Fear has been a key weapon of empires throughout time. Frightened people will accept almost anything in order to survive, so it is not surprising fear is used as a tool of control.

So was the campaigning worth it? Aid levels are returning to what they were decades ago as a proportion of national income. Did all that campaigning achieve anything? I think it did.

All Christians need to turn their attention together toward the pressing issue of climate change and other ecological problems. These issues are profoundly ethical and concerned with justice and the common good; hence non-Catholics should also read this Laudato Si' with great interest.

Christian mission and vocation involves a life-long commitment to a cross-shaped embodiment of Christ in every aspect of life.

On weekends we pour through their doors en masse. No doubt, we love shopping there and, from all reports, employees love working there. They’re doing something right! If I’m honest, though, this whole Bunnings-and-the-church thing is fraught. While I’m happy to discuss how the church can become a more welcoming proposition for our neighbours and a more rewarding place for those who are part of its ministry, the model of Bunnings for a ‘high performing’ church is shot through with awkward.

If we do not remember our past, particularly what led to our failures, we cannot hope to do better the next time something similar occurs. If we fail to remember the cost of war, particularly in human lives and the subsequent cost on those that survive, we will never see war as something to be avoided until there is no option left. There is, however, another dimension to remembering that goes beyond being simply an inoculation against future wars.

This increasing porosity between the public and the private spheres has very often led to an invasion of the latter by the former. What is important to note is that this was something that was taking place long before the arrival of social media.

The Vegan lifestyle is a decision that needs to be thought through. Also like many significant choices, once we commit, we see the other side and this opens up more ethical questions and more decisions regarding our stance.

It contains odd provisions like, “All fish-weirs [fish traps] shall henceforth be entirely removed from the Thames and the Medway and throughout all England except along the sea-coasts.” It wasn’t formulated by a meeting of political leaders intending to establish constitutional government but was drafted in the wake of battle. Nevertheless, Magna Carta, whose eight-hundredth anniversary we observe this year, has come to be considered a seminal document in the constitutional history of the English-speaking peoples.

We all want to see domestic abuse of women eradicated as soon as possible, but it may be that the way forward here is some kind of awkward partnership of Christians who disagree on the way to get there, but are allies in seeking the safety of women within our churches.