The theory of clergy work/life balance is on every diocesan website, and many others besides, discussed at length from all viewpoints. The general conclusion today seems to be that a 48-hour week is about right, plus a bit more if you are going to be very conscientious, with one 24-hour period a week not working, and maybe an extra day off a month — all this, wrapped in language that makes it plain that it is up to the individual to take responsibility for their own health and well-being.

So much for the theory; but what about the reality of life in a parish, where the daily torrent of emails, phone calls, diocesan directives, pastoral demands, and personal challenges threatens to overcome the hapless priest, submerging them beneath a tide of operational activities? Only a lone hand is left above the waves, holding aloft a small white piece of plastic, the symbol of their calling, hoping that they can get to the shore of annual leave before they drown.

This is exaggeration, perhaps, but probably a feeling that few have escaped at least some time in their lives — a state of “overwhelm” which I have certainly experienced and prefer to remain clear of, if at all possible. The pastoral calls made upon us, however, the late nights spent crafting sermons or creating props for family-friendly services, the early waking hours reflecting on church finances, or the stomach-sinking safeguarding issues — these are all part of the priest’s daily lot. A strategy that enables us not only to survive, but to thrive, must be worked out if we are to remain as parish clergy for any length of time.

Read it all.

In the parish: the theory and reality of clergy work/life balance https://t.co/A7fcAAiN26

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) July 11, 2025

America’s broken construction industry is a big problem for Trump–The Empire State Building, finished in 1931, was erected in just 410 days. That same year construction began on the Hoover Dam. It was meant to take seven years, but was built in five. Such feats now seem hard to imagine. Last year half of America’s construction firms reported that commercial projects they were working on had been delayed or abandoned.

In 2008 Californian voters approved a high-speed-rail line connecting Los Angeles to San Francisco, to be finished by 2020. It will be at least a decade late. America’s inability to build is a problem for Donald Trump. Although he has again delayed levying “reciprocal” tariffs until August 1st, the president’s commitment to reviving American manufacturing through protectionism is as strong as ever. But can the country build the factories, warehouses and bridges needed to reindustrialize, and do so quickly enough? And if the administration is to achieve its ambition to win the artificial-intelligence race, it will have to ramp up the construction of data centres and electrical infrastructure, too.

Demand for projects is certainly soaring. Turner Construction Company, America’s largest commercial builder, reported that its order backlog rose by a fifth, year on year, in the first quarter of 2025. Yet delays and cost overruns remain inevitable. Productivity has gone from bad to worse. Since 2000, output per worker in the construction industry has fallen by 8%, even as it has risen by 54% for the private sector as a whole. The trouble is not limited to commercial projects. America’s housebuilding companies constructed the same number of dwellings per employee as they did nine decades ago, contributing to widespread shortages and soaring prices. Behind this dismal state of affairs is a combination of fragmentation, overregulation and underinvestment

Read it all.

America’s broken construction industry is a big problem for Trump (from @TheEconomist) https://t.co/uJ9VRbb1gF #construction #building #housing #infrastructure #design #architecture

— Marshall Leslie (@MarshallLeslie) July 11, 2025

The Rutland police officers and a federal Drug Enforcement Administration agent who came to investigate Mr. Blanchard’s death sensed a rare opportunity. With a new body and the overdose not yet public, they wanted to find the source of the fatal heroin while evidence was fresh and undisturbed.

The trail led investigators to the onetime owner of a Manhattan wine bar with a secret life importing heroin; a Bronx man who perfected a potent mix of ingredients to create Flow; and a murderous drug crew that hawked it on New York’s streets and branched out to Rutland after finding it could charge more there.

And for one New York prosecutor, the investigation led to a place both surprising and familiar. Flow was ravaging not just the Bronx neighborhood the prosecutor was trying to make safer — it had become a plague in the Vermont city where she had been born.

Read it all.

