O God, whose justice continually challenges thy Church to live according to its calling: Grant us who now remember the work of John Wyclif contrition for the wounds which our sins inflict on thy Church, and such love for Christ that we may seek to heal the divisions which afflict his Body; through the same Jesus Christ, who livest and reignest with thee in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Wycliffe (1324–1384) preached against the spiritual domination of the priesthood, the authority of the pope, transubstantiation and the sale of church offices. He argued that the Bible belongs to the people. His followers, called Lollards, carried copies of Scripture across England at great risk.His work paved the way for later translators and reformers. He died of natural causes, but many years after his death, church authorities exhumed and burned his remains.A Bible in your own language is a precious treasure won at great cost.Have you ever read the Bible in a language you understand deeply? What difference did it make?

— Gary Adams (@GaryAdams713) October 26, 2026

O Eternal God, who committest to us the swift and solemn trust of life; Since we know not what a day may bring forth, but only that the hour for serving Thee is ever present, may we wake to the instant claims of Thy holy will, not waiting for tomorrow, but yielding today.  Lay to rest, by the persuasion of Thy Spirit, the resistance of our passion, our indolence, or our fear.  Consecrate with Thy presence the way in which our feet may go, so that the humblest work may shine and the rough places may be made plain.  Lift us above unrighteous anger and mistrust, into faith, and hope, and charity.  In all things draw us close to our Saviour Christ, that Thy lost image may be traced in us again, and all men, looking at us, may know that we have been with Thee; Through Jesus Christ our Lord.

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

Happy Friday! If you’re spending time in and around the National Park this weekend, as half terms draws to a close, please:🚮 Take your litter home 🐄 Be cattle aware 🚉 Consider public transport. Plan at https://t.co/spItkrCxKi📸 Upper Wharfedale by Wendy McDonnell https://t.co/kjfsgQHgD5

— Yorkshire Dales National Park (@yorkshire_dales) October 30, 2026

And I saw a beast rising out of the sea, with ten horns and seven heads, with ten diadems upon its horns and a blasphemous name upon its heads. And the beast that I saw was like a leopard, its feet were like a bear’s, and its mouth was like a lion’s mouth. And to it the dragon gave his power and his throne and great authority. One of its heads seemed to have a mortal wound, but its mortal wound was healed, and the whole earth followed the beast with wonder. Men worshiped the dragon, for he had given his authority to the beast, and they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast, and who can fight against it?”

And the beast was given a mouth uttering haughty and blasphemous words, and it was allowed to exercise authority for forty-two months; it opened its mouth to utter blasphemies against God, blaspheming his name and his dwelling, that is, those who dwell in heaven. Also it was allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them. And authority was given it over every tribe and people and tongue and nation, and all who dwell on earth will worship it, every one whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb that was slain. If any one has an ear, let him hear:

If any one is to be taken captive,
    to captivity he goes;
if any one slays with the sword,
    with the sword must he be slain.

Here is a call for the endurance and faith of the saints.

–Revelation 13:1-10

Morning everyone I hope you are well. After all the rain, but still with the grey weather, it’s the best time to explore the valleys to enjoy the flowing becks and autumnal colours. Have a great day.#LakeDistrict https://t.co/oTpZ7lMwBi

— Rod Hutchinson (@lakesrhino) October 30, 2026

A plea for a new national plan to care for crumbling church buildings is on the agenda of the first meeting of the new General Synod.

A diocesan-synod motion from Blackburn is posited on the argument that cash-strapped parishes cannot be expected from donations and grants alone to foot the estimated £1-billion bill for outstanding church maintenance work.

Instead, the Synod will be asked to call for the national Church of England institutions to create a “national strategy for the preservation, maintenance, and development of our buildings”.

Updates on safeguarding and the clergy well-being covenant, as well as an overview of church finances, make up the rest of the short agenda for the two-day group of sessions.

