From The Weekly Telegraph No. 463 of June 7 - 13, 2000:
40ft hole opens up in ancient monument: An item under this heading By Sean O'Neill explains that "One of Europe's most significant ancient monuments has become dangerously unstable after heavy rain caused a gaping hole to open in its surface. The 40ft deep hole, which measures six feet across, appeared in Silbury Hill, the oldest earthen mound in Europe and part of the World Heritage Site at Avebury, Wilts." The article goes on to mention that the hole appeared when the upper part of a 100ft deep shaft dug in the 18th century in an attempt to discover if the hill was a burial site collapsed in heavy rain. "Silbury Hill was built in three phases about 4,500 years ago with chalk dug from quarry pits. It covers five acres and pre-dates both Stonehenge and the stone circles at Avebury."

From the same issue of The Weekly Telegraph: Tsar and family to be canonised - By Marcus Warren.
The article begins: "The last Tsar and his family will be among hundreds of people murdered by the Bolsheviks to be canonised by the Russian Orthodox Church." Tsar Nicholas II, his wife Alexandra and their five children will be made saints at a Council of Bishops in August, but the four servants killed with them in 1918 have been passed over for canonisation. "The Orthodox Church's commission on canonisation will grant the Romanovs the status of 'passion-bearers', saints who suffer death with Christian humility but do not die for their faith as martyrs." The article goes on to explain: "The Tsar and Tsarina and their children - Olga, Tatyana, Maria, Anastasia and Alexei - were shot by firing squad on Lenin's orders in a cellar in Yekaterinburg in 1918, with their doctor, a lady-in-waiting, a valet and a cook. Efforts to help them to escape to Britain had been thwarted by the reluctance of King George V, the Tsar's cousin, to offer them sanctuary and risk enraging Left-wing opinion at home. Buried in marshes outside Yekaterinburg, the victims' bodies were recovered after the collapse of communism. They were reburied, royal family and servants together in one vault, in a St. Petersburg cathedral... ."

Also from the same issue of The Weekly Telegraph:
Several well-illustrated articles commemorating the wartime evacuation of British and allied troops from Dunkirk by "an armada of more than 800 warships, merchantmen and small pleasure boats", sixty years ago. "By June 4, 1940, 338,000 Allied troops had been brought safely across the Channel in 10 days."

Another article in the same issue of The Weekly Telegraph By Sandra Barwick:
Downgrading the bard at Cambridge states: "CAMBRIDGE University is considering downgrading the importance of Shakespeare in its English syllabus by dropping the paper devoted entirely to his works. Instead, the poet's works would be studied and examined along with those of his contemporaries in a paper on renaissance literature between 1550 and 1700. Academics were divided over the proposal, which the university admitted would be a radical departure from the syllabus. Park Honan, emeritus professor of literature at Leeds University said to confine Shakespeare within a general paper on his period would 'squeeze him' and make him 'dwarf-like'. The proposal comes as part of a general review of the undergraduate English syllabus at Cambridge. At present, students study for one paper on the period from 1550 to 1700 and another focusing entirely on Shakespeare, as two of the seven papers making up the English Tripos Part One."

Again from the same issue of The Weekly Telegraph,
we find that "One million Scots vote to keep gay curb" The article, By Nick Britten and Benedict Brogan starts "THE Scottish government suffered a humiliating defeat in Britain's first privately-funded referendum after more than one million Scots voted to retain Section 28, the law that bans the promotion of homosexuality in schools. Ministers and opponents dismissed the ballot, funded by Brian Souter, the multi-millionare owner of the Stagecoach transport group, as 'a glorified opinion poll' and 'chequebook democracy'. But it will increase pressure on Tony Blair to back down in his fight to abolish the legislation in England... ."
COMMENT: The use of private funds to run a poll on an important social or religious issue would seem to offer an avenue which might be tried by other groups who feel dissatisfied with the "politically correct" subversions of their "democratic" autocrats.

From The Toronto Globe and Mail of 10 June, 2000:
"Uncovered: the 'real' Vinland" By Kevin Cox assisted by David Keys. This article sets out with map and photo the thesis of "Swedish archeologist Mats Larsson, based on his study of the Norse sagas" which, while aware of the traditional L'Anse aux Meadows on the northern tip of Newfoundland, would rather pinpoint Chegoggin, north of Yarmouth, at the western end of Nova Scotia as the probable Vinland. Also on the map, "Canadian archeologist Birgitta Wallace thinks the Miramichi area was a more likely site for Vikings." which would locate the site on the east coast of New Brunswick, roughly opposite the tip of Prince Edward Island. COMMENT: If nothing else, the possible effects of such diversity of opinion might be to attract interested folk to spread their tourist dollars in each of the Maritime Provinces concerned!

