One in three Americans are stockpiling daily necessities like toilet paper and non-perishable food out of fear that President-elect Donald Trump’s pledge to add tariffs to imported goods will lead to higher prices, according to a new survey.

Some 34% of respondents said they are stockpiling items because they are “fearful or uncertain about the future,” according to a December report from CreditCards.com, which publishes information on credit cards and financial literacy. The organization in late November surveyed 2,000 US residents.

Overall, the majority of respondents said they would use credit cards for some or most of their purchases this holiday season, with three in 10 planning to go into or take on additional debt.

Read it all.

One in three Americans are stockpiling daily necessities like toilet paper and non-perishable food out of fear that President-elect Donald Trump’s pledge to add tariffs to imported goods will lead to higher prices, according to a new survey. https://t.co/I6pBDNFuKH

— Bloomberg Economics (@economics) December 6, 2024

Yesterday, I gave my farewell speech in the House of Lords, as part of a debate on housing and homelessness.I would like to apologise wholeheartedly for the hurt that my speech has caused.I understand that my words – the things that I said, and those I omitted to say – have caused further distress for those who were traumatised, and continue to be harmed, by John Smyth’s heinous abuse, and by the far reaching effects of other perpetrators of abuse.I did not intend to overlook the experience of survivors, or to make light of the situation – and I am very sorry for having done so.It remains the case that I take both personal and institutional responsibility for the long and retraumatising period after 2013, and the harm that this has caused survivors.I continue to feel a profound sense of shame at the Church of England’s historic safeguarding failures.

(Found here).

The Archbishop of Canterbury has suggested that he may not have been personally responsible for the Church of England’s mishandling of a child sexual abuse scandal.

In his final House of Lords speech as Archbishop, the Most Rev Justin Welby implied that the institution’s failure to stop serial predator John Smyth would have warranted his resignation regardless of his own personal culpability.

He said that a “head” had to “roll”, and that this would have been the case “whether one is personally responsible or not”.

“The reality is that there comes a time, if you are technically leading a particular institution or area of responsibility, where the shame of what has gone wrong, whether one is personally responsible or not, must require a head to roll,” he said.

“And there is only, in this case, one head that rolls well enough.”

Read it all.

🔴 Archbishop of Canterbury implies he is not responsible over sex abuse scandalhttps://t.co/DtcUXG4mEU

— The Telegraph (@Telegraph) December 5, 2024

Almighty God, who in thy love didst give to thy servant Nicholas of Myra a perpetual name for deeds of kindness on land and sea: Grant, we pray thee, that thy Church may never cease to work for the happiness of children, the safety of sailors, the relief of the poor, and the help of those tossed by tempests of doubt or grief; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Today's the feast of St Nicholas, a 3rd Century Bishop of Myra. His popular legends include bringing three boys back to life who had been killed by a publican and placed in a barrel, as here in collected 16th Century continental glass at Erpingham, Norfolk. 1/3 pic.twitter.com/bJhCiP55bB

— Simon Knott (@SimoninSuffolk) December 6, 2024

Thou who with thine own mouth hast avouched that at midnight, at an hour when we are not aware, the Bridegroom shall come: Grant that the cry, The Bridegroom cometh, may sound evermore in our ears, that so we be never unprepared to meet him, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

Ladybird Artists Advent Calendar, window 6
‘The village’
Artist: SR Badmin pic.twitter.com/oicsv16w73

— Helen Day (@LBFlyawayhome) December 6, 2024

For Jerusalem has stumbled,
    and Judah has fallen;
because their speech and their deeds are against the Lord,
    defying his glorious presence.

Their partiality witnesses against them;
    they proclaim their sin like Sodom,
    they do not hide it.
Woe to them!
    For they have brought evil upon themselves.
Tell the righteous that it shall be well with them,
    for they shall eat the fruit of their deeds.
Woe to the wicked! It shall be ill with him,
    for what his hands have done shall be done to him.
My people—children are their oppressors,
    and women rule over them.
O my people, your leaders mislead you,
    and confuse the course of your paths.

The Lord has taken his place to contend,
    he stands to judge his people.
The Lord enters into judgment
    with the elders and princes of his people:
“It is you who have devoured the vineyard,
    the spoil of the poor is in your houses.
What do you mean by crushing my people,
    by grinding the face of the poor?”
                says the Lord God of hosts.

