…as retirement moves online there will be costs that society must reckon with. Older folks’ devices, unlike those of teenagers, are usually connected to credit cards. Door-to-door conmen, who have long preyed on the elderly, can now go iPad-to-iPad. Governments rightly strive to protect children from online predators. They must recognise that there is another, fast-growing vulnerable group to look after.

A second cost is misinformation. Pensioners are twice as likely as under-25s to use news apps or websites. Older people also appear to be more susceptible than others to online hoaxes (which artificial intelligence promises to make still more convincing). As older generations shift from spending their time in front of Fox or the BBC to spending it on YouTube or TikTok, they are entering a Wild West of information. And when the elderly are misled it is everyone’s problem, because they are the most likely to vote.

Screen time has a mixed impact on loneliness. Screens are companions for the isolated. But they can also be a substitute for real life. E-commerce removes the hassle of the weekly shopping trip—but also the social interactions that come with it. Consumers are free to make such choices. But for the infirm, the siren song of the sofa is especially strong. Balancing the pros and cons of screen use is easier for teenagers, whose time online is curbed by teachers during the day and parents in the evening. Older folk lack these informal mediators.

Read it all.

As retirement moves online there will be costs that society must reckon with. At least old people’s rocketing screen time should make for a measured debate on digital matters https://t.co/o5cC9O4Yoq

— The Economist (@TheEconomist) October 24, 2025

On March 23, 2023, an N.B.A. player left a game in New Orleans after playing just 10 minutes. His team said the player, Terry Rozier, was experiencing “foot discomfort.”

But according to federal prosecutors, Mr. Rozier’s departure was a key moment in an insider-trading scheme. Before the game, they say, Mr. Rozier had informed his childhood friend Deniro Laster that he would be exiting the game early, so that Mr. Laster and others could bet hundreds of thousands of dollars on his underperformance for the Charlotte Hornets.

On Thursday morning, Mr. Rozier was arrested in Orlando, Fla., and charged with wire fraud and money laundering conspiracy. He was one of dozens of people — including Chauncey Billups, the head coach of the Portland Trail Blazers — named in two indictments aimed at illegal gambling.

The charges spanned the worlds of professional sports, Mafia families and online betting, pairing traditional smoky-room card cheating with corruption enabled by today’s ubiquitous betting apps and smartphones. Each indictment described schemes that the authorities said had defrauded gamblers; one cast doubt on the integrity of N.B.A. games.

Read it all.

(NYT front page) More than 30 people were indicted on Thursday in a case involving insider bets on basketball games and poker games rigged by Mafia families https://t.co/vBLHICaKhb #sports #gambling #basketball #culturewatch #usa #law #ethics #scandal #corruption #money #greed

— Kendall Harmon (@KendallHarmon6) October 24, 2025

Almighty God, who alone gayest us the breath of life, and alone canst keep alive in us the holy desires thou dost impart; We beseech thee, for thy compassion’s sake, to sanctify all our thoughts and endeavours; that we may neither begin an action without a pure intention nor continue it without thy blessing.  And grant that, having the eyes of the mind opened to behold things invisible and unseen, we may in heart be inspired by thy wisdom, and in work be upheld by thy strength, and in the end be accepted of thee as thy faithful servants; through Jesus Christ our Saviour.

Over The Gate. 8°C and a chilly Northwesterly breeze. Highland Cattle in the valley. pic.twitter.com/LwoViQ0eYp

— Yorkshire Wolds Weather (@WeatherWolds) October 24, 2025

Now in the second year of their coming to the house of God at Jerusalem, in the second month, Zerub′babel the son of She-al′ti-el and Jeshua the son of Jo′zadak made a beginning, together with the rest of their brethren, the priests and the Levites and all who had come to Jerusalem from the captivity. They appointed the Levites, from twenty years old and upward, to have the oversight of the work of the house of the Lord. And Jeshua with his sons and his kinsmen, and Kad′mi-el and his sons, the sons of Judah, together took the oversight of the workmen in the house of God, along with the sons of Hen′adad and the Levites, their sons and kinsmen.

And when the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord, the priests in their vestments came forward with trumpets, and the Levites, the sons of Asaph, with cymbals, to praise the Lord, according to the directions of David king of Israel; and they sang responsively, praising and giving thanks to the Lord,

“For he is good,
    for his steadfast love endures for ever toward Israel.”