Before the hundreds of newly elected and returning members begin debate in Church House, Westminster, they will attend a eucharist in Westminster Abbey on the morning of 17 November.

Read it all.

A plea for a new national plan to care for crumbling church buildings is on the agenda of the first meeting of the new General Synod. #ChurchNews #GeneralSynod https://t.co/fmBCiA3gi8

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) October 29, 2026

After Javio Bolsonaro stepped off the plane in Miami on Wednesday morning, uniformed officers used umbrellas to shield him and his family from cameras. Their arrival followed an extraordinary effort by a small circle of influential Trump allies, senior U.S. officials and Argentine President Javier Milei to help him fly to the U.S. and secure entry, despite a Brazilian court order barring Bolsonaro from leaving the country. Referring to himself as the “leader of Brazil,” Bolsonaro thanked President Trump for welcoming him to a “land of freedoms” and Milei for his “courage” and “sense of justice” in a statement from Miami Wednesday. After Trump personally approved admitting Bolsonaro and his family to the U.S. on Tuesday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio moved to issue them visas, according to people familiar with the arrangements. 

The operation to whisk Bolsonaro out of Brazil to the U.S. took shape on Monday, as allies grew concerned that he could face arrest. Although the criminal investigations into Bolsonaro predated the election, the Supreme Court order barring him from leaving Brazil and requiring him to surrender his passports came shortly after his defeat and fueled accusations that President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was determined to punish his political rival.

Working with Flávio Bolsonaro’s well-connected younger brother Eduardo, a small group including Trump adviser Jason Miller secured a charter jet to take him from Argentina to Florida. 

The Trump administration’s decision to provide refuge to Bolsonaro marks the culmination of the family’s yearslong lobbying campaign to enlist the U.S. president and his inner circle in its legal and political battles at home. The personal alliance between the two most powerful political families in the hemisphere has reshaped relations between the U.S. and Brazil. Last year, Trump imposed steep tariffs on the country citing its treatment of Bolsonaro and sanctioned the same Supreme Court justice who barred Bolsonaro from leaving Brazil.

Now, what began as a domestic political and legal battle in Brazil is becoming a test of how far Trump is willing to wield American power on behalf of a foreign political dynasty—with potentially far-reaching consequences for the second-largest democracy in the Americas.

Read it all.

Less than 24 hours after losing Brazil’s presidential election, Flávio Bolsonaro appeared to vanish into a convoy of four dark cars https://t.co/T2SRrBPxEc via @WSJ

— Jose de Cordoba (@Jose_deCordoba) October 29, 2026

American spy agencies had gathered striking intelligence.

A top executive at a Singapore-based data center company was under scrutiny for possibly steering advanced Nvidia A.I. chips to China. And now American officials had concluded that she was a Chinese intelligence asset, funneling information to Beijing.

But what came next was even more alarming. Surveillance of the executive, Alice Huang or Huang Le, a Chinese citizen, revealed that she had developed a close relationship with Jensen Huang, Nvidia’s chief executive.

For years, Washington has worked to deny China the technology needed to match or surpass the United States in the intense global competition for superiority in artificial intelligence. The discovery that Beijing was getting reports from someone with direct access to Mr. Huang, one of the most powerful figures in the A.I. revolution as well as an influential ally of President Trump’s, set off alarms at the White House.

Read it all.

Wow.https://t.co/ovzrTKn4CR https://t.co/VlJTst2k4X

— Ryan Mac 🙃 (@RMac18) October 29, 2026

We are reminded of Proverbs 21:1: The king’s heart is like “a stream of water” in YHWH’s hand, and he turns it this way and that. That’s why the early Christians, living under hostile Roman rule, were instructed to pray for those in authority. Now, the prophet is telling the exiles to trust that YHWH knows what he’s doing. We all need that message now and then, not in order to justify or excuse wickedness but in order to inculcate humility.

