Nicholas Baines

LATEST ARTICLES ( 598 )

• Building Blocks

  This is the text of my Presidential Address yesterday to the second Diocesan Synod of the infant Diocese of West Yorkshire and the Dales:Several years ago I... Read more

  Posted on 22 March 2015 RELIGION, SOCIETY, SPIRITUALITY

• The Living Wage

  As always these days, I am slightly behind on the news response front.It seems that the Church of England is apologising for having urged – in the recent... Read more

  Posted on 25 February 2015 RELIGION, SOCIETY, SPIRITUALITY

• Bishops and Politics

  How extraordinary?This morning the BBC Today programme brought together a bishop and a politician to discuss the pastoral letter to be published later today by... Read more

  Posted on 17 February 2015 RELIGION, SOCIETY, SPIRITUALITY

• Dresden

  

  I know Dresden well. I know people in Dresden well. The devastation visited by Allied bombing on 13/14 February 1945 was horrendous. That is a phenomenological... Read more

  Posted on 15 February 2015 RELIGION, SOCIETY, SPIRITUALITY

• A Bigger Message

  The key to surviving the General Synod of the Church of England is to have a book on the go that has nothing to do with church business. Or church. Read more

  Posted on 11 February 2015 RELIGION, SOCIETY, SPIRITUALITY

• The Imitation Game

  There’s a lot of talk around these days about role models. I was at Anfield last Saturday watching Liverpool offer a model of how other football teams should... Read more

  Posted on 06 February 2015 RELIGION, SOCIETY, SPIRITUALITY

• Religious Literacy and Diplomacy

  Questions of religious literacy in media and politics are being articulated more loudly by the day. It is a truism that is almost embarrassing to articulate, bu... Read more

  Posted on 05 February 2015 RELIGION, SOCIETY, SPIRITUALITY

• BBC Religion

  It was announced last week that the BBC is to shake up its commissioning briefs (so to speak).According to reports, four of the BBC’s most senior commissioners... Read more

  Posted on 26 January 2015 RELIGION, SOCIETY, SPIRITUALITY

• Paris Aftermath

  There isn’t much time for writing this blog at the moment. Life is full on, and my priorities lie elsewhere. One day I will get back to it properly. Read more

  Posted on 17 January 2015 RELIGION, SOCIETY, SPIRITUALITY

• Lights out in Cologne

  This is the text of this morning’s Thought for the Day on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.Not so long ago I stood on the steps of Cologne Cathedral in Germany... Read more

  Posted on 07 January 2015 RELIGION, SOCIETY, SPIRITUALITY

• 2015

  Happy New Year!I hope.Here are some (unedited) preliminary thoughts on Day One.Of course, for most people on the planet it promises to be no more happy than... Read more

  Posted on 01 January 2015 RELIGION, SOCIETY, SPIRITUALITY

• Getting Stoned

  Boxing Day has brought – for some bizarre and inexplicable reason – to my memory songs by the Beautiful South and Paul Heaton & Jacqui Abbott. Read more

  Posted on 26 December 2014 RELIGION, SOCIETY, SPIRITUALITY

• Christmas Eve

  This is the text of this morning’s Thought for the Day on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme:Later this morning I shall make my way over to Bradford for a carol... Read more

  Posted on 24 December 2014 RELIGION, SOCIETY, SPIRITUALITY

• “God Surprises Earth with Heaven”

  This is the text of a commissioned article published yesterday in the Yorkshire Post.“God surprises earth with heaven!”Now, that would be the sort of headline... Read more

  Posted on 21 December 2014 RELIGION, SOCIETY, SPIRITUALITY

• Cry of a Tiny Babe

  

  This is the text of this morning's Pause for Thought on BBC Radio 2's Chris Evans Show. Guests in the studio were Tom Odell, Len Goodman, Alex Jones, Paul... Read more

  Posted on 19 December 2014 RELIGION, SOCIETY, SPIRITUALITY

• On the Face of It

  

  The current rhetoric around immigration, asylum and 'foreigners' is not one might call constructive. Statistics are bandied around, particularly by politicians... Read more

  Posted on 06 December 2014 RELIGION, SOCIETY, SPIRITUALITY

• 3 Points

  Apart from posting scripts and personal stuff, I haven't had time to get back to the sort of blogging that provokes or responds or interprets. Read more

  Posted on 01 December 2014 RELIGION, SOCIETY, SPIRITUALITY

• Unmerited Honour

  

  I have just returned from Jena in Germany where I was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the Friedrich-Schiller-Universität on Tuesday evening. Read more

  Posted on 27 November 2014 RELIGION, SOCIETY, SPIRITUALITY

• Whose Life is It Anyway?

  This is the text of this morning's Thought for the day on BBC Radio 4's Today programme.In a previous life I worked as a Russian linguist at GCHQ in Cheltenham. Read more

  Posted on 24 November 2014 RELIGION, SOCIETY, SPIRITUALITY

• Getting Down to Business

  This is the text of my Presidential Address to the first Diocesan Synod of the Diocese of Leeds (West Yorkshire the Dales) on Saturday 22 November 2014 in... Read more

  Posted on 22 November 2014 RELIGION, SOCIETY, SPIRITUALITY