WHAT BRITAIN NEEDS

 I am on the mailing list of a number of worthwhile voices of sanity in our distressed and muddled polity. Before I left Facebook, I would have shared on that platform - now I can copy a mailing that strikes me as being particularly insightful and paste it as a blogpost. I hope this gets read widely:

Dear Rob,   Leading economists wrote to the Chancellor this week demanding a change of direction. Concerned that the government won’t invest enough in public services and infrastructure, the group of economists – including top civil servants and academics – wrote an open letter to Rachel Reeves in the Financial Times. They argue the government is prioritising reducing government borrowing – and

FRUITS OF THE MARAZION QUAKER LIBRARY (11) - PART TWO: HUGH MCGREGOR ROSS 'THIRTY ESSAYS ON THE GOSPEL OF THOMAS'

 Hugh McGregor Ross has an American counter-part, Professor Stevan Davies; these two scholars have studied the Gospel of Thomas and each, in similar ways, has opened the eyes of readers to the spiritual wisdom of the sayings of Jesus as recorded by Thomas. Stevan Davies writes in 'The Gospel of Thomas Annotated & Explained' (2002): 'The Gospel of Thomas presents a vision of all human beings as potential children of God within whom already, unbeknownst to them, the divine light is shining.' How wonderful it is that our founder, George Fox, arrived at the same conclusion through his mystical experiences leading to his truth-finding in1647: we are all children of the light. 

1647, in England and 1945, in Egypt, when the only surviving copy of the Gospel of Thomas emerged from the ground in an earthenware jar, are key years and places when humanity was blessed. 

The Light and the Truth - in the Sayings of Jesus recorded by Thomas these are to be found within us.

In the first part of this blogpost, I summarized some of the knowledge and ideas of Hugh McGregor Ross recorded in his 'Thirty Essays on the Gospel of Thomas' (1990). In this post, I share the rest of his wisdom.

• The Gospel of Thomas was branded as heretical by Hippolytus, bishop of Rome, in the early third century. Ross notes that the original meaning of the word 'heresy' was neither abusive nor complimentary - it means literally a choice, for example of principles. But Christians such as Paul in the first century and then Ignatius in the second century began to apply it to views they regarded as erroneous - not representing a proper understanding of Christian belief. They were intent on creating a church for everyone with a defined dogma of belief. Other religions offer a pathway to a deeper personal spirituality: the Jewish faith has Hasidism; Islam has Sufism; Hindus have the

MINE TO DIE GETS CLOSE TO ANOTHER PRINT RUN

 My original print run for Mine to Die was 200; it had been 300 for Dying to Know and that seemed excessive given the number of unsold copies. A pity because DTK is a good piece of writing with very important messages about our misgovernment during the pandemic, some interesting bits of autobiography, and great photographs. If you haven't got a copy yet for yourself or if you are looking for a present for someone else, please press this link for a way to purchase. So I limited MTD to 200 copies with the hope that maybe the fates would be kind and the book would sell well enough to warrant another print run. 

I am getting closer to fulfilling that hope as you will read below. First, though, here is an extract from an earlier blogpost I wrote in March this year, shortly after MTD's initial publication:

"I am circulating this blogpost around the forty or so people in my network. If any of you are interested in buying a copy of any of my Matador books, they are available from that publisher, or from me directly for a signed copy using my website or just email me, or from any bookshop. I avoid Amazon myself, if I can (I only get around £2.50 for each copy sold by them and their warehouse system is not good news for their workers). It would be much to my advantage if you referenced any of my Matador publications in conversation with friends and family, encouraging others to support a writer whose only ambition is to be read more widely." 

The rock drill the miners called 'The Widow Maker'. This image was taken by J.C. Burrows in 1904 and appears in MTD on p.30. The account of rock drilling developments is on pp.28-33.

If and when you have read Mine to Die, I would really appreciate it if you would leave a review on the Matador and Waterstones website. There are nine good reviews of Dying to Know on the Matador website and three on the Waterstones webpage. It all helps. I do have two reviews for MTD on the Amazon UK Books site and they needed verified purchases - so only if you must!

Thank you all for any part you can play in this exciting adventure which isn't just about me; those young Cornish miners and their families from the 19th and 20th centuries with their tales of bravery, strength, and suffering are the core of my story. MTD is my