William flew like a bird

If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who does not obey his father and mother and will not listen to them when they discipline him, his father and mother shall take hold of him and bring him to the elders at the gate of the town. They shall say to the elders, 'This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious. He will not 
obey us. He is a profligate and a drunkard.' Then all the men of his town shall stone him to death...


Blows and wounds cleanse away evil, and beatings purge the inmost being. The rod of correction imparts wisdom, but a child left to himself disgraces his mother.


 Deuteronomy 5:9 
"for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me."
Deuteronomy 24:16
"Fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor children put to death for their fathers; each is to die for his own sin."

William flew like a bird

 Birds of prey — birds that light up the skies and the earth beneath, even if you can’t see or hear them; birds that thrill everyone who has taken a little stroll in the open air. Every one of them national treasures. My good friends from the shooting community continue with their illegal killing of birds of prey. There was a court case this week in which Dean Barr, shoot manager of the Skibo Estate, was fined £3,300 for possessing enough illegal poison to kill the entire Scottish population of birds of prey six times over. Lab tests confirmed that two golden eagles, a sparrowhawk and grouse laid out for bait contained this poison, although the conviction was for possession, rather than slaughter. The estate featured in Masterchef last year.But here’s news that will scare the kilts off the owners of Scottish shooting estates. Part of Scotland’s recently passed Wildlife and National Environment Bill espouses the notion of vicarious liability: that is to say, the owner of an estate can now be prosecuted if his gamekeeper or shoot manager kills birds of prey.So let’s see how this principle is implemented and wait for the moment when it is taken on in England and Wales. It’s about time.