An Arch row

In the Sunday Telegraph today, I argue that the Archbishop’s speech is a sort of liberal book-end to Enoch Powell’s infamous ‘Rivers of Blood’ outburst 40 years ago. Let us call Dr Williams’s lecture ‘Rivers of Blather’.

One comic aspect of an otherwise deadly serious row has been the extent to which it has started to assume all the characteristics of a political controversy.

Most popular

Matthew Lynn

Spain will regret its 100 per cent expat property tax

So: the embattled principal (in this case, an Archbishop rather than a Cabinet Minister) makes a speech of huge complexity, but – fatally – previews it in a BBC interview. He says things that cause outrage even before he has begun the lecture itself. By the time he does, the row is already up and running on the 24 hour news channels and in the blogosphere.