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2011
- December
  - Rhidian Brook, writer, celebrity and Christian
    31/12/11
    Rating 5 out of 5 (Extraordinarily platitudinous)
    
    There was once this man. No, honestly there was, I knew him well. He's not at all a literary fiction designed to embody certain characteristics that tend to typify people about this time of year, and this year in particular, and that
  - The Most Revd and Rt Hon Dr John Tucker Mugabi Sentamu, Archbishop of York
    30/12/11
    Rating 5 out of 5 (Extraordinarily platitudinous)
    
    Hasn't 2011 been just terrible? It's been awful. Absolutely abysmal. There's youth unemployment and all sorts of social ills.
    
    Fortunately, Christianity invented something called "hope". This isn't j
  - The Big Chief Rabbi, Lord Jonathan Sacks, Baron Aldgate
    29/12/11
    Rating 4 out of 5 (Highly platitudinous)
    
    This programme is all about leaders, which is why they have important religious leaders like me on. There are two types of leaders. There are political leaders, people who seek power, like kings, who fight their petty little wars and are soon forgo
  - Marvellously Reverend James Jones, Lord Bishop of Liverpool and Bishop of Prisons
    28/12/11
    Rating 4 out of 5 (Highly platitudinous)
    
    The marvellous Tracey Emin has asked me to provide a thought for you today. We have one of this marvellous artist's work in my cathedral. What a marvellous work this is, it is a neon sign with the word "love" in it. Marvellous, is it
  - His Grace, Bishop Angaelos, Patriarchal Exarch for the Youth Ministry at the Patriarchal Center and the Coptic Orthodox Theological College, Stevenage
    27/12/11
    Rating 3 out of 5 (Fairly platitudinous)
    
    Things are not going well for Christians in the Middle East. We used to be top religion, where everybody did what we told them to. Now another religion is top religion and they're making life very difficult for us.
    
    Some Christians i
  - Rev Canon Duncan Green, Church of England Olympics Co-ordinator, LOCOG Head of Multi Faith Chaplaincy Services
    26/12/11
    Rating 4 out of 5 (Highly platitudinous)
    
    There's only 215 shopping days left to the Olympics. But don't panic. Me, and my Olympic standard multi-faith staff are training round the clock to make sure that the 193 Olympic chaplains are in peak physical condition.
    
    While
  - From Norwich, it's the bishop of the week, Mind-blowingly Reverend Graham James, Lord Bishop of Norwich
    24/12/11
    Rating 3 out of 5 (Fairly platitudinous)
    
    The rules regarding adoption are to be reviewed.
    
    Parents. Babies. Adoption. It's Christmas Eve. I wonder where I should go with this story? Hmmm... difficult one. I hadn't anticipated such an awkward news story appearing. Someh
  - Rev Dr Giles Fraser - Ex Canon Chancellor of St Paul's Cathedral
    23/12/11
    Rating 4 out of 5 (Highly platitudinous)
    
    It's nearly Christmas. There will be lots of Christmas presents. That's because giving and receiving gifts was invented by Christians, so it's a good job we were around.
    
    Aside from all this giving and receiving that was in
  - Reverend Lucy Winkett, Rector of St James Piccadilly, just down from Fortnum and Mason
    22/12/11
    Rating 2 out of 5 (A little platitudinous)
    
    Homeless people die, on average, 30 years younger than the rest of us. A woman of 43, living on the streets, can expect this to be her last Christmas. We might scarcely notice her, in her dirty sleeping bag or cardboard box, forced there through
  - The Big Chief Rabbi, Lord Jonathan Sacks, Baron Aldgate
    21/12/11
    Rating 5 out of 5 (Extraordinarily platitudinous)
    
    There's a big Jewish festival underway. Happy Hanukkah everybody!
    
    Hanukkah celebrates the rebellion of the Jews against Antiochus IV. He put a statute of the wrong Invisible Magic Friend in the temple and banned us from mut
  - Canon Angela Tilby, Christ Church Cathedral Oxford
    20/12/11
    Rating 4 out of 5 (Highly platitudinous)
    
    I'm delighted that Tracey Emin has been appointed professor of drawing at the RA. Tracey was "thrilled". I'm not thrilled, but I am delighted.
    
    In order to draw things you have to look at them. David Hockney agrees wit
  - Clifford Longley, a distinguished Catholic gentleman who talks a lot about religion, Platitude of the Year Winner 2010
    19/12/11
    Rating 4 out of 5 (Highly platitudinous)
    
    Has anyone mentioned the 400th anniversary of the King James Big Book of Magic Stuff yet? Yes of course they have, lots and lots and lots of times. The most recent was the Prime Minister. Speaking to an audience of Christians, the PM said how fanta
  - Rev Rob Marshall, an Anglican Priest
    17/12/11
    Rating 4 out of 5 (Highly platitudinous)
    
    Hi Mary, Gabriel here. I would have texted u but that hasn't been invented yet. Great news!
    Who are you?
    I told you, I'm Gabriel, the angel Gabriel.
    Aha. So what's this good news then?
    The Particularly Invisible B
  - No POTD Thurs (& possibly Fri)
    14/12/11
    I know I can rely on you to provide some suitable summaries of TFTD while I'm away for a few days.
    
