So much for Britannia. (News in Brief: England).

London--A few snapshots of life in Prime Minister Blair's Britain. Even as he prepared his country for war as President George W. Bush's ally, Mr. Blair's social juggernaut blunders on its destructive path. But one or two snippets of good news first.

In May 2002, there were glimmerings of light in the minds of the municipal voters of the London borough of Newham who elected Alan Craig of the Christian Peoples' Alliance (equivalent to Canada's Christian Heritage Party) as their local representative to the municipal council.

In June of the same year, one hundred British women awaited judgement on their claim (under the Consumer Protection Act) for health damage from contraceptive pills. A young woman sued the National Health service for failing to warn her of potential mental and psychological damage from an abortion performed four years ago.

Elsewhere, all is doom, gloom, and utter confusion. While Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor, who has previously remarked on his country's religious illiteracy, mounted a spirited attack on the tenets of secular liberalism, an Exeter university survey found that almost half of Britain' s 12-year-olds do not connect Jesus and Easter.

Further, the national tax-funded broadcaster, the BBC, proposed to inaugurate its new youth channel with cartoons mocking the Pope. For thinking adults, there will be a documentary on the life of the Virgin Mary, purporting to be historically based but full of unfounded guesswork such as claiming Jesus was a child of rape, a charge which dates back to second- century Jewish Talmud commentators.

By a 344-145 vote in the British Parliament in November 2002, homosexual and lesbian "couples" are now officially allowed to adopt children. Tory leader lain Duncan Smith opposed the new law. The world's first lesbian sperm bank has been set up using a British web site. Its title is "Man Not Included" and it will be serviced by anonymous donors.

Greeting the new British ambassador to the Holy See in September, the Pope called on her to urge her government to defend human life and the family.