys, best of compilation…

Talkin’ bout My Generation. (blog)

‘we lived in a post war landscape while dreaming of walking on the moon’.