2017- a brief look back at a puzzling year

What a difference a year makes! As we approached 2017 just 12 months ago, many of us were sick and tired of the way 2016 had gone. So many celebrity deaths, so much disturbance, rack and ruin, all dominating news networks around the globe! Could 2017 be even worse? Quite frankly, we were all getting a bit nervous.

But what actually happened next is still rather puzzling. Let's go through the events of 2017 as they happened, month by month....

What Donald Trump is showing us about Christianity’s greatest weakness…

On the other side of the Atlantic, weird things are happening. To us Brits, the whole Trump phenomenon is puzzling. Why are so many Yanks giving passionate support to someone who says all the things he does? And one significant group allegedly seems to adore him – the American ‘evangelical’ Christians, allegedly. Why are so many of them treating him like God’s anointed?

Nostalgia corner

In 1980, ‘Not the Nine O’Clock News’ was a satirical BBC show featuring some young upstarts who went on to carve out very successful careers. Just as the result of the U.S. Presidential election was announced, they closed one show with this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmWLJmbytkk

So just in case the current US presidential campaign continues to get even more scary, here’s an updated version. And by the way, I do love our American friends and wish them well. Please… just don’t vote for him. For all our sakes, please don’t. Thank you.

This week's news for Lent

For someone who hasn’t been reading the papers at all this week because of a ‘Lenten fast’, and only half-listened to the radio instead, it’s been a bit disorientating. What have you all been doing with the world whilst my back was turned? Come on, shape up, and start taking some responsibility for yourself. I can’t do this stuff all on my own.

2016: A Quick Look Back at a Tumultuous Year

January: In a surprise move at a press conference, Donald Trump’s hair attacked him in a frantic bid to save humanity. The resulting scuffle led to Trump punching himself in the face and becoming concussed, before claiming it was all the fault of immigrant hairpieces coming in from Mexico. After being hospitalised, he abandoned all hope of getting the Republican nomination, declaring the world was not good enough for him, and began planning a private space mission to the dark side of the Sun for reasons best left unexplained.