The Curmudgeon

YOU'LL COME FOR THE CURSES. YOU'LL STAY FOR THE MUDGEONRY.

Sunday, May 25, 2008

Blind Guides

Having swallowed the camel of serious fraud involving arms dealers and Islamic extremists, the Government is doing what it does best and straining at the gnat of fraudulent psychics. The Independent laments the rise of belief in "the more outlandish elements of a piecemeal spirituality" now that the sane common sense of "mainstream religiosity" is in decline: "Some 58 per cent of us believe in premonitions; 38 per cent believe in guardian angels; and a hardcore quarter have visited a psychic or medium ... A sceptic might argue that it's less the [frauds] we need protecting from than ourselves." A New New Labour sceptic, if there is such an animal, might well argue thus; others might be less inclined to put faith in the notion of legislating away people's beliefs.

As it is, New New Labour have made a start separating those whose activities are a danger to society from those whose beliefs deserve every respect. Henceforward, those taking money for psychic services "will be barred from aggressively targeting the vulnerable", just as those who take money for running faith schools are barred from targeting the young and naïve; and "complainants will no longer have to demonstrate deliberate malice", leaving spiritualist churches "vulnerable to malicious complaints from the aggressively sceptical" while larger and richer purveyors of rival idiocies are protected by the religious hatred laws and the City of London police.

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