On Saturday, 20 December, a sample of residents of Shiqiao, a town near Nanjing, China, received a call from the provincial Statistics Bureau and were asked questions about personal happiness and income and other fascinating stuff. The survey found that they were exceedingly happy indeed. Shiqiao residents reported a satisfaction index of over [...]

Dylan gives a great performance of one of his more obscure songs, which has been one of my favourites from the first time I heard it.  First recorded during the Oh Mercy sessions, “Dignity” was not released until Bob Dylan’s Greatest Hits, Volume 3 (1994).  The following year, he sang it live for MTV Unplugged.
An [...]

For well over a thousand years, the world of Christianity looked something like this map, a flower with three petals—Africa, Asia, Europe—centred around Jerusalem. Not until around 1500 did Christianity and Europe become synonymous: Christianity became essentially European and Europe essentially Christian. Before then, the Christian church survived and flourished in Egypt and [...]

The collect for today, the Feast Day of Thomas Becket (1117-1170), Archbishop of Canterbury, Martyr (source):
O Lord God,
who gavest to thy servant Thomas Becket
grace to put aside all earthly fear
and be faithful even unto death:
grant that we, caring not for worldly esteem,
may fight against evil,
uphold thy rule,
and serve thee to our life’s end;
through Jesus Christ [...]