Mr Blenkinsop is quoted as saying, ‘The changes pave the way for schools to teach creationism’.

Why is creationism trotted out every time there’s any hint of religion playing a part in education. If every child, from tomorrow, was taught that the world came about as a result of creation and not a cosmic event, what would the result be? The origins of the world play a very small part in a child’s education. Any religious education would have very little impact on maths classes or PE. Religious education should, I’d hope, still involve an understanding of different world religions, French and German would still be the same languages, English would still require the reading of classic books and an understanding of grammar.

What should worry us more is that children are being taught that the world came into existence by some kind of cosmic event with no thought given to other theories. Even world class research scientists wouldn’t discount the possibility that there is something more behind the dawning of our universe than just a collision of particles.

See more videos in this series from God: New Evidence

Renault Clio Repair Manual

Tany’s back at the garage with the car. I wish I was a practical kind of guy who knew what was what under the bonnet and could fix things myself, but that’s not me so we have to use garages.

Yesterday the car went in for new front tyres (we had a bit of a slow puncture) and to have the handbrake tightened. The new tyres were a quick fix, but the car was leaking a bit of brake fluid, so Tany had to take the car back in this morning to have that sorted out and some new discs put on.

Only, today, when they start removing bits to fix the breaks the wheel bearings fall out. So that’s another bit that needs replacing.

The cost has gone up accordingly, from £100 to £250 to somewhere over £300. Oh well, better that the car is safe and working well than in pieces at the side of the motorway. Besides, it’s why Tany’s job comes with mileage payments. As she drives around to visit patients she gets more than the fuel costs to help to keep the car on the road.

That said, when do payments for car repairs outweigh the cost of replacing the car? I don’t think we are there yet. Tyres and brakes are to be expected when you’re doing the kind of mileage we are. But when the other bits start packing up, where’s the line?

The episode has given us one funny story. The guy working on the car told Tany about a girl who was bringing in a car with a puncture. The phone conversation had included the classic line… “it’s not too bad, the tyre’s only flat at the bottom!”

We also celebrated our 1st Wedding anniversary, which resulted in a trip to the Shepherds Bush Empire to see Brad Paisley on the American Saturday Night tour. I won’t say more now because it’ll spoil some of Sunday for those of you coming along to Cornerstone!

It was a fascinating time to go and see the planes as the weekend was marking the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Britain. When the Allies battled the German Luftwaffe for supremacy in the skies above Britain. In memory seven Spitfires, a Hurricane and a Lancaster bomber all made an appearance, the eight fighters flying together at the end of the display. There was also a mock dogfight with some German fighters making an appearance. You can see some highlights in the video below.

As a side note, there’s a really interesting website that’s been set up to mark the anniversary. Releasing stories in real time, there are tweets from characters that could have been around at the time and a daily blog updating the story of the battle. See 1940chronicle.com

Of course, what isn’t so easy to judge from this video is the difference in noise levels between the propeller driven aircraft and the modern jets. The Eurofighter with afterburners turned on managed to set off the alarms of cars parked at the side of the airstrip.

So I’m going back to school with iTunes. Yesterday I spent a while hunting down some courses from places like Arizona State University, Duke and the Open University to fill in some blanks. I’ve downloaded the first couple of lectures from seven different institutions and plan to listen to each one and pick three of the best to keep me going for the next few weeks.

I’ll let you know if it’s any good when I get to the end.

Ford Falcon Panel Van by the_ferret http://www.flickr.com/photos/jonathan_stilts/3243455606/

Somehow I’ve managed to get to the age of 32 only owning one car. It was a 1980s Ford Falcon Panel Van which I bought in Cairns and drove to Brisbane before my fear for my own life and those of other road users resulted in me selling it for scrap.

I now drive Tany’s car which, despite being married and having shared possessions, remains her car because it’s a blue Renault Clio with a Winnie the Poo on the dashboard. One day we will own an executive saloon or a sports car, and it will be mine… but until that day!

For the rest of my life I’ve either driven cars owned by other people or rented some which presents a challenge. When you get to the petrol/gas station and need to refuel, which side does the pump need to be on? I’ve discovered that the fuel tank is nearly always on the other side of the car from the pump you’ve pulled up next to.

Refuel on the right side by exfordy http://www.flickr.com/photos/exfordy/415934482/

Well, yesterday I read how to solve this question without having to open the car door. On every fuel gauge there is a symbol of a petrol pump, the side that the nozzle is on is the side that your filler cap is. In the image here it means that you need to have the pump on the right hand side of the car.

Simple tip that I’m happy to share.

I’d credit the original author of this information but I can’t remember where I read it. I think it was in a motoring magazine that I picked up in the garage yesterday (getting a repair job done on the LPG system we had fitted) but then it could have been in the Times newspaper or on the radio while I was driving around. One of those is probably the original source.

So, it’s with a little shame and humility, that after the weekend’s failure to stop the oil leak in the Gulf that I started to think that I should be praying about this – I say shame and humility, because I’d like to think that praying about issues would be higher up my list of responses, not just reserved for moments of desperation or when I feel that all other options have been exhausted. Regardless of whether it’s for a mountain to move and bury the leak, or for one of the plans to block the pipes to be successful, it’s the kind of thing that really I should remember to pray about because environmental catastrophe in one place eventually has an impact on us all.

Of course, I’d like to think that there are thousands of Christians all there before me, pleading with God to sort out the oil problems and remove our dependence on black gold, but as yet I haven’t found the Facebook group to suggest this is happening. Nor have I found anyone praying for the even bigger leak in the Niger Delta, but then there’s way less attention paid to problems in Africa than other countries with 24 hour rolling news.

By contrast, little information has emerged about the damage inflicted on the Niger delta. Yet the destruction there provides us with a far more accurate picture of the price we have to pay for drilling oil today.

On 1 May this year a ruptured ExxonMobil pipeline in the state of Akwa Ibom spilled more than a million gallons into the delta over seven days before the leak was stopped. Local people demonstrated against the company but say they were attacked by security guards. Community leaders are now demanding $1bn in compensation for the illness and loss of livelihood they suffered. Few expect they will succeed. In the meantime, thick balls of tar are being washed up along the coast.

You can read the rest of the Guardian article online, ‘Nigeria’s agony dwarfs the Gulf oil spill. The US and Europe ignore it‘.

More on both of these later, but just to let you know I hope to be back to a regular(ish) posting routine by the end of the week.

All that activity played havoc with my back. Despite all the stretching, I was sore and not moving as well as I should have been, so Tany ran me an ice bath to sit in for 10 minutes. You know the annoying thing, it seemed to work. I was still a bit stiff on Sunday, but today most of the pain has gone.

I guess I now have to face up to the fact that after exercise, sitting in some very cold water for 10 minutes is going to help.

On a personal scale this doesn’t seem like very much, but what happens when our big national corporations start to make this kind of decision? As it turns out, it’s cheaper for the NHS to provide new walking frames, sticks, chair raisers and other home helps, than it is for them to collect, clean and reuse the material.

Yes, I’m a little horrified when I know of someone in Uganda who could probably use every last bit that’s being thrown away. Just this week she was making a splint from Banana leaves and paper mache.

Yes, I am thinking that somehow I could collect all that stuff we’re throwing away, clean it and send it to Uganda in a crate. Anyone else interested?