That's entertainment - not theology

The refusal by Westminster Abbey to allow filming to take place for the Da Vinci Code on the ground that the book is "theologically unsound" won't do the Church of England many favours in popularity terms. Reflect on this, just because the Church authorities, operating in the more enlightened 1970s, allowed The Omen: Part III to be filmed at Fountains Abbey in North Yorkshire didn't mean that they condoned Devil Worship.

But then again, that was years before the curse of Springer walked abroad in the land, forcing evangelicals to rend our ears and their garments with the sound of their lamentations... Take me to the Ship of Fools, it's our only hope.

Lifelong learning - but only if you can afford it.

Post 16 further education has always suffered an image problem. Evening classes in schools and colleges starved of resources and taken by those who fell the need to get a few more qualifications later in life, or even just wanting to keep their grey cells active in retirement.

I know, I teach law to such groups. Now, as Adult Learners Week starts, those potential students are being hit by a reduction in funding, which at the College where I teach will see them expected to pay £50 more per year for a GCSE course and more for some other courses, particularly British Sign Language.

What was it that Mr Blair said about education?

Exactly who's being "flexible" here?

With the Institute of Directors, Confederation of British Industry and the Federation of Small Businesses all trying to shout loudest at the European Parliament's decision to end the UK's Working Time Directive opt-out, no-one is questioning how voluntary employee opt outs really are.

The truth is that UK has the second highest proportion of men working more than 48 hours a week among the 15 longest serving Member States. In that context, it's a bit rich for the employers' representatives to start lecturing us about our inability to compete against low wage economies in China and the Indian sub-continent. The truth is we will never successfully do that - and requiring your hard-pressed workforce to opt out of the right to refuse to work in excess of 48 hours per week doesn't have any effect when you're dealing with economies that pay a fraction in wages. Or is that what they really want? A race to the bottom for the workers - with the "entrepreneurs" creaming off the profits in dividends and share options?

And here are some more defenders of the "right" to work all hours. Courtesy of The Times' letters pages - music to Mr Murdoch's ears...

A final word to the gullible: the world in which Westfield lives, works and has its being is characterised by the export of jobs to India and China. We will never compete with them on price - even if we work 24 hours a day, 365 days per year: we will only win this one if we argue for the quality of our products and the immorality of exploitation and threat. You could always start by refusing to bank with those financial institutions that "outsource" their call centre and other back office operations.

He's not listening: bring on the stalking horses

So much for our new listening third term PM. The backdoor appointment of Andrew Adonis - by way of a Tony's crony seat in the Lords (still hasn't got the message about an elected Upper Chamber, has he?) as Education Minister shows that Blair's going to keep a firm separation between listening and actually heeding what's said.

Adonis, for those not in the know, is widely suspected (he's not a guy to give headline speeches, but then again, he doesn't have to, as he never stands for election) as the brains behind "specialist" high schools, city academies and university "top-up" fees. Just what we need - more undermining of the secondary education sector by "blue sky" thinkers and New Labour psychobablers.

Strong goverment isn't good for democracy

Now that Labour have been re-elected with 67 seats on only a 36% share of the vote we really do need to consign "first past the post" to history. The entire thrust of the campaign was focused on the key marginals - those relatively few seats that have to be won or held to ensure success.

The rest of the electorate aren't really required - and, as both Labour and Conservative campaigns showed, are nothing more than an annoying side-show.

Even the traditional hostility of the Tories to electoral reform needs an urgent rethink. Multi party democracy demands an effective opposition - something that the Tories seem incapable of providing: thinking what we're thinking? No, they didn't even come close with their xenophobia and negative campaigning - and that's the opinion of one their own MPs!

Now that Labour have been re-elected with 67 seats on only a 36% share of the vote we really do need to consign "first past the post" to history. The entire thrust of the campaign was focused on the "key marginals" - those relatively few seats that have to be won or held to ensure success.

The rest of the electorate aren't really required - and, as both Labour and Conservative campaigns showed - are nothing more than an annoying side-show.

Even the traditional hostility of the Tories to electoral reform needs an urgent rethink. Multi party democracy demands an effective opposition - something that the Tories seem incapable of providing: thinking what we're thinking? No, they didn't even come close with their xenophobia and negative campaigning - and that's the opinion of one their own MPs!

Casualty figures

In a pre-election interview last week, Tony Blair couldn't give an accurate reply when asked how many British troops had died in Iraq. Today we know: 87, unfortunately we don't have accurate numbers for Iraqi casualties. As Blair keeps telling us, he's sorry for casualties but not for war, perhaps we should remind him that we're talking about sons, daughters, fathers, mothers, brothers and sisters here not just the means of furthering foreign policy.

Remember that on May 5.