During Advent last year a religious sister invited me to be the guest of honour at her primary school’s nativity play. Twenty-five eight-year-olds were to be that year’s cast. When I arrived, Sister told me that she had trouble with the boy who was playing the innkeeper because he wanted to play St Joseph. “Ahmed is an Islamic boy, and I really thought I should have a Christian boy playing St Joseph,” she said. Rehearsals had not gone well, but she was sure that the performance would be fine. The whole school gathered along with the parents of the year threes. In the front row of the school hall was the principal, Sister and me. Everything about the play went along as expected until the moment when Mary and Joseph arrived at the inn. Joseph knocked on the makeshift