Her Majesty will be reading out the Government’s programme for the next 12 months with no real expectation on the part of her ministers that any of the proferred legislation will be enacted.
When the Queen says today that “my Government will” introduce this statute or amend that law, everyone will know the chances of it doing so are vanishingly small.
Amid all the defections and suspensions of Conservative MPs, Boris Johnson is at least 40 votes short of a majority and could well lose the main division on the Queen’s Speech, the first prime minister to do so in almost 100 years.
But the reality behind today’s announcements is that, until there is a general election, a new Parliament and a conclusion to Brexit, the current political paralysis will continue!
One of the min drivers for people wishing to come here is the widespread use of the English language. Whether it be a left over from our colonial past or something people have heard on the radio or the spread of the internet or the complexity of such languages as Swedish....the UK appeals.
Either that or we a soft touch and they come here to take our jobs and move up the council house list.
I love our country too and am grateful for all it has given me. That doesn't blind me to the fact that many other countries do just as well as we do in areas we were once expert at, we bury our heads about the advancement of many other countries, our weather is very variable and we seem to be trying to destroy our economy at the moment. In the process of doing that we have also managed to bring down the esteem in which we have been previously held by many countries for our honesty and honour.
It's a bit like loving your child. That should not blind you to its bad behaviour or the fact that there are many other children loved by their parents some of whom will not think that highly of yours especially when it shows a tendency to entitlement or to being overweening. To do the best for your child you have to really know their failings as well as their achievements, their good characteristics as well as their less good and even bad ones. To do the best for your country you need your eyes open and your brain working in the same way.
Why do so many Remainers love to talk down this country? Yes it’s not perfect (nowhere is) but it is bluddy wonderful (mostly). Why do so many people bust a gut then to get here when they could stay in France etc?
Over to the corner with you lady - you can sit next to the grumpy actor Emma Thompson - she who described the U.K. as “a cake-filled, misery-laden grey old island” ❗️
At least the ceremonies of our great country can be relied on which is more than can be said for the "clowns" in the Palace of Westminster........on second thoughts that is insulting to clowns!!!
If by retire, you mean an announcement such as when the D of E finished carrying out public duties, no. She will wind down until she does nothing, but it will never be announced as retirement.
That’s what I think anyhow, but of course in reality none of us know.
simon maginn @simonmaginn · 13h The Queen's Speech is reported to have cost £220,000. An extremely rich old woman in a diamond tiara sat on a sort of golden throne in an ornate hall and read nonsense from a vellum manuscript. Because, apparently, no-one could think of a better use for £220,000.
I'm not overly bothered about the monarchy and I just caught a snippet of her voice. It sounded weak. She is a very old person who has served her country admirably.