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Being trans in Manchester
Being trans is a journey. I have travelled a long way in a short time. When I started, I was nervous about what others would think of me. So I tended to appear in public only in safe places which were some distance from home. Now I am much more
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Inclusive Church: Sacred Trinity, Salford
These days I only ever attend churches which are inclusive. As a trans woman, there is simply no point me turning up at churches with narrow views on gender and sexuality. So when I knew I would be Manchester on a Sunday, for the first time, I went on the
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Contemplation 3: Distractions
One of the main themes of silent prayer is stillness – moving from stillness of body to stillness of mind and eventually stillness of heart. But in practice, many people experience something quite different. As soon as they try to be quiet before God, distracting thoughts and emotions fill their mind
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Religion vs Politics
Today's Guardian website reports on a legal dispute between the Liberal Democrat Party and one of its former candidates, David Campanale. He was selected as the party's parliamentary candidate for Sutton and Cheam in 2021, then deselected in 2023. He took the party to court, claiming
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Nazareth Center for Peace Studies
This is a remarkable organisation, working for peace and reconciliation, especially between Palestinians and Israelis. They are actually located in Nazareth so they are living in the eye of the storm. According to their website, their Vision is 'Promoting a culture of peace rooted in Christian values and nurturing
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Contemplation 2: The basics
Those who are new to this kind of prayer might ask some basic questions. What do I do? For how long? When and where? What actually happens? Silent prayer is something you can do anywhere, any time, in any situation. But this continuous life of prayer is most likely to
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Here's looking at you, trans woman
I am confident in my trans identity and I don't mind being noticed as long as no one bothers me. But something happened on Monday that left me feeling uncomfortable. I was at a pub near the Surrey / Berkshire border, having a drink with two dear friends. During
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Compline
Compline is the last service in what is known as the Divine Office or the Liturgy of the Hours. These services constitute the public prayer of the Church, offered since the earliest days. The history To begin at the beginning: the practice of praying at different times of the day
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Contemplation 1: Introduction
Silent prayer is sometimes known as Christian meditation, or contemplative prayer. It is a form of prayer in which we open ourselves to God and seek to remain in his presence without words. We do not have to do anything. Instead it is God who does all the work, within
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Protect the dolls
It feels longer, but it was only in 2025 that the Supreme Court ruled in the For Women Scotland case that the protections in the Equality Act 2010 apply only to women who were born female. Although their judgment was limited, and they stressed that trans rights should continue to
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The 80s: Photographing Britain
I visited The 80s: Photographing Britain at the Tate Gallery in 2025. This is how the Tate website describes the exhibition: Explore one of the UK’s most critical decades, the 1980s. This exhibition traces the work of a diverse community of photographers, collectives and publications – creating radical responses to
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The sin of empathy
In a world of constant bad news, it takes a lot to shock me. But I was shocked by this Guardian article from early in Trump's second term. Quite soon in the reign of the new American king (for the conservative majority on the Supreme Court has crowned
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