19.5 million tourists in Greece, 19.5 million people in Cairo, Tump’s secret $19.5 million loan, and 19.5 million blog readers

St Ives is the best-known beach in Cornwall … the United Kingdom has a total coastline of about 19.5 million metres or 19,500 km (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

This blog continues to reach more and more readers, and has reached yet another staggering landmark, with 19.5 million hits by early afternoon yesterday (14 December 2025) and already heading towards 20 million hits, with more than 1.08 million readers so far this month, an average of about 72,000 hits each day in the first half of December, and over 130,000 hits by 6 pm today.

I first began blogging back in 2010, and the 19 million mark was reached less than a week ago (9 December), having passed the 18.5 million mark less than a fortnight earlier at the end of last month (27 November 2025), the 18 million earlier that month (2 November 2025), 17.5 million the previous month (18 October) and 17 million less than three weeks earlier (30 September 2025).

The latest figure of 19.5 million is all the more staggering as more than half of those hits (10 million) have been within this year, since January 2025. The rise in the number of readers has been phenomenal throughout this year, and the daily figures have been overwhelming at times. With this latest landmark figure of 19.5 million readers today, I once again find myself asking questions such as:

• What do 19.5 million people look like?

• Where do we find 19.5 million people?

• What does £19.5 million, €19.5 million or $19.5 million mean?

• What would it buy, how far would it stretch, how much of a difference would that much make to people’s lives?

Minarets on the skyline in Cairo … Cairo has a population of 19.5 million people (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Official estimate earlier this year show that both Somalia and Chile each has a population of about 19.5 million.

Cairo, the capital of Egypt, has a population of about 19.5 million permanent inhabitants, while Greater Cairo has over 20 million people. Over 19.5 million people live in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, which is known as one of the most densely populated cities in the world. The New York metropolitan area was estimated to have a population of 19.75 million people in one ranking.

Florida, with the population of 19.5 million people, is one of the five largest states in the US.

The major global refugee crisis means there are about 19.5 million refugees worldwide. There are 19.5 million refugees in a world population of 7 billion, which means, of course, that it is a manageable problem but lacks the political will on the part of world leadership to solve it.

Among the top 10 most visited cities in 2025, Istanbul and Dubai rank fifth and sixth, with about 19.5 million visitors each.

In Greece, 19.5 million passengers passed through the 14 regional airports managed by Fraport Greece between January and July 2025, a 2.1% increase from the previous year. These airports are in Corfu, Chania (Crete), Kefalonia, Kavala, Aktion (Preveza), Thessaloniki (Makedonia), Zakynthos, Mykonos, Skiathos, Santorini (Thira), Kos, Mytilene (Lesvos), Rhodes and Samos.

Matenisa Trading, owned by the Melissanidis family, recently bought the Agia Triada Beach and Camping resort in Thessaloniki for a total of €19.5 million at a digital auction. The final price was 140.7% higher than the original starting price of €8.1 million.

The United Kingdom has a total coastline of about 19.5 million metres or 19,500 km, including larger islands. Although the shoreline of Great Britain’s mainland is about 17,820 km, adding major islands brings it close to the 19,500 km mark.

The Kruger National Park in South Africa covers 19.5 million sq metres or 19,500 sq km.

Winston Churchill’s former home in London was on the market last year with an asking price of £19.5 million. Churchill lived at 27 Hyde Park Gate from 1946 until he died in 1965. He bought the house in Kensington in 1946 for a £7,000 – the equivalent of about £250,00 today.

Donald Trump failed to disclose a loan of $19.5 million loan from a company with ties to North Korea while he was president the first time round, according to reports in 2022. The $19.8 million loan was from the South Korean firm Daewoo, which has historic ties to North Korea, and that debt remained more or less static between 2011 and 2016. Trump did not list the debt in financial disclosure filings while running for office in 2016, and only repaid the loan five months into his first presidency, the Forbes report said. Trump frequently brags about his close relationship with the North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un.

Chania airport is one of the 14 regional airports in Greece that together have handled 19.5 million visitors in the first half of this year (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

And 19.5 million minutes is almost 13,542 days or about 37.1 years. If this blog was getting one hit a minutes, it would have taken over 37 years to reach this 19.5 million mark.

So, yet again, this blog has reached another humbling statistic and a sobering figure, and once more I am left with a feeling of gratitude to all who read and support this blog and my writing.

A continuing and warming figure in the midst of all these statistics continues to be the one that shows my morning prayer diary continues to reach up to 80-100 people each day, with similar figures for my daily Advent Calendar postings at noon. It is almost four years now since I retired from active parish ministry, but I think many of my priest-colleagues would be prayerfully thankful if the congregations in their churches averaged or totalled 560 to 700 people twice a week.

Today, I am very grateful to all the 19.5 million readers of this blog to date, and in particular I am grateful for the small and faithful core group among you who join me in prayer, reading and reflection each morning.

