Has Kemi Badenoch really thought about the problem of evil?

The problem of evil has stumped some of the greatest thinkers in the history of human philosophy and theology. It was, however, a cinch for Kemi Badenoch.

In an interview designed to make the sometimes aloof Leader of the Opposition seem more relatable, Mrs Badenoch described how the case of Josef Fritzl made her ‘reject God’. She referred to the loss of faith as being ‘like a candle being blown out’ when she realised that while her prayers – for, inter alia , longer hair and good exam grades – appeared to have been answered, the prayers of the imprisoned Elisabeth Fritzl were not.

The dominance of an elite which essentially believes that human nature can be bribed or oppressed or educated into goodness has been a catastrophe for the last 50 years of policy making

Leaving aside the fa