Brexit, for once some facts.

oldgroaner

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You make the mistake of connecting true quality of life to wealth, the most miserable people I've met in my life have been the most wealthy.

The life of our King or Queen is certainly not a hard one, but it's without doubt their duties and meeting large numbers of people they wouldn't choose to meet and who are usually acting awkwardly and unnaturally must be both tedious and irritating. Especially when they are expected to always be smiling and welcoming.

And what point is there to wealth when they cannot live the life of their own choice much of the time, or live where they want to most of the time. The Queen was well known to have hated Buckingham Palace and escaped to Sandringham whenever there was a several days gap in duties. The Queen Mother similarly escaped to her favourite Balmoral whenever she could when she was Queen and Charles chose to live far away at Highgrove House.

And Harry showed his true feelings by wanting to get the hell out of all of it and get even further way by leaving the country.
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Let's see now I too had a job in Customer Services with exactly the same requirements , often visiting angry customers after travelling a couple of hundred miles to get there, and then on to the next visit before driving back.
Job Description
"There are no fixed hours, you will make yourself available wherever and wherever required"
Dated before the EU fixed hours directive took effect,.
And now? I'm retired and have a lifelong unpaid 24/7/365 job as a Carer for my wife.
This is in fact Slavery.
"daily realities for these people, which are shared by many of the 700,000 people in the UK who are caring for a loved one with dementia.

You have to laugh don't you?

I have no sympathy with Royal parasites whatsoever.
With any luck the queue to pass my coffin draped with the Bell tartan will be a bit less of a wait for any mug who wants to pass their disrespects.
One of the Stuart Kings kicked the clan out of Scotland, for being Border Reivers, and we got a bad press with the Kirk too
"
In 1525, the Archbishop of Glasgow, Gavin Dunbar, decided to put a stop to this anarchy.

He excommunicated the reivers, and issued a 1,000 word curse, to be delivered from every pulpit in the diocese.

“I curse their head and all the hairs of their head. I curse their face, their brain, their mouth, their nose, their tongue, their teeth, their forehead, their shoulders, their breast, their heart, their stomach, their back, their womb, their arms, their legs, their hands, their feet, and every part of their body, from the top of their head to the soles of their feet, before and behind, within and without.”
Archbishop of Glasgow, Gavin Dunbar – 1525
:cool:
I've been back many times, nobody seems bothered now
 

oldgroaner

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Nov 15, 2015
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A strange déjà vu/premonition - remember when Pope John Paul I was elected then died 33 days later?

I don't think we could take it if CIIIR did that.
Some might say "that might be worth queueing for?"
Not me of course
But I won't do it again.
Reminds me about the Expat Russian who had a habit of going into a major seller of international newspapers in London and used every day to read the front page of Pravda but never buy one.
Eventually the shop assistant stopped him and asked why he did so.
"I'm looking for a funeral notice he replied"
"But they don't print funeral notices on the front page" responded the shop assistant.
Turning as he was about to leave the shop the Russian smiled, and replied "This one will be!"o_O
 

Danidl

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Sep 29, 2016
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Some might say "that might be worth queueing for?"
Not me of course
But I won't do it again.
Reminds me about the Expat Russian who had a habit of going into a major seller of international newspapers in London and used every day to read the front page of Pravda but never buy one.
Eventually the shop assistant stopped him and asked why he did so.
"I'm looking for a funeral notice he replied"
"But they don't print funeral notices on the front page" responded the shop assistant.
Turning as he was about to leave the shop the Russian smiled, and replied "This one will be!"o_O
That is something like the story told of the Irish Playwright Brendan Behan ... who was big in the late 1950 s to 1960s. Rather Left Wing He was flying into Spain and of course was asked at Spanish Customs .. What is the purpose of your visit Senior Behan ..? His response as he drew himself up was an assertive " I have come to attend the funeral of General Franco". The Customs official was both concerned and puzzled .. " But the Generalissimo has not died " ..." Behans response .." I am prepared to wait "
 

oyster

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Nov 7, 2017
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Shouldn’t the funeral be broadcast in black and white?

I remember a school textbook which had an image of Churchill's funeral on its cover - in colour. And it looked so, so wrong. I knew it had been in B&W on the day!
 

guerney

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Sep 7, 2021
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@oldgroaner - was amazed by this lovely Magdalenian painting - it's 17,000 years, four hours, 22 minutes and 6 seconds old (I saw this four hours, 22 minutes and 6 seconds ago)

48899
 

flecc

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Oct 25, 2006
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All afternoon on BBC 1, BBC 2 and ITV there's the Queens funeral as one might expect.

