For I think that God has exhibited us apostles as last of all, like men sentenced to death; because we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels and to men. We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are held in honor, but we in disrepute. To the present hour we hunger and thirst, we are ill-clad and buffeted and homeless, and we labor, working with our own hands. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; when slandered, we try to conciliate; we have become, and are now, as the refuse of the world, the offscouring of all things.

I do not write this to make you ashamed, but to admonish you as my beloved children. For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel. I urge you, then, be imitators of me.

1 Corinthians 4:9-16

Crisp, cooler air, shorter days and leaves turning brilliant shades of gold, orange and red. Add the haunting sound of bull elk bugling across the meadows, and you’ve got the magic of fall at Rocky Mountain National Park.Photo by Jim Garrison https://t.co/ywdqIyAM8b

— U.S. Department of the Interior (@Interior) October 11, 2026

O Lord, Whom to know is to live, I beseech Thee to increase in me the knowledge of Thy truth.  In the truth which I know, establish me; whatsoever things I ought to know, teach me; in truths wherein I waver, confirm me; in those things wherein I am deceived, correct me; in things hard to understand, guide me; and from untruths, false and noisome, deliver me.  Send out Thy light and Thy truth, and let them lead me, till I know as I am known.

–Frederick B. Macnutt, The prayer manual for private devotions or public use on divers occasions: Compiled from all sources ancient, medieval, and modern (A.R. Mowbray, 1951)

Happy Saturday! Sharing this lovely view across Haylands Bridge in Hawes.Our National Park Visitor Centre and Dales Countryside Museum in Hawes is open today from 10am – 5pm.#YorkshireDales #StepIntoNature #Weekend https://t.co/kgUqwNMl4W

— Yorkshire Dales National Park (@yorkshire_dales) October 10, 2026

Now you are walled about with a wall; siege is laid against us; with a rod they strike upon the cheek the ruler of Israel. But you, O Bethlehem Eph’rathah, who are little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose origin is from of old, from ancient days. Therefore he shall give them up until the time when she who is in travail has brought forth; then the rest of his brethren shall return to the people of Israel. And he shall stand and feed his flock in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God. And they shall dwell secure, for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth.

–Micah 5:1-4

These are the in-between days, the cusp of seasons. Autumn is sidling through the branches and hedgerows, daily brushing more of her bronze and gold into the green. Every falling leaf, every misty morning, ushers summer a little further along the lane.📍 Peak District, England https://t.co/7rduAkJqg2

— peaklass (@peaklass1) October 10, 2026

Unity is a big thing for Anglicans – about a third of candidates in the current elections prioritising it in their addresses. The problem is there is no agreement as to where that unity is to be found – and thus any call for ‘unity’ ends up excluding those who take a different approach.

This was seen very clearly in a different vote – which took place this week at the North Lambeth Deanery Synod.

The North Lambeth Deanery is diverse, gentrified and home to the ‘nones’. Stretching south from the Thames, it includes Waterloo and parts of Lambeth, Kennington, Clapham and Brixton. It is made up of twenty churches and eighteen benefices, served by twenty-eight clergy. It is also where two key figures in the battle over the future of the Church of England reside. Revd Dr Bączyk-Bell, a trustee of the liberal grouping Together for the Church of England, is based at St John the Divine, Kennington and Revd Jago Wynne, a director of The Alliance, is the vicar of Holy Trinity, Clapham.

Not only that, neither man holds his theological position in isolation. The Revd Dr Bączyk-Bell is joined in the deanery by Revd Giles Goddard, Revd Sally Hitchiner and a number of others who serve in ‘Inclusive Churches’. While on the orthodox side, Holy Trinity alone has three curates and a self-supporting minister and there are at least two other churches in the deanery which would describe themselves as evangelical. This would suggest the make-up of the deanery synod offers an informed testing ground for controversial topics.

Turning to the events of this week, when [the] Revd Dr Bączyk-Bell placed a long and complicated motion before the deanery synod.

Read it all.

