Coast 2 Coast for Charity

Barrie with bike
I know it will rain and I will toil up a steep drenched track against a head wind wondering why I’m doing it. But I love the feeling of just me and a bike pitched against the elements in some remote corner of Britain. This year it’s a route from Sea to Sea – Whitehaven to Sunderland. On the way it winds 140 miles through The Lake District and over the Pennines.

I’ve set myself three days to complete it so that there’s time to enjoy the ride and stop at the odd tea room or two on the way. I leave Cumbria on June 23rd and arrive at the North Sea June 25th 2010.

But the real reason for the challenge is to raise money for two good causes.

I am a trustee of Riding Lights Theatre Company in York. A professional company that depends largely on the donations of its many members. To donate to them click this link C2CforRLTC

In the remote villages of Funzi and Bodo in Kenya people are threatened by a serious outbreak of cholera. Some have already died. The Funzi and Bodo Trust, which is run by Ashley Peatfield – an old colleague from the BBC, has been active in the area for some time. They have already provided a school and medical centre. Recently they have expanded the medical centre and increased the staff to combat the cholera outbreak and treat the people living there. Your sponsorship of my ride will provide funds for that charity. To donate click here C2CFunziBodo

I will be updating these pages as I train and during the ride so keep checking back.

Thank-you Gordon

Gordon-Brown-3_716147a.jpg

 

Gordon Brown has done more than a good job. He guided not only the UK but also large parts of the economic world at a time when financial structures of our society were undermined by unscrupulous bankers and money dealers. He was a man who genuinely believed he could make things better for everyone through justice, fairness and good judgement. Sadly he was unable to convince enough of the British electorate that he should remain in office and at the election he failed to secure enough seats to stay at No. 10.

So tonight Gordon went to Buckingham Palace and offered The Queen his resignation, followed with almost indecent haste by David Cameron, summoned to take his place.

We don’t yet know if David Cameron can command a working majority to form a government. The Liberal Democrats have yet to ratify the deal that their leaders are believed to have brokered with the Conservatives. We will have to wait and see if Mr Cameron, the new Prime Minister, can keep the first promise he has just made to The Queen.

I’m not comfortable with the future but I am comfortable about the past 13 years of Labour rule. There have been mistakes – some significant ones – but there has also been progress. Many of our public services are in much better shape than they were when Tony Blair first stepped into Downing Street in 1997. This seems like a good place to thank Tony and Gordon for enduring the years of pressure in leadership as they stood on the bridge of the good ship UK.

 

 

Why does God allow natural disasters?

This question was asked on the BBC News Site and comments were invited. Only a few were published and mine was must have landed in a waste bin somewhere. So – not to waste my thoughts, here they are. It’s worth reading the other comments on the story first to give the context

Burning Church

At the heart of Haiti’s humanitarian crisis is an age old question for many religious people – how can God allow such terrible things to happen? Philosopher David Bain examines the arguments.

Evil has always been a thorn in the side of those – of whatever faith – who believe in an all-knowing, all-powerful, all-good God ……….

The Christian scriptures indicate that the earth was thrown into chaos as a result of man’s disobedience. The stories in Genesis describe the events that led to man being banished from paradise.

The result of those actions, actions which if we’re honest we all imitate in our daily lives, was a creation waiting for a day of redemption.
God doesn’t ignore it. On the contrary, he came in the person of Jesus Christ to share in our sufferings. He felt pain, ridicule and all the limitations of human frailty and earthy chaos. Now, wherever there is pain, fear, disaster and chaos, God is right there sharing in our suffering. I can’t fully explain in a few words why that’s a better way.
If you want to know where God was when the earth convulsed in Haiti – he was right there in the rubble. It almost seems too trite to suggest this idea from the comfort of my home in affluent Britain but I know that when I pray for the people of Haiti and the rescue and aid workers there, I am talking to a God who understands and is already there on the case. But he has chosen to work in partnership with us. I believe the outcome, on the day of redemption, will be better than if God had intervened to make crumbling buildings indestructible or hold the tectonic plates under the island in place. Somehow it inspires us to work harder and to sacrifice our resources on behalf of those in trouble instead of sitting on the sidelines and blaming God that it happened in the first place.
And if there is no God, there is no hope anyway.

DJ Fat Roland – from Autechre to eternity!

Refresh FM Manchester: how I was stopped from presenting because I was gay.

I worked with Ian Eyan at Greenbelt FM and was shocked when I read an article in The Guardian’s Comment is Free today that he had been sacked from presenting on a community radio station because he is gay.

I was not stopped from being a radio presenter because I was turning up drunk. I was not stopped from being a radio presenter because I was saying offensive things on air. I wish it was that clear cut, because Ofcom have clear guidelines on that.

I was stopped from being a radio presenter because I am homosexual.

I don’t need to go into a long explantation because Ian explains it all very graciously on his blog. He and others like him who have been treated unjustly should be supported, listened to and valued.

Ian Eyan starts presenting on another radio station on Sunday – I wish him all the best.

Don’t buy The Sun

I am angry at the way Rupert Murdoch’s empire is exploiting the grief of a bereaved mother to further its campaign against the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown. I am also angry that The Sun newspaper is undermining this country’s difficult military strategy in Afghanistan.

Remember that Rupert Murdoch is only interested in building his empire and making money. He doesn’t care about the future of this country, the feelings of the mother, Jaqui Janes, or the lives of our soldiers in the conflict. News International wants to make money – full stop. It seems to me that if it means undermining a government, exploiting grief or putting military lives at risk that’s all part of the money making plan. By publishing a surreptitiously recorded phone call between the PM and Mrs Janes, The Sun has clearly gone against Press Complaints Commission’s code of conduct to grab another headline and extend the story by another day.

I am also unhappy that the BBC made such a big deal of the story – adding fuel to the fire and exciting the frenzy. Have the other papers gone big on this story today? No, because they recognise it for what it is. They have their own profits to make and thankfully for some of them, their own standards below which they won’t allow themselves to fall.

I’ve heard no end of commentators this morning saying how Gordon Brown must be feeling, but when I heard him speak and answer their questions at his press conference, he sounded perfectly composed and in control. Do they believe that if they tell us he’s losing it often enough it will somehow come true?

So I suggest that if you care; if this has also bothered you; that you stop buying the things that put money in Rupert Murdoch’s pocket – The Sun, The Times, films from 20th Century Fox and Sky TV, and lets starve his empire until he comes to his senses. Or do we want the future of our country to be determined by media barons instead of the ballot box. So Don’t Buy The Sun. OK