Ruth Gledhill writes that

The Archbishop of Canterbury’s director of communications returns to parish work next week and is not being replaced.

Good news or not? During the fiasco over Archbishop Rowan’s sharia law speech his director of communications was clearly not doing a good job. But, if rumours are correct, this was because he was not allowed to do it, but was bypassed by the Archbishop. If so, no surprise that he has resigned, but a disaster that he is not being replaced.

Now I’m not going to go all the way with Ruth’s journalistic complaints about lack of access to bishops at the Lambeth Conference. Anyway she should realise that the way she reported the church attendance figures yesterday is not going to win her or any journalists favour in the eyes of the Anglican authorities. And she can hardly complain about the swimming pool with a view she will enjoy – and can perhaps invite some bishops to share.

But the Archbishop and everyone in the higher echelons of the Church of England need to realise that they have a serious image problem. And the way to do something about that is not to shun the media and do without a press officer.