Nothing much ever changes with the revisionist approach in the @churchofengland- ‘unity’ means everyone accepting that truth is plural i.e. everyone being revisionist. Really good from @AnglicanFutures https://t.co/igRcXa1f7J

— Dan Leafe (@DanLeafe1) October 9, 2026

Almost everyone in Israel knows someone who was killed in the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, 2023, or in the ensuing war. The scale of those losses remains overwhelming even as we pass three years since the day that shook Jews around the world.

The perseverance is equally humbling. Former hostages held in Gaza and their family members have written bestselling books and released music albums. Grassroots and volunteer organizations have been founded for visiting the wounded in hospitals, caring for children who lost parents, helping rebuild war-affected areas and many other causes related to the massacre. Israel remains among the 10 happiest nations in the world.

Part of this resilience can be traced to the enduring Jewish practices for mourning—practices that focus on dwelling with the loss, not trying immediately to move past it. We rip our clothes on hearing of the death of a family member. We sit shiva, a formal seven days of grief in which mourners stay at home, wear torn clothing, cover mirrors, sit on low stools and silently feel their loss. We recite kaddish, a mourners’ prayer, daily for 11 months.

These are rituals that create a structure for intensely feeling brokenness. And the intensity holds lessons and wisdom that extends to all humans.

Read it all.

Part of Jews’ resilience can be traced to the enduring Jewish practices for mourning—practices that focus on dwelling with the loss, not trying immediately to move past it, writes @RabbiBrander https://t.co/l6P4UKx7k7

— Wall Street Journal Opinion (@WSJopinion) October 9, 2026

Americans’ confidence that food sold at most grocery stores is safe to eat has fallen to its lowest level Gallup has recorded, with 65% now very or somewhat confident. That is down from 73% last year and 72% in 2024, and well below the 81% recorded in 2019.

The overall 16-percentage-point decline in confidence since 2019 reflects decreases in both the “very confident” group, from 31% to 23%, and the “somewhat confident” group, from 50% to 42%. Meanwhile, the share who are “not too confident” or “not at all confident” has risen from 18% to 34%.

This year’s survey was conducted as a major U.S. cyclospora outbreak that began in June started to wane and officially ended on Sept. 11. Likewise, the 2024 reading came amid numerous food recalls and serious illnesses linked to contaminated produce and other foods.

Although much of the news coverage of the recent food scare focused on produce at certain restaurants, Americans rate the safety of restaurant and grocery food similarly. In Gallup’s first measure of restaurant food safety, about two-thirds are very (20%) or somewhat (46%) confident that food at most restaurants is safe to eat, while 33% are not too or not at all confident.

Read it all.

Americans’ confidence that food sold at most grocery stores is safe to eat has fallen to its lowest level Gallup has recorded, with 65% now very or somewhat confident. https://t.co/U7n7giSGA9

— Gallup (@Gallup) October 9, 2026

xercise may be a more powerful tool for pain relief than many people realize, according to a large analysis spanning hundreds of thousands of participants.

Pain often makes movement feel like the wrong choice. Yet a large new analysis suggests that exercise can reduce pain across conditions ranging from osteoarthritis and migraine to neurological disorders, inflammatory diseases, and cancer-related pain.

Researchers at Adelaide University analyzed 157 systematic reviews covering 2,736 randomized controlled trials and 221,279 participants. Across that evidence, exercise was associated with reductions in both acute and chronic pain, making the study the most comprehensive synthesis to date of exercise as a pain treatment.

The results challenge the assumption that harder or longer workouts are necessary for pain relief. Lower intensity and shorter duration programs produced greater reductions in pain, while meaningful benefits were also seen in programs totaling less than two hours of exercise per week.

Read it all.

