From Barry Newman The opposing views that David Warden and John Baxter have expressed in their recent articles in this publication on the appalling situation in Gaza are in my view both deeply flawed. Both contributors have indulged in sifting and selecting historical ‘facts’ – usually in themselves challengeable or open to interpretation – to justify and defend opposing moral positions on the recent events in that part of the world. Both have raided a vast and hugely complex

Valerie Mainstone By Maggie Hall Maggie is a former Chair of Brighton Humanists. There cannot be many funeral ceremonies that include people dancing in the aisles, but that is exactly what happened on 31 October last year at the funeral of my dear friend and humanist mentor, Valerie Mainstone. I first met Valerie in 2008, when I joined Brighton Humanists – or the Brighton and Hove Humanist Society, as it was then. We served on the committee together for several years, and muc

This original poem, ‘Missa’, by Matthew Robinson, follows the structure of the Catholic Mass – moving through Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Osanna, Benedictus and Agnus Dei – but instead of a sacred ritual, it presents a very raw, earthly encounter with suffering, helplessness and aftermath. Missa Kyrie From fifty yards away I laughed to see a creature acting daft. Along the road a tabby cat was prancing like an acrobat and somersaulting everywhere. Perhaps the sun and fresh