War Cry 19 November

Too cruel for school

Emma Thompson’s headmistress makes trouble for Matilda in musical film

Boosting the brain power of people living with dementia Rosemary Conley on fitness and faith

What is The Salvation Army?

The Salvation Army is a Christian church and registered charity seeking to share the good news of Jesus and nurture committed followers of him. We also serve people without discrimination, care for creation and seek justice and reconciliation. We offer practical support and services in more than 700 centres throughout the UK. Go to salvationarmy.org.uk/find-a-church to find your nearest centre.

What is the War Cry?

The Salvation Army first published a newspaper called the War Cry in London in December 1879, and we have continued to appear every week since then. Our name refers to our battle for people’s hearts and souls as we promote the positive impact of the Christian faith and The Salvation Army’s fight for greater social justice.

WAR CRY

Issue No 7603

Editor: Andrew Stone, Major

Deputy Editor: Philip Halcrow

Production Editor: Ivan Radford

Assistant Editor: Sarah Olowofoyeku

Staff Writer: Emily Bright Staff Writer: Claire Brine

Editorial Assistant: Linda McTurk

Graphic Designer: Rodney Kingston

Graphic Designer: Mark Knight

Email: warcry@salvationarmy.org.uk

The Salvation Army United Kingdom and Ireland Territory

101 Newington Causeway London SE1 6BN

Tel: 0845 634 0101

Subscriptions: 01933 445445 (option 1, option 1) or email: subscriptions@satcol.org

Founder: William Booth General: Brian Peddle

Territorial Commander: Commissioner Anthony Cotterill

Editor-in-Chief: Major Mal Davies

Published weekly by The Salvation Army © The Salvation Army United Kingdom and Ireland Territory ISSN 0043-0226

The Salvation Army Trust is a registered charity. The charity number in England, Wales and Northern Ireland is 214779, in Scotland SC009359 and in the Republic of Ireland CHY6399.

Printed by CKN Print, Northampton, on sustainably sourced paper

From the editor’s desk

LAST week was the fourth anniversary of the Official Film Chart, which records the UK’s favourite films either bought or streamed. To celebrate the milestone, the chart compilers released a rundown of the most popular films during its four years.

Top of the list was Bohemian Rhapsody, a musical biography of the group Queen. A look down the chart reveals a love of music-centred films, with four of the top six spots filled by musicals. That could be good news for Roald Dahl’s Matilda the Musical, which, as we report in this week’s War Cry, is released in cinemas next Friday.

This week’s issue has a bit of a film theme, as we also feature the latest Enola Holmes adventure, and Wisdom in the Words remembers some of the songs from the James Bond films.

There is still a huge appetite for films, from whimsical musicals to all-action adventures. Perhaps part of the appeal for audiences is that – with fictional films in particular – there is an expectation that, by the time the credits roll, wrongs will have been righted, love will have been found and all the good people will live happily ever after.

If only real life could be so straightforward. In this week’s issue we also speak with Louise Morse, who works with people living with dementia. The condition impacts their ability to remember, think or make decisions, making life challenging for them and their loved ones.

A cognitive behavioural therapist, Louise created a programme to improve the mental capacities of those who take part in it. As well as issues in the news, sessions include references to the Bible, because Louise believes that everyone should have the opportunity to discover more about the Christian faith.

‘I feel that it’s important for every person on God’s Earth to know Jesus Christ,’ she tells us.

We agree. Becoming a Christian won’t give us a life without challenges, but it does enable us to focus on a God who can help us whatever we may face.

Lessons in k i ndness

AGIANT chocolate cake, lots of books and a few horrible adults make up the world of the young girl, whose story is told in the film Roald Dahl’s Matilda the Musical. The adaptation of the stage show is being shown in cinemas from next Friday (25 November) ahead of a release on Netflix.

Headmistress

Miss Trunchbull rules the school with fear

Matilda

New musical shows how life can change

Film preview by Sarah Olowofoyeku

escape in her imagination and through the books that she loves to read.

Her mind is her greatest strength. When she is finally allowed to attend school, meets other children and is noticed by her teacher, the kind Miss Honey (Lashana Lynch), she begins to believe that her life could get

Matilda decides to stand up

written the stage and now the film musical based on the book, believes that some stories are able to withstand repeated adaptation. He says: ‘We will forever be attracted to well-crafted tales of gifted people who move through the world with humility and righteousness. Jesus, Harry Potter, Matilda.’

