Back from pub lunch. Sunny but bloody freezing but had to be done.
Very busy, no-one wearing masks except staff. Prices hiked a fair bit but I don't begrudge that given the torrid time hospitality has had. I reckon they have done 250-300 covers over lunch time (it's a big pub) and if average £25 a head that's approx £7k takings.
Good for them.
Inevitably there will temporarily be a reduction in hospitality capacity, as some businesses will not have survived, or will have to have shrunk in order to do so. Combine that with a population eager to make up for lost time and it's a recipe for too much demand chasing not enough supply - and a large dollop of inflation in the short term.
I don't begrudge them it either - but what if it becomes more than a temporary effect?
Supply will eventually rebound to meet the demand, but not until potential new entrants to the market are sure that Covid (and therefore the shitty masks and all the rest of the rotten paraphernalia that comes with it) is over permanently, at least in its highly disruptive Plague form.
Anyone trying to enter the hospitality business right now must be very brave, very foolish, or have exceptionally deep pockets.
I bet you can get some *really* cheap leases right now.
Quite likely - from that fraction of the commercial landlord business that's prepared, or can afford, to be realistic.
Then again, this may not help very much if social distancing isn't got rid of this Summer. Or if it is, and then gets re-imposed, with about five minutes' notice, in October.
I echo @Richard_Tyndall 's warm words on Shirley Williams. Her, Barbara Castle, Margaret Thatcher, Betty Boothroyd and Shirley Williams are all names I think of from that era (across a variety of parties) as strong and pioneering female politicians.
Agree. What I also find interesting is that it is not difficult to think of Mrs T warmly admiring Shirley Williams but hard to imagine it the other way round, despite Shirley Williams' magnificent qualities. And this to me is a central and crucial difference between the philosophy of the centre right and that of the centre left.
Realtime report from the trenches of north London,
Today felt pivotal in all ways. Like, say, Stalingrad. BUT MORE IMPORTANT
It started off cold, grey and wintry (like almost every day this year), I went to my celebratory pub lunch with a pal in trepidation, and wearing thermals. The pub, in Highgate, had roofed over their beer garden and rigged up patio heaters for all. It was cold.
But the buzz, as soon as you walked in, was obvious. People staring at pints - pints! - in amazement. Waiters and waitresses giggly and excited. The long expected moment, arriving, finally.
Half a dozen fine British oysters, a plate of griddled padron peppers, some good sourdough, a thick Galician fish stew and 1 and a half bottles of Picpoul later, I can report that London is reborn. There is noise everywhere. The sun is properly out. Spring is here. The beer gardens are rocking and someone is playing the bagpipes.
The BBC’s wall-to-wall coverage of Prince Philip’s death has become the most complained-about moment in British television history.
At least 110,994 people have contacted the BBC to express their displeasure at the decision to turn most of the corporation’s TV channels and radio stations over to rolling tributes to the Queen’s husband.
According to an internal BBC complaints log seen by the Guardian, an unprecedented level of viewer feedback was received over the weekend, meaning the coverage appears to have elicited one of the most negative reactions to BBC programmes ever seen.
The BBC declined to comment on the leaked weekend figures and said a formal announcement would be made as planned on Thursday.
Damned if they do, damned if they don't.
Personally, I am not at all interested in the Royal Family, and was mildly annoyed that viewing and listening on the BBC was messed about with to such an extent. But I do understand why the national broadcaster feels the need to do it, and it's not like there isn't a choice of entertainment options. The 111k people should get a life basically.
If they wanted choice, they could always have watched the Philip coverage on ITV. Or turn over to the Philip coverage on Channel Four.
Gone are the days when there were only four channels.
Are you seriously saying that the BBC carpeting every one of its channels and every one of its radio stations was a reasonable response? I couldn't care much for the telly, but BBC music radio is a big part of lots of people's Friday night wind-down.
And no, Classic FM and Heart don't cut it.
Oh get over it. For one night people might listen to adverts, or an online service instead? Big frigging deal.
I echo @Richard_Tyndall 's warm words on Shirley Williams. Her, Barbara Castle, Margaret Thatcher, Betty Boothroyd and Shirley Williams are all names I think of from that era (across a variety of parties) as strong and pioneering female politicians.
Agree. What I also find interesting is that it is not difficult to think of Mrs T warmly admiring Shirley Williams but hard to imagine it the other way round, despite Shirley Williams' magnificent qualities. And this to me is a central and crucial difference between the philosophy of the centre right and that of the centre left.
Really?
This is Shirley Williams writing on Thatcher in 2013:
The BBC’s wall-to-wall coverage of Prince Philip’s death has become the most complained-about moment in British television history.
At least 110,994 people have contacted the BBC to express their displeasure at the decision to turn most of the corporation’s TV channels and radio stations over to rolling tributes to the Queen’s husband.
According to an internal BBC complaints log seen by the Guardian, an unprecedented level of viewer feedback was received over the weekend, meaning the coverage appears to have elicited one of the most negative reactions to BBC programmes ever seen.
The BBC declined to comment on the leaked weekend figures and said a formal announcement would be made as planned on Thursday.
Damned if they do, damned if they don't.
Personally, I am not at all interested in the Royal Family, and was mildly annoyed that viewing and listening on the BBC was messed about with to such an extent. But I do understand why the national broadcaster feels the need to do it, and it's not like there isn't a choice of entertainment options. The 111k people should get a life basically.
If they wanted choice, they could always have watched the Philip coverage on ITV. Or turn over to the Philip coverage on Channel Four.
Gone are the days when there were only four channels.
Are you seriously saying that the BBC carpeting every one of its channels and every one of its radio stations was a reasonable response? I couldn't care much for the telly, but BBC music radio is a big part of lots of people's Friday night wind-down.
And no, Classic FM and Heart don't cut it.
Oh get over it. For one night people might listen to adverts, or an online service instead? Big frigging deal.
It was beyond excessive. Rightly, the object of mass ridicule.
I'm screwed if being condescending, offensive, and focussing on language are seen as being problematic by the judiciary and others.
A litigant-in-person has been hit with a bill of almost £100,000 in costs, after the court slammed him for being "difficult to deal with, condescending" and "offensive".
Sir Henry Royce Memorial, a charitable foundation, brought a claim in the High Court for costs on an indemnity basis against former finance director Mark Hardy. The claim followed a previous trial where Hardy had accused Sir Henry Royce Memorial and its directors of fraud and false accounting.
Hardy's accusations of wrongdoing by the directors were unproven. And the court ruled that his request for inspection of documents under the Companies Act was invalid, and not made for a proper purpose.
Judge Paul Matthews ruled that Hardy had a "rather condescending manner" and exhibited "unnecessary" behaviour when dealing with the other side, which resulted in "more time and resources" being spent on the "problems of tone and language than in addressing the real issues in the case."
The judge said the matter did not require "such disproportionate efforts" from Hardy, and highlighted his "excessive correspondence", which ran to two lever arch files for the trial bundle. Hardy had also exhibited a 500 page transcript of a particular meeting, which the judge noted was not "more than remotely relevant to the issues in the case".
Hardy had "vigorously" insisted that a remote trial of his claim should be live streamed on the internet because there would be a great public interest with "possibly hundreds of requests to join". However, no more than 14 members of the public requested the link.
The judge said Hardy should not be excused for his behaviour just because he was a litigant-in-person. The problem was that Hardy had "no sense of responsibility to the system" and "no duty of the kind that would be owed by a lawyer to the court," said the judge.
The claimant sought to recover costs estimated at around £163,000 on an indemnity basis. The judge said the size of the costs was "significant" and while they may be justified, "are somewhat larger than I would have expected for what is essentially a short point under the Companies Act."
The judge ordered Hardy to pay 60% of the costs upfront, with the remainder going for detailed assessment.
SFAICS the bloke lost the case; costs follow the event so he was liable for costs anyway. Judges are entitled to form views about how people (LIPs and lawyers) have conducted themselves. See for example R vFarooqi for a fascinating judgement in the Court of Appeal arising from this
I echo @Richard_Tyndall 's warm words on Shirley Williams. Her, Barbara Castle, Margaret Thatcher, Betty Boothroyd and Shirley Williams are all names I think of from that era (across a variety of parties) as strong and pioneering female politicians.
I agree the coverage of HRH's passing has been OTT - I think the BBC overshot, because they had Diana in their minds from 1997. Universal announcements on Friday when it happened, were merited, as was special coverage and tributes for 24 hours, but not days of it on every channel for days on end. And not stopping of channel broadcasting, or duplicating it on every channel, still less the corporate virtue-signalling with black banners. I think that'd only be appropriate for the reigning monarch or direct heir.
The risk is the BBC now overcorrect, and undershoot for HMQ - which would cause a national outrage.
It's rare we agree but yes I think you're right.
I did think Andrew calling Philip "the grandfather of the nation" was absurd.
Realtime report from the trenches of north London,
Today felt pivotal in all ways. Like, say, Stalingrad. BUT MORE IMPORTANT
It started off cold, grey and wintry (like almost every day this year), I went to my celebratory pub lunch with a pal in trepidation, and wearing thermals. The pub, in Highgate, had roofed over their beer garden and rigged up patio heaters for all. It was cold.
But the buzz, as soon as you walked in, was obvious. People staring at pints - pints! - in amazement. Waiters and waitresses giggly and excited. The long expected moment, arriving, finally.
Half a dozen fine British oysters, a plate of griddled padron peppers, some good sourdough, a thick Galician fish stew and 1 and a half bottles of Picpoul later, I can report that London is reborn. There is noise everywhere. The sun is properly out. Spring is here. The beer gardens are rocking and someone is playing the bagpipes.
Happy Unlockdownmas, War is Over
Sounds fantastic. I’m away up tomorrow evening. Glad you enjoyed it. The pubs must never be shuttered again.
Realtime report from the trenches of north London,
Today felt pivotal in all ways. Like, say, Stalingrad. BUT MORE IMPORTANT
It started off cold, grey and wintry (like almost every day this year), I went to my celebratory pub lunch with a pal in trepidation, and wearing thermals. The pub, in Highgate, had roofed over their beer garden and rigged up patio heaters for all. It was cold.
But the buzz, as soon as you walked in, was obvious. People staring at pints - pints! - in amazement. Waiters and waitresses giggly and excited. The long expected moment, arriving, finally.
Half a dozen fine British oysters, a plate of griddled padron peppers, some good sourdough, a thick Galician fish stew and 1 and a half bottles of Picpoul later, I can report that London is reborn. There is noise everywhere. The sun is properly out. Spring is here. The beer gardens are rocking and someone is playing the bagpipes.
I echo @Richard_Tyndall 's warm words on Shirley Williams. Her, Barbara Castle, Margaret Thatcher, Betty Boothroyd and Shirley Williams are all names I think of from that era (across a variety of parties) as strong and pioneering female politicians.
I agree the coverage of HRH's passing has been OTT - I think the BBC overshot, because they had Diana in their minds from 1997. Universal announcements on Friday when it happened, were merited, as was special coverage and tributes for 24 hours, but not days of it on every channel for days on end. And not stopping of channel broadcasting, or duplicating it on every channel, still less the corporate virtue-signalling with black banners. I think that'd only be appropriate for the reigning monarch or direct heir.
The risk is the BBC now overcorrect, and undershoot for HMQ - which would cause a national outrage.
It's rare we agree but yes I think you're right.
I did think Andrew calling Philip "the grandfather of the nation" was absurd.
I'd say that's Attenborough or Alan Bennett.
No, no. A friend of mine works at the National Theatre, and has heard the plentiful gossip and seen it backed up.
Realtime report from the trenches of north London,
Today felt pivotal in all ways. Like, say, Stalingrad. BUT MORE IMPORTANT
It started off cold, grey and wintry (like almost every day this year), I went to my celebratory pub lunch with a pal in trepidation, and wearing thermals. The pub, in Highgate, had roofed over their beer garden and rigged up patio heaters for all. It was cold.
