This morning, shortly after he got up, President Bush considered how to get away from "pettiness and paltriness of mind". What did his spiritual guide advise? "Ask God to keep the eyes of your spirit open to the Risen Christ, and it will be impossible for drudgery to damp you." Thus fortified, Bush resumed hostilities against Iraq. That the president is a devout, born-'again leader of a crusading administration is well known. An article in Newsweek goes into much more detail about his religious practices, evoking the scene "ahead of the dawn", when "even before he brings his wife, Laura, a morning cup of coffee, he goes off to a quiet place to read alone". Bush's chosen text, Newsweek discloses, is My Utmost for his Highest, a book of devotional readings by Oswald Chambers, an evangelical bible teacher who died in 1917. It provides a biblical text, along with Chambers' commentary, for every day of the year.  Assuming Newsweek is correct, we can all of us, each day, accompany Bush on his spiritual journey. Tomorrow, for example, he is due to contemplate a passage headed Undaunted Radiance, in which Chambers reminds the sinner that "the experiences of life, terrible or monotonous, are impotent to touch the love of God..."  The calendar format allows us to look back at key moments in this conflict and identify the spiritual text which might have informed the president's day. On January 20, when he announced that he was "sick and tired of games and deception", Bush would have begun with a pre-dawn reflection on Isaiah's response to God's call, "Here am I; send me". On February 20, the day Bush agreed, with Blair, on a "final ultimatum" he would have considered Chapman's exhortation to action, "always beware of giving over to mere dreaming once God has spoken". And if, as was reported then, concerted military attack is still fixed for March 14, then that morning Bush will have his mind on higher things: "There is no release in human power at all, but only in the Redemption".  Transcribed by Chambers' wife, Gertrude, after his death from appendicitis, My Utmost for His Highest is less concerned with tips on appropriate conduct, than with the forging of an intimate relationship with God: "If the crisis has come to you on any line, surrender your will to Him absolutely and irrevocably."  Spiritually, Chapman is a challenging, relentlessly demanding teacher; in worldly terms, he suggests an almost fatalistic surrender to God's purpose (to be disclosed by the God-given outcome of things), which apparently made Chapman popular among troops in Egypt, where he volunteered as an army chaplain during the first world war. At his funeral, according to Oswald Chambers Publications Association Ltd, the charity which holds world rights in his work, 100 men escorted the gun carriage. The charity's general manager, Mary Hutchison, suggests that his purpose was to impart faith to the soldiers, "so they could be seen through the crisis".  Today, with both the Pope and the Anglican church condemning war with Iraq as unjust, you can see how Chapman's message of resolute submission to the Almighty might have considerable appeal for America's commander-in-chief, as he confronts the "axis of evil". "Rise to the occasion, do the thing," Chapman urges, "May God not find the whine in us any more, but may he find us full of spiritual pluck and athleticism, ready to face anything he brings".  To Hutchison's regret, such reflections have never been as popular here as in the US, where "Utmost", as she calls it, has sold two million copies since 1991. In Britain it sells 500 copies a month. Thanks to George Bush, that might change. "I can't tell you how pleased I am", she says, "we're so pleased, we've been praying for years that there would be some kind of revival". Sometimes, God moves in a most mysterious way. <B>But what about snake oil?</B> Imagine the excitement of Mark Field's London constituents when, for the first time anyone could recall, the Conservative MP wrote asking for comments "on three issues of national importance". At last - an MP who really cared what they thought about the war, foundation hospitals, climate change, or similar. But it seems Field is kept awake, of a night, by more pressing questions relating to licensing hours, broadcast communications, and perhaps dearest to his heart, snake oil.   "I am a regular taker of vitamin supplements", confessed Field, asking his constituents if alternative medicine should be "embraced more actively".  Although, with a war almost on, some constituents find Field's investigations faintly superfluous, such democratic commitment, extending, he stresses, to those who are anxious "about the harmful health effects of dogs defecating in the streets", is surely exemplary. And besides, maybe he knows of a good alternative smallpox remedy.<B>Cull New Labour</B>Critics of the impending ruddy duck cull argue that it sets an alarming precedent, and certainly if duck-purity principles were to be applied to British political fauna the consequences would be devastating. Given the similarities between the plight of the rare, white-headed duck and that of the endangered British Tory, now vigorously interbreeding with New Labour to produce a probably sterile hybrid, there is every reason, following ruddy duck logic, to carry out a cull of the American intruder. With some scientists concerned that there may be only one native Tory breeding pair left in the country (Mr and Mrs Nicholas Soames), time is short. True, at 915 per bird - or politician - the cost of such intervention is high and might outrage the British public. On the other hand ducks are widely preferred to MPs; in the absence of any politician welfare groups, the ruthless extermination of New Labour might be seen for what it is, a well-meaning attempt to give nature a helping hand. <B>Torygraph goes gothic</B>Readers of the Daily Telegraph, which has just been subjected to an amusing redesign, are divided on the merits of its gothic-style masthead. Is the heavy typeface once chosen by David Beckham to memorialise the birth of his son in a buttock-skimming tattoo, really up-to-the-minute enough for a happening young paper like the Telegraph? After all, Brooklyn has just celebrated his fourth birthday. But a new Heineken advertising campaign featuring similar lettering on the stomach of the young singer Craig David, confirms that the redesign was worth every penny: in the tattoo parlours that presumably contain its target audience of goths, football fans and connoisseurs of fine lagers, the brand new Telegraph will be a must-have.