Exercise Can Improve PainA pooled meta-analyses (n=197,392) shows that exercise reduced pain versus control immediately after the intervention (SMD −0.59; 95% CI −0.65 to −0.53; P<0.001). The benefit held across musculoskeletal, inflammatory, neurologic and cancer pain, and for every modality tested.https://t.co/rJKmocxTZl

— Dr. John Cush (@RheumNow) October 8, 2026

O God, our heavenly Father, who didst raise up thy faithful servant Robert Grosseteste to be a bishop and pastor in thy church and to feed thy flock: Give abundantly to all pastors the gifts of thy Holy Ghost, that they may minister in thy household as true servants of Christ and stewards of thy divine mysteries; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Robert Grosseteste (1168-1253), Bishop of Lincoln, proposed that God created light in a central point with matter attached. As this light expanded in all directions like a bubble, the attached matter stretched causing it to take form. It’s eerily similar to Big Bang cosmology. https://t.co/SwXImtDUZC

— Dominion Mandate Scientist (@Romans8Shaman) August 15, 2026

O God, give me strength to live another day.  Let me not turn coward before its difficulties or prove recreant to its duties.  Let me not lose faith in my fellow men.  Keep me sweet and sound of heart, in spite of ingratitude, treachery, or meanness.  Preserve me from minding little stings or giving them.  Help me to keep my heart clean, and to live so honestly and fearlessly that no outward failure can dishearten me or take away the joy of conscious integrity.  Open wide the eyes of my soul that I may see good in all things.  Grant me this day some new vision of thy truth, inspire me with the spirit of joy and gladness, and make me the cup of strength to suffering souls; in the name of the strong Deliverer, our only Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

–Robert W. Rodenmayer, ed., The Pastor’s Prayerbook: Selected and arranged for various occasions (New York: Oxford University Press, 1960)

Guten Morgen und einen schönen Freitag 😊 https://t.co/K014v4I83M

— Renate Umundum (@RUmundum) October 9, 2026

It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be raised up above the hills; and peoples shall flow to it, and many nations shall come, and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; that he may teach us his ways and we may walk in his paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. He shall judge between many peoples, and shall decide for strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more; but they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree, and none shall make them afraid; for the mouth of the LORD of hosts has spoken. For all the peoples walk each in the name of its god, but we will walk in the name of the LORD our God for ever and ever.

–Micah 4:1-5

Good morning from South Carolina! Isle of Palms pier at sunrise, near Charleston https://t.co/39UwyXw93B

— PC and Company (@PCandCompany2) October 9, 2026

The independent Executive Chair of the Safeguarding Structures Programme Board, Dame Christine Ryan, is to step down after only a year in post, it was announced on Tuesday.

Dame Christine took up the post last October having been chair of Ofsted for five years (News, 3 October 2025). Her remit was to implement safeguarding reforms agreed by the General Synod last year (News, 14 February 2025).

A spokesperson for the Archbishops’ Council thanked Dame Christine “for her contribution to advancing our commitment to independent Church safeguarding”.

The spokesperson continued: “Under her direction as Executive Chair of the Safeguarding Structures Programme Board, we have established a clear vision and much of the detailed design for a new safeguarding structure built on greater independence, accountability, and consistency. This blueprint, subject to final approval, details how the organisation intends to operate in the future.

Read it all.

The independent Executive Chair of the Safeguarding Structures Programme Board, Dame Christine Ryan, is to step down after only a year in post, it was announced on Tuesday. #ChurchTimes #Safeguarding https://t.co/651CKmDVen

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) October 7, 2026

Twenty vocational deacons gathered with Bishop Edgar at the Cathedral on September 26 for their annual Deacons’ Day. Bishop Edgar spoke on 1 Peter 3 stressing the value of sharing their personal testimony in ministry. “He pointed out that testimonies often have a greater impact on seekers and nonbelievers than doctrine or teaching,” said the Rev. John Davis, who serves as a deacon at St. Helena’s, Beaufort. “Testimonies remind people they are not alone on their spiritual journey. They humanize ministry, build relationships and provide strong evidence of God’s continued work in the world.”

Read it all.