And all the people shouted with a great shout, when they praised the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid. But many of the priests and Levites and heads of fathers’ houses, old men who had seen the first house, wept with a loud voice when they saw the foundation of this house being laid, though many shouted aloud for joy; so that the people could not distinguish the sound of the joyful shout from the sound of the people’s weeping, for the people shouted with a great shout, and the sound was heard afar.

–Ezra 3:8-13

Buttermere pic.twitter.com/hJlEHH1LGC

— Andrew Locking (@andrewswalks) October 23, 2025

Though the complainants were numerous enough to meet the canonical threshold for making a formal complaint, their charges are in limbo. One complainant, the Rev. Rob Sturdy, told the Post that after the sworn complaint was submitted, the ACNA’s provincial office returned it, asking all 11 complainants to sign again with an additional statement of attestation to their allegations’ truth “under penalties of perjury.”

Sturdy said the complainant group refuses to comply, calling it a “noncanonical requirement” that “attempt[s] to intimidate our signatories with potential legal action.”

An ACNA spokesperson told TLC that Dr. Tiffany Butler, director of safeguarding and canonical affairs, made the demand, calling it “the typical standard for any ‘sworn statement’ and the standard applied to other presentments received under this administration.”

“However, Chancellor Bill Nelson, in consultation with the College of Bishops, has acknowledged that no rigid formulation of the oath is required and, in particular, that it does not need to include the phrase ‘under penalties of perjury.’ Our hope is to have resolution on this matter as quickly as possible,” the spokesperson said.

Read it all.

New for @Livng_Church: ACNA Archbishop Steve Wood is accused of making sexual advances toward a staff member at his South Carolina church, as well as financial impropriety, plagiarism, and bullying.https://t.co/TBBMcDfszU

— Arlie Coles (@ArlieColes) October 24, 2025

I will take comments on this submitted by email only to KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com.

“Unfortunately, the problems at the highest levels of the ACNA are deeper, wider and more entrenched than many of its own parishioners realize,” said Andrew Gross, an Anglican priest who was the Anglican Church’s communications director from 2013 until early this year. “The ACNA has never before had to deal with serious allegations of misconduct by the archbishop. This is a crisis without precedent, and how these concerns are handled will determine the future trajectory of the denomination and its credibility.”

A denomination spokeswoman, Kate Harris, said the church could not comment on the accusations against Wood, but she noted that the alleged misconduct predates his tenure as archbishop. She added that once the complaint is “validated as a presentment,” a Board of Inquiry will determine whether it warrants an ecclesiastical trial.

Claire Buxton, 42, the former children’s ministry director at St. Andrew’s who accused Wood of trying to kiss her, said that the alleged advance came after numerous church employees remarked upon Wood’s “excessive praise and fondness” for her.

“I was in shock,” said Buxton, a divorced mother of three sons. Her issues with Wood, she added, are symptomatic of the denomination’s wider problems. “It’s just bizarre to me how far we — the Anglican Church in North America and its leadership — have gotten away from basic morals and principles.”

Read it all.

I’ve been working all year on a series of investigative stories about leaders in the Anglican Church in North America. This morning, the second piece was published —about accusations of alleged sexual misconduct, bullying by archbishop Stephen Wood. https://t.co/4IOYv8Yrvs

— Ian Shapira (@ianshapira) October 23, 2025

I will take comments on this submitted by email only to KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com.

Editor’s note: Today, we’re announcing research that shows — for the first time in history — that a quantum computer can successfully run a verifiable algorithm on hardware, surpassing even the fastest classical supercomputers (13,000x faster). It can compute the structure of a molecule, and paves a path towards real-world applications. Today’s advance builds on decades of work, and six years of major breakthroughs. Back in 2019, we demonstrated that a quantum computer could solve a problem that would take the fastest classical supercomputer thousands of years. Then, late last year (2024), our new Willow quantum chip showed how to dramatically suppress errors, solving a major issue that challenged scientists for nearly 30 years. Today’s breakthrough moves us much closer to quantum computers that can drive major discoveries in areas like medicine and materials science.

Imagine you’re trying to find a lost ship at the bottom of the ocean. Sonar technology might give you a blurry shape and tell you, “There’s a shipwreck down there.” But what if you could not only find the ship but also read the nameplate on its hull?

