40 million Kurds without a state, 40 million metres around the world, and 40 million readers of this blog

Waterstone’s sells 40 million books a year … inside Waterstone’s in Lichfield (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

I continue to be overwhelmed by the viewing and reading figures for this blog. These figures passed the 40 million by late this morning (28 March 2026), having passed 39 million mark last week (22 May 2026). These figures reached 38 million a week earlier (14 May 2026), 37 million the previous week (8 May 2026), 36 million six days before that (2 May 2026) and 35 million at the beginning of this month (1 May 2026). The figures have now passed the million mark six times so far this month, having passed that mark four times last month also: 34 million (29 April), 33 million (25 April), 32 million (19 April) and 31 million (8 April).

These viewing and reading figures are overwhelming, to say the least, and this blog continues to reach a volume of readers that I never have expected when I first started blogging 16 years ago. Half the total hits (20 million) have been within less than six months, having reached 20 million hits just over five months ago (18 December 2025). The total hits this month are my highest ever, with about 5.4 million so far in May 2026, compared with previous one-day highs in March 2026 (over 4.5 million) and April (almost 4.4 million). The figure of over 5.4 million so far this month is astonishing, considering it took almost 11 years, from July 2010 until 27 March 2021, to reach what I then thought was the staggering figure of 5 million hits.

At the end of last year, this blog had 21 million hits (31 December 2025). So far this year, there have been more than 19 million hits or visitors in 2026.

I first began blogging back in 2010, and it took almost two years until July 2012 to reach half a million readers. Throughout this year and last, the daily figures continue to be overwhelming on many occasions. Of the ten days of busiest traffic on this blog, three were this month (1, 6 and 14 May 2026), three were last month (26, 29 and 30 April 2026), three were in March, and one was in February:

• 1,124,925 (1 May 2026)
• 525,719 (14 May 2026)
• 509,644 (29 April 2026)
• 344,003 (30 April 2024)
• 323,156 (27 March 2026)

• 322,038 (26 April 2026)
• 318,835 (6 May 2026)
• 318,307 (1 March 2026)
• 314,018 (28 February 2026)
• 301,449 (2 March 2026)

The daily average is almost 190,000 throughout May, although that figure is distorted by the exceptionally high number of hits on three days this month. There were about 145,000 or more hits a day last month; ten years ago, in 2016, the daily average was around 1,000.

The Earth’s circumference is about 40,000 km or 40 million metres … the ‘Armillary Sphere’ by Justin Tunley in Campbell Park, Milton Keynes (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

To put this latest figure of 40 million into perspective:

It is estimated that 40 million people live in Canada, Angola and Ukraine. The Kurds – about 40 million people spread largely across four countries in the Middle East, Turkey, Iraq, Syria and Iran – are the world’s largest ethnic group without an independent state of their own.

Back in 1898, the population of the UK was around 40 million. The Office for National Statistics (ONS), in its official population projections, estimates that the figure will reach 70 million this year (2026).

Britain's biggest chain of bookstores, Waterstones, sells 40 million books a year. There are 40 million vehicles on the roads in the UK.

40 million consumers in the UK plan to watch the World Cup on television this year, according to research by Appinio – although I decided a long time ago that I shall watch fixtures from Mexico or Canada but I am not going to watch any that are played in the US. It’s my own small gesture of protest against the horrors of the Trump administration.

Jodi Picoult, the best-selling author with more than 40 million books in print, faced threats of boycotts of her work after she posted her views on Charlie Kirk on social media last September. She said that Kirk had made a living out of preaching hate’. The author of My Sister’s Keeper, said: ‘An undeserved violent death does not negate the terrible pain that he inflicted on others.’

‘I’m not buying into the hypocrisy,’ Jody Picoult said. ‘You won’t trick me into believing it’s just about respect for life when your side has cheered families being ripped apart, when your side has proudly supported Alligator Alcatraz merch,’ the writer said, referring to the immigration detention centre opened by the Trump regime in Florida.

40 million metres are 40,000 km and 40 million square metres are 40,000 sq km. Denmark has a total area of approximately 43,000 sq km, with its actual land area, excluding inland waters, measuring exactly 40,000 sq km.

The Earth’s circumference, the distance around Earth, is just about 40,000 km or 40 million metres. Measured around the equator, it is 40,075.017 km, and measured passing through the poles the circumference is 40,007.863 km.

40 million minutes is approximately 76 years and 18 days. In other words, if this blog was getting only one hit a minute, it would take more than 76 years, from May 1950, almost two years before I was born, to reach today’s figure of 40 million.