It may seem odd to list Jesus with fictional characters, but stories about his life have certainly been told countless times. All kinds of people have connected with Jesus, who was also undervalued and mistreated.

While many see him as simply a good person and a wise teacher, to some he is a lot more – he is also God. Such people have chosen not only to learn about Jesus, but also to give their lives to him and allow him to lead them with humility and righteousness.

They have recognised that his power can enable them to live better lives. Although their problems do not magically disappear, they trust his promise: ‘I am with you always, to the very end of the age’ (Matthew 28:20 New International Version).

Whether we have been put down in our lives, or we have put others down, the opportunity to have our lives transformed is available to us all. We need only turn to Jesus, and he can change our story.

has intelligence beyond her years, but isn’t appreciated by her family

DAN SMITH/NETFLIX © 2022

Miss Honey recognises Matilda’s gifts

Bear tells Louis: Prayer gives me strength

ADVENTURER Bear Grylls described prayer as an ‘anchor’ in his life during an interview with Louis Theroux.

In an episode of the Louis Theroux Interviews documentary series on BBC2, Bear said that he starts his day with prayer, which he uses as an opportunity to ‘say thank you and say sorry for the things I’ve messed up, and ask for a bit of strength for the day ahead’.

He explained that after his prayers he

completes his daily exercises.

‘Those are two anchors in my life,’ he said.

In the episode, which was broadcast on Tuesday (15 November), Bear told Louis that he had become more open about his Christian faith in recent years.

‘I’m less nervous to be able to tell the truth of things that have helped me in my life and the fact that I do need help in my life,’ he said.

Plane charity takes princess to meet refugees

THE Princess Royal was flown to refugee camps by Christian charity Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) in a four-day tour of Uganda.

On the tour, which marked 60 years of Ugandan independence, the princess visited two camps, including Nakivale, which is supported by Christian charity Opportunity International. Nakivale is home to about 122,000 refugees, many of whom had fled conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

While at Nakivale, the princess met

representatives from the Unleashed Youth Employment Group, a refugee-led organisation that teaches young people entrepreneurial skills and helps them to launch their own businesses with loans from Opportunity Bank.

MAF pilot Dave Forney said: ‘This

MAF flight is one of many I have flown to deliver help, hope and healing to refugee communities across Uganda. Flying the princess is a privilege, and it’s wonderful that she’s using her position to illuminate the plight of those fleeing for their lives, assuring them that they are not forgotten.’

REMBRAND RODENBURG

MAF’s Dave Forney (left) flew the Princess Royal to Nakivale

Clothing scheme fits the bill

MORE than 1,000 people have benefited from a Salvation Army clothing scheme in Blackpool that aims to alleviate cost of living pressures on vulnerable people.

The Community Wardrobe, run by The Salvation Army’s Blackpool Citadel church, has helped 1,672 people in the past year. Many have been referred from its onsite Bridge Project, which supports people experiencing homelessness, and from the UK’s refugee and asylum seeker programme.

The scheme, which is run by volunteers, relies on clothing donations and financial contributions to keep going.

Captain Naomi Clifton, a leader of The Salvation Army in Blackpool, said: ‘Our service provides a level of dignity. We give people a choice, we let them come in and choose for themselves what suits them. All our clients, no matter their background, have been through an immense amount of trauma in their lives and one of the basic human needs is clothing. So we will do anything that we can do to help their situation.

‘While providing people with a much-needed service, it also reduces clothing waste. We take in pre-loved items in good condition to stop them from going into landfill.’

Church aims to help to buy

THE Church of England has committed £2 million to its social and sustainable housing fund to support charities that are providing accommodation to vulnerable people.

The fund aims to raise £125 million, which would enable more than 30 organisations to purchase 1,000 properties, providing highquality homes and targeted support for 10,000 people who need extra help or those who are at risk of experiencing homelessness.

The charities set to benefit from the fund focus on issues such as domestic abuse, mental health, addiction, asylum support and young adults leaving the care system.

