The Politics of Politeness

Politeness means the atmosphere and ritual of the city, the symbol of human civilisation...Politeness is not really even a thing merely suave and deprecating. Politeness is an armed guard, stern and splendid and vigilant, watching over all the ways of men; in other words, politeness is a policeman. (G.K. Chesterton)

Yet another member of PPC who was not aware, even by the simple courtesy of a cc. , that Deputy Juliette Gallichan had written on behalf of the Committee. Montfort, on Facebook, says:

Monty Tadier: Many of you will be aware that I am a member of PPC (Privileges and Procedures Committee), but this letter is news to me. Like Senator Le Marquand, I have never seen this letter either (I find it hard to believe that the Home Affairs Minister would not be aware of such a letter - but hey, in Jersey stranger things do happen). It is strange that the first sight of a letter addressed to PPC (and to me) should only come to my attention a few weeks later via the blogsite of Citizen's Journalist.

Now as I've said, it may well be well within the prerogative of the Chairman of PPC to write on behalf of the Committee without consulting them. I don't know the protocols under which the Committee operates. But I do consider it exceedingly impolite to do so, and to not inform other members of the Committee that she had done so.

Senator Syvret, as is well known, thinks that politeness is something which can and should be discarded in a greater cause, but it is obvious that even among other States members that standards of courtesy are slipping as well. Such standards, such as copying in other members of a Committee, are important, I believe, because without them there will be a fertile soil for all kinds of conspiracy theories, and this in turn will lead to mess and muddle. There have been complaints about States debates being taken up by trivia. By not showing mindfullness, and consideration for other Committee members, in my opinion, Deputy Gallichan has simply added to the trivia, because now the mess and muddle needs clarification.

Of course it might well be that other Committee members might have regarded such unilateral action as high-handed, and would have disagreed with her arguments, but if she thought that she might avoid having to seek consensus, it is plain that was misguided.

Lastly, politeness, consideration do have one more important place in the States. If you - as a member of the public - need to go to a States member for advice or help, would you go to one who has shown consideration for others, or one who did not? Someone who was mindful that they need to consider other people, or someone who simply goes off on their own bat? Would you go to a politician who was inattentive to others, or one who was attentive? If I had a New Year's wish, it would be to see a little less presumption, a little more humility in politicians today, who never seem able to admit they make mistakes, as if that was somehow a sign of weakness.

I'd like to finish with a quotation from Ghandi which sums up the positive aspects of politeness, and why it is so important, not just as some kind of act, a hypocrite wearing a mask, feigned politeness - but true politeness, which comes from within, becomes part of the character of the whole person.

Civility, good manners and humility-these virtues are at such discount these days that they seem to have no place at all in the building of our character... It may be safely asserted that a person deficient in good manners lacks discrimination and that, lacking discrimination, he lacks every thing else. Vishvamitra's tapascharya was considered incomplete till he had learnt civility.
 
Civility and humility are expressions of the spirit of nonviolence while incivility and insolence indicate the spirit of violence. A non-co-operator, therefore, ought never to be uncivil. However, the most persistent charge levelled against non-co-operators is that they lack manners and are insolent, and the charge has much substance in it. We are apt to believe that in becoming non-co- operators we have done something very great, as if a person who had done no more than pay his debt had thereby become entitled to get an address.

I trust no one will understand politeness to mean flattery. Nor does it mean hiding our regard for our dharma. To be polite means to show respect towards others while clinging to our own dharma

Where there is egotism, we shall find incivility and arrogance. Where it is absent, we shall find a sense of self-respect together with civility. The egotist thinks too much of his body. The man of self-respect recognizes the atman, is ever thinking about it and, in order to realize it, is always ready to sacrifice his body. He who holds his self-respect dear acts towards everyone in a spirit of friendship, for he values others' self-respect as much as he values his own. He sees himself in all and everyone else in himself, puts himself in line with others. The egotist keeps aloof from others and, believing himself superior to the rest of the world, he takes upon himself to judge everyone and in the result enables the world to have the measure of his smallness.

Hence, the non-violent non-co-operator should regard civility as a distinct virtue and try to cultivate it. The importance attached to it provides the measure of an individual's or a nation's culture. A non-co-operator should realize very clearly that incivility is another name for brutishness and eschew it completely. (Ghandi)

Reference:
http://www.gandhiserve.org/cwmg/VOL025.PDF

The dark side of paganism

Unlike neopaganism, ancient paganism was often steeped in rites of blood. When Pete Owen-Jones visited the Church of Thron, in Africa (Cononou, Benin), he was upset by the Voodoo practice of slitting and hurling to one side animal carcasses, including cats and dogs, in order to obtain communication with the spirits, and for no other reason.

But in Uganda, this kind of ritual propitiation involves the sacrifice of young children. The BBC report (Crossing Continents)states what is happening:

One witch-doctor led us to his secret shrine and said he had clients who regularly captured children and brought their blood and body parts to be consumed by spirits. Meanwhile, a former witch-doctor who now campaigns to end child sacrifice confessed for the first time to having murdered about 70 people, including his own son.

The Ugandan government told us that human sacrifice is on the increase, and according to the head of the country's Anti-Human Sacrifice Taskforce the crime is directly linked to rising levels of development and prosperity, and an increasing belief that witchcraft can help people get rich quickly.

In the course of our investigation we witnessed the ritual torching of the shrine of a particularly active witch-doctor in northern Uganda by anti-sacrifice campaigners. The witch-doctor allowed ceremonial items including conch shells and animal skins to be burned in his sacred grove after agreeing to give up sacrifice. He told us that clients had come to him in search of wealth. "They capture other people's children. They bring the heart and the blood directly here to take to the spirits. They bring them in small tins and they place these objects under the tree from which the voices of the spirits are coming," he said.

Former witch-doctor turned anti-sacrifice campaigner Polino Angela says he has persuaded 2,400 other witch-doctors to give up the trade since he himself repented in 1990. Mr Angela told us he had first been initiated as a witch-doctor at a ceremony in neighbouring Kenya, where a boy of about 13 was sacrificed. "The child was cut with a knife on the neck and the entire length from the neck down was ripped open, and then the open part was put on me," he said. (1)

Modern paganism as in Western countries is very different and should no more be culpable for this than modern Christians should be blamed for the madness of the crusades. The forms of modern paganism are largely eclectic and peaceful, and if they look to the past, it is to the best of the past, those parts of ancient paganism that were at peace and at harmony with nature.

But where Uganda does impact upon modern paganism is in its desire to capture a lost past, and not learn from the darker side of that past. Just as Christianity must learn from its persecution of pagans, and the crusades, burning and hanging of people for witchcraft, so modern paganism must distance itself and critique and not ignore those aspects of pagan religions of the past which committed atrocities in the name of religion.

The populist books of "ancient wisdom" and "secrets of the ancients" etc which fill shelves of book shops, and the modern kinds of pantheism and animism are in fact far distanced from the kind of animal and human sacrifice that took place in the past, but which can also claim a direct link in the atrocities committed in Uganda or the Voodoo sacrifices of domestic animals.

The Radio 4 programme "Crossing Continents" also made it very clear that what was happening in Uganda was not a delusion, like the Satanic Abuse fantasies which erupted in the last century in Britain and America. Unlike those, where no evidence
actually existed, the reporter noted that forensic examination of some of the body parts has indicated they come from human beings, and some of the child victims have actually survived being mutilated.

Joy Davidman, in her book, "Smoke on the Mountain", places sacrifices of this kind as the end result of a kind of idolatry, where the desire to placate the idol (or spirit) leads to an escalation in the bargaining process:

The essence of idolatry is its attempt to control and enslave the deity. If the idol has power over man, so has man power over the idol; he can bribe it, he can drive a bargain with it, by certain rituals and sacrifices he can compel it to grant his wishes. Or, so, at least, the idolater thinks. For an idol is not just an image, of one shape or another, meant to represent a deity. An idol is a material object, by the proper manipulation of which a man may get what he wants out of life.

Only, of course, he can't. The universe is not made that way; there is no such power in any material object. Sacrifice as much as you please, cajole and flatter as you please, beat your disobedient idol with a big stick if you please-the thing still won't give you what you want. In consequence, all idolatrous cultures tend to get nastier and nastier. If a small bribe doesn't succeed, they offer more. The idol will not respond to a dance of virgins with flowers? Very well, let's try a dance of warriors mutilating themselves with knives. You have cut off a lock of your hair and laid it before the idol, yet life is still dark? Try cutting your first-born's throat and offering him. Nor does the idol's continued silence teach you better sense, if you're a natural-born idolater. For if Mumbo-Jumbo is so bard to please, what a very great Mumbo-Jumbo he must be ! (2)

Ancient Carthage provides a chilling example of this.

 

Ancient writers such as Kleitarchos, Agathocles, Diodorus Siculus, Plutarch, and the Christian theologian Tertullian (c 160 CE- 220 CE) all testify to the practice of child sacrifice in the realm of Carthage. In December 1921, the largest cemetery of sacrificed infants in the ancient Near East was discovered at Carthage, now a resort suburb of the city of Tunis.

Lawrence E. Stager and Joseph A. Greene comment that:

The evidence that Phoenicians ritually sacrificed their children comes from four sources. Classical authors and biblical prophets charge the Phoenicians with the practice. Stelae associated with burial urns found at Carthage bear decorations alluding to sacrifice and inscriptions expressing vows to Phoenician deities. Urns buried beneath these stelae contain remains of children (and sometimes of animals) who were cremated as described in the sources or implied by the inscriptions.

