We shortchange ourselves by regarding religious faith as a matter of intellectual assent. This is a modern aberration; the traditional Christian view is far more holistic, regarding faith as a whole-body experience. Sometimes it is, as W.H. Auden described it, 'a matter of choosing what is difficult all one's days as if it were easy.

I've come to see conspiracy theories as the refuge of those who have lost their natural curiosity and ability to cope with change.

In spite of the cost of living, it's still popular.

We can't give our children the future, strive though we may to make it secure. But we can give them the present.

I write what I would like to read.

But hope has an astonishing resilience and strength. Its very persistence in our hearts indicates that it is not a tonic for wishful thinkers but the ground on which realists stand.

I was taught that I had to 'master' subjects. But who can 'master' beauty, or peace, or joy?