But the buzz, as soon as you walked in, was obvious. People staring at pints - pints! - in amazement. Waiters and waitresses giggly and excited. The long expected moment, arriving, finally.
Half a dozen fine British oysters, a plate of griddled padron peppers, some good sourdough, a thick Galician fish stew and 1 and a half bottles of Picpoul later, I can report that London is reborn. There is noise everywhere. The sun is properly out. Spring is here. The beer gardens are rocking and someone is playing the bagpipes.
Realtime report from the trenches of north London,
Today felt pivotal in all ways. Like, say, Stalingrad. BUT MORE IMPORTANT
It started off cold, grey and wintry (like almost every day this year), I went to my celebratory pub lunch with a pal in trepidation, and wearing thermals. The pub, in Highgate, had roofed over their beer garden and rigged up patio heaters for all. It was cold.
But the buzz, as soon as you walked in, was obvious. People staring at pints - pints! - in amazement. Waiters and waitresses giggly and excited. The long expected moment, arriving, finally.
Half a dozen fine British oysters, a plate of griddled padron peppers, some good sourdough, a thick Galician fish stew and 1 and a half bottles of Picpoul later, I can report that London is reborn. There is noise everywhere. The sun is properly out. Spring is here. The beer gardens are rocking and someone is playing the bagpipes.
Happy Unlockdownmas, War is Over
Why not just have a lager?
The story would be much shorter. I think Leon gets paid by the word....
I echo @Richard_Tyndall 's warm words on Shirley Williams. Her, Barbara Castle, Margaret Thatcher, Betty Boothroyd and Shirley Williams are all names I think of from that era (across a variety of parties) as strong and pioneering female politicians.
I agree the coverage of HRH's passing has been OTT - I think the BBC overshot, because they had Diana in their minds from 1997. Universal announcements on Friday when it happened, were merited, as was special coverage and tributes for 24 hours, but not days of it on every channel for days on end. And not stopping of channel broadcasting, or duplicating it on every channel, still less the corporate virtue-signalling with black banners. I think that'd only be appropriate for the reigning monarch or direct heir.
The risk is the BBC now overcorrect, and undershoot for HMQ - which would cause a national outrage.
It's rare we agree but yes I think you're right.
I did think Andrew calling Philip "the grandfather of the nation" was absurd.
I'd say that's Attenborough or Alan Bennett.
Racist or embarrassing grandparents are a staple of comedic stereotyping, Philip seems sound in that respect. 'Favourite Grandfather' might be a different matter.
Realtime report from the trenches of north London,
Today felt pivotal in all ways. Like, say, Stalingrad. BUT MORE IMPORTANT
It started off cold, grey and wintry (like almost every day this year), I went to my celebratory pub lunch with a pal in trepidation, and wearing thermals. The pub, in Highgate, had roofed over their beer garden and rigged up patio heaters for all. It was cold.
But the buzz, as soon as you walked in, was obvious. People staring at pints - pints! - in amazement. Waiters and waitresses giggly and excited. The long expected moment, arriving, finally.
Half a dozen fine British oysters, a plate of griddled padron peppers, some good sourdough, a thick Galician fish stew and 1 and a half bottles of Picpoul later, I can report that London is reborn. There is noise everywhere. The sun is properly out. Spring is here. The beer gardens are rocking and someone is playing the bagpipes.
I echo @Richard_Tyndall 's warm words on Shirley Williams. Her, Barbara Castle, Margaret Thatcher, Betty Boothroyd and Shirley Williams are all names I think of from that era (across a variety of parties) as strong and pioneering female politicians.
I agree the coverage of HRH's passing has been OTT - I think the BBC overshot, because they had Diana in their minds from 1997. Universal announcements on Friday when it happened, were merited, as was special coverage and tributes for 24 hours, but not days of it on every channel for days on end. And not stopping of channel broadcasting, or duplicating it on every channel, still less the corporate virtue-signalling with black banners. I think that'd only be appropriate for the reigning monarch or direct heir.
The risk is the BBC now overcorrect, and undershoot for HMQ - which would cause a national outrage.
It's rare we agree but yes I think you're right.
I did think Andrew calling Philip "the grandfather of the nation" was absurd.
I'd say that's Attenborough or Alan Bennett.
Racist or embarrassing grandparents are a staple of comedic stereotyping, Philip seems sound in that respect. 'Favourite Grandfather' might be a different matter.
Realtime report from the trenches of north London,
Today felt pivotal in all ways. Like, say, Stalingrad. BUT MORE IMPORTANT
It started off cold, grey and wintry (like almost every day this year), I went to my celebratory pub lunch with a pal in trepidation, and wearing thermals. The pub, in Highgate, had roofed over their beer garden and rigged up patio heaters for all. It was cold.
But the buzz, as soon as you walked in, was obvious. People staring at pints - pints! - in amazement. Waiters and waitresses giggly and excited. The long expected moment, arriving, finally.
Half a dozen fine British oysters, a plate of griddled padron peppers, some good sourdough, a thick Galician fish stew and 1 and a half bottles of Picpoul later, I can report that London is reborn. There is noise everywhere. The sun is properly out. Spring is here. The beer gardens are rocking and someone is playing the bagpipes.
Happy Unlockdownmas, War is Over
Sounds like Spoons have overhauled their menu.
Please to hear that you enjoyed it.
I think we're in for a rocking summer, even if it pisses down
There is so much pent-up demand for pleasure, and company, and sex, and laughter
Realtime report from the trenches of north London,
Today felt pivotal in all ways. Like, say, Stalingrad. BUT MORE IMPORTANT
It started off cold, grey and wintry (like almost every day this year), I went to my celebratory pub lunch with a pal in trepidation, and wearing thermals. The pub, in Highgate, had roofed over their beer garden and rigged up patio heaters for all. It was cold.
But the buzz, as soon as you walked in, was obvious. People staring at pints - pints! - in amazement. Waiters and waitresses giggly and excited. The long expected moment, arriving, finally.
Half a dozen fine British oysters, a plate of griddled padron peppers, some good sourdough, a thick Galician fish stew and 1 and a half bottles of Picpoul later, I can report that London is reborn. There is noise everywhere. The sun is properly out. Spring is here. The beer gardens are rocking and someone is playing the bagpipes.
Happy Unlockdownmas, War is Over
Meanwhile, back in the real world....
A small group of men waiting for a haircut at the corner hairdressers. A decent sized queue outside Primark and fish and chips from East Ham High Street for dinner.
The local Spoons still closed.
A group of men outside Jennings the Bookmaker and the FOBTs back in business.
I'll leave the hyperbole to North London - roll on May 17th.
Realtime report from the trenches of north London,
Today felt pivotal in all ways. Like, say, Stalingrad. BUT MORE IMPORTANT
It started off cold, grey and wintry (like almost every day this year), I went to my celebratory pub lunch with a pal in trepidation, and wearing thermals. The pub, in Highgate, had roofed over their beer garden and rigged up patio heaters for all. It was cold.
But the buzz, as soon as you walked in, was obvious. People staring at pints - pints! - in amazement. Waiters and waitresses giggly and excited. The long expected moment, arriving, finally.
Half a dozen fine British oysters, a plate of griddled padron peppers, some good sourdough, a thick Galician fish stew and 1 and a half bottles of Picpoul later, I can report that London is reborn. There is noise everywhere. The sun is properly out. Spring is here. The beer gardens are rocking and someone is playing the bagpipes.
Happy Unlockdownmas, War is Over
Why not just have a lager?
How often does a fucking plague end?
Lager????
A couple then. Or bitter.
Just that your complex, opulent choices seemed at odds with what an English public house is meant to be all about.
The media will have to follow the lead of the public.
Why?
There's a much greater diversity of media now than there has ever been - there will be those who won't (either through conviction or choice) want to "grieve" or "mourn" when the Queen dies. We can argue whether such sentiments are appropriate or reasonable but we can't deny they will exist - are they to be ignored simply because "the majority" thinks otherwise?
I think the new media don't have the impact as media with actual front pages.
The BBC News and Sky News often do segments covering the newspaper front pages, they don't cover the HuffPro or Twitter front pages because they don't exist.
So if the Beeb and Sky don't cover the death of HMQ in the way The Sun or Mail want then it'll be front page news and the BBC will follow suit.
She's the only monarch most of us have ever had in this country, it will be a huge story.
The BBC’s wall-to-wall coverage of Prince Philip’s death has become the most complained-about moment in British television history.
At least 110,994 people have contacted the BBC to express their displeasure at the decision to turn most of the corporation’s TV channels and radio stations over to rolling tributes to the Queen’s husband.
According to an internal BBC complaints log seen by the Guardian, an unprecedented level of viewer feedback was received over the weekend, meaning the coverage appears to have elicited one of the most negative reactions to BBC programmes ever seen.
The BBC declined to comment on the leaked weekend figures and said a formal announcement would be made as planned on Thursday.
Damned if they do, damned if they don't.
Personally, I am not at all interested in the Royal Family, and was mildly annoyed that viewing and listening on the BBC was messed about with to such an extent. But I do understand why the national broadcaster feels the need to do it, and it's not like there isn't a choice of entertainment options. The 111k people should get a life basically.
If they wanted choice, they could always have watched the Philip coverage on ITV. Or turn over to the Philip coverage on Channel Four.
Gone are the days when there were only four channels.
Are you seriously saying that the BBC carpeting every one of its channels and every one of its radio stations was a reasonable response? I couldn't care much for the telly, but BBC music radio is a big part of lots of people's Friday night wind-down.
And no, Classic FM and Heart don't cut it.
Oh get over it. For one night people might listen to adverts, or an online service instead? Big frigging deal.
It was beyond excessive. Rightly, the object of mass ridicule.
No complaint about devoting endless coverage to the incident on one BBC channel. But it seems ridiculous to have the same coverage on all channels. It just seems a bit like enforcing groupthink. Now I was genuinely sad when I heard about his deatb. And I'm quite interested in the fella and his life. For a brief moment, the idea of annoying the sort of people who write rude things about the man on Twitter before he's even cold by having wall to wall hagiographic coverage appeals, in a childish way. But the idea of enforced mourning seems a bit North Korean.
Realtime report from the trenches of north London,
Today felt pivotal in all ways. Like, say, Stalingrad. BUT MORE IMPORTANT
It started off cold, grey and wintry (like almost every day this year), I went to my celebratory pub lunch with a pal in trepidation, and wearing thermals. The pub, in Highgate, had roofed over their beer garden and rigged up patio heaters for all. It was cold.
But the buzz, as soon as you walked in, was obvious. People staring at pints - pints! - in amazement. Waiters and waitresses giggly and excited. The long expected moment, arriving, finally.
Half a dozen fine British oysters, a plate of griddled padron peppers, some good sourdough, a thick Galician fish stew and 1 and a half bottles of Picpoul later, I can report that London is reborn. There is noise everywhere. The sun is properly out. Spring is here. The beer gardens are rocking and someone is playing the bagpipes.
Happy Unlockdownmas, War is Over
Meanwhile, back in the real world....
A small group of men waiting for a haircut at the corner hairdressers. A decent sized queue outside Primark and fish and chips from East Ham High Street for dinner.
The local Spoons still closed.
A group of men outside Jennings the Bookmaker and the FOBTs back in business.
I'll leave the hyperbole to North London - roll on May 17th.
Why don't you just MOVE??!
It wasn't like I lingered only in Highgate
After lunch I walked from Highgate through Archway then Tufnel Park and Kentish Town to Camden. A fair variety of places, rich and poor. Every pub (that has a beer garden, of any kind) was rammed and joyously noisy, all the way down
Right now in my flat I can hear two or three pub beer gardens, singing away. Whoops and cheers. I do not believe North London is unique. It may be slightly younger than normal. Is East Ham known for being miserable?!
I echo @Richard_Tyndall 's warm words on Shirley Williams. Her, Barbara Castle, Margaret Thatcher, Betty Boothroyd and Shirley Williams are all names I think of from that era (across a variety of parties) as strong and pioneering female politicians.
