I posted this on Twitter this morning:
I understand grief.
I get the need to mourn.
But do we need to be infantilised by continual television coverage of nothing much happening as we wait for the funeral?
The whole absurdity that anyone who has lived through such a period in their own lives knows is that normal life has to carry on whilst suffering all the emotions around the death of a loved one. That is one of the many paradoxes that living requires we embrace.
Ciuldn't we see that reflected in the media for a few days now?
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The wall to wall television coverage has been a little excessive. But I suppose this sort of thing doesn’t happen every year.
I wondered whether the sea of flowers was a new thing, but found this Pathé report of a three mile queue to see the floral tributes at Windsor in 1952.
https://www.britishpathe.com/video/VLVAEUSR80S8OOOIRVE8IMDVV5Q6B-THOUSANDS-SEE-FLORAL-TRIBUTES-TO-LATE-KING-MANY-THOUSANDS-FORM/
Earlier, there are regular commemorations with massed floral tributes, not least Armistice Day and Primrose Day.
Further back into the 19th century, I doubt there were enough people with the spare cash to send enough flowers to create the same demonstrative effect.
I understand the human need to demonstrate grief in a tangible form. But it seems a missed opportunity that “no flowers, toys, sandwiches, balloons, or other tat, please; donations to the Queen’s Memorial Fund” was not the message. The George V Memorial Playing Fields have provided joy to millions for over a century.
I made a comment on Twitter that it was a shame that the opportunity to say ‘no flowers please and donations to a charity instead’ had not been taken
That got more than 40,000 likes
“I understand grief.
I get the need to mourn.”
Obviously though you don’t understand the need of people to show respect to our former Queen. Typically, when you don’t understand something, you think it’s wrong.
They are anticipating queues of up to 10 miles of mourners. You’ll be lucky to get a queue of 10 yards of mourners when you pass away. The Queen will be remembered for decades to come for her service to the UK and Commonwealth. You’ll be forgotten within days by the few who even know who you are.
It’s 3 miles, actually
And as for the rest, when did you have the charm bypass?
What a most unpleasant response to a perfectly reasonable post with which I suspect many of the late Queen’s subjects (monarchists or not) would agree. Nothing Richard has said here or elsewhere has shown any lack of respect for the person or for those who feel the need to queue up to walk past her coffin.
I have yet to see any details or explanation of the Queen’s “service to the UK and Commonwealth”. If turning up to, and therefore endorsing, all the ceremonies which serve to cement the power of the aristocracy and the institutions which are dependent on the same is “service” then no wonder that there is a significant and growing republican movement. Especially amongst the younger people of the country.
If indeed being present at these antiquated pageants is “service” then she is demonstrating, even in death, her dedication to the same cause. It obviously works.
As for the queue, the words of the Bard, Robbie Burns seem very appropriate:
“O, wad some Power the giftie gie us
To see oursels as others see us!
It wad frae monie a blunder free us,
An’ foolish notion.”
Living in the Tory voting South-East I expected to be inundated by local signs and symbols of mourning. Instead, I have seen nothing.
On a scale of 1 – 10 and by comparison with the 8 out of 10 scored by the local hysteria of the Culture wars inspired Modern Poppy Crusade, I would rate it a 2, and only that high because I have probably missed something.
The contrast with the UK media and official response is remarkable.
I should add that I do travel around and get out quite a bit.
Also, I was in Wales on the night of the Queen’s death, where we had days before booked a table for dinner.
I expected the restaurant might close for the night, or at some point we might to be asked to observe a minute’s silence, or possibly be asked to contribute to a collection, at the very least I expected overheard conversations to be dominated by the Topic.
