It’s become clear that the food we have been putting in our mouths is not everything the label said it was.  Many products sold as containing beef – burgers, cottages pies, lasagne, and so on, have, in fact, contained varying amounts of horse meat.

Although probably not particularly damaging to our health, it’s a major scandal, probably involving international fraud.

One interesting side-light on this whole issue has been raised by food critic Giles Coren.  Writing in The Times, he berated the public for not knowing what is in their food. …

Back in September, Kent Shaffer published a list of ‘Top 200 Church Blogs’.

Although based on statistical popularity, questions have been asked about how the short list was drawn up (Shaffer just says that ‘several hundred’ were reviewed for ‘preliminary screening’ but doesn’t explain how these were identified.  It is clear that the list contains many of the best-known blogs, but there is no way of telling how many equally popular blogs have been omitted.

It has been observed that the list features

• a relatively high proportion of Reformed writers
• a low number of women
• a diminishing representation from the ’emerging churches’

‘Walking With Giants’ isn’t anywhere on the list, but then I’ve done very little to publicise this blog.  …

There seems to be more fascination with Halloween with each succeeding year.  Much of this is due to simple commercial exploitation.  For many retailers, it is now the third most lucrative event of the year.

But for the increasing numbers of people following the various resurgences of paganism, there is a more serious significance.  According to this BBC article, Samhain is for pagans one of the most important religious festivals, a time when the barriers between the physical world and the spiritual are at their thinnest.…