The logic is fine, we’d all rather someone shoplifted than robbed us. The problem is that his congregation, much like christianity in this country, isn’t representative anymore. Therein lies the cause of the discontent and bad press that followed.

You can’t mention anything the slightest bit controversial to the god-fearing without causing a chain of “strongly worded letters” anymore. These are the people that kept Points of View running for all those years. These are the people that make up half of the Daily Mail’s readership. These are the people that invented political correctness because they’re so scared of offending anyone they’d rather sit in their own home with the curtains drawn.

The message the poor Father is trying to put across here, is that the government doesn’t help the right people at the time they need it and that if they’re faced with the robbery of a private citizen or shoplifting, then choose shoplifting. This isn’t rocket science, I’m sure everyone would prefer that to happen. This isn’t saying he’s pro-shoplifting, this is stating the obvious. Both criminal acts, yes. Both on the same level, no.

I don’t agree with crime in any form, I’m also an atheist, a humanist and I don’t particularly like religion, but… if I had to choose whether you became a christian or a scientologist then I know which one I’d rather you be. They fall under the same umbrella (yes, yes, I know) but only one is noticably more harmful to yourself and others around you. Would you prefer your child smoked weed or took heroin? This is why we have different sentences for criminal acts. Steal a can of baked beans from a major supermarket chain to feed your kids might be against the law, but it’s not the same as raping the pope.

So, what happened to Father Jones? Aside from forgetting that as a man of the cloth he’s no longer allowed freedom of speech, well, he made the mistake of having logical and current views, forgetting that religion is still many years behind. In response to the sermon, the Archdeacon of York proved that very point with his statement, “I really don’t think that the church can in that sense condone or even support shoplifting because it will often lead somebody into deeper trouble.”

That old chestnut has been doing the rounds as long as, “It’s not the children, it’s the parent’s fault.”

It’s the person, not the act, that dictates their life. Some people with bizarre childhoods do turn out mental. Some with equally bizarre childhoods go on to lead rich and fulfilling lives. Everyone is in control of their own destiny, which brings us nicely onto my main gripe with those that insist there’s a God…

… but that’s for another time.

So last week, I was very much looking forward to Question Time. Not often I can say that, but still, I was quite interested to see how Nick Griffin would appear when confronted by his peers and a decent cross-section of the british public. I’m sorry to say I was disappointed.

First off, I strongly believe the BBC were right to invite and let him appear on Question Time. Over a million people voted for the BNP and it’s in the name of both common sense and democracy to allow him a voice. The quote, “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it” is very apt here. I think we all hoped he’d use his voice to fall over everywhere.

The BBC failed on two accounts, firstly Question Time became all about the ratings and secondly, they failed to get a diverse audience. The brief must surely have been, “Invite as many people who hate him as possible, and let’s show him up as much as possible. No holds barred.” I think they achieved their aim, Question Time viewing figures quadrupled and he was effectively interrupted wherever possible. This however was not what we wanted.

I, and the majority of the public, wanted him to trip himself up. We wanted to hear his agenda, we wanted everyone to hear his agenda. I know we can’t trust the public to vote out John and Edward on X Factor, but I’m sure they can be trusted to spot a racist organisation trying to pass itself off as mainstream.

The show however, continued to be nothing more than an excuse to vent some anger at the self proclaimed, “Most hated man in Britain”. It certainly didn’t disappoint on that front. He was booed, abused and interrupted constantly in a show that seemed to focus entirely on him, missing the key points of immigration and more topical subjects like the postal strike. Fortunately, some bright audience member managed to get a question in on Jan Moir. Jan Moir and Nick Griffin in the same show? It’s like christmas come early.

This treatment of course caused Mr Griffin to complain about having to face a lynch mob and giving more publicity to a party that could have had the first nail in it’s coffin by now. It won’t cause BNP supporters to jump ship, far from it, it’ll cause them to rally around their portly leader.

On the plus side, he certainly won’t have gained any supporters. When he was allowed to speak, he came across as an ignorant, uninformed, homophobic, downtrodden man. His nervous laughter was the starter, his poor arguments the main course and his catty remarks the dessert. Striking out at Jack Straw’s family history will have done him no favours, his views on homosexuality are about 25 years out of date and his attempts at distancing himself from the KKK and Hitler will have fallen on deaf ears, though I will point out that even Hitler, the biggest bastard in history, could manage public speaking.

The stars of the show were, unpredictably, the two female panelists. Baroness Warsi managed to make the Conservatives look in touch with reality, and Bonnie Greer, the only non-politician, came across as articulate, sensible and extremely well informed. She’d done her research, and seriously put the others to shame.

Altogether, it was nothing more than entertainment when it could have been much more, but the evening was redeemed by a busy and funny time on Twitter. With an estimated 40,000 tweets with the hashtag #bbcqt (15 of which were mine) it was a far more active and diverse discussion than Question Time could ever have been.

Shame I can’t say the same about the BBC’s Have Your Say site where 90% of the posts began with “I’m not a racist, but…” – it’s like when I start a sentence with “I don’t think you’re being unreasonable, but…” – well I do think you’re being unreasonable, I’m just being polite.

It seems we’re almost hitting Paedofinder General territory these days when it comes to naming and shaming celebrities for mistakes they make. Let’s hunt them down, destroy them and make it seem like we’re everyone’s saviour.

Can we please not turn everyone newspaper or news website into the Daily Fail?

Anton du Beke is no more a racist than Jade Goody was. Sure, there’s no denying he’s a twat, and Jade Goody was a poorly educated muppet, but they aren’t racists and shouldn’t be vilified for it.

I was fairly glad to see the lord of the dance, Bruce Forsyth, offer a sensible opinion of the events. Sadly though it’s a well known fact that anyone born before 1940 is slightly racist so i’m pretty sure his comments won’t be taken very seriously, much like most of their drivel.

Mr Anton has however, been outdone in the twat factor by musical cock Harry Connick Jr. who’s decided he’s the voice of all that is holy and righteous in the world today. His quote after the Australian TV “Blackface” incident:

“I just want to say, on behalf of my country, I know it was done humorously, but we’ve spent so much time trying to not make black people look like buffoons, that when we see something like that we take it really to heart.”

I’m fairly sure no one else gave a flying fuck until you decided you wanted some self-publicity. It was a multicultural group doing some fairly crap comedy. That’s it. You’ll get over it, no one else noticed.

Who needs the BNP when you’ve got unnecessary media outrage doing their work for them?

Well, it seems karma has finally caught up with Jacqui Smith, a woman with more expenses than Paris Hilton. It seems appropriate that our Home Secretary be brought down by the same lack of personal freedom that’s she’s been trying to take away from us.

Of course, her husbands hand-shandying to some £5-a-go porn isn’t the real issue, but it’s serving a valuable point. It’s not nice when your rights to a free and personal life are shared, is it?

Live by the sword, die by the sword.

I salute Richard Timney, and wish him well in his future pocket-shuffling. We, the country, don’t blame you one bit. You’re a hero amongst men. You might be getting an ear-bashing from your wife and you probably won’t be getting any for a while, but that’s okay, there’s always porn. However you might want to save yourself and the taxpayers some cash by hitting up YouPorn.