Error of judgement

Huddersfield Daily Examiner (Huddersfield, England), May 27, 2009

I HAVE some sympathy for the 17 Bristol men arrested in Crete for wearing nun outfits.

The West Country cross-dressers were picked up on Sunday by the Crete cops for the wonderful offence of "scandal and misrepresentation of a costume or uniform".

But the Greek authorities dropped the charges the following day because they couldn't find anyone to lodge an official complaint against the 17 Bristolians wandering round dressed in habits, lingerie and G-strings.

I was glad they got away with it.

When it comes to getting drunk and insulting people's religious beliefs, well let's just say I'm not going to cast the first stone.

Many years ago I went to a fancy dress party in a small town just outside Belfast. As it was a mainly Protestant place, I thought it would be nice to go to this event dressed as the Pope.

As we wandered through the streets of this small town, we happened upon some worshippers leaving an evening service at a Protestant church.

Already somewhat "in drink," I thought it would be a good moment to engage the church-goers in some complex theological discussion.

In other words, I shouted: "It's never too late to convert." Let's just say that some of the worshippers took exception to being heckled by a tipsy young man dressed as the leader of the Catholic church. A short discussion ensued, though strangely there was no meeting of minds on the great schism within Christianity.

But at least I tried..

CAPTION(S):

MISTAKE: British tourists arrive at a court in Crete