FATHERS 4 Justice knows how to kick up an attention-grabbing fuss.

The protest group, which campaigns for the rights of divorced fathers, has in the past thrown purple flour at Tony Blair during Prime Minister's question time.

Yesterday its members stormed into a service at York Minster and also held a rooftop protest.

With typical flamboyance, the group chose the General Synod's showpiece Sunday service, at which the Archbishops of York and Canterbury were present.

Fathers 4 Justice has a canny sense of timing when it comes to generating publicity. But actions such as those which disgraced a Minster service yesterday will do nothing truly to further its campaign.

If they persist in carrying on like this, these disputatious divorced dads will lose the sympathy vote. Going so far over the top can only alienate support and set back their cause.

As Dr Rowan Williams put it to the protesters, who rampaged through the Minster dressed in mock-clerical garb, "This won't do you any good, you know."

Causing distress and carrying on in such a manner is not the way to win people over. Especially when people are assaulted and property damaged, as is alleged in this instance.

Despite the annoyance felt by many at the antics of these militant men, the rights of divorced dads remains a prickly issue for society today, and there are signs that the Government is to consider tackling what is perceived as a gender bias in courts.

Radical proposals include splitting the custody of children equally between mothers and fathers.

If that happened, the members of Justice 4 Fathers would, hopefully, be too busy to engage in all these show-off demonstrations.

Updated: 09:57 Monday, July 12, 2004