Kate Silverton

I think the BBC News presenter Kate Silverton is much underused. You normally only get to see her on News 24... and as we don't properly have Freeview (we have a digibox but the signal isn't great), she only appears when covering someone on the breakfast slot. Yesterday was a rare treat for me, I was up early enough to see BBC News 24 on BBC 1 and she was presenting it. Bliss.

She comes across with genuine warmth and a pleasant nature when presenting, although there was a recent story in the press over a co-presenter quitting within a week of working with her. She's pretty smart too as she has a degree in psychology and has studied Arabic and middle eastern politics. Interesting CV. I personally much prefer her to Natasha Kaplinsky.

Below are two clips of Ms Silverton (one from a humorous moment on BBC Breakfast and the other featuring her role as Moneypenny in the BBC Newsreaders 007 Children in Need

Update as of 17th November:

It seems I am not alone in this. Ms Silverton presented BBC Breakfast this morning and since then, by what I'm sure is no coincidence, I have had about half a dozen hits from Google searches... simply with her name in the title. The BBC must have read my blog and surrendered to my will! Such is my influence.

Update as of 9th January:

OK fellas, this is crazy. This is by far the most visited entry on my blog. As attractive as the fair Ms Silverton may be... I'd sure appreciate it if you'd be kind enough to browse the other stuff. Do you know I'm still getting about 10 hits a day purely on the search term "Kate Silverton" alone? This is two months from when I originally posted this, I wonder how much longer it will carry on?

In all seriousness though, you are welcome to browse by to this page as often as you wish. Have a flick through while you are here though.

Dressed to Kill

Below are some pictures of me and Harry, suited up in the full armour of God... as provided by members of the youth group we help run (who have recently christened themselves as the "Army of God")

We were covering Ephesians 6:10-18 which says:

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.

We covered the relevance of each armour and it's position. It's important to remind yourself of the knowledge of your salvation in your mind... hence the helmet of salvation. To maintain a righteous attitude within your heart, hence the breastplate of righteousness. In armour, everything h weight-wise was suspended on the hips and the shoulders... this is why the belt... truth, is important. everything hangs on the truth. It's also important not to get caught with your pants down living in a world of lies. Shields can be moved around to give protection wherever a threat comes from... and to cover other people, God is with us in every situation... so we should not be ashamed to call on him in difficulty.. Footwear enables you to stand firm and ready against whatever you may face... which is why it is important to have peace in your heart. Finally the sword of the Spirit is the Word of God. By reading up on it, you gain insight into God's will.. and you become aclimatised to his plan for your life. It's not about brains either.... so what if you can't remember it off by heart... God is so much more powerful than that! He can refamiliarise you with something you have read a long time ago... so trust in him... rely on his strength... not worrying about your weakness.

One other thing I felt inspired to do was to write some words from Genesis 15:1 down on the back of a small cardboard shield... and get the young people to write down their name instead of Abram's. The idea was that if it was small enough to fit inside a wallet or pocket or diary... that if they felt overwhelmed they could remind themselves that they are not to be afraid... that God is their shield and their very great reward.

Anyway... here are the piccies... don't laugh!

Oh Happy Day

And so the terror bill is defeated convincingly. My MP actually represented me on this occasion. If you want to know how your MP voted... follow this link:

http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4424170.stm?display=1

I could never support a law that would hold any person without charge for 90 days (or as it should correctly be stated... a quarter of a year).

I cannot believe for one minute if the security services have been monitoring a terrorist network for so long... that once having gained warrant for an arrest, they would need that much extra time to gather enough evidence for a conviction.

I believe the law in total would be used for political rather than security reasons. If an innocent man were held that long they would probably lose their job, reputation and any semblance of a normal life... and they would not get compensation because the police could argue they had sufficient reason to hold them that long at the time of suspicion.

I think 28 days is a sensible compromise for now.

I maintain my insistence that the "War on Terror" is as much about laying the groundwork for an authoritarian ideology... as it is about any genuine threat. The political rhetoric is very similar to that of the Cold War.

If people think this is merely about stopping islamic fundamentalists and eliminating their ability to attack the ideology of the "free" world, then I suggest you look again at the whole mandate of the bill. If you think the ball would stop rolling there.... think again, historically this has never been the case. Did Cromwell stop when the parliamentarians had crushed the royalists in England? No, he went on to wage war in Ireland. Did Hitler stop with Poland? Did he restrict his racial and ideological hatred to jews... no.

When extreme power is given over to a select few people with a specific mandate (however noble), it is normally the case that those individuals expand their mandate so as not to relinquish that power when the need for it is estinguished.

For those thinking this law would have been restricted to a certain group... I offer you this quote which is attributed to Martin Niemoller:

First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out--

because I was not a communist;

Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out--

because I was not a socialist;

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out--

because I was not a trade unionist;

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out--

because I was not a Jew;Then they came for me--

and there was no one left to speak out for me.

Love your neighbour as yourself. Do unto others as you would have it done unto you. These are the principles by which the Christian world is called to live by, in relation to the rest of humanity... and we should live by them and if necessary... die by them.

What are people's thoughts on the whole subject?

