EnglandSUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2011

england news e2 •• world news e3 • • body image actiom e4 • • books e7 • • catHerine FoX e7 • • sport e8 • •

On Sunday

It’s a scorcher!England’s unseasonal heatwave

An England fanshows their supportin the stands asEngland came frombehind to reach thequarter finals of theRugby World Cupyesterday. Matchreport: Back page

Joy forEngland

Wedding choiceBrides’ favourite dress

No Retouching!Pupils get warning

Tube callingMobiles underground?

EnglandOn Sunday

Mayoral candidates in fares warThe battle to be the next London mayor took a new turnthis week as the previous incumbent, Ken Livingstone,made a vow to cut public transport fares by five per cent ifhe is re-elected next year.

Speaking at the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool,he said that he would use a budget surplus of £728m to cuttransport fares. However, analysts said that the surpluswas often used for major infrastructure developments.

And the current London Mayor, Boris Johnson, dis-missed the proposal as electioneering.

In a statement he said: “Every penny of TfL’s budget isaccounted for to pay for the upgrade of the capital’s trans-port system.

“It would be impossible to absorb the loss of revenue hesuggests without a huge and damaging impact on TfL’sinvestment programme.”

Earlier this month the Mayor announced fare rises ofseven per cent from January 2012.

Voodoo teacher struck offA teacher from Telford has beenstruck off the teaching register aftershe threatened pupils with a voodoodoll.

Roslyn Holloway was accused ofpulling the hair of one disruptivepupil and then wrapping it around thearm of a voodoo doll on a key ring.The General Teaching Council heardthat she had been teaching pupils with special needs at theLord Silken school in Telford until January last year. Shenow lives on the Shetland Isles.

It was also revealed that Ms Holloway, who did notattend the hearing, had earlier been issued with a cautionfrom the school for battery.

Her interest in voodoo led to her discussing black magicand sticking pins in dolls with pupils, which the GTC saidwas inappropriate.

The panel said the case represented a “significant abuseof trust and the violation of the rights of pupils, some ofwhom were vulnerable”.

Chest freezer suspected in worst fire A chest freezer is thought to have caused a fire at a home inNeasden, north west London, last Saturday morning in whichsix people died.

The London Fire Brigadesaid this week that they wereinvestigating the freezer,which was situated at the bot-tom of the stairs, althoughthey had earlier ruled out aBeko fridge at the home as thesource. Recently warningswere issued about a particularBeko fridge that is suspectedto be a fire risk, but was not related to this fire, the worst housefire in the capital in over a decade.

Assistant Commissioner for the LFB, Steve Turek, said: “Fireinvestigators will continue to piece together the tragic events ofSaturday morning but early indications are that the fire wascaused by a chest freezer in the hallway of the house.

“This tragic event should focus people’s minds on how theycan make their home safer.”

Six charged with terrorism offencesSix men fromBirmingham haveappeared in courtcharged with ter-rorism offences.

The six were allremanded withsome to appear atthe Old Bailey

while two others are to appear before Westminster magistrates.Irfan Nasser, 30, of Sparkhill, Irfan Khalid, 26, were accused of

preparing for an act of terrorism, including visiting Pakistan fortraining in terrorism, making a martyrdom video and planning abombing campaign.

Police believe the men were planning a suicide bomb mission.Ashik Ali, 26, is accused of preparing for an act of terrorism,

which involved planning a bombing campaign, providing prem-ises for the planning of terrorist attack and stating an intention tobe a suicide bomber.

www.englandonsunday.comE2 October 2, 2011

TV Pick of the week

Songs of Praise: 50Amazing Years

In an hour-long special Cele-brating 50 Years, countrymusic legend LeAnn Rimesand gospel diva BeverleyKnight join superstar tenorAndrea Bocelli and voice of anangel Katherine Jenkins, pic-tured, for the Songs Of Praise50th Birthday Celebration,recorded at Alexandra Palacein London. In the programme on Sunday 2October at 5.30pm, almost7,000 voices will raise the roofof the iconic building wheretelevision broad-casting firstbegan, singingsome of themost popularhymns featuredover the years –includingGuide Me OThou GreatRedeemer,Angel-VoicesEverSingingandJerusalem.

What theSundaypaperssay

A HIGH COURT judge ruled this week that awoman in a ‘minimally conscious’ state shouldnot be allowed to die.

The ruling was welcomed by the Care NotKilling Alliance, representing over 40 organisa-tions, which will prevent the removal of food andfluids from a severely brain-damaged woman.

Justice Baker of the Court of Protection ruledthat artificial nutrition and hydration should notbe withdrawn in the case of M, a woman who is ina minimally conscious state as a result of anepisode of encephalitis in 2003.

Dr Peter Saunders, CNK’s Campaign Directorsaid: “This is a wise and sensible decision whichupholds the law and maintains present levels oflegal protection for severely brain-damaged peo-ple.

