There are many things one looks forward to throughout the year:

Longer, warmer days as winter slides away.

A substantial tax return perhaps…..

But there is little to surpass the return of Game of Thrones to our screens. Monday’s are not great, I’m sure we will all admit. However, for a few weeks each year, Monday’s suddenly become a joyous occasion, a cause for celebration, and definitely an excuse to head home early from work, keeping the fingers crossed that the Foxtel recording hasn’t chosen today, of all days, to fail.

The dog walk can wait. Dinner can wait. Sometimes even removing ones work attire can wait.

So what awaits us with this new season? I won’t go into much detail as it will be impossible to guess.

Some might be inclined to suppose that this season may be a ‘filler’ for the expected finale season in 2018. But this is Game of Thrones. Whilst one might expect the odd filler episode, there is no getting away from death, mayhem, genocide, self indulgence, rape, torture, murder, and of course, dragons! There is certainly no doubt that the dragons will play a big part this season.

I have a soft spot for Daenerys Targaryen. She is certainly becoming more ‘queen-like’ as time passes by and has become adept at balancing command and control with respect. The throne doesn’t seem like much of a desirable prize, it certainly looks rather un-comfy, but she’s in a ‘must have’ mood and it will be interesting to see whether she has the desire to follow through.

Cersei will not be giving up without a serious fight, and boy, does she no how to fight dirty. Can she surpass the trail of destruction she left behind? I wouldn’t bet against it. She has given up any remaining modicum of compassion she had left. There is nothing more to lose.

And what of John Snow. He’s battle weary, yet has probably not seen the half of it yet. His sister will drag him south for revenge, but he knows it will all be to no avail unless he can defeat the threat from the north.

No longer a child, where the excitement of Christmas Eve was to hard to bear at times, I am happy to admit that this might just be my Christmas. Bring it on Santa!

Thank you CC for introducing me to the wonder that is GoT!

‘Faith, hope and love (charity), and the greatest of these is love’

This is one biblical quote that stays with me. Not for the first part, but for the second. I agree, of the three, the greatest is love.

Despite 40 years of being brought up with, and then living with, religion, faith never quite took hold for me. Fear, yes, but never faith. Fear of being ostracised. Fear of being judged by others.

As Laurence Krauss recently said:

“We should never take anything on faith. That’s really the mantra of science, if you want: that faith is the enemy of science. We often talk about a loss of faith in the world today; you don’t lose anything by losing faith. What you gain is reality”

“Faith, like hope, is a human construct that simply helps us pretend that an indifferent universe actually cares what we like”

I was brought up to admire faith, but could never quite commit to it myself. An adherent rather than a communicant, I was brought up to see faith as elevating some humans above others. It is easy to say that one has faith, it is quite a different matter to open one’s mind and challenge this in a meaningful way.

What does it mean to be faithful? My conclusion is that it is mostly borne out of a fear of death, a fear of the end and that’s that. I used to take pride in expressing faith, but only to those who were faithful. Expressing faith to non believers filled me with dread. I didn’t want to have faith, simply because it gave me a sense of belonging, of kinship with family and brethren.

Instead, I want to love and be loved. To feel free to love unconditionally. Faith in God always comes with condition. To use a behavioural term, it is negative reinforcement in its’ ultimate form.

I am tattooed on the left of my chest with a cross, light shining across it, and the numbers 3:16 across the top. It is only recently that I have come to accept that this symbol represented 40 years of fear and not a mark of faith. Now, I am sorry to say, I cringe a little when I go swimming with my two year old daughter and spend much valuable time figuring out how to cover this mark of fear, but can never quite bring myself to do this. Perhaps, inwardly at least, I like to be reminded of the nonsense it represents.

PM

Today I had the rare pleasure of a 30 minute car journey to work Jeremy Paxman (JP) and the late Christopher Hitchens (CH).

I am, of course, referring to a YouTube video interview from 2010, at a time when cancer had taken a hold of CH. The interview was a perfect duration for my journey and caused me much reflection.

Having been brought up as a Protestant, with a Free Church of Scotland Minister for a father, it had taken me in excess of 40 years to admit to myself that I found the whole idea of religion somewhat boring at best and positively frightening at its’ worst. CH was the primary catalyst for this admission and awakening. A realisation that, actually, I had no need of any help or intervention from the supernatural. I was perfectly fine thank you very much.

The interview is a piece of dialogue I now revert to often to bring a smile to my face. A man assured of his place on this earth, CH was without doubt an inspiration to many including myself. His ability to soften a normally abrasive JP is a rarity, and I encourage all to listen.

PM