Watch out for wild bores

Imagine the deadliest dinner party that north London has to offer: Polly Toynbee, A C Grayling, Bernard Crick, Fiona Millar — all showing off like crazy as they attempt to outdo each other in moral righteousness over an organic aubergine soufflé served by an underpaid Polish nanny. Then imagine that the targets of their indignation are faith schools (especially Catholic ones) staffed by faithful, intelligent and hard-working religious believers: what a gruesome conversation that would be. Worse still, imagine that nodding away vigorously around the table are bien pensant members of "faith communities" who are only too pager to see the state strip away the last remaining freedoms of religious schools.
Welcome to Accord, a new coalition of progressive intellectuals, politicians and pressure groups that regards faith schools as "divisive" and "discriminatory". No such group would be complete without Philip Pullman, Ms Toynbee, Ms Millar (partner of Alastair Campbell) and Dr Grayling, and indeed they are all present and correct. It is no great surprise, either, to come across the Rev Richard Kirker of the Lesbian and Gay Christian Association. But perhaps the smuggest occupants of this particular bandwagon are members of Ekklesia, a politically correct Christian think-tank which, though it disapproves of papal authority, shares with the Pope the quality of infallibility: Ekklesia, it is safe to say, is infallibly wrong about everything.
Faith schools are under threat in Britain: there is no doubt about that. The Government seems determined to eviscerate them with its social engineering. That said, however, we feel confident that they can see off Accord —just so long as parents, teachers and pupils plug their ears. Catholics did not survive centuries of persecution only to be bored to death by Ms Toynbee and her friends.