Yewtree at the Stroppy Rabbit blog claims that the Daily Mail has libelled (in the wider, non-legal sense of being rude about) druids, and links to a petition to demand an apology. I have mixed feelings.
You see, when Yewtree says "this article is as ill-informed, unpleasant and ridiculous a piece of claptrap as ever I have seen from the Daily Mail. " - the thing is, in the annals of the Daily Mail that would be quite a billing to live up to. The article is indeed ill-informed: ignorant of the law and the precise purpose of the Charities Commission and how it relates to Government. Likewise of the difference between a "religion" and a charity under English law. And one has to be impressed by the bizarre definition of religion that the author uses, and its relating of modern-day druidry to Eastern beliefs. But if the Mail was really to be as ill-informed and ridiculous as it has ever been, it would have to claim most druids are also illegal immigrants who cause house prices to fall while spreading disease. Since the article doesn't do that, I conclude that, by the Daily Mail's standards, it's quite moderate. And I wish they'd take that picture of me at Stonehenge down. They never asked for my permission in the first place.
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