That’s the kind of unprecedented precision we’ve just achieved with our Willow quantum chip. Today, we’re announcing a major algorithmic breakthrough that marks a significant step towards a first real-world application. Just published in Nature, we have demonstrated the first-ever verifiable quantum advantage running the out-of-order time correlator (OTOC) algorithm, which we call Quantum Echoes.

Read it all.

"Google claims ‘quantum advantage’ again — but researchers are sceptical" by Elizabeth Gibney of @Nature https://t.co/mD54zWFEKE
Original @Google article, "Observation of constructive interference at the edge of quantum ergodicity," is at https://t.co/tY8MiIq4Sn @JointQuICS pic.twitter.com/nh26Z4QWzA

— Charles W. Clark (@g8ge) October 23, 2025

Josh Batson no longer has time for social media.

The AI researcher’s only comparable dopamine hit these days is on Anthropic’s Slack workplace-messaging channels, where he explores chatter about colleagues’ theories and experiments on large language models and architecture.

Batson is among a group of core artificial-intelligence researchers and executives who are facing a relentless grind, racing to keep pace with a seemingly endless cycle of disruption in pursuit of systems with superhuman intelligence.

Inside Silicon Valley’s biggest AI labs, top researchers and executives are regularly working 80 to 100 hours a week. Several top researchers compared the circumstances to war.

“We’re basically trying to speedrun 20 years of scientific progress in two years,” said Batson, a research scientist at Anthropic. Extraordinary advances in AI systems are happening “every few months,” he said. “It’s the most interesting scientific question in the world right now.”

Read it all.

Take an early look at the front page of today's Wall Street Journal https://t.co/5Z4hcbTVXK pic.twitter.com/NrLMRqJWUU

— The Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) October 23, 2025

Grant, we beseech thee, O God, that after the example of thy servant James the Just, brother of our Lord, thy Church may give itself continually to prayer and to the reconciliation of all who are at variance and enmity; through the same our Lord Jesus Christ, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and ever

On Thursday October 23 at 6:30 pm we will be celebrating Saint James of Jerusalem, Bishop and Martyr, Brother of Our Lord.

Image: Neo-Byzantine icon of James the Just, public domain image, via Wikimedia Commons pic.twitter.com/nMqs7JB6cq

— Saint Barnabas Anglican Church (@Barnabas_FW) October 22, 2025

O God, who orderest the common things of the common day, dignify by thy presence and aid the trivial round and routine tasks of thy servant whose hope is in thee, that least duties may be grandly done and all activities marked with the seal of thy righteousness; 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)

#Thursgate

Lee Fields, Cork.#Autumn #AutumnVibes 🍂🍁🍂🍁 pic.twitter.com/f9hgClHrUN

— Margaret O'Connell🌻 (@MargaretOC6) October 23, 2025

Now concerning the contribution for the saints: as I directed the churches of Galatia, so you also are to do. On the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up, as he may prosper, so that contributions need not be made when I come. And when I arrive, I will send those whom you accredit by letter to carry your gift to Jerusalem. If it seems advisable that I should go also, they will accompany me.

I will visit you after passing through Macedo′nia, for I intend to pass through Macedo′nia, and perhaps I will stay with you or even spend the winter, so that you may speed me on my journey, wherever I go. For I do not want to see you now just in passing; I hope to spend some time with you, if the Lord permits. But I will stay in Ephesus until Pentecost, for a wide door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many adversaries.

–1 Corinthians 16:1-9

Andromeda pic.twitter.com/2411ChppYW

— 🌙 (@astro4pics) October 21, 2025

The GAFCON leadership is calling a conference (G26) for all orthodox Anglican bishops, who can sign the Jerusalem Declaration, in Abuja Nigeria in March of next year. All are welcome. This coincidently will be about the same time as the new Archbishop of Canterbury takes up her office. Her appointment was made without adequate consideration of the wishes of the majority of Anglican churches and her apparent liberal direction of travel means they have been presented with more of the same leadership that has failed to discipline wayward Provinces and restore any semblance of unity to the Communion post the widespread agreement after the Lambeth Conference in 1998. The Chairman of GAFCON said on the news of the appointment of the new Archbishop of Canterbury — “Due to the failure of successive Archbishops of Canterbury to guard the faith, the office can no longer function as a credible leader of Anglicans, let alone a focus of unity”. It would appear that Dame Sarah will find herself relating to a very different world-wide Communion. 

