The Big Society

I have a shrewd suspicion that David Cameron doesn't mean me, but my dedication to voluntary work has been much reinforced by the goodies attached to a Natural History Museum volunteers pass. Namely, it gets me in to all the art exhibitions in London for free.
In all the years I worked in a museum I don't ever remember trying this one on, but one dear colleague insists that her ID badge was an open sesame. This means that I get to see all sorts of exhibitions that I would have thought twice about paying for (a lifetime in the public service doesn't quite lead to the gilded retirement life style that some newspapers and radio presenters would have you believe).
The "Sacred Made Real" exhibition at the National Gallery was a case in point. Some of the items were extracted with great difficulty from their spiritual homes, but they looked as though they had been extracted from Madame Tussaud. Oddly the very "realism" of the works raised terrible doubts. Contemplating the dead Christ, complete to the very finger nails, I couldn't help wondering how a Jewish carpenter could have such well manicured hands...
The Velasquez paintings, however, shone out with humanity. Who could fail to have a soft spot for the aged Venerable Mother Jeronima de la Fuente. She has obviously been told by the order that they have to have a portrait of her, and she just wants to get off to her mission.