Inspired by true events, Despised Things is an account of Kev Ketch, a marked sex offender, who tells his interactions with Anna, Hank, Manny, and Cross that ultimately lead to his arrest, trial, and spiritual journey. Kev has always believed that God watches the hearts of men, that as long as Kev tries to do what is right, his reward will be in the afterlife. Although Kev gave his ¿friends¿ everything they could want, everything they asked for, they still turned on him. As Anna and Hank manipulate young homosexual Manny in his direction, they set up a sex scandal and an arrest. An investigation into Kev¿s arrest reveals that no fewer than fifteen felonies were committed against him; not just by Anna and Hank, but also by the county sheriff and the state¿s attorney. But Kev is the only one that goes to jail. How is that possible? With his life in ruins, his reputation in shreds, his heart broken, he cries out to God only to discover he is¿is what? That is what happened to Kev; but what happened to his ¿friends¿ who put him there¿nothing¿ ¿except this book.

The typical contemporary Labour MP is almost certain to be a university-educated Europhile who is more comfortable in the leafy enclaves of north London than the party’s historic heartlands. As a result, Labour has become radically out of step with the culture and values of working-class Britain. Drawing on his background as a firefighter and trade unionist from Dagenham, Paul Embery argues that this disconnect has been inevitable since the Left political establishment swallowed a poisonous brew of economic and social liberalism. They have come to despise traditional working-class values of patriotism, family and faith and instead embraced globalisation, rapid demographic change and a toxic, divisive brand of identity politics. Embery contends that the Left can only revive if it speaks once again to the priorities of working-class people by combining socialist economics with the cultural politics of belonging, place and community. No one who wants to really understand why our politics has become so dysfunctional and what the Left can do to fix it can afford to miss this authentic, insightful and passionate book.

This book calls for a major paradigm shift in the church's thinking and practice if the church is to engage with the upcoming generations of the third decade of this fast-changing twenty-first century. Just as the church has had to adapt to a changing context in the past, it now needs to engage seriously with this post-enlightenment, post-human, techno-centric age of artificial intelligence. However, the church also needs to recall its counter-cultural, prophetic role, following Elijah, Jeremiah, Amos, Jesus, and Paul, challenging society as it faces complex dilemmas raised by technology-driven development in these unprecedented times. The church will have to acknowledge unaddressed weaknesses in the past: of identifying with established power rather than vulnerability and the marginalized; of depending on a hierarchical, ministerial order at the expense of the ministry of every believer; of acquiescing to materialist, anthropocentric, and consumerist growth as an undisputable norm. This book develops the vision of a church engaged in the mission of God: of welcoming technological development but with an eye on kingdom values; of promoting innovation, so long as it does not result in a growth of inequality, or at the expense of the environment; of pointing towards a humanity that deepens its relationships with its Creator, its fellow humans, and its environment. The author calls on grassroots believers to reflect and act, within their local communities, as inspired and empowered daughters and sons of God, in the knowledge that following Jesus Christ provides a radical new paradigm for living, learning and leading, in and through these times of epochal change.