The Tyne Valley lull before the weekend storm pic.twitter.com/s78PmMYg7k

— Graeme Peacock (@GraemePeacock1) December 6, 2024

A head had to roll for safeguarding failures in the Church of England, and the Archbishop of Canterbury’s is the only one that “rolls well enough”, Archbishop Welby told the House of Lords on Thursday.

He began his valedictory speech with some remarks about his decision to resign — the first public comments that he has made since the statement three weeks ago announcing his decision (News, 12 November).

“The reality is that there comes a time, if you are technically leading a particular institution or area of responsibility, where the shame of what has gone wrong, whether one is personally responsible or not, must require a head to roll. And there is only, in this case, one head that rolls well enough,” he said.

Read it all.

‘I had to stand down,’ Archbishop Welby tells House of Lords https://t.co/I0ji3ArbyE

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) December 5, 2024

A craze for betting is sweeping over America. This year Americans are on track to wager nearly $150bn on sports, having bet a paltry $7bn in 2018. Another $80bn is being wagered in online casinos; in the few weeks when election gambling was legal before the presidential vote, hundreds of millions of dollars were placed on the outcome. Even physical casinos are spreading. Soon the island of Manhattan could have its own casino towering over Times Square.

As our Briefing this week explains, the revolution has been unleashed by the overturning of bans, the rise of always-available betting apps and a booming economy. It is turning gambling into a mammoth business. Americans may wager as much as $630bn online by the end of the decade, quadrupling gambling companies’ revenues from sports-betting and virtual casinos. Earlier this year the market capitalisation of Flutter, a company that owns online betting platforms including FanDuel, the biggest sports-betting site in America, overtook the biggest behemoth in physical casinos, Las Vegas Sands. Gambling is changing the nature of sports, too, invigorating fans and enlivening broadcasting. Last year espn, the sports network owned by Disney, launched its own betting app.

Read it all.

.@TheEconomist is generally good, but this article is horrendous. Online gambling has been cash cow for @bet365 @DraftKings @BetMGM @FanDuel & more. But all of their customers irrationally think they can come out ahead. And lose it all in the process.https://t.co/MSPPNLL6Sr

— Ben Rothke (@benrothke) December 5, 2024

WSJ When Muhammad Imtiaz received an electricity bill of over $120 last summer, he panicked. The bill, for June and July, was all he earns in a month of ferrying passengers on his motorbike in the scrappy suburbs outside Pakistan’s capital Islamabad.

In his two-room home, where he lives with his wife and four children, he only has a fridge and lights. He runs two fans in the summer months when heat can exceed 110 degrees Fahrenheit.

“Should I give my rent, pay the electricity bill, or buy food for my children?” said Imtiaz, who has racked up $3,000 in debt. His family has one meal a day: watered-down lentils with flatbread. A decade ago, Pakistan, cripplingly short of power, turned to Beijing to build more than a dozen coal, solar and hydroelectric power plants as part of China’s huge infrastructure push in the country.

Now a series of policy mistakes by Islamabad means that Pakistan has enough electricity and more—but, due to the huge debt owed to China, few can afford it. The crisis is overwhelming Pakistan’s fragile economy, throwing millions of households into misery, shredding government finances and shutting down industry.

Read it all.

Pakistan’s Reliance on Chinese-Built Power Plants Is Strangling Its Economy—Pakistan turned to Beijing to solve a crippling energy shortage. Now, crushed under debt and sky-high energy prices, its economy is diving.@SaeedShah https://t.co/fVY63hSYHmhttps://t.co/fVY63hSYHm

— Jonathan Cheng (@JChengWSJ) December 4, 2024

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.

Read it all.

"But needful corrections, by the goodness of the great, overseeing Judge, through the attendant angels, through various prior judgments, through the final judgment, compel even those who have become more callous to repent."

– St. Clement of Alexandria pic.twitter.com/5uW2Qsf3K5

— Thaddeus (@ThaddeusPapist) November 13, 2024

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/9V9cjjbNMI

— Caroline Murray (@Prof_hedgehog) December 4, 2024

Keep us, O Lord, while we tarry on this earth, in a serious seeking after thee, and in an affectionate walking with thee, every day of our lives; that when thou comest, we may be found not hiding our talent, nor serving the flesh, nor yet asleep with our lamp unfurnished, but waiting and longing for our Lord, our glorious God for ever and ever.