“This woman was not imminently dying and didhave some degree of awareness. A decision toremove artificial nutrition and hydration from herwith the explicit intention of ending her life wouldhave crossed an important ethical boundary andplaced the lives of other disabled people at risk.”

“Any weakening of the law in this area wouldendanger the lives of vulnerable people and giveencouragement to those who have an emotionalor financial interest in their deaths. We welcomethe clear signal that Justice Baker has giventoday.”

However, although the woman indicated thatshe did not want her life to be sustained, thejudge ruled that because she had not written herinstructions.

Her family were said to be devastated at the rul-ing. The judge said that the family ‘only ever hadthe best interests of ‘M’ at heart.

www.englandonsunday.comOctober 2, 2011 E3

Christianity ‘in decline’

Bride’sfavouriteTHE NATION’S dream wedding dress wasrevealed this week following a poll byUKBride.co.uk. 

The traditional, white ball gown style weddingdress with straps came in at second place, and theoverall winner of 2011, was found to be the mod-ern strapless ivory a-line style wedding dress.

This wedding dress has evolved to become thenation’s favourite wedding dress style of 2011.

There are new wedding dresses added toUKbride every day, and the new season is begin-ning soon, with lots of fresh designs.

Woman ‘mustnot be allowedto die’

The condition explainedIn a minimally conscious state the person mayhave spontaneous eye opening and may visual-ly track an object or another person aroundthe room and have normal cycles of sleepingand ‘waking’.

A person in a Minimally Conscious State isable to do at least one of the following: Followsimple commands; Answer simple "yes" or"no" questions, either verbally or using ges-tures; Speak in a way that can be understood;Act in a purposeful way, for example by press-ing a button on a remote control to change aTV channel or by crying or smiling at appro-priate times.

By Amaris Cole

AFFILIATION with Christianity is fallingin Great Britain, according to figuresannounced last week.

The Office for National Statistics askedrespondents: ‘What is your religion, evenif you are not currently practising?’

The Integrated Household Surveyshows 69 per cent now associate them-selves with the religion, compared to theprevious year’s results of 71 per cent.

This information correlates with latest

Church of England statistics that showchurch attendance is in decline.

Christianity was chosen, irrespectiveof ‘actual practise or belief’, most strong-ly by people aged 65 and over, whilethose between 25 and 34 are shown to bethe least religious.

Results suggest Scotland has a higherrate of Christianity than England andWales.

A marginal increase for people identi-fying themselves as Muslim is shown bythe ONS results, and ‘no religion at all’

was an option chosen by an increasednumber of respondents this year.

With 420,000 individuals taking thequestionnaire, this accounts for thelargest pool of UK social data after thecensus.

The survey also found that 1.5 per centsaid they were gay or bisexual.

The information was collectedbetween March 2010 and April 2011, andalso asked respondents questions con-cerning health, education, migration,housing and employment.

Pupils to be told about body image

Africa on SundayAmerica on Sunday

US Secretaryof State HillaryClinton has hitout at Syriaafter the Amer-ican ambassa-dor there cameunder attack.

Supportersof PresidentBashar al-

Assad tried to storm an office inDamascus where the ambassador,Robert Ford, had just arrived

Opposition figure Hassan Abdelaz-im, whom the US ambassador hadarrived to meet, told AFP that themob “tried to break down the doorof my office, but didn’t succeed” dur-ing a siege that lasted two hours.

Clinton immediately raised theissue ‘at the highest levels’ in Dam-ascus and demanded that Syria take‘every possible step to protect’ USdiplomats.

The ambassador and his staffwere pelted with tomatoes, however,no one was hurt and Syrian securityguards eventually cleared a pathallowing them to leave.

Clinton furiousas Syrians attackAmbassador

Hopes of a res-cue for the Euro-zone wereboosted thisweek when Ger-man legislatorsbacked plans toextend the Euro-pean FinancialStability Facility,despite wide-

spread German opposition to theplans.

Deputies voted by 523 to 85 withthree abstentions to expand the sizeand scope of the European FinancialStability Facility (EFSF), with Chan-cellor Angela Merkel surviving a testof her authority amid a backbenchrebellion.

Some had speculated that, whilethe vote was likely to be won, shewould suffer a rebellion from her ownparty. Some even speculated that itcould lead to a vote of confidence inthe Chancellor or even fresh elec-tions.

Germany became the 11th of 17eurozone states to agree to boost the440-billion-euro ($590 billion) EFSF.

Asia on SundayEurope on Sunday

China took amajor step thisweek in its plansto establishing apermanentspace station.An 8.5 ton mod-ule, dubbedHeavenly PalaceNo 1, waslaunched in arocket.

The plan isnow for a space-craft to dockwith the module in November, at aspeed of 17,000 miles an hour.

