The Church of England has been displaying distinctly masochistic tendencies of late. The Church has previously tried to return its tainted Benin bronzes…
Quite apart from some serious implications for modern British politics, this also has to be one of the most bizarre contests of modern times. When it comes to by-elections, next Thursday’s battle for Hartlepool really is a collector’s item.
Here we have no fewer than 16 candidates, including three former Labour MPs, a convicted sex offender, a kinsman of the man who built the town and an ex-soldier driving round in a tank under the banner of the Social Democrats. All of a sudden, the Monster Raving Loony Party candidate (whose manifesto includes hiring the Hartlepool Arms’ darts team to speed up vaccinations) doesn’t look quite so loony after all.