I agree the coverage of HRH's passing has been OTT - I think the BBC overshot, because they had Diana in their minds from 1997. Universal announcements on Friday when it happened, were merited, as was special coverage and tributes for 24 hours, but not days of it on every channel for days on end. And not stopping of channel broadcasting, or duplicating it on every channel, still less the corporate virtue-signalling with black banners. I think that'd only be appropriate for the reigning monarch or direct heir.
The risk is the BBC now overcorrect, and undershoot for HMQ - which would cause a national outrage.
I don't think it is to do with Diana on its own.
It follows on from the coverage of the death of the Queen Mother, the BBC went for the let us not go OTT like Diana but rather than she was a really old woman who had some health issues for the last few years, which got them some grief.
To be honest I'm expecting the public reaction to HMQ to make the reactions of the North Koreans to the death of Kim Il-sung look understated.
The media will have to follow the lead of the public.
Yes, and that will kind of be appropriate. It will have real-world political implications for us and our standing in the world, much as this might pain some to admit.
We'll be grieving for a fantastic women, we'll be grieving for the end of an era - and we'll be grieving for ourselves, and what comes next.
The BBC’s wall-to-wall coverage of Prince Philip’s death has become the most complained-about moment in British television history.
At least 110,994 people have contacted the BBC to express their displeasure at the decision to turn most of the corporation’s TV channels and radio stations over to rolling tributes to the Queen’s husband.
According to an internal BBC complaints log seen by the Guardian, an unprecedented level of viewer feedback was received over the weekend, meaning the coverage appears to have elicited one of the most negative reactions to BBC programmes ever seen.
The BBC declined to comment on the leaked weekend figures and said a formal announcement would be made as planned on Thursday.
Damned if they do, damned if they don't.
Personally, I am not at all interested in the Royal Family, and was mildly annoyed that viewing and listening on the BBC was messed about with to such an extent. But I do understand why the national broadcaster feels the need to do it, and it's not like there isn't a choice of entertainment options. The 111k people should get a life basically.
If they wanted choice, they could always have watched the Philip coverage on ITV. Or turn over to the Philip coverage on Channel Four.
Gone are the days when there were only four channels.
Are you seriously saying that the BBC carpeting every one of its channels and every one of its radio stations was a reasonable response? I couldn't care much for the telly, but BBC music radio is a big part of lots of people's Friday night wind-down.
And no, Classic FM and Heart don't cut it.
Oh get over it. For one night people might listen to adverts, or an online service instead? Big frigging deal.
It was beyond excessive. Rightly, the object of mass ridicule.
No complaint about devoting endless coverage to the incident on one BBC channel. But it seems ridiculous to have the same coverage on all channels. It just seems a bit like enforcing groupthink. Now I was genuinely sad when I heard about his deatb. And I'm quite interested in the fella and his life. For a brief moment, the idea of annoying the sort of people who write rude things about the man on Twitter before he's even cold by having wall to wall hagiographic coverage appeals, in a childish way. But the idea of enforced mourning seems a bit North Korean.
That said, it's an entirely symbolic argument. I almost never watch anything on live TV anyway. On the night in question I watched an old Police Interceptors and a rerun of Taskmaster from five years ago.
Realtime report from the trenches of north London,
Today felt pivotal in all ways. Like, say, Stalingrad. BUT MORE IMPORTANT
It started off cold, grey and wintry (like almost every day this year), I went to my celebratory pub lunch with a pal in trepidation, and wearing thermals. The pub, in Highgate, had roofed over their beer garden and rigged up patio heaters for all. It was cold.
But the buzz, as soon as you walked in, was obvious. People staring at pints - pints! - in amazement. Waiters and waitresses giggly and excited. The long expected moment, arriving, finally.
Half a dozen fine British oysters, a plate of griddled padron peppers, some good sourdough, a thick Galician fish stew and 1 and a half bottles of Picpoul later, I can report that London is reborn. There is noise everywhere. The sun is properly out. Spring is here. The beer gardens are rocking and someone is playing the bagpipes.
Happy Unlockdownmas, War is Over
Why not just have a lager?
How often does a fucking plague end?
Lager????
A couple then. Or bitter.
Just that your complex, opulent choices seemed at odds with what an English public house is meant to be all about.
To me anyway.
I am an Englishman, an English pub is what I choose it to be. Literally
I echo @Richard_Tyndall 's warm words on Shirley Williams. Her, Barbara Castle, Margaret Thatcher, Betty Boothroyd and Shirley Williams are all names I think of from that era (across a variety of parties) as strong and pioneering female politicians.
I agree the coverage of HRH's passing has been OTT - I think the BBC overshot, because they had Diana in their minds from 1997. Universal announcements on Friday when it happened, were merited, as was special coverage and tributes for 24 hours, but not days of it on every channel for days on end. And not stopping of channel broadcasting, or duplicating it on every channel, still less the corporate virtue-signalling with black banners. I think that'd only be appropriate for the reigning monarch or direct heir.
The risk is the BBC now overcorrect, and undershoot for HMQ - which would cause a national outrage.
It's rare we agree but yes I think you're right.
I did think Andrew calling Philip "the grandfather of the nation" was absurd.
I'd say that's Attenborough or Alan Bennett.
Racist or embarrassing grandparents are a staple of comedic stereotyping, Philip seems sound in that respect. 'Favourite Grandfather' might be a different matter.
I get that lots of his comments were meant to depomp but some were for sure a bit crass. For me, the "was it fitted by an Indian?" was the most unpleasantly racist of them.
Realtime report from the trenches of north London,
Today felt pivotal in all ways. Like, say, Stalingrad. BUT MORE IMPORTANT
It started off cold, grey and wintry (like almost every day this year), I went to my celebratory pub lunch with a pal in trepidation, and wearing thermals. The pub, in Highgate, had roofed over their beer garden and rigged up patio heaters for all. It was cold.
But the buzz, as soon as you walked in, was obvious. People staring at pints - pints! - in amazement. Waiters and waitresses giggly and excited. The long expected moment, arriving, finally.
Half a dozen fine British oysters, a plate of griddled padron peppers, some good sourdough, a thick Galician fish stew and 1 and a half bottles of Picpoul later, I can report that London is reborn. There is noise everywhere. The sun is properly out. Spring is here. The beer gardens are rocking and someone is playing the bagpipes.
Happy Unlockdownmas, War is Over
Why not just have a lager?
How often does a fucking plague end?
Lager????
We had the complete antithesis of your cheery self on here last year, a poster called Eadric. He burrowed down into a bolt hole, and has not been seen since. I wonder if he has ventured out to check that the war is indeed over.
After lunch I walked from Highgate through Archway then Tufnel Park and Kentish Town to Camden. A fair variety of places, rich and poor. Every pub (that has a beer garden, of any kind) was rammed and joyously noisy, all the way down
Right now in my flat I can hear two or three pub beer gardens, singing away. Whoops and cheers. I do not believe North London is unique. It may be slightly younger than normal. Is East Ham known for being miserable?!
Why should I move? I like it where I am.
East Ham isn't miserable - we don't seem to have the density of public houses that you "enjoy" in your part of town.
Hint - breaking out North Korean comparisons usually has the opposite effect to that which was intended.
It's a rare situation which might justify it, treat with care.
No hyperbole, the summer of 1997 was a hectic time for me, I was about to leave home for university but I just couldn't understand the outpouring of grief for Diana, Princess of Wales.
It was totally weird for me, the media were pilling on the Queen and the Royals for not showing enough public emotions/comments in the day after, the Queen took a huge battering for it.
All I could think about was the Queen was doing a good job shielding the boys from all this, what happened to the good old fashioned stiff upper British lip?
This was only three years after the death of Kim Il-sung, and I thought we were one major media pile on from this type of frenzy.
Realtime report from the trenches of north London,
Today felt pivotal in all ways. Like, say, Stalingrad. BUT MORE IMPORTANT
It started off cold, grey and wintry (like almost every day this year), I went to my celebratory pub lunch with a pal in trepidation, and wearing thermals. The pub, in Highgate, had roofed over their beer garden and rigged up patio heaters for all. It was cold.
But the buzz, as soon as you walked in, was obvious. People staring at pints - pints! - in amazement. Waiters and waitresses giggly and excited. The long expected moment, arriving, finally.
Half a dozen fine British oysters, a plate of griddled padron peppers, some good sourdough, a thick Galician fish stew and 1 and a half bottles of Picpoul later, I can report that London is reborn. There is noise everywhere. The sun is properly out. Spring is here. The beer gardens are rocking and someone is playing the bagpipes.
Happy Unlockdownmas, War is Over
Why not just have a lager?
How often does a fucking plague end?
Lager????
A couple then. Or bitter.
Just that your complex, opulent choices seemed at odds with what an English public house is meant to be all about.
To me anyway.
I am an Englishman, an English pub is what I choose it to be. Literally
And for me the best do fine oysters
And of course Natives will be out of season in three weeks.
I echo @Richard_Tyndall 's warm words on Shirley Williams. Her, Barbara Castle, Margaret Thatcher, Betty Boothroyd and Shirley Williams are all names I think of from that era (across a variety of parties) as strong and pioneering female politicians.
I agree the coverage of HRH's passing has been OTT - I think the BBC overshot, because they had Diana in their minds from 1997. Universal announcements on Friday when it happened, were merited, as was special coverage and tributes for 24 hours, but not days of it on every channel for days on end. And not stopping of channel broadcasting, or duplicating it on every channel, still less the corporate virtue-signalling with black banners. I think that'd only be appropriate for the reigning monarch or direct heir.
The risk is the BBC now overcorrect, and undershoot for HMQ - which would cause a national outrage.
It's rare we agree but yes I think you're right.
I did think Andrew calling Philip "the grandfather of the nation" was absurd.
I'd say that's Attenborough or Alan Bennett.
Racist or embarrassing grandparents are a staple of comedic stereotyping, Philip seems sound in that respect. 'Favourite Grandfather' might be a different matter.
I get that lots of his comments were meant to depomp but some were for sure a bit crass. For me, the "was it fitted by an Indian?" was the most unpleasantly racist of them.
He made crass remarks, and no doubt crossed the line plenty of times, even at the time of making them sometimes. It's why it has been a cliche about him for a long time.
I do find it a bit weird that positive and negative his making remarks occupies so much attention for people though. I get that that is mostly how we know him, but in a 99 year life assuming even the best or worst interpretation of many of his remarks, is that the sum of the man? I know this is the age of all sins being equal and no possibility of forgiveness/no acceptance of any criticism/delete as appropriate, but it just seems odd to me how comfortable some (not you) are condemning him utterly because he said some racist things on occasion.
Realtime report from the trenches of north London,
Today felt pivotal in all ways. Like, say, Stalingrad. BUT MORE IMPORTANT
It started off cold, grey and wintry (like almost every day this year), I went to my celebratory pub lunch with a pal in trepidation, and wearing thermals. The pub, in Highgate, had roofed over their beer garden and rigged up patio heaters for all. It was cold.
But the buzz, as soon as you walked in, was obvious. People staring at pints - pints! - in amazement. Waiters and waitresses giggly and excited. The long expected moment, arriving, finally.
Half a dozen fine British oysters, a plate of griddled padron peppers, some good sourdough, a thick Galician fish stew and 1 and a half bottles of Picpoul later, I can report that London is reborn. There is noise everywhere. The sun is properly out. Spring is here. The beer gardens are rocking and someone is playing the bagpipes.
Happy Unlockdownmas, War is Over
Meanwhile, back in the real world....
A small group of men waiting for a haircut at the corner hairdressers. A decent sized queue outside Primark and fish and chips from East Ham High Street for dinner.
The local Spoons still closed.
A group of men outside Jennings the Bookmaker and the FOBTs back in business.
I'll leave the hyperbole to North London - roll on May 17th.
Still, it's fucking annoying going to the shops. I went to the jeweler today to get my watch resized.
