Applause

I am rather puzzled by the ubiquity of applause nowadays - not, I hasten to add, applause directed at me. When I was a boy, applause in church was almost unknown. Certainly one might clap during choruses to mark the time, rather as with a tambourine or other percussion instrument, but not after a sing so as to applaud the performers. After a solo, there might be murmurs of "Hallelujah" or "Amen" but never applause. The idea was that the singer was performing to the glory of God, not for his or her own glory as performers in a secular theatre or cabaret did.

I do not mean to refer to the practice of a "clap offering" intended in itself to be a form of worship. What I am referring to is the practice of applauding in church in the same kind of way as in a theatre, as a congratulation on the quality of a performance. The loss of the old attitude with its consciousness that only God should be glorified in church does not seem to me to constitute progress.

How Big is London?

The resignation of Sir Ian Blair as Metropolitan Police Commissioner shows what a multi-polar polity has come into existence over recent years. At one time the support of the Home Secretary would have sufficed to keep the Commissioner in post: now he needs the support of the Mayor of London as well. Westminster politics is no longer the only significant level.

Several if not most reports refer to the Commissioner as “Britain’s top policemen”. Is this just a journalistic puff? Surely the Commissioner has no authority outside his territory in the Metropolis?

Sir Ian Blair’s resignation statement mentions no current responsibilities other than those he has for London. However, both the Home Secretary and the Prime Minister have referred to his national role. It is not very clear to me at least what function the Metropolitan Police Commissioner has in respect of policing outside London.

This is probably a rather crude piece of political manoeuvring: by suggesting the existence of a function extending beyond London’s boundaries they are trying to cast doubt on the legitimacy of the role of the Mayor of London in the Commissioner’s resignation.