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More than once he tries to pass the buck - to Herod, to the chief priests, to the crowd - but it doesn't work. In the end, when he has just made the bold decision to go all-out for saving Jesus, the crowd (according to John) reminds him that his first duty is to his boss, the Emperor Tiberius; and he capitulates completely. He keeps going out, coming in, going out again; his agitation is physical as well as mental. One is darkness, paganism, superstition, while the other is truth and light Pilate is one, Jesus is the other They are two symbolic figures. But they are also, lest we forget, two men flung together in a judgment hall who were almost bound to misunderstand each other. In the drama of the Passion, which is read in churches today, Pilate is by turns angry, sarcastic, suspicious and despairing Most of all, he wavers He can't decide what to do He drifts towards pardoning Jesus, then drifts away again He thinks Jesus is innocent, but then isn't sure. He is sophisticated, exuding effortless power, but is also worried; as well he might be Huge forces, we know, are working behind the scenes An old order and a new order are in conflict here. One is oppressive and secular, the other liberating and spiritual.

Jesus can barely stand; Pilate sits or lounges on an ivory chair with, as often as not, a leopard-skin rug thrown across it. It was the moment when God met man and let himself be sentenced to death; a death that was to change the world, but also one, according to Christian doctrine, that had been planned and predicted ever since the beginning of time The scene has been depicted over and over again Jesus, battered and bleeding, faces a sceptical Pilate. The trial of Jesus was not merely a trial for anyone who described it, from the gospel writers onwards. It was, as far as we know, a routine hearing and condemnation that led to the routine Roman punishment of the cross But it has become far more than that. Then we'll switch on the machines again and bomb somewhere else Then we'll take the dog for a run."Let's hope it works But sometimes I worry.. If you were asked to list the three most dramatic confrontations in history, the chances are that one of them would be the moment, in AD 30 or 33, when Jesus Christ faced Pontius Pilate, the Roman prefect of Judea. Do you wish to keep the details of this game? No, we'll start again from scratch next time with another enemy, without learning anything."Mr Clinton, what are you going to do after the bombing?""We're going to take a rest.

Then the smoke of battle clears, and my son and friends come out, innocent and cherubic, cleansed by the mayhem, ready to take the dog for a run.I sometimes think that the way Clinton and gang operate their weaponry overseas is more like a PlayStation programme than real history Bang! Bomb Baghdad Bang! Bomb Libya Bang! Bomb a factory in the Sudan.The dust clears Game Over. One, not very common, is the kind in which the players have to build a civilisation and get points for its construction. In the much more common kind, the players get unlimited ammunition and have to destroy everything that moves.When they are in full session, the distant sound of bombing, shooting and dying comes non-stop, just as on a clear day I can also hear through my window the distant firing from Salisbury Plain 20 miles away. Upstairs from where I work there is a spare room to which my 11-year-old son retires from time to time, often with friends, to play computer games.From what I can make out, they play two kinds of games.

But is there any kind of precedent for all these Nato hit and run raids?Curiously enough I think there is, and I think it is in my own house. Unless Lord Byron comes along and liberates them."So what Nato is doing is a little different from what previous invaders have done. We are going to run the place with an iron hand and stay there for hundreds of years, shooting them whenever they start fighting again, making them convert to Islam and generally behaving like real bastards.""Will you ever leave?""Never. But we are also getting a lot of politicians on the box who are being asked what the game plan after the bombing is, and who are unable to think of anything.The conversation usually goes a bit like this: "So, Mr Cook, what happens after the bombing?""We are knocking vital chunks off the Yugoslav war machine so that the Serbs cannot continue with their atrocities.""Yes, but they are continuing with their atrocities.""We are delivering a message to Mr Milosevic to make him understand he cannot go on as he is.""But he is going on as he is.""And he knows that we will go on with the bombing until eventually he gets the message.""And what happens after the bombing?""We are knocking vital chunks off the Yugoslav war machine so that the Serbs cannot continue with their atrocities." And then the tape loop starts again.This is not the sort of interview you would have got at the beginning of the Turkish invasion of Europe all those years ago: "So, Sultan, you intend to go into Central Europe and shoot and bomb all those Albanians and Greeks into submission, till they stop fighting?""Yes.""Do you have a game plan for after that?""Yes. And now, Hello, Nato.Except that Nato's action doesn't quite fit the pattern. Nato is not intending to march into the Balkans and knock heads together.All Nato intends is a bit of long distance bombing, which does look good on TV.