THIS WEEK'S VISITORS (2,150)

Regular update on the number of pageviews received from different parts of the world in the week just ending.

1. United States 649
2. United Kingdom 578
3. Russia 358
4. France 192
5. Germany 124
6. Ukraine 70
7. India 67
8. Turkey 57
9. Poland 31
10. China 21

This week's total: 2,150 (last week: 2,042). These are aggregates of figures from the top ten countries only. Blogger's analytics doesn't show the numbers of pageviews below the tenth-ranking country and they don’t show the cumulative total including those additional countries, which is undoubtedly larger than the number shown above.

The world map at the top of this post is the graphic that I see on the stats page. The darker the green, the more pageviews from that country. I can see different versions of that map for "now" (i.e. in the last two hours), "today", "this week", "this month" and "all time". They're updated each time I look at them.

COLLEGE & TEMPLE JOIN FORCES OVER LUNCH

This article appears in today's Leicester Mercury:

College and temple join forces over lunch

A Sikh temple provided a free lunch for hundreds at a college.

Staff and volunteers at Leicester College served about 500 people with vegetarian food donated by Guru Tegh Bahadur Gurdwara, in Leicester.

The Langar on Campus – called after a Punjabi word meaning community kitchen – was organised by Leicester College's learner engagement and enrichment (LEET) multi-faith chaplaincy team.

It was the third hosted by Leicester College and took place at the Abbey campus. 

The lunch aimed to promote selfless service, equality and humanity and formed part of the celebrations of the Sikh festival of Vaisakhi, which began on April 13. 

Sharen Ravat, Leicester College's LEET student liaison officer, organised the event.

She said: "The chaplaincy team works together to promote harmony and respect in the college and the wider communities it serves.

"This was a great opportunity to sit, eat and engage together in an environment that ensures equality and provides a platform for inter-faith dialogue."

SIGNING FOR THE KINGDOM

Cherie and Ashley at their stall in Gallowtree Gate today

It's not uncommon to find street preachers in Gallowtree Gate any day of the week, but today I'm pleasantly surprised to see something a bit different. I stop and chat with two Jehovah's Witnesses who are offering the Good News via British Sign Language. Ashley is a deaf user of BSL, Cherie is a hearing user.

They're promoting meetings in British Sign Language which feature Bible lectures and Watchtower Study (discussion about the Bible and how to use it in our lives) and Congregational Bible Study, Theocratic Ministry School and Service Meeting (discussion of Bible subjects and a class about how to teach the Bible). These are held on Sundays, 1530 and Wednesdays 1915 at Kingdom Hall of Jehavah's Witnesses, Knowles Road, Glenfield LE3 6LU.

SMALL STEPS TO PEACEFUL WORLD

This letter appears in today's Leicester Mercury:

Small steps to peaceful world

A few days ago, I saw a little girl go out of her way to put her empty plastic drink bottle into a rubbish bin in Bell Street, Wigston.

Two weeks previously, I had seen a grown woman throw an empty bottle into the perimeter hedge of Aylestone leisure centre.

I was reminded of this contrast by Bruce Kent, the veteran peace campaigner, who visited the city to talk inspiringly about the lunacy of renewing Trident.

Bruce eloquently outlined the causes of war on a number of levels, including the breakdown of relationships between individuals and its mirroring at community and national levels.

He suggested there are many ways we can all contribute to the promotion of peace at home and in the wider world. It seems to me that, by showing respect for her environment and other citizens, the young girl in Wigston was doing her bit.

This is one of countless examples of how we can build up harmony between people, whether at family, local, national or international level. So let us look more creatively at what can be done. There may be other kinds of active engagement that can help to preserve the planet and use its limited resources to promote peace and harmony rather than hasten its obliteration by war.

Kevin Commons, Wigston

POWER CORRUPTS, EVEN IN CHURCH

This letter appears in today's Leicester Mercury:

Power corrupts, even in Church

Upon retiring several years ago, I became a regular church attendee. During this time I have tried to understand why some churches, not all, are seeing a decline in attendance.