An absolute masterpiece of reporting and storytelling by @BenWeiserNYT

How a Single Overdose Unraveled an Empire of Heroin https://t.co/Y2f6rHU8Fp via @NYTimes

— Stacey Stowe (@staceystowe) July 10, 2025

Holy Scripture, brethren, cries out to us, saying,
“Everyone who exalts himself shall be humbled,
and he who humbles himself shall be exalted” (Luke 14:11).
In saying this it shows us
that all exaltation is a kind of pride,
against which the Prophet proves himself to be on guard
when he says,
“Lord, my heart is not exalted,
nor are mine eyes lifted up;
neither have I walked in great matters,
nor in wonders above me” (Ps. 130[131]:1)
But how has he acted?
“Rather have I been of humble mind
than exalting myself;
as a weaned child on its mother’s breast,
so You solace my soul” (Ps. 130[131]:2).

Hence, brethren,
if we wish to reach the very highest point of humility
and to arrive speedily at that heavenly exaltation
to which ascent is made through the humility of this present life,
we must
by our ascending actions
erect the ladder Jacob saw in his dream,
on which Angels appeared to him descending and ascending.
By that descent and ascent
we must surely understand nothing else than this,
that we descend by self-exaltation and ascend by humility.
And the ladder thus set up is our life in the world,
which the Lord raises up to heaven if our heart is humbled.
For we call our body and soul the sides of the ladder,
and into these sides our divine vocation has inserted
the different steps of humility and discipline we must climb.

–The Rule of Benedict, Chapter 7

Feast of St. Benedict, true Patron of Europe (& co-patron) “Benedict, blessed in name and with the grace of God” pic.twitter.com/haL1QGoyNT

— Benedict Kiely (@benedict_kiely) July 11, 2025

Almighty and everlasting God, whose precepts are the wisdom of a loving Father: Give us grace, following the teaching and example of thy servant Benedict, to walk with loving and willing hearts in the school of the Lord’s service; let thine ears be open unto our prayers; and prosper with thy blessing the work of our hands; 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 Benedict, one of the founders of monasticism and patron saint of Europe. He stands holding his Rule, in glass by Moira Forsyth, 1964, a detail of the Benedictines window in Norwich Cathedral, once itself part of a Benedictine Priory. pic.twitter.com/UIo8Xgl5Vu

— Simon Knott (@SimoninSuffolk) July 11, 2025

O Saviour Christ, whose compassion embraces all men, and who in the days of thy flesh didst welcome sinners: Graciously receive us who now come to thee, and who have nothing to plead but our own exceeding need, and thy exceeding love; who livest and reignest with the Father and the Holy Spirit for ever and ever.

Morning everyone I hope you are well. Early morning light across Angle Tarn and the Pikes, with Ullswater and Sheffield Pike as the backdrop. Have a great day.#LakeDistrict pic.twitter.com/BVAd3IHpW8

— Rod Hutchinson (@lakesrhino) July 11, 2025

The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

As it is written in Isaiah the prophet,

“Behold, I send my messenger before thy face,
who shall prepare thy way;
the voice of one crying in the wilderness:
Prepare the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight”
John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And there went out to him all the country of Judea, and all the people of Jerusalem; and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, and had a leather girdle around his waist, and ate locusts and wild honey. And he preached, saying, “After me comes he who is mightier than I, the thong of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

–Mark 1:1-8

Buck moon.#photography #landscapephotography pic.twitter.com/oCW4bd5Vtn

— Jim Scott (@jimscottphoto) July 11, 2025

The new report examines how the “virtues” of resource churches can “tip over into
excess” and calls for “vigilance and discernment”. It acknowledges, for example, that the “language of generosity can mask dynamics of power . . . Gifts can bless and release but they can also bind and control.” Similar reflections are required for the other virtues, it suggests: “The attendant dangers of courage are unreflective arrogance and an unfair distribution of the costs of change.”

The report acknowledges that questions have been asked about whether the level of investment in resource churches is “justified or fair”. It argues that, “to invest in this way is not so much an ideal configuration of the Church’s resources as a dramatic intervention in response to extended and widespread decline.” But there is also a need to “explore how financially sustainable resource churches are”. A 2021 CARU report on the resource church in Portsmouth concluded that city-centre examples may “continue to be financially dependent on the wider Church”.

The story of resource churches is “not one of unqualified success”, the new report says. “Not all planting strategies have been able to show sufficient contextual sensitivity and the ‘soil’ of some contexts is very difficult to plant into. At times, a ‘low’, informal style among church plants can be a flexible connection point, at others it may be perceived as an imposition or make only a shallow connection with local communities.”