Moreover, the osteological evidence reveals that most of the victims were children two to three months old, though some were as old as age five. So far no skeleton has shown any signs of pathological conditions that might have caused death. These were healthy children deliberately killed as sacrifices in the manner described in the classical and biblical texts.(5)

From its earliest days in the 8th century B.C., Carthage sacrificed animals  (lambs and kids) to Ba'al and Tanit, dedicating the offerings as ''substitutes for children.'' Traditionally, Dr. Stager said, archeologists have tended to the view that as Carthage advanced over the following 600 years, the practice of human sacrifice subsided as the sacrifice of animal substitutes increased. This is in keeping with the supposition by historians that human sacrifice, at first transformed into animal sacrifice, eventually evolved into the bloodless wine-and-wafer Eucharist of Christianity.

But excavations led by Dr. Stager and others have shown, he said, that in Carthage, the trend was reversed. The oldest burial layers at the Precinct of Tanit hold urns containing burned skeletal remains in the ratio of three children for one animal, but in a later era, the 3d century B.C., the ratio increased to ten children for one animal.(6)

The story of Abraham in the Old Testament is instructive in displaying how Jewish attitudes changed. The story tells how Abraham was prepared to be so obedient to his God as to sacrifice his only son Isaac, and up to the moment of sacrifice was ready to kill Isaac, until God provided a lamb instead.

The Old Testament scholar Richard Friedman notes that the first part of the story, in which God demands the sacrifice of Isaac and Abraham complies, to take him to the place of sacrifice, refers to the God by the plural name, Elohim (usually rendered "God" in English translations). The verses that record the sparing of Isaac come from a wholly different source in which the name of the god is Yahweh ("LORD," in English versions).

Friedman suggests that in the E version, Isaac is not saved. The story ends with the words, "And ABRAHAM returned to his servants." There is no mention of Isaac. And in the E version, there is no further reference to Isaac. Friedman also notes that
there is a midrashic tradition that Isaac actually had been sacrificed.(3)

If this is the case, then the Y story is an emendation which takes a familiar story (and sacrifice of children was also rife elsewhere in the near Middle East) and subtly transforms it into a story in which sacrifice is not required after all.

According to the Jewish scholar Shalom Spiegel, "the primary purpose of the story may have been only this: to attach to a real pillar of the folk and a revered reputation the new norm-abolish human sacrifice, substitute animals instead."

It is from Christianity, drawing on the Old Testament roots, that the renunciation and denunciation of human sacrifice is making headway in Uganda. The reporter on Crossing Continents was talking to a Ugandan Minister in charge of stamping out this practice, and it was clear that the Minister himself was very much a believer in good and evil spirits, and placed the sacrifice of children in the context of the demands of evil spirits.

The reporter was quite incredulous at this kind of belief, coming from the secular background of Western culture in which this kind of thinking is regarded much more skeptically. There was more than a hint in his questions that this practice should be educated out as superstitious, and eradicated that way.  But perhaps it is only within a language which can speak of sacrifice and spirits that persuasion can be made, as much as it offends the skeptics among us.

 

In the meantime, the relationship of modern Neopaganism to blood sacrifice is ambiguous, and Gerald Gardner, the founder of Wicca, after a passage in which he praises the practice of flagellation as releasing power, comments that:

Sorcerers chiefly used the blood sacrifice; and while we hold this to be evil, we cannot deny that this method is very efficient. Power flashes forth from newly shed blood, instead of exuding slowly as by our method. The victim's terror and anguish add keenness, and even quite a small animal can yield enormous power. The great difficulty is in the human mind controlling the power of the lower animal mind. But sorcerers claim they have methods for effecting this and that the difficulty disappears the higher her the animal used, and when the victim is human disappears entirely. The practice is an abomination but it is so. (7)

So there is a mixed-message here, that on the one hand, blood sacrifice is "an abomination" but on the other that it is "very efficient". Perhaps it is time for modern neopagans to draw upon the Greek myths which parallel those of the story of Abraham:

The Greeks had two versions of a similar fable; one, that Agamemnon had a daughter whom he dearly loved, and whom he was ordered by the deity to offer up as a sacrifice. When preparations were being made, the goddess carried the girl away, and substituted a stag. The other is of a Greek king, who had offended Diana, when the sacrifice of his daughter was demanded; but she suddenly disappeared just before the fatal blow.(8)

Links
(1) http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/8441813.stm
(2) Smoke on the Mountain, Joy Davidman
(3) "Who Wrote the Bible" Richard E. Friedman.
(4) http://www.newenglishreview.org/custpage.cfm/frm/47585/sec_id/47585
(5) http://phoenicia.org/childsacrifice.html
(6)
http://www.nytimes.com/1987/09/01/science/relics-of-carthage-show-brutality-amid-the-good-life.html?pagewanted=2

(7) http://www.sacred-texts.com/pag/gbos/gbos19.htm

(8) http://www.infidels.org/library/historical/m_d_aletheia/rationalists_manual.html

Sensible Clairvoyance Planning?

Andrew Lewis has now replied to the problems with chronology on BBC Radio Jersey

"My knowledge of this matter stems from my role as Home Affairs Minister. As such I am bound by the confidentiality requirements in the Chief Police Officers disciplinary code.  Once again I must re-iterate that we were at all times advised by the Law Officers and followed that advice to the letter. To the best of my knowledge the actual decisions were taken on the date recorded in the correspondence. The earlier dates of creation simply reflect the preliminary work by the legal and HR advisors which was contingency preparation in the event that the full disclosure of information by the Deputy Police Officer might result in a decision to invoke the disciplinary code. This was sensible contingency planning."

This still raises the questions:

Who asked the legal and HR advisors to start this "contingency preparation"? Someone must have been responsible, or do they just do this kind of thing unprompted (with no directives), which seems unusual?

Why was it deemed "sensible"? What grounds were there for believing that a suspension was likely, and who held that opinion at this stage?

Has any "contingency preparation" been made in any other cases where suspensions were made? If not, why was this done in this case?

If so, what criteria are given for deeming this "sensible" when it could, of course, turn out to be a waste of legal resources, time and costly?

How much preliminary work was done?

Once more, there is no transparency in the chain of events, and responsibility seems to be shifted to vague generalities. Looking at this from a historical perspective, there is a good deal missing from the sources, part of which is probably covered by the "Chief Police Officers disciplinary code" which certainly does not help the situation.

Guernsey has no legal requirement for the States to discuss these matters "in camera" if the same eventuality as the suspension of a Chief Police Officer ever occurred there, and I do wonder why Jersey needs this when Guernsey can manage quite adequately without it. As David J. Robilliard, the Principal Officer of the Guernsey States Assembly and Constitution Committee told me:

1.    There is no provision in the Rules of Procedure of the States of Deliberation for the holding of in camera meetings.

2.    I cannot recall such a meeting ever having been held.

3.    It would be within the power of the States to change the Rules to permit an in camera meeting should they deem it necessary.

Also in the news here is the email from Bob Hill which has appeared on the Voice for Children blog, which is worth repeating as Deputy Hill strongly argues against the notion that suspension can be reasonable considered a "neutral act" in this case.

http://voiceforchildren.blogspot.com/2010/01/get-grip.html

Dear Terry,

Below are two Voice for Children websites which contain a letter from Mr Power to PPC dated 30th October and the reply from the Chairman dated 13th November 2009. I would add that the letters have been subject to attention from the other media.

I write to express my deep concern not just at the contents of Mr Power's letter but also by the dismissive action taken by PPC's Chairman who appears not to have discussed the letter with her Committee.

As you will see Mr Power has made allegations regarding the untoward actions surrounding the events leading to his suspension which he is able to substantiate. I think it is important to remind you that in a statement read by the former Home Affairs Minister at the States Sitting on 2nd December 2008 in relation to Mr Power's suspension, the Minister said, and I quote " In addition, of course, the Chief Officer cannot comment and has not yet had the full opportunity that the process allows to answer to these matters and to defend himself. Any debate would thus be unfair to him as the full facts are not yet known. I am sure, however, that Members will readily understand that a suspension in these circumstances is a neutral act and implies no finding one way or the other, but is rather an entirely prudent course to preserve the integrity of the investigation,"

A neutral act should by definition be neutral with neither side impeding the integrity of the investigation which should be conducted in an even handed and transparent manner. Also before any suspension is implemented those responsible for the implementation should be above reproach. Clearly from the contents of Mr Power's letter the integrity and motives of those involved with the suspension are highly questionable. It would appear that there is substance to Mr Power's observation that the actions of a number of people raises the possibility of a " Government within a Government" in which unidentified and unaccountable individuals exercise power outside the parameters of the law.

You are aware that the Chief Executive has admitted to destroying the original notes of the suspension meeting on 12th November 2008. Also although the Royal Court, when considering Mr Power's application for Judicial Review was unable to formally pass judgement on the initial suspension, it did say "we feel constrained to voice our serious concern as to the fairness of the procedure apparently adopted by the previous Minister." In page 4 of his letter Mr Power makes reference to significant differences between two media scripts which have come to light by the Wiltshire Constabulary. There appears to have been an alteration to a script drafted on 5th November 2008 and the one actually used at the briefings a week later. It may be pure co-incidence but the person involved with both scripts had much to gain from Mr Power's removal from Office.

I believe you should already be in receipt of the exchange of letters between Mr Power and PPC and considering the action to be taken.. However to give you the benefit of the doubt I ask that you read the letters below and ask yourself if you can allow for such damning evidence to be put aside. I remind you that the suspension has been claimed to be a neutral act. For many months Mr Power was denied details of the dates of documents which he eventually obtained via a successful application to the Complaints Board. It should be recalled that you personally defended the request for the details at the Hearing. Where was the neutrality? Mr Power had not been charged with any offence.

Home Affairs engaged the services of the Solicitor General to oppose Mr Power's application for a Judicial Review of his suspension. Where is the neutrality? Mr Power had not been charged with any offence.
You and the Council of Ministers successfully opposed the Connétable of St Helier's proposition (P182/2008) to request the Minister for Home Affairs to commission a compliance check on the procedures followed by his predecessor in suspending Mr Power, Where was the neutrality? Had you supported the proposition, not only might an honourable and decorated man and his family have been spared the stress and uncertainty, but also the States might have saved in excess of a million pounds on Royal Court and Complaints Board Hearings, costs to cover Mr Power's suspension and the ever rising cost of the Wiltshire Constabulary investigation. Also at stake is the Island and Government's integrity and reputation.

Mr Power's suspension issue has been running since 2008 against a background of extensive publicity little of which has reflected well on the island or its government. If one of the original aims was to protect the reputation of the island then this has clearly not been achieved. It is now a matter of public knowledge that Mr Power is to retire sometime this year, if the object of the exercise was to remove him from office then this exercise now appears to be pointless. He is to leave the service this year anyway and against that background, any disciplinary action, which has not yet been decided upon let alone started, would appear to be pointless. This whole matter has now been "drifting along" since 2008. It appears that Ministers are oblivious to the human cost to Mr Power and his family and the financial cost to the taxpayer.

The issues raised by Mr Power are too important to ignore and it would appear that they are pointing towards a conspiracy at the highest levels of Government, therefore immediate action needs to be taken to find a way forward. I must urge that you to show leadership and to "get a grip" before the matter runs further out of control and further damage is done and needless public expense is incurred. I would be grateful if you would inform me of your proposed actions by 5pm next Friday.

First blog contains Mr Power's letter to PPC.
http://voiceforchildren.blogspot.com/2010/01/facts-evidence-untruths-and-is-somebody.html

Second blog contains PPC's Chairman's reply

http://voiceforchildren.blogspot.com/2010/01/power-of-ppc.html  

Regards
Deputy Bob Hill, BEM.,
Deputy of St Martin.
Tel: 861019
Email: b.hill@gov.je

Family Britain: A Review

Family Britain, 1951-1957 (Tales of a New Jerusalem) by David Kynaston

This book covers society over the decade just before the major changes of the sixties. It threads together the history, together with personal anecdotes of those who lived through that period.

There were highlight for people to go to, such as the Festival of Britain, which was a post-war boost to the economy, and the Ideal Homes Exhibition, where modern washing machines were promoted to the housewife. It is easily forgotten how laborious washing clothes was before the washing machine, and I can still remember the old mangle, relegated to the garage, which had been used for squeezing out all the water from clothes washed by hand. New kitchen fitted furniture, with formica worktops, easy to clean, was also making an appearance. Now, all new homes come with "fitted kitchens", and it is only in historical buildings that the older style of kitchen is seen.

The death of George VI marked the end of one era, and the Coronation, a new one. What Churchill dramatically called "The New Elizabethan Age", was in fact the age of Television, as the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth saw more people than ever scrambling to see remotely what they could not get to see live. One anecdote in the book concerned a village in Sussex where the local pub rented a TV set, and even the local squire came to see it. The sets, like those I remember from the 1960s (when we had one), were designed to look like part of the furniture, sometimes with doors to open. They also took a considerable time for the valves to warm up, and the grainy 425 line black and white picture might need further adjustment for contrast, or horizontal and vertical roll, which often occured once the set had warmed. Broadcasts always ended with pictures of the Queen, while the National Anthem played. The respect for the trappings of royalty were still very much in place. But the television also was effecting another change, in the "living room" in which it was placed. Furniture and chairs were re-aligned to look at the new box, changing how people used this space, a change which has continued to this day.

Public and government attitudes to morality were very strongly reflected in the furore over the love affair between Princess Margaret and Peter Townsend. Not only was he a commoner, he was also, and most significantly, a divorced man. Very few members of the public thought that a marriage was possible, and the government followed the lead of the public in making it almost impossible for Margaret to marry without making a sacrifice not only of her Royal status, but also of any income from the Civil List. The vast change in attitudes between then and now can be seen in the fact that members of the Royal famility, including Prince Charles, have been able to marry divorcees without a massive public outcry.

Another change worth commenting on is the rise of the teenager. Over this period, the finances of the teenager changed. Teenagers just left school had gone out to work, and given all of their earnings to their parents, and would, from this, be allocated an allowance. Now the working teenager would pay a fixed amount of board, and have the rest of their earnings to spend as they chose. This was a significant change, because the new earners could then buy the latest records, and the popular record industry really took off.

This is a fascinating book, and it will be interesting to compare with the new television series which is starting on Monday. For listening to ordinary people, in their own words, this is a wonderful read. It allows one to see a "family Britain" which is very different from today, but with the seeds of today's society being planted.

Snow Queen

Snow Queen

Behold Freya, Goddess of the North
With breath to freeze the beating heart
Her hands of ice now stretching forth
And bringing snow to every part

No Earth Goddess, warm, gentle she
But ancient Pagan terror to behold
Makes the land colder daily by degree
Nature embodied, both cruel and cold

In homes, old people shiver by the fire
Fearful for food, and the threat of death
This is the coldest joy of Freya's desire
As Arctic wind brings frozen breath

Now the Snow Queen asks her price
This is nature blue in snow and ice

Notes:

I should perhaps (after criticism) make it clear that this is not an "anti-Pagan" poem! I am criticising one strand of Paganism here, and the poem was prompted by both reading one very ill thought out comment that all the snow in Jersey and in the UK was the "goddess purifiying the land with snow" or words very like that, and at the same time seeing news stories about pensioners facing heating bills, but saying that if they didn't have the heat, they would die of hypothermia. How anyone could suggest that the snow was good made me think they simply weren't considering the news enough. It did make me cross, which is why I penned the poem, drawing upon both Hans Christian Anderson - the Snow Queen is also Freya in his story - and deliberately providing a comment on the Darwinian savagery of nature - "blue in snow and ice" is a riff on "red in tooth and claw"!

Making the News

Some notable stories from around the world.

In Uganda, the darker legacy of ancient paganism is exposed in BBC reports which show that child sacrifice by witch-doctors still goes on, and has been increasing. The sacrifice is made as part of a ritual to enable communication with the spirits:

One witch-doctor led us to his secret shrine and said he had clients who regularly captured children and brought their blood and body parts to be consumed by spirits. The Ugandan government told us that human sacrifice is on the increase, and according to the head of the country's Anti-Human Sacrifice Taskforce the crime is directly linked to rising levels of development and prosperity, and an increasing belief that witchcraft can help people get rich quickly.

 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/8441813.stm

In Burma, the regime is as repressive as ever, and two officials were caught leaking material to exiled media outlets. Burma's Electronic Act prohibits sending information, photos or video damaging to the regime abroad via the Internet.

Two Burmese officials have been sentenced to death for leaking details of secret government visits to North Korea and Russia, the BBC has learned

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/8446462.stm

In the UK, Professor Nutt, the Government advisor sacked for providing politically incorrect advice about the dangers of different drugs, has decided to set up his own body, which will be independent from political interference and aim for scientific neutrality in objective assessment of the effects of drugs:

The professor said the new body he was setting up would provide independent scientific evidence about the effects of drugs, and that its "goal" was to supplant what the ACMD was doing. "I think in a way we will take over that particular role of the ACMD," said Prof Nutt. "We're going to focus on the science and the ACMD can continue if it likes to deal with issues about treatment provision, about social policy etc."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8447222.stm

Powerful Arguments

Voice for Children has posted a letter from Mr Graham Power:

http://voiceforchildren.blogspot.com/2010/01/facts-evidence-untruths-and-is-somebody.html

Assuming the letter to the Privileges and Procedures committee from Graham Power is authentic, and as yet there is no reason to doubt its genuineness, it raises some odd instances in the timetable of events leading to his suspension. In particular,

Letter from the Minister for Home Affairs notifying Graham Power that the disciplinary process had been commenced - dated to 0844hrs on Saturday 8 November 2008

Written notification that Graham Power was suspended from duty - this letter was created at 0848hrs on Saturday 8 November 2008.

According to the official Chronology (as detailed by Mr Power):

On 10 November 2008 the Deputy Chief Officer, Mr David Warcup, wrote to the Chief Executive, Mr Bill Ogley, expressing concerns regarding aspects of the management of the Historic Abuse Enquiry

This was received on 11 November 2008 by Mr Ogley who, the same day, wrote to the then Minister for Home Affairs, Deputy Andrew Lewis, enclosing a copy of Mr Warcup's letter

In his statement to Wiltshire Police Mr Lewis states "Up until I received the letter from David Warcup, I had no reason to believe that they were not managing the investigation well."

Former Deputy Andrew Lewis in his statement to the Wiltshire Police investigation claims that he instructed that the letter be drawn up on Wednesday 12 November 2008 and he is supported in this claim by Mr Ogley.

All of the three letters referred to are dated 12 November 2008 and refer to information received on 11 November 2008.

The creation date of a Word document is embedded in the document, and is not easily altered. It is not the same as the time the document was last modified or saved (see http://support.microsoft.com/kb/922119). So it is entirely feasible that the date stamp on the documents were created when Mr Power claims they were. The date typed on the letters themselves counts for nothing in this respect.

What is needed is an independent third party (such as an expert in computer forensics) to corroborate this, because if it is true, then clearly something is wrong with the official chronology. It may well be that Mr Lewis is correct in his statement about being ignorant of affairs until the 11 November, but if so, that suggests that someone else had prepared a draft document ready for dating and signing.

The reasons for doing this could be manifold, ranging from a desire to attack the integrity of the Haut de La Garenne enquiry, to simple presumption on Mr Warcup's part that a suspension would take place, given his assessment of the situation; in which case, he could have drafted a form of words in readiness as a measure which might or might not prove necessary.

There have also been apparent changes in the press release. Again, according to Mr Power.

Changes made between 5 and 11 November 2008. For example, the draft script says "It has never been suggested by the States of Jersey Police that Child Murder took place at Haut de Ia Garenne." The script actually used in the briefings on 11 and 12 November 2008 says "Statements which were issued by the States of Jersey Police suggested that serious criminal offences had been perpetrated against children and also that there was a possibility that children had been murdered, bodies had been disposed of and buried within the home." Other differences between the scripts are of a similar nature.

Because this redaction took place around the same time, again this needs an explanation. Again, different explanations are possible. It might be that the press release was given to review by several people, and it was thought that the first draft was not as clear as it might be. However, coupled with the suspension of Mr Power, the timing and changes seem impossibly coincidental.

What is clearly the case is that Mr Power was taking a short period of leave, and when called in for the review, and thence suspension, had no idea what awaited him. It seems to me that at least two quite different historical explanations might fit the facts, and while Stuart Syvret favours the latter, it is not beyond the bounds of possibility at this stage that the former might be true.

Explanation 1:

This begins with the draft script, which was never intended as a final version. Soon after 5 November, perhaps in consultation with others, whoever was responsible for revising writing the final version (which might have been a team effort), decides that significant changes are needed to make it clear that whatever may have been implied, no murder has taken place. This, after all, was very much the tone of the press releases such as those reported by the BBC in May 2008:

Bone fragments found in the cellar of a former Jersey children's home had been cut, suggesting a homicide or an unexplained death, police say...

(http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/jersey/7413057.stm )

Once the revision has taken place, either the redactor(s) or David Warcup reads it, and realises that it is likely to lead to a question being raised about the leadership of Mr Power. At this stage (8 November), a draft letter is prepared as a contingency against a possible suspension. On 10 November, Mr Warcup contacts Mr Ogley, and in turn Andrew Lewis is notified. After the meeting with Mr Power, the prepared letter can be used, and Andrew Lewis is none the wiser about its provenance, even if the speed at which it is drawn up might arouse curiosity. (Here's one I prepared earlier!)

In this scenario, there is no conspiracy as such, but there has been a degree of presumption and pre-planning, which is disquieting as it has not been publically corroborated by Mr Ogley or Mr Warcup, who surely would have been aware of the draft letter.

Explanation 2:

This begins with Wendy Kinnard's departure, and then Mr Power's short leave. Soon after this, a decision is made by person or persons unknown to spin against the Haut de La Garenne investigation - perhaps for political reasons - and the opportunity presents itself when Mr Power is away and unaware of any whispers which might reach him of emendations to the press release.

Wendy Kinnard has been replaced by a newcomer with relatively little working experience of Graham Power or Lenny Harper, Deputy Andrew Lewis, who can be counted on to be open to persuasion. Significant changes are made with the purpose of discrediting the work of Lenny Harper, and it is considered that Graham Power would not be complicit in this approach, so the press release is also used as a means of suspending him. As long as he is suspended, and not dismissed, he is effectively silenced. In this scenario, the letters are prepared beforehand, because the entire process of suspension has been planned before. Whether Andrew Lewis is part of this process is immaterial, because he is willing to listen to advice from Bill Ogley and David Warcup, and has not been in a position of having to defend the conduct of the investigation (as Wendy Kinnard did earlier).

In this scenario, there is a conspiracy to discredit the leading officers involved in the Haut de La Garenne investigation, as as well as a degree of presumption and pre-planning.

I know that this kind of explanation is probably the favoured option, but I have given two explanations to show how different historical constructions can be built on the basis of the limited evidence which we do possess. It will not do to simply say - it must have happened this way and in no other - if alternatives are possible.

Even if we accept "Explanation 1", there is still a good many questions unanswered. Why was the original draft changed in the way that it was? Who drafted the letters regarding the suspension before the meeting with Mr Power to discuss his suspension, and what reason did they have for doing so? Given that these letters existed, was there a draft letter for the possibility that he might accept resignation instead?

I find it strange that neither the BBC nor the Jersey Evening Post has as yet commented on Mr Power's arguments, and can only conclude that they are waiting for the reply from the scrutiny panel, or for further data to be forthcoming. Certainly the discrepancies in the chronology, and the later editing of the press release on Haut de La Garenne raise serious questions which should not be lightly dismissed.

To some extent, apart from some blogs, the media seem to be treating this very much as yesterday's news, which is, after all, what the professional media the world over tend to do. But for Graham Power, who is still suspended, there can be no case for unfair dismissal (as would happen if he had been sacked), and instead he is reduced, to the most part, to an impotent silence by the terms of the suspension, with no means of publically clearing his name.

Cases for unfair dismissal are a matter of public record, but proceedings of suspension are not, and in this instance, the law requires any discussion within the States to take place in camera (which is without precedent in any other democratic assembly). If his term of office comes to an end before his suspension, will there exist any means by which he can publically seek justice for himself?

Amos Group

Ed Le Quesne has issued this message:

Subject: Amos meeting cancelled

Dear All,

In view of the weather forecast of heavy snow tomorrow afternoon and a light agenda as nothing much went on over Christmas / New year, I agreed with Barbara that we will cancel the meeting set for tomorrow.  Our next meeting is due on Wed.Feb 10th.

Keep warm.

Ed

Time's Arrow, Time's Cycle

Time's Arrow, Time's Cycle: Myth and Metaphor in the Discovery of Geological Time by Stephen Jay Gould: A Review

This is a fascinating book, dealing with the way in which metaphor and myth about time entered into the interpretation of the age of the earth, and the geological transformations over time.

The key to modern geology was a move from the dominance of the idea of time as a cycle, coming round again and again, to that of an arrow, irreversible, one way.
Yet the early pioneers, such as Hutton, used the cyclical theory of the world machine, mountains raised, folded, eroded etc, to get a grasp on the idea of deep time, that time was needed for geological cycles.

Lyell took deep time as the dominant feature, within which some kind of geological cycles might occur, but only in form, not as exact repetition.

Deep time, one of the central ideas in this book, is still so alien to our way of thinking that we shy away from it. The idea of deep time is simple, but difficult to grasp. It is the knowledge that human kind's existence forms only a minute fraction of the history of this planet. Millions of years passed with no life, and the emergence of life, without mankind existing. Yet we still see the past from a very anthropocentric perspective, the dinosaurs (who lived millions of years more than mankind) pass in a flash, and we see ourselves and our culture at the end (and almost summit) of history, as if history led up to the emergence of intelligence and that is important.

Mark Twain, quoted in the book, gives a salutary and sarcastic critique of this:

"Man has been here 32,000 years. That it took a hundred million years to prepare the world for him is proof that that is what it was done for. I suppose it is. I dunno. If the Eiffel tower were now representing the world's age, the skin of paint on the pinnacle-knob at its summit would represent man's share of that age; & anybody would perceive that that skin was what the tower was built for. I reckon they would. I dunno."

This is a challenge to personal cosmologies, to come to terms with the short duration of humans, and yet find a meaning in the world.

Obituary: Madame Fantine de la Vallee

I had a pleasant walk over the holidays around Queen's Valley reservoir, and the sun was shining, the wind had died down, and it was one of the warmer December days. It is an enjoyable walk to make, and I have no regrets that the valley was flooded.

When the valley was originally flooded, the tourism boom was still doing well, and on hot summers, with too little rainfall, there was always a risk of drought. I even remember the odd time when water restrictions were in place, and the water was being cut off for a time each day. It was the summer months which always had the most impact, with an extra 30% of cars (often mostly hire cars) on island roads, and the demand for water for hotels and guest houses. The desalination plant was one solution to help reduce the impact, but it was - and is - costly to run, and the president of the Public Services committee marshaled arguments in favour of an extra reservoir, large enough for the future.

Recently, however, drought conditions - as this year - have meant there is a need for the desalination plant to be turned on. Now tourism has declined massively, with most hotels and guest houses of the 1980s being converted into flats or pulled down and replaced with flats for the local population. The impact of tourism is negligible, and if we now find the risk of water shortage coming close, it is because our population has grown to the point where the increase, year round, has made up for the reduction in tourists. In short, we are nearing the end of our limits for growth, and as I calculated earlier in this blog, once the population gets to 100,000 (the supposed ideal limit), we will be likely to need the plant turned on each year without fail. It is time that we recognised that the infrastructure - water, electricity, sewage disposal - all have limits, and we cannot just add to the population and leave this for future generations to content with. It is about time our politicians had the maturity to see the long term.

(see http://tonymusings.blogspot.com/2008/07/limits-to-growth-water-supply.html )

In the meantime, here is a satire I wrote back in the 1980s for the magazine "Thinks!", on the flooding of Queen's Valley. At the time, "Les Miserables" was enjoying particular success as a West End musical, so it was appropriate to spoof that in my article.

As a fun competition, can anyone tell me the real name of Mr Thenardier?

Obituary: MADAME FANTINE DE LA VALLEE
by Monsieur J. Valjean
 
It is with sadness that I announce the death of Madame Fantine de la Vallee.

She was one of the oldest French-speaking Inhabitants of Jersey and was well-known to Members of Mensa in Jersey for her great simplicity and charm. In her youth, she was quiet and retiring, almost something of a recluse, although, as I can testify, those who took the trouble to visit her home in St. Saviour will never forget how she was always welcoming, whether you were a friend or stranger.

So it was something of a surprise to her friends when, late in life, she took -to the stage and played what must be a unique part in the annals of drama. As "Queenie", she caught the attention and gained the affection of many Islanders. Unhappily her career as an actress, although it brought to light her true brilliance, was short lived. She came to a conflict of interests with her theatre manager, Mr Thenardier, part of which concerned her finances. He determined -that she would never be seen on stage again and, in my opinion, arrogantly refused to reconsider this decision, even after a last minute petition by her many loyal fans.