China hopes that the space stationwill be completed by 2020, when theInternational Space Station is due tobe scrapped.

This week’s launch is the latest stepin China’s £2bn-a-year space pro-gramme, which also includes plans toput a man on the Moon and even landon Mars.

Their ambitions may suffer set-backs, however, as science observerspoint out that the Asian giant is usingdecades-old technology.

Egypt’s planned elections may face aboycott from political parties unlessthe election law is amended, itemerged this week.

Following the downfall of PresidentMubarak, a hastily arranged series ofelections was announced, which aredue to start next month

About 60 political parties andgroups, including the political wing ofEgypt’s powerful Muslim Brother-hood, set a deadline of today for themilitary council to meet theirdemands. These include approving alaw that would effectively preventmany Mubarak supporters from run-ning for office.

German voteboosts hope forEurozone

China kicks offnew era of spaceexploration

Threat to boycottnew wave ofEgypt elections

For more regional news visit our websites at www.americaonsunday.com, www.europeonsunday.com, www.asiaonsunday.com, www.africaonsunday.com

www.englandonsunday.comE4 October 2, 2011

Bristol Zoo's newborn baby gorilla, which hasn'tbeen named yet, is pictured with its mother Salomeat Bristol Zoo Gardens.

Bristol welcomesnew baby gorilla

By Amaris Cole

A FIGHT-BACK against the falseimages presented to children in themedia has been launched by Equali-ties Minister Lynne Featherstone.

The teaching pack, developed bythe not-for-profit company, MediaSmart, contains material for primaryschool teachers to tailor a lesson forthe 10-11 age group.

Media Smart hopes to highlighttechniques used in post-production,such as airbrushing, to help chil-

dren think critically about theimages they are presented with.

The Equalities Minister said oneaim of this pack is to: “Take awaysome of the pressures that we knowyoung people feel.”

Ms Featherstone admitted thatthis will not be easy, however.

“We are talking about a culturalchange.”

While many critics call for morelegislation to stop companies pre-senting airbrushed images as truth,the corporations behind them are

not so keen for tighter regulation. A L’Oreal spokesperson said the

company rejects the claim thatimages in beauty advertising con-tribute to low self-esteem. Instead,the company argues their productsboost self-esteem and play a positiverole in society.

The launch of this teaching packmarks an important step by the gov-ernment in their ongoing body confi-dence campaign.

The new material is available forfree on the Media Smart website.

Mobiles on the Underground?By Amaris Cole

AS NEW YORK is set to get mobile phonecoverage extended down to the subway,some commuters in the UK are hoping thatLondon will do the same.

While it was previously one of the fewplaces New Yorkers could escape from theconstant beep of phones, the plan is to havecoverage in all 277 subway stations by2016.

Many American overground trains therehave etiquette signs about speaking quietlywhile making a call, and ‘quiet zones’ —carriages that are effectively mobile-free.

The chief executive of the companybringing the mobile service underground,William Bayne of Transit Wireless, says

this will not be necessary for the subway.The steel-enforced tunnels are not

expected to be able to give passengersreception, but the stations alone joining thehigh-tech age causes many to worry thatthey will be yet more accountable andexpected to be contactable at all times.

Mr Bayne therefore says it will predomi-nantly only be tweets, texts and emails thatwill be sent, and so noise pollution will bekept to a minimum.

One commuter in the Big Appleexpressed fears of her dependence on aphone increasing even more.

In today’s cautious world, there are alsoworries that using phones undergroundmay lead to phones being used to detonateterrorist devises.

At present, London does not have serv-ice on the tube as a whole, although a sig-nal can be found at some tube stations.

Rumours suggested there were plans tofit London with mobile signal as part of thecity’s upgrade for the Olympics, with BorisJohnson’s blessing, but these appear tohave been abandoned.

Some credit this to fears that the onlynetwork that was bidding for the contract,Huawei, may be planning to hide spyweartechnology in the equipment it pledged todonate.

Although this is not confirmed, thereseems to be little progress in the plans.

But does London want to lose one of thefew remaining places where many seekrefuge from the constant incoming tweets,texts, calls and messages?

Our poll shows contrasting results.Although the benefits can be seen be

many, as one builder wisely pointed out, ifyou had signal even while underground,there is literally nowhere that’s safe fromyour boss checking up on you.

www.englandonsunday.comOctober 2, 2011 E5

1. Preheat the oven to 160°C (325°F, gas mark 3). Tucksome sage sprigs into the body cavity of each partridge,reserving a few sprigs for garnish.

2. Heat the oil and butter in a flameproof casserolejust large enough to hold the birds. Add the partridgesand fry over a moderately high heat for 3–4 minutes,turning until evenly browned. Lift the birds out of thecasserole and set aside.

