dumb

now i am on record for my support of the royal family. i confess that in my youth i was a royalist. i was among the heaving crowds that lined the mall for the silver jubilee and the wedding of charles and diana. then there was a period of being a republican – down with the royal family, up with the republic. these days i am quite at peace with the royals simply because they provide us with so much entertainment and provide employment to so many in the media.
our taxes are not being used just to keep the royals in comfort but to keep numerous journalists and commentators in employment.

last night i was once again walking along the mall, the splendour of a lit up buck house at one end at the other the magnificent admiralty arch, even with nothing special going on there is a feeling of grandeur, of pomp and ceremony.
i wondered what it must be like to live in the royal residences that dot the area, and then i wondered what it must be like to not be able to stroll the mall without the need to be shadowed by security. these thoughts spiralled off into thoughts about having servants do the most menial things for you: such as squeeze your toothpaste, or put your trousers on for you.
and then whoosh all thoughts of the royals had gone.

(as a digression: i had been planning on going to see the grassed over trafalgar square, except i arrived after it had been rolled up. so i popped into the tescos metro near there to get some food for the journey home. it was just after 10pm so there were a few slightly tipsy people in there. behind me were a couple of blokes who were going on about how we should just all walk out with our stuff and not pay tescos, as they may so much money. this was followed by it is a free country so everything should be free. ah it was like listening to the more radical members of the swp. more than likely they were readers of “class war”. in their own way they were just as much out of touch as the royals…)

so there i am on the tube home. i am reading the evening standard (given i am reading the daily mail on a regular basis at the moment i may as well start signing up for the tory party..) and there is a piece about how the bbc are dumbing down because they have fearne cotton interviewing the princes harry and william.

"it is an absolute joke that a dj was allowed to conduct this major interview.
"it is a shame that the corporation did not take an interview with the future king and third in line to the throne as seriously as the americans did. frankly, it is ludicrous that a major interview with the sons of the princess of wales is not conducted by a proper journalist. this is a major news event not a bit of showbiz puff." says a bbc
source.

quite why the americans took the interview seriously is beyond me, unless it is a case of regal envy. quite why anyone thinks that the two princes have much of import to say is also beyond me. perhaps they could tell us the best way to dress in nazi garb? or perhaps they can give us relationship tips.
given that the whole point of the interview is to puff up the forthcoming di memorial concert, it does seem appropriate that it is a dj doing the interview. given that it is going to be aimed at the youth it seems appropriate that the interviewer is a young thing.

obviously someone in the bbc is just a bit bitter that his or her job as a royal reporter has been given to a mere pretty face! what started with moira stuart is now happening to royal correspondents. they are being alerted to fact anyone can do it.

is it any wonder why i love the royals!