Father Elijah and Tony Blair

I had the misfortune to watch our ex PM on BBC News 24 giving one of the cardinal's lectures (why do our hierarchy get bedazzled by the rich and powerful?)/
I reminded me of one of my favourite novels. Father Elijah by Canadian author Michael O'Brien. This book combines a good thriller, theological treatise and spiritual combat manual all into one.
I am not going to spoil its content for anybody who hasn't read it but if do get chance look at the speeches "the president" makes in public meetings throughout the book and compare and contrast with Mr Blair's address last week.
Now I am not making the same kind of claims for Mr Blair that the author makes for the president but the ideology expressed seems very similar.
To those becoming increasingly baffled I just by the book its by Ignatius Press and well worth a read as are most of Mr O'Brien's novels. If you are short of cash get your local library to order it - this is the time of year when their coffers are full and we need good Catholic literature in the libraries. I have a friend who has turned this into a personal ministry to counteract the anti Catholic and material and books by dissident Catholics which the libraries always seem to have plenty of.

nothing to do with politics eh?

The Olympic Torch arrives in London tomorrow with the understandable protests from friends of Tibet at this appalling glorification of China later this year.

I do hope some pro-lifers are on the route as well pressing the case against China's appalling population policy which makes it the only country in the world where it is illegal to have brothers and sisters.  This is kept going by practices ranging from forced abortions to posting a chart showing a woman's cycle on the factory noticeboard just in case she dare to reproduce.

And then of course there is the ruthless suppression of freedom in Tianaman Square.

There are those who still naively cling to the idea that sport and politics should be and are separate.

Sadly their innocence may well be punctured by an insight from the BBC website today 

"

By Chris Bowlby
BBC News

The Olympic torch is being welcomed this weekend in the UK as a symbol of the sporting spirit, uniting people around the world in peaceful competition.

But the idea of lighting the torch at the ancient Olympian site in Greece and then running it through different countries has much darker origins.

It was invented in its modern form by the organisers of the 1936 Olympics in Berlin.

And it was planned with immense care by the Nazi leadership to project the image of the Third Reich as a modern, economically dynamic state with growing international influence.