A nativity story like no other – politicalbetting.com
A nativity story like no other – politicalbetting.com
I cannot help but think post hoc ergo propter hoc.
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I cannot help but think post hoc ergo propter hoc.
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JUDITH: I do feel, Reg, that any Anti-Imperialist group like ours must reflect such a divergence of interests within its power-base.
REG: Agreed. Francis?
FRANCIS: Yeah. I think Judith's point of view is very valid, Reg, provided the Movement never forgets that it is the inalienable right of every man--
STAN: Or woman.
FRANCIS: Or woman... to rid himself--
STAN: Or herself.
FRANCIS: Or herself.
REG: Agreed.
FRANCIS: Thank you, brother.
STAN: Or sister.
FRANCIS: Or sister. Where was I?
REG: I think you'd finished.
FRANCIS: Oh. Right.
REG: Furthermore, it is the birthright of every man--
STAN: Or woman.
REG: Why don't you shut up about women, Stan. You're putting us off.
STAN: Women have a perfect right to play a part in our movement, Reg.
Rashomon Is a brilliant film.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/12/17/gay-in-the-manger-show-outrages-students/
And second, you could shuffle most of those parts and it would still look plausible.
ETA mind you, the angels on Captain Scarlet were clearly women.
"Can't have union with his wife until she gives birth here!"
I sound a bit grouchy I know, but the secular Christmas I rather love. Apart from the jollity of course
I do remember carrying a carpet, which I suppose would be accurate for someone wandering out of the Arabian desert.
Obviously the statistics are nonsense here but it is quite amusing. How early are our life chances set?
Australian (Stam Fine)
- Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7B2NXFtM_YA (60 mins)
- Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXLuRx2rw6s (73 mins)
American (Matt Pearson aka Feral Historian)(Full article link)
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/gift/408effae3bedbe5c
(Never mind OnlyFans,)
People having their own opinion that I happen to disagree with, and putting on a performace on that basis that does not restrict my speech or actions, is NOT discrimination.
Full article: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/gift/1f98de3e3e33583d
I’m honestly just fed up with losers. Right-wing and left-wing politics is just losers from top to bottom who have an excessive amount of cultural power in the age of the internet because losers post on Reddit 79,000 times as much as people who have jobs
https://nitter.poast.org/SwannMarcus89/status/2001883311145406928#m
*admittedly as a parent of Fox jr
** the traditional presents are symbolic: Gold for a King, Frankincence for a prophet, and Myhrr for embalming a corpse. All fine and dandy of course, but not what a new mother wants to hear.
Why else would we say Myrrhy Christmas?
I think I'm with the Wee Frees on this.
And one reason private schools do better, even in showbiz, is that (certainly the boarding schools) do so much more drama, with house plays and school plays every few weeks, presumably on the grounds that it keeps them off street corners.
And for many children, the nativity play will be the first taste of that. Learning to project and hold an audience.
McCullum’s position likely to come under scrutiny
ECB believes mass sackings would be a mistake
The England and Wales Cricket Board is eager to avoid a mass clearout of England’s senior leadership in the wake of another humiliating away Ashes series defeat.
England’s hopes of winning the urn were expunged inside 11 days for just the fourth time in the contest’s 143-year history with Sunday’s 82-run defeat in Adelaide, and a fourth Ashes whitewash is on the cards in Melbourne and Sydney, unless the tourists can arrest a dismal 18-match run without a win in Australia that stretches back to 2011.
A full review of the tour’s planning and execution will take place following the final Test next month when jobs could be on the line, with Brendon McCullum’s position as head coach expected to come under the most scrutiny.
The Guardian has been told that the ECB do not want to repeat the mass cull that followed their 4-0 defeat in Australia four years ago, however, when coach Chris Silverwood and director of cricket Ashley Giles were sacked the following month, with Joe Root resigning as captain following another series defeat in the West Indies two months later.
While changes could still be made depending on the outcome of the rest of the tour, the ECB believes that mass sackings would be a mistake and leave England less well-placed to learn the lessons of the tour.
Rather than appointing a completely new leadership team, there is a desire at Lord’s to retain what one source described as some “institutional muscle memory” of an Ashes tour, which, given England’s dismal record of one series win since 1987, is in danger of appearing an insurmountable challenge.
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2025/dec/21/ecb-clearout-england-leadership-ashes-defeat-australia-cricket
[Pope] Benedict puts the record straight in his third book on the life of Christ, Jesus of Nazareth: The Infancy Narratives, which was released on Tuesday and looks destined for the bestseller lists with an initial print run of one million.
