Nicholas Baines

LATEST ARTICLES ( 612 )

• Promise, Politics and Law

  

  Following my post last night on the corrosive nature of promises (as opposed to conjectures or wish lists) that can't be made, by people who have no right or... Read more

  Posted on 14 September 2016 RELIGION, SOCIETY, SPIRITUALITY

• Promises and Politics

  I am writing this in Berlin while attending an international inter-parliamentary conference on freedom of religion and belief. Parliamentarians have come from... Read more

  Posted on 13 September 2016 RELIGION, SOCIETY, SPIRITUALITY

• Why Discuss Cosmology with Clergy?

  Here are video interviews with Professor Brian Cox and Professor David Wilkinson during the first Diocese of Leeds clergy conference in Liverpool earlier this... Read more

  Posted on 09 September 2016 RELIGION, SOCIETY, SPIRITUALITY

• More Science

  

  It is purely coincidental that our clergy conference discussion between Professor Brian Cox and Professor David Wilkinson took place just before the announcemen... Read more

  Posted on 09 September 2016 RELIGION, SOCIETY, SPIRITUALITY

• Cosmic and Earthed

  

  I have just got back from the first ever clergy conference in the Diocese of Leeds. We met at Liverpool Hope University – a place to which I used to deliver... Read more

  Posted on 08 September 2016 RELIGION, SOCIETY, SPIRITUALITY

• Science and Faith

  I am currently at Hope University, Liverpool, for the first clergy conference of the Diocese of Leeds. Nearly 400 clergy have crossed the Pennines, beginning... Read more

  Posted on 07 September 2016 RELIGION, SOCIETY, SPIRITUALITY

• Who is Martin Luther?

  

  This is the script of this morning's Thought for the Day on BBC Radio 4's Today programme:I went into a bookshop last week to get a book I'd seen reviewed and,... Read more

  Posted on 29 August 2016 RELIGION, SPIRITUALITY

• Five Questions

  

  1. The Prime Minister has summoned her ministers to Chequers to discuss Brexit today. What are they discussing? Wouldn't I love to be a fly on the wall. Read more

  Posted on 28 August 2016 RELIGION, SOCIETY, SPIRITUALITY

• Loyalty and Loyalties

  This is the script of this morning's Thought for the Day on BBC Radio 4's Today programme:It's been an interesting couple of weeks, hasn't it? Read more

  Posted on 22 August 2016 RELIGION, SPIRITUALITY

• A Bit About Sport

  This is the text of an article I wrote for the Yorkshire Post, published here today and anticipating a conference at York St John University next week – the... Read more

  Posted on 19 August 2016 RELIGION, SOCIETY, SPIRITUALITY

• Making Somewhere Great Again

  

  What is it about politicians that encourages them to make absurd pitches for power? During the EU Referendum campaign we saw ridiculous promises, based on... Read more

  Posted on 18 August 2016 RELIGION, SOCIETY, SPIRITUALITY

• Memory and Vision

  This is the script of this morning's Thought for the Day on BBC Radio 4's Today programme:I have just got back from the reading of fat books on holiday. Read more

  Posted on 15 August 2016 RELIGION, SOCIETY, SPIRITUALITY

• What Did the Romans Ever Do for Us?

  

  Every government should fire one advisor and appoint one historian. I have remarked on this before, especially when reviewing Christopher Clark's study of the... Read more

  Posted on 04 August 2016 RELIGION, SOCIETY, SPIRITUALITY

• Unfaithful Music…

  

  The great thing about holidays is the space to switch off and read stuff that has nothing to do with work. This time I am starting with Elvis Costello's... Read more

  Posted on 29 July 2016 RELIGION, SOCIETY, SPIRITUALITY

• “Making the World Safer”?

  Donald Trump plays into that bizarre American obsession with 'safety'. You paint America as a dangerous place where before even catching a train you have to be... Read more

  Posted on 29 July 2016 RELIGION, SOCIETY, SPIRITUALITY

• Growing up into a Child

  

  This is the script fo this morning's Pause for Thought on BBC Radio 2's Chris Evans Show in the company of Mo Farah, Tamsin Greig, Robert Winston and Jamie... Read more

  Posted on 22 July 2016 RELIGION, SOCIETY, SPIRITUALITY

• Will.or.May?

  

  I have been in the House of Lords all day today. I didn't put in to speak in any debate, but wanted to listen to debates on the European Union in particular. Read more

  Posted on 21 July 2016 RELIGION, SOCIETY, SPIRITUALITY

• Nudity and Nakedness

  This is the text of the article I was asked to write for this week's Radio Times. It was reported as a “lament”. It wasn't. I just thought it was quite... Read more

  Posted on 21 July 2016 RELIGION, SOCIETY, SPIRITUALITY

• “Turbulent Times”

  The excellent Bishop of Hannover, Ralf Meister, delivered a brief ‘greeting’ on behalf of the Evangelischer Kirche in Deutschland (EKD) and ecumenical guests... Read more

  Posted on 20 July 2016 RELIGION, SOCIETY, SPIRITUALITY

• Hopes and Fears of All the Years

  This is the text of this morning's Presidential Address to the Leeds Diocesan Synod in Harrogate. It comes in the wake of the atrocity in Nice and the failure o... Read more

  Posted on 16 July 2016 RELIGION, SOCIETY, SPIRITUALITY