It will be remembered that "Theatre Review", under the editorial guidance of Mr. Pierre Javert strongly supported Mr. Thenardier's argument of finances. "How long," said the Journal, "can we tolerate Fantine de la Vallee, and the rising costs that she engenders?"

After this, "Queenie" left the stage and her tragic death by drowning followed in the same year. It is fitting we mourn her passing, and with her the passing of an age. There will never be another "Queenie".

Reflections on the Noughties - An International Statesman?

When Frank Walker was elected Senator for the last time, it was on a campaign that he would be taking over from Pierre Horsfall as President of Policy and Resources, and then as Chief Minister, as the one local politician with the ability to represent Jersey on the international stage. My uncle voted for him on the basis of that campaign, and it was a very convincing campaign. Who else had attended Anglo-Irish talks, and been alongside Pierre Horsfall with photographs of them alongside the like of Tony Blair?

Even I was convinced enough to deliver a few leaflets for his election campaign, although by the time it came to vote, I had changed my mind, as a result of reflection, and cogent arguments by close friends that this was flim-flam. So I was in a strange position of having offered to deliver leaflets by an acquaintance, and having done so, and then not giving a vote, because by then I did not believe the leaflets! Why did I believe it in the first case. It was a every convincing campaign, I knew people and respected supporting him, and at the time he seemed the only individual with experience in the field. Why did I change my mind? Largely because I became convinced that G.K. Chesterton was right in thinking pretty well all politicians to be indispensible, that if one went, another would be instantly available spouting the same form of words, which didn't really translate well into action; also how it would, in fact, be relatively easy for a bright local politician without experience to gain that experience, and there were enough alternative candidates on that score.  With that removed from the equation, there just was not enough left for my vote, as he was certainly too authoritarian for my liking.

Recently, although disclaiming any desire for such a position for himself - but not perhaps for his younger wife - Frank Walker has raised the notion of a Foreign Affairs Minister in Jersey's States., able to react quickly at a moment's notice to sudden crises.  The irony of this is that the singular test of Frank Walker's time as Chief Minister on the International Stage, when he faced the big guns of the BBC, he delivered one of the worst gaffes on record, and never apologised for it - unlike the Guernsey politician, who did apologise when his own joke about Obama went down badly. Instead he proudly maintained it:

"You are seeking to shaft Jersey internationally."  I maintain that comment

I was a little surprised that didn't feature in his speech, as an example of how not to react quickly to a sudden crisis!

Half a Decade - An End of Time

2005 to 2010, half a decade of the new revamped Doctor Who came to the end of one era and the start of the new tonight, when David Tennant, Russell T Davies and Julie Gardner all bowed out in an epic two part Dr Who story.

There were some wonderful touches, with the manic John Simm Master back as "The Master Race" - a punning end to the first episode, and the concealed Time Lord's return - Timothy Dalton was just "The Narrator" in the listings. The reason for the Master's madness, the incessant drumming, was also woven into the plot. And there was some Star War's action, as Bernard Cribbins fires his laser cannon, and ad libs all kind of wonderful dialogue. But for me, the best bits in the finale were Tennant and Cribbins sitting alone on the bridge of the alien space ship, just talking. Or Cribbins and Tennant again, when Cribbin's character Wilf is trapped, and the Doctor can only let him out by taking a lethal dose of radiation. It was those pauses in the headlong action, those moments of dialogue in between the pace and action, that were the best.

The final fifteen minutes reminded me a bit of the ending sequences in Lord of the Rings, where there is an end, then another kind of end, and then another. It was a nice bonus, but it could have been mostly cut with no loss, except the sequence with Rose, which tied it all back to 2005, and was a very moving ending before Matt Smith erupted onto our screens, with what will be the only monologue that Russell T Davies will ever write for him.

I remember waiting for 2005 to come with eager anticipation, and that first season did not disappoint. And there have been brilliant seasons in between as well. The new Dr Who has better incidental music, better CGI, but most importantly, more emotional depth between the Doctor and his companions.

2005 was a good year in more ways that just the return of Doctor Who in March. It was also the year in which I met Annie, and half a decade has passed since we first met on 1st July, at Big Vern's, to eat and chat. That was the start of an even greater adventure, and more even than Doctor Who, that has changed my life completely, and although she has gone, she will be with me forever. She was not a huge Doctor Who fan, but she was a great Star Trek fan, and it was that which drew us together in the first place, although we discovered so many other things we enjoyed. We watched together all the Next Generation episodes from start to end, over the years, a few each week. This year saw the return of Star Trek in a brilliant movie, and we went together, and I remember how much she was delighted in how they had brought it back so well, and how we both enjoyed it.

So when Russell T Davies took the Doctor back to when it all began in 2005, it was especially poignant for me, as it was when I found my best friend, my soul mate and my life partner. That is more than I could have ever wished or hoped for, and for which I will be forever grateful.

Janus

Janus
 
Facing forward, looking back
Janus, looking at beginning
On time's wandering track
 
Mysteries hidden in Almanac
Janus, looking at the ending
Facing forward, looking back
 
Love kiss, sweet aphrodisiac
Janus, ecstasy and singing
On time's wandering track
 
New Year coal, luck in black
Janus, laughter and weeping
Facing forward, looking back
 
A grain of sand in an outback
Janus, a transition in timing
On time's wandering track
 
Waves break on rocky stack
In our end is new beginnings
Facing forward, looking back
On time's wandering track

Time's Choice

This was written by Annie Parmeter in 2003.
Now her ashes are down by a lily pond, and she is forever young.

A suitable poem for an end of an old year, and the start of one that, for her, will be forever new.


MA.15. 04/01/03
 
 
TIME'S CHOICE
 
On a quietly respectable corner of a quietly respectable street
The old house stood, its darkly staring windows
Tightly shaded against the light
Vacantly and vicariously
Watching the world pass by
How long had it relentlessly stood here
How long had the sun relentlessly baked its peeling walls?
A tortoiseshell cat stretched languorously upon the verandah.
 
Like generations before her she kept a tidy house
Polishing her keepsakes, cherishing her memories
Every day, every day, in the same old way
Keeping the legacy alive.
Finding herself in the faces on the mantelpiece
Cold-eyed and tyrannical
Unfeeling dispassionate ghosts.
Long fingers kept a tight grip on her soul.
 
But who was she, where did she belong
How long could she be sustained
By subtly shifting memories?
Day after day reciting the inventory
Building her world all over again
Desperately hoping it would turn out the same
Trapped like an ant in amber
In a tomb of her own construction.
 
Deep in her heart a quietly insistent voice called,
'Oh cease to lament for what could have been!
To what place have your memories brought you?
Without knowing you have changed them
To suit your own view of your life
And thus you have rendered them void,
Seeking to protect yourself from time
How old you have become.'
 
'Discard your routines, your inventories and history
False props against uncertainty
They serve only to burden you with their care
Rendering you vulnerable to their loss
Alone to wallow in rose-tinted grief.
By looking back you have hoped to avoid
The terror in the face of the unknown
And the challenge that lies in becoming.'
                                                                                                                 
Deep in my heart a quietly insistent voice calls,
'Leave with me now, come into the day
Leave this house, its history, its legacy.'
Today its darkly hopeless eyes
Will look jealously upon me
How easily will it give me up?
One part of its structure removed
How long will it take to fall?
 
Out through the garden and down to the river
I shall bathe in the waters of life.
Only once to look back with a smile
And witness the memories dissolving
In an eddy of feelings and voices
The dust of dry bones scattering on the wind.
No longer held in my care
They dissipate into nothingness.
 
Now the sun shines on a new day
Lilies grace the riverbank with their perfume
I smell each flower as if it were the first
The fingers of a fresh breeze caress my cheek
Skylarks sing in the bright shining meadows
All this so familiar
And yet never seen before
For at last, truly I am young.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

In defence of Father Christmas

According to Joanna Moorhead, writing in the Guardian (Wednesday December 20, 2000), "more young people associate Santa Claus with Christmas than they do Christ." She comments that: "We love the idea that they believe in this godlike figure who sweeps through the whole world bringing good fortune to all because, in our hearts, we mourn the fact that we don't believe in him any more: we love the simplicity of the tale because, in an unfair and complex world, the story of Father Christmas is a powerful parable about equality, justice, and putting children first."

But there is a hazard, which is mentioned in the article "The Teaching of Christianity by Parents", that "If Father Christmas is not true, how can I know that Jesus Christmas is true?" was the rather agonised question of a child of five who discovered that no flesh and blood old Father Christmas came down the chimney.

Following this line of argument, the Reverend John Eich suggests that teaching a child about Santa can backfire. "When a parent says "Yes, there really is a Santa Claus and his reindeer can fly,' he is no longer playing a game. The parent is lending his personal authority as a parent to the myth, giving it the ring of truth. When the child later finds out that there is no Santa, she may doubt other parental teachings, including the parent's religious beliefs. "

This was phrased succinctly on the Usenet newsgroups by a writer who said: "I don't believe there is any place in Christmas for Santa Claus, think about it, you are LYING to your children, what kind of example is that? Certainly not a Christian one. Can you only have "fun" on Christmas when you introduce worldly things?"

I think that these arguments fail and several counts, and I would like to argue that there is a positive benefit to belief in Father Christmas, and even to the idea of Father Christmas when we know it to be untrue.