The fact that resource churches are “overwhelmingly” in the Evangelical tradition may have theological causes, it suggests, noting “the revivalist concern for individual salvation and societal change”. Evangelical networks are “highly structured and well-resourced”, it says; and the rise of such networks has coincided with “a time of experimentation with local structures and . . . the pursuit of a more explicitly strategic focus by senior leaders in the Church of England”.

Read it all.

I was impressed by this thoughtful report on resource churches by Gregory Centre for Church Multiplication, Faith in the North, and Cranmer Hall. Looking at both their virtues and how these can ‘tip over into excess’, hence need for vigilance & discernment https://t.co/4WC1rpuKIJ pic.twitter.com/IE2AHl3RQ4

— Madeleine Davies (@MadsDavies) July 8, 2025

US power providers are seeking to impose big price increases on consumers following booming data centre demand, sparking debate over who should pay for the electricity burden of artificial intelligence.

Utilities have sought regulatory approval for $29bn in rate increases in the first half of 2025, a 142 per cent increase over the same period a year ago, according to a new report by PowerLines, an energy affordability advocacy group.

These increases highlight the question of whether surging electricity costs will be shared among all consumers, or charged directly to the large industrial users driving the new demand. Power consumption is expected to more than double in the next decade because of energy-intensive AI, according to BloombergNEF.

“What we’re . . . seeing is a deer-in-headlights dynamic,” said PowerLines executive director Charles Hua. “A lot of states don’t have a playbook for how they can meet rising [data centre] demand while balancing affordability and utility bills.”

Read it all.

US utilities plot big rise in electricity rates as data centre demand booms https://t.co/7VXoDXXqKX

— FT Energy (@ftenergy) July 10, 2025

The flattening of the Phillips curve, accelerated by the integration of AI and robotics into the workforce, represents a fundamental disruption of economic orthodoxy. As machines replace human workers across industries, the traditional relationship between unemployment and inflation is eroding, rendering conventional monetary policy tools ineffective.

The implications extend beyond dry economic theory. As automation reshapes the labor market, our very conceptions of work, productivity, and social value are called into question. For example, large swaths of the education system, still largely geared towards preparing workers for a human-dominated job market, faces obsolescence.

These changes are not merely challenging—they are potentially destabilizing. The flattening Phillips curve is a harbinger of profound economic and social upheaval. Our economic frameworks, developed in and for a world where human labor was paramount, are increasingly misaligned with the realities of an automated economy.

Read it all.

This large study of 187k developers using GitHub Copilot finds AI transforms nature of coding.

Coders focus: more coding & less management. They need to coordinate less, working with fewer people

They experiment more with new languages, which would increase earnings $1,683/year pic.twitter.com/UN62E7Hmem

— Ethan Mollick (@emollick) July 10, 2025

The rise of artificial intelligence presents a dazzling array of philosophical and ethical questions. What is intelligence? How does it differ from consciousness and personhood? Is AI the simulation of activities of intelligent beings or the creation of a new kind of intelligent being? Will certain AI bots become so sophisticated that these beings have emergent brain states similar to animal or human brain states, and if so, what are our moral obligations toward them? 

It also presents distinctly theological questions. Is the development of AI an act of hubris or idolatry, or a reflection of the image of our Creator and a fulfillment of our calling to bring order and fruitfulness to the world? What would it mean to align AI technologies toward human flourishing in a manner that reflects a Christian concept of what it means to be human? 

Given the pace of the AI revolution, Christians cannot afford to be late to this conversation. Fortunately, the biblical narrative and Christian theology have much to say on these topics. They yield a vision of technology that’s neither utopian nor catastrophist but is rooted in a complex and critical view of what it means to be human, to be sinful, and to join with God in the cultivation and restoration of all things.

Read it all.

“We should be careful not to anthropomorphize or idolize AI,” writes @TimDalrymple_.

