So the bright young things at the Foreign Office have been getting ideas. Worse, as Sir Humphrey used to say in “Yes Minister”, they have been getting new ideas, which are, well, dangerous. This time was no exception. Someone had called for a few ideas around the Pope’s visit. Maybe it was part of a wider security exercise to protect The Pope. Anyway, a group of people was assembled and (we are told) a brainstorming took place. From time to time I have offered help to Government departments about creativity and brainstorming. I offer the following as a plausible explanation of what happened. First, and critically, it is unlikely that the group could be considered a trained group, and more likely to have comprised those available and deemed to have some competence and availability