The Judge RANTS!
Date: 19/09/06
Stamp It Out!
I think I've remarked before that monarchism seems to unhinge some
people.
I was in Sainsbury's this morning, and saw that one of the tabloid
rags (I think it was the Daily Mail) had as its lead story the
news that the Post Office was now selling postage online, providing a
print-it-out-yourself bar code to stick on your correspondence.
How did the Mule treat this? As a big step forward in
providing customers with the service they need quickly and efficiently?
As an example of how great British enterprise and know-how was in the
forefront of technology?
No.
"The Queen's head removed from postage stamps!", squealed
the Mewl. "There are legitimate questions as to whether the
name 'Royal Mail' can be maintained...", it trembled.
Two rent-a-quote Tory MPs are also featured in the story. Andrew
Rosindell MP quacked, "I am personally outraged over this!".
Nigel Evans, the Swansea newsagent who, recognising the futility of his
politics in his own country, piddled off to a safe seat in Lancashire,
whined thusly: "The people at the top of the Royal Mail have shown
scant regard for tradition and the fact people like stamps to have the
monarch's head on them.".
I've got news for you, Evans mun: people don't give a flying one
whose head is or isn't on the stamps so long as their mail gets to
where it's supposed to go in the proper time.
I speak as one who only uses the self-adhesive stamps, so as to
remove the slight feeling that I have to lick Frau von Battenburg's
arse every time I want to post a letter. I also stick the stamp on upside
down, this being one of the few forms of republican activity which
seems to be possible even today. I'm told this latter act is unlawful,
but I'm still waiting for John Reid's Pre-Crime Squad to smash my door
down (I almost wish they would: that way I might finally get a new
front door from our beloved Council).
And all this was on the front page of a major newspaper. We
have a government which has lied us into two illegal wars and is now
limbering up for a third, our fundamental liberties are being curtailed
by the day, and multinational corporations are funding lobby groups
claiming that global warming doesn't exist (and, even if it does, it's
the best thing that could possibly happen to the planet) (see this
article for details). Nevertheless, the rags lead with an imagined
slight to the Queen Of The Scroungers.
It's scarcely any wonder that the public's ignorance and awareness
of reality is now nearing Kansas proportions.