Ladybird Artists Advent Calendar, window 5
‘First Snow’
Artist: Rowland Hilder pic.twitter.com/lnKiTKS8Fb

— Helen Day (@LBFlyawayhome) December 5, 2024

Therefore when we could bear it no longer, we were willing to be left behind at Athens alone, and we sent Timothy, our brother and God’s servant in the gospel of Christ, to establish you in your faith and to exhort you, that no one be moved by these afflictions. You yourselves know that this is to be our lot. For when we were with you, we told you beforehand that we were to suffer affliction; just as it has come to pass, and as you know. For this reason, when I could bear it no longer, I sent that I might know your faith, for fear that somehow the tempter had tempted you and that our labor would be in vain.

But now that Timothy has come to us from you, and has brought us the good news of your faith and love and reported that you always remember us kindly and long to see us, as we long to see you— for this reason, brethren, in all our distress and affliction we have been comforted about you through your faith; for now we live, if you stand fast in the Lord. For what thanksgiving can we render to God for you, for all the joy which we feel for your sake before our God, praying earnestly night and day that we may see you face to face and supply what is lacking in your faith?

–1 Thessalonians 3:1-10

View through the archway of St Michael's tower on Glastonbury Tor. I love watching the mist below flowing across the town and land around. pic.twitter.com/2kYU1NDSvO

— Michelle Cowbourne (@Glastomichelle) December 5, 2024

The Archbishop of Canterbury’s former chaplain has become the first serving bishop to step back from her role after a report into the Church’s handling of a child sexual abuse scandal.

The Bishop for Episcopal Ministry in the Anglican Communion, the Right Rev Dr Jo Bailey Wells, was asked to step away from ministry after the publication of a review into the Anglican clergy’s failure to stop the serial child abuser John Smyth.

On Tuesday morning, the Diocese of London confirmed that Bishop Dr Bailey Wells had been asked to temporarily pause her ministry pending a “safeguarding risk assessment”.

Read it all.

This article says it is “pending a safeguarding risk assessment”. But no one suggests JBW is a current risk. Victims call for those who knew in 2013 to be held to account for HISTORIC failings. This is what the NST seems incapable of @JanetEastham https://t.co/dP3tC8rwjb

— Graham (@Graham1munro) December 3, 2024

After the publication of the Makin review, “and in view of the process now being undertaken by the National Safeguarding Team”, Bishop Snow had “requested that John steps back from ministry whilst this work is conducted, which John [Woolmer] has voluntarily agreed to do”. His PTO would be reviewed again, “once the National Safeguarding Team and the Diocesan Safeguarding Team have concluded their work”.

Writing on social media last week, one Smyth survivor, Graham, wrote: “I cannot speak for all victims, but John Woolmer is one of the good guys. He wrote to victims in 2017, a heart-rending mea culpa. We forgave him immediately. . . Victims do not want ‘revenge’, we want full disclosure, and honest, credible, apology. Woolmer is a good man.”

In 2021, the Archbishop of Canterbury said: “I have made it clear that the National Safeguarding Team will investigate every clergy person or others within their scope of whom they have been informed who knew and failed to disclose the abuse” (News, 21 May 2021). This commitment was also made to survivors, with the Archbishop saying that a list held up by one survivor would act as the basis for investigations.

The Makin review records that “this is not what then happened,” and that victims felt that a promise had been broken. “The investigations being undertaken were in order to establish whether an ordained person was presenting a current safeguarding risk.”

Read it all.

A former Bishop of Durham, the Rt Revd Paul Butler, is among the clergy who have been asked to “step back” from ministry while safeguarding reviews prompted by the Makin review are conducted, it was confirmed this week https://t.co/EVtJUfLlns

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) November 28, 2024

Record numbers of US executives are selling shares in their companies, as corporate insiders from Goldman Sachs to Tesla and even Donald Trump’s own media group cash in on the stock market surge that has followed his election victory.

The rate of so-called insider sales has hit a record high for any quarter in two decades, according to VerityData. The sales, by executives at companies in the Wilshire 5000 index, include one-off profit-taking transactions as well as regular sales triggered by executives’ automatic trading plans. The Wilshire 5000 is one of the broadest indices of US companies.

While insider selling is routine — especially as the stock market was already breaking records before Trump’s win — the surge following November 5 underscores how US executives are already profiting personally from his return before he re-enters the White House. The S&P 500 jumped 2.5 per cent the day after the election, its best day in more than two years. The S&P 500 is up more than 24 per cent this year.

