The American justice system is far more corrupt than our own, and would be corrupt without television; here, for instance, you cannot escape a charge of sexual abuse of children by being famous, or making a large payment to the parents of the child involved. Nevertheless, there are strong dangers involved, which we would be unwise to underestimate. The televising of parliament is not a parallel case since, as everyone knows, parliament decides nothing. The courts do decide things; they are not a theatre.But on balance, this is not a bad direction to take.

The pressures of accountability are now enormous, and we want, quite rightly, to see how important decisions are made, and in detail. The justice system here is robust enough to resist the pressures of public opinion; indeed, it already does so. Of course, there will be mildly distasteful consequences: lawyers will start cropping up on chat-shows, and I imagine there will be a great deal more weeping in the witness box.But it is not a bad thing for the people of a nation to understand how its justice system works, and it would have been actively desirable if, for instance, the television-watching masses had been able to follow the Jonathan Aitken case in detail through to its conclusion.It is, of course, a risk, but one in the end worth taking. At the very least, this is a step which we ought to consider extremely seriously.hensherp dircon.co.uk
More from Philip Hensher. One of the finest traditions of the post-Christmas period is Christians who whinge that Christmas wasn’t Christian enough. It’s heartening that many of them feel like that as, even in relatively secular Britain, they get most things their own way True, when I was 10 it was worse.

Despite going to a non-religious school, every morning I had to sing hymns that seemed to consist of lyrics such as: “Oh Lord God who made everything/The sun is nothing compared to you/I’m so sorry we’re miserable and human/We’re not even grateful, we deserve a good hiding.”

One of the finest traditions of the post-Christmas period is Christians who whinge that Christmas wasn’t Christian enough. It’s heartening that many of them feel like that as, even in relatively secular Britain, they get most things their own way True, when I was 10 it was worse. Despite going to a non-religious school, every morning I had to sing hymns that seemed to consist of lyrics such as: “Oh Lord God who made everything/The sun is nothing compared to you/I’m so sorry we’re miserable and human/We’re not even grateful, we deserve a good hiding.”
And the teachers were trained to spot the one pupil going “mer mer mer di-dum di-dum”. They’d stride through the throng, drag you to one side and yell “Sing!”, as if God was an early version of Ofsted and the teacher was thinking: “If he sees that some of them aren’t worshipping him, he’ll shut the place down.” At least leftie teachers only tell you that Castro has some interesting ideas, and not that the sun and moon bow down before him.Now most schools, quite properly, cater to kids from non-Christian backgrounds But almost every school still performs a nativity play. How would they feel if Jewish kids were allowed to direct these plays, and the wise men said: “Behold, ’tis the baby Jesus He’ll be a decent enough prophet but nothing special. Messiah schmessiah.”And Radio 4 still broadcasts Thought for the Day every morning.

I didn’t hear it yesterday but it probably went “It seems the BBC attracted nearly 10 million viewers for their blockbuster feature Titanic. As long as, with the help of God’s love we’re prepared to face up to our own icebergs, we can all attract a larger percentage share than ITV.”Last year Morning Worship even interrupted the coverage of the cricket in South Africa Half an hour before the lunch interval as well. God’s got an eternity, surely he could have waited half an hour.The problem isn’t that religion causes the world’s problems. I don’t believe that any loyalist ever threw a brick at a Catholic while thinking: “Transubstantiation, my arse.” And there are many positive things to have come out of religion: gospel music, Muhammad Ali, stained glass windows, Easter eggs – and it’s stopped Cat Stevens making records. Though I do wonder at the wisdom of teaching the Old Testament as virtue. The old boy floods the entire planet because people aren’t worshipping him enough. And when he takes offence at one city, he scorches the place to the ground except for his mate’s family; and even when one of them turns to look, he thinks “Oh blimey, a witness” and turns her into a pillar of salt.So the real question is not whether there is or isn’t a God, but why anyone should want to worship a filthy old tyrant like that.But at least religious people believe in something, whereas the most soulless types are half-believers, the sort that believe in God but only go to church at Harvest Festival.

As if a God that drowned the planet can be palmed off with a tin of apricots.My real gripe is that, even in theologically diverse Britain, one creed is afforded a lower status than any other – atheism. New Year, at present a fairly meaningless celebration, should become the official atheist festival. The Queen could make a speech like “Many of my subjects are sustained by their faith. Others consider that if you take Ancient Greece as an example, everyone was convinced that Zeus was Chief of the Gods; utterly convinced Now no one believes that anywhere in the world.