earth watch
Shall we stand idly by?
Paul Kunert
Date posted: 4 Sep 2026
Is it just me, or is it getting hot in here? Up and down my street, blinds are down and curtains drawn against the midday heat. Overnight, from bedroom windows, strangely alien aircon flues dangle. Parks and lawns are Sahel-brown, hosepipes are banned across the South [of England], and with warm, dry weather forecast for August, we’re all beginning to hope for a spot of rain. Maybe by the time you read this we’ll have had some.
This year is shaping up to be a record-breaker. In May, we had the hottest day ever recorded for the month, and then in June, the same again. Globally, June was the second-hottest on record, just slightly below record-holding 2024. And there’s an intense El Niño brewing in the Pacific that looks like it’s going to set yet more unwelcome records. Phew, what a scorcher.
earth watch
Thinking of our farmers
Paul Kunert
Date posted: 15 Jul 2026
As I write, England has recently sweltered under a record-smashing May heatwave, the culmination of a drier-than-usual spring.
Heather Oldfield, South Lincolnshire National Farmers Union County Chairman, showed Radio 4’s Farming Today her “stressed” winter wheat, and her “patchy” spring barley, and wonders whether she’ll even be planting a spring crop next year. Meanwhile, at Low Sizergh farm in Cumbria, panting cattle and sheep sought respite in the shade.
evangelicals & catholics
The Antichrist? Don’t ask tech boss Peter Thiel...
Leonardo de Chirico
Date posted: 17 Oct 2026
In March 2026, the Antichrist became a viral topic in the Italian media. The sudden surge of interest in apocalyptic themes stemmed from Peter Thiel’s secret and mysterious visit (to a certain extent, since everyone was talking about it) to Rome.
Thiel is one of the most powerful and wealthy figures in the global tech-finance scene. He is a co-founder of PayPal and Palantir, but he also aspires to be the leading thinker of an ideological movement that intertwines eschatological ideas with post-democratic and plutocratic political narratives.
defending our faith
The New Testament’s P45
Chris Sinkinson
Date posted: 22 Jul 2026
Have you ever held a P45 in your hand? Most likely you have, and it is the document you were given when you left a job in the UK. A P45 refers to things like the tax you have paid on earnings.
However, there is another P45 that refers to one of the earliest surviving New Testament documents. Dated to around AD 200 it includes parts of the four Gospels and the Book of Acts. It is enormously important to reconstructing what was originally written by the apostles and their friends. While substantially in agreement with the later manuscripts that the Authorised King James Version was based upon, there are enough variations to help clarify the original text.
earth watch
Losing Nemo
Paul Kunert
Date posted: 7 Mar 2026
There’s really no good way to say this, but, the thing is: we’re losing Nemo.
Some of you – many, probably – will know Pixar/Disney’s (mostly) wonderful animated films. Bringing up our kids in the noughties, 2003’s Finding Nemo was one of our favourites. With 40 million copies sold, it’s the most popular DVD of all time, so we obviously weren’t alone! The adventures of Nemo the reef-dwelling clownfish, it’s a heartwarming tale of family, friendship and letting go that brings vividly to life the underwater world of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef.