Did the man on the telly really say that the Royal flotilla was a marvellous example of democracy?A happening like that in any other country this would be described as a pitiful cult of personality.
This place becomes more like North Korea every day www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-18468118
comment? Royalists need not apply!
;)
Last edited by: pmh on Sat 16 Jun 12 at 06:18
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I thought it was a good effort by Charles when he got 18 hole-in-ones at St Andrews the other day.
Particularly as he's not long completed that non-stop swim across the Atlantic.
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i'm surprised that all those crowds looking on could stand for so long, with them just eating mangy dogs and mouldy potatoes and all.
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AND..........Charles Dunstone, founder and chairman of the Carphone Warehouse Group, has been knighted in the Queen's birthday honours list.
Carphone Warehouse, launched by Sir Charles in 1989, is Europe's biggest independent mobile phone retailer.
Somebody please tell me I am dreaming. Lord help us...........
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Having mellowed a bit over this Royal stuff and listening to Ian Hislopp the other night I can see why the river event would appeal to some people. Not for me though but each to his own. Knowing what I know now and if I had Lud's money I'd have scuttled off somewhere for that weekend. My old Business Manager suggested putting me up for gong one year. I had something to say about that when I found out. Maybe he was just lighting the blue touch paper !
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Gary Barlow been given an award for organising that concert?
I would've thought the tower more appropriate.
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Concert - did anybody else find the 'scripted' presenters efforts absolutely painful? People who generally are amusing were obviously afraid of the Tower.
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I only saw highlights of the concert, but thought it was quite good.
Stevie Wonder, Elton John and Macca did as well as could be expected.
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Macca was out of tune ! I didn't see SW but saw EJ's rendering of Candle in the Wind which might not have been the best choice of song for this event.
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...Macca was out of tune !...
I thought he was just being Macca, not sure being 'in tune' is crucial for a live performance from him.
On the highlights they only showed EJ doing Crocodile Rock, which he did well enough.
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Never saw that (busy doing something else at the time) but he's on my bucket list to see a live performance !
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Stevie Wonder was the pick for me.
He seemed genuinely made up to be there, which a lot of Americans would have been.
He did Isn't She Lovely? with words altered to refer to the Queen.
Could have been corny, but it wasn't.
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I thought it was good too Iffy, and even if you didn't like all the acts (and I'm still not sure why Grace Jones was there, never mind her hula-hoop) it would be hard to argue that it wasn't well organised. Madness on the roof playing 'Our House' while pictures of terraced houses were projected onto Buck Palace was not something you see every day.
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Madness on the roof
>> playing 'Our House' while pictures of terraced houses were projected onto Buck Palace was not
>> something you see every day.
>>
Nor would want to!
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If this was North Korea, there would be a lot less rudeness about the head of state. None in fact.
Blair would quite possibly have been president now were there no monarchy. The Queen has done a far better job of personifying the state than any succession of political has-beens could have, and so will her successor when his turn comes.
Just imagine being French (if you can) and contemplate Sarko as le President.
I can't be doing with all the schmaltz, but that's less to do with the royal family than the generality of emotional incontinence a large part of the population now suffers from.
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Just imagine being French (if you can)
Hee hee. Just reading a brilliant book about Anglo French relations since 1066 - you couldn' make most of it up...!
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>> Just imagine being French (if you can)
:-D
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The best bits of the concert were Grace Jones and her hoola hoop (imagine what she would have been like in her prime ... ) and Madness signing 'One's House' on the roof of the Palace.
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Two of my former editors got the MBE for services to the community. And they deserved it.
Mind you, so did I and didn't.
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>> Grace Jones and her hoola hoop (imagine what she would have been like in her prime ... ) and Madness
Madness were all right but sounded a bit tired. I too thought Stevie Wonder was best of the lot, singing two perfectly-chosen pieces, one composed for the occasion, without sounding mawkish. Perhaps it's easier for Americans who don't feel obliged to display irony on these occasions. But I was quite pleasantly surprised by Robbie Williams's Mack the Knife, Tom Jones's Mama told me not to come (but not the ghastly Delilah) and Elton John's carpkicking piano playing.
I have a particular loathing of James Bond movies, but even if I hadn't I would have been turned off by Paul McCartney's choice of the dire, meaningless, pompous and portentous Live and let Die, a poor choice for several reasons. Those who know him say McCartney is a nice chap but his public image has always got up my nose, dumb but smug. Shirley Bassey who can do quite a decent pub shout also let herself down with Diamonds are Forever.
A very savage drubbing for the BBC from Craig Brown and others in the current Private Eye, richly deserved in my opinion.
Last edited by: Armel Coussine on Sat 16 Jun 12 at 15:12
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North Korea? - Iffy
