Saintly institutions? Notes on a modern prejudice.

Sometimes I think all the trouble in the world is caused by intellectuals who have an "idea."

--David Hare, Stuff Happens

Saints should always be judged guilty until proven innocent, though the tests that have to be applied to them are not, of course, the same in all cases.

--George Orwell, "Reflections on Gandhi"

Yet sit and see, Minding true things by what their mock'ries be.

--Shakespeare, Henry V, iv: (1)

When I was in London recently, I happened to walk down Haymarket on my way to Trafalgar Square. As I neared Pall Mall, I caught the glint--white embossed lettering on cerulean field--of a blue plaque, one that ...