3. Add the onion to the casserole and cook for 3 min-utes, stirring, until lightly browned. Sprinkle in the flourand stir well to mix with the onion, then add the cider,stock, mustard and seasoning to taste. Bring to the boil,stirring constantly. Add the walnuts.

4. Return the partridges to the casserole, breast sidedown. Cover the casserole and transfer to the oven.Cook for 1 hour or until tender.

5. Lift the partridges out of the casserole and place ona warmed serving plate. Cover and keep hot.

6. Set the casserole on top of the cooker and boil thecooking liquid for 5 minutes or until reduced by one-third. Add the apple slices for the last 2 minutes of cook-ing.

7. Spoon the apple slices around the birds and gar-nish with the reserved sage sprigs. Serve with thesauce.

Ready in 1 hour 25 mins

Prep: 10 mins

Cook: 1 hour 15 mins

Serves 4

4 partridges

15 g (1/2 oz) fresh sage

1 tbsp extra virgin oliveoil

15 g (1/2 oz) butter

1 onion, finely chopped

1 tbsp plain flour

300 ml (10 fl oz) dry cider

150 ml (5 fl oz) chickenstock, preferably home-made

2 tsp german mustard

3 pickled walnuts, about45 g (1 1/2 oz) in total,thinly sliced

1 red-skinned dessertapple, cored and cut intothick slices

salt and pepper

INGREDIENTS

CalvetSancerre 2010£9.99 (on 25% reduction until 11 October)

Sancerre is a 100% Sauvignon Blanc from the Loire: in wineterms that part of the great river when it broadens and andgreat castles appear on its banks. (The departément of theLoire is where it begins, near Lyon: our wines come from

further west.) Fifteen villages have the rightto call their wine Sancerre. This has beenbottled (screw-topped) by Calvet, a very oldestablished (1788) Bordeaux wine company,(a name to be seen on many reds from there)now in the hands of one of the largest drinkscompanies in France. Our wine, clear white inthe glass, has a floral bouquet, yet behind it,something of wet green nettles. Sancerre is abenchmark for Sauvignon Blanc, a coolerclimate, the soil, chalk and pebbles, usuallygiving a touch more sophistication (NewZealand can compete well, though its fruitis more tropical).

Here on the palate, the emphasis is onfresh sharp crispness, classic greengooseberry and clean citrus fruit,backed with mineral hints too. Servewell chilled, for maximum invigoration.The finish ends with a spreading burstof flavour. Alcohol by Vol.12.5%. Trywith poultry, fish, seafood, sushi, or asan aperitif.

Graham Gendall Norton

Recipe of the Week

Pot-roasted partridge with sage

METHOD Wine of the week

‘It would be good because you can checkyour emails.’Emma

‘It would be convenient, because you cankeep in contact. But I don’t want to hearother people’s conversations while I’msitting on the tube.’Marco

‘Depends, because if you’re going homeearly your boss will know, but if you getinto trouble while you’re undergroundthen it would be good. Swings and round-abouts.’David

‘It would be good; I’m about to text mygirlfriend to apologise because I’m in bigtrouble for not texting- but I couldn’tbecause I was on the train!’Sam

www.englandonsunday.comE6 October 2, 2011

Relatively crazy

Catherine FoxCatherine FoxA novel view of the week

13 ..will not take a strong___ (Ezek 17:9) (3)

14 Covered walks in monasteries (9)

16 Another name for Song of Songs (6)

17 Very cold, like the blast in Psalm 147 (3)

19 Fracture (5)20 The Lord’s under-

standing has none, says Psalm 147 (5)

23 Summary of Christianprinciples in the form of question and answer (9)

24 In Genesis ch. 27 Jacob’s was smooth (4)

Down

1 Vessel carrying Jonah in Jonah ch. 1

(4)2 One of 150 sacred

songs comprising an OT book (5)

3 King of Gerar in Genesis ch. 20 (9)

4 Deed done by an apostle ? (3)

6 Maritime disaster in Ezekiel ch. 27 (9)

8 Colour of the donkeysin Judges ch. 5 (5)

11 Large boulder in Gibeon in 2 Samuel ch. 20 (5,4)

12 Isaiah ch. 19 predictsthat the weavers of thiscloth will losehope (4,5)

15 Contravene the eighth commandment(5)

18 ..put on the armour of_____ (Rom 13:12) (5)

21 How a lame man's

legs hang, according to Proverbs ch. 26 (4)

22 Insane, like the nations who drank Babylon's wine in Jere-miah ch. 51 (3)

Solutions to last week's cross-word

Across

5 Stamp 8 Reliable 9 Range 10Careless 11 Psych 14 Oar 16Willow 17 Orphan 18 Law 20First 24 Prudence 25 Strip 26Lifeline 27 Frogs

Down

1 Brick 2 Glory 3 Table 4Elisha 6 Transept 7 Magician12 Minister 13 Blessing 14Owl 15 Row 19 Afraid 21Adder 22 Anvil 23 Jewel

Across

5 Item tied around Aaron in Leviticus ch. 8 (4)

7 ..led him on _________

through the city (Est6:11) (9)

9 ..built true to _____(Amos 7:7) (5)

10 External form (5)

The first correct entry drawn will win a book of the Editor’s choice.

