Magna Mater ! Magna Mater !

A portrait of the Great Goddess herself in the Indie - and wonder of wonders, you don't have to pay for it.

I often wonder how the Indie reconciles its quid-an-article policy with its commitment to fighting social exclusion, our racist society, and white male hegemony. How many poor Bangladeshis in Brick Lane can read the wise words of wealthy Yazza ? How many young gay men, isolated and victimised on some underclass estate, can take solace from Johann Hari ? How many right-wing thugs on that same estate can read Brute Anderson ? How many parents, worried about their young daughters in an ever more violent age, can be comforted by Deborah Orr ?

"It is extremely distressing to learn that at the weekend in Reading two girls, of 16 and 18, were assaulted in a hotel room by up to six men for up to five hours, then left for dead in a park".

Not just left for dead, Deborah. One actually was dead.