The conclusion acknowledges that all this is a shock: “Truly, you are a God who hides himself” (45:15, NRSV). God is operating behind the scenes in ways for which nothing in Israel’s earlier history has prepared them. The idea of the world’s greatest monarch using his military power to rescue the Judaeans from exile, and telling them to rebuild the temple, was way beyond any precedent.

In a different register, think how the story of Cyrus finds some shadowy first-century equivalents.

Emperor Augustus in Rome lifts his little finger and there’s a worldwide census … and a young couple make their way to the royal town of Bethlehem.

Thirty or so years later, Tiberius Caesar appoints Pontius Pilate as governor, and Jesus tells him, to our dark astonishment, that God has indeed given him the power of life and death.

Read it all.

I’d like to introduce you to my next book, Into the Heart of Isaiah. In this book I ask: What does Isaiah have to do with Jesus, Paul, the resurrection, and the first century Christians? Quite a lot, it turns out. I encourage you to pre-order here: https://t.co/5yz1s6D7xL https://t.co/jm4Dx5HcTN

— Tom Wright (@profntwright) October 8, 2026

Precious in thy sight, O Lord, is the death of thy saints, whose faithful witness, by thy providence, hath its great reward: We give thee thanks for thy martyrs James Hannington and his companions, who purchased with their blood a road unto Uganda for the proclamation of the Gospel; and we pray that with them we also may obtain the crown of righteousness which is laid up for all who love the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ; who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

29 Oct 1885, James Hannington, @cmsmission missionary & first Anglican bishop of East Africa, speared to death in Uganda. Born Hurstpierpoint. Studied @OrielOxford, 1874 ordained. 1882-3 in E Africa but left due to illness, returned 1885. ‘Blood of the martyrs is seed of church’. https://t.co/CKjbAn8I6F

— Revd Nicholas Pye (@RevdPye) October 29, 2026

Grant us, O Lord, the faith that rests not on signs and wonders but on thy love and faithfulness; that obedient to thy word and trusting in thy promises, we may know thy peace and healing power, both in our hearts and in our homes; for the honour of thy holy name.

Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they were defeated and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world–he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death. Rejoice then, O heaven and you that dwell therein! But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!”

Revelation 12:7-12

Catching the last rays of autumn sunshine in Cunningsburgh, Shetland- happy Thursday, friends#ScotlandisNow #StormHour #photography #photooftheday #sunset #OutAndAboutScotland #landscapephotography @VisitScotland @ScotsMagazine #STVSnaps #ThePhotoHour https://t.co/RqEotl0LDI

— Mike Wood (@MikeMikwd) October 29, 2026

Demands for a redirection of the Church Commissioners’ largesse to parish ministry will be widely and strongly voiced in the next quinquennium of the General Synod, election statements from successful candidates suggest.

Save the Parish (STP) reported this week that 77 candidates who had signed up to its manifesto had been elected, and about 20 others had told the group that they supported it. In addition to those advertising STP support, election statements calling for reform of church finances in support of parishes, read by the Church Times, transcended churchmanship, age, geography, and support for other causes and campaigns.

“We do not need any more top-down vision statements and shiny new diocesan led projects,” Paul Ronson (Blackburn), the treasurer of Together For the Church of England, wrote. “What we need is more full-time, parish-based clergy and staff to serve as the core critical resources in the local communities in which they are physically present.”

“I share much of the frustration of the Save the Parish movement with the frontline cuts, the creation of mega-parishes and the abandonment of the poor,” the Revd Jago Wynne (Southwark), one of the five directors of The Alliance elected, wrote. “There needs to be a reduction in centralised costs to allow for a focus on frontline ministry in parishes up and down the country.”

Read it all.

➡️ Demands for a redirection of the Church Commissioners’ largesse to parish ministry will be widely and strongly voiced in the next quinquennium of the General Synod, election statements from successful candidates suggest #GeneralSynod #ChurchNews https://t.co/zj9qvoEsJ5

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) October 23, 2026

As A.I. systems have grown increasingly powerful over the past several years, decoding the inner workings of these technologies has only become harder. In 2014, Google’s Inception technology spanned several million “neurons,” the fundamental mathematical calculations that drive an A.I. system. The latest systems span trillions.

