The Queen has passed away

[Guest Chocolate Teapot]

The A40 was an absolute nightmare last night as people lined it to see the queen go past. It was raining, dark and people lined the sides of what is basically a motorway. One of the most dangerous things I've ever seen and yet people said it was 'beautiful'.

 

We are a weird, weird island.

[Samilktray]

5 minutes ago, Chocolate Teapot said:

The A40 was an absolute nightmare last night as people lined it to see the queen go past. It was raining, dark and people lined the sides of what is basically a motorway. One of the most dangerous things I've ever seen and yet people said it was 'beautiful'.

 

We are a weird, weird island.

We’re quirky apparently 

[Izzy]

1 hour ago, RumbleFox said:

There’s quirky and then there’s closing foodbanks, arresting people for saying things, forcing the country to shut down, flaunting the most expensive state funeral in our history whilst people are literally dying due to the cost of living crisis, etc. And we’re lapping it up. We’re definitely a few miles past quirky at this point. X

It's for one day. One day to respect someone who reigned for 70 years.

 

Not sure what you mean by "lapping it up"? Maybe some people/businesses have gone too far, but by this time next week it'll all be over.

 

People getting their knickers in a twist about all this is no stranger than people queuing up to see a coffin IMHO

 

X

[Izzy]

8 minutes ago, Samilktray said:

We’re quirky apparently 

Well yeah. Similar to weird really.

 

Definitions

Definitions from Oxford Languages · Learn more

 

adjective

adjective: quirky; comparative adjective: quirkier; superlative adjective: quirkiest

1. having or characterized by peculiar or unexpected traits or aspects.

   "her sense of humour was decidedly quirky"

    

   Similar: eccentric, idiosyncratic, unconventional, unorthodox, unusual, off-centre, strange, bizarre, weird, peculiar, odd, freakish, outlandish, offbeat, out of the ordinary, Bohemian

    

   Opposite: conventional

[gerblod]

24 minutes ago, Izzy said:

It's for one day. One day to respect someone who reigned for 70 years.

So we respect someone who's lived a long time in a position she's occupied by being born into a singular family? 

 

The respect has to be earned, surely, by what you do to enhance your 'subjects' lives. She has behaved impeccably and done stuff 'under the radar' for people she's met through public engagements. However, it's a rôle which is passive by nature. The Government allow the Monarchy to continue because it reinforces the structure in which they operate. Equally, by not criticising the Government(s) openly for bad government or by refusing to rubber stamp bad legislation, the Monarchy allows government their free hand.

If the Queen had said no to some of the more bizarre actions taken by various regimes during her reign then it might have changed the course of our history for the better. But that opens the can of worms that began to be closed when the first Charles was beheaded.

As for "people" getting their "knickers in a twist" over the general fawning that's accompanied her death, isn't it rather an embarrassing spectacle not to get irritated or even offended by?

 

Edited 14 September 2022 by gerblod
Changes to poor wording.

[Wolfox]

53 minutes ago, gerblod said:

I didn't find it cynical whatsoever.

It certainly was bitter, but in the sense that voicing the reality of how the Establishment, in its myriad forms, suppresses all questions about the validity of the Monarchy - at the very moment the questions should be asked, suggests suppression.

This has been the case - those who've dared to protest about whichever manifestation of the feudalistic, sham democracy we live under (and Monarchy is its flagship) have been cast as anti-monarch. A man calling out some valid observation about Prince Andrew's alleged crimes was arrested by police and mildly assaulted by a 'mourner'. That's suppression.

There is massive grief, but it's not for the real person - just as the grief expressed for Diana was not for the real person. It's for an icon. 

Both the BBC and ITV appear to have been competing to outdo each other in this "mawkishness". Extolling her Majesty's love of corgies and thoroughbreds seems to me to trivialise and distract from what's really happening. Just as 160,000 Tory Party members have decided, quite undemocratically, who our next national leader is, a man has been allowed to take over an expensive sinecure for which there is no real justification except as a 'rubber-stamper'. Even Truss had to go through the hustings to win her job. Charles III, a man who evinces more moral rectitude than his behaviour possibly warrants, has smoothly slipped into his position. Nepotism on a grand scale.

As for Paris - he's the fool who claimed he could live on £26.80 benefits, back when Maggie was busy selling off our national assets to private finance. I wonder if the eloquence you intimate him having displayed re 'performance grief' could be remanifested in some cogent comment about our current dire straits regarding sky high energy costs and the manner in which the already rapidly emptying pockets of the majority of British citizens are being cleared by the greed of those companies created by Thatcher's denationalisation.

Blimey a lot to unpack there, and a lot referencing beyond my general observation on the article…

 

I quite like Paris and observer / broadcaster, he can be quite insightful at times and certainly isn’t timid!  I don’t like his politics at all…   It doesn’t preclude him being eloquent though?

 

You’re obviously not a fan of hereditary monarchy, a view with which i have a lot of sympathy…. It really flys in the face of nearly every other principle I hold regarding meritocratic principles…. The truth remains that I quite like it really…. For me (there are very valid reasons to disagree) it doesn’t do any great harm and it’s a connection to a shared history and pageantry which is all quite nice and reassuring for many…. Economically it’s quite possibly neutral?

 

Of course it’s grief for what the Queen or Di represented (very few balling there eyes out new them)…. I don’t like it all and have a soft spot for stoicism, a dying character trait and one which i recognise in the Queen…. I don’t like group mourning personally, it sits really uncomfortably with me, I like people judging it scoffing at people for being sad less though…. It’s one thing to observe it as phenomenon (interesting), it’s another to pile unpleasantness and bitterness over the top of it…

 

Agreed regarding the media coverage, it’s been exceptionally poor and I’ve chosen to simply turn it off…. Agee that it’s generally mawkish in tone and overtly deferential 

 

I agree with you regarding the Truss election. it’s up to the nation whether they choose to meekly standby if they continue to get nobbled by this government as there’s an election soon enough…

 

 

[Izzy]

8 minutes ago, gerblod said:

So we respect someone who's lived a long time in a position she's occupied by being born into a singular family? 

 

The respect has to be earned, surely, by what you do to enhance your 'subjects' lives. She has behaved impeccably and done stuff 'under the radar' for people she's met through public engagements. However, it's a rôle which is passive by nature. The Government allow the Monarchy to continue because it reinforces the structure in which they operate. Equally, by not criticising the Government(s) openly for bad government or by refusing to rubber stamp bad legislation, the Monarchy allows government their free hand.

If the Queen had said no to some of the more bizarre actions taken by various regimes during her reign then it might have changed the course of our history for the better. But that opens the can of worms that began to be closed when the first Charles was beheaded.

As for "people" getting their "knickers in a twist" over the general fawning that's accompanied her death, isn't it rather an embarrassing spectacle not to get irritated or even offended by?

 

I guess one person's fawning is another's grieving or paying respect. Of course some people think it's all OTT and I understand that, but others clearly want/need to line the streets, que to see the coffin or whatever. Each to their own I say.

 

In terms of the whole Monarchy/Government set up, that's definitely a can of worms I'm not qualified to open - way above my pay grade 

 

And as for the general fawning, it doesn't embarrass, irritate or offend me personally. I'm no Royalist (and actually think Charles is a bit of an arse) but I do think the Queen deserves a decent send off. 

 

[Daggers]

51 minutes ago, Chocolate Teapot said:

The A40 was an absolute nightmare last night as people lined it to see the queen go past. It was raining, dark and people lined the sides of what is basically a motorway. One of the most dangerous things I've ever seen and yet people said it was 'beautiful'.

 

We are a weird, weird island.

 

46 minutes ago, Samilktray said:

We’re quirky apparently 

 

[StanSP]

[Izzy]

Keir Starmer pretty much summing it up for me:

 

'Incredible' to see people come together - Starmer

 

 

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has said tributes to the Queen have been "incredible".

Sir Keir told BBC Breakfast it was a "human instinct" to come together in times of change.

