Sam Wells

It's A level reveal week, tension are sky high. No one has taken A level forgets where they were, how they felt, who they told, and the confusion whether to say, "well done", "bad luck", "it's amazing", or just "sorry". This year, there's a complex extra layer, assignment of result for exams are not taken, the moderation of this process risks revelling aspects of privilege and injustice, as it causes concern in Scotland.

Five months into pandemic, I've come to a simple way forward, everyone else should keep the rules, but I should be allowed some flexibility. Social distancing is good but when I see a long lost friend, I cannot bear it when he can't hug me.

Black Friday in America after Thanks Giving has become the feast of shopping. This year, it falls couple of weeks before this country goes to the polls. Black Friday and the Election Day had one thing in common. They're both the celebrition of our ability to choose. The items, many of us put in our shopping trolley represent choices we make don't matter. After all, one fall slice of ivory toaster is very much like another. By contrast the cross we put in the box on election day represents the choices we made that do matter. Because the different political party protray rival notions of human flourishing and how to achieve it.

We live our lives in stories, constructed narratives that make sense of the past, but faith has something else more tentative and more tender. 22/3/24

"Where are you going to spending Christmas?" it's the beginning of every conversation these last few days, but it names too halves of a paradox.