Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a zealous republican; but nor am I an ardent monarchist either, for that matter.  I sit firmly in the camp of “Don’t give a shit”.  It doesn’t bother me whom we have as Head of State to press the flesh of dictators of former colonies.

So it was with deep apathy that I learned of the death of Prince Philip.  He struck me as an offensive, upper class twit; but that was personal and nothing to do with him being elected or unelected.

More interestingly, I noted that the BBC received a record number of complaints (over 100,000) for its coverage of said death; specifically, over its cancellation of scheduled programmes.  ITV too.

Now, I wouldn’t have been prompted to have posted this if 100,000 people had complained that a programme highlighting the greatest threat to the world (global warming) had been cancelled; or one on the work of the NHS in combatting Covid.  But no.  Over 100,000 people complained that they couldn’t watch somebody making breakfast (James Martin) or tea (Bake Off), or watch those menopausal women who come on the box for hours at dinner time.  Or were these complainants mid-evening morons deprived of unlikely story lines from stereotypes of Manchester, London or the Yorkshire Dales?

Personally, I’ve been drawn to the conclusion that the Old Fart wasn’t so bad after all.  I reckon he shook a six on purpose in a sense of duty to give us all a night off.