Best Of

Thoughts and non-ecumenical prayers for a particular community in Glasgow.

BBC Breakfast
@BBCBreakfast
1h
'It's not since 1534 that a British monarch will have prayed next to a Catholic Pope'
Mark Lowen spoke to #BBCBreakfast from Vatican City where King Charles will take part in a service with Pope Leo, the first time this will have happened since the Church of England split from the Catholic Church

https://bbc.co.uk/news/articles/

They keep trotting out the line about it being the first time an English King has prayed with pope since 1534 as if it’s something that used to happen all the time but I can’t find any English ruler who has prayed with a Pope anyway. I think one Scots king did.

Alfred went to Rome didn't he?

Two Kings of Scots - Macbeth and James VIII. Admittedly debated at the time.

Yes, but he wasn't king at the time.

Thanks, long time since I read the relevant Alfred Duggen novel!

Never read that, but Pollard's biography of Alfred has him going there when he's a pretty young boy (I think, it's also been a while).

The Duggan historical novels went out of print and are hard to get nowadays, which is a shame I think. Surprised they haven't been reprinted by people such as OUP and Red Fox, whence I am currently revisiting my childhood reading in the form of Sutcliffe and Treece (and filling in the ones I missed at the time).

Sword at Sunset, by Rosemary Sutcliffe, is an outstanding novel about Arthur.

Good to hear; it's on the recently-bought-and-to-read heap on the shelf above my PC!

In all seriousness, have you thought of joining a library? There's no point in buying books you don't read.

Wash your mouth out with soap!

A pairing : ‘tsundoko’ & ‘antilibrary’.

Tsundoko is Japanese for piling up books ready to read at some later date, it implies that part of the joy is the anticipation, combined with a wistfullness that life is too short.

An antilibrary is Umberto Eco’s notion that one should curate a personal collection of resources around themes you’re curious about; not shelves of read books. He kept 30 000 of them.

Excellent, tsundoko is right up there with döstädning as epitomising life for me.

Having looked up döstädning, there is a certain amount of clash.

There is a legitimate case for giving away books that have been read, and that book shelves should be reserved for unread books. I try to do this, but do make an exception for reference works.

If you have a book that nobody in the house is ever going to read (again), then it doesn't belong in your house.

Books are not ornaments.

What is it you would rather have in the space where bookshelves are? Some “Live, Love, Laugh” signs? A Jack Vetriano Poster? Some tribal African masks?

They are a rare thing that follow both of William Morris’s suggestion to “ Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.”

There is nothing more beautiful than a library, IMO.
Even if it's just your own lot of books, it beats most alternatives.

On the immigration law ghastliness

- a British Passport may help but isn’t 100% solid. Why?
- The Home Sec. can withdraw citizenship from any “dual national”
- From the Begum case, a dual national is someone who *is eligible* for another passport
- Renouncing another nationality might well not be enough. Most countries that allow renunciation allow reacquiring citizenship.
- So a future Home Sec. issues an order cancelling the citizenship of x hundred thousand people in one go.

In Ancient Athens, the Thirty Tyrants used the cancellation of citizenship to get round a law on trials for citizens.

It’s all been done before

As a Jewish person theoretically eligible for an Israeli passport this precedent has always been a little worrying.

History tells us that things done to the “undesirables” at breakfast are done to the Jews by mid-morning, to blacks at lunchtime and everyone else by afternoon tea.

“Yes, I'd give the Devil benefit of law, for my own safety's sake!”

Thoughts and non-ecumenical prayers for a particular community in Glasgow.

BBC Breakfast
@BBCBreakfast
1h
'It's not since 1534 that a British monarch will have prayed next to a Catholic Pope'
Mark Lowen spoke to #BBCBreakfast from Vatican City where King Charles will take part in a service with Pope Leo, the first time this will have happened since the Church of England split from the Catholic Church

https://bbc.co.uk/news/articles/

They keep trotting out the line about it being the first time an English King has prayed with pope since 1534 as if it’s something that used to happen all the time but I can’t find any English ruler who has prayed with a Pope anyway. I think one Scots king did.

Alfred went to Rome didn't he?

Two Kings of Scots - Macbeth and James VIII. Admittedly debated at the time.

Yes, but he wasn't king at the time.

Thanks, long time since I read the relevant Alfred Duggen novel!

Never read that, but Pollard's biography of Alfred has him going there when he's a pretty young boy (I think, it's also been a while).

The Duggan historical novels went out of print and are hard to get nowadays, which is a shame I think. Surprised they haven't been reprinted by people such as OUP and Red Fox, whence I am currently revisiting my childhood reading in the form of Sutcliffe and Treece (and filling in the ones I missed at the time).

Sword at Sunset, by Rosemary Sutcliffe, is an outstanding novel about Arthur.