With regard to the matter of "lying to your children", this assumes that all that a parent tells his children is the truth, and I would suggest that it is exceedingly unlikely that no parent is so honest that they do not tell a lie at any time to their children. The portrayal of the parent is as a perfect purveyor of truth is fictitious, and sooner or later the child will grow up and find that the parents are deceitful, but in more subtle ways; it could be argued that when that happens, the image of the parent will collapse, just as surely as if the child had learned an earlier, and much less painful lesson that the parent is not always right, is not the ultimate arbiter of truth.

On the matter of fact and falsehood, it has been noted that the discerning the falsehood of Father Christmas is part of the formation of the child, passing (in William Blake's terminology) between innocence and experience.

As children learn and understand more about the world, they gradually work out that a real Santa could not deliver all those presents or know what every child wants. Yet they are rarely upset or disappointed; it has been found that they are actually pleased to have learned this for themselves, to learn that not everything is to be taken at face value.

To return to the question ""If Father Christmas is not true, how can I know that Jesus Christmas is true?", to avoid Father Christmas is to remove a means of deeper awareness and experience of truth. The part of the question "how can I know that Jesus Christmas is true?", will not go away because the parent's tell the child they tell the truth. The time will come when it must be faced, and the loss of Father Christmas actually provides an opening for exploring truth and falsity in belief at a deeper level than was possible.

But I also would argue that to call "Father Christmas" a lie also betrays an extremely literal and materialistic idea of truth. It is noteworthy that it tends to be the more fundamentalist ends of the spectrum of Christianity that argue that belief in Father Christmas is bad, because that (as James Barr pointed out in "Fundamentalism") takes its arguments from a materialistic reading of the Bible, in which historical facticity is given priority, and the only truth is truth in fact.

It is surely no coincidence that materialistic atheists, such as Richard Dawkins, boasted that he tried to tell a six-year-old child that Father Christmas didn't exist. His argument was that Father Christmas would not be able to climb down all those chimneys and tiptoe noiselessly to the bedsides of hundreds of millions of children, all in one night. There simply wouldn't be enough time. This is to ignore the mythical element of Father Christmas, and how that functions, and whether from a Christian or atheistic perspective, is a form of reductionism.

The idea of Father Christmas as mythical truth is most succinctly stated by G.K. Chesterton, in his book "The Everlasting Man", when he writes about the imagination of the child, and the importance of this element in experience:

"Father Christmas is not an allegory of snow and holly; he is not merely the stuff called snow afterwards artificially given a human form, like a snow man. He is something that gives a new meaning to the white world and the evergreens, so that the snow itself seems to be warm rather than cold. The test -therefore is purely imaginative. But imaginative does not mean imaginary. It does not follow that it is all what the moderns call subjective, when they mean false. Every true artist does feel, consciously or unconsciously, that he is touching transcendental truths; that his images are shadows of things seen through the veil. In other words, the natural mystic does know that there is something there; something behind the clouds or within the trees; but he believes that the pursuit of beauty is the way to find it; that imagination is a sort of incantation that can call it up."

I would note especially the idea of "transcendental truths", the idea that truth can be conveyed by fiction, and that even when the fiction is known to be fiction, the truth conveyed can still remain, and be in many ways as potent as ever. This can be seen in responses to fictional tales, particularly with a strong mythical element.

"Father Christmas" is in many respects a weak mythical character. There is an overlay of commercialisation that we have to scrape away before we can see the true meaning of Father Christmas. There can be a tendency to mindless greed, to seeing Father Christmas as a means to the child to get all manner of toys. And yet even at the commercial end, there are lessons that can be learnt, that Father Christmas cannot always give what is asked for, and he has his own agenda with presents which also can surprise and delight the child with the unexpected.

But it is in fiction, that Father Christmas can recover his mythic strength, and the commercialised tinsel subverted. Let me give just a few examples.

In "Miracle on 34th Street", a drunken shop Santa is ousted by an elderly man with a beard, who calls himself Kris Kringle, and who claims to be the real Father Christmas. It is a film full of apparent coincidence, and leaves it ambiguous as to whether Kringle really is Father Christmas or just believes himself to be so; nonetheless he embodies and brings the "spirit of Christmas", of warmth, and caring and generosity, and calls forth those qualities from others.

In "Mickey's good deed.", a very early cartoon, Mickey is seen playing Christmas carols on his cello with a cup on the ground for money. People pass by and drop stuff in it. Mickey later empties it and sees they're nuts, bolts, and screws. Mickey is poor and he sells Pluto (even though he doesn't want to) so that he can buy gifts for a poor mother's children, who life in the barest single room. Mickey dresses up as Father Christmas, and brings sackloads gifts (food and toys) for the children. Mickey may not have had anything better happen to him at the end (except getting Pluto back who brings him a turkey), but the clear message comes over that Father Christmas is a bringer of gifts and joy to the poor, and we, like Mickey, may "play" that part.

In this respect, Christmas is an ideal opportunity for children to learn about giving (as well as receiving) and they can be encouraged to give presents of their own to others (for instance parents, or siblings). Cost is not important; what matters is that each child is asked to think about other people. As well as developing caring attitudes, giving presents helps children appreciate their own gifts even more.

In "The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe", the land of Narnia is described as "a land bewitched so it is always winter but never Christmas", and so when the White Witch's hold on Narnia weakens with the coming of Aslan, it is notable also for the arrival - as a visible sign of this - of a real Father Christmas, like and unlike the fictitious version of our world, who bears special gifts for the children.

Finally, mention must be made of a "Christmas Carol", with its invention of "the spirits of Christmas". It calls forth a response, awakens the imagination, and also demands a moral response. Nowhere does it display an overtly Christian message, and yet the implicit background is clearly that of the gospels - it considers the plight of the poor and needy, but without being patronising, and it demands of the reader, as of Scrooge, a moral revaluation of life away from those characteristics which so deaden Scrooge's existence, and towards the true richness in life of the Crachetts, or Scrooge's nephew. The spirit of Christmas, embodied so well in the almost pagan "Father Christmas" like figure of Christmas present, is one of warmth, generosity, of life, of giving both in material terms, but equally importantly, of one's own self.

A Place to Remember

A Place to Remember
 
The sea flecked with foam, white
As wind tears at the sandy beach
And I look over the wall, a sight
So close, yet so far out of reach
 
Gravestones mark the bodies here
Beside the wall, grass in between
I know your absence, oh my dear
Not here, but gone to dust unseen
 
But here your name upon a stone
A place to remember, and I weep
You are not here, no ash or bone
But gone to that eternal sleep
 
I stand beside the wall, and smile
Remembrance is so worthwhile

 

Boxing Day Scrooge

If you park in St Helier in any car park or road where you normally need to display a parking ticket, you needed to on Boxing Day. This is because the Monday next and not Boxing Day (26th) is the bank holiday.

In England, Councils are divided. Some follow this rule, others decide to waive it and allow both days as parking free, which also stimulates the economy with sales.
In Jersey there is no division. One rule for all, and the spirit of Scrooge is alive and well! To paraphrase Dickens, using the law in this way seems a poor excuse to pick a pocket. Would loss of parking revenue for just one extra day this year really make this much difference? And wouldn't that be outweighed by the general goodwill generated by the generosity of the States?

But "the law is the law", as Inspector Javert said in Les Miserables, and for the moment we are stuck with the rigid unbending system as it stands. Victor Hugo's novel points up the difference between the law and justice, and how the law can be wrong.

Sometimes this is over large matters, but just as significant can be the small things. It may not be much to give a little slack over parking rules, but the kind of thinking that will not is the kind of thinking that writ large, may also be incapable of distinguishing between what is legal and what is right, and, like Inspector Javert, sadly conflates the two to the detriment of justice.

Verses often read at Christmas are the cheering verses from the prophet Isaiah (Isa 9:6-7):

A child is born to us! A son is given to us! And he will be our ruler. He will be called, "Wonderful Counselor," "Mighty God," "Eternal Father," "Prince of Peace." His royal power will continue to grow; his kingdom will always be at peace. He will rule as King David's successor, basing his power on right and justice, from now until the end of time. 

But what is not so often read is the verses only a paragraph or two further, when it is explained why "right and justice" needed, when Isaiah pronounces how well the legal system of Israel operates:

You are doomed! You make unjust laws that oppress my people. That is how you keep the poor from having their rights and from getting justice. That is how you take the property that belongs to widows and orphans.
(Isa 10:1-2)

Something to ponder that is not so often mentioned as part of the Christmas message!

Christmas Chesterton

"Now, what I want is, Facts. Teach these boys and girls nothing but Facts. Facts alone are wanted in life. Plant nothing else, and root out everything else. You can only form the minds of reasoning animals upon Facts: nothing else will ever be of any service to them. This is the principle on which I bring up my own children, and this is the principle on which I bring up these children. Stick to Facts, sir!" (Thomas Gradgrind, "Hard Times" by Charles Dickens.

Christmas - commercial, secular, and a dying institution.  Or so it may seem. Richard Dawkins says that belief in God is like believing in Father Christmas, something to outgrow. But Chesterton argues that Father Christmas embodies something essentially visionary in his essay "The Shop of Ghosts", and he argues that this mythical element is always present, but always being killed off by "the scientific men, the innovators", for whom myth is something to be outgrown.

There have always been those who wanted just "facts", and reason, as seen by them, has no place for myth. They cannot understand that the mythical is not that which is untrue, it is beyond that kind of truth. Thomas Reid, the Philosopher of Common Sense, criticised David Hume's philosophical reductionism. One of his "commonsense" arguments, and I think it is a good one, is that no one ever lives their life as if a reductionist philosophy is true, as if we are some kind of biological machine, incapable of free will, and the universe is either deterministic, or (since Quantum theory was brought into the picture) entirely random, and life has no meaning; it is an illusion to believe that it has. No one really lives as if that was what life was all about, at the extreme end of reduction. Richard Dawkins does not behave like a vast gene machine, but behaves like a human being, and enjoys carols. We are not just Logos. We are also Mythos.