WAIT there. No, no! Don't come in yet! Please stay THERE, Sir! Use the sanitizer, please! (My hands have been santised five times in the last hour and are falling to pieces) PLEASE use the sanitizer Sir, or you can't come in. Come forward - stay 2m apart please! Wear a mask! Enter HERE. Exit THERE.
After lunch I walked from Highgate through Archway then Tufnel Park and Kentish Town to Camden. A fair variety of places, rich and poor. Every pub (that has a beer garden, of any kind) was rammed and joyously noisy, all the way down
Right now in my flat I can hear two or three pub beer gardens, singing away. Whoops and cheers. I do not believe North London is unique. It may be slightly younger than normal. Is East Ham known for being miserable?!
Why should I move? I like it where I am.
East Ham isn't miserable - we don't seem to have the density of public houses that you "enjoy" in your part of town.
Well, if you like it quiet and depressing, stop moaning about it. Celebrate it. Today was another quiet, melancholy day!
Chacun a son gout
I like the vivacity and hedonism of north London.
It has been sadly missing for months, if not a year, today felt like a bigtime revival. GET IN
I echo @Richard_Tyndall 's warm words on Shirley Williams. Her, Barbara Castle, Margaret Thatcher, Betty Boothroyd and Shirley Williams are all names I think of from that era (across a variety of parties) as strong and pioneering female politicians.
Agree. What I also find interesting is that it is not difficult to think of Mrs T warmly admiring Shirley Williams but hard to imagine it the other way round, despite Shirley Williams' magnificent qualities. And this to me is a central and crucial difference between the philosophy of the centre right and that of the centre left.
Did you not read Shirley William's obituary of Margaret Thatcher?
We had the complete antithesis of your cheery self on here last year, a poster called Eadric. He burrowed down into a bolt hole, and has not been seen since. I wonder if he has ventured out to check that the war is indeed over.
Well, I don't miss @eadric either but at least he wasn't a North London elitist snob.
"British" oysters, "Galician" fish stew and some brew I've never heard of.
Hardly befitting a tribune of the people but they are probably all like that in North London.
Realtime report from the trenches of north London,
Today felt pivotal in all ways. Like, say, Stalingrad. BUT MORE IMPORTANT
It started off cold, grey and wintry (like almost every day this year), I went to my celebratory pub lunch with a pal in trepidation, and wearing thermals. The pub, in Highgate, had roofed over their beer garden and rigged up patio heaters for all. It was cold.
But the buzz, as soon as you walked in, was obvious. People staring at pints - pints! - in amazement. Waiters and waitresses giggly and excited. The long expected moment, arriving, finally.
Half a dozen fine British oysters, a plate of griddled padron peppers, some good sourdough, a thick Galician fish stew and 1 and a half bottles of Picpoul later, I can report that London is reborn. There is noise everywhere. The sun is properly out. Spring is here. The beer gardens are rocking and someone is playing the bagpipes.
Happy Unlockdownmas, War is Over
Why not just have a lager?
How often does a fucking plague end?
Lager????
A couple then. Or bitter.
Just that your complex, opulent choices seemed at odds with what an English public house is meant to be all about.
To me anyway.
I am an Englishman, an English pub is what I choose it to be. Literally
And for me the best do fine oysters
It's a sense of looseness and entitlement I just don't have.
I'm austere. When I visit a pub I drink pints of beer and that's it. Maybe switch to vodka when I can take no more volume but definitely not oysters or fine wines.
I echo @Richard_Tyndall 's warm words on Shirley Williams. Her, Barbara Castle, Margaret Thatcher, Betty Boothroyd and Shirley Williams are all names I think of from that era (across a variety of parties) as strong and pioneering female politicians.
I agree the coverage of HRH's passing has been OTT - I think the BBC overshot, because they had Diana in their minds from 1997. Universal announcements on Friday when it happened, were merited, as was special coverage and tributes for 24 hours, but not days of it on every channel for days on end. And not stopping of channel broadcasting, or duplicating it on every channel, still less the corporate virtue-signalling with black banners. I think that'd only be appropriate for the reigning monarch or direct heir.
The risk is the BBC now overcorrect, and undershoot for HMQ - which would cause a national outrage.
It's rare we agree but yes I think you're right.
I did think Andrew calling Philip "the grandfather of the nation" was absurd.
I'd say that's Attenborough or Alan Bennett.
Racist or embarrassing grandparents are a staple of comedic stereotyping, Philip seems sound in that respect. 'Favourite Grandfather' might be a different matter.
I get that lots of his comments were meant to depomp but some were for sure a bit crass. For me, the "was it fitted by an Indian?" was the most unpleasantly racist of them.
He was thinking of cowboys and Indians and got them mixed up; he meant to say cowboys.
I've seen some achingly right-on Woke takes on Philip today on LinkedIn, for what's worth.
Realtime report from the trenches of north London,
Today felt pivotal in all ways. Like, say, Stalingrad. BUT MORE IMPORTANT
It started off cold, grey and wintry (like almost every day this year), I went to my celebratory pub lunch with a pal in trepidation, and wearing thermals. The pub, in Highgate, had roofed over their beer garden and rigged up patio heaters for all. It was cold.
But the buzz, as soon as you walked in, was obvious. People staring at pints - pints! - in amazement. Waiters and waitresses giggly and excited. The long expected moment, arriving, finally.
Half a dozen fine British oysters, a plate of griddled padron peppers, some good sourdough, a thick Galician fish stew and 1 and a half bottles of Picpoul later, I can report that London is reborn. There is noise everywhere. The sun is properly out. Spring is here. The beer gardens are rocking and someone is playing the bagpipes.
Happy Unlockdownmas, War is Over
Why not just have a lager?
How often does a fucking plague end?
Lager????
A couple then. Or bitter.
Just that your complex, opulent choices seemed at odds with what an English public house is meant to be all about.
To me anyway.
I am an Englishman, an English pub is what I choose it to be. Literally
And for me the best do fine oysters
And of course Natives will be out of season in three weeks.
Yes, we enjoyed the Last of the Natives. Small and sweet
Back from pub lunch. Sunny but bloody freezing but had to be done.
Very busy, no-one wearing masks except staff. Prices hiked a fair bit but I don't begrudge that given the torrid time hospitality has had. I reckon they have done 250-300 covers over lunch time (it's a big pub) and if average £25 a head that's approx £7k takings.
Good for them.
Inevitably there will temporarily be a reduction in hospitality capacity, as some businesses will not have survived, or will have to have shrunk in order to do so. Combine that with a population eager to make up for lost time and it's a recipe for too much demand chasing not enough supply - and a large dollop of inflation in the short term.
I don't begrudge them it either - but what if it becomes more than a temporary effect?
Supply will eventually rebound to meet the demand, but not until potential new entrants to the market are sure that Covid (and therefore the shitty masks and all the rest of the rotten paraphernalia that comes with it) is over permanently, at least in its highly disruptive Plague form.
Anyone trying to enter the hospitality business right now must be very brave, very foolish, or have exceptionally deep pockets.
I bet you can get some *really* cheap leases right now.
Quite likely - from that fraction of the commercial landlord business that's prepared, or can afford, to be realistic.
Then again, this may not help very much if social distancing isn't got rid of this Summer. Or if it is, and then gets re-imposed, with about five minutes' notice, in October.
Hint - breaking out North Korean comparisons usually has the opposite effect to that which was intended.
It's a rare situation which might justify it, treat with care.
No hyperbole, the summer of 1997 was a hectic time for me, I was about to leave home for university but I just couldn't understand the outpouring of grief for Diana, Princess of Wales.
It was totally weird for me, the media were pilling on the Queen and the Royals for not showing enough public emotions/comments in the day after, the Queen took a huge battering for it.
All I could think about was the Queen was doing a good job shielding the boys from all this, what happened to the good old fashioned stiff upper British lip?
This was only three years after the death of Kim Il-sung, and I thought we were a media pile on from this type of frenzy.
I felt really disconnected from most of the country at the time.
I quite enjoyed Diana's funeral. Quietest casualty shift since one in Christchurch NZ when the All Blacks were playing the Wallabies in town.
I am not working this Saturday, but wouldn't expect the same impact. It is the first shopping Saturday of the year, so a fairly small audience I expect.
Hint - breaking out North Korean comparisons usually has the opposite effect to that which was intended.
It's a rare situation which might justify it, treat with care.
No hyperbole, the summer of 1997 was a hectic time for me, I was about to leave home for university but I just couldn't understand the outpouring of grief for Diana, Princess of Wales.
It was totally weird for me, the media were pilling on the Queen and the Royals for not showing enough public emotions/comments in the day after, the Queen took a huge battering for it.
All I could think about was the Queen was doing a good job shielding the boys from all this, what happened to the good old fashioned stiff upper British lip?
This was only three years after the death of Kim Il-sung, and I thought we were a media pile on from this type of frenzy.
I felt really disconnected from most of the country at the time.
I was 11, and to the extent I was aware of it at all it all seemed over the top - I've told my family if I am ever involved in a tragedy I would prefer it if my friends and family said nothing at all to the public if they could, as private grief should be private. For public figures there is an understandable sense of belonging, of others deserving to be involved somehow - the Queen will be a case in point - but criticising their relations for not showing sufficient emotion? That's a big no no.
Then again, I never really got the Diana obsession, I think because of age, so the continued focus has never really connected with me. I remember the programmes for the top 10 in the '100 greatest britons' programme almost 20 years ago now, and however nice she may have been I feel like whoever presented the Diana one probably had their work cut out.
The BBC’s wall-to-wall coverage of Prince Philip’s death has become the most complained-about moment in British television history.
At least 110,994 people have contacted the BBC to express their displeasure at the decision to turn most of the corporation’s TV channels and radio stations over to rolling tributes to the Queen’s husband.
According to an internal BBC complaints log seen by the Guardian, an unprecedented level of viewer feedback was received over the weekend, meaning the coverage appears to have elicited one of the most negative reactions to BBC programmes ever seen.
The BBC declined to comment on the leaked weekend figures and said a formal announcement would be made as planned on Thursday.
Damned if they do, damned if they don't.
Personally, I am not at all interested in the Royal Family, and was mildly annoyed that viewing and listening on the BBC was messed about with to such an extent. But I do understand why the national broadcaster feels the need to do it, and it's not like there isn't a choice of entertainment options. The 111k people should get a life basically.
If they wanted choice, they could always have watched the Philip coverage on ITV. Or turn over to the Philip coverage on Channel Four.
Gone are the days when there were only four channels.
Are you seriously saying that the BBC carpeting every one of its channels and every one of its radio stations was a reasonable response? I couldn't care much for the telly, but BBC music radio is a big part of lots of people's Friday night wind-down.
And no, Classic FM and Heart don't cut it.
Oh get over it. For one night people might listen to adverts, or an online service instead? Big frigging deal.
It was beyond excessive. Rightly, the object of mass ridicule.
You're right the self-entitlement to expect 24/7 music stations without adverts or subscription, paid for by compulsorily charging tens of millions of people who don't listen to them at threat of a Magistrate's Court if they don't pay - and whinging about one night being dedicated to a state broadcast instead - is beyond mass ridicule.
Back from pub lunch. Sunny but bloody freezing but had to be done.
Very busy, no-one wearing masks except staff. Prices hiked a fair bit but I don't begrudge that given the torrid time hospitality has had. I reckon they have done 250-300 covers over lunch time (it's a big pub) and if average £25 a head that's approx £7k takings.
Good for them.
Inevitably there will temporarily be a reduction in hospitality capacity, as some businesses will not have survived, or will have to have shrunk in order to do so. Combine that with a population eager to make up for lost time and it's a recipe for too much demand chasing not enough supply - and a large dollop of inflation in the short term.
I don't begrudge them it either - but what if it becomes more than a temporary effect?
Supply will eventually rebound to meet the demand, but not until potential new entrants to the market are sure that Covid (and therefore the shitty masks and all the rest of the rotten paraphernalia that comes with it) is over permanently, at least in its highly disruptive Plague form.