Insider selling versus buying at financial institutions was last this high in November 2016 — the first time Trump was elected president. Selling among officials at industrial goods companies has hit the highest level since 2017.

Read it all.

In case you missed it: Corporate insiders cash in on post-election US stock market surge. Insider sales reach an all-time high as executives from Goldman Sachs to Tesla lock in equity gains. Even Donald Trump’s own media group cash in on the stock market surge that has followed… pic.twitter.com/ZMSN3HOYtl

— Holger Zschaepitz (@Schuldensuehner) November 24, 2024

U.S. officials said Tuesday they had not been able to expel Chinese government hackers from telecommunications companies and internet service providers, warning concerned users to turn to encrypted messages and voice calls and giving no timeline for securing carriers.

The downbeat press briefing came more than three months after the first report of Chinese spies deeply penetrating major carriers for espionage, and after the FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) met with scores of companies to help them shore up defenses and hunt for hackers in their networks.

“Given where we are in discovering the activity, I think it would be impossible for us to predict a time frame on when we’ll have full of eviction” of hackers from the networks, said Jeff Greene, executive assistant director for cybersecurity at CISA.

Read it all.

U.S. officials say they still have not expelled Chinese telco hackers https://t.co/udxPjSnK8O

— Dr. David P. Weber, Forensics Professor (@dpweber_fraud) December 3, 2024

Confirm our minds, O Lord, in the mysteries of the true faith, set forth with power by thy servant John of Damascus; that we, with him, confessing Jesus to be true God and true Man, and singing the praises of the risen Lord, may, by the power of the resurrection, attain to eternal joy; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for evermore.

Happy Feast Day,
St. John Damascene Pray for us!
A Syrian monk and priest who received a classical & theological education & was the last of the Greek Fathers. https://t.co/JP2JuoXkG6 pic.twitter.com/6O99VPIOGd

— Portraits of Saints (@SaintPortraits) December 4, 2024

O Lord Jesus Christ, who at thy first coming didst warn us to prepare for the day when thou shalt come to be our judge: Mercifully grant that being awake from the sleep of sin, we may always be watching and intent upon the work thou hast given us to do; who livest and reignest with the Father and the Holy Spirit, ever one God, world without end.

The Advent season has many rich and ancient hymns of its own – songs of prophecy, hope, light and life springing up in the dead of winter.

Here's one example: some medieval English versions of the beautiful evening hymn, 'Creator of the stars of night' https://t.co/FzkwW16HX4 pic.twitter.com/2EXX4W0eMW

— Eleanor Parker (@ClerkofOxford) December 4, 2024

The word which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.

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 above the hills;
and all the nations shall flow to it,
and many peoples 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 that 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 the nations,
and shall decide for many peoples;
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.

O house of Jacob,
come, let us walk
in the light of the Lord.

For thou hast rejected thy people,
the house of Jacob,
because they are full of diviners from the east
and of soothsayers like the Philistines,
and they strike hands with foreigners.
Their land is filled with silver and gold,
and there is no end to their treasures;
their land is filled with horses,
and there is no end to their chariots.
Their land is filled with idols;
they bow down to the work of their hands,
to what their own fingers have made.
So man is humbled,
and men are brought low—
forgive them not!
Enter into the rock,
and hide in the dust
from before the terror of the Lord,
and from the glory of his majesty.
The haughty looks of man shall be brought low,
and the pride of men shall be humbled;
and the Lord alone will be exalted
in that day.

–Isaiah 2:1-11

L’hiver, et ses merveilleux paysages, Crans-Montana 🏔️❄️🏔️🤩🇨🇭#winter #suisse #switzerland @cransmontana pic.twitter.com/6OeWRMvmLL

— Délèze Dominique (@DelezeD) December 4, 2024

Bishop Mullally, who is the C of E’s lead bishop for health care and a former Chief Nursing Officer for England, said: “The Church of England believes that the compassionate response at the end of life lies in the provision of high quality palliative care services to all who need them.

“Today’s vote still leaves the question of how this could be implemented in an overstretched and under-funded NHS, social care, and legal system. Safeguarding the most vulnerable must be at the heart of the coming parliamentary process; today’s vote is not the end of the debate.”

