Just a minute!

Making teas and coffees after the service today, nearly got into a fight with someone who suggested we should have champagne to celebrate.
"Celebrate what in particular?" we, i.e. Kim and I, asked.
"That it's been 28 days since a small boat came across the channel."

If he'd stopped there it would have been fine. He didn't. "Not bringing more people over here to rape and murder us."

You get the idea. Really, as Kim said afterwards, "He couldn't have picked two people more pro-refugees if he'd tried."

I said, "It is worth celebrating that no-one has died risking their life trying to cross the channel." In 2024 seventy-seven people drowned trying to cross the English Channel.

And it is. The days without small boats being stopped while coming across made the news yesterday. The fact that the work of the Labour government is leading to fewer illegal immigrants was greeted not as good news but as, "oh, well it will start again," and "it's not good enough," and the like by all the commentators. 

* * * * *

Still with church, we had a guest speaker this morning. These days I take notes so I can say something about it in the next week's newsletter. My notes are indicative of the level of interest the speaker arouses in me. Some take pages. This morning's . . .

Yet several people have commented on the whatsapp group, saying how powerful it was. I think that was because the speaker had a dramatic style. Loud voice, long pauses. He certainly wouldn't have got far on Just A Minute (panel game, speak for a minute on a subject with no repetition, deviation, or hesitation.)

In fact, JAM may be the way sermons should be conducted in future! I shall suggest it.