“Instead, we should welcome it for what it is—a reflection of God’s creativity in us that can lead to both extraordinary destruction and extraordinary good.”https://t.co/1XR4vR6mZQ

— Christianity Today (@CTmagazine) July 9, 2025

Someone murdered Raymel Atkins in Louisville, Ky., in 2023. More than a year later, his mother and sister don’t know who did it; the police have not made an arrest in the case. The same is true for Tiffanie Floyd, killed in 2021. And Michael David, killed in 2017. And Cory Crowe, killed in 2014.

In fact, the Louisville police do not arrest anyone in roughly half of murder cases. I spoke to family members of a dozen victims. They all conveyed a similar sentiment: that the police had abandoned them and theirs. “The police don’t really care,” said Deondra Kimble, David’s aunt. “They’ve proven it to me.”

Louisville’s police department acknowledges serious problems; it says it is about 300 officers below full staffing. The department is trying to address those issues, said Jennifer Keeney, a spokeswoman. She shared a message for the family members of murder victims: “We understand they are grieving, frustrated and in pain. We want them to know it’s frustrating for us, too, and that we do care.”

Louisville is representative of a national issue. In the United States, people often get away with murder. The clearance rate — the share of cases that result in an arrest or are otherwise solved — was 58 percent in 2023, the latest year for which F.B.I. data is available. And that figure is inflated because it includes murders from previous years that police solved in 2023.

Read it all.

Excellent article by @germanrlopez for the @nytimes about a big, important problem in the US:

Most crimes aren’t solved. If you murder someone, it’s essentially a coin flip whether you’ll be arrested for it. If you steal a car, you’ll almost certainly get away with it.… pic.twitter.com/te9tPQBBVl

— Jennifer Doleac (@jenniferdoleac) July 6, 2025

Grant, O God, that we who have been signed with the sign of the Cross in our baptism, may never be ashamed to confess the faith of Christ crucified, but may manfully fight under his banner against sin, the world, and the devil, and continue Christ’s faithful soldiers and servants unto our lives’ end.

A stork watching the full moon from a streetlight pic.twitter.com/URnksmF3ev

— Albert Dros (@albertdrosphoto) July 10, 2025

I love thee, O Lord, my strength.
The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer,
my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge,
my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised,
and I am saved from my enemies.

–Psalm 18:1-3

Guten Morgen ☀️ pic.twitter.com/vtlZF4HgNW

— Martina Haffke🇪🇺🫶 (@MartinaHaffke) July 10, 2025

Safeguarding arrangements at Blackburn Cathedral are “inadequate” and require immediate action, an independent audit has concluded.

The audit was carried out by the INEQE Safeguarding Group as part of a rolling programme across the Church which is due to be completed by 2028.

It began in October 2024, two months after the BBC reported that a member of the cathedral Chapter, Canon Andrew Hindley, had been forced to retire by the then Bishop of Blackburn in 2021, and that a six-figure sum had been paid to him in a legal settlement (News, 16 August 2024). Canon Hindley has insisted that he has never posed a danger to young people or been a safeguarding risk.

The audit report was published last week. It concludes that, while there are some positive aspects to the cathedral’s safeguarding, including good practices in chorister safeguarding, these are “significantly undermined by critical vulnerabilities that demand urgent and comprehensive attention”.

Read it all.

Safeguarding at Blackburn Cathedral ‘inadequate’ INEQE audit reports https://t.co/opNLGbdP3B

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) July 9, 2025

The subtext of this war game is deadly serious. Finland’s entry into Nato in 2023 more than doubled the defence alliance’s border with Russia to almost 2,600km, stretching from the Arctic down to Belarus.

While Moscow is currently tied up with its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, many along this frontier expect Russian President Vladimir Putin to one day turn his attention to Nato’s eastern flank. The Russian economy is already geared towards conflict and Putin’s imperialist ambitions may mean it goes on to look for conquest elsewhere.

Nato secretary-general Mark Rutte warned last month that Moscow could be ready to use force against the alliance “within five years”. “Let’s not kid ourselves, we are all on the eastern flank now,” Rutte said in a speech. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy later said that Russia was planning “new military operations on Nato territory” in an address to the alliance’s summit last week.

While US President Donald Trump reassured allies he was “with them all the way” on arrival at the summit, he had spooked European capitals hours before with a suggestion that the military alliance’s mutual defence pact, known as Article 5, was open to interpretation.

