Ruth Gledhill - Times Online - WBLG

You say 'I do', they say 'I won't'

Perhaps one reason we should all support the Church of England's decision to publish a joint hatch'n'match  liturgy, reported in The Times today as the splash and inside, is the new potential it creates for YouTube hits. 

Ex-C of E vicar blesses Jade and Jack wedding

Fascinating aspects to the Jade Goody Jack Tweed wedding story, in that Bishop Jonathan Blake who performed the blessing of the civil ceremony is the latest in the long, honourable British tradition of 'episcope vagantes', this one being in the 'Matthew succession'. Holy Smoke has the rather esoteric details in full, but I love it that a tabloid news event such as this has such a complex, catholic back story to it.

And there's more as well. Even the most hardened columnists have been writing soft, tearful columns about Jade dying of cancer, and naturally I share their sympathies for the poor woman. However, not everyone is enrapt by the wedding itself. Rev Christopher Woods, chaplain and tutor at Christ's College, Cambridge wishes Jade and Jack had sought the services of a Church of England vicar. 'I think the Church of England and others should be speaking out against the exercise of his episcopal ministry and indeed of the Open Episcopal Church he leads,' he told me this evening on the subject of Bishop Blake. Read it in tomorrow's Times.

On blogging, journalism and being an LAT

Things have been getting personal recently at The Times. I've 'stepped outside the box' this week to write about being an LAT, or a 'Living Apart Together' couple with my husband. And today I'm doing something on the decision by John Sergeant to withdraw from Strictly Come Dancing. As old timers here will remember, I used to be a competitive ballroom dancer.

Lambeth Diary: Invited bishop told: 'Go home!'

Ed Salmon, the former bishop of South Carolina who is either retired or on sabbatical, depending on which bit of the Church is doing the talking, was invited to the Lambeth Conference. He is 75 and he says he is retired. Nevertheless, he was delighted to be asked to come to Lambeth. The invites were sent out before he retired and he assumed this was because of the grey area surrounding his precise status at present. He booked his flights, hotels and so on. Just one week before he was due to come, he was told he wasn't invited after all. So he came anyway and I met him in the little flat in Canterbury where Anglican Mainstream has its hq. He and Gene Robinson, both uninvited bishops at the conference, are both here still, preaching God's word on the fringes.

Seven in ten marriages 'forced'

More than seven in ten marriages involving an English citizen and a spouse born in Asia could have an element of  'force or coercion' about them, according to document published today that contains some of the strongest language used by community leaders to date. The Muslim Arbitration Tribunal claims that forced marriages reflect a 'crisis that has loomed within the Muslim community without being noticed or dealt with for the past two decades.' The tribunal, founded last year and based in Nuneaton near Coventry, says the official figures of 300 forced marriages a yar represent the tip of the iceberg. Muslim lawyers on the tribunal council based their figures on decades of experience within the community, and from observing their own friends and families.

Persecution Index 7: Saudi

A divorced Saudi woman from Saudi Arabia cannot board a plane without her son's permission, Tom Gross reports on his website.

Tom writes: 'The Gulf's largest and most important Arab state continues to practice severe discrimination against many minorities and against its female half of the population.

'Over the years, the New York-based group Human Rights Watch has been much criticized by many people (including myself) for obsessively condemning the U.S. and Israel while all but ignoring far worse human rights offenders around the world, including those in Arab countries. I am glad to say that HRW has this month finally produced a comprehensive report critical of Saudi Arabia'

Bishop of St David's resigns

After weeks of pressure and speculation, Bishop Carl Cooper has finally stepped down. This is what the Church in Wales is saying: 'The Bishop of St Davids, the Right Rev Carl Cooper, has resigned. He has apologised for any of his actions that have caused offence and made it impossible for him to continue his ministry as Bishop of St Davids. The Archbishop and the Bench of Bishops of the Church in Wales have accepted the resignation as being in the best interests of the diocese and the Church in Wales at this time.' So nothing there about the speculation concerning his chaplain and press officer, the Rev Mandy Williams Potter. I am told this morning that people locally are asking, if there was nothing going on, why has he stepped down? And if there was something going on, why don't they come clean and admit it? More detail to be found at an earlier blog. Read our online news report here.

In the name of love

You think I've got problems? My colleagues at The Times have been cheering me up with this 'Russian wedding' video. I offer it to you as something for the weekend. Read on for some more serious news.

Life as a mum

Thank you to Sue Huyton in the book blog for drawing my attention to this. It accurately describes my life as a mum and stepmum at the moment. I reckon kids are kids until they're about 30 these days. The pressure! Anyway, see for yourselves. Above all, it is fun having kids, but it is not always fun these days being a kid, as our report today illustrates. The Archbishop of Canterbury was talking to Kids' Company.