2024-25 Statements

Eid Mubarak

26 March 2025

"I want to wish all our Muslim students and staff Eid Mubarak.

The Festival of Eid al-Fitr marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan and begins when a new crescent moon is sighted. It's a time for feasting with family while giving thanks to Allah for many gifts, but especially for his strength and help through the Ramadan fast. 

All of us need times like these in our lives. When we look with gratitude at the gift of life and celebrate the bonds of love that unite us to one another. We need this more than ever this year, as we support one another through the tragic loss of a member of our community, with many students and staff traumatised and desolated by her death.

If gratitude is hard for you to find this year, then lean in to the support of those around you. Look for the places where you can receive and give love, the places of compassion and mercy and companionship that can be found even in the midst of the bleakest of times.

May all King's who celebrate enjoy this feast in the warmth of bonds of family and friendship.

Eid Mubarak. Have a blessed feast."

Merry Christmas 

 13 December 2024

"I want to wish all our Christian students and staff a very happy Christmas.

For me, the idea that God chose to become human out of love for us and the most vulnerable of all humans, a refugee baby, is at the heart of my love for God and a constant reminder to love and care for those who are most vulnerable in our world.

I hope that you, whatever your faith or none, know yourself loved this winter break.

Merry Christmas to all who celebrate."

Wishing you a joyful and prosperous Diwali 

 30 October 2024

"I wanted to offer a special greeting to all our Hindu staff and students this festival time, and to wish you all a joyful and prosperous Diwali.

Diwali is a celebration of light, goodness and knowledge which tells the story of Rama's defeat of the demon Ravana.

It invites all of us to consider where these life-giving things are present in our own lives. What is illuminating our thinking right now? Who is bringing goodness and warmth into our lives? Where are we being challenged and excited by new knowledge?

And also for all of us to consider, how can we contribute to defeating some of the demons that undermine our own and other people's possibilities for happiness?

May we all find new causes for celebration and for curiosity this autumn. And Happy Diwali to all who celebrate."

Marking the High Holy Days of the Jewish year 

1 October 2024

"I wanted to send greetings to all our Jewish students and staff as we move into the High Holy Days of Judaism.

These days embrace great emotional highs and lows. The joy of new possibilities with the sweetness of the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah. The reflection on our human frailty and need for forgiveness that comes on the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur. The celebration of harvest and of God's sheltering that comes with Sukkot.

There are universal themes for all of us in these Jewish high Holy Days. What new possibilities and new sweetness are we seeing in our own lives? Where are there areas where we need to seek forgiveness from ourselves as well as from others? What do we want to celebrate that is coming to fruition in our life?

In the midst of a time of deep division and pain for many, it's good to remind ourselves of some of the universal human experiences that unite us all.

And to all our Jewish staff and students, may these High Holy Days bring strength and hope and togetherness."

Marking the first anniversary of 7 October 

26 September 2024

"I write to you in advance of the first anniversary of 7 October, the day that saw the abductions and deaths of Israeli children, women and men and which was followed by the deaths of thousands of children, women and men in Gaza.

I know that there is nothing I can say that will speak to everyone caught up in the ongoing effects of this tragedy at King’s. People’s passions and convictions are too deeply held, and too conflictual, for one person to give voice to such a multiplicity of pain, outrage, and loss. I can only offer one very partial perspective and invite you all to take a moment to reflect on, and mourn, all the pain that we human beings inflict on one another.

My faith teaches me that each human being is unique, is of infinite value, and bears the image of God. The loss of one life to violence is one too many, and God counts in ones not in multiples, as each life is uniquely valuable. Many of us know the pain that comes through losing someone we love, and that pain can also be felt for those we do not know directly but who represent people and places we care for deeply. Both these sorts of pain are being felt by members of our community.

We know that people are dying not just in one region but across the world from warfare and from the violence that individuals and nations use against one another.

However you are feeling over these next days, whether you are closely touched by grief or anger or are more distant to these events, I ask you to show kindness to those around you. To be aware of the depth and range of pain felt by many, to respect other’s right to mourn as well as your own, and to consider how you might make the world a safer place for all."

Opening of Year Ceremony

25 September 2024

"The Chapel in the King’s Building was a joyful place on the Friday of Welcome Week as new and returning students, along with some new and some established staff, gathered to celebrate the diversity that is King’s College London.

There has always been a celebration of the new academic year in the Chapel but, rather than just reflecting King’s Anglican origins as it did in years past, it now showcases the different faiths and cultures that make our university such a vibrant place to study and work. We experienced Hindu song and dance, Islamic scripture, Jewish and Sikh prayer, Christian choral music, as well as the more secular delights of speeches by Virajit Singh from KCLSU, Professor Rachel Mills acting for the Vice-Chancellor, and our fabulous Olympian alum Dina Asher-Smith. We closed with a newly composed King’s song, Roar for King’s.

King’s is committed to helping all its staff and students feel that this is somewhere they belong, where they can bring their whole selves, and where all of us can work towards making the world a better place. We know this isn’t always easy in our deeply divided world, and we know that we don’t always get it right. But sometimes, as on Friday, we are truly able to focus on the beauty and richness of the diversity that surrounds us and celebrate difference rather than sameness.

In the words of our new King’s song:

Roar for King’s! Roar for King’s!
Reggie’s home, diverse and open
Roar for King’s! Roar for King’s!
Red’s our colour, truth our token
Here we train in thought and healing
Here our future knows no ceiling
Roar for King’s! Roar for King’s!
Share the vision, catch that feeling!

Roar for King’s! Roar for King’s!
Forged of old truth, forging new
Roar for King’s! Roar for King’s!
Past and future, me and you!"

View a recording of the 2024 Opening of Year Ceremony: