As schools lose charitable status, Druids are recognised for charity tax-breaks

If it were not so laughable, you might weep with incredulity. At the very time when private schools are losing their charitable status because of Labour's overhaul of a new 'public benefit' test, minority religions like Druidry, which has just a few hundred adherents, are being officially recognised and granted tax breaks because their activities are deemed to fulfil the requirements of the Charity Commission.

How can it be that the provision of education - which is, ipso facto, a public benefit to the country - has ceased to be of public benefit unless schools spend thousands on bursaries and fee remission, while prancing around Stonehenge at the summer solstice and hugging trees whilst listening to Enya - which are, de facto, minority pursuits of benefit to no-one - are now judged to be of benefit to the wider public?

The Charity Commission for England and Wales, the quango that decides what counts as a genuine faith, has effectively just added another tick-box to the 2021 census form. And if it is not there, there will be cries of 'discrimination' as they refuse to be classified merely as 'other'. Read more