Read it all.

Can't wait to get to the office and see how this map for today's @FT Big Read printed. A comprehensive look at whether Europe is prepared for war. https://t.co/4neP2wMdoh
A lighter version for print to avoid it printing too dark and issues with white text.#dataviz #gistribe pic.twitter.com/KepzQ6nW76

— Steven Bernard (@sdbernard) July 1, 2025

When we weren’t feasting, we spent time praying, working, and enjoying the land together. Justin Johnson had some small projects we could work on to improve the property, and after that we had some organized free time. Some went fishing while others hung around the campsite playing card games or yard games, and others ventured down to see the bald eagles flying around their nest. At night after dinner we made s’mores, talked about what we learned about God through his creation and through each other, and then finished with Compline. Sunday morning after breakfast we gathered for church. One of the boys made a processional cross, and our lessons were read by one of the kids and one of the granddads. Instead of the typical prayers of the people, I had families go off together to find a quiet place and pray together. The dads and granddads were encouraged to pray for the things that had happened in the lives of their children and grandchildren for the past year, and for what is to come in the year ahead. The kids were encouraged to offer up their own prayers too. After 30 minutes we gathered back together and prayed for the Jubilee property and all who would come to know of God’s gracious love through the ministry that would take place there. We ended with communion, and then prepped for lunch and our departure. 

It’s amazing what happens when kids are allowed freedom to play and explore within defined boundaries. Sticks become magical instruments, trees become bases and hiding places, even bugs become objects of wonder—or disgust! One dad was reflecting on the camp-out afterwards: “I was amazed that my kids never said ‘I’m bored’ the entire time. When we went to Disney I heard them say ‘I’m bored’ all the time! We weren’t on phones, we didn’t need distractions. They were just running around in the woods!”

Read it all.

Corey Prescott–Camping at Camp Jubilee https://t.co/ajj4q4n4tX #youthministry #anglican #southcarolina [Anglican Diocese of South Carolina photo] pic.twitter.com/A9AY37Mbbo

— Kendall Harmon (@KendallHarmon6) July 9, 2025

The candlelit church in Greenwich Village was packed. After months of study and preparation, 19 adults sat at the front, dressed in white, nervously awaiting their turn at the baptismal font. One by one, they stepped forward. After anointing them with chrism (holy oil), the priest poured water over their heads, baptizing them into the Catholic Church in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

“It was almost as if the veil between heaven and earth had been lifted,” said Jane, one of the adults baptized into the Church that day. She left feeling “more receptive to the supernatural.”

That was Easter Sunday 2025, just over a month ago. And what happened in Greenwich Village happened across America. There was a boom in adult baptisms.

Earlier this year, The Pillar reported a surge in the numbers of aspiring Catholics registering to join the church at Easter. The Diocese of Lansing in Michigan reported a 30 percent spike from the previous year, 633 converts, which is the highest they’ve seen in over a decade. Father Ryan Kaup, at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Catholic center, baptized 20 students alone—“the highest we’ve ever had”—and gave rites of initiation to an additional 50 who were coming into the church from other Christian denominations.

Read it all.

Having faith and believing in something higher than yourself is also cool. How Catholicism Got Cool https://t.co/6zCOeDD59N?

— Jessica Piha (@sephardicsea) June 4, 2025

His expensive tax cuts have been signed into law. His steep global tariffs are taking clearer shape. And his twin campaigns to deregulate government and deport immigrants are well underway.

With the major components of his agenda now coming into focus, President Trump has already left an indelible mark on the U.S. economy. The triumphs and turbulence that may soon arise will squarely belong to him.

Not even six months into his second term, Mr. Trump has forged ahead with the grand and potentially disruptive economic experiment that he first previewed during the 2024 campaign. His actions in recent weeks have staked the future of the nation’s finances — and its centuries-old trading relationships — on a belief that many economists’ most dire warnings are wrong.

Last week, the president enacted a sprawling set of tax cuts that he believes to be the ingredients for rapid economic growth, even as fiscal experts warned that the law may injure the poor while putting the U.S. government on a risky new fiscal path.

