* "Sandra's Diary" reviews television programmes which remind us how we can learn from the beauty of the past.
* Andrew Barr finds Advent thoughts in Susan Boyle, Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Tutu.
* John Cameron looks at fantasy novels.
* Jeff Bagnall finds Advent thoughts in the desert as used by Isaiah.
* Gail explores the contrariness of human nature, and Jesus response.
* We pay tribute to Nelson Mandela and Sister Margaret Duncan who died at the age of ninety six after work for the homeless in Edinburgh and the war victims in Bosnia which earned her the title of the Mother Teresa of Leith.
