The Marlpudlian online

An All Saints Church Marlpool publication

Category: Topical

The Big Questions / Topical / Uncategorized

The Invisible War

We are constantly bombarded with news about the horrific conditions caused by the wars in Gaza and in the Ukraine and wherever our sympathies might lie regarding the combatants, surely everyone of us hopes for peace or at least cessation of hostilities. Can things really get any worse?

Regrettably – YES! Almost entirely unreported and largely ignored by the world is the ongoing civil war in Sudan.

Wracked by violence in which thousands of civilians have been slaughtered, aid camps burned to the ground and hundreds of children raped, Africa’s largest war has torn Sudan apart and forced more than 12 million people from their homes. 

The cataclysmic battle for supremacy has pitted the Sudanese military, controlled by the country’s top commander, Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, against the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), led by his former deputy, Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Daglo Mousa — a former camel dealer widely known as Hemedti. The conflict has created the world’s biggest humanitarian crisis, according to the United Nations, which says at least 24,000 people have been killed, though activists say the number is far higher.

Both sides face war crimes accusations from the United States, which sanctioned the northeast African nation’s government for using chemical weapons — a claim it denied. The RSF meanwhile, has denied accusations of ethnic cleansing in the country where “some 30.4 million people — over two thirds of the total population — are in need of assistance, from health to food and other forms of humanitarian support,” according to a February report from the United Nations refugee agency.

The fighting has been marked by atrocities including mass rape and ethnically motivated killings that amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity, especially in Darfur, according to the U.N. and international rights groups. In March the United Nations Children’s Fund reported that armed men have raped hundreds of children, including some as young as 1.

24.6 million people, or around half the population, face acute hunger, according to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification — an organization that sets a scale the United Nations and governments use to assess hunger. 

Access to the country by aid agencies is very difficult and dangerous. The UN and individual nations are reluctant to get involved in an attempt to impose peace – in the past this approach has failed. There appears to be little common ground on which to base peace negotiations with the waring factions seemingly indifferent to the appalling suffering that thy are continuing to inflict.

What can we do?

There are aid agencies still operating in the Sudan who are desperate for financial support. (You can find these easily with an online search).

Contacting your local MP and/or the Foreign Secretary may contribute to raising the profile of this conflict in Parliament

Start or join a petition to get our UN representative to raise the issue in the United Nations (look online for guidance)

Constantly pray for peace in this most desperate and neglected corner of the world.

People who fled the Zamzam camp for the internally displaced after it fell under RSF control, rest in a makeshift encampment in an open field near the town of Tawila in war-torn Sudan’s western Darfur region on April 13, 2025. . (Photo by AFP) (Photo by -/AFP via Getty Images)

Community / Something for everyone / Topical

Is stress a way of life?

Stress is part of everyday life and living. It can make you feel exhausted, unable to cope and in a state of flight response plays a critical role in how we deal with stress and danger in our environment. Essentially, the response prepares the body to either fight or flee the threat. It is also important to note that the response can be triggered due to both real and imaginary threats.

Understanding the body’s fight-or-flight response is one way to help cope with such situations. When you notice that you are becoming tense, you can start looking for ways to calm down and relax your body. These activities are for new ways to cope with stress.

GET OUTSIDE – being outside in nature is great for wellbeing. Going for a short walk or sitting in a green space can have an extremely calming effect on how we feel. Just sit and listen to the birds, focus on their different sounds, take in deep breaths and you feel so much better. Try gardening – as it can also have a positive impact on our brain chemistry, influencing the release of serotonin and cortisol, which help us feel good. For many gardeners, a daily stroll around the garden is one of the most enjoyable things to do. It allows you a peaceful moment to see what has grown or changed.

TRY SOMETHING CREATIVE – When we’re doing something creative, we’re using a different part of the brain to where stress is occurring. Even for 5 minutes, being creative can help to relieve feelings of pressure. You could draw, doodle, sew, sing, paint.

EXERCISE – (yes, I know, everyone says exercise) even the thought of it will make you feel more stressed, but it is a very effective way to combat stress. When we exercise our bodies release endorphins which help us feel good. (and you don’t have to spend hours in the gym), you could go for a walk or jeffing (jeffing is walking for 60 seconds and a light jog for 60 seconds), it’s been proven that this helps your heart too, and any exercise that gets your heart pumping even a little, daily is good for you. Dancing is another form of exercise, listening to your favourite music and dance away to it. PRACTICE MINDFULLNESS – Noticing your emotions and gaining a sense of perspective on them. It’s typically done by sitting or lying down in a quiet place and focussing on your breathing. This enables you to focus on the present moment and gradually let go of outside thoughts and distractions. (When I do this, I pray). It’s the ability to be fully present and fully engaged with whatever you are doing in the moment. Start by noticing things in your immediate surroundings such as smell, touch, sounds, taste, and sight – this can help to ground you. There are lots of free apps on the internet and on YouTube to help you start mindfulness practice.

