Seeker

"The neighbours think you are running a brothel. I would like you to leave within one month."  So began my only personal experience of eviction. It hardly affected me as I was leaving in a week to get married, but my 3 flatmates had to find alternative accommodation. We were astonished at the allegation. We were not prostitutes. We were not running a brothel. We all dressed modestly, were leading what most people would have regarded as 'good' lives and working in responsible professional jobs with no connections to the sex industry. When Mr. T. told us he was worried by what the neighbours were saying we wondered how such a rumour could have started. Here is how we explained it. We were 4 young single women, each with a (not living-in) boyfriend/fiance. This meant there were 4 men visiting very frequently as well as other male friends or relations calling in from time to time. One of my flatmates was engaged to a musician who played in the orchestra of an ope...

A bit late in the day and no time to do much, but I'm determined to stick with a daily post in Lent following the Christian Aid 'Count Your Blessings's calendar. Today the focus is on some of the effects of the conflict in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory which has continued to affect the most basic of Palestinian human rights, such as freedom of movement. I would love to write a lot about this, but time and energy don't permit this - another time perhaps. So maybe this photo of the West Bank barrier wall can speak for itself. I'm off to bed to nurse my cold. Christian Aid suggests giving 20p if you have a passport and 10p for every trip out of Britain you have made in the last 12 months. I have a passport and have made one trip out of Britain in the last 12 months, so that's 30p. Doesn't seem much in gratitude for the freedoms I enjoy. Image: West Bank Barrier: Wikimediacommons

The nature of war has changed since the battle of Tewkesbury in 1471 - one of the decisive battles of the English 'Wars of the Roses'.  It's never just been soldiers who are killed in war, but over the last century increasingly more civilians are casualties. War kills and wounds far more civilians than soldiers and many of the civilian casualties are children. According to Christian Aid's 'Count Your Blessings' Lent calendar 75% of those killed or wounded in war are civilians. By contrast in World War 1 only 5% were civilians. Christian Aid suggests you give 10p for every country you know in conflict. I can immediately think of 10 countries, so that's £1. Image: Battle of Tewkesbury from Ghent MS: WikiCommons