As tabloid headlines go, it’s cruel and unsparing: 1m kids stuck on scrapheap , with the byline “ Lost generation fear for 16 to 24-year-olds .   The astonishing result of the Gorton and Denton by-election was too late for the Metro , the free daily handed out to commuters, and so it directed its focus on the astonishing number of NEETS, young people "Not in Education, Employment, or Training," now edging towards one million according to the Office for National Statistics.  

“From the very outset of his career, he appeared calmly indifferent to blame or praise. Those who knew him well believed that this was no pose but wholly genuine.” So reports Wikipedia of my favourite composer, Maurice Ravel. Last night I took the train to the Philharmonic Hall to hear my favourite Ravel masterpiece,  Ma mère l’Oye (The Mother Goose Suite), performed by the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by the Venezuelan maestro Domingo Hindoyan. I know th

A Message for Our Bishops :  “Another fine mess you’ve gotten us into” You can read all about it on this morning’s BBC News website under the headline:  Church of England abandons proposals for same-sex blessing ceremonies. For years now, Anglicans have been wrestling — and that really is the right word — with questions surrounding gay relationships. The long and painstaking process known as  Living in Love and Faith  was intended to bring clarity and healing. Instead, it has

“The horizon is nothing save the limit of our sight.”  That’s the William Blake who gave us Jerusalem.   I grew up with the horizon, looking out over Liverpool Bay from my childhood home in Waterloo. It suggested a world beyond what we could see: ships appearing and disappearing on their journeys, slipping in and out of view. With them came a sense of the unknown — and with that, a quiet stirring of adventure.   And today, as I write this blog: I see another horizon.  This ti