news cuttings

For anyone interested, I am now home for Christmas. Here are links to some stories in Monday's Daily Telegraph:

Children turn to torture as Barbie loses her sparkle
Barbie dolls have become so ubiquitous that they have lost their value to children who maim, burn or microwave them to show their disgust, an academic study claims today. In a finding that will astonish many parents, academics at Bath University concluded that girls attack their Barbie dolls as a symbol of their rejection of the consumer society. "Barbie provoked rejection, hatred and violence," said Dr Agnes Nairn, who led the research for the university's school of management.

Mystery of Christie's success is solved
"Scientists claimed yesterday that they have solved the mystery behind the success of Agatha Christie's novels. They said her literary techniques mirror those of hypnotherapists and psychologists, causing a physiochemical response in readers that makes them want to read more. The findings could lead to a formula to explain why some books are "unputdownable", they said."

God finds converts in wake of tsunami
Next to one of the lasting reminders of the Boxing Day tsunami in Buddhist Thailand, around 50 people gathered yesterday to worship Jesus Christ. The Love in Action ministry is alongside a 65ft fishing trawler which was swept a mile inland in Nam Khem, the town worst affected by the wave. A year ago there were no churches on the Khao Lak coast, in Buddhist Thailand. As the first anniversary of the tsunami approaches there are a score"

Responding to the final comment by the Buddhist abbot in the last article linked, I agree that in terms of material development it is better to help people develop sustainable lifestyles of their own rather than just giving them handouts. I don't know about the groups mentioned here, but of the main Christian groups involved in this sort of work that I know about, that is precisely what they do. However, in an emergency situation people need emergency help before long term structures can be put in place. From a spiritual point of view, those who are drowning in sin cannot be taught to swim because they have no strength to do so - they need to be rescued, and only then begin to learn to stay afloat in dependence on God.

This reminds me of a story by the theologian J.I. Packer. As an undergraduate at Oxford he went punting and fell into the river Isis. Since he couldn't swim he went under, got entangled in the weeds and started to inhale water. He comments that, had his friend in the punt been a Pelagian, he would have sat back in the punt and said, "Cheer up, you can make it!" Had his friend been an Arminian he would have stretched his arm out towards his friend Jim and said, "If you can reach my arm, I'll pull you out, but I have a bad conscience about doing more than that." Jim Packer says he is immensely grateful that his friend acted like a good Calvinist - he dived into the water, dragged him out from the weeds, pulled him onto the bank, got the water out of his lungs and gave him mouth to mouth resuscitation. If you know the jargon, that story may get me in trouble, depending on your own viewpoint. If not, take comfort in the more general message - God has done everything necessary to save those who trust in him when we were unable to do anything to help ourselves.

"But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus."
(Ephesians 4:2-7)

King's lit up, maybe by BBC lighting (picture taken by Trudy) 

Caius lit up (pictures by Trudy) 

Pretty decoration reflecting camera flash 

Jonny & Lottie 

Dressed up for commemoration dinner 

feeling sleepy

Two things which I neglected to mention in my previous post, corresponding to the categories of silliness and sociability:

The day before I managed to lose (temporarily) all my current work, I failed to attend a seminar due to getting confused and thinking it was the next week. I was sent a text message to alert me but didn't get it until I got home since I had left my phone on my desk. More positively, I sang in a concert with the Revelation Rock Gospel choir. These concerts are always amazingly uplifting and this one maintained the tradition. This was the first time I was on the stage rather than in the audience. Luminous pink and blue T-shirts, as well as fulfilling the role of gender differentiation, added an extra sheen to the occasion, as we sang:

Unspeakable joy! Full of glory!
I'm gonna tell the world about my story,
How he saved my soul to be with him in glory.
Let the redeemed of the Lord tell it,
Let me say so!

Christ's alumnus and Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams preached the commemoration sermon last Friday. As much as I understood I agreed with. He spoke on truth and how academia should be devoted to the pursuit of truth rather than short-term targets. His refrain was "Truth takes time and truth costs lives". He elaborated this with reference to figures associated with the history of Christ's College - Darwin, Milton, Fisher and Christ (who said "I am the truth"). The seven-course meal we were given included soup, fish, lamb and Christmas pudding. I sat next to Dr Fanni Gergely, a research fellow in cell biology originally from Hungary, which made for interesting conversation. People seem to find this difficult to believe, but there is indeed a midnight dance around ("Milton's") mulberry tree in the fellows' garden.

After three and a half hours sleep I got up to catch a lift to Norfolk for the Holy Trinity student houseparty at Letton Hall, a converted stately home. Weekend activities included a ceilidh organised by the more Scottish amongst us, making Christmas decorations and go-karting, alongside times of worship and teaching from Ryan and Rupert on the theme of Treasuring God. My sleep quotient increased slightly from Friday but not yet sufficiently, though I felt fine keeping going when things were going on.

Since then I haven't been hugely productive. Yesterday I got up at 1:30 and had bacon on toast for "breakfast" at 3 pm. Today I've done slightly better but not by much.

sociability and silliness

Having just finished the term, here's a flavour of what I've been up to. The flavour of the past week has been largely that of mince pies and mulled wine, Cambridge Christmas being celebrated a month early before people return home.

Last week we had a Christmas party for Globe and Harry's, providing a full English Christmas dinner for international students. There were 79 internationals who turned up. Many of the team were sent home due to lack of space, but I got recruited as a kitchen assistant, so got to eat, though not at a table with internationals. Fiona Ashton's cooking was spectacularly successful - homemade lemon ice cream with Christmas pudding being especially exquisite. This evening I went to two parties, one being for Christ's English people hosted by Dan Wakelin and the other at church. Both were good opportunities to catch up, and I enjoyed pretending to be asleep for the annual improvised HT pantomime.

It's been quite a sociable time since I last posted. The other week I went to formal halls in three colleges (Christ's, Magdalene, and St John's) in the space of five days. Following our formal at John's, many of the Renaissance MPhillers met up together for a rhetoric brunch on a Saturday morning. We had to do group presentations on rhetorical figures, so we decided it would be fun to work over food. We were inundated with croissants, everyone having brought enough for everyone. Thanks to Jo for hosting us in her lovely spacious house! Some of us went to the CICCU carol service together on Tuesday night. We also met up to watch two French films for a seminar - Artemisia and The Return of Martin Guerre, both very interesting. It's be good to get to know my coursemates better over the past couple of weeks.

I've also done a number of silly things. One day I managed to lose all my work (and my phone and some library books), getting one bag locked in a locker at the UL and losing the key, and leaving another behind at church after Risky Living. Another day I walked halfway to the faculty to work before realising I hadn't picked up the bag with my work in it.

Something which was mildly alarming was to have a letter sent to my home address in Lincolnshire from the Board of Graduate Studies saying that I hadn't met the conditions for admission, which was a little strange given that I started my course in October. It turned out that they didn't have a copy of the letter from college offering me funding so thought I couldn't pay my way. Anyway, that's all sorted.

Tomorrow is commemoration of benefactors, one of those wonderfully over the top occasions which make Cambridge the place it is. This involves a service in chapel where the names of everyone who's given stuff to the college for the past 500 years are read out (tomorrow the Archbishop of Canterbury is preaching, which should be interesting) followed by a multiple-course dinner which lasts about 4 hours, followed by drinks in the fellows' parlour, followed by dancing round the mulberry tree at midnight.