Anyone trying to enter the hospitality business right now must be very brave, very foolish, or have exceptionally deep pockets.
I bet you can get some *really* cheap leases right now.
Quite likely - from that fraction of the commercial landlord business that's prepared, or can afford, to be realistic.
Then again, this may not help very much if social distancing isn't got rid of this Summer. Or if it is, and then gets re-imposed, with about five minutes' notice, in October.
Israel. Israel. Israel. Israel.
We aren't Israel.
Do you trust the Government and its scientific advisers not to panic at the first sign of a combined Covid and Flu spike this Autumn? I mean, really trust them? 100%?
Back from pub lunch. Sunny but bloody freezing but had to be done.
Very busy, no-one wearing masks except staff. Prices hiked a fair bit but I don't begrudge that given the torrid time hospitality has had. I reckon they have done 250-300 covers over lunch time (it's a big pub) and if average £25 a head that's approx £7k takings.
Good for them.
Inevitably there will temporarily be a reduction in hospitality capacity, as some businesses will not have survived, or will have to have shrunk in order to do so. Combine that with a population eager to make up for lost time and it's a recipe for too much demand chasing not enough supply - and a large dollop of inflation in the short term.
I don't begrudge them it either - but what if it becomes more than a temporary effect?
Supply will eventually rebound to meet the demand, but not until potential new entrants to the market are sure that Covid (and therefore the shitty masks and all the rest of the rotten paraphernalia that comes with it) is over permanently, at least in its highly disruptive Plague form.
Anyone trying to enter the hospitality business right now must be very brave, very foolish, or have exceptionally deep pockets.
I bet you can get some *really* cheap leases right now.
Quite likely - from that fraction of the commercial landlord business that's prepared, or can afford, to be realistic.
Then again, this may not help very much if social distancing isn't got rid of this Summer. Or if it is, and then gets re-imposed, with about five minutes' notice, in October.
Realtime report from the trenches of north London,
Today felt pivotal in all ways. Like, say, Stalingrad. BUT MORE IMPORTANT
It started off cold, grey and wintry (like almost every day this year), I went to my celebratory pub lunch with a pal in trepidation, and wearing thermals. The pub, in Highgate, had roofed over their beer garden and rigged up patio heaters for all. It was cold.
But the buzz, as soon as you walked in, was obvious. People staring at pints - pints! - in amazement. Waiters and waitresses giggly and excited. The long expected moment, arriving, finally.
Half a dozen fine British oysters, a plate of griddled padron peppers, some good sourdough, a thick Galician fish stew and 1 and a half bottles of Picpoul later, I can report that London is reborn. There is noise everywhere. The sun is properly out. Spring is here. The beer gardens are rocking and someone is playing the bagpipes.
The BBC’s wall-to-wall coverage of Prince Philip’s death has become the most complained-about moment in British television history.
At least 110,994 people have contacted the BBC to express their displeasure at the decision to turn most of the corporation’s TV channels and radio stations over to rolling tributes to the Queen’s husband.
According to an internal BBC complaints log seen by the Guardian, an unprecedented level of viewer feedback was received over the weekend, meaning the coverage appears to have elicited one of the most negative reactions to BBC programmes ever seen.
The BBC declined to comment on the leaked weekend figures and said a formal announcement would be made as planned on Thursday.
Damned if they do, damned if they don't.
Personally, I am not at all interested in the Royal Family, and was mildly annoyed that viewing and listening on the BBC was messed about with to such an extent. But I do understand why the national broadcaster feels the need to do it, and it's not like there isn't a choice of entertainment options. The 111k people should get a life basically.
If they wanted choice, they could always have watched the Philip coverage on ITV. Or turn over to the Philip coverage on Channel Four.
Gone are the days when there were only four channels.
Are you seriously saying that the BBC carpeting every one of its channels and every one of its radio stations was a reasonable response? I couldn't care much for the telly, but BBC music radio is a big part of lots of people's Friday night wind-down.
And no, Classic FM and Heart don't cut it.
Oh get over it. For one night people might listen to adverts, or an online service instead? Big frigging deal.
It was beyond excessive. Rightly, the object of mass ridicule.
No complaint about devoting endless coverage to the incident on one BBC channel. But it seems ridiculous to have the same coverage on all channels. It just seems a bit like enforcing groupthink. Now I was genuinely sad when I heard about his deatb. And I'm quite interested in the fella and his life. For a brief moment, the idea of annoying the sort of people who write rude things about the man on Twitter before he's even cold by having wall to wall hagiographic coverage appeals, in a childish way. But the idea of enforced mourning seems a bit North Korean.
That said, it's an entirely symbolic argument. I almost never watch anything on live TV anyway. On the night in question I watched an old Police Interceptors and a rerun of Taskmaster from five years ago.
Sound choices.
Talk of 'enforced mourning' is where the legitimate criticism of coverage being too much for many crosses over into irrationality for me (well,that and the North Korean references).
Brooklyn Center police chief says a cop shot and killed Daunte Wright by accident
Brooklyn Center chief Tim Gannon: "As I watch the video & listen to the officer's commands, it is my belief that the officer had the intention to deploy their taser but instead shot [Daunte] Wright with a single bullet. This appears to me... that this was an accidental discharge"
I echo @Richard_Tyndall 's warm words on Shirley Williams. Her, Barbara Castle, Margaret Thatcher, Betty Boothroyd and Shirley Williams are all names I think of from that era (across a variety of parties) as strong and pioneering female politicians.
I agree the coverage of HRH's passing has been OTT - I think the BBC overshot, because they had Diana in their minds from 1997. Universal announcements on Friday when it happened, were merited, as was special coverage and tributes for 24 hours, but not days of it on every channel for days on end. And not stopping of channel broadcasting, or duplicating it on every channel, still less the corporate virtue-signalling with black banners. I think that'd only be appropriate for the reigning monarch or direct heir.
The risk is the BBC now overcorrect, and undershoot for HMQ - which would cause a national outrage.
I think there is a more subtle problem for the BBC which is that although the Duke of Edinburgh's passing is important and significant, there is not actually a great deal to be said about it. He had a good war then spent the next 70 years cutting ribbons. That's a news announcement and a documentary taken care of. With Diana, there was far more to fill the airwaves: what caused the crash; the outpouring of grief and flowers (in pre-lockdown times); the future of the princes; the row about the flagpole. For Prince Philip, the BBC had blocked off hours but has nothing to say. Even Prince Harry can only tell us he told jokes and cooked sausages.
For HMQ, the BBC needs an actual plan with a precise schedule of what programmes will be shown when. Not just a decades-old memo that says the newsreaders will wear black for a week with details to be filled in later, as seems to have happened with the Duke.
Realtime report from the trenches of north London,
Today felt pivotal in all ways. Like, say, Stalingrad. BUT MORE IMPORTANT
It started off cold, grey and wintry (like almost every day this year), I went to my celebratory pub lunch with a pal in trepidation, and wearing thermals. The pub, in Highgate, had roofed over their beer garden and rigged up patio heaters for all. It was cold.
But the buzz, as soon as you walked in, was obvious. People staring at pints - pints! - in amazement. Waiters and waitresses giggly and excited. The long expected moment, arriving, finally.
Half a dozen fine British oysters, a plate of griddled padron peppers, some good sourdough, a thick Galician fish stew and 1 and a half bottles of Picpoul later, I can report that London is reborn. There is noise everywhere. The sun is properly out. Spring is here. The beer gardens are rocking and someone is playing the bagpipes.
Happy Unlockdownmas, War is Over
Why not just have a lager?
How often does a fucking plague end?
Lager????
A couple then. Or bitter.
Just that your complex, opulent choices seemed at odds with what an English public house is meant to be all about.
To me anyway.
I am an Englishman, an English pub is what I choose it to be. Literally
And for me the best do fine oysters
It's a sense of looseness and entitlement I just don't have.
I'm austere. When I visit a pub I drink pints of beer and that's it. Maybe switch to vodka when I can take no more volume but definitely not oysters or fine wines.
Will anyone on PB NOT be visiting a pub this week?
Yes, me. The only time I ever go to a pub is if I'm travelling and need a meal. Then, my first choice place is ..... Wetherspoons. As a woman on my own, it's a chain where I always feel safe.
FWIW, I'm not into cafe culture either. A very boring person, I'm afraid.
I echo @Richard_Tyndall 's warm words on Shirley Williams. Her, Barbara Castle, Margaret Thatcher, Betty Boothroyd and Shirley Williams are all names I think of from that era (across a variety of parties) as strong and pioneering female politicians.
I agree the coverage of HRH's passing has been OTT - I think the BBC overshot, because they had Diana in their minds from 1997. Universal announcements on Friday when it happened, were merited, as was special coverage and tributes for 24 hours, but not days of it on every channel for days on end. And not stopping of channel broadcasting, or duplicating it on every channel, still less the corporate virtue-signalling with black banners. I think that'd only be appropriate for the reigning monarch or direct heir.
The risk is the BBC now overcorrect, and undershoot for HMQ - which would cause a national outrage.
It's rare we agree but yes I think you're right.
I did think Andrew calling Philip "the grandfather of the nation" was absurd.
I'd say that's Attenborough or Alan Bennett.
Racist or embarrassing grandparents are a staple of comedic stereotyping, Philip seems sound in that respect. 'Favourite Grandfather' might be a different matter.
I get that lots of his comments were meant to depomp but some were for sure a bit crass. For me, the "was it fitted by an Indian?" was the most unpleasantly racist of them.
Brooklyn Center police chief says a cop shot and killed Daunte Wright by accident
Brooklyn Center chief Tim Gannon: "As I watch the video & listen to the officer's commands, it is my belief that the officer had the intention to deploy their taser but instead shot [Daunte] Wright with a single bullet. This appears to me... that this was an accidental discharge"
You can smell the bullshit all the way over in the UK.
I'm not sure that the proposition officers are so incompetent they cannot tell the difference between their taser and their gun is as comforting as he may think.
Hint - breaking out North Korean comparisons usually has the opposite effect to that which was intended.
It's a rare situation which might justify it, treat with care.
No hyperbole, the summer of 1997 was a hectic time for me, I was about to leave home for university but I just couldn't understand the outpouring of grief for Diana, Princess of Wales.
It was totally weird for me, the media were pilling on the Queen and the Royals for not showing enough public emotions/comments in the day after, the Queen took a huge battering for it.
All I could think about was the Queen was doing a good job shielding the boys from all this, what happened to the good old fashioned stiff upper British lip?
This was only three years after the death of Kim Il-sung, and I thought we were a media pile on from this type of frenzy.
I felt really disconnected from most of the country at the time.
I was 11, and to the extent I was aware of it at all it all seemed over the top - I've told my family if I am ever involved in a tragedy I would prefer it if my friends and family said nothing at all to the public if they could, as private grief should be private. For public figures there is an understandable sense of belonging, of others deserving to be involved somehow - the Queen will be a case in point - but criticising their relations for not showing sufficient emotion? That's a big no no.
Then again, I never really got the Diana obsession, I think because of age, so the continued focus has never really connected with me. I remember the programmes for the top 10 in the '100 greatest britons' programme almost 20 years ago now, and however nice she may have been I feel like whoever presented the Diana one probably had their work cut out.
I think that to appreciate Diana, you had to be a bit older. She was the ultimate Eighties girl, marrying into a rather stuffy family, and changing it with a big bang. She was a true Sloane Ranger, at exactly the right moment in history when glamour and ostentatious wealth was fashionable again. Heady days those late Eighties boom years.
She too made that unforgiveable gaffe, of outshining the genetic royalty. For that, the Palace flunkies and courtiers could not forgive her.
The BBC’s wall-to-wall coverage of Prince Philip’s death has become the most complained-about moment in British television history.
At least 110,994 people have contacted the BBC to express their displeasure at the decision to turn most of the corporation’s TV channels and radio stations over to rolling tributes to the Queen’s husband.
