The Tragedy of the Church of England
By Frederick Dixon: “Its obscene” the vicar of Edmonton recently declared “oppressive, racist and wholly inappropriate to a multi-faith society in the 21st century”. What was the vicar railing against – the racist grooming of poor white girls by Moslem paedophile gangs, female genital mutilation, child pornography? No, none of these; the vicar’s ire was aroused by the beautiful hymn “I vow to thee my country” with its deeply patriotic interweaving of love for our…
Not the Sharpest Knife in the Drawer
By Max Musson: When the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby launched his campaign to ‘compete’ usurious payday loans company Wonga out of business, it is possible that he had the very best of intentions, however, within less than a day, this foolish man has been left looking rather red faced. Having prominently criticised Wonga for the extortionate charges they make on their short-term loans, the Archbishop was informed following a Financial Times investigation that the…
Pot Calling Kettle …?
The Dean of Durham has recently written an open letter to the new Italian manager of Sunderland Football Club, Paolo Di Canio, calling on him to renounce Fascism publicly or risk being associated with “toxic far-right tendencies”. An open letter of this sort, irrespective of how diplomatically worded, is of course a thinly veiled attack upon the recipient, suggesting as it does that someone expressing admiration for Benito Mussolini is by definition unfit to hold the…