The Latest Edition of the #Anglican Diocese of #SouthCarolina Enewsletter https://t.co/qf1accJdCb ‘Twenty vocational deacons gathered with Bishop Edgar at the Cathedral on September 26 for their annual Deacons’ Day. Bishop Edgar spoke on 1 Peter 3 stressing the value of sharing their personal testimony in ministry.’ [Anglican Diocese of SC] #parishminsitry #southcarolina #ordainedlife

— Kendall Harmon (@KendallHarmon6) October 8, 2026

Eating out less? Fine. Putting off a haircut? They’ll survive. Living with parents a little longer? Apparently doable.

Gen Z is cutting back, but not necessarily to save for the house, car, and family that once defined the American Dream. For many young adults, the thing worth protecting is travel—even as trips get more expensive. Average U.S. travel costs in August were 9% higher than a year earlier, according to NerdWallet’s Travel Price Index, with airfares up 23.4%.

Yet nearly 44% of U.S. Gen Z travelers say they frequently or very frequently take spontaneous leisure trips, compared with 25.2% of American travelers overall, according to Future Partners. If travel is getting more expensive but remains a priority, something else has to give.

Housing, the centerpiece of the old American Dream, may be where that shift is clearest.

Among Gen Z renters, 83% say renting allows them to save for life experiences rather than tie up money in homeownership, according to a January 2025 survey of roughly 2,000 Gen Z renters by property management software company Entrata and Qualtrics.

Read it all.

Owning a Home Feels Out of Reach — So Gen Z Is Spending Big in Another AreaRead more: https://t.co/xU7REuCLoq

— Entrepreneur (@Entrepreneur) October 7, 2026

But after five years of research, I have come to believe that there is something else at play too: a form of social contagion. In a world that appears to treat parents with hostility, where the advantages of raising children are obscured, remaining childless is easier if the same decision is made by everyone around you. As a phenomenon, it can become self-perpetuating.

This extra factor — network effects — can explain the remarkable similarities between falling birth rates across very different places and cultures. It also offers humans a way to reverse the decline by making having children attractive again.

Falling birth rates are often presented as a simple matter of choice. But in research of 10 low-fertility countries by Ester Lazzari and Eva Beaujouan, up to half of men and women end their reproductive years wishing they had more children. While passing peak human will ease the burden on natural resources, the drop in global population is projected to be rapid, ushering in legions of elderly who will strain welfare states and economies. In China, where a one-child policy introduced in 1980 distorted family planning for 35 years, there is now the “4-2-1 problem”, with an only child supporting two parents and four grandparents.

Read it all.

Why people don’t want to have children any more — Camilla Cavendish https://t.co/HShecevPc1

— FT Opinion (@ftopinion) October 8, 2026

Martin Luther King said: “The church must be reminded that it is not the master or the servant of the state, but rather the conscience of the state”. What happens when religious conscience and the law collide? In a socially diverse Britain, how should we understand peoples faith and religiosity in public life – as exceptionalism, privilege or as a human right?

This discussion includes faith based case law; the purpose of the Lords Spiritual; the assisted dying debate; plans to reform marriage law; and examples of religious dress in legal settings.

Listen to it all (28 minutes).

I’m delighted to be one of the panelists on the ‘Beyond Belief’ episode dedicated to religion and the law. It’s on @BBCRadio4 today at 3.30pm and available on @BBCSounds afterwards. I’m looking forward to hearing what made the edit!#BeyondBelief #Radio4 #Religion #Law https://t.co/cKduskItWS

— Russell Sandberg (@sandbergrlaw) October 6, 2026

Almighty God, who art the author of all spiritual gifts: Bestow upon thy Church in this our day the grace of knowledge, to apprehend the fullness of divine truth, and of utterance to declare that truth to others; that the testimony of Christ may be confirmed among us, and in everything we may be enriched in him, even thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord.

The villages of the #peakdistrict always stop me in my tracks when I see them dreaming on quiet mornings. All was peaceful on the lanes as I watched this scene, the early sun brushing the trees, turning them to gold here and there, and the mist still lazily drifting across the fields. Even the old gate looked like it needed to stretch and wake up.

