It is possible that the death of Pope John Paul II may delay the announcement of the UK general election, expected tomorrow. So far, all three major parties have decided not to campaign today as a mark of respect. I mean, you know – it’s only the Sabbath… The heir of St Peter has only just died and stuff… They can’t risk banging on a mourning Catholic’s door and stirring up bad headlines, can they?

In other news, there seems to be some confusion among the press. Is Tony Blair willingly abandoning legislation to introduce ID cards and laws against incitement to religious hatred in order to call a general election, or is it the opposition’s fault, as Home Secretary Charles Clarke seems to think? After all, there’s nothing to say that Blair HAS to call the election now – he’s got until June next year. Maybe he should hang on, pass his ID cards bill, piss us all off, and lose like a regular bastard… In short, if Blair misses out on any legislation, or pisses any Catholics off for being insensitive, he’s only got himself to blame.

One thing’s for certain, the Pope’s death is going to make further campaigns on supposedly “moral” issues like abortion rather hard for any of the parties to pull off – the Archbishop of Canterbury has already told them all to grow up, and no one knows what direction the Catholic Church is going to take next. Is anyone going to risk second-guessing the new Pope?

(Oh, and can anyone tell me the difference between the Pope deciding he didn’t want to go back to hospital, knowing that he would die without full medical attention, and making a living will saying you don’t want to be kept alive in a vegitative state?)