Updates and a new Welsh appointment

From Cramner - why the right to insult - and to put up with being insulted - is vital in a free society (and for the future of the blogosphere):

"This is the New Inquisition: the demand for theological orthodoxy has given way to prohibition of ‘feeling insulted’. And you might be next. Indeed, His Grace’s blog may well be closed down because someone complains to the police that religio-political polemic makes them feel uncomfortable and causes them distress; that they feel ‘insulted’. This blog is, after all, a public space and His Grace is publishing alarming material. He probably not infrequently falls foul of equality and diversity demands, or transgresses the bounds of acceptability for those of other faiths or ‘exotic’ sexual proclivities. His Grace rarely means to insult, but the intention is irrelevant: if the beholder feels offended, His Grace may be reported to the police under Section 5 of the Public Order Act, and they are obliged to investigate..."

John Richardson on expectations and Common Tenure [here]

Part two of the excellent post on the ancient origins of the Nativity Scene from the NLM [here]

The new Dean of Monmouth (St Woolos Cathedral, Newport) has been named.
In succession to the resolutely traditionalist Dean Jeremy Winston SSC, whose tragically untimely death took place in November, the appointment of the Revd. Lister Tonge has been announced by the Bishop of Monmouth today.