I can’t decide if I am reading the papers or a le Carré novel. The Russians are accused of murdering a British citizen on British soil and won’t let the accused be extradited to stand trial. This is where I begin to wake up, though. In the novel Mr Smiley, or whatever he was called, would have weaved some complex and subtle strategy and, despite the ups and downs of the plot ‘we’ would come out of it smiling, albeit in secret.

This is real life, though. So what do we do? We expel some diplomats. The novel reader in me feels they deserve it. The conspiracy theorist in me suspects they were probably spies anyway. The cynic wonders what we now have that is worth spying on anymore; perhaps they have already got the full version of a certain spin-doctor’s diaries? The compassionate side of me wonders if four innocent civil servants have just had their lives turned upside down in order that their government can make a political gesture.

What makes me cross, though, is that it all makes no difference. The numbers at the embassy will creep back up when we have all forgotten this. Mr Litvinenko is still dead. An alleged murderer is still free. His political bosses are not accountable to any form of justice I recognise. Crime is unpunished and I find myself surprisingly offended. The expulsion almost makes it worse.

It matters when wrong things go unpunished… and you don’t need a degree in theology to see where I am going with this. We have a deep, inbuilt sense that wrong needs some kind of restitution. It’s another sign that we are made in God’s image. It’s another sign that our primary need is forgiveness; forgiveness between people, and forgiveness from God.

We are not all murderers, but we do all mess up time and again. The heart of the Christian message is that God will not play ‘gesture politics’ with us. It matters when we live as we were not designed to. He takes it seriously and calls us to do the same…

… and the great thing is that he provides a solution that works in Jesus.