Again, coincidently and perhaps ironically, on the same day this week it was announced that the English House of Bishops has postponed any further implementation of the “Living in Love and Faith” process, which has been causing agony and division in the church for more than a decade. This has been abandoned because of legal and theological advice that has shown the bishops what they should have known already, that their proposals change the doctrine of marriage held by the Church of England. Such a change, though possible, must follow due synodical processes and decisions, and requires a two thirds majority to alter doctrine. As the current process has been shambolic and lacking integrity, it is good to see the bishops at last consenting to adhere to proper processes. However, this looks more like a press of the pause button rather than the delete one, and means that discontent will rumble on in the church.

It is no wonder then that GAFCON, which continues to support orthodox believers in the Church of England, has lost patience with its leadership, as it sees no real evidence of repentance or a change of heart about the liberal direction of travel. It wishes to stop wasting time in pointless squabbles and to bring together those who are firm in faith to get on with the task of bringing the Good News of the Gospel to a lost and suffering world. Compassion and clarity of doctrine are not enemies but ought to go together — the grace and truth only ever perfectly shown in the person of the Lord Jesus needs to be followed as far as possible by his followers.

Bishops in the early Church were noted and respected for their courage and adherence to the Apostolic Faith. Bishops today in the West, with thankfully a number of notable exceptions, have too often become uncertain trumpets, driven by expediency, who seem to want to sanctify current fashionable opinions more than to be faithful to their ordination vows to uphold the Christian Faith as revealed in the Scriptures. This is a sad and tragic state of affairs. To quote the Dutch/American theologian R.B.Kuiper — “The church that has grown indifferent to the truth is, to put it mildly, on its way out”. GAFCON shines a light of hope to a generation looking for an alternative to the faithless, materialistic, self-absorbed answers of the current western world. 

Read it all.

Bible believing Anglicans should be pleased that the new Archbishop has been ejected from the Anglican Communion, argues W. Gilchrist https://t.co/JSVc08XHj8

— The Critic (@TheCriticMag) October 22, 2025

A group of prominent figures, including artificial intelligence and technology experts, has called for an end to efforts to create ‘superintelligence’ — a form of AI that would surpass humans on essentially all cognitive tasks. 

Over 850 people, including tech leaders like Virgin Group founder Richard Branson and Apple cofounder Steve Wozniak, signed a statement published Wednesday calling for a pause in the development of superintelligence. 

The list of signatories was notably topped by prominent AI pioneers, including the computer scientists Yoshua Bengio and Geoff Hinton, who are widely considered “godfathers” of modern AI. Leading AI researchers like UC Berkeley’s Stuart Russell also signed on. 

Superintelligence has become a buzzword in the AI world, as companies from Elon Musk’s xAI to Sam Altman’s OpenAI compete to release more advanced large language models. Meta notably has gone so far as to name its LLM division the ‘Meta Superintelligence Labs.’ 

But signatories of the recent statement warn that the prospect of superintelligence has “raised concerns, ranging from human economic obsolescence and disempowerment, losses of freedom, civil liberties, dignity, and control, to national security risks and even potential human extinction.”

Read it all.

Over 800 public figures, including Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak and Virgin's Richard Branson urge AI ‘superintelligence’ ban https://t.co/7jo9ITuOjx

— CNBC (@CNBC) October 22, 2025

Americans’ views about religion in public life are shifting. From February 2024 to February 2025, there was a sharp rise in the share of U.S. adults who say religion is gaining influence in American life.

While this remains a minority view, it is increasingly held by adults across several demographic groups – with gains of at least 10 percentage points among Democrats and Republicans, adults in every age category and in most large religious groups.

The new survey also finds that in recent years, a growing share of the public takes a positive view of religion’s role in society.

In a February 2024 Pew Research Center poll, 18% of U.S. adults said religion was gaining influence in American life. That was the lowest level we had seen in more than two decades.

Read it all.

Most Americans (59%) say religion has a positive role in people's lives.

Only 20% say it has a negative role.

👉🏻 https://t.co/IA8ckO6srL pic.twitter.com/2YwvAwf14E

— Frank Luntz (@FrankLuntz) October 20, 2025

Sequoia Capital’s chief operating officer resigned over comments made by partner Shaun Maguire that she regarded as Islamophobic, as political debates sow division at one of Silicon Valley’s most powerful venture capital firms.