Holmes is where the heart is

Sherlock’s sister keeps detective work in the family in Netflix drama

THE game is afoot. In detective film Enola Holmes 2, which is now available on Netflix, Enola (Millie Bobbie Brown), Sherlock’s sister, is determined to become an outstanding sleuth in her own right. After solving a high-profile case, aged 16, while searching for her missing mother, she has now set up her own detective agency.

In a sexist world, that’s easier said than done. Everything, though, changes when a girl working in a match factory asks for help in locating her missing sister. Enola is determined to unlock the mystery but, as always, she’ll face some formidable adversaries along the way. While she’s smart and capable, she’ll need all the help she can get from her mother Eudoria (Helena Bonham Carter), brother Sherlock (Henry Cavill) and friend Tewkesbury (Louis Partridge) to crack the case. At the end of the day, she knows she can rely on her family and friends when it matters most.

Self-reliance is tempting

Helena Bonham Carter says: ‘While Eudoria still wants her daughter to be her own person, to be independent, self-sufficient and formidable, now she is saying, “but don’t forget to connect with others and you’ll be much stronger as a team”. That’s a message for all of us.’

Although self-reliance is tempting, it’s not always the best course. While going his own way in life, the first-century truth-seeker Paul found faith in Jesus, God’s Son. From then on Paul spread the message of God’s love for humankind – but not without help from others.

Recognising a key truth, he wrote to a group of fellow Christians: ‘In his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well. So if … your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. If it is giving, give generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously’ (Romans 12:6 and 8 New Living Translation). Paul recognised that he couldn’t do everything on his own and needed help from God and others.

While life has its challenges, if we ask for God’s help, he can give us the resources and capabilities to get through them. He can also put people in our lives who can support us in our times of trouble. There’s no problem that we can’t solve with him.

Film feature by Emily Bright

Detective Enola Holmes receives help from her mother Eudoria

Dementia sessions aim

AFTER a small group of people living in an extra-care housing scheme in Yorkshire developed dementia, the charity in charge of the homes, Pilgrims’ Friend Society, decided to do something to support them.

Louise Morse, a cognitive behavioural therapist who also works for the Christian charity, was asked to produce something that would help.

Over a Zoom call from her home in south Wales, Louise tells me that Pilgrims’ Friend Society was founded more than 200 years ago by a group of Christians in London to meet the needs of older people ‘at a time when conditions for them were absolutely dire, when there were no pensions and no social support’.

Its work has continued and developed. About 10 years ago, to help the group of people in Yorkshire who were living with dementia, Louise and colleague Janet Jacob, a former psychogeriatric nurse, produced Brain and Soul Boosting

The workbook – which was updated this year –has been designed to be used by groups, who are guided by facilitators through sessions that strengthen participants’ cognition.

‘The programme is made up of a series of one-hour sessions,’ explains Louise. ‘One session, for example, is on bread. It would begin with a welcome and a time

Cognitive

Interview by Sarah Olowofoyeku

in which the group can share with each other about how their week has been, and then there is a prayer. Next the group look at a current news item – maybe the price of bread has shot up – and discuss that. Then there is a quiz on which countries different types of bread come from. By that point, everybody is participating. Then the session moves on to Scripture, and the group can discuss how Jesus is – as he said he was – “the bread of life” that we all need.’

Louise says that right back when the first group of people started using the resource, the effect was noticeable.

‘We found that their mental capacities improved. They began to speak and

build relationships with one another. Their confidence increased. Some were able to find their own ways back to their apartments, which they hadn’t been able to do before. They were remembering the day and the room that we met in.’

It worked so well that the resource was made available to anybody who wanted it, and it is now being used across the country.

Louise says that the programme is effective because each session runs on cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) principles, ‘which are the nearest to scriptural principles of all the counselling approaches’.

She explains that CBT helps people to look at the way they are thinking and

behavioural therapist LOUISE MORSE co-wrote a workbook designed to help people living with dementia to improve their mental state. She explains how it came about and why it has been effective

Their mental capacities improved

Louise Morse

to boost brain power

consider whether there is any evidence to support the way that they are thinking.

‘Usually there isn’t any evidence. They have a cognitive distortion that has muddled their thinking,’ she says.

Louise has had personal experience with the workbook. She is ‘accompanying a dear friend on the dementia journey with her husband’. Last year, she says, he stopped talking and would just smile.

