Good post, Grab. The present concern in the UK about so-called perverts getting into teaching is another bout of hysteria whipped up by our hysterical press (nearly all of it now; no longer just the tabloids these days).

I don't like Ruth Kelly. And Opus Dei is an insidious cult, as can be seen by anyone who has not been brainwashed from the cradle, as Joe apparently has. (But it is by no means the most pernicious cult brought back into the fold by John Paul II.)

But Joe has raised a fair point: there is not a shred of evidence that Kelly's bizarre faith has influenced her decision-making as a UK government minister. We should be content to thrash her (she'd love it) for the divisive education reforms she's presently championing.

John in Kansas. who is the woman senator who made that comment about women voting? I realise there are some religious nutters in Congress (apparently not a single member of either house dare admit to any doubt about God's existence) but she surely gets the prize.