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On 31 January we read that in six years’ time the coal supply in South Africa will be insufficient to meet the country’s needs for the generation of electricity.  This is not because we don’t have enough coal.  Nor is it because the coal is of the wrong grade to run power stations.  Nor is it because we are not mining it fast enough.  Rather, it is because mining companies make greater profit selling our coal to Asian customers than on the local market. 

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From the first Sunday of Advent, all English-speaking Mass-goers will be using the full text of the revised translation of the Missal. One revision in particular, to one of the most familiar people’s responses, has caused some confusion among congregations who have already begun to introduce the new translation. Jack Mahoney looks closely at the response, ‘And with your spirit’ and directs our attention to one aspect of its meaning that we might otherwise neglect.

As we celebrate the Feast of St Thomas Aquinas on 28 January, Joe Egerton argues that by reflecting on what we understand by Aquinas being a saint, we may better appreciate how much he has to offer us in solving today’s problems.

Dominic Robinson’s study is a technical work of theology examining what it means for humanity to be created in the image of God. In drawing ecumenical attention to an important issue which goes right to the heart of three great twentieth century theologians, Robinson’s study has much to commend it and deserves to be widely read.

If W./E. had been released this time seven years ago, ahead of the Prince of Wales’s wedding to Camilla Parker Bowles, the very mention of the Wallis/Edward legend might have been enough to capitalise on the interest of the audience and allow them to overlook the film’s failure to humanise its characters. But the relationship between Wallis and David lacks chemistry, and with more of a focus on the dull, modern day story-line it is hard to engage with Mrs Simpson enough to be moved by Madonna’s portrait of her.

If you shoot, especially too accurately, we’ll condemn you as ‘trigger happy’ or even call you a ‘death squad’. If you exercise restraint, we’ll call you incompetent, cowardly or corrupt. Face it, dear police officers, in the war against crime and for our hearts and minds you will always lose.  Makes you wonder why bother, doesn’t it?

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The World Economic Forum in Davos begins today under the cloud of the IMF’s warning of the risks that the eurozone crisis poses to the global economy. With the integration of politics and economics receiving more attention than ever before, Brendan MacPartlin SJ describes the recommendations of a Vatican document published at the end of last year, in which the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace outlined a vision for financial reform under the guidance of a new, global body.

Again the situation of women in South Africa is in the spotlight. The notorious Noordt Street taxi rank and the rapes, and sexual molestation of women there; and the horrific gang rape of Ina Bonnett and murder of her son have brought the rights of women and children again to the forefront. We know that we live in a country in which women’s rights are still very much only part of the constitution. Legally we are all equal, however culturally we are not. Every day in this country many women and children are abused. These abuses happen at every level of society, rich and poor, educated and uneducated. As we sit in our churches this Sunday there are those sitting in the congregation who fundamentally do not believe in the equality of men and women. Men who believe that they have greater rights than the women in their lives. Women who believe that they are created less than men.

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We are now three weeks into the New Year – how successfully have you kept to your resolutions? Maybe the key to a revitalised start to 2012 lies in an honest appraisal of our hopes and expectations. Gerard J. Hughes encourages us not to be scared of becoming disillusioned, but rather to cherish the realism that allows us to find God in all things.

Shame portrays sordid complexity and repellent behaviour in a beautiful way, which is consistent with Steve McQueen’s first film, Hunger (2008) about the IRA hunger strikers. Michael Fassbender is totally convincing and compelling as the taut man in the grip of addiction. His character is broodingly physical, non-expressive and nondescript yet watchable.

War Horse follows a simple line, emphasising the emotional connection between the heroic horse and his original, west-country, farm-boy owner. Every scene has picture book clarity, without becoming chilling or vicious. It’s here, rather than in the plot, that the idea of war’s horror is most immediately expressed.

The Artist is a French movie about the movies. It honours and prods us with its spats-covered shoes to remember how films used to be made before we embraced the digital and 3D revolution.

In his latest book, Professor Nicholas Boyle argues that the character of the twenty-first century will be decided by an event that will take place at some point in the middle of this decade, as has been the case in previous centuries. But what will that event be? Professor Boyle looks at the crises and opportunities that are presenting themselves currently in Europe and beyond, and asks how we can see ‘a Christian meaning in the present moment of decision’.

‘I went to Brussels with one objective: to protect Britain’s national interest.’ So said David Cameron about his approach to the European Council in December 2011, but what does it mean to say that Britain has a ‘national interest’ on any particular issue? Tony Carroll seeks to answer this question, and looks at the UK’s current position with regard to Europe in light of modern understandings of the concepts of sovereignty and solidarity.

It’s Streep’s performance, bouncing off Jim Broadbent’s Denis – and a host of other British character actors – that is the centre of this film; and it is Streep and Broadbent who will justify your £7 if you choose to go and see it, because I am afraid the rest of the piece rather misses the target.

What struck me most about the film and about the lives of Aung San Suu Kyi and her husband, Dr Michael Aris, was the way it made me reflect on the nature of vocation. In the language of Daw Suu’s Buddhism, she is following the path that will lead her to truth – not power or fame or achievement but truth.

What has been the reaction outside of the United Kingdom to David Cameron’s decision to withhold the UK’s participation in the Eurozone rescue plan? Frank Turner SJ of the Jesuit European Social Centre, explains how things stand now for Britain and for the other 26 EU member states, and suggests some criteria according to which this decision and its effects ought to be assessed.

People in modern, Western democracies live in less violent times than at any point in history. This is the thesis that psychologist and Harvard Professor, Steven Pinker sets out to defend. Pinker draws on history, psychology and philosophy in a work of amazing scope and detailed reference, but it still needs to be interrogated by contemporary economics, politics and theology.