John Prescott, the Deputy Prime Minister, and Mark Oaten, a contender for the leadership of the Liberal Democrats, had the murky story of their sexual peccadilloes splashed across the tabloid and Sunday press, and discreetly reported inside the 'quality' newspapers. Both suffered damage to their political reputations and both face the painful repair of their marriages. Neither has yet lodged a complaint with the Press Complaints Commission under its Code of Practice that "Everyone is entitled to respect for his or her private and family life, home, health and correspondence." Naming and shaming is the order of the day. Is it right that political celebrities, any more than celebrities in the world of entertainment, should be held to account for their private behaviour rather than for their ability in their public roles?

The Christian lives to Christ alone,
To Christ alone he dies.
-- Charles Wesley

Lord Joffe's Assisted Dying Bill was given euthanasia last week. However, since this is the third attempt to get this bill adopted, resurrection seems inevitable. Its main proposal was to make it legal for doctors to prescribe fatal drugs to terminally ill patients in unbearable pain, so that they could commit suicide with them.

Dan Brown's novel has sold over 50 million copies and is now about to become a blockbuster movie. The movie's strap line, ' Seek the truth. Seek the codes', clearly appeals. We live in a world where people believe in conspiracy theories and secret codes which purport to explain all. The novel contains all the elements of a good murder mystery, with vivid characters and a nail-biting plot. It poses some sharp questions for the church: is there a hidden or suppressed tradition of feminine leadership and spirituality in the church? Can we trust the Bible? Does it matter whether Christ was married and had children? Would this affect our sense of his divinity?

If you watch TV you might have noticed the glut of recent 'reality TV' programmes where 'messianic' experts promise to change people's lives for them. In 'You Are What You Eat' Dr Gillian turns miserable, overweight people into happier, healthier people. In 'Its Me Or The Dog', households tyrannised by psychotic pooches are returned to rightful harmony of man and beast. Then there are 'Turn Back Your Body Clock' (get fit, live longer), 'What Not To Wear' (look better, live happier) and many others.

On an all too regular basis I come across articles lamenting the fact that women are having fewer children later; this one, 'Britons 'put fun before babies'', being the latest. Young women like myself are constantly being warned that to delay having children is to 'defy nature', that society will fall apart due to a shrinking population, that we are selfish for daring to choose to develop ourselves personally before undertaking the mammoth task of child-rearing (if, in fact we ever do choose to undertake that task - if not, then we are particularly self-centred).