Hamilton Saint

I think many parents become regular church-goers because they see a real value in the sense of community that it provides. They might not be strong, doctrinaire believers, but they appreciate the social aspect of the activity. Our society is now so atomised and self-centred, that many people are hungry for opportunities to congregate in a pursuit that is positive, non-threatening and non-commercial. I also think that the constant and rapidly-accelerating change in society is disorientating for many people. They want some sense of tradition and continuity in their lives. Belonging to a religious community serves that role. So, the debates about doctrine, theology and the clash between science and faith may be beside the point. "Belief in God" may be a minor, vestigial element in something more basic - a need to belong to a caring, trustworthy community.

Well, Dostoevsky once famously wrote: "Without God everything is permitted". In other words, he felt that non-believers would feel no constraints to how they could behave. This is a common view: no God, no basis for morals. Another angle that people put on it is this: without a sense of a divine being, people behave in a self-centred way. Only a sense of something beyond this mundane reality can prompt people to behave with compassion; otherwise they are primarily selfish and amoral. I don't believe either view, but these are two typical ways in which theism is linked to morality.

It's hard to imagine that moderns would think of "God" as a person. Man? Old man? White beard? Above the clouds? Thses are very ancient, unsophisticated notions. The only viable notion for a modern consciousness, it seems to me, is of a very abstract "supreme being". This concept is often labelled the "prime mover", the "first cause", or the "ground of being". But it's difficult to have a personal relationship with a "ground of being". How does one pray to such a thing?

The irony of this situation: the UK is a highly secular society. Huge numbers of people engage in a religious marriage ceremony in a church, but have virtually no involvement with that church, or any strong belief in that religion's doctrines and traditions. Gays who want to be married in a church, it seems to me, are demonstrating a real desire to have their union blessed by the religious institution they adhere to. Otherwise they would be quite happy to rely on the civil ceremony, and avoid all the heartache and prejudice they encounter with "religious" bigots. Another example of people confusing love with sex.

Some words denote real things - the words name objects in the real world. Some words denote abstract concepts - the words identify an idea, not a real object. Does love exist? Does courage exist? Well, we think we know to what they refer - we can point to experiences that show those ideas in action. But do they really exist? Behaviourists could argue that love doesn't exist - "love" being a special form of self-interest that helps the individual to survive. The term "God", likewise, denotes an abstract concept. To discuss the existence of a concept is different than discussing the existence of a real object. Another point to be made: philosophy had demonstrated pretty much definitively by the nineteenth century that the existence of God is impossible to prove - if we mean by existence something that has an objective reality, rather than a conceptual essence.

Well done, sir!

That's a fair summary. (You've put Gazziniga in the wrong group in that final summary - you gave him a 6.)

A poorly written article full of unsubstantiated speculation. Style: how can something be both "literal and metaphorical"? It's one or the other. How can a football club "hit the glass ceiling" - he obviously doesn't understand the meaning of the term. Substance: how can one have such confident opinions about a situation one knows very little about? We know virtually nothing for certain about the situation between Cortese and the Liebherrs. And we also know little about the process and motivations involved in how this situation got into the media. And Cortese is not an "owner-manager".

My condolences to Chaplow and family.

Come on, Saints! let's finish the season with an emphatic win!

Nice to hear Roger Moore doing a stint spinning discs on Radio Solent before the game!

There is an operational Lancaster bomber at the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum at Mount Hope Airport - just outside Hamilton. http://www.warplane.com/ It is flown over my neighbourhood nearly every weekend in the summer. As you say, you can recognise the sound of those four engines immediately. I always hear it coming and rush out into the back garden to watch it go over. Always impressive!

"aspirations"?

Oh, Lord - yes!! Good choice. Standing on the roof, and yelling at the rather-embarrassed-copper who arrives to shut the whole thing down!

Been listening to Jethro Tull on today's commute to and from work: Benefit and Aqualung.

A lot of the sentences in that quiz were lacking full stops! I consider myself a pedant, but they called me a "grammar guru", because I got 8/10.

you are area?

Tried to participate, but because I didn't want to vote on all the choices (all of them dubbed "required"), I couldn't submit.

"Which albums have influenced you the most?" Here are a few. Significant because they served as entrees into whole areas of music. Kind of Blue by Miles Davis. This was my entry into jazz. From here I went on to explore Charles Mingus, John Coltrane, Duke Ellington, etc. Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Cole Porter Songbook. From here I discovered her entire songbook series on Verve (Harold Arlen, Rodgers and Hart, Gershwins, Irving Berlin, Johhny Mercer). Then on to Billie Holiday and Sarah Vaughan. In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning by Frank Sinatra. Previous to discovering this great album of his from the 50s, I thought Sinatra was just "My Way", "New York, New York" and "Strangers in the Night". Found out that he recorded about a dozen great albums in the 50s and early sixties - alternating between albums devoted to ballads, and albums featuring dance tunes. Within a couple of years, I had bought most of them! Quickly discovered that he is probably the greatest singer of the "American Songbook" - nobody can rival him for the ability to get inside the essence of a song and deliver a definitive interpretation. Nobody. Unhalfbricking by Fairport Convention. Introduced me to the whole English folk-rock scene. From here I discovered the likes of Steeleye Span, Pentangle, Davey Graham, Shirley Collins, June Tabor, Sandy Denny and the great Richard Thompson (the latter two are former-members of Fairport). McKinley Morganfield A.K.A. Muddy Waters. This double album compilation on Chess Records was my entry into the Blues: Howlin' Wolf, Little Walter, Buddy Guy and Junior Wells, Elmore James, etc. Muddy's still my favourite! Sweet Baby James by James Taylor. I was already a Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen fan, but this LP kicked off the entire singer-songwriter era of the early-to-mid 70s: Paul Simon, Randy Newman, Harry Nilsson, Joni Mitchell, Carol King, Jackson Browne, etc. I was a huge fan of the entire genre.

Clever. Yes, Premier League can now switch back to GMT from Fergie Time!

Jeez. Players "who possess a superior velocity" are quick. Players who are even more so are quicker. Adjective = quick; comparative = quicker; superlative = quickest. You learn this when you're about nine or ten years old.

... more quicker? Quicker. (Quick, quicker, quickest).

OK, but what about Lambert? How did he do?

Wrong. Spoiled ballots are the same as abstentions - a legitimate and honourable option. Think about it - it means that a person took the trouble to come to the polling station, but then indicate that they do not favour any of the potential candidates.

No, I have one too - got it from the St. Mary's Mega Store in 2003. I don't think they have them any more - well, they're not on the club's website anymore. But I'm not a big fan of lager anyway. I prefer an ale.