SIR – Bradford Council and the General Synod of the Church of England agreed that big is beautiful.
In contrast with the vision of 1970s economist E F Schumacher, whose book Small Is Beautiful – A Study Of Economics As If People Mattered inspired the beginnings of the ecological movement, they seem dedicated to gigantism.
It’s easy to decode the ambitions of Bradford councillors, who want to create a megalopolis of Bradford, Kirklees, Calderdale, Wakefield, Leeds and York councils.
It’s simple – bigger jobs for local boys. Having made such a mess of our city that work and workers are departing in droves, they now want to extend their failed remit even further.
Why our local church leaders, and the General Synod want to establish a super-diocese for Bradford, Leeds, Wakefield and Ripon, is harder to understand.
Since there will still be local bishops for each of the super-diocese’s amalgamated areas, all the new structures seem to achieve is to superimpose an extra level of control.
As no doubt there will now be some undignified jockeying for the position of super-bishop, the whole scheme seems to be guaranteed to sow dissent.
Jesus said that where two or three are gathered together he would be with us. Small is beautiful. He said it.
Karl Dallas, Church Green, Bradford
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