Latest news with #JohnMurray
Irish Times
3 days ago
- General
- Irish Times
The Book of Guilt by Catherine Chidgey: A work of conscience and consequence
The Book of Guilt Author : Catherine Chidgey ISBN-13 : 9781399823623 Publisher : John Murray Guideline Price : £15.99 'Before I knew what I was, I lived with my brothers in a grand old house in the heart of the New Forest.' So begins Catherine Chidgey's quietly devastating novel, The Book of Guilt, a haunting blend of psychological fable, gothic parable, and slow-burn thriller. Set in England in 1979, it tells the story of Vincent, Laurence and William, identical triplets raised under the Sycamore Scheme, a secretive government project housed in an isolated care home. At first, there is something of a sleepy fairy tale in the way the boys are raised in isolation, their dreams reaching seaward, 'a gentle hushing as constant as the hushing of our own breaths, our own blood'. Overseeing them are three matriarchs, Mother Morning, Mother Afternoon and Mother Night, who monitor every detail of the boys' lives. Dreams are catalogued in The Book of Dreams, lessons in The Book of Knowledge and every offence in The Book of Guilt. READ MORE But beneath the routine, something feels wrong. This is not parenting, it is programming. The strangeness seeps in slowly, with devastating effect. The boys begin to question why their meals are laced with medicine or why their reading is confined to dusty encyclopedias. 'We didn't know the name of our sickness, and its symptoms varied from month to month and boy to boy; we just called it the Bug.' They are promised a reward, a place in the Big House by the sea in Margate, a paradise of endless play. Interwoven with their story is that of 13-year-old Nancy, kept inside by her overprotective parents in Exeter. Her growing claustrophobia mirrors the boys' captivity. Meanwhile, the Minister of Loneliness leads a government effort to dismantle the Sycamore Homes. Chidgey writes with surgical precision and emotional weight. Like Never Let Me Go, it gradually unveils a reality that feels disturbingly plausible. The speculative premise, that children are 'copies' raised for obedience and discarded at signs of deviance, becomes a chilling metaphor for institutional control. The Book of Guilt is a singular story that lingers, and burrows into the darker corners of childhood, surveillance, and what it means to truly see, or be seen. The result is a novel of conscience and consequence: quietly devastating, fiercely intelligent and unforgettable.
Agriland
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Agriland
Watch: Gardens showcase agri food sector at Bloom festival
Featured gardens from across the agri food sector are being showcased at the Bloom festival in the Phoenix Park, Dublin, this week (May 2025). The festival, which is sponsored by Bord Bia, is running from Thursday, (May 29) until Monday, (June 2). It is being held on an 70ac site surrounding the visitor centre in the park. Speaking at the launch of the festival today (Wednesday, May 28), Bord Bia's meat, food and beverages, John Murray told Agriland about the importance of the horticulture sector to the Irish market. He said: 'Bord Bia have been involved with bloom since the very beginning. Way back at the start, it was all about trying to promote the horticulture industry, and create an opportunity for consumers to engage with horticulture. 'Our remit takes horticulture into play. The industry is orientated towards the domestic market. It's one of those unsung heroes in terms of what it delivers for the Irish market,' Murray explained. The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) sponsored a garden at the festival called 'Nature's Symphony: Celebrating Organic Growth'. The garden seeks to highlight the commitment that Ireland has made to advancing the country's agriculture sector. One of the designers of the garden, Oliver Schurmann said: 'We should be growing more things organically and embracing nature more than just trying to work against nature. 'We've chosen to only use plants like potatoes, broad beans, barley and oats. Other parts of the garden, it's like an amphitheatre. We have a stage to celebrate nature, to embrace nature, and as a link to the Arás. ' 'Growing organically is all about improving the soil. If we have healthy good soil we're holding back nutrition and water, the perfect conditions to grow healthy, tasty produce,' Schurmann explained. Another garden that showcased Ireland's biodiversity, is the 'Into the Forest' garden, designed by Sarah Cotterill. The garden, which is sponsored by Westland, is inspired by the wet woodlands in the west of Ireland. Cotterill explained that the garden is filled with a combination of native and non-native woodland. 'We have a lush tree canopy with lots of birches, some oak samplings popping up, and some twisted hazels that give it a weathered wild feel,' Cotterill explained. 