UKH

I understand everyone's sadness at the loss of well loved, long lived leader, but even if you are a royal supporter, surely it is not reasonable to support the blanket coverage of the Queen's death, to the exclusion of absolutely everything else?

I also object to the assumption that it is alright to cancel the 3 remaining nights of the BBC promenade concerts at the Albert Hall. I certainly understand the cancellation of the prom last night, but to cancel tonight's, which was due to be given by the Philadelphia orchestra, and Lisa Batiashivilli, who is from a Baltic state seems unreasonable, and illogical.

Indeed I would have thought that people would want the last night of the proms to go ahead, so that celebration of Elizabeth II's life could take place and be enjoyed by many. I was not going to go, even though I would have had access, for reasons of not being a royalist, and also concern about the concentration of aerosol infective agents with the crush of people in the arena.

So why does the BBC, which is the people's corporation, not royal, not of the government, and its management feel that they should make the decisions which they have?

I presume that I will get many dislikes, but when my parents died, they expected us to carry on regardless, and I feel that even if you are a royal, then you might expect the proms to continue, and there to be some other broadcasting than just about the death of an understandably beloved institutional human icon of great stature.

Just let them do their thing, I’m sure there are many supporters of the cancellations and besides, programming after her death will have been the planned for decades. Honestly who cares? Does it really make that much difference to your life? I’m not a royalist but can’t you just let the public mourn in the way it wants without jumping on the whingey  bandwagon the instant she died? 

Given the BBC's well known commitment to impartiality I look forward to seeing them give 50% of their airtime to republicans. 

I'm with you on this. If we pay a licence fee, surely it should reflect what people want to watch and listen to?

Maybe they could create a pop-up channel for the "national mourning" and then leave other programming as is. That would allow those who want to be morose to do so. Most people will feel that it has little actual bearing on us, she was an old lady whom most of us didn't know and her death was no surprise. 

Yes, she was a good lady and it's the end of an era, but that doesn't require all broadcasting to be awful for however long it takes them to bury her!

Veteye is as much the public as anyone else.  You suppose to speak for the whole public.  Yesterday, various politicians suppose to speak for the whole public.  Opinion and perception is shaped by the media who - as you say - have been planning for this day for a long time, and by the subset of the population who are advertising their mourning.

I would not suppose to speak for the whole public in this.  There are going to be very diverse views hidden behind the mawkish news coverage.

I agree. I am no royalist but the Queen was a major figure in our recent history and it is correct that the BBC should acknowledge her life by way of special coverage and I would object if they did not.

However, I don't understand why BBC1, BBC2 and the BBC News channel should all be involved. I don't see it being disrespectful to have one channel devoted to the death of the Queen, with comments from around the UK and the rest of the World, but have the usual programmes on the other channels.

Dave

I don’t own a TV and can imagine that on the main channels it might well be wall to wall coverage of her death. However, you are posting on here and thus have the internet.

If I go the BBC homepage right now the queen’s death  is, quite rightly in my opinion, front and centre. However, scroll down a little way and “other news” appears - articles on North Korea’s nuclear declaration, special new plastics and energy issues.

Was that so hard? Is it wrong that we should have to look a little harder for that stuff given what has happened?

I don’t think so.

I'm not in the UK but how does the BBC coverage compare to that of the death of Princess Diana ? To me that really was ridiculous.

But I should be able to find at least one channel not covering the Queen's death, on TV.

That’s fair. I guess I just don’t really care about the rolling news coverage as much, seems like there are more important battles to pick 😅 The coverage argument is just a bit tired, and personally I suspect the majority of the public do support having extensive coverage of the proceedings and cancelling things out of respect. Would be interesting to see a poll

Probs 20%.  

Netflix?

If you want control over what you want to watch then don't default to using live television. It's a habit and times have moved on.

I packed it in years ago in favour streaming only services. It's got more of what I want to watch, when I want, and it's cheaper.

There are very rare times that I miss live television. Today is one of them.

Like you, I’m a big fan of The Proms. But I reckon a majority of prom fans would agree with postponing them. And the media hype will fade, defo won’t be 24/7 wall to wall coverage. 

It's not like there isn't incentive enough already to abandon the BBC in favour of subscription services.

I get that for a lot of people this is a seminal moment in British history, and I understand the need to pay tribute on the main channels. But what I don't get is the need to shut down all other choices for everyone, including royalists once they've had their fill of Elizabethan history. It smacks of telling people what they should be thinking.

They couldn’t win. Overdo it, they’ll get complaints. Under do it, they’ll get complaints.

It’s only TV.

Telly/Radio are on the blink.  Funny not having the radio on this morning, but the BBC is staying off for the duration. 

Yes, very much a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation. 

Anyway, there's not been a national event of this magnitude for 70 years and there never will be again, so I reckon people should be able to live with it for a few days.

BBC2 has a great wildlife programme on at the moment. 
Escape to the Shiteau is on channel 4, Dicks struggling with something.

