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Gavin Oldham

Thought for the Week: The Word we stretch

Gavin Oldham
Original Broadcast:

Thought for the Week

Thought for the Week: The Word we stretch
With 1.45 billion speakers, English may be the most commonly spoken language across the world, but it displays a real poverty with the word ‘love’. It's not often that St. Valentine shares the same day as Ash Wednesday, but this year the essence of sexual attraction converges with the unconditional love of God at the beginning of Lent, providing a pointer to the contrasting splendours of this wonderful word. Background music: 'Forever Yours' by Wayne Jones

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Gavin Oldham

Thought for the Week: Manifesto for Manifestos (UK)

Gavin Oldham
Original Broadcast:

Thought for the Week

Thought for the Week: Manifesto for Manifestos (UK)
Universal provision of free health and social care plus the payment of interest on government debt comprise nearly two-thirds of UK public spending. We need fresh polices underpinned by a new set of principles appropriate for the 21st century, and political advisers and pundits would do well to check our Thought for this week when constructing their manifestos for the approaching UK general election. Background music: 'Everything Has a Beginning' by Joel Cummins

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Gavin Oldham

Thought for the Week: What is Truth?

Gavin Oldham
Original Broadcast:

Thought for the Week

Thought for the Week: What is Truth?
We see distortion of the truth in holocaust and genocide denial, in Donald Trump’s refusal to accept his myriad of indictments, and in Putin's denial of invading Ukraine two years ago. Dishonesty and exaggerated claims are commonplace on social media and even work their way into corporate and public bodies, such as we've recently seen in the sub-postmasters’ scandal. Is our increasingly secular society losing touch with its moral compass? Background music: 'Dark Alley Deals' by Aaron Kenny

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Gavin Oldham

Thought for the Week: Participation for All

Gavin Oldham
Original Broadcast:

Thought for the Week

Thought for the Week: Participation for All
Huge disparities in wealth lie at the heart of most of humanity's problems, including conflict. The route towards participation for all relies on respect for others, however different, and individual freedom: then the respective needs of adults and young people can be met through 'Stock for Data' and inter-generational rebalancing. Here's a summary report from Share Alliance and The Share Foundation of progress in both these areas over the past year. Background music: 'Hopeful Freedom' by Asher Fulero

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Gavin Oldham

Thought for the Week: The £2 Billion Challenge

Gavin Oldham
Original Broadcast:

Thought for the Week

Thought for the Week: The £2 Billion Challenge
The UK sub-postmasters' scandal is not just an issue for politicians: it deeply questions the quality and integrity of corporate governance, auditors and the legal profession: for example, surely The Law Society should have monitored the quantum of convictions and cried 'wolf'? The huge quantum of unclaimed adult-owned Child Trust Funds is a similar massive injustice for young people from disadvantaged and low-income backgrounds. Politicians, account providers and regulators need to take urgent action to tackle the £2 billion challenge: however, The Share Foundation is crying 'wolf' in this case — but will people listen? Background music: 'Missing Persons' by Jeremy Blake

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Gavin Oldham

Thought for the Week: Copyright, and Ownership for All

Gavin Oldham
Original Broadcast:

Thought for the Week

Thought for the Week: Copyright, and Ownership for All
Steamboat Willie, the original Mickey Mouse, steps into the public domain after 95 years of copyright restriction. Copyright law has been with us for over 300 years, but it's due a serious revision in the light of Artificial Intelligence. The New York Times is relying on current legislation to sue Open AI for infringing their copyright to train ChatGPT, but surely the information and analysis that the NYT report on belongs to us all? Background music: 'People Watching' by Sir Cubworth

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Gavin Oldham

Thought for the Year: A Global Manifesto for 2024

Gavin Oldham
Original Broadcast:

Thought for the Week

Thought for the Year: A Global Manifesto for 2024
It's time to step up the role and democratic legitimacy of the United Nations in a way that prioritises peace, harmony, freedom and a fair standard of living for all people, from all walks of life — so let's look beyond national manifestos in this 2024 election year (in both the UK & USA) and start addressing the real global challenges of international conflict, climate change and participation for all. Background music: 'World's Sunrise' by Jimena Contreras

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Gavin Oldham

Thought for the Week: Shadow over Christmas — Massacre of the Innocents

Gavin Oldham
Original Broadcast:

Thought for the Week

Thought for the Week: Shadow over Christmas — Massacre of the Innocents
The Holy Family's flight in Egypt was followed by the 'massacre of the innocents' in and around Bethlehem. Today's Middle Eastern tragedy is again denying thousands of children and young people a future — why can we not learn to live in peace with each other? Every child born into our world has the same mix of amazing potential, whatever their gender, nationality, race or religion. It's not nature which condemns them to mediocrity and despair, but nurture. Therefore, let's all make a new year resolution to vastly improve the way we value and respect children and young people: not only for the sake of their current circumstances and prospects of survival, but also to give them all a real chance to achieve their true potential as adults. Background music; 'The New Order' by Aaron Kenny

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Gavin Oldham

Thought for the Week: Respect for Others, not Solidarity, is what matters

Gavin Oldham
Original Broadcast:

Thought for the Week

Thought for the Week: Respect for Others, not Solidarity, is what matters
Christmas is with us again, celebrating the birth of Jesus over two thousand years ago. This year, however, it is overshadowed by the horrific events in the Middle East: so our Thought for Christmas includes a reference to Bishop Steven of Oxford looking across the millenia in his recent address (see link below), and our comments reflect the contrast between the yearning for solidarity (whether national or otherwise) and the failure to show respect for others, however different they may be. Background music: 'Erev Shel Shoshanim' by E's Jammy Jams Bishop of Oxford address: https://youtu.be/t0_IhB4LMNE?si=C9bHOvwUR5Y4lfZA

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Gavin Oldham

Thought for the Week: More Focus on Young People, please!

Gavin Oldham
Original Broadcast:

Thought for the Week

Thought for the Week: More Focus on Young People, please!
On 22nd May, following a Public Accounts Committee hearing in Westminster, our commentary was entitled 'Don’t waste the Child Trust Fund harvest!' It's now over three months since the oldest recipient of these accounts turned 21: with the percentage of unclaimed adult-owned accounts still over 40%, it's time to take action. So please register to join us on Tuesday 5th March at Church House, Westminster, for a major half-day event sponsored by NatWest and The Tracing Group calling for priority action to reach over one million young adults whose accounts, worth over £2 billion in total, are lying dormant because their young adult owners don't know anything about them. Background music: 'Everything Has a Beginning' by Joel Cummins. Register for 5/3/24 at www.sharefound.org/CTFconference

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