The trouble is that no one seems to know what each neuron is doing. When an A.I. system learns a particular concept — like recognizing a car or a cat or a suit tie — it spreads these ideas across multiple neurons in ways that even experts cannot understand. Researchers call this “superposition.” And if they can’t disentangle this phenomenon, the implications could be profound.

In coming years, many businesses, governments and individuals may be reluctant to turn to A.I. technologies because they don’t have a detailed understanding of how these systems work. If they can’t pinpoint why a system made a particular choice, they may not trust it. And if they do put their trust in A.I., they could open themselves up to liability when the technology makes serious mistakes, particularly when A.I. systems are used in sensitive areas, like diagnosing diseases at hospitals or helping the police identify perpetrators in photographs.

When Mr. Cammarata started an interpretability project at OpenAI three years ago, he estimated that less than 2 percent of the neurons inside an A.I. system could be properly understood. Now that he has a new way of looking at the problem — which involves a phenomenon he calls “recursive generalization” — he thinks that he can understand the behavior of more than 90 percent of neurons.

Read it all.

New York Times @nytimes: Did the Hardest A.I. Problem Just Get Much Easier? – The New York Times. #MachineLearning #AI #aiact https://t.co/nN5DZlk7HL

— Nordic AI Institute (@nordicinst) October 27, 2026

After a prolonged decline, religion in the United States has shown signs of strength and stability in recent years.

Since 2020, steady percentages of U.S. adults have said they identify with a religion, pray daily, consider religion to be very important in their lives and attend religious services at least monthly, according to the newest Pew Research Center surveys.

And the percentage of Americans who say they went to religious services in the last month continues to climb following a pandemic-era low point.

In a June 2026 survey, 34% of U.S. adults say “yes” when asked whether they went to religious services in person during the last month, and a total of 45% say they either attended religious services in person or watched them online or on TV in the last month. Both numbers are at their highest levels since the Center started asking these questions in July 2020, during the early months of the COVID-19 outbreak

Read it all.

We analyzed how the same 5,835 U.S. adults changed religiously between 2020 and 2025.Most Americans gave the same answers to our core questions about religion in 2025 that they gave in 2020. https://t.co/9pHddObAZC

— Pew Research Center (@pewresearch) October 28, 2026

The U.S. has told several Gulf Arab countries to be prepared for a short, intense military campaign after the U.S. midterm elections, people briefed on the conversations said.

The communications through diplomatic and military channels are among a growing number of indications that the U.S. and Israel are readying to launch a new round of heavy combat operations against Iran, risking a major escalation in hopes of degrading Tehran’s strength and pushing it toward negotiations. 

The U.S. military is sending an additional Patriot system to Israel from Texas to beef up its missile defenses in the country, according to flight tracking data and two officials with knowledge of the movement. The U.S. has also moved troops off bases in the Middle East where they were vulnerable in preparation for an escalation, The Wall Street Journal has reported.

U.S. forces in the region have been restocking their munitions, and bomber aircraft and jet fighters are preparing for strikes, some of the officials said. An additional aircraft carrier strike group and Marine expeditionary unit are also poised to join an armada of roughly 20 other warships operating in the Middle East next month, although some ships could rotate out.

Read it all.

