Our island story

Buried in the schedule later in the week was a fascinating programme in which the composer Jocelyn Pook traced her attempt to write a new piece for voice and strings inspired by Handel’s ‘Hallelujah’ chorus. First performed as part of the Messiah in 1741, I guarantee there’ll be a performance of it somewhere close to you in this Holy Week leading up to Easter. On Hallelujah (Radio Four, Tuesday lunchtime), Pook took as inspiration not just Handel but also Leonard Cohen, Stravinsky, a Hebraic version of Psalm 117 (the shortest hymn of praise in the Psalter) and the gospel sound of the People’s Christian Fellowship in Tottenham. She also talked to biblical scholars and musicians to find out why Handel’s chorus has become so hugely popular. The word ‘Hallelujah’, she concluded, is such a versatile and non-denominational hymn of praise to the divine that it’s impossible to sing without joy in your heart.

But perhaps the most provoking thought of the week came from a woman interviewed by our editor Matthew d’Ancona for his programmes on Britishness on Radio Four. She suggested that a suitable national symbol could be the scone. It sounds ludicrous, but maybe she is on to something. Once upon a time the production of a batch of air-filled circles of buttery dough, just firm on the outside, meltingly soft in the middle, was a skill shared by the Scots, Welsh and English. And as Dr Johnson once said, ‘The true state of every nation is the state of common life.’ It’s the little things that count, and if we’re looking for something that could truly unite us, let’s bring on the perfect scone.