From Mr Terry Sanderson
Sir, - Andrew Brown - probably Britain's most sanctimonious
atheist - takes the National Secular Society (NSS) to task for
trying to remove unjustifiable religious privilege (Press, 7 June). He
rehashes what he thinks is his killer blow, saying that the NSS
overestimated the cost of the papal visit to the UK.
Given that he is prepared to ac- cept the Government's own
estimates (which left out the massive security costs and the costs
to local authorities and police authorities), it is not surprising
that he thinks we got it wrong.
But we shouldn't forget that on his personal blog he estimated
that the visit would cost £75,000 per day - which far outstrips our
figures for inaccuracy.
We took on free parking for worshippers in Woking because of
complaints from local residents, but we are aware that there are
similar schemes in operation throughout the country (including
Canterbury, where some 250 passes have been doled out to
churchgoers, while everyone else has to pay the full whack).
We very much hope that this will be a test case, and that we
will be able to roll it out throughout the country. Judging by the
reaction we are getting, it is far from being an unpopular
challenge.
TERRY SANDERSON
President
National Secular Society
25 Red Lion Square London WC1R 4RL
[A glance at the relevant page of my personal blog (www.thewormbook.com/hlog/?p=2169) shows that
the figure that I quoted for security costs was not £75,000 a day,
but £750,000. In retrospect, this was a slight over- estimate. The
claim that Terry Sanderson was then making in a press release was
that the costs would amount to £70 million. Andrew
Brown]