In the event none of those things happened, life carried on as normal,
Same
So far (and I go out a fair amount) no one is talking about it
Before a concert in Leeds last night we were told the national anthem would be played followed by a minute’s silence for quiet reflection. As the anthem started some people stood up. I’d have said fewer than half the 250 present did so. The silence was profound
I repeat a point I made in a previous email published o this site. Just look at the faces of the folk who are queuing up 24 hours in a line 2+ miles long. Overwhelmingly, the ethnic mix is white. Perhaps 2/3 are women. There is a higher proportion of over 50s than make up the general population of the UK. And we may note that polls suggest that a higher proportion of the under 30s in the u=UK is in favour of a republic than the oldies. And of course, Scotland, Northern Ireland, and perhaps Wales, are less enamoured of the “United” Kingdom than the South English, which is at the epicentre of the mournquake that is currently devastating the landscape of democratic ilife. My suspicion is that a high proportion of this island’s population is either indifferent to the acreage of newsprint – even in the Guardian – given over in the papers tedious reminiscences about sto reporting queues and ceremonies and slow marching fancy uniformed parades and all the other tiresom paraphenalia, or is becoming increasingly hostile. And there will be many, wisely keeping the head below the parapet, who resent the closure of Cenytre /Parcs holiday camps, and muffled beeps at supermarket checkouts, and cancellation of so many normal on TV and Radio in favour of programmes on TV and radio in favour of endless tedious reminiscences about some contact with royalty made in 1972, or the Royal Yacht, or Balmoral, or Sandringham. I do not imagine that there will be any significant change in the constitution yet, but the imposition of compulsory gloom on to the nation will slowly creating such a reservoir of resentment that the dam holding it back will eventually burst at some time within the next couple of decades.
Looks like the mix of the UK population then. Visibly ethnic minorities (and I’m married to one such lovely person) make up about 6% of the population unlike TV advertising would have us believe.
Marcus
There was an excellent interview with Dan Snow on C4 news last night (14/9), in which he made two important points. On the tradition of Royal funerals he said that most of what we’ve seen is relatively recent, going back only as far as Queen Victoria. His second point was that ‘everything happens for a reason’ In Queen Vics time the reason was presumably to exalt the power of the Empire. Today it’s probably to bolster the institution of the monarchy which is in many respects on a shuggly peg (Andrew, Harry & Megan, cash in sacks for Charles’ charities etc.). So while the pomp and circumstance of the ceremonial are key, so too are the seas of flowers and length of queues which all offer a subliminal message of how revered the Queen was and by extension the royal family as an institution.
The degree of coverage is absurd, isn’t it? But great cover for a far right government and party dismantling democratic rights in the UK, sacking civil servants such as Tom Scholar at the Treasury so they can surround themselves with yes men and politicise the CS, and blatantly ignoring net zero by licenscing fracking, granting drilling rights for fossil fuel companies in the N Sea.
Oh yes, and getting rid of the cap on banker bonuses so we can have another financial crash.
I’d love to know where all these people in the north east get their money from to go to London for the funeral. They are putting on lots of special trains, and tickets cost over £100 single. They are interviewing people all the time on Radio Newcastle.
Wall to wall coverage entirely predictable, but in danger of overkill – even my royalty obsessed partner says she is ‘Queened out’.
But fascinating insights (however much intended to cow us) these rituals provide into the system we have – all the feudal Earl Marshals, heirarchy upon heirarchy of Lord Lieutenants etc etc.
As many of the military have emphasised – their oath is to her majesty. As they loaded the coffin into the huge C17 windowless Globemaster at Edinburgh airport with ‘Royal Air Force’ on its side- seemed to be saying ‘this will never change, this power can never be challenged’.
Amazing helicopter shots over a dark and rainy west London with thousands of cars at a standstill flashing their lights and the A40 lined with standing people the whole way (while Huw Edwards ignored the pictures as he was wittering away with some studio guest about her love of animals). You have to wonder why that happened – and again what kind of society we are.
The semi funeral march out of Buck House, with choreography of the muffled drums, bell tolls and guns had this non-monarchist welling up – as in an opera , not for the monarchy but may be for all us.
Of course that again is intended to harness our deepest emotions to the system – but may carry the seeds of its own destruction. Maybe too many red tunics – too much echoing of empire – and not working its magic on Commonwealth countries any more, but doing the opposite.
Our heavily self-policed media works by pretending detachment and objectivity and subtlety ( casually calling the EU a ‘bloc’). This week’s overt fawning and the months of Ukraine unquestioning MoD/Pentagon-type briefings may provoke rather too many questions – as in the response to Richard’s tweet.
No doubt you’ve seen Aditya Chakrabortty’s piece in The Guardian, which picks up on this and very much continues on a theme you’ve been blogging on these past few days, Richard. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/sep/15/king-charles-billionaire-inheritance-tax-heating-eating
As he notes, the media have been appalling, but MP’s even worse, as everything else happening in this country – and indeed the rest of the world – has become an insignificance in this festival of mourning and royalty worship. And we have to endure this until Tuesday! Still one person – well, more than one, actually the whole government – our new PM surely cannot believe her luck: no real scrutiny of her energy cap policy despite the fact it’s full of holes; and several more days to sneak out various policies that would otherwise attract criticism – such as lifting the cap on bankers’ bonuses.
