A rather tangled web

You would have thought that the Home Secretary had more than enough on his plate, for example with this (in The Scotsman):

JOHN Reid faced a fresh threat to his position last night after it emerged a child sex offender was spared jail because of the Home Secretary's desperate attempts to handle a crisis in English prisons.
Mr Reid has been coming under increasing pressure over the situation in English jails, which are full to capacity. This week, Mr Reid wrote to judges and magistrates asking them to imprison only the most dangerous criminals while he arranges more prison places.

But no. Like the rest of the cabinet, he is weighing in on the adoptions issue (here):

THE divisions between Jack McConnell, the First Minister, and Westminster over calls for the Catholic Church to be exempted from equality laws enshrining the rights of gay couples to adopt were growing last night, after the Home Secretary warned colleagues and the Church that they must accept the legislation.
While Mr McConnell supports the right of Catholic adoption agencies to be exempted from having to consider gay couples, John Reid, the Cabinet's most senior Catholic, made clear there should be no opt-out.

Indeed, the only cabinet minister to keep quiet is the minister responsible, Ruth Kelly. Still, at least, Dr Reid could be considered to be on the side of the angels on this matter, if not on the side of the Catholic Church. But poor Mr McConnell must be feeling rather exposed, having allegedly (if rather secretly) made certain commitments to the Church which he cannot now deliver. But, then, Dr Reid and Ms Kelly don't face elections this year. And the First Minister can console himself with the thought that the SNP is supporting him on this matter, even though that may not prevent them making political mischief over the prospect of the Executive being over-ruled by Whitehall.

But it's becoming awfully complicated...