by 
When the house that has been painstakingly constructed on the sand falls flat, there is nothing to rejoice over. Discernment works better when unclouded by the sin of taking and giving offence.
Bishop Philip North’s election to the Diocese of Sheffield was a litmus test. It was a great achievement for the Church of England. It left me in a state of puzzlement asking myself quietly and periodically, ‘perhaps I have been wrong?’
I was half mistaken certainly. I thought it very unlikely that a non-progressive would be elected to a diocese at this stage of the struggle for the biblical and spiritual integrity of the Church of England. His election proved me half-mistaken. The second question I had to ask myself, and I have been asking ever since they were formulated, is ‘were the Five Guiding Principles fact or fiction?’