Send your entry to Crossword Number 766, The Church of England Newspaper, 14 Great College Street, Westminster, London, SW1P 3RX by next Friday

Name

Address

Post Code

For reasons that aren’t at all obvious, it’spossible these days to pass yourself offas a cultured person if you read novels,listen to the Today programme and keepabreast of what’s happening inAmbridge. You don’t have to knowabout quantum mechanics as well. Bycontrast, scientists who can’t tell youwho wrote Moby Dick are ignoramuses.It’s not fair, but there we are. Unless anew law is passed outlawing ‘Incitementto Academic Contempt’, non-scientistswill not be required to stop sneering andmug up on the human genome.

Secretly I’m in awe of scientists. Espe-cially scientists who deal in mathemati-cal concepts so complex that theycontain more letters than numbers.Heck, I find numbers bad enough. I hadto borrow my son’s calculator to add upa column of numbers recently. It was fartoo clever for me. Obviously, the factthat each time I totted up I arrived at adifferent answer was my own fault. Butwhen it presented me with some vasthideous fraction, I panicked and ran tomy son for help. He looked at me in sur-prise and said, ‘Well, that is more mathe-matically accurate.’ A line I havecommitted to memory for future taxreturns and Student Finance.

Furthermore, the world of science —

particularly physics — is jolly excitingat the moment. Recent results fromCern appear to indicate that there areparticles that travel faster than thespeed of light. Faster than the speed oflight! If you are struggling to grasp thesheer eye-popping enormity of this, it’slike discovering that a bunch of chim-panzees with typewriters really didwrite the complete works of Shake-speare — in the tomb where the body ofJesus of Nazareth has just been found. Itis so mind-boggling that it has to be amistake. A spokesman from Cern said:“We are not claiming things, we wantjust to be helped by the community inunderstanding our crazy result -because it is crazy”.

But there’s something very attractiveabout the idea. Every so often physicistsappear to be reaching a stage wherethey can say, ‘Well, apart from a spot oftidying up, I think that’s us about done.Pub, anyone?’ Just need to dovetailquantum mechanics with special relativ-ity, and we can put our feet up and readMoby Dick. My own theory about theastounding results is that they are beingskewed by Swiss hyper-efficient time-keeping. If scientists fire the neutrinosfrom Italy to Geneva instead, the parti-cles will probably arrive late.

Sweltering in SeptemberWell, no sooner do I devote my column to the subject of Siberian temperatures thanwe are catapulted into an unexpected heat wave. If you send me a large amount ofmoney I will try it again — perhaps if you are planning some big open-air event thatwould be ruined by rain. I shall of course tithe any donations you care to make.

It’s gorgeous here in Lichfield at the moment. I gather the rest of you have had amiserable summer, but here in the West Midlands we’ve had a drought. The waterlevels in Stowe Pool are about a metre lower than usual, and we’ve had a bumpercrop of walnuts in our back garden. Normally the squirrels get the lot before they’vehad a chance to ripen, but this year we’ve had a bucket full so far, and there are moreto come.

I went out for a run this morning, as is my custom. I go out in rain or shine, or evensnow; but it was particularly enjoyable today. I expect this was partly because I’vejust got a new pair of trainers. Running shoes, I mean, rather than a duo of sportyyoung male fitness trainers, which I would not be able to afford. To be honest, I canbarely afford running shoes, but I’d reached the point where I urgently needed toreplace the battered old Nike Air pair I had inherited from my younger son. Thethings no longer matched each other. I was sporting one Nike Air and one NikePunctured, with the result that when I ran the sound effect went: Clump-pssh!-clump-pssh! and pedestrians were leaping aside in alarm, thinking that some kind of badly-engineered steam-powered android was bearing down on them.

Jogging etiquette is a strange thing. You do not have to greet pedestrians and dog-walkers, but it’s polite to acknowledge your fellow runners. Unless the person run-ning in the opposite direction is clad top-to-toe in athletic skins and looks like theyare training for the 2012 Olympics, in which case they will be in their zone and it’srude to distract them. You can also safely ignore people running iPods. When over-taking other joggers, it’s courteous to act as if you haven’t noticed them lumberingalong like a combine harvester. Do not shout, ‘Pick your feet up, fatty!’ as this mayundermine their confidence. And remember: stay humble, you are only ever 400donuts away from obesity yourself.