According to an internal BBC complaints log seen by the Guardian, an unprecedented level of viewer feedback was received over the weekend, meaning the coverage appears to have elicited one of the most negative reactions to BBC programmes ever seen.
The BBC declined to comment on the leaked weekend figures and said a formal announcement would be made as planned on Thursday.
Damned if they do, damned if they don't.
Personally, I am not at all interested in the Royal Family, and was mildly annoyed that viewing and listening on the BBC was messed about with to such an extent. But I do understand why the national broadcaster feels the need to do it, and it's not like there isn't a choice of entertainment options. The 111k people should get a life basically.
If they wanted choice, they could always have watched the Philip coverage on ITV. Or turn over to the Philip coverage on Channel Four.
Gone are the days when there were only four channels.
Are you seriously saying that the BBC carpeting every one of its channels and every one of its radio stations was a reasonable response? I couldn't care much for the telly, but BBC music radio is a big part of lots of people's Friday night wind-down.
And no, Classic FM and Heart don't cut it.
Oh get over it. For one night people might listen to adverts, or an online service instead? Big frigging deal.
It was beyond excessive. Rightly, the object of mass ridicule.
You're right the self-entitlement to expect 24/7 music stations without adverts or subscription, paid for by compulsorily charging tens of millions of people who don't listen to them at threat of a Magistrate's Court if they don't pay - and whinging about one night being dedicated to a state broadcast instead - is beyond mass ridicule.
I must say I have enjoyed your angle on this topic, Philip. A devoted republican, licence-fee opponent, making a daily and passionate case for the licence fee being spent on a rolling monarchist obituary of a royal, to the exclusion of any other content.
Funny old world.
(FWIW I’m agnostic about the BBC’s funding. I would be very open to a subscription model if quality of the music radio stations could be preserved, which I’m slightly sceptical about)
I echo @Richard_Tyndall 's warm words on Shirley Williams. Her, Barbara Castle, Margaret Thatcher, Betty Boothroyd and Shirley Williams are all names I think of from that era (across a variety of parties) as strong and pioneering female politicians.
I agree the coverage of HRH's passing has been OTT - I think the BBC overshot, because they had Diana in their minds from 1997. Universal announcements on Friday when it happened, were merited, as was special coverage and tributes for 24 hours, but not days of it on every channel for days on end. And not stopping of channel broadcasting, or duplicating it on every channel, still less the corporate virtue-signalling with black banners. I think that'd only be appropriate for the reigning monarch or direct heir.
The risk is the BBC now overcorrect, and undershoot for HMQ - which would cause a national outrage.
I don't think it is to do with Diana on its own.
It follows on from the coverage of the death of the Queen Mother, the BBC went for the let us not go OTT like Diana but rather than she was a really old woman who had some health issues for the last few years, which got them some grief.
To be honest I'm expecting the public reaction to HMQ to make the reactions of the North Koreans to the death of Kim Il-sung look understated.
The media will have to follow the lead of the public.
Realtime report from the trenches of north London,
Today felt pivotal in all ways. Like, say, Stalingrad. BUT MORE IMPORTANT
It started off cold, grey and wintry (like almost every day this year), I went to my celebratory pub lunch with a pal in trepidation, and wearing thermals. The pub, in Highgate, had roofed over their beer garden and rigged up patio heaters for all. It was cold.
But the buzz, as soon as you walked in, was obvious. People staring at pints - pints! - in amazement. Waiters and waitresses giggly and excited. The long expected moment, arriving, finally.
Half a dozen fine British oysters, a plate of griddled padron peppers, some good sourdough, a thick Galician fish stew and 1 and a half bottles of Picpoul later, I can report that London is reborn. There is noise everywhere. The sun is properly out. Spring is here. The beer gardens are rocking and someone is playing the bagpipes.
Happy Unlockdownmas, War is Over
Meanwhile, back in the real world....
A small group of men waiting for a haircut at the corner hairdressers. A decent sized queue outside Primark and fish and chips from East Ham High Street for dinner.
The local Spoons still closed.
A group of men outside Jennings the Bookmaker and the FOBTs back in business.
I'll leave the hyperbole to North London - roll on May 17th.
Why don't you just MOVE??!
It wasn't like I lingered only in Highgate
After lunch I walked from Highgate through Archway then Tufnel Park and Kentish Town to Camden. A fair variety of places, rich and poor. Every pub (that has a beer garden, of any kind) was rammed and joyously noisy, all the way down
Right now in my flat I can hear two or three pub beer gardens, singing away. Whoops and cheers. I do not believe North London is unique. It may be slightly younger than normal. Is East Ham known for being miserable?!
Nothing wrong with oysters, and nothing posh about them either. They rarely cost much. They are delicious and go as well with a hoppy ale as with a flinty Chablis.
After lunch I walked from Highgate through Archway then Tufnel Park and Kentish Town to Camden. A fair variety of places, rich and poor. Every pub (that has a beer garden, of any kind) was rammed and joyously noisy, all the way down
Right now in my flat I can hear two or three pub beer gardens, singing away. Whoops and cheers. I do not believe North London is unique. It may be slightly younger than normal. Is East Ham known for being miserable?!
Why should I move? I like it where I am.
East Ham isn't miserable - we don't seem to have the density of public houses that you "enjoy" in your part of town.
Well, if you like it quiet and depressing, stop moaning about it. Celebrate it. Today was another quiet, melancholy day!
Chacun a son gout
I like the vivacity and hedonism of north London.
It has been sadly missing for months, if not a year, today felt like a bigtime revival. GET IN
The BBC’s wall-to-wall coverage of Prince Philip’s death has become the most complained-about moment in British television history.
At least 110,994 people have contacted the BBC to express their displeasure at the decision to turn most of the corporation’s TV channels and radio stations over to rolling tributes to the Queen’s husband.
According to an internal BBC complaints log seen by the Guardian, an unprecedented level of viewer feedback was received over the weekend, meaning the coverage appears to have elicited one of the most negative reactions to BBC programmes ever seen.
The BBC declined to comment on the leaked weekend figures and said a formal announcement would be made as planned on Thursday.
Damned if they do, damned if they don't.
Personally, I am not at all interested in the Royal Family, and was mildly annoyed that viewing and listening on the BBC was messed about with to such an extent. But I do understand why the national broadcaster feels the need to do it, and it's not like there isn't a choice of entertainment options. The 111k people should get a life basically.
If they wanted choice, they could always have watched the Philip coverage on ITV. Or turn over to the Philip coverage on Channel Four.
Gone are the days when there were only four channels.
Are you seriously saying that the BBC carpeting every one of its channels and every one of its radio stations was a reasonable response? I couldn't care much for the telly, but BBC music radio is a big part of lots of people's Friday night wind-down.
And no, Classic FM and Heart don't cut it.
Oh get over it. For one night people might listen to adverts, or an online service instead? Big frigging deal.
It was beyond excessive. Rightly, the object of mass ridicule.
No complaint about devoting endless coverage to the incident on one BBC channel. But it seems ridiculous to have the same coverage on all channels. It just seems a bit like enforcing groupthink. Now I was genuinely sad when I heard about his deatb. And I'm quite interested in the fella and his life. For a brief moment, the idea of annoying the sort of people who write rude things about the man on Twitter before he's even cold by having wall to wall hagiographic coverage appeals, in a childish way. But the idea of enforced mourning seems a bit North Korean.
That said, it's an entirely symbolic argument. I almost never watch anything on live TV anyway. On the night in question I watched an old Police Interceptors and a rerun of Taskmaster from five years ago.
You watched a rerun of Taskmaster from five years ago?
I echo @Richard_Tyndall 's warm words on Shirley Williams. Her, Barbara Castle, Margaret Thatcher, Betty Boothroyd and Shirley Williams are all names I think of from that era (across a variety of parties) as strong and pioneering female politicians.
I agree the coverage of HRH's passing has been OTT - I think the BBC overshot, because they had Diana in their minds from 1997. Universal announcements on Friday when it happened, were merited, as was special coverage and tributes for 24 hours, but not days of it on every channel for days on end. And not stopping of channel broadcasting, or duplicating it on every channel, still less the corporate virtue-signalling with black banners. I think that'd only be appropriate for the reigning monarch or direct heir.
The risk is the BBC now overcorrect, and undershoot for HMQ - which would cause a national outrage.
It's rare we agree but yes I think you're right.
I did think Andrew calling Philip "the grandfather of the nation" was absurd.
I'd say that's Attenborough or Alan Bennett.
Racist or embarrassing grandparents are a staple of comedic stereotyping, Philip seems sound in that respect. 'Favourite Grandfather' might be a different matter.
I get that lots of his comments were meant to depomp but some were for sure a bit crass. For me, the "was it fitted by an Indian?" was the most unpleasantly racist of them.
He was thinking of cowboys and Indians and got them mixed up; he meant to say cowboys.
I've seen some achingly right-on Woke takes on Philip today on LinkedIn, for what's worth.
I don't believe that - he wasn't stupid. I suspect he said it to shock, and I'd imagine it related to some experience in his military past whereby the work of Indian technicians had fallen short. That's not to excuse it, but in the past one could gaily categorise according to national (and regional) stereotypes.
Hint - breaking out North Korean comparisons usually has the opposite effect to that which was intended.
It's a rare situation which might justify it, treat with care.
No hyperbole, the summer of 1997 was a hectic time for me, I was about to leave home for university but I just couldn't understand the outpouring of grief for Diana, Princess of Wales.
It was totally weird for me, the media were pilling on the Queen and the Royals for not showing enough public emotions/comments in the day after, the Queen took a huge battering for it.
All I could think about was the Queen was doing a good job shielding the boys from all this, what happened to the good old fashioned stiff upper British lip?
This was only three years after the death of Kim Il-sung, and I thought we were a media pile on from this type of frenzy.
I felt really disconnected from most of the country at the time.
I quite enjoyed Diana's funeral. Quietest casualty shift since one in Christchurch NZ when the All Blacks were playing the Wallabies in town.
I am not working this Saturday, but wouldn't expect the same impact. It is the first shopping Saturday of the year, so a fairly small audience I expect.
After lunch I walked from Highgate through Archway then Tufnel Park and Kentish Town to Camden. A fair variety of places, rich and poor. Every pub (that has a beer garden, of any kind) was rammed and joyously noisy, all the way down
Right now in my flat I can hear two or three pub beer gardens, singing away. Whoops and cheers. I do not believe North London is unique. It may be slightly younger than normal. Is East Ham known for being miserable?!
Why should I move? I like it where I am.
East Ham isn't miserable - we don't seem to have the density of public houses that you "enjoy" in your part of town.
Well, if you like it quiet and depressing, stop moaning about it. Celebrate it. Today was another quiet, melancholy day!
Chacun a son gout
I like the vivacity and hedonism of north London.
It has been sadly missing for months, if not a year, today felt like a bigtime revival. GET IN
FOURTH WAVE INCOMING!
As long as that is the last one, I heard the movie The Fifth Wave was not every gone.
The BBC’s wall-to-wall coverage of Prince Philip’s death has become the most complained-about moment in British television history.
At least 110,994 people have contacted the BBC to express their displeasure at the decision to turn most of the corporation’s TV channels and radio stations over to rolling tributes to the Queen’s husband.
According to an internal BBC complaints log seen by the Guardian, an unprecedented level of viewer feedback was received over the weekend, meaning the coverage appears to have elicited one of the most negative reactions to BBC programmes ever seen.
The BBC declined to comment on the leaked weekend figures and said a formal announcement would be made as planned on Thursday.
Damned if they do, damned if they don't.
Personally, I am not at all interested in the Royal Family, and was mildly annoyed that viewing and listening on the BBC was messed about with to such an extent. But I do understand why the national broadcaster feels the need to do it, and it's not like there isn't a choice of entertainment options. The 111k people should get a life basically.
If they wanted choice, they could always have watched the Philip coverage on ITV. Or turn over to the Philip coverage on Channel Four.
Gone are the days when there were only four channels.
