Viewing all items in Resource Category: Editorial

Satellite pictures of earth are usually beautiful, but not these: The Environment Agency has begun using satellite images to monitor plastic pollution off Britain’s shores, so that it can send clean-up teams in to protect wildlife. Each year the world makes about 380million tons of plastic.  At least eight million tons of the stuff ends...

I dreamed of storms of danger in the wind of being swallowed by water going down for the third time   I dreamed I was bleeding, in pain, addicted, and in the cold and heat there was no way out   I dreamed I was doing wrong but could not do right and in the...

Many saints have fed the poor, but not many were interested in actual food production.  Nathalan (died c.678) was, so perhaps he might be the patron saint of anyone who produces food – and gives most of it away to those in need. Scotland in the 7th century must have been a hungry place, especially...

Who thinks up tests like this?  Scientists have been out collecting spiders from rural and urban areas all across Europe, to test whether or not their natural fear of light is changing. They found that country spiders, regardless from which country, still prefer quiet, dark places.  However, urban spiders are becoming brazen, and are happy...

In winter when I drive my car I all too often feel a jar – That awful, cracking, grinding jolt Which brings my vehicle to a halt. I sit, and try to comprehend What’s brought my journey to an end? Then words and phrases can’t console – For I have gone and hit a hole!...

If you have nothing much going for you, Antony Pucci (1819-92) should be your patron saint.   He came from nowhere – a peasant family in Tuscany.  He went nowhere – he spent his life as a parish priest in the Tuscan city of Viareggio.   He was unattractive to look at.  He wasn’t good with words...

Were I to make a perfect prayer, designed To rid the world of selfishness and greed, With books of lore I would not tax my mind, For these two simple lines would fill my need –   ‘Renew, O God, within the hearts of men The Golden Rule, and give it life again.’  Anon

Children who spend more than two hours a day looking at a screen have problems:  their memory is worse than average, their language skills are more limited, and their attention span is shorter. Such are the findings of a major study recently published by The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health. Overall cognition skills were found...

What do you do when you find a large spider web in your house?  If you ever feel some sympathy for the spider who went to all that trouble, then Felix is a good patron saint for you.  He was saved by such a spider, spinning such a web. Felix had been born to a...

Children raised in religious homes are more likely to succeed academically than those from non-religious backgrounds, regardless of whether they go to a faith school or not. Such is the finding of recent research by the UCL Institute of Education, which analysed a cohort of pupils born in 1970, their religious upbringing and the school...

If your Christmas and New Year break included just too many people and even a bout of indigestion, then St Antony may be the saint for you.  He was a hermit-monk with a reputation for making poorly people feel better. Antony was born in Coma (Upper Egypt) in 251, and at 20 became an ascetic. ...

A staggering three in four parents are having to cook multiple meals each evening because of their own/partner/children’s restricted diets. This finding from a recent survey by Co-op follows the news that almost a third of us (30 percent) now have special dietary requirements or intolerances.   According to the statistics, our diets are increasingly in...