The Clergy Discipline Commission has expressed disappointment at bishops’ infrequent use of conciliation in disciplinary cases, in an annual report that also warns that their “lack of attention” has resulted in a “greatly diminished” pool of tribunal members, the Provincial Panel.

The Commission’s annual report for 2024, included among the General Synod papers for next February, says that bishops infrequently used their power to refer complaints for alternative dispute resolution through conciliation, although there are “a great many people throughout the church with expertise in conciliation and it was a shame that this formal mechanism was being underutilised”.

In 2024, there were three complaints referred to conciliation — four per cent of the total. All were unsuccessful and then had to be determined by the bishop.

The report also notes that the Provincial Panel (the clergy and laity eligible to sit on a disciplinary tribunal) were “greatly diminished” in 2024, owing to “the lack of attention given by some diocesan bishops to renewing the terms of those members representing their diocese on the Panel, and delays in appointing replacement members when a panel member indicated they were no longer available to sit.”

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The Clergy Discipline Commission has expressed disappointment at bishops’ infrequent use of conciliation in disciplinary cases #clergydiscipline #bishops https://t.co/rJBAYl75Rs

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) December 5, 2025

Is the billable hour about to become a thing of the past?

It seems inevitable, at least for lawyers and other professional-services firms, because as artificial-intelligence capabilities accelerate, the fundamental logic of charging for time spent rather than value delivered is becoming increasingly untenable.

The billable hour as the fundamental unit of business for professional services is so
widespread that it’s difficult to remember that it is a fairly recent innovation, becoming prevalent in the 1960s and 1970s. Before that, many lawyers and other professionals billed for outcomes achieved or services rendered, not for time.

Many say the seed for the billable hour was planted in the early 1900s by a young lawyer named Reginald Heber Smith, who implemented a time-tracking system for lawyers during his tenure as counsel to the Boston Legal Aid Society, which provided legal services to the poor. He wanted lawyers to track how they were spending their time, not for billing purposes but to find ways to improve the efficiency of the team, which had a limited budget….

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Could AI make billable hours obsolete?https://t.co/E0lvwETo3p

"Widespread AI adoption could render the billable hour obsolete, a business expert argued. Lawyers, public relations pros, and consultants are outsourcing more work to bots, so the logic of charging for time —… pic.twitter.com/nEok6qU1v2

— Bob Pickard (@BobPickard) December 5, 2025

Japan is sailing dangerously close to the wind. The most indebted state in the world is taunting markets with one of the least justifiable plans for extra debt issuance.

The fiscal irresponsibility is perhaps no worse than in America, France or Labour’s welfare Britain, but right now it is Japan that is in the sights of the bond vigilantes.

Yields on Japanese debt have spiked wildly across the maturity curve since Sanae Takaichi took power six weeks ago and shocked investors with a “low quality” fiscal expansion of $135bn (£101bn), including such gems as rice vouchers and subsidies for fossil fuels – ploys to mask the inflationary consequences of her own policies.

The scale of this populist misadventure is sending tremors through the international financial system, as well as horrifying the economic establishment in Tokyo.

The benchmark 10-year bond yield jumped to 1.94pc in intraday trading in Tokyo, up from 1.79pc a week ago and a whisker shy of highs last seen in 1997. The speed of the move in the once-glacial $12tn market for Japanese public and private debt is almost frightening.

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Japan’s false Thatcher is blowing up a $12tn bond market https://t.co/gLGSs085PM

— B2Investor (@B2Investor) December 5, 2025

What God wants is a “take it or leave it” attitude about money. Money must not be the master; rather it must be the slave. If one has money, it is for the sake of his brethren; if he does not have money, he is as cheerful as if he had. That is what it means to be poor in spirit.

Another way to see that Jesus was speaking metaphorically when he spoke of the difficulty of a rich man getting into heaven is to look at the disciples’ astonished response to his words. “Who then can be saved?” they cry in consternation. Why are they dismayed? Is it because they are rich? No, certainly not. They have left all to follow him. They are amazed because they understand the hidden meaning in the Lord’s words. They have been counting on being saved because they have renounced their possessions, but now they understand that until their souls are cleansed of passions they have no more hope than a rich man who clings to his possessions. Salvation is the privilege only of pure and passionless souls.

But the Lord replies, “What is impossible with men is possible with God.” No man can free himself from his passions and desires, but God conspires with willing souls. Peter shows himself willing by saying, “We have left all to follow you.” Here he cannot be boasting of leaving the few dollars worth of property he owned, but he means he has left the old mental possessions and diseases of the soul. By doing this he will be saved.

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☦️St. Clement of Alexandria pic.twitter.com/F3On9ieDRI

— Orthodox Faith (@since33) November 12, 2025

O Lord, who didst call thy servant Clement of Alexandria from the errors of ancient philosophy that he might learn and teach the saving Gospel of Christ: Turn thy Church from the conceits of worldly wisdom and, by the Spirit of truth, guide it into all truth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

OTD 4 December: feast of St Clement of Alexandria. pic.twitter.com/oa582KRS68

— Caroline Murray (@Prof_hedgehog) December 4, 2025

O God, Father of mercies, who didst so love the world that thou didst give thine only begotten Son to take our nature upon him for us men and for our salvation: Grant to us who by his first coming have been called into thy kingdom of grace, that we may always abide in him, and be found watching and ready when he shall come again to call us to thy kingdom of glory; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord.

Ladybird Artists Advent Calendar, window 5
‘Snowstorm in a Pennine Valley’
Artist: SR Badmin pic.twitter.com/wrHAZZuh8L

— Helen Day (@LBFlyawayhome) December 5, 2025

And again Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a marriage feast for his son, and sent his servants to call those who were invited to the marriage feast; but they would not come. Again he sent other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, Behold, I have made ready my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves are killed, and everything is ready; come to the marriage feast.’ But they made light of it and went off, one to his farm, another to his business, while the rest seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them. The king was angry, and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city. Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding is ready, but those invited were not worthy. Go therefore to the thoroughfares, and invite to the marriage feast as many as you find.’ And those servants went out into the streets and gathered all whom they found, both bad and good; so the wedding hall was filled with guests.

“But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment; and he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, and cast him into the outer darkness; there men will weep and gnash their teeth.’ For many are called, but few are chosen.”

–Matthew 22:1-14

Guten Morgen, heute (passend zur gestrigen Geschichte) mit einem Blick auf Tallinn!#Estland pic.twitter.com/fAiV23oGbs

— Thomas Stiegler (@StieglerThomas) December 5, 2025