— peaklass (@peaklass1) October 8, 2026

One of the Pharisees asked him to eat with him, and he went into the Pharisee’s house, and took his place at table. And behold, a woman of the city, who was a sinner, when she learned that he was at table in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster flask of ointment, and standing behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment. Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw it, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner.” And Jesus answering said to him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” And he answered, “What is it, Teacher?” “A certain creditor had two debtors; one owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. When they could not pay, he forgave them both. Now which of them will love him more?” Simon answered, “The one, I suppose, to whom he forgave more.” And he said to him, “You have judged rightly.” Then turning toward the woman he said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house, you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not ceased to kiss my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much; but he who is forgiven little, loves little.” And he said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” Then those who were at table with him began to say among themselves, “Who is this, who even forgives sins?” And he said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

–Luke 7:36-50

Had to go back this morning. It’s just too good. #Franconia https://t.co/9cY8613gsr

— Eric Fisher (@ericfisher) October 7, 2026

“The Green Party’s motion declaring Zionism to be racism touches on questions of profound moral and political complexity. For my own part, I do not believe that Zionism can simply be equated with racism. I recognise the ways in which the policies and actions of successive Israeli governments have contributed to dispossession, inequality and the denial of Palestinian rights, and I believe these must be confronted honestly.

“I am also concerned that this motion may leave many Jewish people feeling misunderstood, marginalised or unwelcome within a political movement that should be committed to the full participation and equal dignity of all communities. 

“At the same time, we should recognise what Zionism means for many Jews: a profound longing for safety, belonging and self-determination, shaped by centuries of persecution and the Holocaust. That history cannot simply be dismissed. Nor can acknowledging it be allowed to obscure the equal dignity and rights of Palestinians. Both peoples have legitimate claims to safety, freedom and a future in which they can flourish.

“This matters particularly in Britain….”

Read it all.

‘Antisemitism is evil, it must be confronted wherever it appears’The Bishop of Willesden, Lusa Nsenga-Ngoy, the Church of England’s Lead Bishop for Interfaith Engagement and Vice-Chair of the Commission on Interfaith Relations, spoke at the Standing Strong: Extinguish Antisemitism rally in London earlier this week.Read the full address at: https://t.co/Rmkhfn7r55@Lustherev #antisemitism #interfaith #HopeNotHate

— Woolf Institute (@Woolf_Institute) May 15, 2026

 For 275 years, St. Michael’s Church has towered above Charleston as the city grew and transformed around it.

Its 186-foot steeple has long served as a navigational landmark, lookout and witness to some of the defining moments of the city and nation.

The narrow wooden steps — each worn in the center by centuries of foot traffic — wind up the brick-lined steeple, above the church’s eight bells, to the top.

It’s not just the ascent that takes one’s breath away, it’s the reward of a 360-degree view of the city.

“I often come up here to write my sermons,” said the Rev. Al Zadig Jr., rector of St. Michael’s since 2007.

Read it all.

It’s survived wars, hurricanes, an earthquake and nearly three centuries of Charleston history. Now, St. Michael’s Episcopal Church is marking its 275th anniversary. https://t.co/w2sJ4iiUsM

— The Post and Courier (@postandcourier) October 7, 2026

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has officially condemned gambling since its earliest years. Throughout the 20th century, prophets and apostles preached against the spiritually corrosive vice, and the Church encouraged members to oppose pro-gambling ballot initiatives. But the last time a senior Church leader addressed gambling at its General Conference—the Church’s semiannual global broadcast and most prominent pulpit—was in 2005. The long silence from the conference pulpit may have allowed some members to convince themselves that the Church had softened its stance—or that their Kalshi habit was not a religious issue at all.

The silence ended this past Saturday, when President D. Todd Christofferson, a senior leader in the Church’s highest governing body, used his General Conference address to condemn gambling. His remarks were well researched: He recited various statistics about the industry’s expansion, and spelled out the ruinous social consequences. He detailed the popular forms of online gambling and even offered a quick survey of the bets you can make on prediction markets—including the timing of the Second Coming. (“Where do you go to collect on that bet?” he wondered.)

