Britain’s historic institutions are not in good shape, observed Ivan Hewett in the London Daily Telegraph on 15 Jul 2009 (“BBC Proms 2009: are the Proms too nice?”).

Of the Mother of Parliaments, he says the less said the better.  “The Church of England is riven by dissent. Cricket has sold out to Mammon and lost its soul. Even our beers are losing out to fancy foreign brands with unpronounceable names.

“So thank God for the Proms.  Like the Queen, not even a whiff of impropriety or shady dealing has come anywhere near it.

“Like her, it has acknowledged the modern world without losing its dignity, and is admired around the globe.”  

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