Queen's abdication: No retirement clause to help out Charles
GETTY Every so often reports emerge that the Queen is going to abdicate and allow Charles to be king
Now there is a variation: that the Queen will retire if she lives to be 95 and make Charles prince regent. It sounds plausible until you reflect on Her Majesty’s solemn pledge to serve her country for her “whole life, whether it be long or short”. There was no retirement clause in that statement and in view of the Queen’s unwavering dedication to her task I can’t see her ever handing over to her son. The only ground for a regency would be if the monarch became mentally incompetent, which happened to George III, but somehow I can’t see the Queen losing her faculties. Too bad if Charles feels frustrated but that is the fate of heirs. It is a waiting game as he knows perfectly well.
According to polls a majority would like to skip a generation, putting William on the throne but we don’t go in for that kind of fudge in Britain. It is Charles’s turn next – end of. When that inevitably happens Camilla should become Queen, not be given some second-rate title amounting to king’s PA. The public’s attitude has hardened against her after the Diana video broadcasts but it would be most unfair, in fact cruel, to deny Charles and Camilla their rightful position. In the meantime Elizabeth II must continue to reign. And hold the reins.
GETTY Too bad if Charles feels frustrated but that is the fate of heirs
MOVING on to democratic issues 53 per cent of Remainers favour a Brexit with strong borders, a complete break from the European Court of Justice and little or no payment on leaving, according to a survey of 20,000 people by two leading universities. Remarkably there is little difference between Remainers and Leavers, which ought to stiffen the spines of Theresa May and her bickering ministers. When will our legislators accept that the Brexit vote was final and that now they must drive the best bargain for Britain? Faint hearts clamouring for endless votes and fake Brexit are hurting their own country.
GETTY When will our legislators accept that the Brexit vote was final
THE case of the brutal jogger who pushed a woman in front of a bus remains unsolved but it has done some good by alerting people to an ugly trend in public behaviour. Many joggers have a self-righteous attitude believing themselves superior to others.
Too bad if Charles feels frustrated but that is the fate of heirs Peter Hill
Even worse are the ones who jog while gazing at their smart phones, expecting everyone to clear a way for them. Many pram pushers and mobility scooter jockeys share the same belief that they own the pavement and look daggers or even openly curse other pedestrians. And don’t even get me started on “professional” cyclists: the evil-tempered couriers and commuters who carve up anyone in their path. I also take exception to cab drivers and limo chauffeurs who leave their filthy diesel engines running all day. When not driving they park up and sit there reading or surfing the net wilfully adding exhaust fumes to the already lethal level of pollution. Rudeness, stupidity, selfishness – the new urban terrorism.
BIRD feeding is another antisocial activity and I applaud Copeland Borough Council for warning people not to give food to aggressive seagulls or face fines. Noisy, messy gulls have become a menace at the seaside, as have geese and pigeons in virtually every public park where there is a pond. It might amuse the kiddies or fill the empty lives of the retired or unemployed but feeding these flocks is bad for the birds and worse for the public. I LAUGHED when I read that a policeman has warned supermarkets that “feminine care” signs are sexist and possibly criminal. I say laughed but it was an expression of despair. Sergeant Peter Allen is Sussex Police’s hate-crime officer and was outraged that items such as tampons were identified with only one of the now several genders we recognise. He has been ridiculed and even sanctioned by his bosses but if we are daft enough to create such jobs as hate-crime officers they will go sniffing out hatred with Inquisition-like fervour.
And what about cat’s eyes? Suffolk county council is renaming one of our greatest inventions because foreign tourists were distressed to read road signs saying, “Cat’s eyes removed” thinking that some hideous animal cruelty ritual was going on. Now they are called “road studs”. In any case I don’t believe anyone was upset. It is some town hall jobsworth at work. IF ever there were a reason for tightening our borders – and there are many – it is the hordes of Romanian criminals who have been allowed to come here to beg and steal. Nearly 20,000 arrests were made among Romanians last year, up 16 per cent. It seems the rogues are massing here before Brexit stops them.
GETTY Scientists say a low-calorie diet is essential to slow the ageing process