So welcome to the realm of mythos, and of "The Shop of Ghosts"....

I went into the shop and tried to buy wooden soldiers. The man in the shop was very old and broken, with confused white hair covering his head and half his face, hair so startlingly white that it looked almost artificial. Yet though he was senile and even sick, there was nothing of suffering in his eyes; he looked rather as if he were gradually falling asleep in a not unkindly decay. He gave me the wooden soldiers, but when I put down the money he did not at first seem to see it; then he blinked at it feebly, and then he pushed it feebly away.

"No, no," he said vaguely. "I never have. I never have. We are rather old-fashioned here."

"Not taking money," I replied, "seems to me more like an uncommonly new fashion than an old one."

"I never have," said the old man, blinking and blowing his nose; "I've always given presents. I'm too old to stop."

"Good heavens!" I said. "What can you mean? Why, you might be Father Christmas."

"I am Father Christmas," he said apologetically, and blew his nose again.

The lamps could not have been lighted yet in the street outside. At any rate, I could see nothing against the darkness but the shining shop-window. There were no sounds of steps or voices in the street; I might have strayed into some new and sunless world. But something had cut the chords of common sense, and I could not feel even surprise except sleepily. Something made me say, "You look ill, Father Christmas."

"I am dying," he said.

I did not speak, and it was he who spoke again.

"All the new people have left my shop. I cannot understand it. They seem to object to me on such curious and inconsistent sort of grounds, these scientific men, and these innovators. They say that I give people superstitions and make them too visionary; they say I give people sausages and make them too coarse. They say my heavenly parts are too heavenly; they say my earthly parts are too earthly; I don't know what they want, I'm sure. How can heavenly things be too heavenly, or earthly things too earthly? How can one be too good, or too jolly? I don't understand. But I understand one thing well enough. These modern people are living and I am dead."

"You may be dead," I replied. "You ought to know. But as for what they are doing, do not call it living."

A silence fell suddenly between us which I somehow expected to be unbroken. But it had not fallen for more than a few seconds when, in the utter stillness, I distinctly heard a very rapid step coming nearer and nearer along the street. The next moment a figure flung itself into the shop and stood framed in the doorway. He wore a large white hat tilted back as if in impatience; he had tight black old-fashioned pantaloons, a gaudy old-fashioned stock and waistcoat, and an old fantastic coat. He had large, wide-open, luminous eyes like those of an arresting actor; he had a pale, nervous face, and a fringe of beard. He took in the shop and the old man in a look that seemed literally a flash and uttered the exclamation of a man utterly staggered.

"Good lord!" he cried out; "it can't be you! It isn't you! I came to ask where your grave was."

"I'm not dead yet, Mr. Dickens," said the old gentleman, with a feeble smile; "but I'm dying," he hastened to add reassuringly.

"But, dash it all, you were dying in my time," said Mr. Charles Dickens with animation; "and you don't look a day older."

"I've felt like this for a long time," said Father Christmas.

Mr. Dickens turned his back and put his head out of the door into the darkness.

"Dick," he roared at the top of his voice; "he's still alive."

Another shadow darkened the doorway, and a much larger and more full-blooded gentleman in an enormous periwig came in, fanning his flushed face with a military hat of the cut of Queen Anne. He carried his head well back like a soldier, and his hot face had even a look of arrogance, which was suddenly contradicted by his eyes, which were literally as humble as a dog's. His sword made a great clatter, as if the shop were too small for it.

"Indeed," said Sir Richard Steele, "'tis a most prodigious matter, for the man was dying when I wrote about Sir Roger de Coverley and his Christmas Day."

My senses were growing dimmer and the room darker. It seemed to be filled with newcomers.

"It hath ever been understood," said a burly man, who carried his head humorously and obstinately a little on one side (I think he was Ben Jonson) "It hath ever been understood, consule Jacobo, under our King James and her late Majesty, that such good and hearty customs were fallen sick, and like to pass from the world. This grey beard most surely was no lustier when I knew him than now."

And I also thought I heard a green-clad man, like Robin Hood, say in some mixed Norman French, "But I saw the man dying."

"I have felt like this a long time," said Father Christmas, in his feeble way again.

Mr. Charles Dickens suddenly leant across to him.

"Since when?" he asked. "Since you were born?"

"Yes," said the old man, and sank shaking into a chair. "I have been always dying."

Mr. Dickens took off his hat with a flourish like a man calling a mob to rise.

"I understand it now," he cried, "you will never die."

 

O Little Town

O Little Town

Barbed wire enclaves, barricade
Fears of exploding hand grenade
O Little Town of Bethlehem, how
Has this come about, who did allow
These holy streets to be so bound?
Herod would laugh, his mirth abound
At the plight of those trapped within
What is their crime? No special sin.
Only to be caught within the fear
Of how the stranger can so appear
To others as a menace; reflected hate
Pray to the world that it should abate
These days, there is room at the inn
For none can enter, no pilgrim begin
An act of love, of reaching hand to hand
Instead soldiers patrol, the military band
At night, the gates are locked, but in pain
Are lives of those within, who still remain
Their homes, a prison camp in all but name
Can none in power end this? Is there no shame
Among the mighty, those who believe in right
But cannot humble themselves to other's plight
Beneath these darkened streets, let hope arise
Tell out of this to the world, do not despise
One small town, for acts of love start small
It is only pride that rises huge before a fall
And let reflected glory come once more here
Driving out the darkness, love fighting fear
On Christmas eve, when stars shine bright
Let goodness come again, reveal the light.

The Dalai Lama and the Mantra

"Lord Buddha was himself a scientist in the way he taught about the way of bringing the mind under control for leading a healthy life. Mind is formless and beyond matters, yet it controls everything," (The Dalai Lama, December 18, 2009)

I've just received (and am happy to have received) the "Dalai Lama Mantra". It is a powerpoint presentation, begins:

This is a nice reading, but short. Enjoy. This is what the Dalai Lama has to say for 2009. All it takes is a few seconds to read and think over. Do not keep this message. The mantra must leave your hands within 96 hours. You will get a very pleasant surprise. This is true for all - even if you are not superstitious - of whatever religious belief.... faith.

There follows some very beautiful illustrations, each with a selected maxim, for example

Take into account that great love and great achievements involve great risk.
When you lose, don't lose the lesson.
Follow the three Rs:
Respect for self
Respect for others and
Responsibility for all your actions.
Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck.

Unfortunately, it does not originate with the Dalai Lama.

Snopes (the site specialising in bogus emails and the like) notes that the same one has been going around for some time. In an earlier incarnation, it said:

This is what The Dalai Lama has to say on the millennium, all it takes is a few seconds to read and think. Do not keep this message. The mantra must leave your hands within 96 hours. You will get a very pleasant surprise. This is true even if you are not superstitious.

Snopes comments that:

Neither this chain message nor its "Instructions for Life" originated with His Holiness. The "Instructions for Life" are a truncated version of a much longer list that worked its way around the Internet in 1999 in conjunction with an ASCII art representation of a "Nepalese Good Luck Tantra Totem" (the list was also sometimes identified as being a "modern Japanese good luck tantra"):

One of the singular things about its maxims is that they are not specifically Buddhist. There is nothing on the Four Noble Truths, yet when the Dalai Lamai was speaking in India on 19th December 2009, he delivered a discourse on "The Four Noble Truths of Buddhism", and also made reference to Buddhism in his talk:

The Dalai Lama said that utilization of human intelligence and wisdom for attaining the purity of mind and for one's advancement was very important in Buddhism. He made it clear that his discourses are not mere ritualistic nor religious but the ocassion should be treated as an educational seminar. The Dalai Lama at the end of the discourse gave opportunity to the audience to ask questions. He replied to all the questions and invited even arguments on important issues.

The Dalai Lama said that the distinction of Buddhism from other religious cults was that it does  not believe in atma. This similarity could also be found in Jainsim. He said that there are certain cases of rebirth which he himself had come across and it was for the science to investigate these cases. He also asserted that the big bang theory of scientists goes very well with Buddhist phitlosophy as it doesn't believe in the theory of creation of something by someone.

In fact, on 1 September, 2009, the Dalai Lama was in Taiwan, and there was a mantra chanted:

Awaiting the spiritual leader's arrival, members of the audience chanted om mani padme hum - the most commonly recited Buddhist mantra - in unison...The leader led the audience in reciting Buddhist chants and commented on the teachings of the Buddha.

So there is a strong Buddhist theme running through his teachings, and it is from these roots that he finds the source of his wisdom, so that he can say:

In regard to this, there is a statement in the great Shantideva's Engaging in the Bodhisattva Deeds which says, As long as space exists, and as long as there are migrators in cyclic existence, may I remain removing their sufferings. I have that wish in this lifetime, and I know I had that wish in past lifetimes.

And from these roots, he speaks out to the shared humanity of all peoples. Here is an example from his question and answer session on his website www.dalailama.com, which is a good way to end this piece, and a good message for Christmas:

All human beings are the same. We all want happiness and do not want suffering. Even people who do not believe in religion recognize the importance of these human values in making their lives happier. I remain committed to talk about the importance of these human values and share them with everyone I meet. Secondly, on the level of a religious practitioner, my second commitment is the promotion of religious harmony and understanding amongst different religious traditions. Despite philosophical differences, all major world religions have the same potential to create better human beings. It is therefore important for all religious traditions to respect one another and recognize the value of each other's respective traditions.

Links
http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/hoaxes/dalai.asp 
http://www.dalailama.com/news/post/471-make-buddha-vihara-a-centre-of-learning-dalai-lama 
http://www.dalailama.com/biography/questions-and-answers

People, look east

People, look east. The time is near
Of the crowning of the year.
Make your house fair as you are able,
Trim the hearth and set the table.