I retired from active parish ministry over four years ago, on 30 March 2022. These days, though, about 120-140 people on average continue to read my daily prayer diary on this blog each morning. A similar number have been reading my recent series of postings on churches and local history in Staffordshire, and were reading my recent series of postings on the churches and chapels of Walsingham. I imagine many of my priest-colleagues would be prayerfully thankful if the congregations in their churches totalled 850 to 1,000 or more people each week.

This evening, I am truly grateful to the real readers among those 40 million hits on this blog to date, and in particular I am thankful for the faithful core group of 120-140 people who join me in prayer, reading and reflections each morning.

Waterstone’s sells 40 million books a year … a sculpture at Waterstone’s in Milton Keynes (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Daily prayer in Ordinary Time 2026: 21, Thursday 28 May 2026

What can blind Bartimaeus see that the 12 have passed by? (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

The 50-day season of Easter, which began on Easter Day (5 April 2026), came to an end on Sunday with the Day of Pentecost or Whit Sunday (24 May 2026), and in the Church Calendar we have been back in Ordinary Time since Monday.

The Calendar of the Church of England in Common Worship today remembers Lanfranc (1089), Prior of Le Bec, Archbishop of Canterbury, and Scholar. But, 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, reading 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.

‘Christ Healing the Blind’ (ca 1570) by El Greco (Domenikos Theotokopoulos) … in the Met, New York

Mark 10: 46-52 (NRSVA):

46 They came to Jericho. As he and his disciples and a large crowd were leaving Jericho, Bartimaeus son of Timaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the roadside. 47 When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout out and say, ‘Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!’ 48 Many sternly ordered him to be quiet, but he cried out even more loudly, ‘Son of David, have mercy on me!’ 49 Jesus stood still and said, ‘Call him here.’ And they called the blind man, saying to him, ‘Take heart; get up, he is calling you.’ 50 So throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus. 51 Then Jesus said to him, ‘What do you want me to do for you?’ The blind man said to him, ‘My teacher, let me see again.’ 52 Jesus said to him, ‘Go; your faith has made you well.’ Immediately he regained his sight and followed him on the way.

The healing of the young blind man depicted in a Byzantine-style fresco in Analipsi Church or the Church of the Ascension in Georgioupoli, Crete … those looking on can hardly believe what they see (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Reflections:

When I started working as a journalist almost 55 years ago, it was instilled in me from the very beginning how important it is to ask the very basic questions: Who? What? When? Where? Why? …

In this morning’s Gospel reading (Mark 10: 46-52) these questions are very important.

Bartimaeus, the blind beggar outside the gates of Jericho, does not have to see to realise that he is in the presence of Christ.

Why do all the Gospel writers answer the ‘Where?’ question immediately and emphasise that this event takes place outside the walls of Jericho? And why do they tell us that when they heard the man’s loud cry that ‘many sternly ordered him to be quiet, but he cried out even more loudly’ (verse 48)?

At the time, the Hebrew name of Jesus, Yeshua (ישוע‎), was a common form of the name Joshua (ְהוֹשֻׁעַ‎).

In the story of Joshua (see Joshua 6), as the wandering, freed slaves are coming to the end of their journey, they arrive at Jericho to find the city is shut up to that no-one may go in or out.

Joshua tells the people not to shout or let their voices be heard until he tells them. And then, when he tells them to make a loud noise on the seventh day, the walls of Jericho fall.

Making a loud noise on the seventh day at Jericho breaks down all the barriers, and it is a sign of the fulfilment of the promises of the coming Kingdom of God.

By the time of Christ, Jericho is an important commercial city, a crossroads, the winter resort for Jerusalem’s aristocracy and the ruling priestly class. Which explains why, in the parable of the Good Samaritan, a priest and a Levite were regular passers-by on the road from Jericho to Jerusalem (Luke 10: 30-37).

Jericho was also the home of Zacchaeus, the repentant tax collector (Luke 19: 1-10).

Christ and his disciples are now near the end of their journey from Caesarea Philippi in the north to Jerusalem; Jericho is about 25 km from Jerusalem. On their journey, the disciples have misunderstood the message of Jesus and have been blind to who he truly is. But in this Gospel reading, it is a blind man who sees who Christ truly is.

Earlier in this Gospel, Saint Mark is alone in telling the story of an unnamed blind man who is healed gradually at Bethsaida (Mark 8: 22-26).

Have you ever noticed that when you are trying really hard to concentrate, you sometimes close your eyes to help you to focus?

Throughout the Talmud, the blind are called sagi nahor – ‘enough of light’ or ‘full of light.’ Jewish tradition says this is so because one’s physical sight, which gazes out at the mundane and materialistic world, often contradicts and weakens one’s inner or spiritual sight.

