Letters | 25 July 2019 | The Spectator

Rose is the right choice

Sir: Every Wednesday for the past nine years, it has been my privilege to attend the lunchtime Eucharist services in the Parliamentary Chapel, conducted by the Speaker’s Chaplain Rose Hudson-Wilkin. These routine acts of worship are not public, but are attended by parliamentary staff, MPs and peers. Central to them are Rose’s homilies and prayers, which are spiritual life-support to those of us who serve and navigate our increasingly fraught politics. I did not recognise the person described by Ysenda Maxtone Graham in her article (‘Kent’s new Rose’, 20 July) and noted with some concern the author’s emphasis on perceived political agendas, which we are told is ‘what worries East Kent (population 89 per cent white British)’. Those of us fortunate enough to have worked with Rose know her to be first and foremost a skilled evangelist and preacher, who has profound pastoral gifts. It is those qualities of evangelism and pastoral care that make her entirely the right person to minister to all the people of the Canterbury Diocese in her new role as Bishop of Dover. She will be greatly missed in parliament, as the many heartfelt tributes paid by those who know her and have benefited from her kindness, wisdom and counsel bear witness to. She leaves us with our prayers and enduring gratitude.
Richard Chapman

Head of Parliamentary Affairs,

Church of England, London SW1

Unseen Poles

Sir: I agree with most of Ben Sixsmith’s article on the lack of representation of Poles on British television (‘Poles apart’, 20 July). But he omits to mention that, in addition to the million or so recent Polish immigrants, there are also more than half a million Anglo-Poles, descended from the wartime Free Poles. Many of us retain a strong attachment to our Polish heritage and the language, down to the third or fourth generation born here.