So I wondered what Al Jazeera were showing. Yes, you guessed it, the Queens funeral !!

Rebel Channel 5 had revised scheduled "Dawn of the Dinosaurs", though having not sampled it I suppose that could also be about royalty.

And tonight? No change, the usual suspects are burying the Queen again.
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oyster

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All afternoon on BBC 1, BBC 2 and ITV there's the Queens funeral as one might expect.

So I wondered what Al Jazeera were showing. Yes, you guessed it, the Queens funeral !!

Rebel Channel 5 had revised scheduled "Dawn of the Dinosaurs", though having not sampled it I suppose that could also be about royalty.

And tonight? No change, the usual suspects are burying the Queen again.
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BBC 2 gets back to something approaching its normality today.

The funeral coverage is followed at 17:00 by Flog It! - tactful timing.

But they might decide to put Welby's sermon on repeat all evening:

"Those who serve will be loved & remembered when those who cling to power & privileges are long forgotten"
 
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jonathan.agnew

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Dec 27, 2018
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BBC 2 gets back to something approaching its normality today.

The funeral coverage is followed at 17:00 by Flog It! - tactful timing.

But they might decide to put Welby's sermon on repeat all evening:

"Those who serve will be loved & remembered when those who cling to power & privileges are long forgotten"
irony of that's probably lost on Welby as well. Escaped to bournemouth and, kid you not, even heart and magic about funeral on radio on way down (and coppers every 100m for stretch of m25)
 
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Zlatan

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Nov 26, 2016
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Been at boat club all day. They actually tried to close it but the atheists amongst us ignored the silliness, but did have a minutes silence. We were sat out on water at time, engines off, wallowing and rolling. Even grandkids shut up for the duration.It was surprisingly poignant, more so than closing place.
 

Danidl

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irony of that's probably lost on Welby as well. Escaped to bournemouth and, kid you not, even heart and magic about funeral on radio on way down (and coppers every 100m for stretch of m25)
I thought that Welby's words were very well chosen ..and I suspect he knew exactly what he was saying. He wouldn't have as good an opportunity to speak to so many Heads of Government again.
Regarding the Rest of the service in Westminster,... Whatever gifts that Queen had, an ear for music was not one of them. Unless the idea was to kill the congregation with boredom..in which case it might be inspired.
 

flecc

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Oct 25, 2006
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Whatever gifts that Queen had, an ear for music was not one of them. Unless the idea was to kill the congregation with boredom..in which case it might be inspired.
Perhaps not surprising. Well known for hating Buckingham Palace as she did, her favourite daytime bolthole within easy reach was Addington Palace, very close to where I live. The former home of the Archbishop of Canterbury until the mid 19th century, it was the home of the Royal School of Church Music for much of her reign. More recently a high end wedding centre:

 
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oyster

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I see a USA trade deal is as close as ever.

In 2019: Johnson later said the US would like to do a deal within a year, but while he would “love” to achieve that, “to do it all within a year is going to be tight”.
 

Danidl

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Spoiler alert ...
The census results for NI will be starting release next Thursday.. A key point and no doubt one which will appear on next Sunday Chat shows will be the prospect of a United Ireland based on the comparison of religion. Catholics will outnumber Protestants on paper. This has consequences for Brexit related matters, hence my reason for bringing it up . However the statistics will be erroneous.. the equation that Catholic means Nationalist and Protestant means Unionist is way way out of date. There has been an influx of 20,000 Poles into NI in recent years and while they are Catholic and pro EU, they are not necessarily pro United Ireland.
 
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flecc

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Oct 25, 2006
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There has been an influx of 20,000 Poles into NI in recent years and while they are Catholic and pro EU, they are not necessarily pro United Ireland.
Thanks for the information Danidl, but that Polish influx is only just over 1% of the N.I. population. Even if they were of one mind and it did tip the balance, I think reunification would require a far greater Catholic majority to convince of its validity.
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jonathan.agnew

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Dec 27, 2018
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I see a USA trade deal is as close as ever.

In 2019: Johnson later said the US would like to do a deal within a year, but while he would “love” to achieve that, “to do it all within a year is going to be tight”.
And that the treasury refuses to publish obr's economic forecast as part of the minibudget. For once I completely agree with the government. We evidently have the kind of thick conservative electorate who are happier when they don't know.
 

oyster

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Nov 7, 2017
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And that the treasury refuses to publish obr's economic forecast as part of the minibudget. For once I completely agree with the government. We evidently have the kind of thick conservative electorate who are happier when they don't know.
Will the coronation use the OBR and Sceptical?
 
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