It is a universal Jewish custom to cover the eyes with the right hand when saying the first six words of the Shema, the fundamental Jewish declaration of faith. It is said that in doing this, the person who is praying is able to concentrate properly without visual distractions.

As the words are said, the focus is not just on their meaning, but also on accepting the yoke of heaven.

The person saying the Shema is expected to concentrate on the idea that God is the one and only true reality. This intention is so important that one who recites the words of this verse but does not think about its meaning is expected to recite it again.

In today’s Gospel reading, Saint Mark gives us – or seems to tell us – the name of this blind beggar, ‘Bartimaeus, son of Timaeus’ (verse 46).

But the name Bartimaeus literally means ‘Son of Timaeus,’ and so we are told only the name of this man’s father. Bartimaeus is an unusual Semitic-Greek hybrid, and Timaeus is an unusual Greek name for this place and at that time.

The cultural significance of this name is in Timaeus (Τίμαιος), one of Plato’s dialogues. This is mostly in the form of a long monologue by the title character, Timaeus of Locri. He delivers Plato’s most important cosmological and theological treatise, involving sight as the foundation of knowledge, and describing the nature of the physical world, the purpose of the universe, and the creation of the soul.

The blind son of Timaeus cries out to ‘Jesus, Son of David’ and asks for mercy. This cry is one of the Biblical foundations of the Jesus Prayer, ‘Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner.’

Until now, the disciples have been blind to who Jesus truly is. It takes a blind man to see the truth. When he does, Bartimaeus makes a politically charged statement. Jesus is the ‘Son of David,’ King of the Jews, and Messiah. In other places, Christ orders silence on the matter, but not here. His time is approaching. We shall soon understand the true nature of the physical world, the purpose of the universe, and the creation of the soul.

The cloak Bartimaeus throws off (verse 50) is probably the cloth he uses to receive the alms he is begging for. When he throws away his cloak, he gives up all he has to follow Christ. In Saint Mark’s Gospel, garments often indicate the old order, so Bartimaeus accepts the new order.

The question Christ now puts to Bartimaeus – ‘What do you want me to do for you?’ (verse 51) – is the same question he put in last Sunday’s reading to James and John when they sought status in the kingdom: ‘What is it you want me to do for you?’ (Mark 10: 36).

James and John asked in yesterday’s reading to be seated at his right hand and his left hand, symbolising power and prestige (see Mark 10: 37). But Bartimaeus, on the other hand, is humble in his reply: ‘My teacher, let me see again’ (verse 51).

Christ tells him simply that his faith ‘has made you well.’ Bartimaeus is not only cured immediately, but he follows Jesus on the way (verse 52).

The way is not going to be an easy one. As the parable of the Good Samaritan reminds us, in the time of Christ, the road from Jericho to Jerusalem was notorious for its danger and difficulty. It was known as the ‘Way of Blood’ because of the blood that was often shed there by robbers.

But Christ is also about to shed his blood. He is now on the road used by priests and by kings as they set out from Jericho to Jerusalem, and the next chapter of Saint Mark’s Gospel brings us to Christ’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem (Mark 11: 1-11).

What am I blind to that stops me from seeing and grasping the Kingdom of God?

Who am I blind to that stops me from seeing the needs of others?

How do I respond to the plight of others in ways that become promises, signs or sacraments of the Kingdom of God?

Plato is depicted in Raphael’s ‘The School of Athens’ carrying a bound copy of ‘The Timaeus’

Today’s Prayers (Thursday 28 May 2026):

This week in Pray with the World Church, the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), from 24 to 30 May 2026 (pp 58-59), the theme is ‘Carriers of the Flame’ and was introduced on Sunday with reflections by Carol Miller, Church Engagement Manager, USPG.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (Thursday 28 May 2026) invites us to pray:

Bless mothers, children and all who suffer from illness or lack of care and strengthen those who bring healing in places of need.

The Collect:

O Lord, from whom all good things come:
grant to us your humble servants,
that by your holy inspiration
we may think those things that are good,
and by your merciful guiding may perform the same;
through our Lord Jesus Christ,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post-Communion Prayer:

Gracious God, lover of all,
in this sacrament
we are one family in Christ your Son,
one in the sharing of his body and blood
and one in the communion of his Spirit:
help us to grow in love for one another
and come to the full maturity of the Body of Christ.
We make our prayer through your Son our Saviour.

Yesterday’s Reflections

Continued Tomorrow

A bust of Plato in the Achilleion Palace in Corfu (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

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