National Religion

A find of "international historical importance" has been left in the letterbox of an auction house in Bristol and, since international historical importance is money, was promptly sold off for a quarter of a million plus change. The item in question was a pair of spectacles worn by Mahatma Gandhi, who used to dispose of his old pairs by giving them away; these particular glasses date from his time in South Africa, where he worked for British Petroleum and campaigned for the rights of Indian immigrants not to be treated like kaffirs. Although the commercial spectacle in Bristol might not have met with his approval, the great-souled one would certainly have been happy to see his relic passed on through the good offices of a nation with an urge towards a mythical past and a healthily enforced caste system.