Richard Taylor’s ten-year-old son Damilola was killed in 2001 on the way home from an after-school club. Following Damilola’s death, Richard and his late wife, Gloria founded the Damilola Taylor Trust to bring positive change to inner-city communities and increase the options and opportunities available to youngsters in those areas. In 2011, Richard was awarded an OBE for his services to the prevention of youth violence in the New Year Honours list. He dedicated the honour to Gloria and Damilola. 
“Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all…if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink” (Romans 12: 17,20a, NRSV)

John Sentamu writes:
The Apostle Paul’s famous Chapter 13 of his First Letter to the Corinthians about love says, ‘Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things”
(1 Corinthians 13:7). In fact it describes the very characteristics we see in Jesu...

Beloved actor and award-winning director turned pariah: Mel Gibson’s career has lurched from one extreme to the other across the years. Now, however, it appears the star has found form once again at the helm of Hacksaw Ridge – but he’s keen to make sure the furore surrounding his triumphant return does not overshadow the incredible story of Hacksaw’s selfless hero…
The history of Hollywood is littered with larger-than-life personalities who have, for one reason or another, found a home in the public eye. On-screen, these individuals can hide their private life behind the veneer of inhabiting a character; off-screen, living one’s life in the constant glare of the limelight can be both a blessing and a curse.

So it was for Mel Gibson – perhaps the most talented and troubled Hollywood heavyweight since the days of Marlon Brando. Rarely is such a complete slide seen from Academy Award-winning acclaim to the filmic wasteland, and with the allegations of alcoholism, bigotry and spousal a...

Greg Valerio finished his last day of school with the words “Valerio, you’re a natural-born troublemaker. Just make sure you make trouble for the right reasons!” ringing in his ears. Nor was this the last day of term – instead, it had been the day when the school’s patience had run out. A difficult relationship was coming to a premature end. School, for Greg, as for so many lads, had been a difficult experience – and one that had got worse as he got older. Brought up in a solidly middle-class area, he says, “School was a farce, with its pressures to qualify with straight As, sit the Oxbridge exam or end up working for IBM. This mantra was continually preached in classrooms and assemblies, yet how could I take this seriously when one of the female teachers seduced my classmates, and another sold some of the best dope in the district? My disaffection with the school was reciprocated, because the senior staff didn’t like me much either.”
So Greg greeted expulsion with joy. “I was absolut...

Have you ever been sideswiped; led to believe one thing and then, as you’re looking ahead with the excitement and expectation of a child who on their birthday has just been told “and one final surprise”, something beyond your peripheral vision slams into your side, sending you into an uncontrollable spin? This is my story of being sideswiped. The time someone said, “Hey, what’s that on your shirt?” then, as I looked down, stole my wallet, my job, my hobbies, my carefree sense of fun, my dream of one day driving a car that demonstrated my success and status. They made off with my entire world view.
I share this with you so that you might avoid finding yourself in a similar fix. Always check your blind spots!

My ordeal happened six years ago. I was 26, a great age. I had literally no fears or concerns. My wife, Ruth, and I were living in central London and had a close circle of friends who we saw most evenings. We ate out and frequented the cinema and theatre, hung out in parks at weeke...

For many, including me and my wife, comedian Chris Ramsey first came to prominence in the TV comedy series Hebburn, set in the north-east town of the same name. Hebburn was a huge hit in my household, mainly because it is just down the road from my wife’s hometown of South Shields, a place where we lived for two years. Chris played the eldest son, Jack Pearson, to Vic Reeves’ character in the show a slight pastiche of the region, but it was hilarious and familiar. We have a chat about the fate of the West Park pub in South Shields becoming a local supermarket store, his busy schedule and an unlikely passion. With several TV shows on the air, he is the new host of Virtually Famous as well as his own The Chris Ramsey Show on Comedy Central UK, and a 45-date Is That… Chris Ramsey tour, his career really has exploded.
Would you say that Hebburn was your big break?

I don’t think it boils down to my big break...

We set out in a team of two at the end of October to summit Annapurna II, but were forced to retreat from the mountain before the final push. By this point we had done all the hard bits – ahead of us only a slow plod leading up to the summit.
Jamie Annetts is an expedition leader and director of Exped Adventure, an expedition company based in Staveley, Cumbria. For his big personal challenge in 2016 he had set his sights on Annapurna II – a rarely climbed mountain in central Nepal.

We had planned to reach the top of the 7,937 metre peak unsupported and without bottled oxygen – but the mountain had other ideas.

After three weeks of everything going to plan, high winds, freezing temperatures and ultimately a medical emergency forced us to make a retreat.

We had planned the siege tactic of advanced camps to conquer Annapurna II, climb high, sleep low for acclimatisation, and to move fast and light on the ridge to the summit.

At base camp we heard six avalanches a day; there w...

His cinematic career threatened to stall after his premature release from the perpetually rebooting Spider-Man franchise, but with his newest roles portraying principled real-life figures, Andrew Garfield has not only seen his stock rise in the world of cinema, but has found a higher purpose in his work that echoes his own spiritual journey…
W hen it comes to some actors’ careers, there often appears a moment in which that star ‘came of age’ on the silver screen. For Andrew Garfield, it seems that this transformation from cinematic novice to Hollywood stalwart can be attributed to two epic productions: Mel Gibson’s Hacksaw Ridge – documenting the outstanding efforts of the first conscientious objector to be awarded the Medal of Honour – and Martin Scorsese’s thoughtful tour de force Silence, following the plight of two Jesuit priests who risk capture and torture as they attempt to find their mentor in 17th- century Japan.

It’s a far cry from the fresh-faced actor who in 2015 had the p...