Scrubbers to replace hospital chaplains?

The National Secular Society is at it again. Popping up to take a pop at the religious of this country. This time it's about hospital chaplains. NSS president Terry Sanderson thinks that the money spent on employing the chaplains, about £40m, is equivalent to employing 1,300 nurses or 2,645 cleaners. So he would like the chaplains to push off or to be paid by the Church.

I get the feeling that the NSS is a bit like a group of disgruntled passengers on the Titantic. They have just been told that there are not enough life boats, so rather than a few being saved, they would like the ship to sink with all lives lost. Sound harsh and unpleasant? Probably, but there does not appear to be a week now when we do not hear from the Secularists.

Of course, they have been given a morale boosting shot in the arm that no nurse or hospital cleaner could achieve. They have the whole panoply of New Labour "newness" on their side. All politically correct, genderised, and raring to go. In fact, New Labour social policy has all the hallmarks of greyhound racing. We, the hapless public, take on the role of the rabbit whilst they are the salivating greyhound. It's all too exhausting!