The Archbishop of York was reported in the Guardian as saying: “I regret this decision. It changes the relationship between the state and its citizens, between doctors and their patients, and within families between children and their terminally ill relatives. Once begun it will be hard to undo and control.”

Read it all.

Church figures have expressed concern after the first steps towards making assisted dying legal in England and Wales were taken on Friday. https://t.co/O4jCF3HaEI

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) December 2, 2024

The NST is following a four-stage process. Stage one is an initial assessment of risk, examining if anyone criticised in the review is an immediate safeguarding risk of harm to others or not. This work is being undertaken by DSOs, CSOs and the NST. It is important to note that if someone is considered not to be an immediate risk that this does not exclude them from consideration under stages two, three or four of the process.

It is also important to note that the NST’s initial responsibility is to examine safeguarding risk. Their work may then lead to other processes including capability or disciplinary, which hold people to account for failures of safeguarding, conduct, or other aspects of leadership responsibility, or for actions which have caused reputational harm. It is for each diocese to come to a decision using disciplinary, capability, or other appropriate processes.

Stage two of the NST process is a more in-depth assessment to be completed by Regional Safeguarding Leads, after which recommendations will be made. 

Read it all.

This really is unacceptable. https://t.co/Wd3vRhpohX Survivors have been waiting for years for a proper response and some action. So what do the Archbishops' Council do? Devise a process to kick the can down the road. Is there anyone in the National Church willing to say enough!

— Pete Broadbent @petespurs.bsky.social (@petespurs) December 3, 2024

A wave of industrial job cuts is setting a grim tone in the early stages of Germany’s election campaign, with politicians describing the economic conditions as the most challenging they have ever faced for a federal vote.

In the month since the collapse of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s unhappy three-way coalition paved the way for a snap vote in February, some of the country’s biggest employers have announced planned job losses, including 11,000 at steelmaker Thyssenkrupp, 3,800 at Bosch, the world’s largest car parts maker, 2,800 at its rival Schaeffler and 2,900 at Ford.

“I have rarely experienced a context as difficult as the one right now,” said Achim Post, a member of the Bundestag for Scholz’s Social Democratic party (SPD) in North Rhine-Westphalia, a key industrial region that has been hit by job cut announcements.

Pointing to a string of industrial cities across the country, Post said: “Every family that works in Duisburg, or in Stuttgart, or Leverkusen . . . is looking at itself and asking: ‘will I know at Christmas whether I still have a job next year?’”

Read it all.

German job cuts darken mood of election campaign https://t.co/1HDTPHhwoZ

— FT Data (@ftdata) December 3, 2024

If all our fear and uncertainty over climate change could be distilled into a single statistic, then arguably it was delivered to an emergency summit on the future of the Antarctic last month.

Nerilie Abram at the Australian National University, Canberra, opened her presentation with a slide headlined “Antarctic sea ice has declined precipitously since 2014, and in July 2023 exceeded a minus 7 sigma event”….As Abram’s slide sunk in, it was as if the whole room was holding its breath. Put simply, a minus 7 sigma event, meaning seven standard deviations below the average, should be all but impossible, says Ed Doddridge at the Australian Antarctic Program Partnership, who works with Abram.

It is “actually really hard to convey just how extreme this difference was, how extreme the low sea ice extent was”, he says. One way is to liken it to the concept of a one-in-100-year flood, for example. “If you run those sorts of statistics for Antarctic sea ice last year, you get a number somewhere between one in 7.5 million years and one in 700 billion years,” says Doddridge.

Read it all.

Hundreds of researchers held an emergency summit on the future of Antarctica last month, as they scramble to understand the effects of the continent’s randomly disappearing sea ice https://t.co/Bi7bp3AZo8

— New Scientist (@newscientist) December 3, 2024

Loving God, who didst call Francis Xavier to lead many in India and Japan to know Jesus Christ as their Redeemer: Bring us to the new life of glory promised to all who follow in the Way; through the same Jesus Christ, who with thee and the Holy Spirit livest and reignest, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Today we celebrate the feast day of St. Francis Xavier, companion of St. Ignatius and a co-founder of the Jesuits. He is considered by some to be the greatest missionary since the time of the Apostles. https://t.co/wnvWgc3Kny pic.twitter.com/44NekApYzt

— Jesuit News (@jesuitnews) December 3, 2024

Blessed is your cross, O Jesus, way for the lost, guide for the seeker and strength for the weak. Blessed is your cross, O Jesus, healing for the sick, freedom for the slave and clothing for the naked.

