I am fascinated by the way people in the UK are so interested in Tony Blair’s religion. They get very excited about it. They say, in deeply disapproving tones “he’s going to convert to Catholicism, you know, he’s always going to church with Cherie; she’s a catholic”. I mean really, who cares?  If Tony Blair had grown up a catholic, the liberal middle classes would no more voice objections than they would fly in the air. It seems to be that the idea of him converting allows them
to express all their suppressed nervousness about catholics. Personally, I blame the Da Vinci code.
on 20 April 2005 at 13:07
I don’t think it’s the catholicism so much. It’s the terrifying thought of having a PM who is so religious that he would convert to anything …. if you see what I mean.
(I see you, too, have been hit by the boring little tosser ‘OWNED’. A bit of ‘divert’ HTML in comments. And it thinks it’s a world-class hacker. Sad.) 
on 20 April 2005 at 13:13
Pog, am kind of excited to have been hit by a hacker, means I have arrived right? And the nice 20six people will fix it, right? Right? Thanks for the insight on the Tony Blair thing, that does make sense actually..
on 20 April 2005 at 13:53
They do seem to have fixed it, bless ’em – but not before I deleted yesterday’s entry in an effort to get rid of the little scrote. Still, at least it wasn’t an essay ….
on 20 April 2005 at 17:58
The Da Vinci Code can be blamed for most things actually. I bet the nasty hacker has read it.
on 20 April 2005 at 19:02
The catholicism doesn’t bother me. The religion does a tad. As an athiest, the idea that the chap running the country believes that a big guy in the sky is watching over us is a little unnerving. Does he pray for guidance? To someone I don’t believe exists?
on 21 April 2005 at 20:04
Pog, 20six, yay. Lauren, you are entirely right. Um, Norah, probably yes, I would say, he seems very earnest.
on 26 April 2005 at 02:29
I read an interesting comment the other day which, in my meager experience, seems to be true. In the United States, it is impossible to get elected without making some kind of public show of your religiosity. In Europe, doing so is the political kiss of death.
One exception was President Oscar Luigi Scalfaro of Italy. It was claimed that he was so holy that he appeared to the Virgin Mary.
on 27 April 2005 at 20:44
Yup, think you’re right FT. I’ve been forced to read George Weigel by a VERY catholic friend, whatcha think of him?
on 29 April 2005 at 02:05
I have only read a few articles by G.W. The problem is, he is right just often enough to make him credible even when he is wrong. For instance, in one of his recent books, he blames the whole sexual abuse thing on post-Vatican II formation programs, completely ignoring the fact that most of the offenders received most of their formation before Vatican II.