Close Encounters — Birdsong on Cathedral Close

I heard a chiff-chaff this morning. I imagine it was just gearing up for the long jour-ney south for the winter. There’s not much by way of birdsong this time of year.Robins and wrens are still singing, rooks are still cawing, but it’s not like spring. Part-ly to make up for this, I’ve begun generating some cheery tweeting of my own. So if

you think that following me is compatible withfollowing Jesus, you can now do so on Twitter@FictionFox. For those of you who haven’t a

clue what that last sentence meant, Twitter is a bril-liant means of wasting time when you should bewriting your column for The Church of England

Newspaper. Twitter-users ‘tweet’ and tell you whatthey are up to in 140 characters or less. Or indeed — if

they are pedants — 140 characters or fewer.

PRIZE CROSSWORD No. 766

www.englandonsunday.comOctober 2, 2011 E7

Tenko - The 1st Series (Acorn Media)

Many readers will remember the BBC’sground-breaking drama about a disparategroup of women from Singapore, who werecaptured by the Japanese during World WarII and kept in prisoner of war camps forthree years.

Its strength is the way that it takes across-section of society and levels the class-

es. A Colonel’s wife has to learn to live with the working class;an officious doctor has to work alongside two of her nurses thatend up in the same camp; and racial prejudices are renderedpointless. All have to sleep on bare boards, fight off various bugbites and endure the unsanitary horrors of the camp. Adding tothe stresses are a pregnant woman and others with children.

The preview copy only included three episodes, but they cer-tainly left a hunger for more. They are strong on the back storyof a British colony that is run by a casual and unprepared elite,whose privileged wives have little to do all day but gossip andgo to tea dances. Other women who end up at the camp includea stubborn nun and a working class housewife.

The series came indirectly from the story of a woman whospent time in such a camp and this leads to a highly realisticaccount of being treated as “fourth-class women”, as the com-mandant puts it.

Tenko, which means “roll call” in Japanese, shows the com-promises, ingenuity and intimacy that war brings about inthose who try to survive in the face of brutal taskmasters, dis-ease and deprivation.

The series has received remarkable acclaim from many view-ers and critics. Yesterday TV channel voted it the ‘most-requested TV series to be re-screened’ and it is not hard to seewhy.

Derek Walker

EnglandOn Sunday

Only One Way? Gavin D’Costa, Paul Knitter,Daniel StrangeSCM, pb, £25.00

Gavin D’Costa is aRoman Catholictheologian whofirst made his markwith a penetratingcritique of JohnHick’s pluralist the-ology. He has con-tinued to publishworks on the rela-tionship between

Christianity and other religions forover 25 years. Equally well known isPaul Knitter, also a Roman Catholic,who has been publishing books foras long as D’Costa but who arguesfor a position that is close to thatheld by Hick.

In this new book they join withDaniel Strange to conduct a vigor-ous but friendly debate on the dia-logue between Christian theologyand other religions. Although hehas published other books, Strange,who teaches at Oak Hill, will be anewcomer to many readers. Heargues from a Reformed positionand draws particularly on a DutchReformed missiologist, JH Bavinck.

Although the book is describedon the cover as ‘an excellent intro-duction to the theology of religions’the papers are quite demanding anddo cover new ground. They can beread as an introduction to the sub-ject but they should also appeal totheologians who already have agood grasp of the issues.

The book takes the form of threeposition papers followed by tworounds of responses. At the end ofthe dialogue all three protagonistsare left with questions to answer.

D’Costa is determined to upholdthe official teaching of the RomanCatholic Church on this issue butthe final impression left by his con-tributions is that there is a degree ofconfusion about what this positionactually is. On the one hand D’Cos-ta would have us believe that whilethere are elements in other reli-gions that amount to a ‘praeparatioevangelica’ there are also elementsthat are dangerous and wrong sothat these religions cannot be ameans of salvation. But on the otherhand D’Costa quotes John Paul II’sview that ‘God offers to every manthe possibility of being associatedwith the Paschal Mystery’.

Since, as Rahner pointed out,grace comes to us through histori-cal mediation, this might seem toimply that other religions are salvif-ic, a conclusion ruled out by Domi-nus Iesus. D’Costa’s solution to theproblem is to argue that salvationwill come through a post-mortemencounter with Christ. Although atone point he makes a positive refer-ence to Jacques Dupuis, D’Costanever considers Dupuis’ argumentthat Christ the Logos is active inother faiths as well as the Holy Spirit.

Paul Knitter is never able toshake off the accusation that he isjudging Christianity by what D’Cos-ta terms ‘Kantian exclusive moder-nity’ or ‘universal modernliberalism’. As with Hick, Knitter

espouses a position that claims tobe pluralist but is, in effect exclu-sivist, by ruling out many of thetruth claims of practically all themajor religions.