This is what I’ve been hearing as well: "The US has told several Gulf Arab countries to be prepared for a short, intense military campaign after the midterms." https://t.co/ukJkDMOeHn

— Gregg Carlstrom (@glcarlstrom) October 28, 2026

O God, we thank thee for the glorious company of the apostles, and especially on this day for Simon and Jude; and we pray thee that, as they were faithful and zealous in their mission, so we may with ardent devotion make known the love and mercy of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

SS. Simon and Jude, Apostles and MartyrsSimon, whom St. Matthew calls the Cananean to distinguish him from St. Peter, preached in Egypt. Jude, surnamed Thaddeus, preached in Mesopotamia and wrote a short Epistle. Both suffered martyrdom in Persia in the first century. https://t.co/YrELoXq8re

— Memento Mori (@TempusFugit4016) October 28, 2026

Merciful God,
by your Spirit teach us to be faithful in change and uncertainty,
that trusting in your word
and obeying your will
we may enter the unfailing joy of Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen (slightly edited;KSH).

My favorite still image from moonrise behind the Nubble. The contrast of the dark, silhouetted lighthouse and the bright moon is like eye candy for me. — October 27, 2026 York Beach, Maine https://t.co/DtW8FlgmkN

— Rob Wright Images (@RobWrightImages) October 28, 2026

And a great portent appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars; she was with child and she cried out in her pangs of birth, in anguish for delivery. And another portent appeared in heaven; behold, a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems upon his heads. His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven, and cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to bear a child, that he might devour her child when she brought it forth; she brought forth a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and to his throne, and the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, in which to be nourished for one thousand two hundred and sixty days.

–Revelation 12:1-6

Glorious cloud formations at sunrise this morning seen from Teddington Footbridge. 28.10.26 @TW11Harbour @Teddington_Town @SallyWeather @itvlondon @Tidal_Thames95 @Visit_Richmond1 @LBRUT @rnli_teddington @ThamesPathNT https://t.co/w3Mux0HHey

— Sue Lindenberg (@patlinberg) October 28, 2026

The next Suffragan Bishop of Jarrow, in Durham diocese, is to be the Revd Dr Jitesh Patel, Assistant Director and Lecturer in Theology at St Mellitus College, East Midlands, Downing Street announced on Friday.

He succeeds the Rt Revd Sarah Clark, who was translated to Ely this year (News, 30 January).

Dr Patel was educated at Jesus College, Oxford, and obtained a Ph.D. through the Lambeth Research Degrees in Theology programme. He trained at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford, before being ordained deacon in 2010, and priest in 2011.

He served his title at Christ Church, Abingdon, in the diocese of Oxford; in 2015, he became Associate Vicar of St Jude’s, Southsea, in the diocese of Portsmouth. From 2018, he was the Diocesan Director of Contextual Training in Leicester diocese, as well as Assistant Curate (Associate Vicar) of Holy Trinity with St John the Divine, Leicester, a post that he still holds. In 2019, he was appointed to his current post at St Mellitus.

Read it all.

Downing Street has today announced that the Reverend Dr Jitesh Patel has been appointed the next Suffragan Bishop of Jarrow following approval by His Majesty the King. Jitesh will be Consecrated at York Minster on 8 December. Read more here: https://t.co/UcY4iOijru https://t.co/XOTU6kw0lN

— Diocese of Durham (@DioceseofDurham) October 23, 2026

When Anthropic goes public as soon as next month, its initial offering will be more than just a coming-out party for the artificial intelligence company. It will also be a litmus test for the economy, with trillions of dollars at stake.

Anthropic, which makes the Claude chatbot, is a tent pole of the A.I. industry. Valued in the private markets at nearly $1 trillion and backed by more than $130 billion in funding, it could raise $100 billion in its offering and promptly become one of the world’s biggest public companies. But the stakes are even higher than that.

Anthropic and OpenAI, its chief rival, sit atop a pyramid of business partners and suppliers — infrastructure providers, chipmakers, energy companies and A.I. start-ups — that have all spent heavily over the past four years because they believe demand for A.I. products will keep growing.

Anthropic’s listing will provide the first in-depth look at the health of a key business underlying the A.I. boom — and will be a test of its durability. Is there unending appetite for A.I. services to justify the spending on chips, data centers and other infrastructure? Or will Anthropic’s performance show that there are limits?

Read it all.

