Truly the 1990s got the Christian apologetics they deserved. I thought initially that Nicky Gumbel reminded me of Blair; then I realized that what he actually reminded me of was Rory Bremner doing Blair.

The emphasis here is unfailingly on personal completion: your life, as a person, is incomplete until you have filled the spiritual gap in the middle of it. Accordingly, the question “Is this all there is?” is addressed not to our culture, our society, our political and economic system, but to the problem of individual satisfaction within that system. Christianity is here subjected to an ideological framing at least as total (and as totally perverting) as that practiced by the Victorians. It’s impressive, in an utterly dispiriting sort of way.