    15 Nov John Bell Listen/Read
    16 Nov Lord Harries Listen/Read
  - Mona Siddiqui, Professor of Islamic and Inter-Religious Studies, Assistant Principal for Religion and Society, New College on the Mound, University of Edinburgh
    14/12/11
    Rating 2 out of 5 (A little platitudinous)
    
    The True Meaning of Christmas is that there are loads of twinkly lights. Everyone gets to decorate a Christmas tree with bright baubles and more twinkly lights. Living rooms have holly and ivy on their walls, or at least their plastic equivalents
  - Canon Angela Tilby, Christ Church Cathedral Oxford
    13/12/11
    Rating 3 out of 5 (Fairly platitudinous)
    
    Antonio Horta-Osorio could soon be back at work. Hurrah! I hear you all shout. He, along with other alpha males and females, such as myself, always run out of steam in the end.
    
    I used to be just like him, never delegating any of my preac
  - Clifford Longley, a distinguished Catholic gentleman who talks a lot about religion, Platitude of the Year Winner 2010
    12/12/11
    Rating 5 out of 5 (Extraordinarily platitudinous)
    
    David and Goliath is a story from the Old Tasty mint of how the little guy stands up to the giant and goes on to be hereditary, autocratic dictator. It's the perfect metaphor for people standing up to dictator's today in a long l
  - Why did Cameron veto the treaty changes?
    11/12/11
    I've seen a great many articles and comments on whether Cameron is a hero or a fool, whether he "played a blinder" or fell into an inscrutable Gallic trap. As always, everyone else in the country seems to understand this and I seem to be the only person who is utterly confused. For th
  - Rev Rob Marshall, an Anglican Priest
    10/12/11
    Rating 3 out of 5 (Fairly platitudinous)
    
    Long term isolation from others is not desirable for most of us.
    A little bit of isolation can be good but lots of it is bad.
    In other words, we like to engage with others.
    In other, other words, we don't like to be in solitary
  - Resplendently Reverend Lord Professor Bishop Baron Reverend Lord Richard Harries, Baron Pentregarth, Gresham Professor of Divinity, Baron, Bishop, Professor, Lord...
    09/12/11
    Rating 3 out of 5 (Fairly platitudinous)
    
    And the Big Question on everybody's lips this morning: what role will the Church of England play in the imminent depression?
    
    As a Resplendently Reverend Lord Professor Bishop Baron, let me just set everyone's mind at rest. The
  - Thomas Paine on Christian Prophecies
    09/12/11
    Stonyground posted this interesting link on John Bell's thread. I thought it deserved a bit more prominence. As the title suggests, it's Thomas Paine systematically demolishing the alleged prophecies of the Old Tasty Mint about the arrival of Jesus.
    
    http://www.sacred-texts.com/a
  - Rev Dr Michael Banner, Dean and Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge
    08/12/11
    Rating 3 out of 5 (Fairly platitudinous)
    
    It's one of the pressing problems of our age: what version of the Lord's prayer should we use? Should we forgive trespasses, forgive debts, or forgive sins? It's a tough one, but fear not, that's precisely the sort of vital chal
  - Rev John Bell of the Iona Community
    07/12/11
    Rating 4 out of 5 (Highly platitudinous)
    
    News, news, news. The news is just full of news these days. However, a lot of news is not news at all. It is in fact, old news, news that has been announced before it was news and that by the time it became news was no longer news.
    
    There
  - Mona Siddiqui, Professor of Islamic Studies and Public Understanding and Director of the Centre for the Study of Islam, University of Glasgow
    06/12/11
    Rating 1 out of 5 (Not platitudinous)
    
    I was once asked if cultural traditions could be used to excuse a particularly violent case of honour killing. It cannot. Murder is murder and is always wrong.
    
    Honour violence in this country is nearly always perpetrated by Muslim men again
  - Rabbi Lionel Blue
    05/12/11
    Rating 1 out of 5 (Not platitudinous)
    
    Good morning Evan, good morning Jim and good morning to you all.
    
    Well here we are in another crisis. It doesn't really matter what it is because there's always a crisis of some sort, this is just the latest one. It's mostly o
  - The much awaited November Clemmies
    04/12/11
    We've had an extraordinary number of extraordinarily platitudinous contributions this month, with no fewer than eight top scorers and a further nine who only just missed reaching the top spot. I think we all need to offer a huge vote of thanks to all the TFTD presenters this month, and to the B
  - Rev Rob Marshall, an Anglican Priest
    03/12/11
    Rating 4 out of 5 (Highly platitudinous)
    
    Ambassadors are in the news. Iran and Britain have decided to stop having ambassadors. The 2012 Olympics, on the other hand, have decided to have some royal ambassadors. They'll royally tell everyone that the 2012 Olympics are really royally g
  - Radiantly Reverend Lord Professor Bishop Baron Reverend Lord Richard Harries, Baron Pentregarth, Gresham Professor of Divinity, Baron, Bishop, Professor, Lord...
    02/12/11
    Rating 4 out of 5 (Highly platitudinous)
    
    Isn't everything really gloomy at the moment? The economy is in meltdown. (Mervyn King said so yesterday. There, that's the news out of the way.) All over the planet there is violence and disorder, injustice and the poverty. It all seems
  - Akhandadhi Das, a Vaishnav Hindu teacher and theologian
    01/12/11
    Rating 3 out of 5 (Fairly platitudinous)
    
    The chancellor's autumn statement says things are going to get worse before they get better.
    
    This is exactly what it says in one of the Hindu Big Books of Magic Stuff. Just hang on in there for another five or six years, a decade or
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