‘My friend was deeply grieved by that, so I took her the workbook and suggested that she tried it with him. She left it on the

table, intending to lead him through it at some point. But a few days later he had picked it up, started to read it, and he ended up talking again and leading them all the way through it himself.’

While each session discusses a topic from the Bible, Louise says that people of all faiths and none can participate. But the Bible content, she believes, leads participants to a principle

that is important for everyone.

‘I feel that it’s important for every person on God’s Earth to know Jesus Christ, because he is the way, the truth and the life,’ she says. ‘Jesus didn’t harp on at people with his truth, though – he was the truth. He stood there and said: accept me or not.’

More than knowing just spiritual principles, Louise has known the power of faith in her life, most notably when in a short space of time she was bereaved of her youngest son and a grandson to whom she was close.

She says: ‘I remember sitting at my kitchen table, saying, “God, I don’t think I can cope. It’s just too much. I don’t know how to put one foot in front of the other.” But the presence of God was so real, and it was in his strength that I was able to get through.’

Louise’s faith inspires her to help others, whether through her counselling services or the workbook. She hopes that this new edition of Brain and Soul Boosting ‘will be widely used and we’ll see more reports of people’s brains being stimulated’.

For more information visit pilgrimsfriend.org.uk

People of all faiths and none can participate

A group take part in a ‘Brain and Soul Boosting’ session l

Die t exper t finds crucia l ingredient

Interview by Claire Brine

BEFORE she found success with her bestselling Hip and Thigh Diet, which led to the launch of hundreds of slimming clubs nationwide, diet and fitness expert Rosemary Conley felt that her life couldn’t be any worse.

‘It was the start of 1986 and everything was a mess,’ she says, when we meet online to discuss her autobiography, Through Thick and Thin. ‘My marriage had failed, I had a business that was closing, my relationship with my boyfriend Mike had come to an end and I was at the point of needing to sell my house.

‘A few weeks later, when I ended up in hospital with a gallstone problem, the surgeon suggested that I have an operation to remove my gall bladder. I knew that I didn’t have time for surgery, as I was in the middle of winding down a business. I asked him if there was anything else I could do to improve my health. His reply was that I’d have to eat virtually no fat. So I said: “OK then, that’s what I’ll do.”’

Determined to avoid major surgery, Rosemary embarked on a low-fat diet. Very quickly she lost 6lb – and couldn’t believe the difference to her appearance.

‘I lost weight from my previously voluptuous hips and thighs,’ she says. ‘I thought: “Wow! Not only am I avoiding an operation, but this diet is giving me a set of hips and thighs I never dreamt of.” So I wrote a book about it.’

Rosemary Conley’s Hip and Thigh Diet, published in 1988, became a Sunday Times bestseller, prompting Rosemary to publish a sequel the following year,

entitled Rosemary Conley’s Complete Hip and Thigh Diet. Together the books went on to sell more than two million copies worldwide, making Rosemary a household name.

‘It was bonkers,’ she laughs. ‘I’d been in the dieting business for 17 years, having run my own slimming clubs, but now I was seen as an overnight sensation. Newspapers were throwing money at me to write columns for them and queueing up to buy serialisation rights to my next book. I was having an absolute ball.’

In 1993, in the wake of her books’ success, Rosemary launched the Rosemary Conley Diet and Fitness Clubs to provide support for the slimmers following her low-fat eating plan. At its peak, the national network of clubs, which operated as a franchise, had some 70,000 members.

‘I wanted us to have the best classes in the country,’ says Rosemary. ‘Every one of our teachers was a qualified fitness instructor, which was unheard of back then. It was expensive to train up all the franchisees, but it mattered to me that we got it right.

There was no way I was going to sell something that I didn’t believe in. I had to know our approach would work for people. Over the years, the business grew and we ended up training more than 800 diet and exercise teachers.’

As well as establishing a chain of successful slimming clubs, Rosemary launched the Rosemary Conley Diet and Fitness magazine. Television appearances had also become a staple in her life, with Rosemary regularly dishing out low-fat advice on ITV’s This Morning, alongside presenters Richard Madeley and Judy

I would never judge someone on their size

Rosemary Conley has been helping slimmers since the 1970s

Slimming club founder ROSEMARY CONLEY describes the thrill of building a business, the pain of losing it and the hope she finds in God

Rosemary’s books made her a household name Finnigan. Whenever the cameras stopped rolling, her mind would turn to ideas for her next book.