Read it all.

With taxes and tariffs in place, Trump takes the reins of the U.S. economy 🇺🇸

Can he steer growth amid rising trade barriers? #Trump #USEconomy #Tariffs #TaxPolicy #EconomicUpdate #MarketWatch #TradeWar #FiscalPolicy pic.twitter.com/pJg4EqK2cK

— @LanCentralCoin – Daily (@CentralNewsYT) July 9, 2025

O Lord, who hast promised a blessing for all who suffer for righteousness’ sake: Grant to all our brethren persecuted for the truth that they may rejoice in being counted worthy to suffer dishonour for thy name.  Strengthen their faith and renew their love, that in their patience they may possess their souls and win their persecutors to penitence and new brotherhood in thee; for the sake of him who suffered shame and reproach and remained invincible in his love, even thy redeeming Son, Christ our Lord.

Wishing you a wonderful Wednesday from NorthYork Moors 😊 pic.twitter.com/Lhv4z48FJX

— Nicky (@Nicky13Johnson) July 9, 2025

That very day two of them were going to a village named Emma′us, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and talking with each other about all these things that had happened. While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes were kept from recognizing him. And he said to them, “What is this conversation which you are holding with each other as you walk?” And they stood still, looking sad. Then one of them, named Cle′opas, answered him, “Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?” And he said to them, “What things?” And they said to him, “Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him. But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since this happened. Moreover, some women of our company amazed us. They were at the tomb early in the morning and did not find his body; and they came back saying that they had even seen a vision of angels, who said that he was alive. Some of those who were with us went to the tomb, and found it just as the women had said; but him they did not see.” And he said to them, “O foolish men, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.

So they drew near to the village to which they were going. He appeared to be going further, but they constrained him, saying, “Stay with us, for it is toward evening and the day is now far spent.” So he went in to stay with them. When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed, and broke it, and gave it to them. And their eyes were opened and they recognized him; and he vanished out of their sight. They said to each other, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the scriptures?” And they rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem; and they found the eleven gathered together and those who were with them, who said, “The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!” Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he was known to them in the breaking of the bread.

–Luke 24:12-35

It's #WaterfallWednesday 💙 Scale Haw Force is a pretty little waterfall a short walk from the village of Hebden in Wharfedale. What's not to love about this photograph!

📸 With thanks to Alex William Helin#YorkshireDales #Yorkshire #Dales #Wharfedale #NatureTherapy pic.twitter.com/TYWaTwJZwN

— Yorkshire Dales National Park (@yorkshire_dales) July 9, 2025

The Bishop of Guildford, the Rt Revd Andrew Watson, spoke in the House of Lords last week in support of a change to the legal definition of a stillbirth: from a death after 24 weeks into pregnancy to a death after 20 weeks.

Currently, the death of a baby before 24 weeks is considered to be a miscarriage, with implications for entitlement to bereavement leave and maternity protection, as the baby is not legally considered a person (Features, 11 October 2019).

Bishop Watson was speaking on the Lords Bill introduced by Baroness Benjamin (Liberal Democrat). It seeks to lower the threshold for a death to be considered a stillbirth.

“Up to 10,000 families in the UK lose their babies between 20 and 24 weeks of pregnancy,” Baroness Benjamin said in the debate last Friday.

Read it all.

Losing a baby in pregnancy through #miscarriage or #stillbirth is still a taboo subject worldwide, linked to stigma and shame.
Many women still do not receive appropriate and respectful care when their baby dies during pregnancy or childbirth https://t.co/IbTh4YC8oo pic.twitter.com/x7HQ253ygj

— World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) March 13, 2019

The gene therapy involved using a synthetic adeno-associated virus (AAV) to deliver a functional version of the OTOF gene to the inner ear via a single injection through a membrane at the base of the cochlea called the round window.

The effect of the gene therapy was rapid and the majority of the patients recovered some hearing after just one month. A six-month follow-up showed considerable hearing improvement in all participants, the average volume of perceptible sound improving from 106 decibels to 52.

The younger patients, especially those between the ages of five and eight, responded best to the treatment. One of the participants, a seven-year-old girl, quickly recovered almost all her hearing and was able to hold daily conversations with her mother four months afterwards. However, the therapy also proved effective in adults.

