I'm usually one of these people. I'm usually shouting at Royal correspondants on TV saying 'get a life' as they quote every move, it does my head in but this weekend was special and something I'm pretty sure we'll all see only once in our lifetimes!!
But I also have to say the monarchy wasn't as popular 10 years ago and I geuss there were certainly more question marks being raised over whether we should have one. I do think they have been seen in a better light the past 10 years. The Princess Diana saga was certainly a difficult time for them due to her popularity, apparently Tony Blair saved her there.
My own thoughts are that Diana's death ultimately saved the Royal Family. I was sick to death of all the fake outpouring of grief for someone who we didn't know personally. I felt sympathy for the boys but not enough to actually lay flowers. The fake outpouring continues to this day with every public death being mourned with flowers from people who are complete strangers to the deceased. I find it all rather mawkish and creepy! Tony Blair saved the royal family! Don't make me laugh! He used the death of Diana for purely political reasons, the peoples princess and all that bollocks. The man is a charlatan.
Personally not usually bothered by the Royal Family- they're part of our history and nothing will change that. However, I did watch it with some interest mainly because it is a special occasion which isn't going to be seen again in my lifetime. I'm not even going to get into the financial debate because it's near on impossible to quantify it. I have to say most of the music was absolutely woeful though!
Yeah it was a good weekend, and I generally enjoyed most of it. The " British " tag always narks me. The Welsh and Scotish are certainly proud to be Welsh and Scotish, not British. However, in England, we accept the British tag. I always find that a strange one if I'm brutally honest. Nothing against it all, I just know a lot of English people feel similarly. Also, regarding the Royal family. I must be honest and say it brought back a lot of memories of Princess Diana,,, that night in Paris, and how I'm convinced to this day she was had by the royals. I really respected that woman, who despite not being perfect certainly spoke her mind and wasn't afraid of anything. The royal shindig really made me miss Diana.
Whatever your views on the Royals I think we can all agree that it was great to have an extended public holiday. I certainly enjoyed my trip up to Southwold for a long weekend. Now its back to work tomorrow...
Yeah it was lovely to have some time off work! I think the Jubilee is certainly something to celebrate and be proud of as a nation, just the above points entered my head too. That's all! I wonder how much £££ was brought in through tourism? Also, how much was lost due to the bank holidays!? I'd be interested to read an article on this!
IMO Cameron will never be able to do what Blair did(large majorities) as he is entrenched in the Tory Party, so always falls back on his instinct and his Tory routes therefore never completely fighting the middle ground. Blairs father was a Tory and he wasn't a natural labour follower, so hasn't got a chip on his shoulder like many on the left. Plus Blair seemed to have that knack of saying the right thing at the right time, and genarally being able to connect with the nation which I thought Cameron was going to be able to do but it appears not, some of the things he's come out with have really surprised me for someone who is a PR man. I still believe he would be PM today if Brown wouldn't have stuck the knife in as such. but this is a whole new debate..
I'm sure no money will be lost from the bank holidays because I'm sure extra productivity for the rest of this week and for next will make up for it. I think the popularity thing can probably be explained by the fact that in the late 90s and early to mid-2000s things were the best they've ever been. We have now completely hit a brick wall with every newscast packed with relentless doom and gloom and things becoming progressively worse and it makes you appreciate what we have. We badly needed an injection of optimism and a reminder that even now we are blessed to be in a land of plenty, the jubilee weekend kicked off a summer that will probably change people's perceptions and allow us to kick on. On the Blair thing, he left because he felt he'd done his time and, he thought, for the good of the Labour party, not because anyone was sticking a knife in. If the public knew that Clegg would go back on all his promises or that Brown has been proved right and Cameron wrong on the economy then we would still have a Labour government and be in much better shape. Democracy unfortunately though puts choice into the hands of the ignorant.
can't stand labour, Blair or Brown. The way they played politics with our countries finances was disgusting, if that makes me ignorant then so be it.
Well, I agree with most comments about the extraordinary Jubilee long week-end. Much to admire, and remarkeable event managem,ent, great pomp and pageantry things we are actually rather good at. As a vague leftie and not really pro monarchy, I came away with much admiration for the old girl. Prince Charlie's speech of a lifetime..you are having a laugh! The two things that we could have heard & seen more of were: the Young and the Future direction. Virtually no sightings of Young anywhere, the disadvantaged, the luckless generation two steps behind us all that are going to struggle big time. The celebrations were all about looking back over past 60 years, not looking forward. Where will this once great country - that is perhaps at last acknowledging that we are a small nation - find itself in 20...50 years time? Still banging on about glitter, royalty, pomp and ceremony. The real test of any society and nation is how it treats its less well off. We dont and they face an uncertain future.
It's very hard to say how much this will cost the economy. The figure you generally see are those costs on the frontline but it is almost impossible to estimate the bigger picture, how much more people have spent because of it etc and the wider social concequences. It's like saying the country would make more money if people didn't have holidays but that is a simplistic view and doesn't take into account the wider picture, people need holidays to recharge their batteries amongst other things which I'm sure leads to greater productivity than if they didn't. It makes you think after this weekend the government should be doing alot more than they are to get people back into work rather than cutting everything so quickly. As for the Blair thing, he was basically pushed in the end by Brown and his backers, he felt he had no other option in the end, infact he clung on for longer because he wasn't confident in Browns abilities to lead the Labour Party.
We are hamstrung by the Lib Dems who will put a block on any serious reforms that the Tories want to make. Everyone bleats about the "Savage Cuts" but they haven't all taken effect yet! The doctors going out on strike to try and protect their gold plated pensions are a ****ing disgrace! When was the last time you managed to get an appointment with your local GP? The truth is that we are in the **** and some deeper surgery is needed in slashing public spending and reducing regulation/red tape at the same time easing the tax burden. We need smaller government not bigger and I only wish that the Tories had a strong conviction leader like Thatcher in the hot seat. As far as the "Savage Cuts" are concerned once all the planned cuts take effect we are only going back to the total spending of 07/08! If Labour was in power (god help us) they would be cutting public spending as well.
Can't tell who you vote for And quite right Labour should have been cutting aswell, they're are need. The Americans seem to be striking the right balance.
Fantastic weekend. I wonder (or rather hope) if there will be similar celebrations when she becomes our longest reigning monarch. And I personally can't see any reasons not to have a monarchy, the republican movement in this country has always been very small as far as I know.
Well, I agree with most comments about the extraordinary Jubilee long week-end. Much to admire, and remarkeable event managem,ent, great pomp and pageantry things we are actually rather good at. As a vague leftie and not really pro monarchy, I came away with much admiration for the old girl. Prince Charlie's speech of a lifetime..you are having a laugh! The two things that we could have heard & seen more of were: the Young and the Future direction. Virtually no sightings of Young anywhere, the disadvantaged, the luckless generation two steps behind us all that are going to struggle big time. The celebrations were all about looking back over past 60 years, not looking forward. Where will this once great country - that is perhaps at last acknowledging that we are a small nation - find itself in 20...50 years time? Still banging on about glitter, royalty, pomp and ceremony? The real test of any society and nation is how it treats its more vulnerable & less well off. We don't and they face an uncertain future.