‘During my career I’ve written 36 books and presented 30 fitness videos and DVDs,’ she says. ‘The reason I think my videos sold in their millions was because I wasn’t terribly good in them. I wasn’t a dancer. I wasn’t a fitness presenter who did complicated choreography. I was just like the people who bought them, like Sandra next door or Millie up the road.’

Ever since Rosemary launched her first slimming club in 1971, called Slimming and Good Grooming, her ability to relate to her members has been important to her. She knows what it’s like to gain weight and feel unhappy about it. She also understands that comfort eating doesn’t make things better.

‘Fifty years ago I gained around two and a half stone, and I really hated it,’ she says. ‘But I made myself fatter and fatter by comfort eating, and that only made me feel worse. Later I realised that I was bingeing because my

ALAN OLLEY

marriage wasn’t terribly happy. And once that marriage came to an end, my attitude towards food changed because I felt differently about my life. I got divorced, met Mike – who was so kind and affirming to me – and the bingeing stopped. Then, when I adopted a low-fat diet, I discovered I could eat really well and keep my weight constant.

‘Today, if I see someone who is significantly overweight, I recognise that it’s not simply a case of them overeating. Usually there is so much more going on – and that’s why I would never judge someone on their size.’

However people feel about their weight, Rosemary understands that it’s a sensitive topic for many. So when I ask her for the one piece of advice that she would give to somebody who wanted to get in shape, her response is simple: eat proper food.

‘Counting calories can be a bit tedious, and low-fat is out of fashion,’ she says. ‘So my latest view is that we need to eat proper food: fresh fruit and vegetables, wholegrain bread, basmati rice, pasta, live yoghurt.

If people eat healthily three times a day, without snacking in between, and start doing more exercise, their weight will sort itself out. That’s it.’

As well as addressing her struggles with food, Rosemary’s autobiography touches on other personal experiences that have changed her life. In 1986, at the time when she describes her life as being at rock bottom, she became a Christian.

‘While I was in hospital with the gallstone problem I saw an advert for a book called Power for Living,’ she tells me. ‘The book was free and being promoted by people like Cliff Richard and Lord Tonypandy, who was the Speaker in the House of Commons. I realised that if ever there was a time when I needed some power for living, this was it. I’d made a hash of everything on my own.

‘When I got home and read the book, I felt as though each chapter was talking to me about Christianity in a way that I could completely understand. So when I got to the page containing a prayer to ask Jesus into my life, I knelt by my bed and prayed those words for all I was worth. There were no claps of thunder or puffs of smoke, but I felt utterly washed through. God was saying to me: “I am

now the chairman of your life – just trust me.” So I did.’

The next morning, Rosemary woke with a whole new perspective on life.

‘I felt totally different,’ she says. ‘Instead of despair, I had an enormous confidence. Mike and I had broken up, but I had a new best friend, a Father God, who was taking me by the hand and – although I didn’t know it – was about to lead me on a journey beyond belief.’

Shortly after becoming a Christian, Rosemary felt prompted by God to propose to Mike. The couple married several months later and threw themselves into growing Rosemary’s enterprise. Life was good. Business couldn’t be better. But then, some years later, Rosemary began to notice a change in her husband.

‘From 1999 to 2003, Mike went through a really bad time and felt he didn’t want to be with me any more,’ she says. ‘Everything felt so hopeless.

‘But, despite our struggles, I still believed that God had brought us together. Over the next few years, he held us together – even distantly at times. Miraculously, Mike and I rebuilt our relationship, and today we are the closest and happiest we have ever been.’

It’s a story of enduring love that Rosemary describes with honesty in her book, and I ask her why she chose to share it.

‘I wanted to give hope to married couples,’ she says. ‘If someone believes that they are with the right person – and that the relationship is God’s will – then I encourage them not to jack it in when they hit bumps in the road. It’s easy to walk

I knelt by my bed and prayed

ALAN OLLEY

LIONELHEAP

away when things are hard, but if couples can work through their problems, I believe they can end up in a much better place.’

