The Bremen Bod Blog

  I was sadden to read about the recent passing of former Labour MP, journalist and television presenter Austin Mitchell who died last week at the age of 86. I really liked Mitchell, he was an old school Gaitskelite, and football fans of certain vintage might recall Mitchell’s now legendry Yorkshire Television interview with Brian Clough alongside his predecessor as Leeds manager and arch-nemesis Don Revie, immediately following Clough’s sacking in 1974. An amusing aside about Don Revie – Revie once arranged for the Catholic Bishop of Leeds secretary to visit the former Leeds midfielder Michael O’Grady house while he was still a young Huddersfield player. Revie found out O’Grady’s family were Catholics and sent the secretary round to tell O’Grady’s and his parents that ‘Don Revie is very interested in you and wants me to pass on his best wishes’. To some, this may seem like a very unorthodox abuse of the Bishop’s office but personally speaking, I’m all for our Bishops using their i

'God has formed the soul and body of the Virgin Mary full of the Holy Spirit, so that she is without all sins, for she has conceived and borne the Lord Jesus’ Martin Luther Since the earliest days of the Reformation, there have been various attempts at reunification between Catholics and Lutherans. In 1534 Pope Paul III invited the Lutherans to a general council and even Emperor Charles V arranged conferences between Catholic and Lutheran theologians in 1541, 1546, and 1547. Ordinary churchmen, such as the Lutheran Frederick Staphylus and Father Contzen, worked for much for the same goal but sadly all of these initiatives ended in failure. Even the horrors of the Thirty Years War, led many on both sides to pursue reconciliation between our two churches. Yet another conference was held at Thorn by Catholic, Lutheran, and Calvinist theologians in in 1645, but again nothing was achieved. Even the proposal of the Lutheran theologian, George Calixtus that the two confessions organise th

  “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity." Psalm 133:1 Have you ever seen the Werner Herzog documentary ‘Mein liebster Feind - Klaus Kinski’, (My Dearest Foe - Klaus Kinski) about Herzog’s dysfunctional relationship with the now thoroughly discredited and disgraced Kinski? The film was released back in 1999 many years before the allegations concerning the late actor’s abusive behaviour was disclosed by his family. Throughout ‘Mein liebsterFeind’ we see Kinski’s explosive and often violent on-set outburst directed at the filmmaker Herzog during the production of now classic movies such as Fitzcarraldo and Aguirre, the Wrath of God, yet at the same time, we also observe Werner Herzog’s admiration and even sympathy for a fine actor who was clearly a deeply disturbed individual, perhaps caused in some part by his experiences during the war. It’s as if Herzog needed something from Kinski and is somehow able to see a great artist through the

  ‘Will yo’ come o’ Sunday morning’, For a walk o’er Winter Hill. Ten thousand went last Sunday, But there’s room for thousands still!”   “O the moors are rare and bonny, And the heather’s sweet and fine, And the road across this hill top, Is the public’s – Yours and mine!”   Yesterday (21st of June) was the Summer Solstice and at this time of year on the longest day, I like to do two things – Read the enchanting ‘Piper at the Gates of Dawn’ chapter from ‘The Wind in the Willows’ by Kenneth Grahame which perfectly encapsulates the ethereal loveliness of midsummer and go off on a longish ramble in the far-off (or nearby) countryside. This year, rather than a midsummer hike, I decided to take the short ferry journey from my home in Gourock across the Firth of Clyde to Kilcreggan and cycle around Gare Loch to the bucolic village of Rhu near Helensburgh, where the great social reformer and Congregationalist minister Thomas Arthur Leonard established a holiday home a

  One of the things I detest most about synthetic football pitches, or astroturf as its commonly known, is the fact that they've resulted in a kind of new Enclosure Act direct towards municipal parks all over the country.  Just as the Enclosure Act enclosed open fields and common land, making private land which was once previously common, so too are public playing fields which were formerly open to all, now increasingly fenced off and often inaccessible for children and families. The reasons given for keeping parks locked up are normally related to security, vandalism or (ridiculously) stopping the spread of covid.  Indeed, modernisation and changes which are touted as improvements to sport and leisure amenities, too often turn out to be a backwards step and 4G pitches are no different. They were introduced as low maintenance all weather facilities which would allow sporting fixtures to go ahead all year round, perhaps resulting in an increased uptake in sport among young peopl

  My Gran and Papa, Robey and Agnes Ahlfeld I was interested to read about the recent leaked Labour Party strategy document which suggested that patriotism and ‘dressing smartly’ should be included as part of a rebranding exercise to win back disillusioned working class voters and disassociate the party from the Jeremy Corbyn era. There’s been much social media sneering and mockery directed towards this strategy but have you ever noticed all the well dressed, immaculately groomed young lads at family wedding and christenings? Indeed, Millennials are certainly better turned out than my own scruffy Generation X peers whose idea of a ‘spice boy’ owes more to the losing 1996 Liverpool FA Cup side who decided to turn up at Wembely wearing matching cream coloured Armani suits, than Brillcreemed Joey Essex types.       This Labour Party strategy also reminded me of my dear late Grandmother who used to come out with some brilliant put-downs, Nan was a tiny wee women but she could cut you