Are you seriously saying that the BBC carpeting every one of its channels and every one of its radio stations was a reasonable response? I couldn't care much for the telly, but BBC music radio is a big part of lots of people's Friday night wind-down.
And no, Classic FM and Heart don't cut it.
Oh get over it. For one night people might listen to adverts, or an online service instead? Big frigging deal.
It was beyond excessive. Rightly, the object of mass ridicule.
You're right the self-entitlement to expect 24/7 music stations without adverts or subscription, paid for by compulsorily charging tens of millions of people who don't listen to them at threat of a Magistrate's Court if they don't pay - and whinging about one night being dedicated to a state broadcast instead - is beyond mass ridicule.
I must say I have enjoyed your angle on this topic, Philip. A devoted republican, licence-fee opponent, making a daily and passionate case for the licence fee being spent on a rolling monarchist obituary of a royal, to the exclusion of any other content.
Funny old world.
(FWIW I’m agnostic about the BBC’s funding. I would be very open to a subscription model if quality of the music radio stations could be preserved, which I’m slightly sceptical about)
I'm not defending the case for the licence fee being spent on anything, I'm saying the licence fee should be abolished.
I'm saying if you want a music station subscribe or pay for a music station, don't compel others at the threat of a Magistrates Court to pay for a music station for you, in the guise of being a state broadcaster, then suddenly get mortified that the state broadcaster chooses to put what it feels to be state broadcasting responsibilities before music.
I echo @Richard_Tyndall 's warm words on Shirley Williams. Her, Barbara Castle, Margaret Thatcher, Betty Boothroyd and Shirley Williams are all names I think of from that era (across a variety of parties) as strong and pioneering female politicians.
Agree. What I also find interesting is that it is not difficult to think of Mrs T warmly admiring Shirley Williams but hard to imagine it the other way round, despite Shirley Williams' magnificent qualities. And this to me is a central and crucial difference between the philosophy of the centre right and that of the centre left.
Really?
This is Shirley Williams writing on Thatcher in 2013:
Nothing wrong with oysters, and nothing posh about them either. They rarely cost much. They are delicious and go as well with a hoppy ale as with a flinty Chablis.
Eat, drink and be merry!
Like most seafood, best accompanied by a decent stout or porter.
I like wine, but never drink it in pubs. The joy of pubs is well kept draught ales. You can drink wine any old time.
Realtime report from the trenches of north London,
Today felt pivotal in all ways. Like, say, Stalingrad. BUT MORE IMPORTANT
It started off cold, grey and wintry (like almost every day this year), I went to my celebratory pub lunch with a pal in trepidation, and wearing thermals. The pub, in Highgate, had roofed over their beer garden and rigged up patio heaters for all. It was cold.
But the buzz, as soon as you walked in, was obvious. People staring at pints - pints! - in amazement. Waiters and waitresses giggly and excited. The long expected moment, arriving, finally.
Half a dozen fine British oysters, a plate of griddled padron peppers, some good sourdough, a thick Galician fish stew and 1 and a half bottles of Picpoul later, I can report that London is reborn. There is noise everywhere. The sun is properly out. Spring is here. The beer gardens are rocking and someone is playing the bagpipes.
Happy Unlockdownmas, War is Over
Meanwhile, back in the real world....
A small group of men waiting for a haircut at the corner hairdressers. A decent sized queue outside Primark and fish and chips from East Ham High Street for dinner.
The local Spoons still closed.
A group of men outside Jennings the Bookmaker and the FOBTs back in business.
I'll leave the hyperbole to North London - roll on May 17th.
Still, it's fucking annoying going to the shops. I went to the jeweler today to get my watch resized.
WAIT there. No, no! Don't come in yet! Please stay THERE, Sir! Use the sanitizer, please! (My hands have been santised five times in the last hour and are falling to pieces) PLEASE use the sanitizer Sir, or you can't come in. Come forward - stay 2m apart please! Wear a mask! Enter HERE. Exit THERE.
Too many do's and don'ts and prissyness.
It's no wonder people shop online.
Quite. One expects there'll be some residual pent-up demand for physical retail - as evidenced by the lengthy queues outside some locations reported on the news today - that'll probably continue through the weekend. After that? Most of what's left of physical retail is still in serious trouble. Consider:
-Queuing to get into every shop -Horrible masks everywhere -Being ordered about, told where to go and where not to, and the repeated enforced use of sanitiser -No trying on clothes -In many establishments, no touching the merchandise full stop -"Please shop alone" -Many restaurants and coffee shops still shut or only serving takeout; those with seating booked solid or with yet more lengthy queues to get in
I can put up with grocery shopping because it's necessary, utilitarian, they've had months to get their act together so as to make it as painless as possible, and you're in and out quite quickly. But it's a chore, not a leisure activity. A shopping trip used to be a leisure activity. When it's rendered a chore, folk won't bother to go anymore unless they're going to one or two specific locations for stuff they can't easily obtain online, or possibly if they're going bargain hunting to somewhere like Debenhams that's holding a fire sale before shutting down for good.
One has to wonder, beyond food retailers and certain specialist outlets like DIY shops, what the irreducible core of physical retail is - and how much outside of that core will be left by the time the Plague is finally over? After all, who knows how long the queuing, the being directed, the masks, the distancing and the obsessional germophobia is going to last?
Nothing wrong with oysters, and nothing posh about them either. They rarely cost much. They are delicious and go as well with a hoppy ale as with a flinty Chablis.
Eat, drink and be merry!
Quite so!
Beer can be a superb accompaniment to oysters: a pale ale or a stout, it depends on the oyster. Often better than wine
Oysters are God's gift to the British islanders to make our winter weather bearable, we get the world's best oysters, from October to April, from the Helford to Mersea to Loch Ryan
"The only good thing to come out of Britain is oysters" - Pliny the Elder
Realtime report from the trenches of north London,
Today felt pivotal in all ways. Like, say, Stalingrad. BUT MORE IMPORTANT
It started off cold, grey and wintry (like almost every day this year), I went to my celebratory pub lunch with a pal in trepidation, and wearing thermals. The pub, in Highgate, had roofed over their beer garden and rigged up patio heaters for all. It was cold.
But the buzz, as soon as you walked in, was obvious. People staring at pints - pints! - in amazement. Waiters and waitresses giggly and excited. The long expected moment, arriving, finally.
Half a dozen fine British oysters, a plate of griddled padron peppers, some good sourdough, a thick Galician fish stew and 1 and a half bottles of Picpoul later, I can report that London is reborn. There is noise everywhere. The sun is properly out. Spring is here. The beer gardens are rocking and someone is playing the bagpipes.
Happy Unlockdownmas, War is Over
Why not just have a lager?
How often does a fucking plague end?
Lager????
A couple then. Or bitter.
Just that your complex, opulent choices seemed at odds with what an English public house is meant to be all about.
To me anyway.
I am an Englishman, an English pub is what I choose it to be. Literally
And for me the best do fine oysters
It's a sense of looseness and entitlement I just don't have.
I'm austere. When I visit a pub I drink pints of beer and that's it. Maybe switch to vodka when I can take no more volume but definitely not oysters or fine wines.
Sad. Really.
Really sad.
Way to be. It's authentic. That's what's most important in life.
But anyway, time for my evening of flesh & blood activities to commence.
Hint - breaking out North Korean comparisons usually has the opposite effect to that which was intended.
It's a rare situation which might justify it, treat with care.
No hyperbole, the summer of 1997 was a hectic time for me, I was about to leave home for university but I just couldn't understand the outpouring of grief for Diana, Princess of Wales.
It was totally weird for me, the media were pilling on the Queen and the Royals for not showing enough public emotions/comments in the day after, the Queen took a huge battering for it.
All I could think about was the Queen was doing a good job shielding the boys from all this, what happened to the good old fashioned stiff upper British lip?
This was only three years after the death of Kim Il-sung, and I thought we were a media pile on from this type of frenzy.
I felt really disconnected from most of the country at the time.
I quite enjoyed Diana's funeral. Quietest casualty shift since one in Christchurch NZ when the All Blacks were playing the Wallabies in town.
I am not working this Saturday, but wouldn't expect the same impact. It is the first shopping Saturday of the year, so a fairly small audience I expect.
Realtime report from the trenches of north London,
Today felt pivotal in all ways. Like, say, Stalingrad. BUT MORE IMPORTANT
It started off cold, grey and wintry (like almost every day this year), I went to my celebratory pub lunch with a pal in trepidation, and wearing thermals. The pub, in Highgate, had roofed over their beer garden and rigged up patio heaters for all. It was cold.
But the buzz, as soon as you walked in, was obvious. People staring at pints - pints! - in amazement. Waiters and waitresses giggly and excited. The long expected moment, arriving, finally.
Half a dozen fine British oysters, a plate of griddled padron peppers, some good sourdough, a thick Galician fish stew and 1 and a half bottles of Picpoul later, I can report that London is reborn. There is noise everywhere. The sun is properly out. Spring is here. The beer gardens are rocking and someone is playing the bagpipes.
Happy Unlockdownmas, War is Over
Meanwhile, back in the real world....
A small group of men waiting for a haircut at the corner hairdressers. A decent sized queue outside Primark and fish and chips from East Ham High Street for dinner.
The local Spoons still closed.
A group of men outside Jennings the Bookmaker and the FOBTs back in business.
I'll leave the hyperbole to North London - roll on May 17th.
Still, it's fucking annoying going to the shops. I went to the jeweler today to get my watch resized.
WAIT there. No, no! Don't come in yet! Please stay THERE, Sir! Use the sanitizer, please! (My hands have been santised five times in the last hour and are falling to pieces) PLEASE use the sanitizer Sir, or you can't come in. Come forward - stay 2m apart please! Wear a mask! Enter HERE. Exit THERE.
Too many do's and don'ts and prissyness.
It's no wonder people shop online.
Quite. One expects there'll be some residual pent-up demand for physical retail - as evidenced by the lengthy queues outside some locations reported on the news today - that'll probably continue through the weekend. After that? Most of what's left of physical retail is still in serious trouble. Consider:
-Queuing to get into every shop -Horrible masks everywhere -Being ordered about, told where to go and where not to, and the repeated enforced use of sanitiser -No trying on clothes -In many establishments, no touching the merchandise full stop -"Please shop alone" -Many restaurants and coffee shops still shut or only serving takeout; those with seating booked solid or with yet more lengthy queues to get in
I can put up with grocery shopping because it's necessary, utilitarian, they've had months to get their act together so as to make it as painless as possible, and you're in and out quite quickly. But it's a chore, not a leisure activity. A shopping trip used to be a leisure activity. When it's rendered a chore, folk won't bother to go anymore unless they're going to one or two specific locations for stuff they can't easily obtain online, or possibly if they're going bargain hunting to somewhere like Debenhams that's holding a fire sale before shutting down for good.
One has to wonder, beyond food retailers and certain specialist outlets like DIY shops, what the irreducible core of physical retail is - and how much outside of that core will be left by the time the Plague is finally over? After all, who knows how long the queuing, the being directed, the masks, the distancing and the obsessional germophobia is going to last?
I received confirmation from our Church today that my son and his partners wedding postponed last August is to go ahead in Church on Saturday 31st July with 30 guests but the minister hopes by then the number of guest may be able to be increased
It is with great relief they can continue their planning and send out their invitations
Hint - breaking out North Korean comparisons usually has the opposite effect to that which was intended.
It's a rare situation which might justify it, treat with care.
No hyperbole, the summer of 1997 was a hectic time for me, I was about to leave home for university but I just couldn't understand the outpouring of grief for Diana, Princess of Wales.
It was totally weird for me, the media were pilling on the Queen and the Royals for not showing enough public emotions/comments in the day after, the Queen took a huge battering for it.
All I could think about was the Queen was doing a good job shielding the boys from all this, what happened to the good old fashioned stiff upper British lip?
This was only three years after the death of Kim Il-sung, and I thought we were a media pile on from this type of frenzy.
