The Cormorant Baker

EVENTS: On this day in 1953, after being handed the four symbols of authority—the orb, the sceptre, the rod of mercy and the royal ring of sapphire and rubies—Queen Elizabeth II was crowned at a coronation ceremony in Westminster Abbey in London. Watching the Coronation parade, Noel Coward and David Niven wondered who the diminutive man sharing a carriage with the 400 lb Queen of Tonga might be. According to Niven, Coward suggested: "Her lunch".
Times Online June 2, 2003

52 years later, a new mystery has emerged and you, gentle readers, may be able to supply some creative answers. The new mystery concerns the object in Dougas Martin's hand. There's a high-resolution picture available to help you identify the mystery object. You have seven days to solve this conundrum, so get in quick and file your answers using the submission form at the bottom of the page.

Oh, and while you're examining that high-resolution photograph, have a close look at what's going on in the background. No, not Susan Maneck having a full and frank exchange of views with Ian Kluge in the buffet room. Look to the left—through the window of Douglas Martin's guest-room—and check out the top secret plans for a Rainbow Arc pinned to the wall.

Following on from the truly epoch-making publication, Messages from the Universal House of Justice, 1963-1986 and the vista-expanding work A Wider Horizon: Selected Messages of the Universal House of Justice 1983-1992, a new compilation of messages from the Supreme Body has just been announced.

The new book, They Triumphed over Diversity - Selected Messages of the Universal House of Justice, 1995-2005, mainly deals with a campaign of internal opposition to the Teachings carried on through the use of the Internet, and shows how the Universal House of Justice has systematically addressed the problem.

"As a number of the friends are aware, a campaign of internal opposition to the Teachings is currently being carried on through the use of the Internet, a communications system that now reaches virtually every part of the world. Differing from attacks familiar in the past, it seeks to recast the entire Faith into a socio-political ideology alien to Baha'u'llah's intent. In the place of the institutional authority established by His Covenant, it promotes a kind of interpretive authority which those behind it attribute to the views of persons technically trained in Middle East studies."
(Issues Related to the Study of the Baha'i Faith - 7 April 1999)

The book is being simultaneously published by Pablum Publications and Alikat Press. It will be released on 1 April 2006.

Here's a treat for you: An extract, in video format, from Peter Khan's, talk at the New Zealand National Teaching Conference, in Auckland, June 2000 (AVI, 5.5MB).

The House of Justice has been appalled in recent weeks to receive vitriolic, nasty, vicious letters from New Zealand Baha'is concerned about actions the House of Justice took with regard to a believer from the South Island. I'm sure you are aware of it. These letters are not many, there are a few of them, but they're probably the worst letters I have ever seen written to the House of Justice and they came from people who are part of the New Zealand Baha'i community. That, if nothing more, is an indication of the need for a far greater attention to this issue in this country as well as in other countries. New Zealand surely doesn't want to go down in Baha'i history as the community that has produced such nasty correspondence. Correspondence of such a kind that I am embarrassed to have my secretary see it because of the kind of language that it uses. Anyhow, be that as it may, it's their spiritual problem and they will deal with Baha'u'llah as they wish. But the point is that here it is an indication that something is fundamentally wrong with the Baha'i community in this country in terms of its depth of understanding of the covenant and the authority of the institutions of the Faith. What you take as normal is not normal, but abnormal.
Excerpts from a talk given by Peter Khan

Or perhaps you'd prefer to have that talk in word-pictures.

The Cormorant Baker is reminded of the sterling work done by the Rt Hon. Edward Smith Bt. in reporting on happenings in the Baha'i world. Here's a sample of his work:

New Tier in Administration
Further evidence of both the emergence and maturation of the Administrative Order has emerged with the implementation of a momentous directive from the LEA of Haifa announcing the appointment of additional tiers in the Learned Arm. A spokesman for the LEA of Haifa, at an off the record briefing, indicated that concern w