Good to hear; it's on the recently-bought-and-to-read heap on the shelf above my PC!

In all seriousness, have you thought of joining a library? There's no point in buying books you don't read.

Wash your mouth out with soap!

A pairing : ‘tsundoko’ & ‘antilibrary’.

Tsundoko is Japanese for piling up books ready to read at some later date, it implies that part of the joy is the anticipation, combined with a wistfullness that life is too short.

An antilibrary is Umberto Eco’s notion that one should curate a personal collection of resources around themes you’re curious about; not shelves of read books. He kept 30 000 of them.

Excellent, tsundoko is right up there with döstädning as epitomising life for me.

Having looked up döstädning, there is a certain amount of clash.

There is a legitimate case for giving away books that have been read, and that book shelves should be reserved for unread books. I try to do this, but do make an exception for reference works.

If you have a book that nobody in the house is ever going to read (again), then it doesn't belong in your house.

Books are not ornaments.

What is it you would rather have in the space where bookshelves are? Some “Live, Love, Laugh” signs? A Jack Vetriano Poster? Some tribal African masks?

They are a rare thing that follow both of William Morris’s suggestion to “ Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.”

Thoughts and non-ecumenical prayers for a particular community in Glasgow.

BBC Breakfast
@BBCBreakfast
1h
'It's not since 1534 that a British monarch will have prayed next to a Catholic Pope'
Mark Lowen spoke to #BBCBreakfast from Vatican City where King Charles will take part in a service with Pope Leo, the first time this will have happened since the Church of England split from the Catholic Church

https://bbc.co.uk/news/articles/

They keep trotting out the line about it being the first time an English King has prayed with pope since 1534 as if it’s something that used to happen all the time but I can’t find any English ruler who has prayed with a Pope anyway. I think one Scots king did.

Alfred went to Rome didn't he?

Two Kings of Scots - Macbeth and James VIII. Admittedly debated at the time.

Yes, but he wasn't king at the time.

Thanks, long time since I read the relevant Alfred Duggen novel!

Never read that, but Pollard's biography of Alfred has him going there when he's a pretty young boy (I think, it's also been a while).

The Duggan historical novels went out of print and are hard to get nowadays, which is a shame I think. Surprised they haven't been reprinted by people such as OUP and Red Fox, whence I am currently revisiting my childhood reading in the form of Sutcliffe and Treece (and filling in the ones I missed at the time).

Sword at Sunset, by Rosemary Sutcliffe, is an outstanding novel about Arthur.

Good to hear; it's on the recently-bought-and-to-read heap on the shelf above my PC!

In all seriousness, have you thought of joining a library? There's no point in buying books you don't read.

Yes, there is. "Books Do Furnish a Room".

And there is the satisfaction of building up a library for perusal in the years to come - like laying down a wine cellar. (But you can't re-drink a bottle of wine)

There is also the benefit of when you have guests to stay who might pick up one of your books and find something new and interesting that enriches their life and sparks a new interest.

There have been times where I have given books of mine to people after I have read them when the book or subject has come up in conversation and I think they will enjoy or find interesting.

Possibly one of the best gifts you can give someone - a new insight, knowledge, enjoyment. They might also find they understand you better having read something you loved to read and pass it on to them.

Thoughts and non-ecumenical prayers for a particular community in Glasgow.

BBC Breakfast
@BBCBreakfast
1h
'It's not since 1534 that a British monarch will have prayed next to a Catholic Pope'
Mark Lowen spoke to #BBCBreakfast from Vatican City where King Charles will take part in a service with Pope Leo, the first time this will have happened since the Church of England split from the Catholic Church

https://bbc.co.uk/news/articles/

They keep trotting out the line about it being the first time an English King has prayed with pope since 1534 as if it’s something that used to happen all the time but I can’t find any English ruler who has prayed with a Pope anyway. I think one Scots king did.

Alfred went to Rome didn't he?

Two Kings of Scots - Macbeth and James VIII. Admittedly debated at the time.

Yes, but he wasn't king at the time.

Thanks, long time since I read the relevant Alfred Duggen novel!

Never read that, but Pollard's biography of Alfred has him going there when he's a pretty young boy (I think, it's also been a while).

The Duggan historical novels went out of print and are hard to get nowadays, which is a shame I think. Surprised they haven't been reprinted by people such as OUP and Red Fox, whence I am currently revisiting my childhood reading in the form of Sutcliffe and Treece (and filling in the ones I missed at the time).

Sword at Sunset, by Rosemary Sutcliffe, is an outstanding novel about Arthur.

Good to hear; it's on the recently-bought-and-to-read heap on the shelf above my PC!

In all seriousness, have you thought of joining a library? There's no point in buying books you don't read.

Wash your mouth out with soap!