Rev Simon I

Well it is St Swithun's Day MMXIV and the custom as yours and ours does say that if it rains on this day, it shall rain for 40 days and nights thereafter. Custom. Custom as yours I can have any day, and it is no, nay, never; no nay never again, shall we play the wild rover, no never again. Such could have been the tune that everybody used to sing before the vote at general synod today for women bishops. The case against women deacons was strong, against women presbyters was stronger, against women bishops stronger still; but the women carried the day and the debates are pretty much over. The women won the floor of this debate. The quality of argumentation was a little better than at the rubbishy and gibberish laden debates of the 1992 synod. Women were more vocal - they had some arguments this time - they at least pretended to do some theology. Bottles being swept up tonight in Old London Town. Apparently it is an issue of equality. The feminist dons were much in evidence. The smoother lines very apparent. Fair enough. After all if one is going to create a nice diplomatic political church out of the disease of Henry VIII and the old rubble of the dreadful swiss-backed and bavarian guided anarchy of the reformation and one that is keen on preserving the people in the pews from the worst excesses and dreary illuminati gospels of the low church end of things from Geneva all with a political reading of Revelations 4, then it was high time to let the ladies in. Congratulations lassies; though this may be a superficial victory.

Still we must also heed a still small voice of warning from the back of the aula tonight. Young boy Daniel is calling out above the din about old Church susannah. If this is just a ruling for olde worlde feminism and the feminisation of all society, then we are back to the old gender amazonian wars of the 1970s faculties here in London. In these halls of academe, feminist exegesis predominated over weak men but all built on the old canard that men = vice; women = virtue, in the same way that children were abused on many housing estates of the early Dawkins and HG Wells kind that did believe in going to church in the sunday schools of the 1980s. Al-jazeerah and Dawkins I ask you. The debate polarised the churches in those years - kids were divided and ruled in polite anglican schools - and all this rested on an old division and opposition that is not verified in nature. I do hope that today we did not fall prey to an old oppositional that is often a sign of some political ideology penetrating the faiths around the world - rubbishing tradition and dividing and ruling first islam, then anglicanism, then hinduism, then burmese buddhism - and all through politics over theology. Very BC but also very much a Macdonaldisation heresy of the churches - that old bird Dalai Lama would say such hedonist men are not to be trusted when dividing and ruling western institutes such as governments, judiciaries, colleges, and even God forbid, religions too - such men like yon Cassius are lean and dangerous - they are merely men of passion trying to overtake the kingdom of many spiritual beings and even more spiritual children of Abraham. Still, ladies, let us not be churlish, for Men have been running the church of england now for 500 years since old Harry the Eighth built it on the rocks of his profligate hedonism, and all they have done is fold its old respect for custom and grace before every ethical and ritual agenda presented to them by the world, the flesh, and the old nick - divorce, abortion, contraception, gay love, euthanasia, paedophilia, animal love and so on - each and all was succumbed using hard cases as bad law; so is it indeed time to hand over to the ladies and see if they can something with it all? Thank you so very much Mrs T - but ladies have been running the NEW CHURCH OF ENGLAND now for 60 years since 1953 - and not very well. Gay churches are not good at confronting the spirit of the world, and their love of retail therapy weakens the soul, and honours consumerism and superficiality. The Dalai is throwing up.