Tag: The Conversation

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Media & Press Media - Text

[MEDIA] Keep calm and carry on: a slogan for an age of crisis in @ConversationUK

With my book officially released today, I wrote a piece for The Conversation (‘Academic rigour, journalistic flair’). The piece starts:

The slogan Keep Calm and Carry On has been ubiquitous within newspaper headlines in 2017 as the UK careered from one crisis to another. It seems to sum up a very British character – yet it is used the world over to represent the fight against adversity. Some people may be getting sick of it but it is now firmly stamped in the national consciousness and is here to stay.

Having tracked use of the slogan since 2009 on Google Alerts, there has been a noticeable rise in its use in 2017, from a couple each day, to over fifteen for a few days after each crisis. This follows attacks at Westminster Bridge, Manchester Arena, Parsons Green and after the Grenfell Tower disaster. Headlines included: Keep Calm and Carry On; Why shaken Manchester will keep calm and carry on after the terror attack; Day After London Attack, Britons Keep Calm and Carry on Drinking; and Grenfell, Brexit, EU: Keep Calm and Carry On?.

Read full article.

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Speaker

[SPEAKER] Experiencing God in a Digital Age #theconvo17

I’m at ‘The Conversation‘ in Canterbury today, in an event hosted by the CofE, asking “How can we change the dominant church culture from ‘conquering and keeping’ to ‘nurturing and releasing’ the children and young people in our midst?”.

I’ve got 20 minutes to put across some ideas about the digital:

Experiencing God in a Digital Age (Children/Young People) from Bex Lewis
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Digital Media & Press Media - Text

[PRESS] How social media is changing the church via @ConversationUK

the-conversationOriginally planned for Easter weekend, but house-moves etc causing distractions, my piece for The Conversation has just been published. It starts:

Over the Easter weekend, the Church of England encouraged its congregation to share photos of their services and celebrations on social media using the hashtag #EasterJoy. It’s not strange for a large organisation to interact with its members and promote its message in this way. But the democratic nature of social media is allowing the church to play a much more unusual role in such a traditionally hierarchical body.

Read the full article.