The typical secular view is that religion is losing support. Let me offer another probable earthly cause.

Committed Christians have a keen sense of justice. Where there appears to be an injustice or behaviour deemed less than acceptable, church members will speak out.

This is fine and as it should be, providing their voices are heard and their views considered.

But what happens when the root of their concern is the style of those who are managing their church? When I say "style", I mean those elders driven by hubris, self importance, self interest. It is said power corrupts – maybe even in the church.

If the dominant elders or minister of the local church occasionally behaves in a manner leaving some to wonder whether total honesty was optional, there is no mechanism of appeal.

Having recently raised a question of this kind at regional level, it would appear that in my church, even the highest of offices at national level has no constitutional authority over local decisions.

I wonder whether the low-level but insidious machinations of a minority in authority in local churches and the absence of an meaningful appeal system may be contributing to a membership decline?

Am I a frustrated wannabe leader turned whistle blower? No, I do not seek to be anything more than a dedicated pew-level church member.

I, like so many others, am a concerned Christian who, seeing so much good work being done through God's word, is left wondering where the hubris and negativity of a minority in our churches will lead us.

Name and address supplied

RICHARD ATTENBOROUGH'S BLESSING FOR CULTURE CITY BID

This article appears in today's Leicester Mercury:

Richard Attenborough's blessing for culture city bid

by Dan Martin

The city's best-loved thespian, Richard Attenborough, is backing Leicester's drive to be crowned 2017 UK City of Culture.

Lord Attenborough has been unveiled by the team behind the city's bid for the title as its most high-profile supporter.

The respected actor and director grew up in Leicester with his brother, David, the renowned naturalist, and made his stage debut as a boy at the city's Little Theatre.

He has been a life-long supporter of the city's arts scene ever since.

The 89-year-old is in a frail state following a stroke in 2008, but is well enough to lend his support to Leicester's campaign to land the title.

The city is hoping to be chosen to succeed Londonderry in Northern Ireland in the competition, which is being run by the Government.

Today, Leicester and its 11 rivals submitted details of their bid in the hope of being shortlisted in June, before the winner is selected in November.

Lord Attenborough said: "I am delighted to offer my unconditional endorsement and support to Leicester's bid.

"In recent years, as the city has evolved into a huge multi-cultural centre, I have been thrilled to witness Leicester embrace and celebrate this in such an enlightened, inspired and visionary manner."

The celebrity, who has opened a Centre for Disability and the Arts here and loaned his collection of rare Picasso ceramics to be displayed in the city, said: "My experience and knowledge of Leicester's rich vein of cultural and, in particular, theatrical activity goes back over 80 years, from my first stumbling steps on the stage of the Little Theatre, through to the Phoenix, the Haymarket and now Curve."

City mayor Sir Peter Soulsby, who is chairman of the consortium behind the bid, said Lord Attenborough's support had given it considerable weight.

"We have been touched by Lord Attenborough's heartfelt support," said Sir Peter.

"He is indeed a product of this city and very proud of his association with it.

"I am confident we have a very strong bid to put in."

The consortium revealed details of some of the events and activities it would stage in 2017 if the bid is successful. They include a "Festival of Light" based on the city's existing Diwali and bonfire night celebrations, as well as a large scale re-enactment of the Richard III story to mark the discovery of the king's bones.

Geoff Rowe, Dave's Leicester Comedy Festival founder and a member of Leicester's bidding board, said a key feature of the programme would be a portable light installation which would project images onto buildings around the city, such as the National Space Centre.

Curve chief executive Fiona Allan, also on the bidding board, said the Richard III re-enactment would involve both professional actors and thousands of members of the public, and would take place over several days at a number of venues.

The bidding team has been told by the Government that it should expect to spend £10 million on a programme of events if it is successful in being named 2017 UK City of Culture.

Sir Peter said the council was prepared to underwrite the cost but said that a large amount of the funding would come from organisations such as the Heritage Lottery Fund and the Arts Council.

He said any public funds put in would be paid back "10 or 100-fold" from the tourism boost.

BBC RADIO LECEISTER: FAITH COMMUNITIES & CITY OF CULTURE BID

This morning I'm on BBC Radio Leicester, speaking with Monica Winfield (photo above) by phone about Leicester's faith communities and the bid to become UK City of Culture 2017. Here's a transcript of the interview.

MW: Now then, let’s have a look at Leicester’s bid to become the UK City of Culture for 2017. Next week the bid will be submitted to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. Going up against ten other areas (including Chester, Hull and the combined forces of Portsmouth and Southampton), Leicester’s bidding team hopes that the city’s arts, ethnic diversity and of course archaeological assets (I think you know what I’m alluding to) will help us win the title. But how much might religion play a part and tip the odds in our favour? George Ballentyne is from the Leicester Council of Faiths and he joins me on the line now. George, good morning.

GMB: Good morning Monica.

MW: This is an incredible opportunity for Leicester but I just wonder, how big a part are we allowing the faith culture of Leicester to play in our kind of cultural culture – if you see what I mean.

GMB: Well it’s quite interesting you say how big a part are we allowing – I’d like to see what could be done to keep the faith communities and organisations out of the process, because it is something that Leicester is very well known for. There’s an upside and a downside to that and I hope that we get the chance to speak briefly about both of them. But I would also say that, you know, there’s more than one meaning of the word “culture” and sometimes people can get the wrong end of the stick about what culture would mean and what the City of Culture might mean. You know, there’s the kind of high culture aspect, which is about, you know, art and opera and exhibitions and the like and there’s a kind of pop culture version of it too. But you also think that, you know, people can use the word “culture” to mean a kind of messy laboratory set-up in which experimental things happen and unpredictable things and interesting, organic, lively things can be generated out of that. So I hope that all three of those meanings of the word are going to come up when we‘re talking about this over the next few weeks and months

MW: Absolutely. And I take it that the faith communities are absolutely on board with this and backing it to the hilt?

GMB: Well, we’d never presume to speak for absolutely every faith community and organisation in the city, but we really do feel confident that there’s a strong, solid backing for the bid.

MW: Now in what way will the backing – you know, are they kind of quietly backing it, or is it going to be part of the bid?

GMB: Well, I don’t need to tell you that Leicester has become well-known, or famous even, for its faith festivals, you know, we make such a big play of having the biggest Diwali event outside of India, there’s a huge Vaiskahi event that happened just last week and we have Christ in the Centre at Easter time. Per head of population, Leicester has more – and more varied – places of worship than any other city in Britain and these are facts about Leicester that would surely be used in support of the bid. But on the other hand – and I’m sure that you’ll know that I speak about this often enough, whenever I get the chance– there aren’t that many occasions when the people of Leicester see the faith communities in all their diversity standing together, out in public. So we’v e got things about the faith communities as individual groups and then we’re going to have to do some stuff about getting them together to do a kind of collective response to it and a collective presence.

MW: That will be a really exciting thing to do and a real purpose behind it, it’s not something you’re just doing for the sake of it, there’s a real aim behind it, isn’t there?

GMB: Yes, well all these festivals and these events will go on, whether we’re granted this City of Culture status or not but they’re part of the organic, regular life of the city, they really do have to feature quite prominently in any kind of attempt to get us into that position.

MW: Absolutely – and earlier on, when you were describing the different meanings of the word culture, I just think the religious aspect takes our bid to a deeper level, I think.

GMB: Yes, I think so. I don’t think that any of the other cities that are bidding have actually got this string to their bow like we have.

MW: Absolutely not. So, are you like me, are you holding out high hopes for Leicester to win the bid?