D’Costa is right to question howfar Knitter’s symbolic use of lan-guage really does follow Rahnerand Strange makes telling pointsagainst what he terms Knitter’s‘Buddhist–Christian panentheism’.How, he pertinently asks, can theimpersonal ‘Inter-Being’ who takesthe place of the Biblical God in Knit-ter’s theology, be the basis forrationality and knowledge or dis-play personal characteristics of loveand patience?

Somewhat reluctantly Strangedoes concede a positive role forother faiths in that God may usethem to ‘teach’, ‘edify’, or ‘rebuke’the Church but by and large theview he offers is negative about theother religions. We must be carefulabout speaking of ‘truth’ in themand be alert to the danger of thehuman mind suppressing what Godteaches in General Revelation andeven twisting what is taught thereinto idolatry.

Strange cannot follow D’Costa inhoping for a second chance afterdeath. All who die without faith inChrist are lost. Although this is farfrom Strange’s intention, it is hard tosee how this approach could nourisha fruitful dialogue with the followersof other faiths or promote good inter-faith relations. There are resourcesin the Reformed tradition for a moregenerous approach than this.

Paul Richardson

The only way to God?

Kevin Smith is best known for outrageouscomedy but also, as a lapsed RomanCatholic, he came up with the funny andtheologically literate Dogma. This gave usthe concept of the “buddy Christ” – animage that’s been used by this newspaperbut was the subject of a complaint to theAdvertising Standards Authority, upheld,when Phones4u used a version of it in anEaster advertising campaign.

Smith’s latest film, Red State (cert. 18), isa siege movie based on Waco but refer-enced to the Westboro Baptist Church inKansas. Among other noxious activity, theypicket funerals of gays, and of soldierskilled in Iraq orAfghanistan.

In Red State asimilar group,the fictional FivePoints Church,likewise led byan elderlypreacher andbacked by manyfamily members,are going some-what further bykidnapping andkilling gays. Theyuse the Internetfor what 70s cult the Children of God usedto call “flirty fishing”, not as a recruitmenttactic, but for entrapping victims for mur-der.

Three high school boys (MichaelAngarano, Nicholas Braun, Ronnie Con-

nell), having foundon the internet alocal woman(Melissa Leo) will-ing to satisfy themall, head out to her

trailer home, side-swiping a badly parkedcar on the way. That’s the local sheriff’s car,and he’s nursing his own guilty secret.

In their fortified compound, the FivePoints Church maintain their basic theo-logical stance – God hates you. Taking as

his text “I hate them that hate thee” (Psalm139) the paterfamilias Abin Cooper(Michael Parks) preaches to his extendedfamily then ushers the children out beforethe “grown-up business”. That involves theboys, drugged by the woman in the trailerand imprisoned.

The chance of escape seems small, butTravis (Angarano) finds the church’s arse-nal (significantly more elaborate than thewhole armour of God) and the siegebegins, with ATF officers surrounding the

building. They’re led by Joseph Keenan(John Goodman), whose attempt to containthe situation is scuppered by the trigger-happy sheriff (Stephen Root), andKeenan’s unseen superior gives him ordersthat he is reluctant to carry out.

The ending is very weird as ear-splittingtrumpet blasts could herald the Rapture.Cooper and his family treat it as such andthe real explanation doesn’t convince, writ-ten into an epilogue as Keenan faces disci-pline for the way the siege was conducted.

More effective is the scene whereKeenan is woken in the early hours to dealwith the crisis. It’s a one-way conversation,his boss unheard on the other end of thetelephone, and provides the line that thechurch in the story are not like the Phelpsfamily who run Westboro church who are“sewers not doers” (thus making a pointwhile avoiding litigation).

Smith actually invited the Phelps familyto a screening. They came with children intow and soon walked out, and also picketedthe film at the Sundance Film Festival,where Smith had his own banners, includ-ing “God hates rainy days and Mondays”.

Smith’s attitude to fundamentalism isplain, but Goodman gets a throwaway lineabout his own belief, and if Cooper preach-es a gospel of hate there’s a backhandedapproval of the idea that God loves you. Ifthe budget had run to the special effectsneeded, Smith says the ending might havebeen the real Second Coming, and thatwould have been interesting.

Steve Parish

Red State and the extremes of religious belief

Tenko retains its powerafter all these years

John Goodman stars in Red State

www.englandonsunday.comE8 October 2, 2011

SportOn Sunday

Manchester City secured a com-fortable Barclays Premier Leaguewin at Blackburn Rovers.

Mario Balotelli capped a bril-liant performance with a 59th-minute goal while othersecond-half strikes from AdamJohnson, Samir Nasri and StefanSavic eased City home.

Blackburn's best chance fell tosubstitute Mauro Formica late onbut it was not enough for thehome fans.

Balotelli was looking by far theliveliest of City's attackingoptions, particularly when SergioAguero limped off injured on thehalf-hour.

