Yes, I thought that would be the reaction! Thankfully, no one is attempting this in the current AEO scheme. But the CEEC in this advert of their ASO scheme of overseers are either admitting overseers are just spiritual directors with fancy titles or misunderstanding the role of bishops.

Church of England friends, do we think requesting Alternative Episcopal Oversight so that you can have a bishop who has “more time to give [you]” is legitimate reasoning?

My response to the third FAOC report... on clergy exemplarity and Same-Sex Marriage. "Indeed, with the concept of ‘communally regulative understanding of doctrine’, the bishop is rendered powerless, and the bishops as a House are disempowered utterly." ⚓️✝️ #CofEPeeps viamedia.news/2025/11/12/a...

even the people who knew Epstein and *weren't* child abusers seem to have treated him being a child abuser as a little peccadillo or the legal system making a big deal out of nothing.

35. The Muppets’ song Mahna Mahna was originally written for an Italian documentary about the sexual revolution in Sweden

This works so well; it will actually have been seven weeks (and a bit).

Devin, I don't think many non-lawyers understand just how "yeah, that underlying fact's 100% true" it is when you have a private email between two parties with no reason to lie discussing the implications of something they agree is a fact they both have personal knowledge of.

If the Prescott memo is true, and there is a secret cabal of LGBTQ+ journalists stopping any negative stories about trans people being published or aired at BBC News, then, I have to say, they’re doing a really fucking shit job of that.

I feel like we’re imminently about to hear from a source in No 10 that they’re doing “Let Starmer Be Starmer”

As it’s Armistice Day, thought I might repost this. Willy & Nicky: penpals.

It's some fairly well known etymology that we owe some everyday words to Martin of Tours (d. 397). The most famous episode of his life is when he selflessly cut his cloak (in Latin: 'cappa') in two. That cloak was later venerated in Frankish lands, from which come the words 'chapel' and 'chaplain'.

My sort of news story. Justice. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Lol Elon isn’t just pushing ads about how he reads books actually, but from a company that summarises books so you don’t have to bother reading them

50th anniversary of the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald so of course I am listening to the song on repeat

Helping our archivist organise some burial records this week and constantly surprised by how many burials our 3-acre churchyard has seen over the centuries

Is doctrine “something generally static, generally serene, a quiet lake in which even its dynamism is limited to the occasional wave breaking on the shoreline of its boundaries”? Er, no, says Fr Thomas Sharp viamedia.news/2025/11/10/a...

The more I watch The Diplomat, the more I realise it isn’t a political drama based around the American ambassador but instead a comedy based around the ambassador’s husband

I hear Andrew’s looking for work

Do we think there was govt pressure here as part of Operation Suck Up? Or do the BBC not need any help with that?

“You could have laughed at the point of Nelson Mandela negotiating with the ANC” A slight gaffe in the grand scheme if things, but not great in the context of claiming there’s a scenario where Putin gives up his nukes.

Every time I see those words, I just have to watch it again

1/ The US Government has quietly removed a memorial to Black soldiers who died in World War II from the Netherlands American Cemetery in Margraten, South Limburg. The move follows a complaint from the right-wing Heritage Foundation to the American Battle Monuments Commission. ⬇️

Please watch & more importantly share this very cheeky, rather urgent request for £15k (ideally in one lump sum!) I'm only on Bluesky so if anyone can post on any other social platforms that would be hugely appreciated @churchofengland.org @dioceseofyork.bsky.social @churchtimes.bsky.social Thanks🙏

does this count as a pennies farthing?

BBC really burying the lede there

Ok, but Tesla is currently at 7.2 million sales in 9 years, sales have slowed down and to make the first step towards his trillion dollar salary he needs to sell 20 million cars. I don’t think any of this is going to happen.

According to a person familiar with jury lunches

I realise I’m not the first to discover this by a long shot, but since I posted about it on here recently, I can’t skim over a single Chris Mason piece without cringing massively www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cj...

A reflection on reading some #Synod papers requested by the House of Bishops: How is it that the House of Bishops can be both too quick to make decisions *and* too slow? Too quick to share information *and* too slow? Too collegiate *and* too individual?

We bring you our new series: What Treasury Officials Have Been Asking ChatGPT This Week

This is genuinely a lovely tribute to the Polish squadron based there during the war, but especially lovely because one of the crochet groups behind it is called the Southport Hookers

This isn’t a finished thread yet but already promising to be one of those ones that ticks all my boxes Churches ✅ Planning law ✅ Monarchy ✅ Kafkaesque bureaucracy ✅ Well, I repeat myself

Anti-popery trumps all.

Always amazed that a country that loves banning things and spying on neighbours allows any adult to buy explosives to set off until midnight tonight

For those who know the double-dactyl verse form, here's my quick stab at one for AS. h/t to @seanclarke.bsky.social for inspiration. Higgledy piggledy Abigail Spanberger Stormed the Virginian Mansion with ease. Stunning success with votes Gubernatorial Cutting Republicans Off at the knees.

“The Review believes that RE should be moved to the national curriculum to improve access to high-quality provision and to prevent further diminishment.” This is good news. As the Review says further on, this is not a panacea, but it will begin a shift.

To be awarded by Infantino in Washington, DC … 🤔 🙄

“These are regulatory tariffs, not incentive-raising tariffs” How do the people who argue these cases on behalf of the govt before SCOTUS say this with a straight face

Curtis is like the Punisher in Marvel teamups where everyone is like “well, Frank is crazy and has too many guns but bro can hang sometimes.”

Think the NYT quiz really summed up how I feel about Sliwa. Absolutely wins the “which candidate would I most want to have a pint with” but nothing else

Primaries, man, what even are those

Can’t believe this has only got 85K views @jorisbinned.bsky.social youtu.be/qaD1lwh2wv0

avengers assemble

The officer Sandwich Guy is charged with assaulting testifies that he could feel the impact of the sandwich through his ballistic vest, and it “exploded all over my uniform.” He says he could “smell the onions and the mustard.”

(whispers) the author of that blogpost is me.... so I've just written a new one. cyber-coenobites.blogspot.com/2025/11/the-...

It’s really funny how quickly the opposition’s attendance in the Lords diminishes in the evening.

Frame this and hang it in the oh wait

Yet another example of a columnist writing the same column again and again. What a job. I need to get myself one of those

There’s that phenomenon when a journalist or a newspaper writes about a topic you’re well-informed about and suddenly you realise they must be as incorrect on all the topics you aren’t as well-informed about. Whereas this is Simon Jenkins.