'During the build we've had birds, butterflies, bees, ladybirds, a squirrel, lots going on in the garden,' she added. Bloom festival Other gardens at the festival highlighted the importance of Ireland's dairy sector. For the first time, the Kerry Group has a garden in the festival. The 'Nature Wrapped in Gold' garden aims to celebrate Kerry Group's routes, and its connection to the farming community. Ornua's Lynn Andrews explained that the group has admired the Bloom festival for a number of years. She told Agriland: 'All of our dairy is grass-fed. That gives it that unique taste and extra creamy texture. It celebrates biodiversity. 'Our garden has the habitat tower, that is designed to let birds nest at different heights. So it can become a welcome home for every little creature, from small robins, to sparrows, to moths and bats as well.' The National Dairy Council also sponsored a garden, called 'The Grass Advantage', which was designed by Robert Moore. At the centre of the garden is a large milk churn sculpture, which symbolises the cultural importance of Irish dairy production. Moore said: 'It's about dairy farming and the sustainable practices within dairy farming, and also shows the beauty of the product. 'The milk is born of the land, and we have such an advantage in terms of the land quality for dairy farming,' he added.
Mint
7 days ago
- General
- Mint
What really happens to everything you recycle
Waste Wars. By Alexander Clapp. Little, Brown; 400 pages; $32. John Murray; £25 What happens to that single-use plastic bottle after you, a conscientious citizen, place it in a recycling bin? Most people, if they think about it at all, assume it really will be recycled, probably at a facility not far away. Much more likely is that the bin is only the departure point on a long journey to the other side of the world, where that bottle will, at best, be washed, dried, sorted by material, turned into pellets and then reconstituted into something flimsier, such as packaging. Consider that a victory. If it is packaging itself that has been chucked, it will probably end up as a filthy form of fuel, powering the production of cement or even tofu. Or it may go all the way just to sit in Asia or Africa, blighting the landscape, clogging rivers, entering the ocean, being swallowed by marine life—and perhaps finding its way, via the global fish trade, back into your home and even into your body. It is recycling, but not as people traditionally think of it. The broad facts of the fiction of recycling are no secret. But Alexander Clapp, a journalist (who has contributed to 1843, The Economist's sister publication), does something engrossing, if not entirely appealing, in his book. He follows rubbish, travelling to some of the world's most unpleasant places to chronicle the effects of consumption: villages in Indonesia buried under mountains of Western plastic, a ship-breaking yard in Turkey where men tear apart the toxic hulls of American cruise ships with hand tools, a fetid slum in Ghana where migrants extract valuable metals from the rich world's discarded computers and mobile phones. 'Waste Wars" also contains jaw-dropping but forgotten stories, such as that of the Khian Sea, a vessel carrying a season's worth of ash from garbage incinerators in Philadelphia, which set sail for the Bahamas in 1986. The ship and its toxic cargo were denied entry, forcing the crew to look for alternative dumping sites. After 27 months of being turned away from every conceivable port, it arrived in Asia with an empty hold. The captain admitted years later to dumping the ash in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. Mr Clapp's aim is not just to display his ample reporting chops, but to trace the rise of a controversial form of globalisation: the growth of the global trade in waste. As Western countries put in place stricter environmental regulation, the job of disposing of their waste fell to poorer ones. Take the ostensibly green European Union: in 2021 it produced 16m tonnes of plastic waste, less than half of which was recycled within its borders. Some exports are well-meaning and welcomed. Used electronics arrived in Ghana as donations to bring people online. China imported plastic waste to use as feedstock. Turkey turned imported scrap metal into highways and skyscrapers. Some of the steel from New York's twin towers, shipped to India as scrap metal, now holds up several buildings, including a college and textile showroom. But too many transactions are exploitative and even dishonest. Shipments of supposedly recyclable paper have turned out to be full of dirty plastic. Diapers soiled by American infants have arrived in batches of supposedly recyclable plastics to stink up the outskirts of Beijing. The Basel Convention, which came into effect in 1992, dealt with the shipment of hazardous waste but left plenty of loopholes. Poor countries have been trying to stop the flood ever since. In 2017 China, which then received half the world's plastic waste bound for recycling, banned its import. Much of that waste travelled to