Sumaiya Balbale — a practising Muslim who has spoken publicly about how her gender, ethnicity and faith have shaped her career — stepped down after five years at the company in August. Her decision to leave was precipitated by Maguire’s social media posts, according to three people with knowledge of the matter.

Maguire, an outspoken and high-profile investor who is close to Elon Musk, wrote on X in July that New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani “comes from a culture that lies about everything. It’s literally a virtue to lie if it advances his Islamist agenda. The West will learn this lesson the hard way.”

Balbale complained to other senior partners at the firm, who declined to take action against Maguire, arguing he was just exercising his right to free speech, the people said. She left soon after, feeling her position was untenable.

Read it all (subscription).

Sequoia COO quit over Shaun Maguire’s comments about Mamdani https://t.co/3WQUHQ0Qnd

— FT Technology News (@fttechnews) October 22, 2025

Over the past two decades, no company has done more to shape the American workplace than Amazon. In its ascent to become the nation’s second-largest employer, it has hired hundreds of thousands of warehouse workers, built an army of contract drivers and pioneered using technology to hire, monitor and manage employees.

Now, interviews and a cache of internal strategy documents viewed by The New York Times reveal that Amazon executives believe the company is on the cusp of its next big workplace shift: replacing more than half a million jobs with robots.

Amazon’s U.S. work force has more than tripled since 2018 to almost 1.2 million. But Amazon’s automation team expects the company can avoid hiring more than 160,000 people in the United States it would otherwise need by 2027. That would save about 30 cents on each item that Amazon picks, packs and delivers to customers.

Executives told Amazon’s board last year that they hoped robotic automation would allow the company to continue to avoid adding to its U.S. work force in the coming years, even though they expect to sell twice as many products by 2033. That would translate to more than 600,000 people whom Amazon didn’t need to hire.

Read it all.

Amazon, the second largest employer in the U.S., aims to replace more than half a million jobs with robots, internal documents show. https://t.co/jzxzhcMmfo

— The New York Times (@nytimes) October 21, 2025

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

Wednesday.👋🌞😊 pic.twitter.com/GEaUfu4swQ

— Kersti Sandström (@KerstiSandstrom) October 22, 2025

Lo! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable nature must put on the imperishable, and this mortal nature must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:

“Death is swallowed up in victory.”
“O death, where is thy victory?
O death, where is thy sting?”

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.

–1 Corinthians 15:51-58

Warkworth Castle sunrise. pic.twitter.com/50Za43c11A

— Jim Scott (@jimscottphoto) October 22, 2025

Hundreds of local churches across the UK could close within the next five years, according to a major new survey published by the National Churches Trust.

The 2025 National Churches Survey gathered responses from more than 3,500 churches across all major denominations.

It found rural churches were the least likely to have confidence that they will remain open, with up to 7 per cent (900 churches) saying they could close by 2030. Meanwhile, 2,000 churches said they will “definitely” or “probably” not be used as a place of worship in five years.

The report also revealed widespread issues with church buildings, with many in poor or dangerous condition due to years of underfunding and rising repair costs.

Read it all.

⛪ Almost one in three churches could be closed by end of the decadehttps://t.co/5DxIFZCwFI

— The Telegraph (@Telegraph) October 21, 2025

In a statement to The Times, a spokesperson for the EHRC said: “This topic raises complex issues relevant to equality and human rights, and therefore our regulatory remit given the EHRC’s statutory powers and duties. As such, we have provided advice to the chair of the working group and the secretary of state for housing, communities and local government and stand ready to continue to do so.

“Legal protections against discrimination and hate crime already exist, so it is unclear what role a new definition would play in addressing discrimination and abuse targeted at Muslims. An official non-statutory definition risks being in conflict with existing legal definitions and provisions, resulting in inconsistency and potential confusion for courts and individuals.

“Should government proceed with adoption of a definition, we advise that this should be subject to a full public consultation so that all the potential risks and benefits can be considered.”

A spokesperson for the communities department said that a full consultation was not necessary under the law.

Read it all (requires subscription).

Islamophobia definition risks breaking the law, watchdog says https://t.co/OMabIwC21R

— Times Politics (@timespolitics) October 21, 2025

Dear Friends,

Your Fall 2025 Jubilate Deo is here.  In this issue you’ll:

• Learn about the Bishop’s new Thrive Together campaign.
• Read the standing-ovation receiving sermon given by 11-year-old Daniel Booman at New Wineskins.
• Get an update on restoration projects at three of our historic properties.
• Discover what one of our rectors, Karl Burns, called “silly & sacred.” And more!…

Take the time to read through all the interesting pieces.