Add what the government are doing to what Chakrabortty says in his piece and there can be no doubt (if ever there was one) that we live in a country where the state and our government are entirely skewed to making the rich, richer, and poor, poorer. In short, institutional and structural inequality and the continuing furtherance of the Tory project to turn the UK into a neo-feudal state.
I agree with you and Aditya, Ivan
Time to keep kicking up a stink
I’ve no tv, hadn’t even been turning on the radio since the tory succession game began, so i’m lucky enough to have ‘escaped’ what is largely a media obsession – which applies to that *and* the royal changeover. There’s a lot of pageantry undoubtedly going on and doubtless a lot of people who want to see that. What the media is doing with its relentless coverage isn’t for ‘us’ so much as it us for watchers/listeners/readers around the world, many of those countries observing ‘how Britain does it’. Anyone thinking of the tourism uptick for the Coronation of Charles III? Or the Investiture of the new Prince of Wales?
While understandable in the days immediately following the death of the Queen, the ongoing and unquestioning obsequiouness of the BBC – including on BBC World (all I can see here) – is more & more nauseating. It looks more & more like deliberate propaganda for the monarchy, while conveniently providing cover for the ever more disturbing plans being hatched by the new ‘government’ in the absence of any parliamentary debate at a time of a major cost of living crisis. Can this really be by chance? It is cetainly anything but objective reporting. Does the direction of the BBC really believe all this or are they just too afraid of the possible consequences of presenting any dissenting views?
I wonder how we can square the grief at the loss of the Queen and the ascendance of the Charles with the grief over the loss of Diana and her experiences of her husband and mother in law?
Fortunately I arrived in Antigua the day the Queen died so have not been party to the horrendous silliness that currently appears to be being played out in England in particular.
I have read some of the media reports but after a day I was so embarrassed to be British that I have avoided them like the plague.
What I cannot come to terms with is that at a time of a pending national emergency the government, both Labour and Tories, have abandoned their responsibilities in order to wallow in the past glories of Empire.
Speaking with the locals here such “head in the sand” attitudes by the politicians is stoking the seeds of discontent even further as the excesses in the mourning spectacle is seen as disregard for important matters at the expense of the poor, a very strongly prevalent attitude in the Caribbean.
The loss of a monarch is fraught with risk – that there will be gap in perceived power, a lessening of strength, a vacuum waiting to be filled with dissenting voices, a breaking of the spell it holds over us.
So, the mourning that we are having to go through and all this rampant pageantry is more of a reminder, a restatement of power, a warning for us to watch our p’s and q’s and know our place rather than an extended funeral.
It is just raw display of power masquerading as grief.
That’s why they have visited N. Ireland, Scotland, etc., to remind us who is in charge.
They are in charge.
And the media – who want to retain their licenses and be left alone to ply their lies and abuses to sell newspapers and advertising – know this too.
That’s what I feel anyway.
The irony is you never shut up about it both on here and more so on twitter.. i think you get on every bandwagon to get attention. It’s like you want to be the centre of the debate on anything that’s hot. Why do you crave attention so much?
Why did you come here to grab my attention?
Try answering that. It might require some honesty on your part
In contrast, I am entirely transparent
“It is just raw display of power masquerading as grief.”
Well put, sums up the whole charade.
And RIchard “Time to keep kicking up a stink”
You’re doing a great job, but I can’t help feeling we need a more concerted action. Who will speak for us?
David Byrne says
Be aware that your tv and radio have a magic ‘off’ button, and we are not forced to buy or read newspapers.
Those who wish to indulge are at liberty so to do.
I have been scarifying my back garden, indulging in conversation and reading and I feel quite relaxed.
My recommended and topical read is The Production of Money:How to Break the Power of Bankers by Ann Pettifor, a giveaway from Verso books.
Richard, I hope that you approve.
I have never yet noticed that Ann has understood money
Sorry, but I find her a deeply confused thinker
I am far from alone
What is the chance that Truss calls a snap election just after all this royal partying to cash in on the monarchist right winyfervour?!
She is 10% behind in polls
The King is Dead (referring to Roger Federer’s retirement)
Todays’ headline in L’Equipe.
It’s at times like this we have to keep a sense of humour.