Just About Sums It Up for Me

[The Flâneur]

That's all very well, but what did you think of the Rolf Harris/Lenny Henry segment?

 

I didn't watch it, I was eating lentils and sharing.

[s(k)aturation]

I didn't watch it, I was eating lentils and sharing.

 

Indeed. Vegetable rights and peace.

[Redder Lurtz]

The company in charge of hiring these stewards has admitted to the wrongdoing alleged in the Guardian so I hardly think it needs to be taken with a pinch of salt. It happened. Though they are saying it is an isolated incident and it has been exaggerated. I'd also disagree quite strongly that it's not the governments fault this is happening.

 

On the wider point of how much this is all costing compared to what it's bringing in, then it's pretty much impossible to give an answer. But I'm willing to bet that the vast majority of the money coming in is going into the hands of the few. I also don't think income would drop massively on people visiting for tourist reasons if we didn't have a Royal Family. People would still visit Buckingham Palace the way plenty of people still visit the Palace of Versailles.

 

You might be willing to bet on that. Doesn't mean it's true though.

 

Also consider the amount of charities patronised by major royals and trade deals in which they represent the UK. They do more than sponge off the country as the likes of the Pig would advocate.

 

I don't think we'd ever know if we'd benefit by dismantling the royal family or not, not for many decades after doing so anyway. Unfortunately it's all about opinion. It's not gonna happen though so may as well live with it and enjoy whatever you can about it. I'm hardly a die hard royalist but I do see the good in what they do and I enjoy shoving it up America et al with the pomp we're capable of putting on. I also love a bit of history and some of the greatest stories and history have been brought about by the various despots, nutters, freaks and even decent folk we've had on the throne. There is a place for pride of heritage in all this imho onion.

[Remmie]

What is this 'pomp' people keep on referring to? I have no idea what it means.

[Yozzer]

The French have one thing going for them and that was getting rid of their monarchy.

[Antynwa]

The government preach about a something for nothing culture being wrong. However they are employing this tactic on our unemployed. Fuckcunts

[Redder Lurtz]

What is this 'pomp' people keep on referring to? I have no idea what it means.

 

Yes you do Remmie. Don't be obtuse.

[Remmie]

Yes you do Remmie. Don't be obtuse.

I genuinely don't. Something to do with the party, but the word just doesn't conjure anything up to me.

[Redder Lurtz]

The French have one thing going for them and that was getting rid of their monarchy.

 

And their wine.

 

Oh and their weather.

 

And their cuisine.

 

And their countryside.

 

And their splendid architecture.

 

And their motorways which work.

 

And their beaches.

 

Other than that and probably numerous other things no, they've got nothing going for them.

[Redder Lurtz]

I genuinely don't. Something to do with the party, but the word just doesn't conjure anything up to me.

 

Do I have to insist that you look it up in a dictionary Rem?

[Paulie Dangerously]

pomp/pämp/

 

Noun: Ceremony and splendid display.

 

Synonyms: splendour - splendor - pageantry - grandeur

 

Love a bit of pomp me

[Alan Sex]

You've got to love all the Pump and Circumcision.

[Redder Lurtz]

You've got to love all the Pump and Circumcision.

 

How old are the mummified remains? Well they're 14 to 15....they sawed his leg off and counted the rings you jerk.

 

[YOUTUBE]lYFWJLVH-h4[/YOUTUBE]

[WaltonRed]

The fact some people dont see a problem with what happened to the stewards is a svd indictment of the sorry pile of shite we find ourselves in

 

First they came for the stewards.... (ha ha)

[Yozzer]

And their wine.

 

Oh and their weather.

 

And their cuisine.

 

And their countryside.

 

And their splendid architecture.

 

And their motorways which work.

 

And their beaches.

 

Other than that and probably numerous other things no, they've got nothing going for them.

 

I said the French, as in the people, not the actual country.

 

It was tongue-in-cheek as well.

[Remmie]

I'm not trying to deliberately piss on your chips here Lurtz, as I am a bit partial to patriotism in sporting scenarios, but the synchronised mini-flag waving and stiff upper lip celebrations just seem really, really, really, really, really lame. Really lame.

 

I'd love it if there was something a bit more modern and relevant to represent what I feel Britain stands for nowadays which is the way we accept and embrace multi-culturalism. I guess it's pretty hard without coming across as patronising.

[Redder Lurtz]

I'm not trying to deliberately piss on your chips here Lurtz, as I am a bit partial to patriotism in sporting scenarios, but the synchronised mini-flag waving and stiff upper lip celebrations just seem really, really, really, really, really lame. Really lame.