Also from The Toronto Globe and Mail of 10 June, 2000:
Headed "United Church celebrates, dogged by old questions - After 75 years, critics still call it unchristian, creedless, political", an article by Michael Valpy, Religion and Ethics Reporter examines the United Church of Canada, the country's largest Christian Protestant denomination through an interview with a minister. The long article deepens and amplifies the opinions expressed. COMMENT: Revelation 3:14-22 describes the church of the Laodiceans, the last of "the seven churches", as being "neither hot nor cold." Possibly most modern churches could be included in such a condemnation. As the usual methods of preserving food are by use of either heat (boiling) or cold (refrigeration), we might say that food which has not been thus preserved is probably rotten. Well might Our Lord state, of such an ecclesiastical organisation, "I will spue thee out of my mouth." To spue out is to reject it from becoming part of His body! A word to the wise would seem to be in order!

Again, from the same issue of The Toronto Globe and Mail:
"A quiet beauty cloaked in sadness" heads an interesting article by Gary Thompson. Sub-headed "One of a cluster of Saxon Age settlements lying in England's Hope Valley, the tiny village of Eyam endured the worst ravages of the bubonic plague three centuries ago. Today it attracts visitors drawn both by its quiet charms and its dark history." If we had sufficient space we would be moved to print the entire article. Perhaps the first few paragraphs and a brief summary will convey the points of special interest. "He was an itinerant tailor, staying that summer of 1665 in the stone cottage of Mary Cooper in the Derbyshire village of Eyam, 20 kilometres west of Sheffield. Late August a parcel of cloth arrived for him from London. Feeling its dampness, the tailor, George Viccars, spread it before the fire to dry. Two days later he railed with a fever. Swellings and a rosy rash covered his body. By the evening of the second day he died. Rat fleas concealed in the cloth had infected him with plague bacillus. Within a fortnight, Mary Cooper's son died with the same symptoms. Next day Peter Hawksworth and Thomas Thorp, neighbours on either side, perished with the fever. Two days later young Sarah Sydall across the road died. Through Eyam streets slouched the spectre of bubonic plague. The villagers' unique response would earn for Eyam lasting tribute in folk memory, literature and film.... ." "As the deaths mounted through autumn and winter of 1665, the inhabitants sought religious explanations for the tragedy... ." (Various suppositions are mentioned.) "In response the rector, William Mompesson, called the villagers together to announce his closing of the church for worship. To lessen risk of contagion, he said. Further, he would permit no organized funerals within the church-yard. Now people would bury their own dead: in gardens, orchards and fields, dragged there on sheets or blankets. Then he led them toward a horrifying decision. They would join in a self-imposed quarantine to halt the spread of sickness beyond the village boundaries. Their pledge signalled potential suicide. Yet the oath was unanimous, and over time only two people violated it." (The article contains points of interest for visitors, and proceeds to explain how two love stories are interwoven with the events of 1665-6, and how, of 400 villagers, the records show 260 names of those who perished of the plague in that fateful year.)

From The Toronto Globe and Mail of 10 June, 2000 - By David Keys:
"Skeleton deepens riddle of Stonehenge - Evidence of first-millennium execution forces rethink of monument's history" (Various theories are put forward.) We find a similar report picked up by The Weekly Telegraph No. 464 of June 14-20, 2000 - Stonehenge beheading: STONEHENGE was the setting for a ritual public execution nearly 2,000 years ago, English Heritage said last week. According to a new study, one of four complete skeletons found among the stones belonged to a man beheaded with an iron sword at some time in the first millennium.

From The National Geographic, Vol. 198, No 1, July, 2000, page 71:
"Black Sea Flood - New evidence of cataclysmic change" "Once upon a time, when people wanted to find evidence of the biblical Flood, they searched the flanks of Mount Ararat for remnants of Noah's ark. Now scientists are finding mounting evidence that there may have been a calamitous flood of the Black Sea about 7,500 years ago - close enough to historical times to give rise to an ancient flood myth." (The article continues by indicating that the Black Sea may have been blocked off by a natural dam at the Bosporus. Previous shore deposits now lie at a depth of about 500 feet below the surface of the present Black Sea level. Breaking of the dam would have sent ten cubic miles of sea water a day roaring in, pushing the water a mile further inland each day for months. Studies of fresh and salt-water shells tend to confirm the theory.)

