<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> <META content="MSHTML 5.50.4611.1300" name=GENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY bgColor=#ffffff> <DIV>Nice think piece at year's end (beginning). Never read Mick Hume before (brings to mind McHume, the fast food philosopher), and don't really know his politics, but this ain't bad for a mainstream paper.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><A href="http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,248-2001604435,00.html">http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,248-2001604435,00.html</A></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I was, however, struck by this bit:</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>"In place of universalism, we are now offered a toleration of religious differences. Yet even the appeal to faith is largely a sham. The hole at the heart of our soulless society is best illustrated by reports of the Prime Minister and his devotedly Roman Catholic wife smearing each other with mud and screaming for world peace during a Mayan 'rebirthing' ritual in Mexico."</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Does anybody know about this? Did the Blairs go Mud People while on holiday? </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Relieves stress, I suppose. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>DP </DIV></BODY></HTML>