Bishops in the Church of England

I note recent press coverage of the impending General Synod debate on reducing the number of bishops and other senior clergy, mainly (it appears) under pressure of mounting pension liabilities (see report in the Guardian yesterday). There are background papers and other information on the site of the diocese of Bradford, which is proposing the motion.

There is much interesting historical work left to be done on the process of 'managed decline' (at least in structural terms) in the last century; the church is more used to amalgamating parishes than dioceses (see the recent obituary of David Halsey, late Bishop of Carlisle in the Telegraph.)