On the shores of Lake Eola in downtown Orlando … Florida has a population of 19.5 million people (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

An Advent Calendar with Patrick Comerford: 16, 15 December 2025

‘And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us’ (John 1: 14) … the east window in the south aisle of Saint Laurence’s Church, Winslow, Buckinghamshire (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Patrick Comerford

There are ten days to go to Christmas, and yesterday was the Third Sunday of Advent (Advent III, 14 December 2025) or Gaudete Sunday.

At noon each day this Advent, I am offering one image as part of my ‘Advent Calendar’ for 2025, and one Advent or Christmas carol, hymn or song.

My image for my Advent Calendar today is the four-light east window in the south aisle of Saint Laurence’s Church in Winslow, Buckinghamshire, which I visited once again at the weekend. This window by Heaton Butler & Bayne was made in 1908 and shows the Nativity, with the inscription: ‘And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us’ (John 1: 14).

For an Avent carol today I have chosen is ‘This is the Truth Sent from Above,’ or the Herefordshire Christmas Carol, one of several folk tunes preserved and popularised by Ralph Vaughan-Williams.

In 1909, he transcribed it from Ella Mary Leather, a collector of Herefordshire folk music, who had herself received it from a Mr W Jenkins, a folk singer from King’s Pyon.

This English folk carol was collected in the early 20th century by many English folk song collectors in Shropshire and Herefordshire and a number of variations on the tune exist, although the texts remains broadly similar.

Cecil Sharp collected an eight stanza version of the carol from Seth Vandrell and Samuel Bradley of Donninglon Wood in Shropshire, although Sharp notes that a longer version existed in a locally-printed carol book.

Vaughan Williams collected a different, Dorian mode version of the carol at King’s Pyon, Herefordshire, in July 1909 from Ella Mary Leather, a folk singer who learned the carol through the oral tradition. This version, which contains only four stanzas, is sometimes known as the Herefordshire Carol.

Vaughan Williams first published the melody in the Folk-Song Society Journal in 1909, but he credited it as being sung by a Mr W Jenkins of King’s Pyon.

Vaughan Williams later used the carol to open his Fantasia on Christmas Carols in 1912.Gerald Finzi, with permission from Vaughan Williams and Ella Leather, also used the melody as the basis of his 1925 choral work The Brightness of This Day, substituting the text for a poem by George Herbert.

The descant is by Sir Thomas Armstrong (1898-1994), who studied at the Royal College of Music with Gustav Holst and Vaughan Williams, who became a life-long friend. Later, he was the organist of Exeter Cathedral, the organist of Christ Church, Oxford, and the Principal of the Royal Academy of Music.

The text of this carol recalls the fall from grace of Adam, and the promise of redemption by Jesus. However, in almost all printed editions, several of the verses are missing. The missing text leads to a presumably unintended faux pas, with the second verse ending ‘Woman was made with man to dwell,’ and the next verse starting ‘Thus we were heirs to endless woes.’

Of course, man’s woes do not stem simply from dwelling with woman. The full version reads:

This is the truth sent from above,
The truth of God, the God of love:
Therefore don’t turn me from your door,
But hearken all, both rich and poor.

The first thing which I do relate
Is that God did man create,
The next thing which to you I’ll tell,
Woman was made with man to dwell.

Then, after this, ’twas God’s own choice
To place them both in Paradise,
There to remain, from evil free,
Except they ate of such a tree.

But they did eat, which was a sin,
And thus their ruin did begin.
Ruined themselves, both you and me,
And all of their posterity.

Thus we were heirs to endless woes,
Till God the Lord did interpose,
And so a promise soon did run,
That he would redeem us by his Son.

And at this season of the year
Our blest Redeemer did appear,
Here he did live, and here did preach,
and many thousands he did teach.

Thus he in love to us behaved,
To show us how we must be saved;
And if you want to know the way,
Be pleased to hear what he did say:

‘Go preach the Gospel,’ now he said,
‘To all the nations that are made!
And he that does believe on me,
From all his sins I'll set him free.’

O seek! O seek of God above
That saving faith that works by love!
And, if he’s pleased to grant thee this,
Thou ’rt sure to have eternal bliss.

God grant to all within this place
True saving faith, that special grace
Which to his people doth belong:
And thus I close my Christmas song.

Daily prayer in Advent 2025: 16, Monday 15 December 2025

‘Did the baptism of John come from heaven, or was it of human origin?’ (Matthew 21: 25) … Saint John the Baptist in a statue beside the Chapel of Saint John’s Hospital, Lichfield (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Patrick Comerford

We have passed the half-way mark in the Season of Advent, and the countdown to Christmas continues gathered pace. The week began with the Third Sunday of Advent (Advent III, 14 December 2025), also known as Gaudete Sunday, and last night was also the first night of the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah.

Before today begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, to reflect, to pray and to read in these ways:

1, today’s Gospel reading;

2, a short reflection;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;

4, the Collects and Post-Communion prayer of the day.

