Why does the Government still not allow hymn-singing in Church?
My Lords, regardless of matters of hindsight, does the Minister agree that prolonging the restrictions might be justified for certain reasons? asked the Bishop of Leeds, the Rt Revd Nick Baines, in the House of Lords on Tuesday. I do not demur from that, but the prolonging of inconsistencies is a serious impediment to public adherence to the rules, he ventured, as a prelude to highlighting the most glaring of inconsistencies. You do not have to look very far to see where the discipline broke down a long time ago. For example, this is not special pleading; it is just at the forefront of my mind. You can sing in a pub but not in a church. But I would be pretending to be other than I am if I did not level with the Right Reverend Prelate and say that this is an airborne, aerosol disease. It is breathed into buildings at huge risk to those inside, and there is a direct correlation between infection rates, that aerosol and that kind of singing.  This was a curious PMQs-type of deflective evasion, which is (frankly) unworthy of the House of Lords, for surely, as the Bishop might politely have pointed out, a disease which is airborne and aerosol in a church is also airborne and aerosol in a pub, and with the relative amounts of alcohol consumed in a church and a pub, the former is likely to be a whole lot safer to sing in than the latter to watch football in. The Tartan Army is apparently free to sing Yes Sir, I can boogie with gusto while flying from Aberdeen to London yesterday:  Hymn-singing isnt therapy; it is intrinsic to the essential act of worship: ..be filled with the Spirit; Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord.. (Eph 5:18f). So perhaps the Bishop of Leeds might ask Her Majestys Government if Christians may hire a plane and sing Thine be the glory.