 

I'd love it if there was something a bit more modern and relevant to represent what I feel Britain stands for nowadays which is the way we accept and embrace multi-culturalism. I guess it's pretty hard without coming across as patronising.

 

I agree it's all a bit lame. Some of what I've watched on the TV over the weekend was fucking cringeworthy. Not just from the public flag wavers but from the idiots the BBC had presenting the thing. Bloody awful some of it.

 

I'm not sure how you'd connect jubilee celebrations with what you mention in your second paragraph as what they're celebrating is an anniversary, our history and royal heritage. No matter how cringy that is, that's what they're celebrating. Perhaps we should have an annual multicultural day celebrated with a bank holiday or something (I'm not being facetious). No doubt the BBC and Sky would turn such an event into an equally cringy ballsup but, as with the jubilee, the underlying sentiment would be there.

[dickie mint]

I agree it's all a bit lame. Some of what I've watched on the TV over the weekend was fucking cringeworthy. Not just from the public flag wavers but from the idiots the BBC had presenting the thing. Bloody awful some of it.

 

I'm not sure how you'd connect jubilee celebrations with what you mention in your second paragraph as what they're celebrating is an anniversary, our history and royal heritage. No matter how cringy that is, that's what they're celebrating. Perhaps we should have an annual multicultural day celebrated with a bank holiday or something (I'm not being facetious). No doubt the BBC and Sky would turn such an event into an equally cringy ballsup but, as with the jubilee, the underlying sentiment would be there.

 

 

You will have to get a new bike Redder and decorate it with flags of various countries for multicultural day,I'll leave you to it lad.

[Strontium]

The fact some people dont see a problem with what happened to the stewards is a svd indictment of the sorry pile of shite we find ourselves in

 

First they came for the stewards.... (ha ha)

 

Jobless Jubilee stewards dismiss 'exploitation' claims | Mail Online

 

According to John Prescott, they were kept in virtual ‘labour camp’ conditions. If you’d listened to the BBC, you might have thought Britain was in the grip of Dickensian working practices.

 

And for the Left-wing Guardian, it was a scandalous story which it reported gleefully on its front page.

 

The cause for such hand-wringing? Claims that unemployed young people bussed into London by a security firm to act as stewards for the Diamond Jubilee celebrations were made to sleep under London Bridge in the cold and were denied access to toilet facilities.

 

Yesterday, however, a very different story was emerging. Many of the young jobseekers taking part in the work experience scheme dismissed claims they had been poorly treated by the company and spoke of having a ‘great time’.

 

Messages seen by the Daily Mail reveal that many found the opportunity rewarding and were hoping to work again with the firm, Close Protection UK.

 

And the company itself revealed that out of 220 people it had supplied for the event, only ‘two or three’ had complained.

 

Around 80 unemployed people were driven to London on Sunday from Bristol, Plymouth and Bath. But the coach company mistimed the length of the journey and dropped them off at 3am instead of 5am. Instead of staying, the drivers left the drop-off point.

 

One volunteer, Robert Cooke, 30, from Plymouth, said: ‘A couple of people have complained about things that weren’t controlled by CPUK – the coach drivers who insisted on leaving, and the weather.’

 

He said the organisers found somewhere for them to shelter and everyone had access to portable lavatories.

 

The company has also received messages from other volunteers. One said they were ‘treated with the utmost respect and highly praised for the work we had done’, while others said they were looking forward to working with CPUK again at the Olympics.

 

The 80 or so volunteers were taken on through the Government’s apprentice and work programme schemes, which aim to help the long-term jobless back into work.

 

Of these, 50 under the age of 25 were paid the Government’s standard rate for apprentices of £2.60 per hour and the other 30 either accepted the same rate or refused payment because it would adversely affect their benefits.

 

The complaints were reported at length by The Guardian, which quoted two unnamed jobseekers claiming they were forced to camp overnight under London Bridge before they started work on the river pageant.

 

They were then picked up by BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, becoming the subject of its main interview slot at 8.10am, and again by The World At One at lunchtime.

 

Labour’s former Deputy Prime Minister Lord Prescott also weighed in, demanding an inquiry in a letter to Home Secretary Theresa May.

 

He said: ‘Not only was it under the bridge, but they were then sent to a camp which they described as “swampy and wet” after this event, almost becoming a development of labour camps. Is this going to be the circumstances for the Olympic sites?’

 

Labour’s deputy chairman Tom Watson wrote on Twitter: ‘Young people as commodities with few rights in a show of opulence by state elites? Isn’t there a powerful symbolism to that?’