Another painful chapter of Rosemary’s life was the closure of her business in 2014. In her autobiography she recalls

feeling physically sick the day the administrators arrived at the office, when she finally had to accept that her company ‘had reached the end of the road’.

‘I knew things had been tight financially, but I hadn’t realised how

tight,’ she tells me. ‘We’d lost 25 per cent of our franchisees the previous year. New members weren’t coming in. My prominence in 2014 was nothing like it had been in 1993. And there was a lot of competition out there.

‘It was sad seeing the business go into administration, and having to make colleagues redundant was hard. People wanted someone to blame and some of them were angry. But at no point did I question God as to why this was happening. I felt him right by my side. In some ways, my attitude was that it had to end sometime. I was getting older, and Mike and I had no exit plan. If the business hadn’t closed in 2014, it would have gone down in the Covid lockdown.

‘Although it was awful at the time, I can look back now and see that losing the business was part of God’s plan. It was as though he was saying: “This will hurt a bit, but I will look after you.” And he did.’

Though her Diet and Fitness Clubs are no more, Rosemary continues to support people wanting to reach a healthy weight and keep fit. Her video-based website, rosemaryconley.com, contains free advice on topics such as nutrition, exercise and ageing well. On Mondays, she also runs a weekly exercise class in her home city of Leicester.

‘It’s the same class I started in the 1970s,’ she says. ‘Some of the ladies have been coming to me for more than 40 years and are in their 80s now. I love them – they are my friends. At the moment I’m not charging for my classes because of the cost of living crisis. I told the women that I needed them, just as much as they needed me. We are all in this together.’

Whatever uncertain times may lie ahead, Rosemary intends to face the future by surrounding herself with friends and family – and immersing herself in faith.

‘Ever since lockdown I’ve made a habit of walking in the woods near my house and praying out loud to God,’ she says. ‘If I’m frustrated about something, I’ll let rip about it. If I need strength, I’ll ask for help. But mainly I’ll say thank you – because my life has been an amazing adventure and God has always been alongside me.’

Leading an exercise class

l Through Thick and Thin is published by SPCK

Rosemary with husband Mike

YOUR prayers are requested for Vince, who is in prison.

The War Cry invites readers to send in requests for prayer, including the first names of individuals and details of their circumstances, for publication. Send your Prayerlink requests to warcry@salvationarmy.org.uk or to War Cry, 101 Newington Causeway, London SE1 6BN. Mark your correspondence ‘Confidential’.

jBecoming

a Christian

There is no set formula to becoming a Christian, but many people have found saying this prayer to be a helpful first step to a relationship with God

Lord Jesus Christ, I am truly sorry for the things I have done wrong in my life. Please forgive me. I now turn from everything that I know is wrong.

Thank you that you died on the cross for me so that I could be forgiven and set free.

Thank you that you offer me forgiveness and the gift of your Holy Spirit. Please come into my life by your Holy Spirit to be with me for ever.

Thank you, Lord Jesus.

Amen

‘

Team talk ’

talk

TEA M TALK Twitter

is

out for a change

Sarah Olowofoyeku gives her take on a story catching the attention of War Cry reporters

ONCE upon a time, tweeting was just for the birds. Over the past 16 years, however, millions of humans have been dubbed tweeters after signing up to the microblogging social media site Twitter, which has been making headlines since it was purchased by Elon Musk.

The world’s wealthiest man – the businessman who also created the Tesla car brand – has often been under scrutiny in the media for his way of working, which can be seen as ruthless.

Some Twitter users fear that, under his direction, the popular app will become unsafe and hostile. After all, they say, he has allowed some controversial figures who had been banned to return. Users have also expressed worries that the changes he is rumoured to be planning – for example, the introduction of a subscription fee – will bring about the end of Twitter as they know it.

I have made connections and developed friendships

It’s clear that the prospect is upsetting for many people. Twitter has been a place where they have built community through shared experiences, where cultural and creative exchanges have happened and where they gained career opportunities. Fearing its deterioration, a number of users, including celebrities Whoopi Goldberg and Stephen Fry, have already said their goodbyes and left the app.

Like others, I have made connections on Twitter and, through interactions over common interests, I have gone on to develop friendships offline with some fellow tweeters. I don’t know the extent of the changes that are going to take place under Elon Musk, but I do know that the sense of uncertainty people are feeling is real.

