Who's Queen?

One of my favourite comedy creations is Miranda Richardson's Queen Elizabeth I in Blackadder II.

'Who's Queen?' is her continuous retort to anyone trying to prevent her from doing exactly as she likes, whenever she likes.

But it has occurred to me that now might be the time for Queen Elizabeth II to final zip into action, aged ninety two and after sixty six years on the throne.  As we know, in a constitutional monarchy, the sovereign is not supposed to do anything more than lurk in the background.  Advising once a week to the prime minister of the day, turning up for ceremonial tourist-pleasing duties and so on. 

Yet we in the UK find ourselves in total limbo at the moment.  And being terribly British, the refrain is now 'oh for heaven's sake, just get on with it'.  Our politicians have shown themselves to be completely unequal to the task in hand.   And the EU has nothing to gain from assisting the UK in making our suicidal leap any easier.

Isn't it time for the Queen to knock a few heads together?  We pay an awful lot for the Royal Family to be there.  Could this not be the ultimate payback?  That the Queen saves us from Brexit chaos?  

Our economy and businesses, our government and public services both national and local and our lives in general are hanging on the Brexit thread.  No-one want to invest, to move, to travel, to buy stuff.  There is talk of stockpiling food and medicines.

The Queen has lived through the War, through rationing, through endless crises.  No public figure has more experience than she does.  I am not a Royalist particularly but if anything was ever going to convince the country that it is worth having the Royal Family, surely this is the time.  Take action, Ma'am!  Use whatever powers the constitutional experts can dredge up! For the love of your people's sanity (and the endless news agenda), take action.  The uncertainty has gone on too long.

I want to Remain.  I always have.  But I don't see how another referendum can address the fact that we are supposed to leave the EU in sixty seven days...  Millions (billions?) have already been spent on leaving.  Millions (probably billions) will be lost from no-one having a clue what is going on.

Who's Queen?

Shopping For Our Lives?

First 'real' day of the year 2019.  Dragged the kids out of their beds and got them to school.  Walked the dog twice as far as usual to offset the Christmas food overload.  Started on house jobs - actually moving immense piles of 'stuff' around the place.  And had a look at Instagram.

Now, I do look at Instagram most days (probably too many!).  But today my blog post is directly influenced (that Instafamous word) by Instagram.  For a good while, I have been following a hashtag called #mystylephotochallenge  It is all for fun but it brings together a whole community of interesting women.  The wonderful organisers @mystylephotochallenge post a monthly list of the themes for each day and followers interpret the themes as they want.  It can be fashion, humour, landscape, a film.  Whatever you want to share.  It is mostly fashion-related though and for this January/February, #mystylephotochallenge has linked with another hashtag #50daysofshoppingmywardrobe  (organised by @joannewalker62)

The idea of shopping your wardrobe has been gaining much currency and there are a variety of hashtags, influencer, bloggers, whatever pushing the reduce, reuse, recycle agenda in fashion.  Stacey Dooley's Fashion's Dirty Secrets BBC documentary* last year brought much needed impetus to the movement.  Our desire for fast fashion, for cheap jeans, for the latest look is contributing big time to the environmental problems on our planet.  

Yet - at the same time, we are supposed to be shopping to 'save the high street'.  Shopping to help local retailers.  Shopping to help our communities.  I myself posted on Instagram last year about the decimation and under-investment in my home town's high street.  Our out-of-town shopping centre has since also been severely affected.  It is confusing.  We don't want to lose the shops and yet it is quite clear that we all have too much stuff.  We can all declutter as much as we like for spring but where is it all going to go?  We like to think we can 'send it all to charity' or put on eBay or Depop.  But how much is going to landfill?  And won't we just fill the gaps in our cupboards?

I was whittering at a friend who has an independent shop about all this before Christmas.  I think I was probably really annoying.  Because they are living it, this weird and worrying juxtaposition.  It is their livelihood.  Whereas I am just confused by what to do and how this is going to pan out so was pondering out loud.

When I was a child, we still had mobile shops that came to our housing estate.  Right into my teens, there was still the Alpine pop lorry that delivered drinks.  Those were seen as innovations by the older generation though.  Until I first went to France in 1981 I had never seen a hypermarket.  The 'freezer centre' was amazing enough to us - potato croquette, anyone? Now, all of our supermarkets are so overly massive that they are renting out floor space to other retailers in an effort to curb their costs.  And whatever happened to Knickerbox, Tie Rack, Sock Shop, the Sweater Shop, et al?  I don't think their demise was due to online retailers?  

I have definitely bought less this last six months, since watching the above mentioned documentary.  It is a really thought-provoking piece.  But an interesting point was made on my Instagram after I said I had felt bad at shopping in Primark for the first time in a month, after watching the programme.  The comment was about the jobs which 'fast fashion' provides in so many countries.  At great environmental cost and definitely not at decent wage levels.  But still some kind of income for so many people who have next to nothing.  And what about those employed in retail in developed countries?  Plus, wages are low and prices for so many things are high everywhere.  Many, many people really need cheap consumer goods.  Just ask those who are having to go to the food bank, those who cannot afford school shoes for their children despite living in an apparently advanced society.

I don't have any answers.  I will be shopping my wardrobe for 50 days but I wouldn't dream of judging those who are still buying.  It is quite clear that something is going to have to give but as to what...  We can only hope, here in the UK, that the changes which are surely coming will not be on the scale of the Seventies and Eighties upheavals in employment and consumption.  I fear Brexit  - deal or no deal - may be what pushes the retail sector into freefall though.

* Note:  when creating the BBC link, I noticed that the documentary is on Last Chance and will leave BBC iPlayer on Wednesday 9 January.  Download!