Rankety Rank

Anyone wondering where the Wikio religious blog rankings have gone (both of you), can rest easy, Church Mouse has picked up the scent, and has the latest list. For earlier lists, follow the bookmark below. Mouse also compiles an occasional Twurch of England Twitter ranking, so there is a happy convergance of all things listy at Mouse Towers (or Mouse Holes, or whatever Church Mouse campaign HQ is called).

Meanwhile, I'm busy trying to put a government together. Well, there's got to be a plan Z if the politicians don't manage to come up with anything. Strangely, I'm quite cheered by the thought of politicians talking to each other and working together across the party divide: I'm sure truth, justice and common sense are no respecters of political dividing lines, and I'd rather see them try to work as a team than not bother at all. My worry is that it doesn't get past public posturing and private political calculations, to genuine sitting down and thrashing things through.

As for 'the markets' setting a timetable for when we need to get a PM, my first thought is a rude one. I don't recall anyone voting for them.

Latest Opinion Polls: Part 2

A few more of the latest opinion polls, many of them commissioned by the Sun but never published (allegedly). I've left a few of the timings in, for a bit of context. Feel free to add your own in the comments, or join in the fun on Twitter

#latestopinionpoll Change, change change 35% turn, turn, turn, 27% Tora! Tora! Tora! 29% Oi! Oi! Oi! 1%

#latestopinionpoll seat projections - Con: Hot Seat, Lab: Ejector Seat, LibDem: Moral High Chair, Bercow: Naughty Step.

#latestopinionpoll chance of seeing: George Osborne 5% Vince Cable 6% Hazel Blears -5% Window Dressing 1% Charles Clarke 1% now, 90% on Sat. about 11 hours ago from TweetDeck

@gerrardus: #latestopinionpoll Dont Know 35% Dont Care 21% Dont Dare 16% Dont Count 75% about 12 hours ago from TweetDeck

#latestopinionpoll Bird in the Hand 66% Bird in the Bush 33%

theblogofkevin: HVIGNFY #latestopinionpoll for PM: Ian Hislop 20%, Paul Merton cheese and tomato, Libel Lawyers 30%, Weekly Guest Host 50% about 22 hours ago from web

RT @deiknuo: #latestopinionpoll too tired to put together a government on Friday? David Cameron 40% Gordon Brown 35% Nick Clegg 25% about 23 hours ago from TweetDeck

theblogofkevin: Quite Interesting #latestopinionpoll to run the country: Stephen Fry 40% Alan Davies 30% Jo Brand 15% Bill Bailey 10% any politician 5% 1 day ago from Twitterrific

#latestopinionpoll Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? 36% X Factor 30% Total Wipeout 26% CBeebieNP 2% 1 day ago from TweetDeck

latestopinionpoll swingometer 26% swing low sweet chariot 50% (0% in Scotland) swing and a prayer 24% swingeing cuts £75bn

#latestopinionpoll staying afloat 35% tactical vote 30% resignation note 25%

#latestopinionpoll Floating 20% Voting 68% Gloating 38% Emoting 23%

gerrardus: #LatestOpinionPoll Morris Men 35% Mori's Men 31% Mirror Men 28% 2 days ago from TweetDeck

@marvovox #latestopinionpoll flying fig 25%; flying pig 29%; flying the flag 10%; grounded by #ashtag 36%. Roll on Friday!

kouya: #latestopinionpoll Gorden Brown 5%, Golden Brown 25%, No More Heroes 50%, Go Buddy Go 20%

devil you know 20% devil you don't 20% deep blue C 20% supping with a long spoon 40%

Nick Robinson 5% Heath Robinson 25% Mrs Robinson 70% Swiss (tax exile) Family Robinson 0% rate

davidmkeen: #latestopinionpoll Blair? 20% BLAIR! 20% Blur 20% Back to normal 20% WMD contingency 20% 5 days ago from web

#latestopinionpoll Exclusive 36% Inclusive 31% Reclusive 25% Abusive 2% 5 days ago from web

Ordinandy: #latestopinionpoll Frankie Says Relax; Simon Says tap your nose; Confucius say Man who eat many prunes get good run for money. 6 days ago from web

Ordinandy: #latestopinionpoll Conservative supporters say Cameron 100% Lib Dems say Clegg 100% Labourites say Brown 100% 6 days ago from web

robinsons: #LatestOpinionPoll 155% Education 58% Education 239% Education 6 days ago from Tweetings

@gerrardus: #latestopinionpoll Liverpool Game 70% Rushden Game 25% Fulham Game 4% #LeadersDebate 1%


new labour 42% labour intensive 35% hard labour 27% new leader 22%


Sinner 22% Spinner 3% Sue 0% Sky -50% Casting the first stone 100% #bigotgate


@gerrardus Blue 34% Yellow 30% Red in the Face 29%

Election Day thoughts

Soul Politics has already had most of the thoughts I was going to have, excellent post and analysis of some of the key issues. So I'll save you time and not write anything.

