So the Queen of Britain died on Thursday 8th September, in the late afternoon, you could hardly miss this from the media reaction....
BBC 1...
All the way to Channel 5...
OK so I guess this was always going to happen - a blanket wash of 'no news' coverage featuring images of the crowds and painfully vacuous royal correspondents commentating on Elizabeth's tireless use of
No surprise on the Discourse...
Of course this wasn't a shock, we all knew she was in fading health at 96 years of age, and most of the very repetitive commentary focused on her...
- sense of duty
- humility
- tireless sense of service
- her constant and reassuring presence for 70 years.
Etc....
With images of her mainly from the last few years at various State events, and some images of her 1950s coronation.
Obviously these stock news items have been waiting in the wings for years, ready for release whenever this happened.
Top ridiculous comment...
Just after her death when I think a bit of ad-lib was going on one BBC commentator mentioned that her death would add to 'the sense of flux' we're facing in the UK with a new government literally just a few days ago, the cost of living crisis and the war in Ukraine...
Hmmm, not sure this is really in the same league, matey!
It's sad but no big deal for me
I'm not a royalist, I don't do idol worship, I never knew The Queen personally - so while I recognise that the death of an individual is something sad, for me personally this has very little emotional consequence.
I'll need to keep my head down and the media off for a few weeks
I am aware that there are several people, mostly with lower levels of or no education, who will be making a big deal out of the death of a monarch.
I just need to to NOT see any of this and keep myself to myself, it'll just wind me up.
Give it a month and it'll be a great time rant up the Republican campaign....
I'm not a royalist, but NOW really isn't the time to be down on the monarchy, people won't be in a listening mood.
Let them have their month or so to mourn this very popular monarch.
Then, once memories start to fade and King Charles and his 'fake queen' are on the throne who are nowhere near as popular as Elizabeth, then it's time to push on with any kind of campaign to reduce funding for the monarchy and push towards republicanism.
I mean, this is ascribed-status and centuries of wealth built on colonialism - the institution needs burying asap and now that time is almost ripe!
But for now I don't mind a bit of reflection...
I mean fair play, Elizabeth did work hard for her entire life and she seems to have been a reasonable human being as an individual, and she did mean a lot to a lot of people, so I don't mind a bit of national reflection and mourning for a while!