Blair to Join the Only True and Holy Apostolic Church

Tony Blair wants to become a Catholic, so say the reports from his meeting with the Pope in the Vatican where Ben Sez gave him a ticking-off about not just a certain illegal war prosecuted by the Pretty Straight Guy but also abortion and stem-cell research (offering Tony a commendably swift yet fell condensation of the perils of being a Catholic - the rest of us have had to face them from day one, but I suppose this willingness to be chastised is one of those weird Public School things). Blair, by waiting until he steps down to convert, saves his former bosses the Windsors the embarrassment of having a Taig in Downing Street, lest one of the younger Royals be tempted to marry a papist contrary to the curiously undemocratic Act of Settlement, 1701, which would scupper their chances of ascending to the throne.

Libération, meanwhile, celebrates (!) Blair's departure today with a British-themed 'Made in UK' edition (yes, the French media's employment of English is as lazy and as misguided as the English media's is of the language of Molière). Features include an explanation of the Granita pact and wholesale cutting-and-pasting from Schott's Miscellany. «Jolly good show!» comme diraient les anglophiles français.