David Cameron’s advocacy of Turkey’s membership of the European Union was not a surprise – there has been a cross-party consensus in Britain for some while – but the vehemence with which he expressed it this week certainly was.

He told a Turkish audience in Ankara that, in view of what the country had done to defend Europe as a key member of Nato, “it makes me angry that your progress towards EU membership can be frustrated in the way it has been”. The case for Turkey’s membership was “indisputable”. This puts the Prime Minister on a collision course with both the French and German Governments, but also with a wide body of conservative opinion across Europe that regards the continent as, in some ill-defined sense, still essentially Christian. Turkey’s 70 million population is almost exclusively Muslim, with the Christian population making up fewer than 1 per cent – and falling disastrously.

One spokesman for that emphasis on Europe’s Christian character was Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger before he became Pope, though in his case, as Edward Stourton describes in his art­icle on page 10, this was partly due to his general disapproval of moral and religious relativism, the idea that there are no universal truths, only “your truth and my truth”. Lately, Pope Benedict has seemed more favourable to the idea of Turkey joining the EU. And Islam, despite its many varieties, is no more friendly to relativism than is Catholicism. Indeed, in Turkey the problem is the opposite, and faith minorities that do not conform to the majority Turkish culture, such as Shia Muslims and the Kurds as well as ancient Christian communities such as the Syriacs, have suffered discrimination amounting to persecution. This is sometimes justified as part of Turkey’s secu­lar ideology which, like the policy of laïcité in France on which it was modelled by Kemal Atatürk, strictly polices ...

Government cost-cutting is in danger of harming one section of the population that is possibly the most vulnerable: elderly people in need of assistance with everyday living. Local authorities, which provide most of this care, are told to look for budget cuts of the order of 25 per cent or more, which means severe reductions in the numbers they can help and the degree of help they can offer.

Friendships between the leaders of nations can be as important as shared interests. So when David Cameron and Barack Obama stand side by side at a White House press conference as they did this week, commentators examine body language as closely as they examine the spoken word. They reported that all things seemed warm and harmonious, even on the most difficult question they had to discuss, Afghanistan. Both countries ...

France’s decision to ban the wearing of the burka in public by law symbolises the difficulty of reconciling rights when they conflict. This lies at the heart of the dilemma of multicultural societies and applies not just to France but to Great Britain and elsewhere. They do not wish to be culturally imperialist by treating ethnic minorities with disrespect, but nor do they want to set aside their own core values, ...

John Henry Newman’s motto “Heart speaks unto heart” is emerging as the unifying idea of Pope Benedict XVI’s state visit to Great Britain in September. If that helps it to succeed, the Catholic community will have Newman to thank, which is as it should be. Pope Benedict has always been fascinated by him. The chance to preside over his beatifi­cation ceremony in person in Newman’s native ...

Among the greatest achievements of the Catholic Church in Britain, since the restoration of first the English and Welsh hierarchy in 1850 and the Scottish in 1878, has been the creation of its successful schools. They have remained popular with parents and have played a considerable role in transforming what was a poor, predominantly working-class and migrant community into a well-educated minority with its fair share ...