Political prisoner, activist, journalist, hymn-writer, emerging thinktanker, aspiring novelist, "tribal elder", 2019 parliamentary candidate for North West Durham, Shadow Leader of the Opposition, "Speedboat", "The Cockroach", eagerly awaiting the second (or possibly third) attempt to murder me.
Sunday, 5 September 2010
Stating The Obvious
You would hardly invite someone over and then, with the coffee and after dinner mints, pass the hat round for contributions. The Pope was invited on a State Visit, with all that that entails. It wasn't his idea. And what was he supposed to say? No?
For the Pope to say 'No', it would have been a snub to the Queen and the British people and State. Those bitching about the 'cost' of the visit would be bitching about the 'snub'. They want their cake and to eat it as well.
Frankly, I wish that Pope Benedict XVI had indeed said no.
Why should the Holy Father visit Britain at all when most of the populace appears about evenly divided into the following categories: (a) those (particularly conspicuous in the "Protest the Pope" movement) who want him thrown into a British gaol; (b) those who, regarding (a) as too mild, want him actually assassinated by a British hitman; and (c) those milk-and-water Catholics who seem to spend their lives in orgies of appeasing (a) and (b), for fear of seeming "extremist"?
It is perfectly obvious that the British Government cannot control (a) and (b). My guess is that the British Government does not even want to.
For the Pope to say 'No', it would have been a snub to the Queen and the British people and State. Those bitching about the 'cost' of the visit would be bitching about the 'snub'. They want their cake and to eat it as well.
ReplyDeleteFrankly, I wish that Pope Benedict XVI had indeed said no.
ReplyDeleteWhy should the Holy Father visit Britain at all when most of the populace appears about evenly divided into the following categories: (a) those (particularly conspicuous in the "Protest the Pope" movement) who want him thrown into a British gaol; (b) those who, regarding (a) as too mild, want him actually assassinated by a British hitman; and (c) those milk-and-water Catholics who seem to spend their lives in orgies of appeasing (a) and (b), for fear of seeming "extremist"?
It is perfectly obvious that the British Government cannot control (a) and (b). My guess is that the British Government does not even want to.