If his ‘gay marriage’ bill is in the Queen’s speech, he will lose the next election
Authors
Why did Cameron lose so many votes to Ukip last week? One important reason is the threat he continues to pose to the institution of marriage
Soon the media will discover that, like all popes, this one is no liberal. Then they will turn against him; and normality will return
The Holy Father has his own idiosyncratic way of talking about the faith and of connecting with the faithful. But he really isn’t about to reinvent the papacy
Ken Clarke says Ukip voters are closet racists and loonies. Well, I’m not a racist. And Clarke would have had us in the eurozone: he’s the loonie, surely?
Ukip policies are mostly either sensible or profoundly right. So until the Tories come to their senses I shall be voting for them
Conviction politics is back, they say. But will the politicians keep it up; and do they really mean it?
If you believe that there is such a thing as truth, then you have to tell those who disagree with you, voters or not, that they are just wrong
Another episcopal attack on Catholic blogs. But we will not hold our tongues: and Aquinas and Newman are with us
‘If the faith is in imminent peril,’ said St Thomas, ‘prelates ought to be accused by their subjects, even in public.’ What a blogger he would have made…
The Dean of St Paul’s is right: it is not ‘appropriate’ to protest at Mrs Thatcher’s funeral. A funeral is about respecting another person’s humanity
Those who have protested against her are in any case mostly those from whom she rescued us
I knew I was going to have trouble with two popes; when we pray for the ‘Holy Father’, it’s still Benedict I think of. Fathers don’t resign: they just get old
And I really can’t be doing with all this “emeritus” stuff. He’s still simply Pope Benedict to me
Some think it ironic that pugnacious Mrs Thatcher should pray for harmony. But she was closer to St Francis than you may think.
She believed also in truth, in faith, and in hope where there was despair; and she prayed for these things, too.
Michael Philpott did evil things because of the benefits system, says AN Wilson. That’s surely a perfect example of the folly of moral relativism.
Without the welfare state, he says, Philpott would have been ‘decently employed’. Maybe it’s more likely he would still have been a criminal?







The Oxford ‘Asian grooming gang’ were not in fact all Asian. But they were all Muslim: is this a problem we are afraid to face?
It is in fact a dilemma for their religious community and not for the “Asian” community – if such a thing exists