WRITE DOWN YOUR THOUGHTS AND FEELINGS – You’re not writing with the aim of anyone reading it, just for yourself to get down on paper what you’re feeling. This can be a big stress reliever. Listen to music, and try some classical music at night, this can help you relax.

ALLOCATE SOME TIME FOR YOURSELF AND DO SOMETHING YOU ENJOY – When we’re busy it’s easy to eliminate the things we enjoy from our schedule. But these are the things which help us to relieve stress.

TALK TO SOMEONE – As they say, a problem shared is a problem halved. Speaking to a friend, loved onTaken from an article in the Grapevine Erewash Mag, adapted by Christina J Ashcrofte, colleague or therapist can help you lighten the stress you may be feeling.

Taken from an article in the Grapevine Erewash Mag, adapted by Christina J Ashcroft

The Big Questions / Topical

Climate Change

Judging by the list of priorities identified among the UK electorate by a pre-election survey, climate change comes fairly low on the list. That is understandable since many, perhaps most, of us have immediate issues with; the cost of living, the NHS, Social Care to name but a few. However, we might need to rethink.

The second annual Indicators of Global Climate Change report, which is led by the University of Leeds, reveals that human-induced warming has risen to 1.19 °C over the past decade (2014-2023)—an increase from the 1.14 °C seen in 2013-2022 (set out in last year’s report).

Looking at 2023 in isolation, warming caused by human activity reached 1.3 °C. This is lower than the total amount of warming we experienced in 2023 (1.43 °C), indicating that natural climate variability, in particular El Niño, also played a role in 2023’s record temperatures.

The analysis also shows that the remaining carbon budget—how much carbon dioxide can be emitted before committing us to 1.5 °C of global warming—is only around 200 gigatons (billion tons), around five years’ worth of current emissions.

On that basis, if we don’t reduce CO2 emissions quickly and dramatically our world will change irrevocably and not in a good way.

Unlike most other greenhouse gasses, carbon dioxide, once it is in the atmosphere remains there for between 300 and 1,000 years and with it the effect it has on our climate. So on current projections it is not too dramatic to say that we are staring disaster in the face, not just for us but for our children and grandchildren.

Topical

To insulate or not to insulate?

There is no doubt that home insulation is good. It’s good for our pockets, it’s good for our comfort and it’s good for the environment

BUT! –yes there is a but!

What sort of insulation is best?

The very first thing to do is to stop drafts. Draft exclusion is generally cheap, easy to do (even if you’re not able to do it yourself a local trusted tradesperson will do the job for you), it’s easy to check if it’s worked.

The most frequent causes of draughts are external doors, followed by windows and then maybe the loft cover. If your house is double glazed and fitted with modern doors then draughts may not be a problem but wait for a windy day and go round your house and check.

Next on the list should be loft insulation but be cautious.

You may well have been told that up to 45% of a building’s heat can be lost through the roof.  This is true but unless you have no loft or roof insulation at all it is very unlikely that your house is losing anything like that. Nevertheless it is well worth checking how well your loft is insulated. Is there any insulation between the joists supporting the ceiling below?  If so how thick is it and what state is it in? Is the loft floor boarded over? Is there any insulation of the roof itself? 

You may come the conclusion that you either need insulation or that the existing insulation could do with upgrading. If so you will have no difficulty in finding companies offering to do the job for you –   you might well have received mail or cold callers offering their services.

Don’t get suckered in by their sales pitch! However good they may claim their product to be, is it worth it to you ?

Let’s take an example:

If the cost of heating your home over this winter has been say £10 per day then if the heat was on all year that would cost you £3,650 but clearly that will not be the case so let’s assume that you annual bill will balance out at £2,000. Let’s further assume that better insulation could save 20% of this cost – £400. You might feel happy to recover this saving over say 5 years. If so then a spend of £2,000 would mean that after 5 years you would be making a financial saving.   This should be the maximum that you spend on loft insulation.

Is that realistic? –  It most certainly is. The cost of materials to insulate the loft of an average sized house is between £100 and £200. It should take a trades person no more than 1 day to fit and it is not a skilled job so that should be little more than an additional £200 – £400.

What you may well find is that insulation companies will massively oversell the benefits of their ‘unique’ products and quote £10,000 plus to do the job.

Back to the sums. Based on the above figures of a £400 per year saving it would take 25 years to recover the investment!!. Utter nonsense.

If you decide that you need additional loft insulation then the best thing to do is get some quotes from trusted local trade’s people. Loft insulation is NOT rocket science.