Having dealt with Christ's adult life and death in his first two books, the pope tackles the birth of the son of God and puts paid to some myths surrounding the newly born Jesus's spell in a stable with Mary and Joseph.
"In the gospels there is no mention of animals," the pope states. He says references to the ox and the donkey in other parts of the Bible may have inspired Christians to include them in their nativity scenes.
The Vatican itself has included animals in the nativity scenes it sets up each year in St Peter's Square, and Benedict concedes that the tradition is here to stay. "No nativity scene will give up its ox and donkey," he says.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/nov/20/pope-nativity-animals
Doesn't seem very conclusive, I presume the gospels don't mention the first poop from the divine baby, but we can safely assume it happened without it being an invention.
But the other gospels imply that they already lived in Bethlehem, which would make more sense. Luke seems to have gone off on one.
Someone to hear your prayers
Someone who cares
Your own Personal Jesus
Someone to hear your prayers
Someone who's there
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNd4eocq2K0
She requested a speaking role and all the female speaking roles had already been assigned and she was told she could be Joseph if she was happy with that. She agreed and did it well.
Seems more like what you might call 'individuals who stand out' even at age eight find that happens for the rest of their life.
We did Joseph and his amazing coat at primary school (thanks to a teacher knowing a professional music director with time on his hands). It was a big deal and the main part went to the good looking, tall, bright kid whose father was a GP and would likely be passing the 11+ with flying colours etc, etc. To be fair my memory is he could hold a note.
I was a fucking non-speaking brother iirc.
A lot of the story is to set up the birth of Jesus as fulfilling multiple Old Testament prophecies. Indeed there is no evidence that Herod held a census, let alone one that required people to travel to their ancestors town. But there had to be a reason for the Messiah to be born there as prophecied.
But fisking the story for facts is to miss the point. Ancient peoples were much more comfortable with myth, story telling and symbolism than our rather dry and dusty logic. The point is a radical one; that God is to be found in the most lowly places, not in gilded palaces, He is for everyone.
Or disagreed on what parts of 'the' point were signifcant, hence needing an illogical census etc.
I don't think we've got something to that degree here, but 2025 was the first time I can remember coming across so many comments pushing more racialised ideas of citizenship quite hard.
The whole splendid thing is a post hoc legitimation myth. The ancient world abounds in them. It is none the worse for that.
We wrote it, and it included some wonderful lines:
Me 'I'll go in my Skoda, because I'm a sconner. It was a waste of money.'*
Innkeeper: 'The sheep shearing sheds are just round the back.' (In what we earnestly assured the headmaster was a totally and utterly accidental slip, this became 'sheep shagging sheds' in the performance.)
Alasdair and Peter: 'We're the Three Wise Hippies and we come in Peace, Man!' (Vulcan Salute)
Me: 'No you're not, there's only two of you.'
Alasdair to Peter: 'Say, what have you done with that loser Steve?'
Peter: 'He was map reading and thought the map was wrong, so he went to Cairo.' (Not at all a reference to the unfortunate moment Steve was doing map reading on the DofE Bronze expedition and led them to totally the wrong place because he was holding it upside down and then insisted the map must have a mistake in it.)
Happy days...
*I'm currently on Skoda No. 4.
The only bit actually mentioned is the manger.
I get the stuff you're seeing now and worse.
In the past week I get to see the posts from the likes Lozza Fox, Rupert Lowe, somebody Lucy White who doesn't want Muslims in parliament.
It's like following Tommy Robinson's Twitter feed.
Only thing I still use it for is Messenger with my friends and family.
Which is a shame, as so many things are much more convenient now thanks to companies, but the attitude seems to have shifted.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cq5q1xd21w3o
She has been an MSP since 2021, and will now stand down at the election
Labour have tumbled in the polls since their win at the Maryhill council by election in December 2024, as it stands it will be an uphill task to take tis seat. The previous boundaries for Glasgow Kelvin were very friendly for the Greens, this new seat doesn't take in the city centre and goes further north than Maryhill, into some rural territory. I had fancied Patrick Harvie to stand here, but he's not listed as a constituency candidate yet.
I think the Greens could have taken the current Kelvin seat next year, with the new boundaries that will be tougher, but not impossible. The Greens will surely be pushing hard for at least a second list seat in Glasgow.
I thought there actually was a census in Judea, but prior to Herod, so Luke got the timeline a bit mixed up.
We've enough Jacks, Olivers and Jaydens.
@TheSnowDreamer
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Happy winter solstice! The length of day is a mere 7 hours 49 minutes and 51 second in London.
From tomorrow we will only be going up for next 181 days….