An icon of Saint John the Baptist in the Greek Orthodox Church in Stony Stratford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Matthew 21: 23-27 (NRSVA):

23 When he entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him as he was teaching, and said, ‘By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?’ 24 Jesus said to them, ‘I will also ask you one question; if you tell me the answer, then I will also tell you by what authority I do these things. 25 Did the baptism of John come from heaven, or was it of human origin?’ And they argued with one another, ‘If we say, “From heaven”, he will say to us, “Why then did you not believe him?” 26 But if we say, “Of human origin”, we are afraid of the crowd; for all regard John as a prophet.’ 27 So they answered Jesus, ‘We do not know.’ And he said to them, ‘Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.

‘Did the baptism of John come from heaven, or was it of human origin?’ (Matthew 21: 25) … a window in Saint Mary's Church (the Hub), Lichfield (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Reflection:

We are two-thirds of the way through Advent, and yesterday was the Third Sunday of Advent, Gaudete Sunday (14 December 2025), a day when the readings and prayers recall Saint John the Baptist.

The liturgical colour on Gaudete Sunay is rose or pink, adding a note of joyful anticipation, and we lit the third, pink-coloured candle on the Advent Wreath. In many churches and cathedrals yesterday, naturally, choirs sang Gaudete! gaudete! Christus est natus, an Advent carol that was a hit in the charts in England for Steeleye Span over 50 years ago at Christmas 1973.

Saint John the Baptist is recalled again in the Gospel reading at the Eucharist today (Matthew 21: 23-27), when Jesus speaks once again about Saint John the Baptist and his authority to baptise and teach.

The religious leaders of the time approach Jesus one day in the Temple and ask him: ‘By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?’ (verse 23).

Jesus seldom directly answers provocative questions when they are put to him, and in this case, as so often, he answers with a question of his own: ‘Did the baptism of John come from heaven, or was it of human origin?’ (verse 25).

His questioners find themselves in a quandary. If they answer ‘from heaven’ or with divine authority, they may well be asked why they did not receive John’s baptism even though had come to see John baptising. Did they feel they had no need to be baptised themselves? If they had allowed themselves to be baptised, did they accept they were then sinful and the unclean?

On the other hand, if they answer ‘human’, they run the risk of offending the people who had no doubts about all this and who respected John as a prophet. They answer lamely, ‘We do not know’ (verse 27). And so Jesus refuses to reply to their question.

The Greek word for authority used here is ἐξουσία (exousia), which comes from the verb ἔξεστι (exesti) and refers to something that is lawful, may be done, is permitted or permissible.

The English word ‘authority’ comes from the Latin auctoritas, an abstract noun from the verb augere, to increase or to make bigger. The same verb gives us the word author.

A person with ‘authority’ is not merely someone who wields coercive power over others. The exercise of genuine authority is not to control or keep in line. Exercised properly, authority is being an agent in releasing the potential that is in people, to be an empowering agent.

Jesus does not wield coercive authority. He invites people to follow him; he came to serve, not be served, he came to lead people into the full development of all they could be and were meant to be. His authority is the authority of outreaching love.

How have I exercised authority in my own life – as a parent, a priest, a teacher, as a writer or journalist who may influence the thinking, the decisions and the actions of others? Is the world a little better, a little more loving because of what I say or do?

‘Did the baptism of John come from heaven, or was it of human origin?’ (Matthew 21: 25) … a detail in an icon in the Greek Orthodox Church in Stony Stratford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Today’s Prayers (Monday 15 December 2025):

The theme this week (14 to 20 December 2025) in Pray with the World Church, the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), is ‘The Floating Church’ (pp 10-11). This theme was introduced yesterday with a Programme Update by Sister Veronica of the Community of the Sisters of the Church in Melanesia.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (Monday 15 December 2025) invites us to pray:

We pray for all those seeking retreat at Tetete Ni Kolivuti. May they find rest, guidance, and renewal of spirit as they reflect and draw closer to God.

The Collect:

O Lord Jesus Christ,
who at your first coming sent your messenger
to prepare your way before you:
grant that the ministers and stewards of your mysteries
may likewise so prepare and make ready your way
by turning the hearts of the disobedient to the wisdom of the just,
that at your second coming to judge the world
we may be found an acceptable people in your sight;
for you are alive and reign with the Father
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post-Communion Prayer:

We give you thanks, O Lord, for these heavenly gifts;
kindle in us the fire of your Spirit
that when your Christ comes again
we may shine as lights before his face;
who is alive and reigns now and for ever

Additional Collect:

God for whom we watch and wait,
you sent John the Baptist to prepare the way of your Son:
give us courage to speak the truth,
to hunger for justice,
and to suffer for the cause of right,
with Jesus Christ our Lord.

Yesterday’s Reflections

Continued Tomorrow

Saint John the Baptist baptises Christ … one of the windows by Alfred Bell of Clayton and Bell in Saint John-at-Hampstead (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org