This piece has been a long time in gestation. Ever since Justin Welby announced his departure, I've found myself jotting notes, revisiting history, and anticipating the inevitable turn the Church of England would take. Today’s announcement is therefore no surprise - only the confirmation of what many of us had already suspected. It seemed fitting, … Continue reading The Archbishopric of Canterbury: From Augustine’s Cloak to Sarah’s Mitre
Month: October 2025
Time and the Old Women: Vanity with a Skeleton’s Smile
Francisco de Goya, Time and the Old Women, c. 1810–1820. Public domain. Francisco de Goya painted this nightmare somewhere between 1810 and 1820, during those black years when he’d gone deaf, half-mad, and wholly honest. The result is Time and the Old Women - a canvas in which social comedy collapses into a danse macabre. … Continue reading Time and the Old Women: Vanity with a Skeleton’s Smile
The Misery: Whispering Ghosts and the Pistol on the Table
Adolf Werner (1862–1916), The Misery, c. 1900. Public domain. Some paintings merely decorate a wall, and some paintings accuse you from the other side of the room. Adolf Werner’s The Misery (c. 1900) is firmly in the second category. It doesn't flatter the parlour, nor charm the eye with pastoral pleasantries. It leans forward, ghost on shoulder, and … Continue reading The Misery: Whispering Ghosts and the Pistol on the Table
Wording 