Most of England seems to be draped in a collective Union Jack flag this week.
Yep, it’s the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. She has now been on the throne for sixty years… and we have been asked to celebrate.
Celebrate what?
I must admit I’m not a fan of the monarchy (I wish I was French so we could be rid of it), so I have spent most of the bank holiday trying to avoid it… and failing.
Almost wherever I look, shops, offices, homes, and even whole streets were draped in the Union Jack. Ordinary people who spend most of their time worrying about whether they either have a job or lose their benefit seem to have gone completely bonkers over the occasion, holding street parties, overeating and getting drunk.
Forget about the fact that unemployment is rising, the economy’s going downhill, public spending is being cut, civil unrest continues to break out, and the level of real public discontent is growing.
It is a sad state of affairs when other worthy institutions from the BBC to the Houses of Parliament have fallen into disrepute. We can no longer trust them, but are expected to show deference to a monarch which is a symptom of what it is like to be British today.