Prayer and politics

(Parliamentary copyright images are reproduced with the permission of Parliament)

With the recent controversy over prayers being said in council meetings and in parliament I thought it would be interesting to blog about the subject. What does seem to be clear is that very few people actually knew that councillors and politicians pray as part of their formal meetings.

Whether this is right or wrong is another debate, as is whether or not all faiths should be represented - one thing is clear though - politicians are among the most prayed for people in the UK. With all this prayer and good intention swirling around the ether you may be wondering what on earth is going on in the UK Christian community. Why are we so damned compliant?

There are some semi-formal Christian groups among politicians themselves. There have been for a while. And Christians (on the whole) will pray for politicians. You can view this as perpetuating the status quo, but the reason it is done is because part of the new testament specifically calls on Christians to pray for national leaders. Specifically prayers are said that leaders will act with wisdom. But it can get out of hand and I've heard Christians pray for politicians to be protected, for their possessions to be protected, for them to be protected from the intrusive media, for them to be blessed in everything they do, Amen and Amen etc. There are a number of Christian groups with websites dedicated to praying for those in power.

I refuse to pray for them out of principle, but I've had it made clear to me in the past that I'm not toeing the Christian line on this issue.

There is even more prayer among politicians themselves at each sitting when both the Lords and the Commons begin the day with a formal prayer. In the commons, attendance is voluntary and MPs have to stand facing the wall behind them (a tradition thought to be based on the difficulty of praying while kneeling and carrying a sword).

The actual prayer read out by the speaker’s chaplain is: ‘Lord, the God of righteousness and truth, grant to our Queen and her government, to members of parliament and all in positions of responsibility, the guidance of your Spirit. May they never lead the nation wrongly through love of power, desire to please, or unworthy ideals, but laying aside all private interests and prejudices keep in mind their responsibility to seek to improve the condition of all mankind; so may your kingdom come and your name be hallowed, Amen.’

So Christians will often pray for politicians, that the decisions they make will benefit the people of this country. The only problem is (as I'm sure you may have noticed), sometimes, prayers are unanswered. 

Everything will conspire to keep you away from writing

My ebook 'Compliance is Futile' is now out on the kindle. I got a kindle for Christmas and it was the first book I downloaded. There was a certain satisfaction in doing that.

The link to the Amazon page is: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Compliance-is-Futile-ebook/dp/B006LKWQR8

Now I need to get back to work on my novel. At the moment it is going quite slowly, I've got to about 20,000 words, but I keep editing away huge chunks of the story and I need to weave the sequences together and carry on with the writing itself. Finding time to do so is the hardest thing. Everything seems to distract me.

Everything will conspire to keep you away from writing.

I have the end in mind already, it's just a matter of trying to stop being distracted and getting down to the task.

It may take some time.

Demons

Top Ten Adventure Gamebooks

I always think those people who are keen to forget the past and only embrace the future are missing out.

So I'm going to indulge because Christmas is all about nostalgia (or something like that).

Adventure gamebooks - 

The first adventure gamebook I ever bought was a Fighting Fantasy gamebook called 'Deathtrap Dungeon'. I remember reading it in a caravan on holiday as a child. I have no idea where we were on holiday because I was mesmerized by the book.

I have no idea why these kinds of books aren't so popular anymore. If any kind of book could give the reader a sense of personal power, it is the adventure gamebook. So here is my top ten list of adventure gamebooks:

1. Return of the Wanderer from the three book series 'The Cretan Chronicles'. They were something else - set in a world of greek mythology they were addictively difficult. The downbeat ending of the series has all the elements of tragedy. It was simply brilliant.

2. Lost in Time from the Falcon series. (or was it The Rack of Baal?). Time travelling with a difference - even C.A.I.N the time machine gets anthropomorphic and goes wrong. It includes a sequence straight out of the genre of films such as The Thing. Superb.

3. The Seven Serpents. Part of the four book Sorcery! series. Atmospheric and difficult. Steve Jackson at his best.

4. Overlord. Part of the Way of the Tiger series. In this book you play a leader and have to decide which advisers to listen to. You can decide whether to keep your friends or your enemies close. You are the ruler.

