Hold onto the sackcloth and ashes

The biblical expression “sackcloth and ashes" has been bandied about quite a bit these days.

Coming from Ian Paisley it may sound appropriate.

However, it sounds strange coming from journalists and politicians, many of whom haven't an ounce of religion in them.

The biblical practice of wearing a coarse sack of black goat hair and sitting on a pile of ashes was a sign of repentance. Although mentioned in Jonah (when the repentant ...