Read it all.

Deafness reversed: Single injection brings hearing back within weeks

A cutting-edge gene therapy has significantly restored hearing in children and adults with congenital deafness, showing dramatic results just one month after a single injection.

Researchers used a virus to… pic.twitter.com/O8hrV1nflx

— Professor Erwin Loh (@erwinloh) July 5, 2025

Some experts argue that A.I. is most likely to affect novice workers, whose tasks are generally simplest and therefore easiest to automate. Dario Amodei, the chief executive of the A.I. company Anthropic, recently told Axios that the technology could cannibalize half of all entry-level white-collar roles within five years. An uptick in the unemployment rate for recent college graduates has aggravated this concern, even if it doesn’t prove that A.I. is the cause of their job-market struggles.

But other captains of the A.I. industry have taken the opposite view, arguing that younger workers are likely to benefit from A.I. and that experienced workers will ultimately be more vulnerable. In an interview at a New York Times event in late June, Brad Lightcap, the chief operating officer of OpenAI, suggested that the technology could pose problems for “a class of worker that I think is more tenured, is more oriented toward a routine in a certain way of doing things.”

The ultimate answer to this question will have vast implications. If entry-level jobs are most at risk, it could require a rethinking of how we educate college students, or even the value of college itself. And if older workers are most at risk, it could lead to economic and even political instability as large-scale layoffs become a persistent feature of the labor market.

Read it all.

Which Workers Will A.I. Hurt Most: The Young or the Experienced?

Check out this @nytimes piece on a pivotal time for AI in the workplace, featuring Lab Digital Fellow Sarah Bana and Postdoctoral Fellow @RuyuChen!https://t.co/GPmfAtjlG7

— Stanford Digital Economy Lab (@DigEconLab) July 8, 2025

Zooming in on the prices of affected categories at a few large retailers, Alberto Cavallo of Harvard Business School and co-authors do discern some slight price rises in both imported goods and their domestically produced competitors (see chart 2). However, such prices have risen by only a percent or two—a far smaller increase than that seen in tariffs. America’s effective tariff rate is now at 12%, according to calculations by the Tax Foundation, a think-tank, its highest in nearly a century. Reverting to Mr Trump’s initial Liberation Day offering would mean a significant step up.

Oddly, though, tariffs may be pushing down prices via another mechanism—by taking a toll on the economy. The Liberation Day drama crushed consumer confidence, possibly softening demand. Until recently, this has been evident only in “soft” data (surveys and the like). Now signs of it are starting to appear in “hard” data, too. A recent release showed that household spending fell month-to-month in May. Employment figures for June were strong, but bolstered by government hiring, especially of teachers. Those for the private sector were lower than expected.

A running estimate of GDP, produced by the Fed’s Atlanta branch, suggests that its core components (private investment and consumption) have fallen from an annualised growth rate of 2-3% at the start of the second quarter to 1% now (see chart 3). Goldman Sachs, a bank, has compared the latest data to previous “event driven” shocks that led to recessions, and found that today’s slowdown is roughly in line with the historical norm.

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Spotting a tariff impact on America’s economy requires a microscopic look at the data. Whether slight price rises are the start of something more serious depends, in large part, on how punchy the president feels on Wednesday https://t.co/Qq0TVCtGzq

Photo: Getty Images pic.twitter.com/oHfuhBbuGI

— The Economist (@TheEconomist) July 8, 2025

God of grace and might, we praise thee for thy servants Priscilla and Aquila, whom thou didst plenteously endow with gifts of zeal and eloquence to make known the truth of the Gospel. Raise up, we pray thee, in every country, heralds and evangelists of thy kingdom, that the world may know the immeasurable riches of our Savior Jesus Christ, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Today is the feast of Saints Aquila and Priscilla, early Christians who are mentioned in the New Testament. They lived, worked, and traveled with the Apostle Paul, who described them as his "fellow workers in Christ Jesus”. They are considered patrons of love and marriage. pic.twitter.com/5Y2z3Rq6iW

— Chess Valley RC (@ChessValleyRC) July 8, 2025

O Lord Jesus Christ, in all the fullness of thy power so gentle, in thine exceeding greatness so humble: Bestow thy mind and spirit upon us, who have nothing whereof to boast; that clothed in true humility, we may be exalted to true greatness.  Grant this, O Lord, who livest and reignest with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God for evermore.