(The latest Jubilate Deo) Surprised, Challenged, Moved by New Wineskins for Global Mission Conference By Brett Kucera, Prince George Winyah Anglican Church, Georgetown https://t.co/laOqoXP1rP #anglican #southcarolina #parishminsitry #missions #newwineskins pic.twitter.com/zZiye16Pnm

— Kendall Harmon (@KendallHarmon6) October 21, 2025

Fyodor Dostoyevsky began to write what would become his last novel, “The Brothers Karamazov,” in 1878. It was published in serial installments in the magazine Russkiy Vestnik from January, 1879, to November, 1880. Dostoyevsky had a deadline to meet every month, and his wife, Anna, later complained about the pressure he was always working under. Unlike many other contemporary writers, such as Tolstoy or Turgenev, who were well off, Dostoyevsky lived by his writing and struggled throughout his life to earn enough money. If not for this, Anna wrote, in her memoirs, after his death, “He could have gone carefully through [his works], polishing them, before letting them appear in print; and one can imagine how much they would have gained in beauty. Indeed, until the very end of his life Fyodor Mikhailovich had not written a single novel with which he was satisfied himself; and the cause of this was our debts!”

No one could claim that “The Brothers Karamazov” is polished, or even beautifully written—it is characteristic of Dostoyevsky’s style that everything is desperately urgent and seems to burst forth, and that the details don’t much matter. Reckless and intense: we are headed straight to the point of the matter, and there is no time. This urgency, this wildness, the seeming unruliness of his style, which is echoed in the many abrupt twists and turns in the action toward the end of the chapters—the reader must be kept in a state of suspense until the next installment—runs against something else, something heavier and slower, a patiently insistent question that is related to everything that is happening: What are we living for?

On May 16, 1878, just months before Dostoyevsky began writing “The Brothers Karamazov” in earnest, his son Alyosha died following an epileptic fit that lasted for hours. He would have turned three that summer. Dostoyevsky “loved Lyosha somehow in a very special way, with an almost morbid love, as if sensing that he would not have him for long,” Anna wrote later. When his son stopped breathing, Dostoyevsky “kissed him, made the sign of the cross over him three times,” and broke down in tears. He was crushed with grief, Anna wrote, and with guilt—his son had inherited epilepsy from him. Outwardly, however, he was soon calm and collected; she was the one who wept and wept. Gradually, she grew worried that his suppression of grief would have a negative impact on his already fragile health, and she suggested that he visit the Optina Pustyn monastery with a young friend, the theological wunderkind Vladimir Solovyov. There they met the elder of the monastery—the starets—Ambrose. “Weep and be not consoled, but weep,” he said to Dostoyevsky.

All of this made its way into “The Brothers Karamazov.” The protagonist bears the name of Dostoyevsky’s son Alyosha and many of Solovyov’s traits. The monastery is central to the story, and its elder—named Zosima in the novel—comforts a woman who has lost her child, aged two years and nine months, with words that echo those uttered by Ambrose. But more important to the story than the autobiographical details, which in any case are swallowed up by the vortex of fiction, is the devastating loss of meaning that accompanies the death of a child. 

Read it all.

“The Brothers Karamazov” asks what we are living for, and it “seeks the answer in the little life, among the small people, in the frail, the fragile, the fallible, the failed,” Karl Ove Knausgaard writes. https://t.co/llTCBZ9rHR

— The New Yorker (@NewYorker) October 21, 2025

As a young woman in the late 1970s, Sanae Takaichi commuted six hours a day by bus and train from her parents’ home in western Japan to attend university. She was a fan of heavy metal music and Kawasaki motorcycles who yearned to move out. But her mother insisted at first that she stay home, forbidding her from living in a boardinghouse before marriage.

“I dreamed of having my own castle,” Ms. Takaichi wrote in a 1992 memoir.

On Tuesday, Ms. Takaichi won election as Japan’s prime minister, the first woman to do so in the nation’s history. It was the pinnacle of an improbable rise in politics and a milestone in a country where women have long struggled for influence.

Read it all.

