Mass yesterday went better than I expected, with the introduction of the new translations and the new Cecilia. We got off to a bad start with "Den kärlek du till världen bar"
(Cecilia 276), which is not right for the fourth Sunday in Lent, when the rigours of the season are relaxed, with the Introit Laetare Jerusalem (Rejoice Jerusalem). But we had the Swedish version of Mass XVII to sing from in Gregorian chant notation (unfortunately not how it is written in Cecilia), and that sounded fine. The high point was a rendering of Illumina oculos meos at the Communion, sung by the director of the Gosskör, who has studied the additional neum notation to the chant in the Graduale Triplex. It gives an exciting, exotic and slightly oriental edge to the music which lifts it a level above the ordinary method of singing Gregorian chant. When Gregorian chant was put into the notation invented by Guido d'Arrezi 1000 years ago, a lot of the ornamental detail could not be written down. There was probably even more, such as the quarter-tones used in music in the Middle East. Perhaps it was remembered for many years but eventually got lost or forgotten.
I wrote to my MP on two entirely separate issues recently. The first was to do with the replacement for the Inter City 125 train, which at £2.6 million per vehicle, is twice as expensive as it ought to be. The second concerned the benefits of a switch from business rate and Council Tax to a tax based on site values. In both cases, the replies were full of spurious, unsubstantiated assertions and completely flawed arguments. This is typical. You will not get an iota of sense from the government on any area of public policy at all - finance, economics, trade and employment, agriculture, housing, health, transport, energy. All junk. If you write to your MP you will invariably receive answers that are an insult to your intelligence, no matter what subject you are writing about. Of course they cannot understand statistics. They are innumerate. Whitehall is staffed with idiots with a high IQ. Look at their IT projects. And mind your purse, they will have that too.
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