No Flowers for Karol Wojtyla

Posting has been slow of late, as I've been concentrating on other things. I have not delayed posting because - ding, dong - the Pope is dead, however. Unlike Tony Blair delaying announcing the election date, or Prince Chuck postponing his wedding, I've slowed down due to distractions with other things. It is not as a mark of respect for the man fast-tracked to Sainthood, that's for certain. Two cheers for Peter Tatchell's dissenting remarks; he seems to be finding a niche as a voice not to be restrained by maudlin conventions. He would find a kindred spirit in my flatmate, who was disappointed that John Paul II's US supporters didn't fight to get his feeding tube reinserted, with a view to keeping him in a persistent vegetative state for the next 15 years.

Readers of the print version of TES New Teachers will find my profile of Lindsay Anderson's If (you can buy the video from here). In writing it, I made use of Mark Sinker's BFI Classics book.