Royal Wedding - Enough Already!

This has appeared on a souvenir tea towel.

Best place for it, if you ask me, especially when this dysfunctional family is all washed up.

Apparently the Palace authorities have declined to authorise its use

.

I'm sick of hearing about this Royal Wedding. I'm bored, bored, bored.

That we, as a 21st century democracy, should have a Head of State (and extended Royal Family) chosen by accident of birth is, frankly, preposterous!

Their ancestors reached their positions of power by plunder, pillage and patronage. Now half the population goes all gooey-eyed over their present-day descendents.

I'm not saying some of the lesser members of this weird family has not done some good over the years in terms of support for worthy Charities, but they could have done that anyway without enjoying their exalted position achieved by accident.

Already I can hear people bleeting about their value as a tourist attraction; the pomp, the ceremony, the Changing of the Guard, Trooping the Colour, and so on. And "The Queen, God bless her - such a lovely lady, and doesn't she work hard?!" I don't doubt it - but - suppose she wasn't, and didn't?

The sooner we abandon this lunacy the better. I'm sure that if we had an elected Head of State, like other civilized democracies, the Grenadier Guards and all those other guys in red coats and furry hats would still be able to put on just as good a show for the tourists.

The only good thing about this wedding is we get an extra day off. Hooray!

Prince Harry & the Drudge Report

There's been a bit of a heated debate going on as to whether or not Prince Harry should have been sent to the front line in Afghanistan, and in addition to that, given that he was sent, should there have been an agreement with the news media on a complete blackout for the duration?

Personally I don't give a stuff about whether or not he should have been sent, since I am not a Royalist. That being said it was clearly going to be the case that he was going to be (in his own words) a "bullet magnet" and so from the point of view of securing the safety of his entire unit, then secrecy can, I think, be justified. He had to be brought back home for his own safety and for the safety of his unit, after the American website Drudge Report blew his cover. Well, thanks for nothing, Drudge!

Jon Snow of Channel 4 News got all worked up about the press cover-up, suggesting that it detracted from the reliability and reputation of independent news providers. (He said this with foot in mouth, apparently unaware of the fact that Channel 4 News had been in on the agreement!)

The greasy, self-important, voluble and generally ghastly George Galloway ("Respect" MP) expressed the view that this made the BBC part of the war effort.

Newspaper Headline of the Week .. WHEN HARRY MET TALI

Newspaper Cartoon of the Week .. a 1066 newspaper hoarding declaring "KING HAROLD IN BATTLE OF HASTINGS - COVER BLOWN BY FOREIGN TAPESTRY".