Photo, Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams in Boksburg, South Africa (taken from Episcopal Life Online, 2008)

Yesterday's decision of the Church of England's ruling body - the General Synod - to allow the consecration of women, seems to be an historical landmark.

Apparently, some 1300 of its traditional membership had been threatening to leave unless the Synod puts in place some safeguards.

Although it rejected the idea of 'super-bishops' - allowing C of E membership to opt for a male bishop if it so wished - the Synod has until next February to devise a (and so far, unspecified) compromise which will essentially be seen by modernists as nothing much short of an appeasement.

But yesterday after the decision had been taken - which, of course, women and modernists welcomed - there were reports of some traditional members in tears. There they were praying, calling for a divine force to show them the way.

I met the Fonz the other day. He's a childhood hero and the only person I've ever asked for an autograph. Never thought I'd actually get to meet him.
Before going I asked a few friends if they had any questions for him.

You might have read in one of the national papers that an RE teacher in a secondary school in Staffordshire gave detention to two boys who refused to participate in a role play.

There's no doubt that there is something rather strange about what happened on 11th September 2001. If you don't believe me, have a look on youtube or google '9/11 conspiracy theory' and you'll see the extraordinary number of posts dealing with this very issue.

The fact is that a significantly large group of people in the US - and the rest of the world - simply don't buy what Bush's administration is telling us. The New York Times' poll a couple of years ago, for instance, revealed that 53% of Americans doubt their government's version of events on that fateful day.

And in another survey, a third of the Americans questioned thought that their government officials either assisted in the 9/11 attacks or allowed them to happen.

And there maybe some justification for this conspiratorial perspective.

There's only one group of people that gets on my nerves nearly as much as Islamic terrorists and that's the Americans.

I just don't like their imperialistic attitude to the world and everything in it.

It seems that they're dumping all elements of their crass, cheap culture on to our shores. It's a garish culture - robbed of substance, quality and real value.

For instance, first it was coke-a-cola and fast food outlets like McDonalds' - which have destroyed our diet and health. Then it was their export of television programmes - like Friends - which have done nothing but Americanised our teenagers in terms of their lingual characteristics. I mean, how many times have you heard youngsters shout 'Yeah, whatever!' when they can't think of a decent reply?

And - if that's not enough - it's school leaving parties.

Now then. I went to a conference the other day held by Birmingham City Council which was all about "Creating a Brighter Future for Children and Young People in Birmingham".
I always get a bit confused by these things - there was a glossy booklet to go with it (why do they have to waste public money on top quality paper?) spelling out the "Birmingham strategy" that had a lot of diagrams in it. There was talk about "priority outcomes", "multi-disciplinary leadership", "evidence-based initiatives" and "population-wide prevention".

Since every other article/news item is about the NHS' 60th anniversary, perhaps I can share a related anecdote.

My mother, like many other elderly people, suffers from arthritic pain in her knees and relies on knee-support bandages. On one occasion her existing bandages had worn out and the pain had become unbearable. Our GP referred her to the A&E because it was difficult for her to stand without assistance.

So on our arrival at the local hospital, I went in search of a wheel-chair. Now, you'd think there'd be plenty of wheel-chairs especially in the A&E, wouldn't you?

But oh, how wrong you'd be.

They say that manners maketh a man - indeed, one or two bloggers have said it against me - but equally, of course, it also maketh a woman.

Last week, for instance, I had a lunchtime appointment to see a female colleague in Birmingham.

Last Thursday the equalities minister, Harriet Harman, revealed her
plans to make it legal for firms and organisations such as the police
to discriminate in favour of female and ethnic minorities' job
candidates.

To some people that might seem like a sensible measure.

Last year, for instance, the Commission for Race and Equality found
that fourteen out of the fifteen selection/promotion schemes used by
the police authorities in England and Wales did not meet the required
standard.

In other words, they denied opportunities to Black and Asian
people when it came to a career in the police force.

I hate to sound like a cynic but am I the only one who thought that Nelson Mandela's 90th birthday concert last Friday was nothing more than a media lead, cringe-making, sycophantic affair?

And am I the only one who thought that all those vain, obsequious celebrities were there mainly because of the enormous publicity they would generate for themselves and thereby inflating their mammoth-sized egos (not to mention their bank accounts)?