Two items, one in Time Magazine, June 12, 2000, the other in University of Toronto Magazine Summer 2000 (the Alumni magazine) share a focus on the speed of light.
Time states (page 53): "Warp Speed That Einstein guy- pretty smart, right? Here's a puzzle for him. Last week two independent groups of researchers, one in the U.S. and one in Italy, each claimed to have found a way to make light travel faster than its regular cruising speed of 300,000 km/s. According to the special theory of relativity, that's verboten; the velocity of light is supposed to be the cosmic speed limit, which nothing can exceed." (It goes on the state that a physicist says "he revved up a beam of light as much as 300 times its normal speed, using a special chamber filled with cesium gas... .)
The Alumni magazine's item, "Leading Edge" (page 9), under the heading "The cosmic speed limit", quotes John Moffat, Professor emeritus of physics, to the same general effect as the statement in the Time article. Moffat questions Einstein's theory, and states: "...while the speed of light may be the universal speed of light today that doesn't mean it hasn't changed since the universe began." It seems part of the problem is that "...if everything in the visible universe exploded outward from a single point (the so-called Big Bang), and if nothing moves faster than light, then our universe is impossibly big. In addition, a universe that expands impossibly fast and continues to accelerate implies some unknown gravitationally repulsive form of matter unlike anything currently known to exist. You can either assume such a scenario, ... or you can assume the speed of light is much slower now than it was at the beginning of time... .
COMMENT: Perhaps we might see some theological implications in the suggested scenario?

From The Weekly Telegraph No. 464 of June 14 - 20, 2000:
Under the heading "Tories demand a vote on European veto", a number of related articles feature the general stress which British parliamentarians feel over the demands being pressed from Europe.
From The same Weekly Telegraph No. 464 of June 14 - 20, 2000 we find quite a few smaller items:
Jobcentre objects to 'hard-working' advert: A JOBCENTRE rejected the words "hard-working and enthusiastic" as too discriminatory for a recruitment advertisement, writes Maurice Weaver. They were in an ad for a trainee manager submitted to a Jobcentre office in Aldridge, Staffs. A spokesman for the Employment Service confirmed that "non-specific" words such as "hard-working, enthusiastic and reliable" breached the disability Discrimination Act, 1999. But help was at hand from David Blunkett, the Education and Employment Secretary, who is blind. He ordered the centre to accept the ad in its original form, a department spokesman said, adding: "Mr Blunkett regards it as an insult to him to suggest that a disabled person cannot be reliable, hard-working and enthusiastic."
Christians are warned against yoga therapies: THE Church of England has urged Christians to question the use of popular healing therapies such as reiki, shiatsu massage, and yoga, writes Bess Twiston Davies. The report, A Time to Heal, warns believers to avoid sources of healing which "may be likely to distract from or undermine a person's faith in Christ". Christians are advised to shun reiki, a Tibetan Buddhist system of "energy" healing which "channels" positive energy into a client through the practitioner's hands.
It also urges Christians to think carefully before using yoga, whose understanding of energy derives from Hinduism, and the Shinto-based massage technique shiatsu.
MPs in call to relax trial rule: A COMMITTEE of MPs has supported the relaxation of the rule on double jeopardy, which prevents defendants acquitted of a criminal charge facing a second trial. The Commons home affairs committee, which published its report last week, launched its inquiry after the Law Commission suggested last October that the rules be retained except for cases of strong new evidence on serious offences.

Ancient Greek city found preserved beneath the sea:
A PERFECTLY preserved Greek city that lay hidden beneath the sea for 2,000 years has been uncovered by archaeologists, writes Myranda Mowafe in Alexandria. They found houses, shrines, bronze coins, statues and jewellery in the ancient port of Herakleion, which was buried by sand four miles off the Egyptian coast near Alexandria. Among the most significant finds is an enormous granite statue of a pharaoh. Franck Goddio, a marine archaeologist, said: "Imagine finding a complete city, covering an area of one square kilometre, untouched below the sea. I call this a vision discovery, only the eye can believe it. "Based only on a rumour and a hunch we have a new reality and I estimate the discovery will be unleashing information for another 100 years." The international team found the city - which experts claim is the most important discovery since Tutankhamun's burial chamber in 1922 - after a 13 month search. Heracleion, built in the fifth century BC, was a port that lost its importance when Alexandria was founded by Alexander the Great in 331 BC. Experts believe it was destroyed by an earthquake in AD 2 that hit part of Alexandria. They also discovered parts of the city of Menouthis, which was destroyed in AD 8... . Menelaos, King of the Spartans, was said to have stopped at Herakleion during his return from Troy with Helen, while the first historical mention of the city was in 450 BC when it was recorded by Herodotus.

From The Toronto Globe and Mail, 21 June, 2000:
Stonehenge reopens to public for solstice. - Associated Press, Stonehenge, England: Ordinary observers of the summer solstice had permission to spend last night at Stonehenge - the first time in 16 years they were allowed to watch the sunrise at the prehistoric monument on the year's longest day... .