Faith in Meg and Frum

The birth of Kim Jong-Il - he was 65 yesterday - was marked by the appearance of a double rainbow and a new star. He shot eleven holes in one the first time he played golf. The number 11 gives this credibility. A concocted government claim would surely be that he shot eighteen. On the Pacific island of Tanna the John Frum cargo cult is celebrating its fiftieth anniversary. The cult's faith centres on the arrival of American soldiers during World War II. These benefactors, it is believed, will return. The name John Frum is thought to have arisen because so many of the GIs introduced themselves by saying, 'I'm John from America.' Meanwhile, Islamists in Pakistan are convinced that a polio immunisation campaign is an American plot to sterilise Muslims. And, finally, here in Britain, Mystic Meg tells me that the new moon awakens in me ambitions concerning something I currently do just for the love of it and a relationship will move into calmer but sexier times. As George Michael sang in his savage critique of Richard Dawkins, 'I gotta have faith.'