#Coverage of #PrinceGeorges #christening is a 24-hour #austerity #anaesthetic The #royalbaby #soapopera is a #grotesque #distraction when so many #communities in the #kingdom they #rule #face #hardship Prince George Christening The official portrait for the christening of #PrinceGeorgeAlexanderLouisofCambridge. Photograph: Camera Press/Jason Bell Another day of days for the firm of #firms. Scan both #tabloids and #broadsheets in this the week of Prince Georges christening and the #PrinceofWaless big feature in Time magazine and one finds not just royal coverage but something more akin to carpet-bombing. Move over EastEnders, the nations soap opera, having added new cast members and promoted them so assiduously, seems ready for its longest-running season ever. We may not see many new pictures of Prince George, for it is said that the #Duke and #Duchess of Cambridge have vowed to guard his #privacy as best they can, but be sure that we shall hear everything about him. We will not be directly party to the sub-plot in which his grandpa agonises that he may not be ready/willing/fitted to take the helm in the family firm; but still those plotlines will leak. All of this would be nauseating in normal times but is the prospect not more unsettling in these days of national retrenchment, when so many communities in the kingdom they rule face continuing and accelerating hardship? There is a question here: with all we know about the Prince of Wales and his willingness to exceed his brief and meddle in politics, and given all we learned from various memoir and Peter Morgans splendid dramatisation of the Queens weekly encounters with her prime ministers – are they really happy now to be deployed as a form of austerity anaesthetic? Perhaps they will say that is precisely their role. Royals have fought in our wars and we shouldnt belittle that. The Queen joined the territorials in 1945, Prince Philip saw naval service throughout the second world war and Prince Andrew flew helicopters during the Falklands conflict. But in times of great national stress, they have indeed been cast as morale-boosters. One can view their recent capture of the news agenda in that light. And one might commend them for being in a fit state to assume that role. Since the death of Princess Diana, when Tony Blairs government feared the institution might topple over, to the latest royal wedding, the royal birth, the Olympic triumph and now the 24-hour news christening, this has been a corporate turnaround that even industry specialists would envy. But if the battle to move on from monarchy – or at least to sideline it – seems a losing one, and if they really must meddle, as Charles seems determined to, arent there issues beyond the froth they might attend to? In the 1980s, Charles, as commander-in-chief of several army regiments, made clear his displeasure at the racist treatment meted out to minority soldiers. Might he have something to say now about the economic ravaging of the industrial north, the effect of benefit health checks on the disabled, the cutting of services to communities already deprived? Might we be assured that the Queen is having feisty exchanges with David Cameron – just as she was apparently prepared to do with Margaret Thatcher over the Commonwealth? There is a quid pro quo here. The soap opera will always be dispiriting to those of us who dont wish to see it beamed from every corner. But it might seem less of a grotesque distraction if underpinned by something else. theguardian/commentisfree/2013/oct/25/prince-george-christening-austerity-anaesthetic?guni=Article:promo%20Most%20viewed:microapp%20zeitgeist:Most%20Viewed%20Old%20Promo:Position4
Posted on: Fri, 25 Oct 2013 14:52:54 +0000
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