I felt really disconnected from most of the country at the time.
I quite enjoyed Diana's funeral. Quietest casualty shift since one in Christchurch NZ when the All Blacks were playing the Wallabies in town.
I am not working this Saturday, but wouldn't expect the same impact. It is the first shopping Saturday of the year, so a fairly small audience I expect.
How many is small
10 -12 million or more maybe
Yes, a lot smaller than Diana,
A bit of gardening for me on Saturday.
You are not a fan obviously but 31 million is a big number to exceed next Saturday
Hint - breaking out North Korean comparisons usually has the opposite effect to that which was intended.
It's a rare situation which might justify it, treat with care.
No hyperbole, the summer of 1997 was a hectic time for me, I was about to leave home for university but I just couldn't understand the outpouring of grief for Diana, Princess of Wales.
It was totally weird for me, the media were pilling on the Queen and the Royals for not showing enough public emotions/comments in the day after, the Queen took a huge battering for it.
All I could think about was the Queen was doing a good job shielding the boys from all this, what happened to the good old fashioned stiff upper British lip?
This was only three years after the death of Kim Il-sung, and I thought we were a media pile on from this type of frenzy.
I felt really disconnected from most of the country at the time.
I was 11, and to the extent I was aware of it at all it all seemed over the top - I've told my family if I am ever involved in a tragedy I would prefer it if my friends and family said nothing at all to the public if they could, as private grief should be private. For public figures there is an understandable sense of belonging, of others deserving to be involved somehow - the Queen will be a case in point - but criticising their relations for not showing sufficient emotion? That's a big no no.
Then again, I never really got the Diana obsession, I think because of age, so the continued focus has never really connected with me. I remember the programmes for the top 10 in the '100 greatest britons' programme almost 20 years ago now, and however nice she may have been I feel like whoever presented the Diana one probably had their work cut out.
I think that to appreciate Diana, you had to be a bit older. She was the ultimate Eighties girl, marrying into a rather stuffy family, and changing it with a big bang. She was a true Sloane Ranger, at exactly the right moment in history when glamour and ostentatious wealth was fashionable again. Heady days those late Eighties boom years.
She too made that unforgiveable gaffe, of outshining the genetic royalty. For that, the Palace flunkies and courtiers could not forgive her.
Diana was cultured: she enjoyed ballet. She was also proto-woke, working for AIDS and landmine victims. Oh, and beautiful too.
Comments
I don't get it.
Then again, this may not help very much if social distancing isn't got rid of this Summer. Or if it is, and then gets re-imposed, with about five minutes' notice, in October.
Agree. What I also find interesting is that it is not difficult to think of Mrs T warmly admiring Shirley Williams but hard to imagine it the other way round, despite Shirley Williams' magnificent qualities.
And this to me is a central and crucial difference between the philosophy of the centre right and that of the centre left.
"If you spend too long here you'll end up supporting AV!"
Talk about pants round your ankles.
Today felt pivotal in all ways. Like, say, Stalingrad. BUT MORE IMPORTANT
It started off cold, grey and wintry (like almost every day this year), I went to my celebratory pub lunch with a pal in trepidation, and wearing thermals. The pub, in Highgate, had roofed over their beer garden and rigged up patio heaters for all. It was cold.
But the buzz, as soon as you walked in, was obvious. People staring at pints - pints! - in amazement. Waiters and waitresses giggly and excited. The long expected moment, arriving, finally.
Half a dozen fine British oysters, a plate of griddled padron peppers, some good sourdough, a thick Galician fish stew and 1 and a half bottles of Picpoul later, I can report that London is reborn. There is noise everywhere. The sun is properly out. Spring is here. The beer gardens are rocking and someone is playing the bagpipes.
Happy Unlockdownmas, War is Over
This is Shirley Williams writing on Thatcher in 2013:
https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/shirley-williams-how-margaret-thatcher-changed-britain-8564673.html
It's a rare situation which might justify it, treat with care.
I say this with no pleasure, but, no.
Lager????
Please to hear that you enjoyed it.
“Few, if any, pubs will open on 12 April”
"You're a big girl for your age" etc etc
There is so much pent-up demand for pleasure, and company, and sex, and laughter
A small group of men waiting for a haircut at the corner hairdressers. A decent sized queue outside Primark and fish and chips from East Ham High Street for dinner.
The local Spoons still closed.
A group of men outside Jennings the Bookmaker and the FOBTs back in business.
I'll leave the hyperbole to North London - roll on May 17th.
Just that your complex, opulent choices seemed at odds with what an English public house is meant to be all about.
To me anyway.
The BBC News and Sky News often do segments covering the newspaper front pages, they don't cover the HuffPro or Twitter front pages because they don't exist.
So if the Beeb and Sky don't cover the death of HMQ in the way The Sun or Mail want then it'll be front page news and the BBC will follow suit.
She's the only monarch most of us have ever had in this country, it will be a huge story.
I'm currently enjoying a pint in the warmth of my own home.
Bottle conditioned, so proper ale.
It wasn't like I lingered only in Highgate
After lunch I walked from Highgate through Archway then Tufnel Park and Kentish Town to Camden. A fair variety of places, rich and poor. Every pub (that has a beer garden, of any kind) was rammed and joyously noisy, all the way down
Right now in my flat I can hear two or three pub beer gardens, singing away. Whoops and cheers. I do not believe North London is unique. It may be slightly younger than normal. Is East Ham known for being miserable?!
We'll be grieving for a fantastic women, we'll be grieving for the end of an era - and we'll be grieving for ourselves, and what comes next.
And for me the best do fine oysters
And, yet, @IanB2 has an obsession with him and has mentioned him (with barely disguised contempt) about 84 times over the last three days.
Why?
We had the complete antithesis of your cheery self on here last year, a poster called Eadric. He burrowed down into a bolt hole, and has not been seen since. I wonder if he has ventured out to check that the war is indeed over.
East Ham isn't miserable - we don't seem to have the density of public houses that you "enjoy" in your part of town.
It was totally weird for me, the media were pilling on the Queen and the Royals for not showing enough public emotions/comments in the day after, the Queen took a huge battering for it.
All I could think about was the Queen was doing a good job shielding the boys from all this, what happened to the good old fashioned stiff upper British lip?
This was only three years after the death of Kim Il-sung, and I thought we were one major media pile on from this type of frenzy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VsRsFwOBu7g
I felt really disconnected from most of the country at the time.
I do find it a bit weird that positive and negative his making remarks occupies so much attention for people though. I get that that is mostly how we know him, but in a 99 year life assuming even the best or worst interpretation of many of his remarks, is that the sum of the man? I know this is the age of all sins being equal and no possibility of forgiveness/no acceptance of any criticism/delete as appropriate, but it just seems odd to me how comfortable some (not you) are condemning him utterly because he said some racist things on occasion.
WAIT there. No, no! Don't come in yet! Please stay THERE, Sir! Use the sanitizer, please! (My hands have been santised five times in the last hour and are falling to pieces) PLEASE use the sanitizer Sir, or you can't come in. Come forward - stay 2m apart please! Wear a mask! Enter HERE. Exit THERE.
Too many do's and don'ts and prissyness.
It's no wonder people shop online.
Chacun a son gout
I like the vivacity and hedonism of north London.
It has been sadly missing for months, if not a year, today felt like a bigtime revival. GET IN
"British" oysters, "Galician" fish stew and some brew I've never heard of.
Hardly befitting a tribune of the people but they are probably all like that in North London.
I'm austere. When I visit a pub I drink pints of beer and that's it. Maybe switch to vodka when I can take no more volume but definitely not oysters or fine wines.
I've seen some achingly right-on Woke takes on Philip today on LinkedIn, for what's worth.
I am not working this Saturday, but wouldn't expect the same impact. It is the first shopping Saturday of the year, so a fairly small audience I expect.
Then again, I never really got the Diana obsession, I think because of age, so the continued focus has never really connected with me. I remember the programmes for the top 10 in the '100 greatest britons' programme almost 20 years ago now, and however nice she may have been I feel like whoever presented the Diana one probably had their work cut out.
I have been to a gastro pub or restaurant for a meal and glass of wine as a family outing, or celebration, but going for a drink is not on my radar
I know it is boring and I have never been in a Weatherspoons so cannot comment on their food or drink
Do you trust the Government and its scientific advisers not to panic at the first sign of a combined Covid and Flu spike this Autumn? I mean, really trust them? 100%?
Talk of 'enforced mourning' is where the legitimate criticism of coverage being too much for many crosses over into irrationality for me (well,that and the North Korean references).
Brooklyn Center chief Tim Gannon: "As I watch the video & listen to the officer's commands, it is my belief that the officer had the intention to deploy their taser but instead shot [Daunte] Wright with a single bullet. This appears to me... that this was an accidental discharge"
https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1381658101464588290
You can smell the bullshit all the way over in the UK.
For HMQ, the BBC needs an actual plan with a precise schedule of what programmes will be shown when. Not just a decades-old memo that says the newsreaders will wear black for a week with details to be filled in later, as seems to have happened with the Duke.
Really sad.
FWIW, I'm not into cafe culture either. A very boring person, I'm afraid.
Good evening, everyone.
She too made that unforgiveable gaffe, of outshining the genetic royalty. For that, the Palace flunkies and courtiers could not forgive her.
Funny old world.
(FWIW I’m agnostic about the BBC’s funding. I would be very open to a subscription model if quality of the music radio stations could be preserved, which I’m slightly sceptical about)
Looked bloody gorgeous.
Eat, drink and be merry!
No wonder you all loved lockdown.
SORRY GUYS IT'S OVER. THE EXTROVERTS ARE BACK
I am genuinely unsure what to make of this.
Some of us love going to restaurants and hotel bars over pubs with our mates and colleagues.
10 -12 million or more maybe
Though they come in many forms, I'd say.
Jeez Denise
I'm saying if you want a music station subscribe or pay for a music station, don't compel others at the threat of a Magistrates Court to pay for a music station for you, in the guise of being a state broadcaster, then suddenly get mortified that the state broadcaster chooses to put what it feels to be state broadcasting responsibilities before music.
I like wine, but never drink it in pubs. The joy of pubs is well kept draught ales. You can drink wine any old time.
-Queuing to get into every shop
-Horrible masks everywhere
-Being ordered about, told where to go and where not to, and the repeated enforced use of sanitiser
-No trying on clothes
-In many establishments, no touching the merchandise full stop
-"Please shop alone"
-Many restaurants and coffee shops still shut or only serving takeout; those with seating booked solid or with yet more lengthy queues to get in
I can put up with grocery shopping because it's necessary, utilitarian, they've had months to get their act together so as to make it as painless as possible, and you're in and out quite quickly. But it's a chore, not a leisure activity. A shopping trip used to be a leisure activity. When it's rendered a chore, folk won't bother to go anymore unless they're going to one or two specific locations for stuff they can't easily obtain online, or possibly if they're going bargain hunting to somewhere like Debenhams that's holding a fire sale before shutting down for good.
One has to wonder, beyond food retailers and certain specialist outlets like DIY shops, what the irreducible core of physical retail is - and how much outside of that core will be left by the time the Plague is finally over? After all, who knows how long the queuing, the being directed, the masks, the distancing and the obsessional germophobia is going to last?
Hotel bars are much nicer than pubs. FACT.
Beer can be a superb accompaniment to oysters: a pale ale or a stout, it depends on the oyster. Often better than wine
Oysters are God's gift to the British islanders to make our winter weather bearable, we get the world's best oysters, from October to April, from the Helford to Mersea to Loch Ryan
"The only good thing to come out of Britain is oysters" - Pliny the Elder
Am very much hoping to get to a pub, but I tend to prefer pub-going with my mates rather than with rug-rats in tow.
The sunset over the Exe estuary is gaw-juss.
But anyway, time for my evening of flesh & blood activities to commence.
A bit of gardening for me on Saturday.
It is with great relief they can continue their planning and send out their invitations
Indeed 2.5 billion worldwide watched Diana's funeral