Born free – but the child is already part of the clash of civilisations

I RECALL that September 15, 2001, was a Saturday. I remember it not only because it was four days after Tuesday, September 11, but also because it was five days after a friend of mine had become a father for the first time.

On that Saturday night I took my mate out for a pint for an hour. It wasn't one of those 'wetting the baby's head' kind of things there is something about modern 30-something fatherhood which doesn't find that necessary or appropriate. It was just a chance to catch up after a dramatic week, a quiet moment before it was his turn again to take charge of the benign turmoil that the arrival of their new daughter had visited upon their household.

It wasn't a session of any kind I was driving, he was already drunk on the euphoria of recent fatherhood and was only sipping his pint. In fact I remember we had a very clear-headed conversation. It had been a momentous week for him and his family; it had been a momentous week for the world. These were the two themes we tossed back and forth.