Gone are the days when the church was a rock of certainty.
Once, if the church said the Earth was flat, it was flat. Now it cannot make its mind up whether a few tents outside St Paul’s – that’s the one in London – is a good or bad thing. Perhaps being wrong so often has led to this uncertainty and dithering but it does seem as though the tented protesters are damaging the Church of England more than the bankers and userers down the road.
First they were welcomed. Then came a lot of bad publicity about the protesters not putting their all into it and disappearing to their comfy beds a night. It was even alleged that they went and partook of coffee during the day at capitalist cafes. This, along with the outrage of some Christians who were inconvenienced in going to church, led to agreement from the St Paul’s hierarchy that the camp would be dispersed by the police.
Giles Fraser, the Chancellor of St Paul’s resigned over this decision, showing that even Christians can have displays of conscience.
Now the Archbishop of Canterbury, the head of the CofE, has said the protesters will not be forcibly removed from church land, even though we are fast heading for Remembrance Sunday and Christmas.
Archbishop Williams has also called for an extra tax on bankers. Obviously going for the popular vote, even risking the wrath of the majority of CofE parishioners. The church was once described as the Conservative Party at prayer so he might want to watch his back.
The Vatican has also called for extra taxes on bankers, which they may well volunteer to administrate, as they have some experience in this field.
So the two great Christian churches are of one mind: bankers are bad, protesters are good.
Well they are as I write. By the time you read this the situation could have changed again. But it is nice to see a bit of religious radicalism of the peaceful kind.
Whatever next: gay marriages to be allowed in church?
When it was announced in our house that Jimmy Saville was dead, three of the family asked who he was.
Such is the transience of fame. At one time a household name, few under 30 years old have even heard of him. Like many such superstars, he vigorously protected his reputation and even successfully sued Bedfordshire on Sunday. Not the only one, I hear many of you saying. It was all over a headline that should have said ‘Jimmy couldn’t fix it’ and actually said ‘Jimmy wouldn’t fix it’. For those under 30, he once had a national TV programme called Jim’ll Fix It.
Many rumours surrounded Mr Saville, and his personal life, which according to insiders in the newspaper industry, would all come out once he died. But now, even if they are true, there seems little point. Let Mr Saville rest in peace and let sleeping dogs lie.
Last week I spent three days in Leicester. We stayed in one of several beautiful apartments that had been converted from a former factory.
Coincidentally, it was a factory my dad used to visit, and occasionally took me, to pick up split leather. A further coincidence was the architect, who let us in, went to Bedford School and the owner came from Luton.
The whole area is now Leicester’s artists quarter – no not those kind of artists. It is very lovely but I can’t help feeling that Leicester, and this country, were almost certainly better off when we made things rather than over-rely on the service industry.
I didn’t believe all those cleverclogs who told us back in the 1980s that we did not need manufacturing industry and I certainly do not believe them now.
