Laïcité is not an easy concept to translate from French to English, nor is it easy to interpret the argument now raging in France about its implications. It refers to the supposedly secular character of French public life, and to the maintenance of a proper distance between Church and State. President Nicolas Sarkozy has stirred up fears, particularly on the French Left, that he wishes to modernise the concept out of all recognition by granting the Catholic Church, and other religious groups in France, a significantly greater role in public affairs. He has proposed, for instance, that they serve on various Government advisory bodies. In several public speeches - and a book he published before becoming president last year - he has questioned the prevailing negative version of laïcité and argued for a more positive alternative. And he has praised the contribution Christianity has made to France's history, even putting it alongside the Enlightenment.

Those who uphold the secularist tradition see this as an attack on the fundamental values of the French Republic, whose constitution took on an overtly anti-clericalist character after a series of Church-State upheavals in 1905. They may acknowledge that the Catholic Church of today is a very different animal from the Catholic Church of 100 years ago, but they have been less willing to admit that the values that it now stands for, in the wake of the Second Vatican Council, are no threat whatsoever to the values of the French political class. History's weight hangs heavily over the current controversy.

In the past, French Catholicism has sometimes displayed disquieting leanings towards anti-Semitism and the far Right, as, for instance, in the Vichy period. Indeed, the French Church took a long time to come to terms with the French Revolution, and still has its ancien régime fringe. Democracy and human rights were regarded as alien concepts. Throughout the nineteenth century the Church often ...

Disraeli is supposed to have coined the phrase "lies, damned lies and statistics", which would, according to a recent report, be an apt comment on the accuracy of Catholic Mass attendance figures in England and Wales. Research by the Catholic sociologist, Dr Tony Spencer, indicates the true drop in figures over the last 10 years is more than half a million, compared with a mere 72,000 in official figures ...

Profound questions are raised by the way Cardinal Franc Rodé, head of the Vatican department that deals with religious orders, admonished the Society of Jesus for failing to "think with the Church". In a sermon at the start of their 35th General Congregation in Rome, Cardinal Rodé told the assembled Jesuits of his "sadness and anxiety" at the Society's recent record, urging greater ...

The relationship between Poland and Great Britain has historically been a warm one. This tone has continued following the arrival of a large number of Polish immigrants since the enlargement of the European Union in 2004. Community tensions have been minimal, and the British have put on a good display of hospitality to strangers. But to maintain that goodwill, it will be necessary to handle with great diplomatic skill ...