Uncertainty is what many people, with or without Twitter, have been grappling with acutely over the past two years. When we look at the topics that often crop up in tweets – work, the economy, the government, our health – it seems that there isn’t much that we’ve been able to have confidence in.

But through such times, I have been reminded that, however unstable everything else appears, I can always rely on God. The Bible says that he doesn’t change. So I can be certain that, living under his direction, I will always experience his love and care for me.

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Extract from Why Jesus? by Nicky Gumbel published by Alpha International, 2011. Used by kind permission of Alpha International

QUIZ

What is the longest river in Scotland?

What is the name of the process in which plants use light to make their food?

‘A horse! a horse! my kingdom for a horse!’ is a quote from which Shakespeare play?

Who painted The Scream? Which singer starred in the film The Bodyguard? What colour is Trafalgar Square in the board game Monopoly?

Wisdom in the words

You used to say…

FANS of James Bond will know that this year is the 60th anniversary of the release of the first 007 film, Dr No, which starred Sean Connery as the secret agent. Some 33 years after that premiere, I worked as an assistant to scenery artists Brian and Doug Bishop on Pierce Brosnan’s debut outing as 007, GoldenEye. So I have a fondness for all things Bond.

That fondness extends to the theme tunes for each film. Many of them are as memorable as the films themselves. Earlier this year the songs were celebrated in their own right at a concert at the Royal Albert Hall.

Over the decades artists including Tina Turner, Carly Simon, Nancy Sinatra, Tom Jones, Sheena Easton and Duran Duran have added to the Bond legend. Whether it is Shirley Bassey’s ‘Goldfinger’, Louis Armstrong’s ‘We Have All the Time in the World’ or the more recent ‘Skyfall’ by Adele, everyone will have their favourite.

In a poll conducted for the 50th anniversary, Paul McCartney’s composition for the eighth James Bond film – and Roger Moore’s first –Live and Let Die was voted as the best.

The lyrics include a play on the phrase ‘live and let live’, referring to a philosophy of life whereby a person should live as he or she chooses and let other people do the same.

At first glance there does appear to be some wisdom in those words. After all, who are any of us to tell other people how they should be living their lives? But if we think about this a little deeper, then we can see that it falls short as an all-encompassing philosophy. It doesn’t answer the need for human justice.

If we are aware of people living in misery and hardship, then to live and let them continue in that state without acting to help surely can’t be right. The problem is knowing what to do to help them.

We can find guidance on this issue in the words of the Bible, which include Jesus telling his followers that they should ‘treat others as you want them to treat you’ (Matthew 7:12 Contemporary English Version).

It’s good advice. By following it, we will live and help live.

Keith Burr explores song lyrics that have a note of truth about them

Paul McCartney’s was voted the best Bond theme

Broccoli tagliatelle

Ingredients

500g tagliatelle

1 broccoli, chopped into florets

50ml extra virgin olive oil

Fresh basil, leaves picked

Salt and ground black pepper

60g Parmesan cheese, finely grated

70g crème fraiche

Method

Cook the tagliatelle according to the packet instructions.

Cook the broccoli in a pan of boiling salted water for 3-4 minutes, until tender.

Drain the tagliatelle and tip it back in the pan. Drain the broccoli and add it to the pan with the tagliatelle. Stir through the olive oil and some basil leaves and seasoning, then spoon into pasta bowls.

Add some Parmesan cheese and a dollop of crème fraiche to each

Chicken, grape and walnut salad

Ingredients

4 chicken breasts, skin on Olive oil

½ lemon, juice

Salt and ground black pepper

80g green grapes

80g walnuts

3 Little Gem lettuces

1 carrot, peeled and grated

2tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Method

Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/ Gas Mark 6.

Place the chicken breasts in a roasting tin and drizzle with some oil and half the lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper. Roast for 25 minutes, until just cooked through. Leave to rest.

Toss the grapes, walnuts, lettuce leaves and carrot together in a large bowl. Thickly slice the chicken, removing the skin, if desired, and add to the salad. Squeeze the rest of the lemon juice over the salad, add the extra virgin olive oil and mix in.

Pour the chicken juices over sparingly, to serve.

SERVES 4

SERVES 4

No

Jane Blasio