What’s Riding on Anthropic’s Market Debut? Nearly Everything.https://t.co/8kyw2Ujt0M

— Darius Radzius (@DariusRadzius) October 26, 2026

I have witnessed – and, sadly, continue to witness – that every time a serious case of sexual immorality or abuse committed by a Christian leader comes to light, a familiar scene seems to repeat itself.

First comes the scandal. Then come the explanations, the statements and the requests for forgiveness. After a while, a question begins to be heard: when will he be able to return to ministry?

But whilst we discuss his future, there is another question that is asked far less frequently:

Who is restoring the victims? Who has listened to them? Who has protected their dignity? Who has taken an interest in the emotional, family and spiritual consequences that may accompany them for years to come?

I am concerned that, at times, we are extraordinarily quick to proclaim the restoration of the leader and extraordinarily slow to care for the people who were hurt.

Read it all.

First comes the scandal. Then come the explanations, the statements and the requests for forgiveness. After a while, a question begins to be heard: when will he be able to return to ministry? By Marcos Zapata in Spain: https://t.co/kzVflvk4ZS

— Evangelical Focus (@Evan_Focus) October 26, 2026

The Church of England’s Deputy Lead Bishop for Housing has spoken of the ‘ambition and determination’ needed to break the cycle of homelessness as she attended a special summit on tackling rough sleeping.

The Bishop of Hull, Eleanor Sanderson, joined the Chief Executive of Church Urban Fund, the Rt Rev Rob Wickham, (pictured with Bishop Eleanor, above) and other faith representatives at the Rough Sleeping Summit hosted in Downing Street.

The event brought together businesses, charities, civil society organisations and local leaders, to commit to local and national action to end rough sleeping through the provision of homes, jobs and practical support. 

Ending rough sleeping was the Prime Minister’s first pledge when he entered Downing Street, and he announced a further £432 million yesterday to be set out in the Budget later this week, towards this goal.

Read it all.

“This ministry fosters hope, dignity and a sense of belonging for everyone in our communities.”The Bishop of Hull joined the Chief Executive of Church Urban Fund, the Rt Rev Rob Wickham, at the Rough Sleeping Summit hosted in Downing Street.📰 https://t.co/GxBdeVapv5. https://t.co/k7LUiBns29

— The Church of England (@churchofengland) October 27, 2026

O Everlasting God, whose servant Cedd carried the good news of your Son to the people of Essex: grant that we who commemorate his service may know the hope of the gospel in our hearts and manifest its light in all our ways; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen (moved from yesterday; KSH).

Oct 26: Feast of Cedd (†664), bishop. Priest of Lindisfarne sent to preach among the Middle Angles and then East Saxons before becoming bishop of the latter. He founded monasteries including Lestingeham (Lastingham, North Yorkshire), where he died of plague. 📸Helge Klaus Rieder https://t.co/u7vz83z5QQ

— North Ages (@NorthAges) October 26, 2026

Grant us, O Lord, so to enter on the service of our Christian warfare, that, putting on the whole armour of God, we may endure hardness and fight against the spiritual powers of darkness, and be more than conquerors through him that loved us, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Guten Morgen aus dem Ländle ☕🪻 #Morgengruß https://t.co/aKBulquqO9

— Maria🍃 (@Marygoeswest) October 27, 2026

The second woe has passed; behold, the third woe is soon to come.

Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign for ever and ever.” And the twenty-four elders who sit on their thrones before God fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying,

“We give thanks to thee, Lord God Almighty, who art and who wast,
that thou hast taken thy great power and begun to reign.
The nations raged, but thy wrath came,
and the time for the dead to be judged,
for rewarding thy servants, the prophets and saints,
and those who fear thy name, both small and great,
and for destroying the destroyers of the earth.”

Then God’s temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant was seen within his temple; and there were flashes of lightning, voices, peals of thunder, an earthquake, and heavy hail.

