Joe Duffy

Isn't it ironic that many Brits voted for Brexit to reduce immigration? How did this happen?

I went to High Wycombe yesterday and I was expecting a classic “F*ckinghamshire" town - a picturesque market town which is nearly all white and filled with affluent London-commuters. I was so wrong. The centre of the town felt like Tooting… but much more depressed. Tooting has at least a white-gentrifier class bringing you posh pubs, trendy tap rooms/wine bars, Eating with Todd style eateries etc etc but after walking through Wycombe for over an hour, I saw two pubs (one by the station, and one grim looking Craft Union place on the high street). The town’s aesthetics were powerfully Yookay. The town was 90% general takeaway slop places (establishments that do burgers, kebabs, piri piri kitchen, all under one roof), dessert parlours, barber shops, hundreds of barber shops (Turkish/Albanian/African. I even saw a Caribbean one!) If I had two images to sum up my day in High Wycombe it would be the West African family in their Sunday best standing outside a Hindu temple (in an old shop), and then it would be crowd at Adams Park which was 99% white.

Pope Leo, in just 8 months of pontificate, has recovered 17 small traditions that had been abandoned by Francis: 1. Leo XIV celebrates Mass, and he does so devoutly, making it clear that he believes in what he celebrates. 2. He not only celebrates it, but he sings it, and in Latin. 3. He uses beautiful vestments, far removed from the costly pauperism of the Franciscan style. 4. He wears a dalmatic under the chasuble, as the ritual prescribes. 5. The cross and the seven historic candelabra have returned to the Altar of the Confessio. For now, placed obliquely, but I presume they will soon occupy the center of the altar. 6. The "midnight Mass" has returned to being celebrated at 10 p.m., as in recent decades, and no longer at 7 p.m., the absurd Bergoglian hour that stripped all meaning from the celebration. 7. The tradition of publicly celebrating the Mass of the day (of Christmas) has been resumed, which had been lost in 1993 (Did he also celebrate the Mass of Dawn privately?). 8. The four assisting deacons of the pontiff have returned. 9. The Pope uses a cassock made of a dignified fabric—not transparent like Bergoglio's—and with sleeves. 10. He has returned to using the sash with the pontifical coat of arms embroidered on it. 11. He uses the choir habit when required: surplice, red mozzetta, and red stole embroidered with his coat of arms. 12. This week, the red velvet and gilded wood throne, with the pontifical coats of arms, reappeared, both in the Clementine Hall and in the loggia of St. Peter's. 13. He uses Castel Gandolfo weekly to rest and do sports. 14. He attends the musical concerts given in his honor. 15. At the beginning of next year, he will move to live in the Apostolic Palace. 16. He parked Francis's white Fiat 500 on some pontifical block and uses a car befitting his rank. 17. Ignoring the provisions of his predecessor, he graciously grants the title of "Chaplain of His Holiness" to priests whom he wishes to particularly distinguish. Some will stupidly say that it is an "assault on intelligence" to focus on those changes. Others will say that these are merely cosmetic changes, and they are right. But the fact is that traditions (with a lowercase "t") are always cosmetic, but that does not mean they lack importance. In fact, it is they that reveal truths and mysteries, just as accidents reveal the substance. If we remove many of an elephant's accidents (trunk, tusks, ears), it will no longer be recognized as the pachyderm it is. It would not be serious to omit some of the "superficial" details we have listed; the problem is that if they are all removed, the Catholic truth of the Roman pontificate is obscured.

If your church is closed tomorrow because tomorrow is the Sunday after Christmas, they are not serious people and I can help you find a new church.

winter in London