Despite going to bed before eleven, I had a disturbing night and woke up at quarter past nine logging eight hours and forty nine minutes of sleep. I have no idea why I should sleep so long despite being aroused by dreams and flashbacks to times when I injured myself. The mind is a mystery.
Deposed president Assad messaged the world from Russia saying he hadn't intended to leave when he did but was directing military operations from a Syrian air base being run by the Russians, when he learned of the Syrian army's capitulation and told to leave for Moscow. Officially he is an asylum seeker there, but Putin hasn't had anything to say about this so far it seems. Meanwhile the transitional government set up by the victorious rebel army re-iterates that it wants law and order retained and no retribution against perpetrators but justice in court. But will this prove possible when so many were involved in Assad's reign of terror, leaving so many victims and their supporters with scores to settle.
The celebrations surrounding victory and the return of freedom to Syrian people now gives way to facing the hard work of rebuilding a society in ruins. It's not so easy to achieve while there's uncertainty among the nations interested in helping, about trusting the transitional government led by Prime Minister Mohammed al Bashir, acting as head of state. He talks about an inclusive future, but has yet to appoint anyone other than his own islamist supporters. How does anyone go about recruiting suitable participants from Christian, Druze, Shia and Alowite Muslim minorities when there's no precedent after fourteen years of civil war and half a century of tyranny from the Assad clan, who just happen to be Alowite?
After breakfast housework, then a circuit of Thompson's park before lunch. We went to town afterwards to look for Christmas presents, but it turned out to be a frustrating venture for me. Clare took a bus home before me, and I walked back through the streets, as the sun went down. After supper I watched an episode and a half of the latest series in British crimmie 'Strike' about a private detective agency with a story about cyber stalking ending in murder. It's interesting in its portrayal of covert surveillance and an investigation carried out by a civilian agency in cases where the police cannot take action or are reluctant to for lack of resources to take action. What MI5 and MI6 get up to in this area is anybody's guess!
This past couple of days the media have started reporting about calls for Stephen Cotterell, Archbishop of York to resign over his handling of a case he inherited in his previous diocese of Chelmsford of a child abusing cleric about whom he was slow to deal with until the case had been taken up by the police. The man was already deemed to be unsafe around children, a risk to be managed while he was still in office, until there were legal grounds for removal from office. The trouble is there are perpetrators who are good at 'gaming the system' when it comes to avoiding culpability, and its made more difficult because of the rights of clergy as office holders in the established church.
When I was young, I recall hearing about clergy disappearing from their pastorate without a send-off or leaving a forwarding address with no explanation given. In those days, obedience of clergy to the Bishop who licensed them was rarely challenged. The order to leave a place or never work under licence again in the event of misbehaviour or conflict was taken seriously for the most part. If the Bishop was openly defied by someone staying in post it was because as a cleric they had freehold tenancy for life, it was hard to remove them legally.
Nowadays, so much church legislation has been put into place, surrounding clergy employment, welfare, professional conduct, accountability etc that a Bishop needs advice from a legal team before taking action. Personal authority and respect for apostolic authority can be and are challenged, making 'gaming the system' more possible for wrongdoers to avoid real accountability. Taking authority in such a complex confusing world is a poisoned chalice.
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