Always Hope

Congratulations to David Ison on his appointment as the next Dean of St Paul's. Dr Ison, who is already a Dean, in Bradford, and thus labours under the title "the Very Reverend" (what a millstone to place around a man's neck) will take up his new post at the end of May. This is an absolutely key appointment, following the unfortunate departure of his predecessor, The Right Reverend Graham Knowles, who resigned suddenly in the midst of the "Occupy" crisis. His reasons for doing so are still slightly opaque, but it appeared that he simply buckled under the enormous pressure from all directions, including the media, opinion in the church, his own staff, and probably the Bishop of London. The new Dean may come with clean hands as far as that incident is concerned, but it's a safe bet that St Paul's, having featured on the radar in this way, will have other storms to weather before long. David Ison's style of leadership and his vision for St Paul...

The story of the so-called #OccupyLSX protest has evolved rapidly this week. You will remember that last weekend, having been unsurprisingly told they could not occupy the London Stock Exchange, the campaigners sought an easier target in the City and settled on St Paul's Cathedral . As the police moved in to prevent them, Giles Fraser (one of St Paul's senior clergy) stepped in and Quixotically asked them to move along, allowing the protestors to settle, and defending their right to do so peacefully. This unusual incident drew a lot of publicity to both St Paul's and to the protest, the organisers being quick to exploit the incident. "We are occupying St Paul's!" said their official Twitter stream, "the vicar has given us his blessing and asked the police to leave." And therein lay the seeds of trouble to come.  The Cathedral put out a statement cautiously supporting the right to protest and asking all to respect the day to day work and worship, ...