Yet Another Strange Dream

Everyone at my office agrees that when it comes to intense dreams... I top the lot! Take Saturday night's unconscious episode for example:

I am walking alongside a man, on the way to a petrol station. He tells me that he will have to die... otherwise he will not be able to help me. We continue walking.

As we arrive at the petrol station, he tells me it's very important I focus on what is important to me if he is to be any help to me at all. I ask what he means. He tells me that i am going to be executed and I will not be able to survive if he does not help me. I ask him if that means he is going to "join up with my mind in order to sustain my life force" and he says yes.

I start picturing things in my mind... but being a dream they aren't really sensible at all. The chap next to me disappears.

A lady is standing across the forecourt. She presses a button and red lightning shoots into the ground behind me. I tell her she has missed, but she says there is always a second chance. Two heavies come and put me into position and she presses the button again. I feel terrible and intense pain in my brain and I start blacking out... I really feel like i am dying.

I come round and I am being carried down a flight of stairs by another man. He sympathetically says the words "Poor soul... good soul!" He carries me into a room where some children are playing with board games. He tells them to watch over and look after me, he tells them that I will probably not be able to respond much because I have been through a very nasty experience and the powers that kept me alive are still at work inside me.

He lays me on a bed and leaves, the kids chat to me for a while. At first I have to fight the urge to close my eyes... as I can feel myself slipping away... but eventually the nausea and blacking out begin to stop and I feel confident enough to rest without any fear of death. I turn over in bed and look at the wall, there are bible references from the synoptic gospels on the wall.

Then I woke up.

Again it's a heavy dream with a strong narrative structure, and it has stayed with me all this time. Rob thinks it might be an idea for me to read up on the synoptic gospels... that maybe God is trying to remind me of something important. Although it is a lot of reading ... I am strongly considering doing it. Heck it always pays to know your Bible better.

Alcester, A Spiritual History

On Monday night, I travelled around my town with Harry, his mother Suzi and Pat Newbold. Our intention was to pray for the town, as most people accept that it is a "stronghold" ( a fortress for spiritual powers that oppose God).

I know that other places that are strong in darkness often turn that way because of some terrible wrong done in the distant past. I decided to map out the spiritual geographical history of Alcester... taking into account both history and legend.

The town was founded in Roman times - Alcester means encampment on the Alne (river). The modern day church sits at the centre of the (then) walled section of the Roman town. I believe it is highly likely that the church sits on top of an old temple. During the civil war, the church was desecrated and used as a stables for parliamentarian warhorses. There were claims that a church vicar fraternised with and protected highwaymen many years ago as well. Not far from the church is the town hall. In the middle ages, this is where the town's preaching cross was situated (before a strong church presence was established). According to legend, the town was cursed by St. Egwin. The townsfolk would not listen to him and tried to drown him out with their own clamour. It is said that an earthquake split the ground and swallowed up the blacksmiths who jeered at Egwin. The town lost it's prosperity at that time.

The town hall is also a place of meeting for verious masonic lodges in the town. For reasons I don't want to get sidetracked into talking about here... Freemasonry is dodgy... VERY dodgy.

So already, without having walked 100 metres from the town centre... there is already a lot going on historically that could carry spiritual consequences.

Moving on down the town and we come to Bleachfield Street. Recent excavations discovered some kind of ritualistic infant burial... and in latter days, the towns ancient Roman fort has been found. Bleachfield Street has been the site of two murders. In my father's and grandfather's days, the road was known as "Blood and Thunder Street" on account of the number of fights that broke out up that road.

Finally on the outskirts of town, there used to be an abbey. It was commissioned in the time of King Stephen (not one of England's finest rulers it has to be said). At the time of it's construction, a monk named Anselm spoke out against the king. Naturally kings don't tend to be fond of this kind of behaviour... and Anselm was set upon by assassins. With his dying breath Anselm cursed the town and pronounced judgement on the king. Stating that England would one day lose authority over the prinicpality of France.

As you can see, Alcester has a colourful past.

This was the motivation of the prayer walk. There was very little peace as we prayed, but that did not diminish our resolve.

While we were in Bleachfield Street, Harry was asking in prayer something like for Alcester to be something like Jerusalem in the time of King David; this made me think of how David captured Jerusalem's fortress in the first place (2 Samuel 5:5-9). We also prayed over the location of the Roman fort at the far end of bleachfield street. At that time I saw a picture of a large white limestone block. It was a new stone. At this time I'm not quite sure what that is about. I can only think of a couple of scriptures that relate to it. Isaiah speaks of it it in chapter 28... and Peter quotes him when talking of Christ. There is also the promise of a new stone as a gift from God to his people in Revelation.

This needs prayer and discernment. I am encoraged however, because it wasn't just an outward praying experience. This time, I believe God said something too. Now it is merely a matter of understanding it.

No easy task.

For an alternate account of the prayer walk... please check out Harry's blog, where he briefly touches upon it. you can reach it by following this link:

http://spaces.msn.com/members/happyhairy/Blog/cns!1pYIiTbd6GVC7t8ZtDiiM1kg!728.entry