Revd Dr Al Barrett is Vicar of Hodge Hill Church, Birmingham. He has contributed to a new resource: Joy for All: Supporting churches to respond to the co-option of Christmas by the far right The sharp end People in my parish find themselves on the sharp end of national politics. Our area has been economically… Continue reading Responding to Tommy Robinson’s Christmas rally – by Al Barrett
Category: Social commentary
Moral Revolution: Rutger Bregman’s ‘must-listen’ Reith lectures
Rutger Bregman is a Dutch historian who is giving the BBC Reith Lectures this year. I listened to the first lecture of the series, A Time of Monsters this weekend, and I was deeply struck by Bregman's moral force, conviction and clarity. I would encourage all G+T readers to listen to the full 30 minute… Continue reading Moral Revolution: Rutger Bregman’s ‘must-listen’ Reith lectures
Resisting BS & telling a Better Story
Taken from talk given at Streatham Baptist Church 23/11/25. Full text here: A Better Story: grace & truth or watch below. 15 years ago I was driving in south London and as I stopped at traffic lights, my son, who was 5 at the time, said: ‘Dad, what’s a marital affair?’ I wondered what he… Continue reading Resisting BS & telling a Better Story
Don’t judge a book by its cover Mr Jenrick – by Joe Aldred
Robert Jenrick MP and current Shadow Justice Secretary, Photo: Flickr I was born in Jamaica, a former Spanish then British slave colony. My father migrated to this country as a young man to find work to support his family and I joined him when I was in my mid-teens. I am a descendant of enslaved… Continue reading Don’t judge a book by its cover Mr Jenrick – by Joe Aldred
Facing the tragic cost of homelessness
Today is World Homeless Day and this week it was announced that 1611 people died homeless in the last year in the UK. It is a tragic statistic which exposes the raw human cost of homelessness. A reality that shames our society. Crisis Behind every statistic is a story of a son, daughter, brother, sister,… Continue reading Facing the tragic cost of homelessness
Rage stoked by the Machine: the algorithms are against us
Photo by Markus Spiske on Pexels.com Nothing reveals the health of a culture more than how well people disagree with each other. And this is especially true within local communities. This is why terms like community cohesion and social capital have become important because they describe a vital sense of relational connection and commonality that… Continue reading Rage stoked by the Machine: the algorithms are against us
Exclusive Inclusivity – by Tobias Mayer
Photo by Susanne Jutzeler, suju-foto on Pexels.com "It is not our differences that divide us. It is our inability to recognize, accept, and celebrate those differences" Audre Lorde, September 1979 I like inclusivity. Who doesn't? But I've started noticing an interesting paradox in inclusive spaces. By going to any length to include the traditionally excluded… Continue reading Exclusive Inclusivity – by Tobias Mayer
Disunited kingdom: peace-making in a time of polarisation – by Tony Uddin
Photo by Efrem Efre on Pexels.com Last weekend’s ‘Uniting the Kingdom’ march underscored just how divided our nation is. Amidst the accusations and counter-accusations, demos and counter-demos, most of us are left asking how on earth we got here? I certainly have a dog in this fight. I am half-Bangladeshi and half-British, and a hundred… Continue reading Disunited kingdom: peace-making in a time of polarisation – by Tony Uddin
The flag is up: the Good Samaritan versus Lazarus – by Jonathan Thomas
Photo by vectors icon on Pexels.com Immigration to the UK continues to be a big story, with many sub-plots. The most recent episodes involving asylum hotels, local protests and flags. ‘France is not war’ The asylum system leaves the public confused. They tend to be most sympathetic to those fleeing from war. But those people… Continue reading The flag is up: the Good Samaritan versus Lazarus – by Jonathan Thomas
George Orwell and (Culture) War
Why is George Orwell my favourite author? Because he had the bravery and conviction to channel his creative genius into genuinely independent thinking. Today, more than ever, we need thinking which challenges the cultural silos and echo chambers we become stuck in. Orwell was a socialist, firmly on the political left-wing and was fiercely critical… Continue reading George Orwell and (Culture) War
Grace + Truth 