South-East Asia instead. Similar bans in Thailand and Indonesia went into effect this year, fuelled by environmental concerns. If they are enforced, the garbage will find its way somewhere else, such as Malaysia, another big recipient of plastic. Trash talk What is to be done? In a world where humans produce their own weight in new plastic annually, there are no easy solutions. After hundreds of pages describing the problem, Mr Clapp is light on prescriptions. He suggests making rich-world companies financially liable for 'the fate of that which they insist on overproducing". He points the finger of blame at globalisation, weak international co-operation and Western overproduction. There are problems with this. The first is that tightening regulation in the West will only make countries more likely to find workarounds involving poor ones. Global action is also probably a non-starter at a time when long-standing alliances are being tested. As America withdraws from the Paris Agreement (again) and guts the Environmental Protection Agency, the idea that it would impose measures to prevent the export of waste or require firms to do more for the environment globally is unrealistic. Meanwhile, Mr Clapp barely mentions China's role as a manufacturing power, as though importing Western waste absolves it of its own sins of overproducing cheap goods. To portray China as a faultless victim is wrong. At times Mr Clapp's rhetoric sounds suspiciously like a call for de-growth. It is all very well to tell Americans to be less wasteful. But try telling that to the hundreds of millions of Asians emerging from poverty and buying consumer goods for the first time. The West has spent centuries lecturing the East on what is good for it. 'Don't be like us," however well-intentioned, rings the same discordant note. For more on the latest books, films, TV shows, albums and controversies, sign up to Plot Twist, our weekly subscriber-only newsletter
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Redeeming the time: 5 questions with Rev. Mike Sergi of St. Gerard Catholic Church
May 21—LIMA — It is still more than a year before the Redemptorists, a priestly order within the Roman Catholic Church, withdraw from assigning priests to St. Gerard Church in Lima and St. Mary in Bluffton. However, as the news of the order's withdrawal in 2026 has already reached both the affected churches and the Lima and Bluffton communities at large, the end of a relationship going back nearly 200 years is looming ahead for both congregations. In the meantime, the work continues for Rev. Mike Sergi at St. Gerard and Rev. John Murray at St. Mary. Even as he helped to oversee the conclusion of the school year at St. Gerard School, Sergi took time recently to speak about his background, ministry and what his 11 years at St. Gerard have meant to him in his faith journey. 1. So tell me a little bit about yourself and your background. I grew up in Baltimore, Maryland. I have a younger brother and everything, and, you know, Mom and Dad, and for us, the church was the center. Everything revolved around the church and everything. I went to Catholic school, Sacred Heart of Jesus Catholic school. Through there, you know, I met the priests who were Redemptorists, and everything. And all of a sudden I somehow got a bright idea, 'Maybe I want to do this and become a priest.' I joined a vocation club, and all of a sudden I said, 'Well, I'm going to do this.' And, you know, I told my parents, and they just said, 'Okay.' I was accepted to go to our minor seminary in Pennsylvania. You know, I can remember my parents always saying to me, 'Don't ever be afraid to come home.' But I went and, outside of homesickness that first year, I was staying, and I felt that this was what God was calling me to do. 2. Tell me about the the order of the Redemptorists. Is there a different focus than with other priests in the Catholic Church? We were founded in 1732 by St. Alphonsus Ligori, and we were founded to preach the gospel to the poor, to the marginalized, to those that live on the outskirts of of society. We preach mainly through missions, where we go into a parish for three or four days and preach and hopefully fire them up to increase their faith. Once we came to this country, we saw that so many of the immigrants were German, so we started to take on parishes. We took parishes all up and down the East Coast. Many of the priests that came were from Germany or Italy, and they came over and just started to work with those who were really on the fringes of society. And most of our parishes, you know, are within the inner city. We've lived with the same dangers as the people did: drug use, drug dealing, shootings and everything. One of the things we have always been is close to the people. 