“Your instructor is one of the finest pilots this program has ever produced. His exploits are legendary. What he has to teach you could mean the very difference between life and death.” So we are introduced to Captain Pete “Maverick” Mitchell/Tom Cruise in the reprise of his 1986 classic Top Gun. He’s still got the jacket, the bike, the aviator shades and the need for speed. Amazingly, should Cruise choose to run in the Ormskirk ParkRun next month, he would be in the 60-64 a

A key moment in the Party at the Palace was when the full glory of Joseph's technicolour dreamcoat was displayed, the highlight of the performance by a Jason Donovan, some 30 years after playing the role in the iconic Tim Rice / Andrew Lloyd Webber musical. What the audience may not have realised is that his performance was based on a somewhat controversial interpretation by the Septuagint, the 3rd century BC Greek translation of the much older Hebrew Bible. You will know tha

“Lord, bless this mess” prayed the late David Watson as he considered his leadership of his church in York, a church which was to have such an impact both locally and nationally in its living the Gospel – and yet a church with such problems, problems which were mirrored in his own life. But how does God bless this mess, the mess which is us? One of the paradoxes of the ministry of the Holy Spirit is that the more we are renewed in the image of Jesus, the more – so to speak –

“Incredible! headlines this morning’s Daily Express. In fact, every newspaper this morning – the Guardian, the Financial Times and even the Star – gives pride of place to our Queen, unrestrained in appreciation of her remarkable 70 years of service. Even the New York Times (to which I subscribe) gives wall-to-wall coverage of the Platinum Jubilee celebrations: “In the ensuing decades, the queen has become an irreplaceable figure in Britain, central to its self-identity. To m