–-Daily Prayer, Eric Milner-White and G. W. Briggs, eds. (London: Penguin Books 1959 edition of the 1941 original)

🌿 🌸🌿Guten Morgen 🌿🌸🌿 pic.twitter.com/YlE87LwZ6y

— 🕊️Harmonie (@stein5864) July 8, 2025

Now as Peter went here and there among them all, he came down also to the saints that lived at Lydda. There he found a man named Aeneas, who had been bedridden for eight years and was paralyzed. And Peter said to him, “Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you; rise and make your bed.” And immediately he rose. And all the residents of Lydda and Sharon saw him, and they turned to the Lord.

Now there was at Joppa a disciple named Tabitha, which means Dorcas. She was full of good works and acts of charity. In those days she fell sick and died; and when they had washed her, they laid her in an upper room. Since Lydda was near Joppa, the disciples, hearing that Peter was there, sent two men to him entreating him, “Please come to us without delay.” So Peter rose and went with them. And when he had come, they took him to the upper room. All the widows stood beside him weeping, and showing tunics and other garments which Dorcas made while she was with them. But Peter put them all outside and knelt down and prayed; then turning to the body he said, “Tabitha, rise.” And she opened her eyes, and when she saw Peter she sat up. And he gave her his hand and lifted her up. Then calling the saints and widows he presented her alive. And it became known throughout all Joppa, and many believed in the Lord. And he stayed in Joppa for many days with one Simon, a tanner.

–Acts 9:32-43

What's your favourite thing to do on a sunny day in North Yorkshire? ☀️ pic.twitter.com/4kvRm4lKLl

— Visit North Yorkshire (@visitnorthyork) July 8, 2025

Last year, members were told that the Trust Task Group had invited Professor Richard Jackson of the University of Bath to help to design a survey to “widen the range and number” of people feeding into the research on trust, as requested by the Synod. This followed a report that identified a need to “repair and preserve trust in the Church’s organisation and structures” (News, 24 June 2024).

In an update published with the General Synod papers last week, Bishop Sellin announced that the Task Group had “advised to cancel this survey and focus on repair strategies, which the House of Bishops and Archbishops’ Council has accepted . . . The key reason for this choice is the conclusion that running such a survey is unlikely to tell us anything new and may do more harm than good — to all of us in the Church of England that we seek to serve. I recognise some may disagree with this reasoning.

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“We know we have a problem here — a problem of distrust that has been highlighted in General Synod time and again. If the survey will foster distrust further, its benefit does not seem worth the cost.”https://t.co/S37HYjcDd6

— Madeleine Davies (@MadsDavies) July 4, 2025

But on other measures, firms that were strict on office time scored worse than more relaxed ones (see chart). Firms with five-day mandates received lower marks from employees for supportiveness (whether employees feel like their bosses care about them), quality of leadership, toxicity (the extent to which disrespectful behaviour is tolerated in the workplace), candour and work-life balance. (On the three other measures tracked by CultureX, the companies did not score meaningfully better or worse.)

The analysis has its limitations. In particular, it could also be the case that companies which care less about supporting employees or rooting out toxic behaviour are less inclined to heed workers’ pleas for more flexibility. Even so, the results are suggestive. “Companies that really score highly on agility—NVIDIA, SpaceX, Tesla—tend to strike a deal with their employees,” says Don Sull (who is also a professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management). Employees are offered generous pay, great career opportunities and other perks. “But the trade-off is the work-life balance tends to be really bad.”

More than five years after the pandemic, companies are still trying to find the right mix of in-person and remote work. As labour markets cool, shifting power from employees to employers, bosses may be tempted to demand more office time, claiming that it will help corporate culture. For firms that prize agility, this makes sense. But the data suggest it comes a cost.

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Our analysis suggests it depends on what sort of culture bosses want https://t.co/N70yorNxsr

— The Economist (@TheEconomist) July 7, 2025