But then Christofferson arrived at the real point of his talk.

“For us as Latter-day Saints, overarching all other concerns is the fact that gambling is morally wrong,” he said. “Gambling is built on the desire to obtain something for nothing. Its structure requires that any gain comes at others’ expense. It’s hard to reconcile that with the commandment to love our neighbor as ourselves.” He went on to say that Christians should be wise stewards of their God-given resources, and that “gambling produces nothing of value and enriches only its purveyors.”

He also addressed those in his audience who believe that they can gamble casually without becoming addicted. “Since your recreational gambling may lead a weaker brother or sister into temptation, just don’t do it,” Christofferson said. “Every soul is precious.”

Read it all.

This past weekend, senior Latter-day Saint leader @ChristoffDTodd did something that has become surprisingly rare: He made an unapologetic moral argument against gambling.I wrote about the religious leaders pushing back against the sports-betting boom. https://t.co/0FeDCYVV07

— McKay Coppins (@mckaycoppins) October 6, 2026

As the United States and China vie for A.I. dominance, the Trump administration has made it more difficult for companies to hire foreign researchers, while China has made recruiting the world’s best scientists a national priority.

Over the past two years, China has flung open its doors to international researchers, introducing a visa for scientists and offering lucrative research grants.

Despite those efforts, foreigners are not coming.

Worse still for China’s ambitions, the number of Chinese scientists working in the United States has risen rather than declined, according to a new study about global A.I. research.

For every 30 Chinese researchers in the United States working on artificial intelligence in 2025, only one in China made the opposite journey, according to the study, conducted by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a think tank.

Read it all.

In Race With U.S., China Struggles to Recruit Foreign A.I. Researchers https://t.co/GRZEJwCxsX "Worse still for China’s ambitions, the number of Chinese scientists working in the United States has risen rather than declined, according to a new study about global A.I. research."

— Bill Bishop (@niubi) October 6, 2026

Loving God, Shepherd of thy people, we offer thanks for the ministry of Henry Melchior Muhlenberg, who left his native land to care for the German and Scandinavian pioneers in North America; and we pray that, following the teaching and example of his life, we may grow into the full stature of Christ; who livest and reignest with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Today, the Church remembers the witness of St. Henry Melchior Muhlenberg. https://t.co/Jsp1w9UFyh

— G. C. Garlinghouse 🦬 (@Acolyte_1) October 7, 2025

God, our judge and saviour,
by your Spirit teach us to be open to your truth
and to trust in your love,
that we may live each day
with confidence in the salvation which is given
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen (slightly edited;KSH).

Fall in Minnesota, you betcha!At Voyageurs National Park, that means cooler days, fewer crowds, less mosquitos, and a chance to catch the northern lights dancing over the Land of 10,000 Lakes. https://t.co/8aswLx0qL6

— U.S. Department of the Interior (@Interior) October 6, 2026

Woe to those who devise wickedness
and work evil upon their beds!
When the morning dawns, they perform it,
because it is in the power of their hand.
They covet fields, and seize them;
and houses, and take them away;
they oppress a man and his house,
a man and his inheritance.
Therefore thus says the Lord:
Behold, against this family I am devising evil,
from which you cannot remove your necks;
and you shall not walk haughtily,
for it will be an evil time.
In that day they shall take up a taunt song against you,
and wail with bitter lamentation,
and say, “We are utterly ruined;
he changes the portion of my people;
how he removes it from me!
Among our captors he divides our fields.”
Therefore you will have none to cast the line by lot
in the assembly of the Lord.

“Do not preach”—thus they preach—
“one should not preach of such things;
disgrace will not overtake us.”
Should this be said, O house of Jacob?
Is the Spirit of the Lord impatient?
Are these his doings?
Do not my words do good
to him who walks uprightly?
But you rise against my people as an enemy;
you strip the robe from the peaceful,
from those who pass by trustingly
with no thought of war.
The women of my people you drive out
from their pleasant houses;
from their young children you take away
my glory for ever.
Arise and go,
for this is no place to rest;
because of uncleanness that destroys
with a grievous destruction.
If a man should go about and utter wind and lies,
saying, “I will preach to you of wine and strong drink,”
he would be the preacher for this people!