Rovers had started solidlyenough but it quickly becameapparent they would have toguard against City's speed andsharpness, with Chris Samba cut-ting out a dangerous VincentKompany cross.

The visitors had their first realchance in the 10th minute whenDavid Silva cut into the box fromthe left and his cross was parriedby Paul Robinson into the path ofBalotelli, who blazed over.

scampered overRovers responded two minutes

later with a swinging cross fromMorten Gamst Pedersen on theleft, which was aimed for the headof Samba before being cut out byJoleon Lescott.

Junior Hoilett's pace troubledthe City rearguard in the 16thminute as he scampered over thehalf-way line and sent Yakubu onthe left, but he was denied by afine challenge by Milner.

For all their neat possession,Mancini's men were struggling tounduly threaten the Roversdefence, with Silva guilty ofspooning a 25th minute half-chance high over the bar.

City's striking options, alreadydiminished by the suspension ofCarlos Tevez, were further hitwhen Aguero limped off with anapparent groin strain.

Nasri came on to replaceAguero, and his first act was toscrew a low shot towards theRovers goal which was deflected

out for a corner by David Good-willie.

City's inability to find the cut-ting final ball surfaced again inthe 35th minute when a fine moveinvolving Milner and Nasripetered out when Samba beatBalotelli to a clearance in the box.

looked sharperBalotelli stepped up his game

towards the end of the first half,flashing a curling 37th minuteeffort wide then zipping in front ofSamba to shoot into the side-net-ting.

City looked sharper at the start

of the second half, with Silvashooting across the face of goalmoments after the restart, thenBalotelli driving a right-foot shotagainst the post.

City finally broke the deadlockin the 56th minute when Johnsonpicked up a half-cleared Kolarovcorner on the edge of the box andswung a superb left-foot shot intothe top corner.

And Manchester City extendedtheir lead three minutes laterwhen Balotelli got the goal hisperformance deserved, stealingin front of Steven Nzonzi to prod

home a cross from the left byNasri.

Nasri swept home City's thirdin the 74th minute after goodwork from Silva in the box. Substi-tute Mauro Formica forced thefirst real save out of Joe Hart with15 minutes left on the clock thenYakubu blazed high over the barbut it was all in vain.

City scored their fourth threeminutes from time when Nasrisent in a corner from the left andsubstitute Stefan Savic bundledthe ball home through a crowdedbox.

Manchester City 4Blackburn Rovers 0

City’s comfortable win

Saturday’sresults

1 Man Utd 7 192 Manchester City 7 193 Newcastle 7 154 Chelsea 6 135 Liverpool 7 136 Aston Villa 7 117 Tottenham 5 98 Stoke City 6 99 QPR 6 810 Norwich City 7 811 Everton 6 712 Wolves 7 713 Arsenal 6 714 Sunderland 7 615 WBA 7 516 Swansea City 6 517 Wigan Athletic 7 518 Fulham 6 419 Blackburn 7 420 Bolton 6 3

Everton 2Liverpool 4

Aston Villa 2 Wigan Athletic 0

Blackburn Rovers 0Manchester City 4

Manchester United 2Norwich City 0

Sunderland 2West Bromwich Albion 0

Wolverhampton Wanderers 1Newcastle United 2

England 16Scotland 12

Wing Chris Ashton scored a last-gasp try to hand England theirfourth win of Rugby World Cup2011 with a 16-12 win over Scot-land at Eden Park in Auckland,cementing Martin Johnson'sside a place in the quarter finalsagainst France.

The Northampton Saints flyerdived over for his sixth try of thetournament after collectingreplacement fly half TobyFlood’s excellent long pass,which cut out three coveringdefenders. Flood added theextras with a pinpoint kick fromthe touchline.

Scotland had the best of theopening 40 minutes and led 9-3at half time through a penaltyapiece from full back ChrisPaterson and replacement flyhalf Dan Parks, who also slotteda drop goal with the last action ofthe half.

In between England fly halfJonny Wilkinson, who had earli-er missed three penalties in fiveminutes, briefly reduced thearrears to 6-3 by slotting hisfourth penalty.

In the second half the bootagain dominated, with Patersonstretching Scotland’s lead to 12-3with an early penalty. But Eng-land’s record points scorerWilkinson found some form tokeep his side in touch with adrop goal and a penalty.

England's scrum was sudden-ly beginning to function as thehalf wore on and Scotland wereput under pressure in their own22 but Wilkinson failed to takeadvantage as he saw a poor drop-goal effort go wide.

However, Scotland reallyshould have scored a try on 52minutes. Simon Danielli chippedover and, although Ben Fodenmanaged to get his hand to theball it spilt loose, Nick de Lucacould only knock on with the try-line at his mercy.

England throughto quarter finals