This is first-rate Andre - fascinating, stimulating, thought provoking.
I was born in 1970, and like yourself I look back on that era and often see only happy, innocent times. Life was simpler and clearer in so many ways - just 3 TV stations, for instance, all of which had a cut-off time at night and none of which (except ITV maybe) were even 'on' all throughout the day.
Yet looking back now, I can see plainly that being born into such a time of progressive ferment both in the Church and in the West as a whole, has actually been the root cause of so many of the difficulties and challenges I've faced since. And what goes for the micro level goes for the macro too.
I've not yet read any of Alice Thomas Ellis's novels yet, but I used to enjoy her column in The Catholic Herald and (I think) The Telegraph in the '90s. A great Catholic voice and a truly anti-estsblishment figure. A woman of rare soul and spirit 👍 👏
Thanks, John. I agree, and particularly with your point about how that period impinged on those of us who were children. Even with just three TV channels, and the early versions of teenager magazines, it's quite bizarre what we were being subjected to via screen and printed image, but it was also the era of Jimmy Saville after all.
Alice Thomas Ellis was a courageous witness to common sense, and quite possibly a victim of Cardinal Hume's high handedness with journalists. He seems to have asked the Herald editor to confine her to cookery columns, not liking what she write about modernising bishop, Derek Warlock - who actually confirmed me, Deo Gratias. But plus ca change...
This is first-rate Andre - fascinating, stimulating, thought provoking.
I was born in 1970, and like yourself I look back on that era and often see only happy, innocent times. Life was simpler and clearer in so many ways - just 3 TV stations, for instance, all of which had a cut-off time at night and none of which (except ITV maybe) were even 'on' all throughout the day.
Yet looking back now, I can see plainly that being born into such a time of progressive ferment both in the Church and in the West as a whole, has actually been the root cause of so many of the difficulties and challenges I've faced since. And what goes for the micro level goes for the macro too.
I've not yet read any of Alice Thomas Ellis's novels yet, but I used to enjoy her column in The Catholic Herald and (I think) The Telegraph in the '90s. A great Catholic voice and a truly anti-estsblishment figure. A woman of rare soul and spirit 👍 👏
Thanks, John. I agree, and particularly with your point about how that period impinged on those of us who were children. Even with just three TV channels, and the early versions of teenager magazines, it's quite bizarre what we were being subjected to via screen and printed image, but it was also the era of Jimmy Saville after all.
Alice Thomas Ellis was a courageous witness to common sense, and quite possibly a victim of Cardinal Hume's high handedness with journalists. He seems to have asked the Herald editor to confine her to cookery columns, not liking what she write about modernising bishop, Derek Warlock - who actually confirmed me, Deo Gratias. But plus ca change...