I will surely gather all of you, O Jacob,
I will gather the remnant of Israel;
I will set them together
like sheep in a fold,
like a flock in its pasture,
a noisy multitude of men.
He who opens the breach will go up before them;
they will break through and pass the gate,
going out by it.
Their king will pass on before them,
the Lord at their head.

–Micah 2:1-13

On Waterfall Wednesday we’re sharing this view of the falls at Cray.📸 Wendy McDonnell | #YorkshireDales #StepIntoNature #WaterfallWednesday https://t.co/MyMKMtHuhR

— Yorkshire Dales National Park (@yorkshire_dales) October 7, 2026

…[Today] marks the third anniversary of the most devastating attack on Jews in modern times. In its aftermath there were celebrations on the streets of London.

Since then, two Jewish worshippers have been killed in the Heaton Park synagogue in Manchester, two Jewish men attacked in broad daylight in Golders Green and four ambulances owned by a Jewish charity burnt by arsonists.

British Jews are feeling unsafe and besieged. They have encountered a terrible increase in antisemitism, here, in the land of their birth. In some quarters hatred of Israel has become indistinguishable from hatred of Jews. Many are considering leaving Britain.

As British Christians we cannot but feel a responsibility to respond. Without Judaism, there is no Christianity. The bonds are deep. For example, when a Church of England service begins with the words, “O Lord, open thou our lips”, and we respond, “And our mouth shall show forth thy praise”, we are hearing a Jewish prayer that was ancient even at the time of Jesus.

Read it all (subscription).

The Bishop of Hereford has written today’s Thunderer column in The Times. https://t.co/XyQKU2jo2o

— Richard Chapman (@SelsdonChapman) October 6, 2026

The global surge in interest rates has exposed…[France], once considered an oasis of relative stability in Europe’s financial markets, as one of the continent’s weakest links. France now pays more to borrow than former crisis hot spots like Greece and Italy. Its government is running a budget deficit surpassed only by the United States among its peers. 

Last week, a slow-burning selloff in France’s government bond market took an alarming turn as it spread across the continent, reviving memories of the eurozone debt crisis last decade. France’s 10-year borrowing cost has risen toward 5%, the highest level since 2002.

Investors are bracing for things to get worse. The rise in rates is saddling the government with higher costs just as it needs to refinance a mountain of debt borrowed during the era of ultralow interest rates. France has more than $1 trillion in debt coming due by 2030, and next year is set to sell a record of about $380 billion in debt into a market where once-reliable sources of demand have evaporated.

France’s central bank is no longer buying government bonds and is instead letting its portfolio shrink as bonds mature. Once-steady investors like Japanese asset managers have also stepped back. Hedge funds that have stepped into the void have been burned by the recent volatility.

“France has been this free rider in Europe for years, if not decades. It has gotten away with fiscal murder,” said Kevin Thozet, a portfolio adviser at the French asset manager Carmignac. “It worked as long as people were not noticing. Now people have started to notice.”

Read it all.

After years of overspending, France has emerged as one of Europe’s weakest links. Investors are bracing for things to get worse. https://t.co/MGG0wEfhzS

— The Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) October 6, 2026

 The percentage of U.S. adults aged 18 to 29 who evaluate their lives well enough to be considered “thriving” in Gallup’s Life Evaluation Index is 44% thus far in 2026, which is on pace through the first three quarters of the year to be 20 percentage points lower than the high of 64% measured in 2010. Most of the erosion has occurred since 2019. Following a modest decline over the course of the 2010s to 57% in 2019, a major drop to 39% occurred amid the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. After hitting that low point, the thriving rate for this group partially rebounded to 51% in 2023 before falling again.

