Category: news

The Archbishop of Canterbury said politicians had now started to talk about happiness

The Archbishop of Canterbury has said in his Easter sermon that corporate prosperity without fulfilment is an “empty thing”.

Rowan Williams said it was a good thing that people were realising there is “more to life than Gross National Product”.

Earlier, the Archbishop of Westminster said he was praying for those in areas blighted by conflict and disaster.

Archbishop Vincent Nichols said he hoped for peace in Libya and elsewhere.

“We watch the work of death every day, in the natural disasters of Japan, in the ceaseless work of war in zones of conflict around the world,” he said in his Easter homily.

“Today we pray for peace: for the city of Misrata and for a ceasefire in Libya that new political structures may be put in place; for peace in Afghanistan, in Syria, across the Middle East, in Ivory Coast and in so many other places”.

Meanwhile, the Queen has led the royal family for their traditional Easter service at St George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle.

The Easter service is one of the last formal royal engagements before Prince William’s marriage

Delivering his sermon at Canterbury Cathedral, Dr Williams said he welcomed the fact that politicians were now talking about the importance of happiness rather than prosperity.

“It seems that, just as we can’t find fulfilment in just loving ourselves, so we can’t just generate happiness for ourselves. It comes from outside, from relationships, environment, the unexpected stimulus of beauty – but not from any programme that we can identify,” he said.

The government has recently announced proposals to try to measure the nation’s wellbeing, with some households taking part in surveys on the issue.

Dr Williams also commended the encouragement of days of “shared celebration” such as the royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton.

“It’s nice and entirely appropriate that we are being encouraged to some public displays of shared celebration next Friday: let a thousand street parties blossom!”

He also stressed the value of community services, such as the local library, and warned that people should “think twice before dismantling what’s already there”.

Meanwhile, the leader of the Catholic Church in Scotland, Cardinal Keith O’Brien, meanwhile, has used his Easter message later to attack “aggressive secularism”.

The cardinal, who is known for his robust defence of traditionalist Christian teaching, said the enemies of Christianity want to “take God from the public sphere”.

He called on Christians of all denominations to resist the efforts of such people to destroy Christian heritage and culture.

It was something Pope Benedict warned about on his state visit to Britain last year.

BBC religious affairs correspondent Robert Pigott says that even by Cardinal O’Brien’s standards his Easter sermon constitutes a vehement and outspoken attack on secularism and what he will describe as the enemies of the Christian faith in Britain and the power they currently exert.

In a reference to equality legislation preventing discrimination against homosexual people, Cardinal O’Brien denounced what he claims is the way Christians have been prevented from acting in accordance with their beliefs because they refuse to endorse such lifestyles.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

The Impossible Astronaut was followed by a tribute to late Doctor Who actress Elisabeth Sladen on CBBC

The first episode in the new series of Doctor Who was watched by an average audience of 6.4 million viewers, according to overnight viewing figures.

On a sunny day in parts of the UK, that was down from the eight million recorded by overnight figures on Matt Smith’s show debut in April 2010.

The Impossible Astronaut had an average audience share of 36.7%. Figures peaked at seven million.

The episode featured aliens partly inspired by Edvard Munch’s The Scream.

BBC One viewers watched as Smith’s Doctor was reunited with Karen Gillan’s Amy Pond, Arthur Darvill’s Rory Williams and Alex Kingston’s River Song in 1960s America.

While final consolidated viewing figures – which include playback on recording devices – will push ratings higher, The Impossible Astronaut is likely to be the least watched series opener since Doctor Who was relaunched in 2005.

The new episode was described by the Daily Telegraph as a “wordy episode which concentrated more on atmosphere than pace and visual thrills”.

Thanks, in part to “fizzing dialogue” and “a great concept” for a new monster, it was “a cracking start” to the new series, the paper added.

The Los Angeles Times, reviewing the programme because it is shown on BBC America, said Smith had “screwed into this role good and tight”, praising his Doctor as “an ancient child, an unstable mix of authority and impulsiveness”.

But Kevin O’Sullivan, writing in the Sunday Mirror, said the episode was called The Impossible Astronaut because it was “impossible to understand” complaining that “this ball of all-round confusion was no way to start a series”.

The episode had been written for “strictly sci-fi nerds only”, he added.

Sladen starred as Sarah Jane Smith opposite Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker, pictured, in Doctor Who

Saturday’s episode began with a dedication to the memory of the late Doctor Who actress Elisabeth Sladen who died of cancer this week at the age of 63.

The actress also appeared in four series of spin-off show The Sarah Jane Adventures on children’s channel CBBC, which began in 2007.

At the end of the The Impossible Astronaut, a tribute to Sladen – who starred opposite Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker as the Doctor’s assistant between 1973 and 1976 – was screened on CBBC.

Saturday night’s tribute featured Smith as well as his Doctor Who predecessor David Tennant.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

A Spanish photojournalist detained by forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi telephones his parents from a military prison in Tripoli.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Janet Richardson was in the water for several minutes

Prayers are being held on board a cruise liner a Cumbrian woman was travelling on when she was dropped into the sea off Norway before later dying.

Janet Richardson, 73, was taken ill on the Ocean Countess and, as paramedics tried to transfer her to the lifeboat, she fell into near-freezing water.

She was rescued and flown to a Carlisle hospital where she died on Thursday.

UK operator Cruise and Maritime Voyages confirmed a service for Mrs Richardson was being held on the ship on Sunday.

Mrs Richardson, from near Penrith, was in the sea for several minutes before being rescued.

She had been struck down with internal bleeding on the voyage from Hull to Norway. She had hoped to see the Northern Lights with her husband George, 78.

According to eyewitness reports, as the paramedics were moving her from the ship to the lifeboat, the boats moved apart and Mrs Richardson fell into the sea.

Chris Coates, marketing director of Cruise and Maritime Voyages, said: “The directors and staff of Cruise and Maritime Voyages are all deeply shocked by the news received a short while ago that Mrs Janet Richardson has passed away.

“All our thoughts and prayers are with the Richardson family at this sad time.”

The investigation is being conducted by detectives from Salten Police District, based in Bodo, Norway.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.