3. Tell me more about your experiences in ministry before coming to Lima. I've been in parish ministry, certainly. I also would help with formation of our young men, especially once they finished seminary, I was involved with some formation for them. I also was director of a retreat house for seven years in upstate New York, and I was also in charge of our nursing home for three years. So, I think I've done all different types of things they've asked. It was like, 'Would you do it?' and I said, 'Okay, I'll give it a shot,' just like accepting the call in the first place, right? And I have to say, all the ministries that I've had have all been very rewarding, especially when I was in charge of our nursing home. It was for our priests and brothers, and I had the privilege of being with 17 of them when they went home to God. That was really something to see, because with all the other priests in the nursing home, I would say, 'So and so is dying,' and it was, it was a blessing to see these men in wheelchairs or walkers go down to the room and pray. That was a privilege assignment. But everywhere I've been, I've enjoyed. 4. Tell me about your ministry here in Lima. The first thing is our school here that has built up to 230 kids. And, you know, being involved with that, going, you know, I go over to the school every day. I check in with the principal, you know, and see how things are. I go into a classroom, you know, I usually get one or two classes, or just walk in and, you know, especially with the little ones, stir them up, and the teachers want to kill me, you know. But I mean, it's great. It's the little ones. All of a sudden they come over and they hug you, you know. So the school is always a rewarding type of ministry. Then we have the ministry at the prisons, both in Oakwood and Allen. I have to say that the men look forward to us coming and we have built relationships with them. I've never asked them, 'Why are you here?' That doesn't matter to me. I don't care. Mass is at 5:30, so I usually get up there a little after 5, and I sit down with the guys and we talk about this or that. Being a Ravens fan, you know, I hear from them about the Bengals and the Browns, of course. I know them all by their first name. One of the nicest things since I've been here, just about seven or eight guys have been released. One of the funny parts is that usually they get released at 6:30 or 7 o'clock in the morning. You know where they come? They come here to St. Gerard's for Mass. They'll show up here at 8:30 for Mass. We do [Lima] Memorial and [Mercy Health] St. Rita's. You stop in and you anoint people, but sometimes it's just putting your head in the door for like two minutes and saying, 'Hi. How are you?' Again, it's something that cheers them up a little bit during the day. And even being a parish priest, I mean, that's, that's a full-time thing in and of itself, too, as far as being available for the spiritual needs of your flock. 5. When it comes to your work in the Lima community, what kind of impact has that had on you? It's helped me grow in my faith, to see the faith of the people and to see the faith of the prisoners. You know, if we can't get in to say Mass sometimes at the prison, they get upset, and it's great when they get upset, because, you know, it makes you realize how precious the Mass, the Eucharist is to them. So it helps me grow my faith, and the people help me to pray. You know, when they pray, it helps me to pray better. That's the biggest impact. But like I told the people, this church is not built on the Redemptorists. It's built on Jesus Christ and not us. It's built on him. If it's built on us, it's going to fall apart, but it's built on him, and it's going to last. Featured Local Savings
The Sun
17-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Sun
‘There's a throwback' – Dean Henderson shocks BBC commentator with halftime outfit change in FA Cup final vs Man City
DEAN HENDERSON shocked a BBC commentator with his halftime outfit change in the FA Cup final. Henderson played a huge role in Crystal Palace's epic win over Manchester City at Wembley. 2 2 The goalie made some big saves throughout the battle in north west London. And things looked even better when Palace took the lead through Ebere Eze. But pundits felt Henderson was lucky to still be on the pitch when he handled the ball moments later. A VAR review let the star off the hook by deeming he had NOT denied Erling Haaland a clear goal-scoring opportunity. And the decision proved pivotal 10 minutes later when Henderson saved Omar Marmoush's penalty. However, BBC commentator John Murray appeared most stunned by Henderson's halftime outfit change. With the sun shining down on a warm spring day, Palace's goalie looked to get an advantage with a savvy addition to his kit. As Henderson walked back onto the pitch, he could be seen wearing a black baseball capped pulled down low over his head. And Murray was left amazed by the change, declaring live on TV: 'There's a throwback to FA Cup finals of old.' Fans were quick to react to Henderson's outfit change. One said: 'Hat stealing the spotlight.' Another declared: 'Henderson styling on them.' One noted: 'Man of the match.' Another added: 'Signature move.'