Sunrise – Ardvasar Bay, Isle of Skye #Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 @angie_weather @ThePhotoHour @StormHour @VisitScotland @bbcweather @itvweather pic.twitter.com/NbqRpzpqDz

— James MacInnes (@Macinnesplant) December 3, 2024

How the faithful city
    has become a whore,
    she who was full of justice!
Righteousness lodged in her,
    but now murderers.
Your silver has become dross,
    your best wine mixed with water.
Your princes are rebels
    and companions of thieves.
Everyone loves a bribe
    and runs after gifts.
They do not bring justice to the fatherless,
    and the widow’s cause does not come to them.

–Isaiah 1:21-23

Scottish Highland single track road. pic.twitter.com/4MCnRBc9uc

— Veritatis Cupitor (@English1Maiden) December 3, 2024

Art Cashin, UBS’ director of floor operations at the New York Stock Exchange and a man The Washington Post called “Wall Street’s version of Walter Cronkite,” has died. He was 83 and had been a regular on CNBC for more than 25 years.

In the intensely competitive and often vicious world of stock market commentary, Cashin was that rarest of creatures: a man respected by all, bulls and bears, liberals and conservatives alike. He seemed to have almost no enemies.

He was a great drinker and raconteur, a teller of stories.

For decades, he assembled a group of like-minded friends every day after trading halted, first at the bar at the NYSE luncheon club, then across the street at Bobby Van’s Steakhouse, where the group came to be known as the “Friends of Fermentation.” His drink was Dewar’s, always on the rocks.

Read it all.

Art Cashin, @NYSE fixture for decades, dies at age 83. In the intensely competitive world of stock market commentary, he was that rarest of all creatures: a man respected by all. He was a great drinker and a great teller of stories, and a great friend. https://t.co/I9aKn0QnL8

— Bob Pisani (@BobPisani) December 2, 2024

MPs have backed proposals to legalise assisted dying in England and Wales in a historic vote which paves the way for a change in the law.

In the first Commons vote on the issue in nearly a decade, MPs supported a bill which would allow terminally ill adults expected to die within six months to seek help to end their own life by 330 to 275, a majority of 55.

It followed an emotional debate in the chamber, where MPs from both sides shared personal stories which had informed their decisions.

The bill will now face many more months of debate and scrutiny by MPs and peers, who could choose to amend it, with the approval of both Houses of Parliament required before it becomes law.

Read it all.

MPs back proposals to legalise assisted dying https://t.co/fPRg05cakA

— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) November 29, 2024

Andrew has previously worked and lived in the Diocese in Europe. Prior to ordination he worked in Malta in a banknote-printing factory. His curacy was at St Michael’s Paris. Andrew remembers his time at St Michael’s very fondly and is looking forward to returning to explore more of the Diocese in Europe.  

Andrew was ordained priest in 1996. Following his curacy in Paris he became Associate Vicar at Christ Church, Clifton in the Diocese of Bristol. He worked with Archbishop Rowan Williams as the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Secretary for International, Ecumenical and Anglican Communion Affairs. He was then Principal of Ridley Hall theological college from 2008 to 2016 before moving to the newly-formed Diocese of Leeds. He is author of ‘A Church Observed: being Anglican as times change’. Andrew is married to Amanda, who works for the Leprosy Mission and is a Licensed Lay Minister. They have two adult daughters.  

Andrew said: 

‘I’m delighted to be returning to the diocese where I served my curacy. Being Suffragan Bishop in this vast and fascinating diocese is an exciting as well as a daunting prospect. In partnership with other churches in Europe, there’s wonderful potential for nurturing Christian faith and witness. I’m really looking forward to coming alongside our chaplaincies in all their glorious diversity, so we can rise together to the challenges and opportunities ahead, in faith-filled and imaginative ways.’ 

Bishop Robert said:  

“I am very excited about Andrew’s appointment. Andrew has a great variety of experience and gifts in theology, ecumenical work and strategic development that are highly relevant to our diocese. I’m sure he will be a wise senior colleague and an encouraging pastor to our clergy and congregations. I am very much looking forward to working with him. Please do join me in praying for Andrew and Amanda as they face this major time of transition.” 

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Former Ridley Principal Canon Andrew Norman to be Europe suffragan https://t.co/LALxvfX2ax

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) November 29, 2024