Meanwhile the BBC has produced an election night party pack, if you were planning on staying up, and had any friends. I really hope the BBC gets its act together this evening, the last results show I watched on there was dreadful. I imagine Twitter will be a much better way of keeping up with what's really going on, but it doesn't have a decent Swingometer.

Vote with your Heart. Or perhaps your Liver.

It's make your mind up time

sources here, here, and here. Much better than real election posters.

On the subject of voting with parts of your body, apparently the Sun has an army of Page 3 girls on show today (scroll to the 9.15am entry), with the message that Labour and the Libdems may conspire to remove exploitation of the female body from mass market tabloids. Somehow this is a reason to vote for Cameron: Vote Tory, Get Totty. Don't Vote with your Head, Vote with your Genitals. No thanks.

Now, back to serious analysis of the issues.

Deciding Who to Vote For

Having trouble deciding who to vote for? There's sophisticated things like this* which show you whose policies you most agree with.

Or for something simpler:

Ht Mike Smithson

*mind you, I didn't go all the way through it so, being the Telegraph, it probably tells you to vote Conservative whatever your choices.

"My Name is Malcolm Tucker. I Was in a Casting Accident and Woke Up in AD 1"

Could be interesting: Life on Mars writer Tony Jordan is scripting a version of the Nativity story, to be broadcast in 4 half-hour episodes on the BBC this Christmas.

The production will focus on the love story between Mary and Joseph and their "emotional turmoil" over her pregnancy. says the blurb. Hopefully there'll be something about God in there too, given that He's right at the centre of what both Mary (Luke's gospel) and Joseph (Matthew) thought was going on.

Among the several 'names' in the cast is The Thick of It's Peter Capaldi, best remembered by some of us for Local Hero, as a wise man. I already have mental images of Balthasar barking into his mobile "Camels? Which ****** had the ********** to come up with that one?"

Ben Stephenson, controller, BBC drama commissioning, said: "We are proud to bring audiences this beautiful story retold for Christmas 2010 by a master storyteller.

"We hope our version of the nativity will give audiences all the wonder, magic and inspiration of the original while also telling a less familiar tale, that of ordinary people going about their lives with no sense of the enormous importance their story would hold for centuries to come."

I maintain that its impossible to retell this story with any integrity unless God is right at the centre of it, whether he's right at the centre for the writer, producers, broadcasters or not. So we'll see. The Easter serial starring Joseph Mawle a couple of years back did a decent job (though a strange ending), and I'm always hopeful....

SPCK bookshops - a few loose pages

The saga of the former SPCK bookshops wound up fairly rapidly last year following the takeover of the governing charity by the Charity Commissioners, and the closure of the remaining former SPCK bookshops, with Durham making a last stand until the roof beginning to fall in in the Great Kitchen (bit of a metaphor, that) precipitated the closure of the final remaining shop.

A couple of recent developments which might be of interest to folk who've followed all this -
1. The St Stephen the Great charity is being kept under charity commisioners control, and all the tribunal settlements (over £300k) with former staff have been made.

2. The SSG company registered at Companies House has been dissolved.

3. From the sound of it, the re-opened Durham Cathedral shop will need regular encouragement from customers if it's to return to being a top quality theological stockist. Building problems don't help, and I guess the loss of Tom Wright for high profile book launches won't help either, but it would be sad if it just became another cathedral tat shop for fudge and postcards. There are too many of those already.

4. There may be some kind of meet up at the Christian Resources Exhibition later this month in Sandown.

'5 things parents need to know about exam time'

Another handy little list from Care for the Family, who consistently produce great resources for parents and marriage. Here's a couple of the 5 things:

4. Remember they will need down-time
Everyone needs to plan in regular breaks as they work or study, otherwise their quality of work will suffer. A good ratio is that for every hour you revise, you take a ten-minute break. But it's also good for these breaks to be very different from work - so if your child has spent an hour on the computer, ten minutes playing a computer game may not be the best way to take a break.
It will also help your child to build in time and space to relax. Something energetic like swimming or going for a walk may be beneficial, as exercise helps mood-boosting endorphins get into our bloodstream.

They will feel better if they know they have 'permission' to relax - so encourage them by telling them they have been working hard and have earned a break. This will help lower their stress levels. A good motto that shows the importance of getting the balance right is 'work hard; play hard'.

5. Remember to make sure they know you love them
During exam times children may feel more insecure than usual. If they know that you place great importance on their performance in exams, they may feel under pressure to do well. Help them have a healthy view of success and failure, and look for opportunities to praise character and effort, and not just achievement.

Remember to tell your kids frequently that you love them - however they do in their exams. Tell them that doing well in exams is only one part of life: there are other things that are more important - like character, integrity, honesty and caring for others.

Let them know they have worth and value beyond any academic achievement. By doing this you will set them free from the weight of expectations, and enable them to face their exams with confidence and courage

Care for the Family produce a regular e-newsletter with summaries of new articles, events, initiatives and resources. Very handy if supporting families is one of your aims. I think they've had to lay off a few staff with the debt crunch hitting giving, which is sad news - some of the CFF stuff I've heard and read has been absolutely invaluable.