5. House of Hell. Fighting Fantasy gamebook number 10. Atmospheric and at times very spooky.

6. Appointment with F.E.A.R. Fighting Fantasy. You are a superhero. The sheer depth of the storyline in this book is the clever thing. Engrossing and fun to read.

7. Beyond the Nightmare Gate. World of Lone Wolf series. There was just something about the nightmare gate which was so apocalyptic that it stood out from the other titles. You even get to go through the portal.

8. The Grailquest series. Set in King Arthur's Avalon this series has you playing the hero 'Pip' with his talking sword. The genius of this series is that you can take the items from one book to the next. You will need a lot of time to read the whole series, but it is worth it. Good for exploration.

9. Lone Wolf series. Set in the world of Magnamund. Again, in theory you can play these books sequentially and keep many of the objects. 

10. Creature of Havoc - Fighting Fantasy. The clever part of this book is that is so infuriatingly difficult to play.

What I can't understand is precisely why there are no mainstream publishers publishing adventure gamebooks anymore.

And what more could anyone need for everyday life-skills and the importance of making good choices?

'You enter a tavern, The Pierced Skull. Do you talk to the landlord? (go to page 29). Buy a drink (go to page 234). Talk to the mysterious hooded man sitting alone at a table (go to page 23)."

Don't forget my poetry ebook is free if you want it. Happy Christmas.

Free ebook

My poetry ebook Compliance is Futile is free up until Jan 1 2012. Just enter this code: QY92Y

See if you can navigate the confusing Smashwords page to download a copy free at the following site:

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/73333

'It's not about the money'

The Pen and the Sword

Back in 2009 I was reading through the media jobs section of The Guardian on a Monday and I came across this job ad. It was headed 'The Pen is Mightier than the Sword'. Reading the advert it became obvious that the job was to be a speechwriter for the Ministry of Defence.

The non-ironic tagline was 'A Force for Good'. I was so angry at the time. I cut out the job advert and stuck it in my diary with a few choice words of what I thought of it. It wasn't just that the Ministry of Defence were paying £66,389 (plus bonus and benefits) to the successful applicant, it was that they had appropriated the phrase: 'The Pen is Mightier than the Sword'.

I got over it of course. In this life you tend to do that - things will make you angry for a little while, but sometimes we are powerless to do anything about it and the anger goes away (and anyway, anger is such a bullying emotion).

The problem is, naive as I am (and believe me, I have my naive moments), I still can't get my head around the way that the pen and the sword work together. It seems to me that they are diametrically opposed to each other. The pen should promote peace. The whole point of having a principle like 'the pen is mightier than the sword' is to fight for peace using the written word.

I keep reading articles in newspapers or hearing news reports on TV which are so uncritical of war that I find the old anger coming back again and again. And what right have I? I'm naive - we live in a world where reports in newspapers about subjects like the arms trade or the latest war are completely uncritical. That's the way it is.

What is the point of writing? What is the point of journalism? Is it to work with the status quo? Is it to re-enforce the latest political agenda? Is it to write propaganda? Or is it to try to ensure peace - to question, to criticize wars so that lives aren't lost on both sides? What is the point of using a pen or keyboard? Is it to make things better or worse?

I hope the person who eventually got the job has job satisfaction. The job does stipulate that such a person should be 'imaginative', so maybe they could imagine their way out of the cognitive dissonance that doing such a job should cause? Personally I think it would have been a Faustian moment for him (or her).

Marketing Mania

I've been spending time working on my first novel and trying to market my poetry anthology 'Compliance is Futile'.

It's a frustrating business. I've managed to get a couple of press releases into local papers:

This is a story from a press release I sent to the local free paper 'The Chase Post'.

And this is the story written for The Sentinel, for which I was interviewed over the phone following a press release.

The rest has been internet marketing. I've learned a few things. The main lesson is that marketing is a frustrating business and every writer really could do with an agent to do it for him or her.

The novel is coming on very slowly. I've got the basic plot, theme and characters. It is simply a matter of writing it all out now. And that may take some time.

In the meantime I have to consider everything else as research.