"People have just wanted to come forward to say thank you."

Sir Keir will visit Westminster Hall with his family later, he said, as well as taking part in the reception of the Queen’s coffin this afternoon.

He also urged people with different views on the monarchy to show "respect" when expressing them.

He added: “One of the great British traditions is the ability to protest and to disagree. But I think if it can be done in a spirit of respect – respect the fact that hundreds of thousands of people do want to come forward and have that moment. Don’t ruin it for them.

"But also we do need to respect that other people must be entitled to express their different views.”

 

 

[Daggers]

Phew.

 

Cycling is no longer verboten.

 

No news yet on roller blades, pogo sticks and space hoppers.

[Daggers]

So ruddy, bloody respectful Pt.73

 

 

 

[Jon the Hat]

33 minutes ago, Daggers said:

So ruddy, bloody respectful Pt.73

 

 

 

Jesus Christ some people are ****ing strange. 

[Jon the Hat]

45 minutes ago, StanSP said:

I have no doubt whatsoever that King Charles would change that list.  He is responsible for Andrew’s removal from the working Royals.

[StanSP]

8 minutes ago, Jon the Hat said:

I have no doubt whatsoever that King Charles would change that list.  He is responsible for Andrew’s removal from the working Royals.

Sorry, I read it as it had already been decided! 

[fox_up_north]

BBC presenter this morning reminding her reporter that "this won't be the first time that William, Harry and Charles have all walked behind a coffin. I'm thinking of Diana"

 

No fuching shit, Sherlock.

[Super_horns]

13 hours ago, StanSP said:

This is overkill.

What's the point doing it on every channel? It's hardly like people struggle to get these channels. 

 

ITV1 and maybe one or two other channels would be enough.

 

BBC are doing 8 till 6:50 then Paddingrton is on.

 

I don't understand why hospitals are shut... 

 

Seems someone in the King Charles camp has been handing out some P45s since the passing of the Queen. 

 

Very ruthless. 

 

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/sep/13/king-charles-staff-given-redundancy-notice-during-church-service-for-queen

[fox_up_north]

HOSPITALS ARE SHUT?! 

[Nalis]

1 hour ago, Daggers said:

So ruddy, bloody respectful Pt.73

 

 

 

Kelly needs a hobby

[dsr-burnley]

11 minutes ago, Super_horns said:

BBC are doing 8 till 6:50 then Paddingrton is on.

 

I don't understand why hospitals are shut... 

 

Seems someone in the King Charles camp has been handing out some P45s since the passing of the Queen. 

 

Very ruthless. 

 

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/sep/13/king-charles-staff-given-redundancy-notice-during-church-service-for-queen

Well, the staff have been told that some of their jobs will no longer exist and there will be consultations about what happens next.  As you would have been aware if you had read the article, which the headline writer obviously didn't.  No redundancy notices have been issued, no P45s have been issued, all they have been told is that the jobs of people working for Charles, Prince of Wales at Clarence House will not necessarily exists now that Charles, Prince of Wales no longer exists in that form, and Clarence House is being closed.

 

I wonder why a church service over 500 miles away was considered relevant to the article?

[Daggers]

44 minutes ago, Jon the Hat said:

Jesus Christ some people are ****ing strange. 

I would like to take this opportunity to apologise.

 

In my defence, some are born strange, some achieve strangeness, and some have strangeness thrust upon them. All three in my case.

[Jattdogg]

1 hour ago, Daggers said:

So ruddy, bloody respectful Pt.73

 

 

 

A bit disgraceful IMO. Bunch of weirdos.

[Izzy]

[urban.spaceman]

3 hours ago, RumbleFox said:

There’s quirky and then there’s closing foodbanks, arresting people for saying things, forcing the country to shut down, flaunting the most expensive state funeral in our history whilst people are literally dying due to the cost of living crisis, etc. And we’re lapping it up. We’re definitely a few miles past quirky at this point. X

 

[Nalis]

It's funny how death can bring people closer together, like William and Harry.

 

My mum's siblings have definitely been closer in the years after my nan died.