God, we once believed, possessed such powers [to punish] and, when the time came, would use them. Knowing this gave us good reason to stand back. God was watching. God would judge. God would repay. “None of my business” was something you could say and mean, and a phrase and sentiment I heard often when younger. You don’t hear it so often now. If not my business, then whose? Perhaps we have not, after all, abolished God: instead we have appointed ourselves to the post

Matthew Parris, The Spectator, 1 July

Sometimes cricket’s class barrier is breached. During assembly at my state grammar school in the early 1960s, the headmaster proudly announced that three former pupils at the school were now playing regularly in the England Test team (Arthur Milton, John Mortimore, and David Allen). Thirty years later, three old boys from the school sat simultaneously on the Church of England bench of bishops. We are told that this feat has only been equalled by Eton College. The difference is that our school boasted neither a cricket ground nor a chapel

John Saxbee, former Bishop of Lincoln, letter, The Guardian, 1 July

There are many reasons why wonderful and excellent and clever people may oppose the Church blessing gay marriages in England, but all of those reasons turn to dust the minute they are associated with the execution and imprisonment (for life) of gays and lesbians in Uganda. I am sure that most traditionalists in this country are as horrified as I am by this law. Now is the time for them to be heard

Marcus Walker, Rector of St Bartholomew the Great, London, The Critic, July edition

“When a person’s got a disability, you have this feeling you are trying to crawl out of a big hole. You’ve got to the point where your elbows are on the grass, but your feet are still dangling. Every day you are focusing on trying to get out of that hole, but sort of knowing that you can’t, then every now and then you lose your footing and fall back down.

Robin Millar, music producer, BBC interview, 5 July

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