GMB: Well I should say that, you know, Glasgow was made European Capital of Culture (which is a different thing altogether, the Leicester bid is for UK City of Culture). But back in 1984, Glasgow was made the European Capital of Culture, which – that came to a city which was really on its last legs I think – and completely transformed its fortunes and it’s become a proper, European cultural city. I know that some of your listeners might find that hard to believe and I always fly the flag for Glasgow, but it really did make an incredible difference, not just to how other people saw the city but to how the people of Glasgow saw themselves. It just coincided with the year I left Glasgow [MW laughs] so I didn’t get all the benefit of all that, but t I’ve seen, first hand, what this kind of thing can do to a city. There’s some scepticism and cynicism about why are we doing this and why now, when there’s such pressure on funding, but if we get this I really think it will make a huge impact and 99% positive

MW: Absolutely. It’s interesting what you say about Glasgow because I don’t see it in the light of being run down any more. I see it as a very vibrant place, somewhere I would like to visit, so it’s almost like a vote of confidence isn’t it?

GMB: Yes it is, but what you’re talking about there is the impact of more than 20-odd years ago that that happened and it’s almost – well, 30 years ago actually – and it’s really had a fantastic positive effect on the people and the place - and we can get that.

MW: Absolutely - not that we haven’t got it already, [indeed] but it would take us up a notch won’t it? Have you been part of the bid at all? Has the Council of Faiths been involved?

GMB: Well, our Chair – Councillor Manjula Sood – she’s Assistant Mayor with responsibility for communities, cohesion and equalities so she’s very closely involved in the bid and some of our members (I always stress that I am an employee of the Council of Faiths, not a member) [right] we’ve taken part in the stakeholder bud events which the Mayor hosted at Curve about ten days ago and made contributions to them, and we’re soliciting suggestions  and ideas from our member communities and from prominent individuals in the Faith or religion sector (as it were) in the city. So yes, we are playing, I think,  a strong and positive role in what’s going on right now and we would like to, you know, If we get on the shortlist then we hope that that will increase and there will be more momentum from the faith communities behind the bid.

MW: Absolutely. It’s an exciting time to be in Leicester and it’s nice to know that so many people are on board and backing our bid. George, great to talk to you this morning

GMB: Okay, thanks Monica.

MW: Thank you [okay] George Ballentyne, from Leicester Council of Faiths. Next week it is, when Leicester will submit its initial bid to the Department of Culture, Media and Sport in a bud to become UK City of Culture for 2017 competing against ten other bidding areas for that title, which could bring massive benefits to the city not least of which economically – huge economic benefits  as well. So watch this space and you’ll hear more about that I’m sure, here on BBC Radio Leicester.

Follow Monica Winfield on Twitter: @MonWRL

BURMA DAY

George Wilson (far left) of Christians Aware, introducing some of the Karen friends on the stage at the Worship Centre in ChristChurch

At ChristChurch, Clarendon Park this afternoon, for Burma Day, organised by Christians Aware. There are 50 or so attendees, about two-thirds of whom appear to be Burmese.

The event starts with a bring-and-share lunch, which establishes a congenial and lively atmosphere - or "happy, jolly chaos" as one friend describes it, with lots of young people running around, changing into costume. 

Gracie and I take our places at the back of the Worship Centre amidst the tables loaded with DVDs, books, giveaway literature - most featuring pictures and text about Aung San Suu Kyi. We wait for Harry to join us, after he has raided the Loros charity shop on Queens Road, bearing with him as many issues of Impulse as his pocket money will get him, from the shop's treasure trove of DC comics.

Centrepiece of the day's programme is a talk from Benedict Rogers, entitled "Burma: A Nations at the Crossroads", which is the name of his most recent book, published last year.

Benedict is a writer and advocate, working for Christian Solidarity Worldwide - an organisation promoting the right of individuals in every country to choose,  follow and practise their own religion. Specialising in Asia, Benedict is a regular contributor to major international media including The Wall Street Journal, the International Herald Tribune, The Australian, The Asahi Shimbun, The Huffington Post, The Guardian, The Telegraph, as well as for the BBC, ITN and Sky. He has been invited to give briefings and speeches round the world, in venues such as the White House, European Parliament, the Japanese Parliament, and Oxford University. Currently living in London, his focus has been on Burma for much of the past 15 years, travelling more than 40 times to that country and visiting all of its borders. Burma: A Nation at the Crossroads is the latest of three books he has written on that country.