Adults aged 30 to 44 show a similar decline. The percentage who are thriving among this group is 45% through the first three quarters of 2026, compared with a high of 62% in 2016 and 2017. Those aged 45 to 64 have not dropped as much as younger groups, but their 46% thriving rate to date in 2026 matches their low from 2008.

In contrast, Americans aged 65 and older show higher life evaluations than in the past, climbing fairly steadily from 38% in 2008 to 53% thus far in 2026, matching their record high from 2021.

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Timely numbers on just how miserable young people are in America today https://t.co/UuzfQKIV6Z https://t.co/Ow2XAZri5B https://t.co/BYJ07iSoKt

— Nick Field (@nick_field90) October 5, 2026

The late conservative icon William F. Buckley released God and Man at Yale in 1951, at age twenty-four. This polemic, released as Yale turned 250 years old, wielded the unique knowledge of a recent graduate to contend that that the Yale faculty were actively inculcating students in secularism while dismissing religion as “superstition”; that this malfeasance went far beyond mere open-mindedness (and that it would be undermining even if relativism were its end); and that Yale faculty were simultaneously indoctrinating students in an anti-capitalist economic ideology that threatened America’s system of limited government while instigating admiration for collectivism and ultimately, socialism. 

By the time I was enrolled as an undergraduate at the University of Pennsylvania in the 2000s, the notion that the “tenured radicals” comprising an ivy league faculty would so much as pretend to conceal their investment in secular orthodoxy—or profess anything other than collectivist economics (which they, of course, do not practice)—seemed implausible on its face. 

By then, the venal bargain that Tyler Austin Harper lambastes in his recent essay in The Atlantic had long since been made, albeit in a less extreme form: influential faculty in the humanities and social sciences “discover” and “study” wild theories about race, sex, and gender—the crazier and more inexplicable to normal people the better—all while ratcheting up student debt and outsourcing ever more teaching to poorly paid adjunct instructors without benefits.  

Yet meanwhile—at least during my time at Penn—most of the students, even the ones majoring in the humanities, intended to go into business or some other lucrative field anyway. The real goal was not self-sacrificial do-gooding or a restructuring of society to better serve the poor, but fluency in an esoteric, elite language in which to express the most sophisticated brand of virtue-signaling available.  

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“I believe that if and when the menace of Communism is gone, other vital battles, at present subordinated, will emerge to the foreground. And the winner must have help from the classroom.”William F. Buckley Jr., God and Man at Yale [1951] https://t.co/ciHjFOkJZU

— Mark W. (@DurhamWASP) October 2, 2026

Almighty God, who didst plant in the heart of thy servants William Tyndale and Miles Coverdale a consuming passion to bring the Scriptures to people in their native tongue, and didst endow them with the gift of powerful and graceful expression and with strength to persevere against all obstacles: Reveal to us, we pray thee, thy saving Word, as we read and study the Scriptures, and hear them calling us to repentance and life; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

5 Oct 1535, Miles Coverdale (1488-1569) published first authorised English translation of Bible. He drew on work of the martyred William Tyndale. In 1539, he helped with Great Bible, so called due to its size. This was #Bible Henry VIII ordered be placed in every parish church. https://t.co/D9WYMW3uKu

— Revd Nicholas Pye (@RevdPye) October 5, 2026

Almighty God, who art the author of all spiritual gifts: Bestow upon thy Church in this our day the grace of knowledge, to apprehend the fullness of divine truth, and of utterance to declare that truth to others; that the testimony of Christ may be confirmed among us, and in everything we may be enriched in him, even thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord.

Wie wunderschön ist die Welt, wenn wir sie betrachten wie ein Kind, ohne etwas finden zu müssen. Einfach da sein und staunen, was plötzlich sichtbar wird, wenn wir aufhören, etwas zu suchen.🍂🌼🐌🌿🍂🌼🐌🌿🍂🌼🐌🌿🍂🌼🌿 Einen schönen Tag mit glücklichen Überraschungen für euch https://t.co/dctfrFNnbe

— Brigitta Neurauter (@BrigittaNeurau2) October 6, 2026