Reason is gentler!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My barely restrained frothing at the mouth over what I see as the cringingly subservient attitude of many of my fellow countrymen to the royal family, to the past Queen and the present King, are put to shame by some of the well-tempered and constructive analysis by papers like The Guardian.

     While it is generally clear that most of these writers regard a hereditary monarch as an aberration in a mature democracy, a denial of the meritocracy that Britain has paid lip service to for generations, and a reinforcement of the inequalities that still hinder the development of the country, they are still able to write with a subtlety and depth of analysis which brings reason into the argument.

     While I am sure that the republican feelings in the country are growing year on year, I am also fairly convinced that the statistics show that a majority of the country would probably support the continuation of the monarchy if it were ever put to a vote.

     We have to work within the bounds of reality.  Much though I would like to see the institution of the monarchy abolished, it is unlikely to happen.  What is glaring obvious to me is just as obviously not to a large number of people.  But that is what we have got to work with.

     At this time of National Grief, or however you define what is going on at the moment with all responses being fuelled by the unending coverage of the BBC, it is perhaps not the time to call for all out republicanism!  But, at the same time, this so-called transition period as we move from one long serving monarch to a new/old king is surely a time for reflection.

     At the moment the political system seems paralyzed by the concerns for the funeral and succession but as one commentator pointed out, the poor don’t stop being poor for the days until after the funeral.  We need action now.  Action on the cost-of-living crisis and some sort of discussion about the way that we want to see the future of our political systems develop.

     When Macmillan was asked what the most difficult problems in government were, he replied, “Events, dear boy, events!”  There will always be “events” and there will always be reasons for inaction and for kicking difficult problems down the road or into the tall grass of whatever other metaphor you want to use for not doing something.  With people genuinely concerned about affording food and heat next winter; with a serious war in Europe; with political division more pronounced each day – they are plenty of reasons to feel overwhelmed.  But I keep telling myself that the most far-reaching reform of the education system was developed during the Second World War.  Whatever issues seem overwhelming at the moment, compared with the last War we are still sitting pretty, and we have more than enough time and space to consider and debate the future without resorting to panic!

     As guns are fired in salutes; as various officials read out proclamations; as the stately procession of the coffin of the Queen makes its progress through the country; as politicians speak to reassure us of continuity, and as newspapers and the media give worldwide graphic images of a particular vision of our country, everything appears to be slipping back into place. 

     Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose!

     

 

 

 

 

 

 

On an altogether more mundane note: I have swum earlish-morning in the community pool for a week (or one half) of the period that my regular indoor pool is closed for annual maintainance.

     I can tell that it is getting cooler and the jump into the pool to start my lengths (or circles in this pool) is something of a shock - but not an unbearable one, so I will continue to do it, until the breath is knocked out of my body by my first insertion!

     My smart watch is set to "Open water swimming" for the pool and seems to take a variable attitude to how far I swim.  On the first occasion I felt that I had not done my customary 1,500m, but I was more than prepared to believe my watch rather than my level of breathlessness.  Today, the obverse of that occurred and I felt (and believe) that I did far more than my allotted length.

     I miss the ritual of my usual morning swim, where I don't have to wait for a smidgeon of sunshine to make the ordeal a little more bearable!  And then there is my tea and baguette in the cafe, that I also miss - but I tell myself that I will be all the more appreciative when I finally return in another seven cold-water days!

 

 

 

London Bridge is Down, Operation Unicorn has begun

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What appears after this brief introduction was written earlier this afternoon.  Since I wrote, The Queen has died.  Whatever I think of the institution of The Monarchy in British political life, I am conscious that a woman had died and that her family is mourning her loss.  I do extend my sympathy to them, as I would to anyone experiencing the death of a close family member.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My one slip from grace in my slavish following of The Guardian newspaper, was when the Independent informed readers that it would NOT print ‘royal’ news, the tittle tattle of various parasitic members of the House of Wettin, that used to (and still does) drive me to impotent fury.  Perhaps I am deluded in thinking that there was ever a proper broadsheet (in the days when the Indie was a broadsheet) that would dare not report the most trivial of non-escapades of the various princes, dukes, and other hangers-on.

     However, The Queen is not just a relic of an outmoded and undemocratic from of government, she is also the Head of State, and as such she has an importance because of her role, that little in her life has justified her for.  Whether I like it or not (and you can tell that I don’t) The Queen has an importance in our national life, and she is generally liked and admired.

     It is clear that her health has worsened, and members of the royal family have journeyed to Scotland to be with her.  She is a very old woman, and there must be an expectation that her life is coming to an end.  It must have been disconcerting, to say the least, if The Queen read the newspapers and watched social media to see the amount of informed speculation that has centred on her demise and how it would be handled.  We even know the code phrase that will be used to indicate her death, “London Bridge is down!”  And if she dies in Scotland, then “Operation Unicorn” will swing into operation which will deal with the movement of her body from wherever she dies to London.

    Of course, not only the details of what happens to her body and what ceremonial will be associated with its burial has been widely discussed, there is also the question of the succession as the crown passes to Charles III or George the whatever if he decides that to be called King Charles brings up too many memories of the people decapitating the king who was the first of that name.

