Teribus reminds us why the Union Flag acquired its nickname "the Butcher's Apron"...

And I'm not in any way suggesting that there was anything uniquely British about that kind of thing. Sadly, far from it. Massacres of civilians have always been part of war, and more so today than ever, though the techniques used are soetimes more technically sophisticated. ("Shock and Awe"...) And they have always been acts of murder.

......................

There's no particular reason the technical and at most ceremonisal head of the Church of Engkand should have to be a member of that church. There are always ways round these little difficulties.

To take a somewhat recherché parallel, the joint heads of state of Andorra, the co-princes, are, technically, the President of France and the Bishop of La Seu d'Urgell in Spain. Neither is Andorran or particularly likely to ever visit Andorra. (Well, the Bishop probably would, it's not very far to go.)

And of course the Prime Minister, who in fact, and in law, holds the powers which ostensibly lie with the Queen or King in relation to appointing bishops of the Church of England, can be of any religion or none. Except Catholic, it has been assumed, on dubious grounds.

Hence Tony Blair's decision to delay things until he was no longer Prime Minister before becoming Catholic. Though it seems more likely that this was less to do with this daft law than it was to do with fears about destabilising things in Northern Ireland and causing Ian Paisley to explode.