Barbara Butler, Executive Secretary of Christians Aware, with Benedict Rogers

During the Q&A following his talk, Benedict "clarifies" whether we should call the country "Burma" or "Myanmar". Apparently, Aung San Suu Kyi and other figures aligned with the opposition would prefer the word to call it Burma, as they assert that the regime did not have a mandate to change the name of the country. This is in context of their assertions that the regime has no mandate, period.

After Benedict's talk and the Q&A session that follows it, we enjoy half an hour or so of uplifting performances by two choirs and a young peoples dance troupe from the Karen community of Sheffield (the biggest of its kind in the UK - the next biggest is Blackburn, we're informed).

Jon Ashworth MP puts in an impromptu appearance near the end of the event. Jon has nailed his colours to the mast regarding persecution of Rohingya Muslims in Burma, having secured a debate on the Rohingya in the House of Commons (11 September 2012) and expressed solidarity with the Federation of Muslim Organisations in Leicester at a public meeting at St Philip's Church Hall, Evington (7 September 2012) and which, in typically Leicester mashup style, you can see reported on Jon's blog and on the website of the Leicestershire Sikh Alliance. Jon has also had two pieces on this topic published by The Huffington Post: "Why the UK government Must Take a Firm Stance on the Rights of the Rohingya" (12 September 2012) and "We Can't Keep Ignoring Burma's Rohingya People" (1 November 2012).

Jon Ashworth MP (left) with Benedict Rogers

Jon hadn't been formally notified of the meeting but saw it on my twitterfeed, happened to be in the area (ChristChurch is in his Leicester South constituency and he was doing a surgery earlier today) so he popped in to show his interest and support. There's evidence of the power of social media for you, faithful reader - if ever you needed it. Mind you, I was tweeting about this event from just about every Twitter account at my disposal: @GMBallentyne; @counciloffaiths; @FaithAwareness; @leicesterspeaks. Nothing like targetted marketing, eh?

RED CARPET DAY FOR YOUNG FILMMAKERS

This article appears in today's Leicester Mercury:

Red carpet day for young filmmakers

A group of youngsters have been given the red carpet treatment at a film screening in the city.

The Disabled Children's Service and the Big Mouth Forum organised the event at the Phoenix Cinema.

The guests were shown an hour-long film about advocacy for disabled young people, which featured youngsters taking part in their favourite activities such as tae kwon do, swimming and gardening.

They arrived by limousine and watched the special showing before enjoying a buffet.

The film was created by many of the disabled youngsters at the screening.

Organiser Keith Allott, from Badshoes Film, was on hand to supervise and instruct the filmmakers during the shoot.

He said: "There were about 20 who took part and they covered all aspects of filmmaking, from being on camera and also being behind the camera."

The film was shot as a documentary-style programme and featured many of the youngsters in their daily lives.

"They wanted to do something positive," said Keith.

"They wanted to show people what they did outside of school, things such as sports and awareness campaigning.

"It was also about showing other youngsters with disabilities that they can do a lot more than people think."

HALF OF CATHOLICS DON'T SHARE VIEW

This letter appears in today's Leicester Mercury:

Half of Catholics don't share view

"If I did not believe in what the Catholic Church teaches, I would not call myself a Catholic" writes Francisca Martinez ("Secularism part of birth rate fall", Mailbox April 6).

This is an extreme view and would mean that more than half the Catholics in England should stop calling themselves Catholic.

(The Catholic publication The Tablet summarises its 2008 survey on the response of Catholics to the Church's teaching on birth control as follows: "Today most practicing Catholics ignore its teaching on birth control and more than half think it should be revised.")

Happily, with the new Pope, we can hope that a change is coming and that the teachings of scholastic theology, with its ideas on sex, will get less emphasis and the teachings of Jesus will be given more prominence.

Pope Francis, talking to journalists, expresses this hope like this: "Oh, how I wish for a Church that is poor and for the poor".

When Pope Francis sees the terrible distress in those countries where populations repeatedly double – mainly in Africa and the Middle East to Pakistan – the change will surely come, and I hope then that Ms Martinez and I will be on the same side.

Gerald Danaher, Ravenstone