People, look east and sing today:
Love, the guest, is on the way.

Furrows, be glad. Though earth is bare,
One more seed is planted there:
Give up your strength the seed to nourish,
That in course the flower may flourish.

People, look east and sing today:
Love, the rose, is on the way.

Birds, though you long have ceased to build,
Guard the nest that must be filled.
Even the hour when wings are frozen
God for fledging time has chosen.

People, look east and sing today:
Love, the bird, is on the way.

Stars, keep the watch. When night is dim
One more light the bowl shall brim,
Shining beyond the frosty weather,
Bright as sun and moon together.

People, look east and sing today:
Love, the star, is on the way.

Angels, announce with shouts of mirth
Christ who brings new life to earth.
Set every peak and valley humming
With the word, the Lord is coming.

People, look east and sing today:
Love, the Lord, is on the way.

Words and Music: Eleanor Farjeon (1881-1965), 1928

"People, Look East" was written by Eleanor Farjeon (1881-1965) and was first published as "Carol of Advent" in The Oxford Book of Carols, 1928, using the tune from the French carol "Besancon". It is a strange carol, for while it looks to Advent, and the coming of Christ, it does not use stock religious imagery, but breaks free with new forms.

She had another well known hymn to her name. Percy Dearmer suggested to her that she should write for his "Enlarged Songs of Praise" (1931), and "Morning Has Broken" resulted from that, set to the Gaelic melody "Bunessan". Like "People, Look East", this is not a conventional hymn, theology heavy, but a lyrical almost mystical song of creation, which is perhaps why, with Cat Stevens singing, and an arrangement of its tune by Rick Wakeman, it found its way quite remarkably onto the popular music charts, and is still very popular today.

Eleanor Farjeon was London born, and in1951, became a Roman Catholic. She regarded her faith as "a progression toward which her spiritual life moved rather than a conversion experience".

However, her faith was not conventional. She was a contributor to Orpheus, the journal of the Art Movement of the Theosophical Society, produced in London between 1907 and 1914, and which was on the fringes of the Woman's Suffrage Movement. The editorial of the journal stated, "We are a group of artists who revolt against the materialism of most contemporary art." . Possibly some of the poems from this period were compiled in her book of poetry "Pan-worship : and other poems" (1908). This is a brief extract from the title poem:

The noise of the world Is shut about with silence ! If I kneel,
Bend and adore, make sacrifice to thee,
If to thy long-deserted fane I bring
Tribute of milk and honey then if I snap
That loveliest pipe of all at the spring's margin
And let the song of Syrinx from its hollow,
Nay, even the nymph's sweet self O Pan, old Pan,
Shall I not see thee stirring in the stone,
Crack thy confinement, leap forth be again ?
I can believe it, master of bright streams,
Lord of green woodlands, king of sun-spread plains
And star- splashed hills and valleys drenched in moonlight!
And I shall see again a dance of Dryads
And airy shapes of Oreads circling free
To shy sweet pipings of fantastic fauns
And lustier-breathing satyrs . . . God of Nature,
Thrice hailing thee by name with boisterous lungs
I will thrill thee back from the dead ages, thus :
Pan ! Pan ! O Pan ! bring back thy reign again
Upon the earth ! . . .

The nature worship is still present in her greatest hymn, Morning Has Broken, but now it is redeemed:

Morning has broken,
Like the first morning,
Blackbird has spoken
Like the first bird;

Praise for the singing,
Praise for the morning,
Praise for them springing
Fresh from the Word.

Yet while Dearmer looked for this fresh inspiration for his songs of praise, the hymn has always sat uneasily among some of the professionals. John Ewington, general secretary of the Guild of Church Musicians, said that "It's a lovely poem, but it's not a 'liturgical piece' as I would call it." Robert Canham, of the Hymn Society of Great Britain and Ireland criticises it for not saying anything about original sin, and notes that "It's certainly not specifically Christian, echoing some sort of harmony with Judaism and Islam, I'd imagine."

Neither probably would like "People, Look East" for the same reason. These hymns stand out, rather like the Bosdet Window in St Brelade's Church which depicts the Parable of the Sower. and for that reason, unlike all the other stained glass windows, has two figures without haloes, and is not conventionally religious. Sometimes, we need to look beyond the outward trappings.

She also had two significant loves in her life, an infatuation with Stacy Aumonier, and a friendship with the poet Edward Thomas, both married men for whom she wrote a series of sonnets (published in 1947). She remained friends with Thomas' wife after his death in the Great War. She never married, but - for the time - has an unconventional but contented thirty year relationship living with an English teacher, George Chester Earle (who was separated from his wife) and after his death in 1949, a long relationship with actor Denys Blakelock, who wrote a memoir, "Portrait of a Farjeon"

Her journey of faith took her to the Catholic Church, yet in July, 1951, she wrote a troubled letter to Father Richard Mangan, the priest who was instructing her, and included 12 typed pages of her doubts and thoughts on many aspects of the Catholic faith. "Sin" was an element that caused her anxiety:

"If I become a Roman Catholic, I would have to believe many things are sins that now I do not. How can I acquire a sense of what Sin is, among things that for so long have seemed to me sinless? Here are some of them: I don't feel it is a sin for two people to live together, if the choice is made with love and respect and a sense of true union . I don't feel it is sinful for an unmarried woman to have a child. I don't feel it is sinful to save a mother's life in childbirth at the child's expense. I don't feel it is sinful for a man and woman to cohabit without having children. None of these things seem to have evil in them, in themselves. Evil may be brought into them (as to the same things within marriage) by the nature of the persons involved."

Perhaps this came from her family background. James Hammerton explains that while there was much that was joyful, so much so that she drew on her childhood roots for inspiration, there was also a darker side to her family background. A marriage was no guarantee of love or respect:

"Eleanor Farjeon's literary family, to all intents and purposes joyous, fun-loving and child-centred, dominated, according to her, by a generous, domesticated husband, Ben Farjeon, was increasingly consumed by her unpredictable father's irritability, the 'dominant mood in the family'. Furious outbursts would follow trivial accidents - 'small breakages, forgetfulnesses, a dozen of the minor mistakes we all make every day' - so that the family took the risk of concealing them from him. Outbreaks of temper could at any moment follow 'Mama's failure to lay out his studs for the evening, to pack the blotting paper when going for a holiday, to send the carving knife to the butcher to be ground.' "

"Eleanor Farjeon was later haunted by her childhood memory of lying in bed, listening 'to the tone of the talk in the dining room underneath'. If the quiet murmur continued she slept peacefully, but too often 'the strong voice grew excited, and the gentle voice silent. Then I did not sleep till nearly morning.' Little wonder that her mother became accomplished in the art of avoiding conflict, submitting even to the most absurd commands to keep the peace."

Eleanor herself, in her memoir, "A Nursery in the Nineties", also shows this element of fearfulness at times spreading to the children:

"So terrified was he [my eldest brother] of being caught, by chance, in a false statement, that as a small boy he acquired the habit of adding 'perhaps' to everything he said. 'Is that you, Harry?' Mama might call from the drawing-room. 'Yes, Mama-perhaps.' 'Are you going upstairs?' 'Yes, perhaps.' 'Will you see if I've left my bag in the bedroom?' 'Yes, Mama, perhaps-p'r'haps-paps!"

Given this background, it is not surprising that she saw through the moralising about family life, so often deployed under the guise of theology in hymns she would have known

And through all His wondrous childhood
He would honor and obey,
Love and watch the lowly maiden,
In whose gentle arms He lay:
Christian children all must be
Mild, obedient, good as He.

That simply doesn't compare with "People, Look East", or even one of Eleanor's Christmas poems, the Shepherd and the King:

The Shepherd and the King,
The Angel and the Ass,
They heard Sweet Mary sing,
When her joy was come to pass;
They heard Sweet Mary sing
To the Baby on her knee.
Sing again Sweet Mary,
And we will sing with thee!

Earth, bear a berry!
Heaven, bear a light!
Man, make you merry
On Christmas Night.

The People in the land,
So many million strong,
All silently do stand
To hear Sweet Mary's song.
The Child He is a man,
And the man hangs on a tree.
Sing again Sweet Mary,
And we will sing with thee!

Earth, bear a berry!
Heaven, bear a light!
Man, make you merry
On Christmas Night.

The Stars that are so old,
The Grass that is so young,
They listen in the cold
To hear Sweet Mary's Tongue.
The Man's the Son of God,
And in heaven walketh He.
Sing again Sweet Mary,
And we will sing with thee!

Earth, bear a berry!
Heaven, bear a light!
Man, make you merry
On Christmas Night.

References:The Presbyterian Hymnal Companion, LindaJo K. McKim, 1993, p. 323.
(Note: this wrongly gives the date of her Catholicism as when she was 17)
The English Hymn: A Critical and Historical Study. J. R. Watson, 1999, p526.
The Women's Suffrage Movement: A Reference Guide, 1866-1928., Elizabeth
Crawford, 1999, p287
Cruelty and Companionship: Conflict in Nineteenth-Century Married Life.
James Hammerton, 1992, pp137-138.
Harlequin; Or, the Rise and Fall of a Bergamask Rogue. Thelma Niklaus, 1956,
p176.
A Nursery in the Nineties, Eleanor Farjeon, 1935

Web Linkshttp://www.eldrbarry.net/rabb/farj/farj.htm
http://neilmckenty.wordpress.com/2008/01/08/what-makes-a-sin-a-sin/
http://ruth-king-james-bible.publicliterature.org/en/wikipedia/e/el/eleanor_farjeon.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/6390021.stm
http://www.eldrbarry.net/rabb/farj/chrpoems.htm