But Chris Grayling, the minister in charge of the scheme, described Labour’s reaction as ‘quite hysterical’.

 

He said: ‘How can they possibly compare young people who have volunteered to take part in a national celebration with a labour camp? It is political grandstanding and is utterly disgraceful.

 

 

Among the volunteer stewards defending Close Protection UK yesterday was Robert Cooke, 30, from Plymouth.

 

He pointed out that the company could have done nothing about the cold weather, or the coach drivers’ decision to leave after dropping off the stewards two hours early.

 

He added: ‘Organisers found somewhere for us to shelter, and said that if any of us wanted to get into our sleeping bags to keep warm, then we could.

 

‘Most of us just stayed up chatting. It was a good laugh, and we had access to the portable loos the whole time.’

 

Mr Cooke, who hopes to work for CPUK during the Olympics, added: ‘They have paid for all the training for my licence and an NVQ in crowd safety.

 

‘They gave us boots worth £80, and a uniform. We worked out that what they’ve spent is the equivalent of us being paid £45 an hour.’

 

In a message to the company, Kirsty Nicholls, 23, also from Plymouth, said: ‘I would like to thank CPUK for the amazing experience I was a part of this weekend.

 

'I am extremely grateful for this opportunity. We were treated with the utmost respect and highly praised for the work we had done.

 

‘I personally volunteered to do all three days work as I found the experience incredibly pleasurable. I look forward to a long career with CPUK.’

 

Markus Hanks, another volunteer, said: ‘Thanks for a great time at the Diamond Jubilee. Brilliant company to work for, great staff, brilliant atmosphere between everyone, looking forward to working with Close Protection UK again at the London 2012 Olympics. I’m supporting you and the Close Protection UK 110%.’

 

One text message to CPUK’s operations director Danny Sheehan said: ‘Just wanted to say thanks for the weekend, had a great time, got some good experience. Look forward to working with you in the future.’

 

Another said: ‘Thank you for the chance of the work experience in London’, adding that it had stood them in good stead of getting a job.

The Department for Work and Pensions has formally complained over the Today programme coverage.

 

A DWP source said: ‘Clearly it is wrong that people arrived early and were left for two hours before starting work, but to elevate that into the 8.10 prime interview for the Today programme under the guise of whether this is a return to Victorian England and Dickensian work values is bizarre in the extreme.’

 

Molly Prince, managing director of Close Protection UK, said: ‘We’re talking about two or three people complaining out of 220 staff that were supplied to the event.

 

‘It was badly handled and for that we’ve extensively apologised. We’re not in the business of exploiting free labour.’

 

 

Storm in a teacup.

[Redder Lurtz]

Well it's all gone a bit quiet now.

[Section_31]

So the ultra right wing Daily Mail served up a few patsies, where's the punchline?

[Redder Lurtz]

So the ultra right wing Daily Mail served up a few patsies, where's the punchline?

 

I think I delivered the punchline earlier in the thread when I suggested nobody would believe a Daily Mail version of the events but that everyone on here took the Guarniad's account as gospel. The guarniad is as politically biased and motivated as the rest of them. "Horses fuck horses" as the saying goes.

[Sugar Ape]

 

I think I delivered the punchline earlier in the thread when I suggested nobody would believe a Daily Mail version of the events but that everyone on here took the Guarniad's account as gospel. The guarniad is as politically biased and motivated as the rest of them. "Horses fuck horses" as the saying goes.

 

So you think the Daily Mail and The Guardian are comparable as newspapers? Maybe if you have a look at the things the Mail is biased towards and the things the Guardian are biased towards you'd have a better idea why people are more inclined to believe the Guardian.

 

I'm pretty much the polar opposite of everything you have said in this thread so I'll just leave it at I don't agree.

[Redder Lurtz]

So you think the Daily Mail and The Guardian are comparable as newspapers? Maybe if you have a look at the things the Mail is biased towards and the things the Guardian are biased towards you'd have a better idea why people are more inclined to believe the Guardian.

 

I'm pretty much the polar opposite of everything you have said in this thread so I'll just leave it at I don't agree.

 

Well clearly they both have their political agendas. The mail is more sensationalist than the guardian certainly but they're both politically motivated albeit in opposite directions.

 

Clearly the guardian seem to have blown this incident out of all proportion, as has the BBC and John "I'm a lying, adulterous fat fuck" Prescott.

[Franny DelMucho]

Storm in a teacup.

 

If Prescott is involved it is more likely to be a storm in a KFC Family Bucket.