INTRODUCTION

Those of you who know Matthew Arnold's great poem Dover Beach will need little explanation as to the purpose of this Blog: the cataloguing of and comment upon the horrors of the present age, especially as they relate to the Church, politics and anything else which catches the eye and engages the brain.

In the closing lines of this work, a lament for the melancholy, long, withdrawing roar caused by the retreat of the Sea of Faith which he recalls was once too at the full, the catastrophe of which he believes can only be overcome, albeit partly, if we love and are true to one another, Arnold writes:

And we are here as on a darkling plain,
Swept by confused alarms of struggle and flight,
Where ignorant armies clash by night.

Some of the foci and ferocity of this Blog will include -

• the insanity of the Nanny State, including the supine attitude of many towards its rapacious destruction of individual freedom
• the self-destruction of the Anglican Communion, particularly the Anglican Church of Canada and the Episcopal Church of the United States, caused by a combination of heretic bishops, synodical governance, wishy-washy priests, the split of the Anglo-Catholic wing thereof, the substitution of "green" for "God" and the seduction of the Church by the left
• the tyranny of touchy-feeliness in casual inter-personal relationships

But we shall not be altogether negative. Our loves and plaudits to be explored will include -

• great restaurants, good cooking and allied pleasures of the flesh including Las Vegas
• magnificent personalities who stand up against the received wisdom of the day
• books and music we enjoy
• priests and parishes who resist the influences described above

Your civilized contributions to discussions of these and related topics are welcome.