According to Wikipedia: “A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies. The term is a calque of Latin bellum civile which was used to refer to the various civil wars of the Roman Republic in the 1st century BC”. There have been many civil wars but the ones I think of first are the English and American civil wars.

Four days ago, I wrote my last blog, titled “A summer of attacks and riots in Britain and unravelling the ‘narrative’”. This was to do with something that goes to the heart of a problem that has been around for years but has increased steadily and has dire consequences, which if Elon Musk is to be believed, will lead to civil war if the matter is not addressed as now appears to be the case.

Ever since Labour won its landslide victory in the British General Election a month ago, I have been chomping at the bit wanting to write on how they are doing along with developments on the world stage. While a lot can be usefully be said, other things have occupied my attention as a watchman on the wall blogger and, besides which, this (for me) may be the season to watch and pray and getting right with God so I can be best prepared to face the worse that is to come and help those affected, rather than wax lyrical on what I see so that the few people who check me out can be wised up.

Yesterday, my social media feeds were inundated with righteously indignant folk posting concerning their disgust at some of what had gone on during the Opening Ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympics.

As folk who read my sports related blogs might gather, I have been a keen fan of a wide range of sports, following sporting events at the highest levels and back in the day modestly participating in several.

As with the proverbial London bus story, where you wait for an hour for a bus to arrive and then two come within a minute of one another, so it is with my Trumpwatch series – having posted a couple of weeks back after a break of several months, I post soon after, due to interesting, breathtakingly, blogworthy developments that have taken place in the world of Trump since last time.

This my latest blog is my attempt at reflecting on the state of the world as it is right now, where it appears to be heading and my hopes on where it should be heading. In particular, I consider how Christians are responding and ought to respond, noting we are in a culture and spiritual war of monumental intensity.

Some years ago, I recall waking up the day after a UK General Election and feeling deflated after learning that the Conservatives had won. I could have just as easily felt similarly following Thursday’s General Election, which resulted this time in a Labour victory, albeit as predicted, and an emphatic one at that.

Late last night and in the early hours of this morning, I attended the counting of the results for the election held nationally, yesterday, as pertaining to the Southend East and West constituencies.

Between Monday 17^th June and Wednesday 26^th June, my wife and I did our version of a Round Britain Trip that entailed us going from Southend up to Glasgow along the West side of the country and returning to Southend along the East side. The idea was to combine my wife attending a work related conference in Glasgow and to visit friends and family on the way. Here are the highlights …