The Sun, which is owned and controlled by an American citizen with Australian heritage, who happens to be a republican, is very upset that 87 local councils in England are spending nothing on the King’s coronation. They’re the ‘stinge kings’, ‘tight-fisted’ and worst of all ‘unpatriotic’. Are they? Are they really?
Doubtless, many of these councils will not be Tory run, otherwise this would not be a story, if you think this is a story at all. The Sun is first and foremost a nasty, squalid scandal sheet, as well as being an outlet for its owner’s hard right populist views. Rupert Murdoch, for it is he, would axe the royal family tomorrow, but only if he couldn’t do it today. But needs must and if that means being an utter hypocrite then so be it. Allow me to quote a tweet by the journalist Omid Scobie:
“Many of the country’s councils can barely afford to keep libraries open, maintain public parks and cemeteries, run free school travel for special needs students, fix potholes, clean the streets, support the arts… the list goes on. A street party is the LEAST of their concerns.” Quite.
All of this is true across the land but it is particularly so in big cities in towns, meaning that the shortfalls in expenditure impact more directly on less well-off people. It is probably true that many people from all income groups and across all social classes would quite like to organise a street party to celebrate the coronation. Well, I wouldn’t want to stop them but by the same token I would not expect to see councils slashing the budgets for all of the above services in order to pay for a royal jolly.
The idea that closing libraries, failing to maintain parks and cemeteries, stopping school travel for special needs students, leaving pot holes unattended, leaving the streets filthy and allowing the arts to fade out and die is somehow unpatriotic, which is surely the argument The Sun is indirectly making, but reassigning that money for a one-off piss up is patriotic is bollocks of the highest order.
Needless to say, I haven’t actually read The Sun’s story beneath the headline because I don’t need to. The whole thing is writ large in the headline itself. And you know it’s a desperate ‘story’ when they’re reduced to saying that this is about patriotism.
If you want to celebrate Chuck’s promotion to the royal hot seat, then by all means go ahead. But don’t you dare suggest that those of us care more about our fellow citizens and the lives they lead than that of a dysfunctional family who already have more money than God and could probably pay for street parties across the land with their spare change aren’t as patriotic as the next woman and man.