–Revelation 11:14-19

Guten Morgen zusammen ☕☕☕ https://t.co/GPi6FFnKnl

— Die Kellner’s (@andreas_kellner) October 27, 2026

Southwell Minster will run out of funds next year, and needs £20 million “just to catch up on works that have not been done over many years”, the Dean, the Very Revd Stephen Evans, warned on Friday.

It could face closure, he said, describing the situation as “the most critical point in the Minster’s history”.

Dr Evans took up his post in April this year, following the retirement of the previous Dean, the Very Revd Nicola Sullivan, in July 2024 (News, 12 July 2024), and the interim tenure of Canon Neil Evans (no relation). The 2024 accounts had been produced 156 days late, he said, and it was during the “forensic process” of trying to close the accounts for 2025, and approach the end of 2026, that the true extent of the problem had become clear.

There are still no accounts for 2025. The Dean said that a succession of interim finance staff had been one of many factors that had contributed to the situation with the accounts, but that, overall, this was “just a sad tale of a cathedral among many other cathedrals” running out of money. 

Read it all.

In a dramatic reversal from the first round of voting, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil was re-elected on Sunday, besting his conservative rival and defying a right-wing wave that has swept through Latin America.

In just three weeks, Mr. Lula found more than 10 million new votes. He gained ground nearly everywhere, attracting vast new support in major cities like São Paulo and in his strongholds across the northeast, according to official results.

After a chaotic Election Day, Mr. Lula’s right-wing rival, Flávio Bolsonaro, said that he would not accept the results and called for the election to be annulled.

Mr. Bolsonaro led by two percent in the first round of voting, and few pollsters expected Mr. Lula to turn things around. Many candidates who were eliminated endorsed Mr. Bolsonaro, and analysts expected he would pick up most of their votes.

But Mr. Lula reversed what had been a conservative shift, the results show. He reestablished his dominance in small towns. He made gains in working-class suburbs around some of the country’s biggest cities. He appeared to be helped by a broad, unexpected increase in turnout.

Read it all.

Deu no @nyt!How Lula Came Back https://t.co/7Fib4h9Ez7 via @NYTimes

— Carlos Alberto Jr. (@cajr1569) October 26, 2026

For Christianity Today to publish such a speculative piece, boosting material that was initially made public with a clear political agenda, seems in tension with the magazine’s own editorial philosophy as of 1970 that it is wrong “to gossip about things of which we are not certain.” According to a new report from Ruth Graham at the New York Times, the erstwhile flagship journal of American evangelicalism has been declining in more ways than one. To its critics, “Elliotgate” is one more sign that the magazine has lost its way, against the chaotic backdrop of mass layoffs and a waning subscriber base. But former deputy editor Bonnie Kristian, who edited Austen’s piece, has defended it as important and conversation-driving. Whatever the article’s merits, the magazine handled the backlash unprofessionally, leaving Austen unaware of the temporary choice to pull it.

Some of that backlash has itself been less than helpful. In a column for WORLD, Denny Burk, president of the Council on Biblical Manhood & Womanhood, rightly noted how thin Austen’s evidence is. But he has treated her claim that same-sex attraction isn’t itself a sin as an endorsement of “Side B,” the view that gay Christians should embrace their orientation in various problematic ways while remaining celibate. The two ideas are not the same. One can grant that same-sex attraction is itself not a sin while holding that it is “objectively disordered”: something to be resisted, not adopted as a public “identity” in the manner of modern sexual politics. This conflation has been a persistent blind spot in the evangelical approach to the issue, missing areas of concern for evangelicals and Catholics alike.

Still, Burk’s instinct is not entirely misplaced. Austen says plainly that Elliot’s story “should inform the church’s treatment of Christians who experience same-sex attraction,” and Side B proponent Wesley Hill’s praise for the piece suggests how it is likely to be read. Austen’s remarks seem to gesture beyond simply separating temptation and sin, implying that double standards toward opposite-sex and same-sex attraction are automatically bigoted and normalizing a broader church culture of “coming out of the closet” beyond a close circle of friends and counselors. This is not an especially helpful word for evangelicals, who if anything could benefit from more discretion and less “tell-all” culture when it comes to sexual temptations of any variety.

