Clik here to view.
The Changing Face of Anti-Vax
Lady Mary Wortley Montagu was a very well-travelled eighteenth century aristocrat whose husband was appointed ambassador to Istanbul. Fortunately for us, she was also a prolific letter writer. Her...
View ArticleThe Druid Network
On September 21st, the Charity Commission published its decision in respect of The Druid Network’s application for charitable status.The ‘yes’ hit the news networks a few days later at the beginning of...
View ArticleHallowe'en Week
Thank you to everybody who came to say 'Hi' at The Literary and Debating Society at the National University of Ireland on Thursday November 28th. The debating society's motion: 'This House Believes in...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Skeptics in the City of Angels
Business has brought me to LA for a few weeks.The up-side of going west through eight time zones is that you get up early enough to go for a run. The downside is that by dinnertime, you're slumped with...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Evolving Darwin Play Set
Look what I got for a pressie!Darwin evolves from pond slime to a chimpy-looking hominid to a nineteenth century gentleman.
View ArticleIntelligence Squared: Stop Bashing Christians
Intelligence Squared events are always fun. They attract prominent and often witty speakers. This one was no exception.“Stop bashing Christians: Britain is Becoming an Anti-Christian country” took...
View ArticleProstitution Law Reform
This is a guest blogpost from Anthony Burn. Anthony was a lobbyist for the New Zealand Prostitute Collective, which successfully campaigned for a private members bill to be passed into law in NZ in...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Evidence-Based Job Seeking
I get several pictures of very attractive young women sent to me every week.No, I haven’t finally activated my month’s free trial of BiCuriousMatch.com. I am the MD of a company which produces makeup...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Exorcism: Ancient & Modern
Today, I'm thinking about exorcising. Not running on the spot – that’s a good thing.I’m talking about dislodging demons.For the self-sufficient there is the one-day course approach. Very reasonably...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Trouser Removal & Underwear Inspection: Security for the Modern Traveller
Those of you fascinated at the attempted removal of David Allen Green's trousers at the airport last week may want to know about uninvited strangers rifling through my underwear.Just before Christmas,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Too Many Ghosts Spoil the Broth?
I was one of the lucky people who spent the 5th and 6th of this month at QED, Manchester. Apart from a minor fit of apoplexy trying to decode Manchester’s city centre roads to enter the car park and...
View ArticleMrs. God
This weekend 'The Daily Mail' ran a story which was mined from a ‘Radio Times’ article promoting ‘The Bible’s Buried Secrets’, which is being aired on Tuesday nights on a primetime BBC2 slot.The...
View ArticleThoughts & Theology
On May 13th, Oxford University website posted a press-release entitled “Humans 'predisposed' to believe in gods and the afterlife” and summarised as:“A three-year international research project,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Sanity & Violence, or, What Happens in the Courts When Gods Outsource Smiting?
Two news stories have caught my attention this week. In one, four men were jailed for an attack on Tower Hamlets religious studies teacher Gary Smith. There are news reports here and here. And a...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Vampires of Rhode Island
Part 1Watch the podcast first:If your browser is having difficulty with embedding, just go here, and come back afterwards.Part 2So here is a series of historical events, and a title: ‘The Vampires of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Heart of Darkness
I grew up in Southall.It was OK: not much wrong, not much right. I remember listening to a chocolate advert’s jangling soundtrack which proposed we were in the ‘sophisticated 70s’. I wondered how we...
View ArticleTime to Move ...
Thanks for following me on Blogger. I've now moved to another platform so I can provide a few more bells and whistles. Please some to visit me at jourdemayne.com
View ArticleSleep Paralysis: Leave Your Comments Here
Following on from the article on Sleep Paralysis at Jourdemayne, here is the section for comments and recollections.
View ArticleProfanity and Nuptials, or, Get Your Hands Off My Language
Mr J has been researching World War I this week. One of the things which has given him most grief is trying to ascertain authentic swear-words from the trenches. We have such a pleasing range today...
View ArticleClik here to view.
High Stakes
The more observant of you will have noticed that vampires have been in the news. No, not bankers. Although the droll current-affairs metaphor does apply, Voltaire got there first: describing the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Psychics and Princes
My great-grandmother was psychic.Everybody knew it. If a member of her extended family paid an impromptu visit from even a great distance, like London, they were greeted with a friendly smile and a...
View ArticleSetting Own Goals?
An only half-serious memoir of flailing, derision, ostracism and black-eyesAt school I was OK at maths and English, so it didn’t bother me much that I turned into a prototype dodo during PE. My...
View ArticleWhat's the Harm?
It is very hard not to feel the deepest sympathy for everybody involved in the Neon Roberts case. Neon’s story hit the headlines earlier this month when a judge took the highly unusual step of...
View ArticleNuminous Neuroses?
The British Journal of Psychiatry published an interesting paper on their website in November but, to judge by the recent coverage, the PR has only just hit the newsrooms.Professor Michael King and his...
View ArticlePorn in depth ... or maybe not
About ten years ago I was making a composite Photoshop graphic and wanted the naked torso of a woman to start. Lucky old me – Mr J is a sculptor with loads of photographic reference. “I need a picture...
View Article
