Seal the zeal and listen to the children

It always seems to me that January plumbs the very deepest ocean trench of winter, a time of unfathomable gloom that can easily drag down into its depths even the happiest of souls.

Take the fag end of last year for example. It ended on any number of unhappy notes, especially in the sphere of tolerance. The most disturbing event for me towards the close of 2004 was the demonstration by thousands of Sikhs in Birmingham and the resulting storming of the Birmingham Rep.

The theatre was subsequently forced to cancel the evening performance of Behzti (Dishonour) and an adaptation of The Witches by Roald Dahl. Behzti was written by Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti, a Sikh playwright who has reportedly received death threats.

I was saddened and profoundly disturbed by the events in Birmingham. It shouldn't be necessary, but unfortunately it still has to be pointed out that Britain is a secular country that has expended the blood of millions to preserve its status as a beacon of free speech and expression.

The test of a democracy is detesting what someone says but defending their right to say it. Sadly, over the last few years, there are many in our society who now feel emboldened to display their anti-democratic tendencies without shame or embarrassment.

But meanwhile, back in Worcester, there is hope. Every dark, angry-looking winter's cloud has a silver lining, and my Silver Lining Award goes to the Mayor of Worcester, Councillor Allah Ditta.

For if Derek Prodger will go down in civic history as the man who called a halt to the degradation of our environment, then Coun Ditta must be destined to be remembered as the man who introduced a little ray of sanity into our religious and public affairs.

As this paper reported last month, Christian prayers were read at a Worcester City Council meeting after the Mayor was annoyed by news the practice might be banned at County Hall.

Coun Ditta - a practising Muslim who normally has an Imam read from the Koran before full council meetings - asked the Rev Stuart Currie, from St Stephen's Church, off Droitwich Road, to give prayers before December's meeting as a reflection of his views on integration.

The move came because Coun Ditta was reportedly angry that county councillors were considering changing the traditional start of full council meetings for fear of offending members of other faiths.

Earlier, Coun Dan Wicksteed, the county council's equality champion, said that the council should consider whether prayers could be interpreted as offensive. He drafted ideas including allowing prayers to be taken in a side room, having clerics from other religions appear on a rota, allowing a moment of contemplation and banning all prayers.

Coun Wicksteed's proposals provoked anger at the time, with Councillor Tom Wareing of Redditch accusing a "cell" of councillors of running an "orchestrated campaign to undermine the Christian Faith".

Well, fair play to Coun Ditta. For as the Evening News reported, he then went on to say that it was "very offensive" to claim that non-Christians in the public gallery were discriminated against with the reading of prayers before full council.

At last. After years of ever-more oppressive political correctness, someone has managed - with just a few words - to put an enormous flea in the ear of the new zealotry now sweeping the land.

God knows, it has taken long enough. And how good it is to see someone stand up and point out that non-Christians, whether they be Muslims or Hindus, are not offended by Christian prayer.

For why on earth should they? If ever there was an appalling example of unpleasant New Labour dogma then this surely must be it.

Meanwhile, just across the way in Malvern - hardly a hotbed of Christian fundamentalism, I'm sure you'll agree - we observe another flicker of light in the midwinter gloom.

Yes, Steve Harrison, former policeman and famed "Punjabi Santa", kindly step forward.

Steve, you will no doubt recall, was the ex-sergeant who condemned the political correctness surrounding Christmas, and in particular the Government officials who had started referring to the festivities as "the winter season" or "Winterval" so as not to offend other religions.

Mr Harrison, who retired the year before last, worked closely with the Sikh and Muslim communities of Handsworth in Birmingham. And he knows, better than most, that these people were not offended by Christian celebrations.

He told the Evening News: "In my experience, Sikhs and Muslims would enter into the spirit of Christmas, and although they did not celebrate it as a religious festival, they used it as a time for the family to get together, just as Christians and other religions do."

There you go... plain talking from a former copper who will certainly have seen a bit of life in his time.

You see, I compare what people like him have to say to the more flowery, obscure messages from some Establishment figures that draw heavily on imagery, but really don't say anything or address the pressing issues of the day.

In vain do I search and find anything of substance coming from some of our leading churchmen. Yes, there is much talk about the plight of the Third World or the simply awful conditions endured by criminals in prison.

But where is that resonance with the ordinary person, where can we find the common touch? Where is the topicality, the ability to strike just the right note with the populace?

Is it just gas and gaiters, or can we expect something more than what was known in the 18th Century as the "Squarson", an amalgam of squire and parson?

But back to Allah Ditta. Towards the end of last year, he wrote in this paper: "In so many recent functions as Mayor, I have seen the faces of local children... the message that overwhelms me time and again is one and the same as their's - hope for world peace.

"And so long as we all share that thought, the likelihood of it becoming a reality grows ever stronger."

His words are those of just one person, and come too late to damp down the fires that have recently erupted in Birmingham. But it's a start.

For if we are to live harmoniously in a secular society that must exist and survive in an increasingly dangerous world, then we surely need a lot more people of the calibre of Councillor Allah Ditta.

People with the guts to stand up and be counted.

This is the last Phillpott File...see Seven Days on Saturday for the new Phillpott column