I expect she'll be down to check they're switching the lights off at night, sandy. At any rate, she has to choose his successor. Meanwhile, the bishop of London will be lending a hand.
as to why he's quitting, he's come under a lot of criticism for shutting the cathedral on health and safety grounds (which remain unexplained) and for announcing plans to have the protesters removed. I imagine that after doing a pretty uncontroversial job in the past he doesn't like finding himself in a position where everything he does comes in for scrutinty and criticism. Fair enough, that's not really what deans are for.
I don't see why it's a gesture at all. He's quit because the job's become undoable; or else it can be done but not in a way he'd like. Perfectly valid reasons for leaving a job, surely?
Brilliant work - the DM article doesn't mention pesky Muslim fanatics, so naturellement, they have to be thrown into the mix anyway.
I absolutely agree with jno about the resignation of the Dean. It;s his business whether he resigns or not. Who are we to say whether it's appropriate or not. He probably wants to become a jihadist. As no doubt do the rest of those bearded lefty C of E clerics :-)
I hope the idea of banning protest camps is dropped.. it will make our criticism of similar gatherings in autocratic countries look a bit hypocritical.