Connecting with Culture - People

The Power of Story

Fri, 12 Sep 2008 10:31:19 +0100

A hotel executive tells this story:

‘The hotel I manage is located near a renowned hospital. Recently, we noticed that a man and a boy were visiting regularly and surmised that they were father and son, and that the son was undergoing treatment at the hospital. One evening, the father sent the boy up to bed and called over the head waiter. “My son is about to start chemotherapy tomorrow,” he said. “He’s really upset at the prospect of his hair falling out, so he’s decided to shave it all off tonight. I’m going to do the same to support my son. When you see us tomorrow morning, please don’t react.”

‘The head waiter was touched by the story and briefed his colleagues. The next morning, father and son came down with bald heads, feeling rather nervous. But, as they went in to breakfast, they gradually realised they weren’t the only ones who looked a bit different that day. No fewer than ten members of staff had shaved their heads out of solidarity with the boy.’

Take it to the Streets

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 13:57:38 +0100

Being a policeman is not an easy task. Take the other night, for example; the PC visiting the youth group I help out with had the unenviable task of giving a talk on police policy for stopping and searching young people. A fairly routine PR exercise for the boys in blue, but in this instance the speaker knew not only that many of the youths had first hand experience of being stopped and searched, but also that it was he who had carried out those searches.

anita roddick

Fri, 28 Sep 2007 16:44:38 +0100

When Anita Roddick founded the Body Shop in 1976, there was nothing remarkable about hippyish lefties dreaming of a new order. No one guessed that, in pursuing her dream, this particular eco-worrier would build a multi-million-dollar global brand with a dominant high-street presence.

a hard act to follow

Fri, 17 Aug 2007 10:58:21 +0100

Come on, admit it. Deep down, you’re a fan. You may laugh at the karaoke clowns in sequinned jumpsuits, sporting grease-slicked quiffs and reaching into the depths of their souls to summon their inner King, but secretly you wish it was you up there belting out Suspicious Minds and, in between pelvis shakes, delivering the odd karate kick.

the reporter

Fri, 11 May 2007 08:24:51 +0100

‘Is the surface ultimately all there is?’ It could easily be the title of a book by John Stott, but this is the question currently confronting audiences at London’s Cottesloe Theatre in a new play by Nicholas Wright.

The Reporter is based on the remarkable life of the BBC correspondent and film-maker (and former MI6 agent) James Mossman, and specifically his last eight years. It begins with him ‘reporting’ on his own death, reading the suicide note he left behind in his Norfolk cottage: ‘I can’t bear it any more, though I don’t know what “it” is.’

In his distinctive BBC tones, he comments: ‘The “it” is cradled inside a pair of inverted commas, as though to protect it against enquiry. But a reporter must enquire. It’s what we do. What is “it”? How could a man in whose death “it” played such an intimate part not know?’

The purpose of the play thus declared, The Reporter goes on to examine the social climate in the years before Mossman’s death in 1971 and searches for the truth behind his bewildering end.

setting the captives free

Sat, 24 Mar 2007 18:18:29 +0000

The year is 1780. A sailing ship is ploughing through heavy seas across the Atlantic, loaded almost to the gunwales with a cargo of human beings. They are chained together on narrow shelves, soaked in sweat, blood, vomit and excrement.

roots to happiness

Fri, 19 Jan 2007 15:16:53 +0000

Recently, I’ve been wondering: Does my ‘community’ work for me any more? I’ve been part of a little gathering of Christian searchers, church refugees, dreamers and mavericks for several years now, but it’s hardly a model of church growth to rival Mars Hill…

an affluence for good

Fri, 10 Nov 2006 12:58:26 +0000

Before long, many of us will be sitting on Adam Smith. The governor of the Bank of England, Mervyn King, recently announced that the new £20 note, to be released next spring, will bear an image of the Scottish philosopher and inventor of economics.

the two richards

Thu, 26 Oct 2006 23:29:53 +0100

Whatever we may think of the appropriateness of what General Sir Richard Dannatt said to the Daily Mail last week, his honesty is welcome. His remarks about the invasion and occupation of Iraq overshadowed some other comments on the ‘moral and spiritual vacuum’ in Britain today. ‘Our society’, he said, ‘has always been embedded in Christian values; once you have pulled the anchor up there is a danger that our society moves with the prevailing wind. … It is said we live in a post-Christian society. I think that is a great shame.’

a convenient truth

Fri, 13 Oct 2006 11:56:38 +0100

In some of the best stories, a supposed villain turns out to be a hero. Environmental campaigners are recovering from just such a surprise after hearing the Virgin boss Sir Richard Branson promise to commit all the profits from his transport companies over the next 10 years – a projected $3 billion (£1.6 billion) – to develop renewable forms of energy.

positive psychology

Fri, 21 Apr 2006 15:05:14 +0100

What place is there for happiness as we follow a man of sorrows?

It depends who you ask, of course. One Christian may happily treat Jesus as an add-on lifestyle accessory, to baptise a comfortable life in the lukewarm waters of spiritual wellbeing. Another may argue that faith is not a matter of happiness at all but of self-denial.

standing up to big business

Wed, 25 Jan 2006 09:03:06 +0000

Ever since Margaret Thatcher’s rise to power, the Conservative Party in the UK has been associated with the interests of big business.

Yet it looks, on the surface at least, as if all that’s about to change under the party’s new leader, David Cameron. As the media has widely reported, Cameron has pledged that a Conservative government would ‘stand up to big business’.

the root of all evil?

Fri, 13 Jan 2006 11:17:26 +0000

‘The Root of All Evil?’, Richard Dawkins’ two-part programme on religion, the first of which was broadcast by Channel 4 last Monday, was entertaining stuff. Sadly, it was for the wrong reasons.

model roles?

Mon, 20 Jun 2005 11:06:42 +0100

The popularity of our role models can be a useful measure of the values and priorities of our society.

So, what does it say when our young people no longer aspire to become skilled craftsmen or pioneering artists but instead choose to emulate ‘personalities’ such as Abi Titmuss, Jordan and Jodie Marsh?

the funeral of the Pope

Fri, 08 Apr 2005 09:10:31 +0100

Few today can stop the world when they want to get off. But Pope John Paul II has done just that.

His lingering curtain call gripped a mass audience - unused, as we are, to seeing physical degeneration modelled publicly in such style. The eulogies that sprang from a myriad sources flowed like an overwhelming river of praise to the See of Peter. Surely, an incomparable icon for the i–Pod generation.