Quote ="sally cinnamon"Now that's what I like to see - the unemployed working as slaves for Her Majesty: www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/jun/0 ... unemployed God Save The Queen!'"

Quote ="sally cinnamon"Now that's what I like to see - the unemployed working as slaves for Her Majesty: www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/jun/0 ... unemployed God Save The Queen!'"

She was a real beacon of dignity when she was caught on camera wringing that pheasants neck. Also at the Commonwealth Games, when that poor sick child with all the tubes coming out of her was presented to hm, she nearly passed out and it fell to David Beckham to show true dignity and rescue the situation.

Mr HWS another public sector worker. Unfortunately watching some boats sail up the Thames in the rain and watching aging "pop" stars in a concert has done absolutely zilch for "morale". The threat of redundancy is still there on Wednesday, the pension fiasco and putting in an extra 3% is still there on Wednesday, the 4 year pay freeze is still there on Wednesday and the threat of regional pay is still there on Wednesday. You can flag wave all you want but the countries problems will still be there.

Hubby did look up the word "morale" - saw it will never change in the PS until this government leaves and got himself a job in the private sector starting in a few weeks.

Just for the record, I am (usually) a Royalist, I love the Queen and what she stands for in the Country. I love the pomp and ceremony but I refused to stand for the National Anthem at rugby on Sunday, I didn't watch the pagentry on Sunday and I only watched the concert because my inlaws were here yesterday. Why? Because I cannot stand up and say I am proud to be British when I am reading stories everyday of people losing their homes, their benefits and their dignity. I am not proud to be British right now and I am certainly not going to be two faced about it waving my Union Jack like some proud mad woman when this country is going to the dogs.

so with respect, what's the solution ?

how can Britain be 'Great' again ?

and when was the last time it could have been called 'Great' ?

I thought it was 'Great' in the 60s & 70s until something happened and then society started to disintegrate...what happened ?

We all know that Great Britain is merely a (mis)translation of the French for "big Brittany", don't we?

With respect, I'm not a politician, I'm not an economist and I don't have qualifications in how to run a country so I can't tell you exactly what the solution is. I just know what we are experiencing now is not the solution.

At least me and Gideon have something in common; neither of us have an economics degree or a clue what to do

I managed to avoid the whole shebang by taking myself off to a field in Scotland for a scooter rally for the weekend, rather good planning on my behalf as I suspect I'd have probably (Not for Dally, that is the correct spelling, not 'proberly' as seen earlier) have broken another TV this weekend.

All I got to see of the event was a part of the rather pointless procession of fairly scruffy ships in the rain, which in the pub we were in was being viewed without the volume being turned up giving us a chance to add our own commentary which was surely more entertaining than the real thing.

In fairness, I'm looking forward to the next royal procession, I have my dancing shoes ready now for the xenophobic, sexist sponger.

Just got back from London, having had a great time.
All the places I wanted to go to were pleasantly quiet as so many people were somewhere else getting p155ed on by rain and reign.

Isn't it great that we arrange our constitutional affairs to accommodate foreign tourists?

Ssshhh don't spoil it

We had a special flypast in Hackney this afternoon.

One Lancaster, two spitfires and a hurricane.

the trade unions started holding the country to ransom, we had three day weeks, rubbish piling up in the streets and so on

Not surprising. Hackney's full of queens these days.

Do you mean next year's 60th anniversary of Brenda's coronation?

Titan's moved in, has he?

Umm, no.

Yes its great to have a break from the worries of work, except I have had to work every day of the ' weekend ' to try to make up for somehow managing to run a business, paying wages, rent, rates and everything else that struggles to make enough income over 5 days, 3 is just a guaranteed loss of about a grand, maybe she'd like to reimburse me for it?

So you would have your employees work every single day of the year would you? If left to your own devices, you wouldn't give them a weekend off or any annual leave or a single bank holiday off?

Stop whining for the sake of it. If you didn't consider the challenges of running a business before you started it then you have nobody to blame but yourself.

And it was one extra day off btw.

Much as I am not in the habit of cheerleading for Starbug, he has not said that.

And in case you hadn't noticed, these are hardly normal times for businesses – particularly for small businesses.

As it happens, I lost a day's pay (well, two to be precise, but one was factored in as 'normal'). I'm freelance but do almost all my work for clients that, strangely enough, were closed today as well as yesterday. But, one mustn't whine, must one?

Presumably you'd say the same to the paid security staff that were laid off in order for unemployed 'work experience' people to take their places, and treated like dirt?

And since you've returned, are you become less of a flag-waving monarchist when "Liz" kicks the bucket? If so, does that mean you're simply involved in a cult of the personality?

Quote ="Mintball" We had a special flypast in Hackney this afternoon. One Lancaster, two spitfires and a hurricane.'" I used to think of the Hurricane and Spitfire as both deserving equal credit for winning the Battle of Britain. And I know that the Hurricanes shot down large numbers of bombers - that was their job, but until I heard this www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01h666p I hadn't realised just what a dangerous aeroplane the Hurricane was to fly in combat. Apparently immediately behind the control panel was an auxiliary fuel tank containing approx 30 gallons of aviation fuel, unprotected by any armour plating. If enemy bullets hit this tank the pilot could find himself with 30 gallons of blazing fuel in his lap. Very brave men.

Quote ="Mintball" We had a special flypast in Hackney this afternoon. One Lancaster, two spitfires and a hurricane.'" I used to think of the Hurricane and Spitfire as both deserving equal credit for winning the Battle of Britain. And I know that the Hurricanes shot down large numbers of bombers - that was their job, but until I heard this www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01h666p I hadn't realised just what a dangerous aeroplane the Hurricane was to fly in combat. Apparently immediately behind the control panel was an auxiliary fuel tank containing approx 30 gallons of aviation fuel, unprotected by any armour plating. If enemy bullets hit this tank the pilot could find himself with 30 gallons of blazing fuel in his lap. Very brave men.

Yes 19 years ago I did consider the challenges of business, and I dealt with them, and still do, however the Jubilee celebrations could easily have fitted within the normal bank holiday weekend IMO

Very much so.

I was channel-hopping last night and caught some of the concert thingy. Somebody really needs to tell Cliff to give it up - his voice was as embarrassing as one of those tone-deaf people that get publicly laughed at in auditions for TV talent contests.

yeah, I remember it well and lived through it too but France has a strong union base with crippling strikes on a regular basis and that hasn't destroyed the fabric of the country - it seems to make it stronger !

Macca's voice is pretty much shot too.

And Elton John, and Rod Stewart, all of the above are limited to single octaves these days and tend to pick out songs within that limited range that allow them to continue performing, in some cases you see them almost talking their way through songs, however this is an age where the "performance" is valued higher than the technical skill of actually singing and this applies to all vocalists of any age - have a look on any variety or morning news type program and you'll note that when they introduce the latest pop group to promote their new single they will use the words "...they are here to perform their latest single..." which instantly tells you that the artist is going to dance their way through a pre-recorded and studio enhanced version of their song, whilst miming.

For the older "stars", its very sad to see but they are still earning absolute fortunes from fools who still wish to pay with their own money to see them (substantial sums too) - its a "kings new clothes" syndrome.