Read it all.

In The Trouble with Elliotgate, Bethel McGrew examines the controversy surrounding claims about Elisabeth Elliot’s sexuality and Christianity Today’s handling of the resulting article.McGrew critiques the evidence behind the speculation, considers the broader tensions within evangelical debates over same-sex attraction and sexual identity, and questions whether publicizing such uncertain personal claims serves the Church or its readers.To read the piece, visit https://t.co/R5binXKe9Y

— First Things (@firstthingsmag) October 25, 2026

On July 5 the Northwest Chinese Baptist Church in Phoenix opened its weekly Mandarin service with a verse from the Old Testament. A pianist, a guitarist and a drummer prepared to lead the 100 congregants in song. The deacon read out the preamble to the Declaration of Independence — “We hold these truths to be self-evident” — and then invited the congregation to rise and sing “The Battle Hymn of the Republic.” It was a good moment to exalt American ideals. The prior night, fireworks marked America’s 250th anniversary of independence.

The next speaker was a guest, Timothy Cheng, the chief executive of a Christian media company. Flicking through a slide presentation, he spoke about the significance of semiconductors, noting that chips made in Taiwan are the lifeblood of the American economy. He clicked to the next slide. The faces of Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Elon Musk and Jensen Huang appeared on the screen.

“In earlier years, Western missionaries brought knowledge, education and English to the East,” Mr. Cheng said. “They brought the Gospels and Western medicine. Now that Taiwanese have become fortunate and strong, why should they not transfer knowledge to the United States to make it powerful?”…

The parents are more concerned. Not about food fights — though the idea perplexes them — but about the laxity of education. Arizona’s public schools rank among the lowest in the country for graduation rates and the third-lowest in spending per pupil.
Taiwanese families were enticed to the United States in substantial part by the promise of sending their children to American colleges. Now parents fret that the Arizona educational system won’t help their kids get there. They’re nonplussed that teachers sometimes wave off assigning homework to high school seniors; some schools allow seniors to take Friday afternoons off. The idea astonishes parents used to spending big sums on extracurricular prep.

Read it all.

I went to Phoenix to spend time with the Taiwanese community. TSMC will invest $265 billion and send thousands of engineers and their families, which marvel at their new lives in the SunbeltMy first feature as a contributing writer to the New York Times: https://t.co/n73RydKBiD

— Dan Wang (@danwwang) October 23, 2026

O Sovereign Lord, who didst bring thy servant Alfred to a troubled throne that he might establish peace in a ravaged land and revive learning and the arts among the people: Awake in us also, we beseech thee, a keen desire to increase our understanding while we are in this world, and an eager longing to reach that endless life where all will be made clear; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

On this day in 899, Alfred the Great died in Winchester.Alfred was a scholar-king who believed that literacy was essential to the strength and freedom of his people. He personally translated (or closely supervised the translation of) major Latin works into Old English so that ordinary free men could read them.He is the only English monarch in history to be given the epithet "the Great".“I desired to live worthily as long as I lived, and to leave after my life, to the men who should come after me, the memory of me in good works.”

— Oldspeak Bookshop 📚 (@oldspeak_books) October 26, 2026

O God, who hast sent thy servants to prepare thy way; fill our hearts with love and strengthen our hands to work, that we may make ready the way of our King; for Jesus Christ’s sake.

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

Morning everyone I hope you are well. After an interesting weekend of weather and more rain due today, a bit of brightness to start the week with views along Loughrigg and an inversion over Windermere. Have a great day.#LakeDistrict https://t.co/TTm1tTmlAX

— Rod Hutchinson (@lakesrhino) October 26, 2026