Who gives a damn?

The papers have been full lately of things about the new leader of the Labour Party, Ed Miliband, that they obviously think will damage his reputation.

First, though proud of his Jewish heritage (both parents escaped capture by the Nazis from different European countries) he is an atheist.

Second, the partner with whom he has one child, and another on the way, is not his wife.

The right-wing, Murdoch-owned press thinks people will be reluctant to elect a man with what it sees as these controversial qualities.

But the voters have only spoken of admiring his honesty. The only criticism they will accede to is that his name is not on his son's birth certificate.

I am not the only one to have been wondering how Obama would have fared if he had not been married, or had proclaimed himself an atheist. I'm not the only one.

Lionel Shriver is a US-born novelist and journalist. In Saturday's Guardian newspaper, he is quoted as saying that Miliband's advisers would have bullied him into getting married long ago if he had aspirations to lead a political party in the US. He says, "The cultural contrast intrigues me even more in relation to his cheerful declaration on Newsnight that he doesn't believe in God. That footage would destroy his political career in perpetuity where I come from. The fact that he could win last week's election as both an unmarried father and an atheist means to me that the British public is streets ahead of America. No wonder I live here."

Well, it's true. We are an irreligious bunch, many (or even most) of us who are in relationships haven't bothered with the marriage ceremony even with kids in the picture.

This national attitude is why we find it so hard to understand the religious right in the US. We don't really have any equivalent. I expect there are a few religious nutters around, but no one listens to them.

Does this make us more, or less, tolerant? What do you think, folks?