L4/28-32 At home in the real world?

28. Text or phone a colleague/school friend to wish them a happy weekend
A glorious, happy Saturday in Worcester for the inauguration of Bishop John Inge’s ministry as Bishop of Worcester. We were consecrated together, and John’s been a great and inspiring colleague, with a deep sense of how things fit together and what they really mean theologically. It was also great to see our old friends from Sandhurst, Andrew & Alexandra Bullock. Andrew’s now a vicar near Worcester. Tellingly, Worcester Cathedral has now been replaced on UK 20 pound notes with an 18th century pin factory, celebrating our tradition of lo-cost profiteering and treating people like machines.

29. Give a loved one a hug and tell them how much you appreciate them
I do this most days/nights. The old ladies were right when we got married — keep short accounts, about good things as well as fallings out.

30. Talk to someone of a different culture
Cressex Community School governors this afternoon — I am proud and delighted to be a governor of Cressex School, of which I've spoken before. It's a county school with a large majority Pakistani background Muslim intake, where we are looking forward to the arrival of a new head, and the rebuilding of our school in the next couple of years. Someone tried to burn it down recently, but It’s good to be part of this community. Amidst many challenges and low league table placing, we achieve Maths value added figures in the top 1% nationally.

31. Write to your MP about something they are doing right
Generally I have to say our Bucks MP’s seem to me to be basically decent people who try their best for everyone. Nobody’s saying they’re perfect, and in our system, of course, anyone who really thinks they could do better is welcome to have a go themselves.

32. Use a newspaper to reflect or pray about world issues
I counted 79 news stories in today’s Daily Mail. 66 (83%) were exclusively UK, including staples about the housing market and nasty foreigners. 13 had anything to do with the rest of the world. 6 were Gossip and Trivia. 2 were US election stories, and 2 crime reports. That left 3 stories help me pray over world issues — just over 3% of the paper. 5 stories were essentially Xenophobic, and 15 nostalgic whining. So if you really want to know anything about 98% of the real world you’ll need to look elsewhere. The Week? The Tomorrow Project? Amnesty? Forum 18? Tear Fund? WDM? Médecins sans Frontières? Chatham House? RUSI? The Mennonites? Christian Aid? CMS?