The breakfast news this morning was topped by the story that the so-called king has gone to meet the so-called pope. Surely I can’t be the only person to find that utterly, utterly absurd: the fact that the head of one anachronistic institution has gone to meet the head of another is not news. When all is said and done, both monarchy and religion should have no place in modern society. Both are forms of authority based on a set of antiquated myths; they both demand we believe in an absurd creator-being which can’t possibly exist, in order that a very limited set of privileged people can continue to be revered and treated as special and above the law by the rest of society.

I have written about what I think about both the monarchy and religion here before. If we really are as enlightened as we want to be, if we really want everyone to be equal, surely we should have outgrown both anachronisms long ago. Yet here we are, watching the activities of both being reported on the news, as though it was two heads of state meeting, rather than simply the meeting of two men who both hope society doesn’t wise up to their charade.