     There again there is the character of the heir apparent: his unfaithfulness to his late wife; his meddling in affairs of state; his reactionary views; his general unpopularity.  The Queen has been a positive but anodyne figurehead, doing what has laughingly been described as her duty, wearing various hats, and waving to crowds.  She is revered because she has been around for a long time, and unlike so many of her relatives she has managed to maintain a low profile of well-behaved, unreachable, otherness.  Her ‘act’ will be a very difficult one to follow, and Charles (or George) has not shown himself prepared to accept the publicly (and possibly privately) undemonstrative quiescence that has marked her reign.

     Charles has ideas, and is not backward in making them known, as the ‘spider letters’ 

 

 

 

 

 

eventually made public by reporting and efforts by The Guardian highlighted.  I find it difficult to imagine the new King Charles (or George) taking a back seat and allowing the elected (ELECTED) representatives of the people to go about their work without his interference.  If he does meddle, then he risks upsetting the delicate series of compromises that allow such a grotesque form of archaic deciding on the head of state in a so-called civilized and developed country. 

     Primogeniture to decide a head of state is an absurdity, and perhaps if Charles (or George) can’t restrain himself from taking a more overt role in government than his mother did, then he could preside over the end of the institution.

     Already the whole edifice is wonky, with the car-crash interview of Andrew merely the latest in a series of scandals that illustrate with glaring obviousness the unsuitability of this family or any family to ‘rule’ a country for generation after generation merely because they happen to be one particular family.

 

What follows is written on the evening of the 8^th of September as I have escaped from the frankly ridiculous hagiography about the life of somebody who appears to have been a rather ordinary person placed in extraordinary circumstances by the actions of a randy duty-denying uncle.

 

 

 

 

 

I tried to listen to Truss giving some absurd puff to the late Queen, by saying, “she was the rock on which modern Britain was built” but listening further to her nasal, monotonous whine was way beyond my patience and I turned her off.

    I fear that I am going to have to do a great deal of turning off in the coming days, as history is re-written, being seen through the twisted bi-focals of boosting a fairly empty figurehead into a dynamic force for good.

    Given the embarrassingly gushing coverage of the Queen Mother’s life when she finally died and the humiliating lines of people waiting to see her coffin, I dread to think what repetitious garbage we are going to be forced to accept as ‘reportage’ and ‘fact’ given that the Queen was around for 70 years, meeting and chatting with the great and the good – and indeed in many cases, the clearly not so good.  And doing what?  What did the Queen actually do during her reign?

    It is a fair point to make that, given the way the relationship of the Crown with the elected parliament works, if she had actually tried to do something substantive, then there could easily have been a constitutional crisis.  There are clear (or at least clearish) limits to the power of the monarch.  In theory the power is enormous, s/he is head of state, head of the armed forces, justice is administered in his/her name, s/he is head of the established Church of England, and so on.  But if the monarch dared to exercise those powers, then the state would descend on the crown and force an abdication.

     The monarch can wield a sort of soft power and, behind the scenes, according to the reporting of newspapers like The Guardian, direct power on laws so that sections related to the interests of the royal house can be excised, or obligations erased.  But mostly the monarch can try and influence - after all, s/he has the direct ear of the prime minister, and she has a council of privy counsellors to keep her informed.  But to be that near the levers of power and being unable to press them must be frustrating, and it takes a certain type of personality to be able to be placid and allow things to happen when, in theory you are the one who could make a difference.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We are now going to have to go through the unfolding process of a state funeral, followed by a coronation.  Truss must be thanking her lucky stars that not only will she have two massive ‘Bread & Circuses” events to keep the people thinking of something other than their parlous financial states, but also, she will be in the foreground, mixing with the royal family and the Grand Gathering of the Clans of presidents, prime ministers, royals, and other VIPs to bolster up her image.  Johnson must be foaming at the mouth thinking that he has been effectively side-lined on an occasion when he could have inflated himself to an absurd extent.

     And how much is all this going to cost?  At a time when people are frightened about the coming winter because they will not be able to afford to heat themselves and eat, how can we possibly justify the millions that will be spent on what is going to be a couple of tasteless jamborees?

 

 

 

      

 

 

     

 

 

 

 

My plan would be for the power, electricity, gas, water companies to fund it all out of their obscene windfall profits.  It would only (!) cost umpteen million to back the funeral and coronation and that would be a midge bite to the billions that they have made by doing nothing – and just think how those saps laying wreaths and feeling a personal loss over a person who has barely acknowledged their existence would feel.  As usual, those suffering and taxed the most, would doff their caps and thank those who exploit them.

     You could always argue that at times of national desperation the one thing that is needed is some sort of distraction – and who doesn’t like a good funeral, and we do them so well.  And what better for a government that believes in unicorns, to have the fairy tale splendour of gilt coaches, jewelled crowns, robes, lords, choirs, and troops to keep the people happy.  I wouldn’t put it past this Tory government to give each primary school child a coronation mug and a day off, rather than ensure that they are properly fed.

 

I hope that the Queen’s death gives the British people an opportunity to re-assess the value of a royal family, with the eldest child of one particular family becoming the king and head of state.

     It is time to bury the Queen with due dignity.  And it is also time for us to bury the whole institution.   

     Let Queen Elizabeth II, be the last of her house and her line.