Breaking News: Sanae Takaichi is Japan’s first female prime minister. She’s a heavy metal drummer and hard-line conservative. https://t.co/vfyRnftmfc pic.twitter.com/f17GPcm71o

— The New York Times (@nytimes) October 21, 2025

Give us grace, O God our Father, to keep this day and always the new commandment and the great commandment and all the commandments, by loving thee with all our mind and soul and strength, and one another for thy sake; in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.

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

A golden October sunset with The Ship of the Fens across the river Great Ouse in Ely, Cambridgeshire. @ely_cathedral #Autumn #Sunset #ElyCathedral #LoveNature pic.twitter.com/knXzUS8vFj

— Veronica in the Fens 🧚🏼‍♀️ My Heart in Nature (@VeronicaJoPo) October 21, 2025

At that time Jesus declared, “I thank thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to babes; yea, Father, for such was thy gracious will. All things have been delivered to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and any one to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

–Matthew 11:25-30

Winding between Swaledale and Wensleydale, Buttertubs Pass is one of the country's most scenic drives/rides. This view is of Swaledale at the bottom of the Buttertubs.

📸 Wendy McDonnell | #YorkshireDales #TuesdayThoughts pic.twitter.com/pLgtNHsVj6

— Yorkshire Dales National Park (@yorkshire_dales) October 21, 2025

A group of leading Anglican traditionalists this month announced a reordering of the worldwide Anglican Communion.

Top bishops (primates) of the Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON), a renewal movement composed of both historic Anglican provinces and newly inaugurated Anglican churches, are seeking to bind the Anglican family not around a common tie to the See of Canterbury but around shared theological commitments. Among them the centrality of holy scripture. This is an outworking of what was called for at the group’s 2023 conference in Kigali, Rwanda. More on that from Bishop Paul Donison at The Gospel Coalition here.

GAFCON provinces already comprise the majority of adherents within the Anglican Communion member churches, which are functionally self-governing and autonomous while operating in relationship with one another. Both GAFCON and Global South Fellowship of Anglicans (GSFA), which have significantly overlapping membership, represent the vast majority of people within Anglican Communion, although each group has a different sensibility and strategy.

This is why recent headlines about schism are ill informed. No one is going anywhere, but neither is everyone looking to Canterbury as a central focal point of unity.

But will most provinces cease to look to the institutions, historic role, and financial resources of the Canterbury-led order? That remains to be seen.

Read it all.

Historic news for global Anglicanism today!

– The majority of Anglicans worldwide are, as of today, officially disaffiliated from the Church of England.
– GAFCON (Global Anglican Future Conference) has declared itself the Global Anglican Communion.
– The Global Anglican… pic.twitter.com/4q4t57BAAj

— Larry Sanger (@lsanger) October 16, 2025

Donald Trump urged Volodymyr Zelenskyy to accept Russia’s terms for ending its war in a volatile White House meeting on Friday, warning that Vladimir Putin had said he would “destroy” Ukraine if it did not agree.

The meeting between the US and Ukrainian presidents descended many times into a “shouting match”, with Trump “cursing all the time”, people familiar with the matter said. They added that the US president tossed aside maps of the front line in Ukraine, insisted Zelenskyy surrender the entire Donbas region to Putin, and repeatedly echoed talking points the Russian leader had made in their call a day earlier.

Though Trump later endorsed a freeze of the current front lines, the acrimonious meeting appeared to reflect the US president’s shifting position on the war and his willingness to endorse Putin’s maximalist demands. The meeting between Trump and Zelenskyy came amid a fresh push by the US president to end Russia’s war following the ceasefire secured between Israel and Hamas. 

Read it all.

Trump urged Zelenskyy to accept Putin’s terms or be ‘destroyed’ by Russia https://t.co/AdUz5KW72A via @ChristopherJM @HenryJFoy @maxseddon @ak_mack

— Valentina Pop (@valentinapop) October 19, 2025

O God, who by thy Spirit didst call Cornelius the Centurion to be the first Christian among the Gentiles: Grant to thy Church, we beseech thee, such a ready will to go where thou dost send and to do what thou dost command, that under thy guidance it may welcome all who turn to thee in love and faith, and proclaim the Gospel to all nations; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Today is the feast of Saint Cornelius, a Roman centurion considered the first Gentile to convert to Christianity, baptised by Saint Peter as related in the Acts of the Apostles. “Cornelius, your prayer has been heard and your almsgiving remembered before God.” pic.twitter.com/xTF7uTEh4Z

— Chess Valley RC (@ChessValleyRC) October 20, 2025