Thurifer
A week is a long time in politics is a truism recently amply displayed. We might say that the new government has succeeded in reducing it to a few days, even hours, as policies are announced and in the twinkling of an eye reversed, jettisoned, abandoned, screeching u-turns are once again heard in the land. We were in for a roller-coaster of ineptitude, not unknown when a long period in power splutters to an end. It seems so long ago but at first I mistook the result of the leadership election for the latest inflation figure. Liz Truss 57.4% (81,326), Rishi Sunak 42.6% (60,399). Much closer than polls and commentators predicted, a salutary warning not to take at face value what professional talking heads say. Any old nonsense can sound plausible. The Conservative Party had a new leader, the 4th in twelve years, the 8th since 1975: the Queen appointed the 15th of her reign. If Boris Johnson was the question, was Liz Truss the answer? We knew Kwasi Kwarteng was not. How long before Trussonomics became Trussxit? Not long. True to form, she said she was ‘a fighter not a quitter’ then she quit.
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A joke some years ago: John Cleese, in character, was asked ‘Do you belong to an organised political party?’ ‘No. I’m a Conservative’.
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It was impossible not to feel sorry for cabinet ministers sent out to defend policies and have them changed while in mid-sentence. The great Andrew Neil, in magnificent form on Channel 4. eviscerated the Party Chairman. Jake Berry deserved his knighthood for his day in the trenches. Less satisfactory was the BBC’s revamped Sunday Politics now that Andrew Marr has decamped elsewhere and been replaced by Lorna Kuensberg. An able journalist à la mode but what a mess that was. Nightmare opening credits saw her stride across screen in a fuchsia trouser-suit, scribbled graffiti behind her. The panel of talking heads for the first programme was Cleo Watson, former Downing Street aide, subtly, wittily subversive, the comedian Joe Lycett whose faux enthusiasm for Liz Truss had the panel and the host non-plussed. As ‘a very right-wing comedian,’ he heaped extravagant praise on her. Such sustained, unerring irony was masterly, deserving a permanent place on the panel. In such company poor Emily Thornberry was left as a hapless remnant of conventional party politics, grimly clichéd and unimpressive.
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When one hapless Cabinet member was being relieved of his post, he plaintively asked the Prime Minister, Clement Attlee, why he was being dismissed. ‘Not up to the job’, replied Attlee. The present PM did not command a majority in the Parliamentary Party election and there is no more brutal electorate than that. Another election before Christmas?
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To: all clergy, churchwardens and parish safeguarding officers:
Dear all, / I hope you are well. / I’m writing to inform you of some changes in our safeguarding support. / We all have an ambition to continually improve and embed safeguarding into everything we do, and therefore to be the best we can be. This includes the Safeguarding Team proactively supporting our parishes, and going forward we will be coming out to visit you and trying to understand better what is going well for you and what your individual challenges are. / We have appointed [N] as the Safer Churches programme co-ordinator to keep the momentum going and to build on the practice improvements already made. One significant new facility we have put in pace [sic] to help you navigate safeguarding is the parish safeguarding dashboard … [N] has been recruited to supervise and quality assure the casework of the Safeguarding Advisors. / Thank you for everything you do in supporting a safer church. / Kind regards.
Sadly, this is not a spoof.
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Contemplation corner: 1959-2022: Stipendiary clergy 13075 to 7210; Diocesan support staff 250 to 6500; Congregations 2 million to 700,000. Well done CofE plc and its Board of Management – result.
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At the Sir Henry Wood Promenade Concerts, now more prosaically the BBC Proms, two performances of favourite works took the laurels. Mahler’s 2nd Symphony, (the Resurrection) conducted by Sir Simon Rattle: the LSO and Chorus, the CBSO Chorus. An appropriate combination and suitable valedictory. Sir Simon had an early successful connection with the CBSO and is about to leave the LSO. From the funeral march of the first movement to the vision of the resurrection and its everlasting light at its apotheosis, this was a night to remember. Sarah Connolly, refulgent and moving, and Louise Alder, soaring to the heavens, were the glorious soloists. It did not quite overshadow a performance in Manchester a few years ago by the Hallé Orchestra and Chorus under Sir Mark Elder, which saw one heart-stopping moment in the last movement when all seemed to stop for a split-second before he launched into the final radiant pages. Some years ago Sir Mark conducted the finest performance of the Dream of Gerontius, this time with the LSO. Gerontius was Alan Clayton, not a name I then knew, and he was perfection. He was also the soloist at this year’s Prom performance under the excellent Edward Gardiner. Again, it came close to Sir Mark but did not edge him out of my top place. Nothing, however, can compare with Sir John Barbirolli’s recording with Janet Baker, Richard Lewis and Kim Börg. I cannot image it ever being surpassed.