Former Rossendale MP is new Grand Master of Freemasons

Technically incorrect, of course. This concerns the appointment of a Provincial Grand Master rather than the Grand Master, who is the Duke of Kent.

http://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/news/9547583.Former_Rossendale_MP_is_new_Grand_Master_of_Freemasons/

Otherwise a good article. The tone shows the progress we have made in a 'public understanding of Freemasonry' (a phrase I have borrowed a 'public understanding of science'). Freemasonry suffers from what economists call 'asymmetry of information'. A term used for principal-agent theory.

Here it is about 'insiders' who have a fairly clear idea about what Freemasonry is about (though even this varies markedly) and 'outsiders' who try and double-guess the nature of Freemasonry. After the second world war Freemasonry did not manage its boundaries particularly well. It ignored the outside world and gained a reputation as a secret society.

When I first became interested in Freemasonry in the early 1990s the only decent book I could find was The History of English Freemasonry, a rather dry read by John Hamill. Now with the wealth of information it is possible to download 180 titles onto my Kindle.