The Jubilee is over. Let it go, or will it linger?

Is it really 20 years since I was present at the Queen Mother’s funeral in the Abbey and later in the year, looked on open mouthed as Brian May plucked out God Save the Queen from the roof of Buckingham Palace?  Access like that went with the job then.  This time, it was the street party outside my block of flats in Ealing. Time for an outing of  my old Henry VIII costume I rashly thought, anything to liven up …

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Musings on the Queen’s Jubilee…

britain, british, elizabeth

It is the Queen’s Jubilee Weekend, where one half of Northern Ireland is celebrating, while the other half looks on in bewilderment. I was on a day trip to Bangor yesterday and a group of women were singing God Save the Queen off the back of a boat. One of the women appeared to be an old punk with a Mohican so they may have been ironic and it was actually a tribute to the Sex Pistols. I confess to …

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The Queen and I. Londonderry (sic ) in the 1950s

I think of the 1950s as the last time you didn’t have to be stressed out about identity. Maybe  that’s because I was aged from between 3 to 12 at the time but I don’t believe that altogether explains it. Londonderry was a unionist town with a Catholic majority, a statement not only about the gerrymander but the atmosphere of the old walled city where most premises were Protestant owned, like the middle class suburbs. Working people on both sides …

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How the media can frame a story depending on what perspective they want to show…

One of the most powerful photos from the funeral of Prince Philip yesterday was the Queen sitting on her own. It was a good photo but was it a true reflection of what happened? as a similar photo a few minutes later shows the other family members near the Queen: Queen could take a 'step back' from royal duties after Philip's funeral, expert claimshttps://t.co/1oj1eR5D3H pic.twitter.com/s0znddLAwf — The Mirror (@DailyMirror) April 18, 2021 The headline for this photo could have been …

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Review of the Year: Top 5 stories

  President Obama’s Re-Election This has to be one of the major stories of this year, President Obama was under immense pressure from all quarters and pulled off a great victory. He now faces the long road of securing his legacy as a President, which, could be decided over the issue of the economy. He has already faced major challenges with his CIA Director resigning over an affair and his first choice for replacing Hilary Clinton pulling out. However, he …

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Caption competition: ‘Brits in, hug a unionist’

After a heavy week in politics which saw Sinn Fein shifting its policies and increasing its ‘Brits in’ rhetoric (into a united Ireland that is),  I thought I would produce a light hearted illustration to round it off. I’ve gone first in the caption competition with, ‘Brits in, hug a unionist’, losing out to, ‘hug a unionie’. Anyway I’m sure there’s a lot better out there and I look forward to seeing what comes up. Brian SpencerBrian is a writer, artist, political cartoonist and legal blogger. …

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