I broadly agree with your OP. I don’t doubt that there is a significant proportion - maybe a large minority  - who, like me, feel nothing about this event. I would not be pleased if I had a prom ticket. I don’t want to watch a lot of telefised fawning from the likes of Nicholas Witchell. It’s not a tragedy when an old lady of 96 years dies. I’ve felt much more emotion in recent days to hear of an innocent child being shot and killed in her own home.

It amazes me that they think we want to listen to the 100+ people they'll drag in to air their views all say the exact same thing. Pay tribute, remember major occasions, but don't get too carried away. I'm hoping it's just 24hrs but i suspect not.

Yes Nicholas Witchell, "that ghastly man" as Prince Charles famously described him.

"surely it should reflect what people want to watch and listen to?"

Jesus, be careful what you wish for. This is the uk - if we go that way you'll end up with 2 channels consisting largely of Bargain Hunt, Celebrity Get Me Out of Here and Jeremy Kyle and a bunch of radio dedicated to sh*t pop and drill music :-/

edit: as you may have guessed I don't watch much tv these days. You get my point though.

Sums up my thoughts exactly.

That sounds like a lot of what is on TV anyway! I only watch catch up, don't have a TV, so less of an issue for me. The radio though is normally on all the time and it's absolutely dire just now!

I’m watching live TV now and can confirm there is huge exaggeration going on about wall to wall coverage. 

I can see why cancelling an event like the last night of the proms is necessary.  Not quite crystallising the right mood of national pride at the moment.

T.

There are 60-70 free to air channels on terrestrial television, and heaven knows how many more on satellite & the streaming services.  We checked the electronic programme guide on our TV yesterday evening and most of the Freeview channels seemed to be running programming more or less as normal.

I'll admit it's possible that they just hadn't updated their EPG data like the BBC had - silly, us we didn't bother trying to verify that Lego Masters was being broadcast on E4+1 at 9pm as originally scheduled, but reviewing the EPG data for yesterday evening now, it looks like only the channels operating under a public service licence i.e. all of the BBC, and the 'prime' ITV, Channel 4 and Five channels were wall-to-wall with the news, which they were probably pretty much obliged to under the terms of their licences.  Everything else seems to have operated as scheduled.  I know that at least one of the 'minor' channels was running its normal service at 7pm, after the news had broken, because my computer recorded a show for me at that time.

In summary: what you think should have been the case appears very much to have been the case.

And then there's all the catch-up services which (again AFAIK) were running normally.  OK, you couldn't watch last night's Saving Lives at Sea on iPlayer later that evening because they didn't broadcast it, but that still left a lot of content to choose from.

(Personally, I'm much more dis-chuffed about the BBC strip scheduling some pretty niche interest sports events across its prime channels for a good part of this summer.  But you don't see me whinging about it on UKC...oh, hang on...)

Agreed. After the initial news has broken we only need one channel (maybe one per broadcaster) offering tributes, news etc. The others can then redistribute planned content to continue with relatively normal scheduling.

​​​​​

R2 seem to have "now that's what I call lift music greatest hits 1,2,3.." on a loop. After carefully vetting the lyrics no doubt.

Seems the test match has been postponed or possibly cancelled too. 

Thought I’d try it out - you’re not wrong!  Boring as hell.

I think they've called off todays play, and will tag a day on the end to make up. There was something on ( think ) the beeb website yesterday........yep, found it.........

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/62840622

Each and every one of them? That would be hard. Maybe you're in the minority?

I can't understand why they make and broadcast "Mrs Brown's Boys", but apparently it's popular.

All three BBC channels showing the same feed was a bit much.

Dave seemed to be marking the death by not showing adverts in the advert breaks. That was weirdly annoying.

Someone has asked if DofE and Scouring events should continue 'during this period of mourning'. I confess that my initial reaction was 'of course they bloody should'. But then i thought about respecting the feelings of other people, and moderated my opinion a bit.

No PopMaster this morning!

Even as a republican I have huge respect for what Elizabeth has achieved and the circumstances in which she did it. RIP

I can take the 24 (48, 72....?) hour BBC news vomit that detracts from that legacy in it's horror of mundane fawning and repetitive recycling. Yet I'll also mourn lost tributes in events that should had gone ahead..... that I'm sure would have been way more heartfelt and memorable.

If those running events genuinely felt there was an overwhelming view that those involved didn't want to go ahead, fair enough.  Yet these events are being cancelled or postponed with talk of not putting undue pressure on policing. There are also anecdotal reports of some areas of public service being told to adjust some aspects of work for a week or more.  

Most seriously, given the attention span of UK journalism, our new PM escapes full immediate press scrutiny on making us collectively take on £100 billion plus loans for our energy, whilst the oil and gas producers and some vastly overpaid generators of much cheaper electricity don't even pretend they will invest that windfall profit, to help the UK grow out of trouble. This is beyond unfair ... more like kleptocratic behaviour in a national crisis.

If people believe in the qualities that Elizabeth represented they should protest.

...a music festival in hyde Park would be inappropriate, but 99% of events should continue. Have a minutes silence at the start, then let the public decide. Otherwise it becomes that contagious hysteria like with Diana.

She was 96, lived a good life, barely in hospital ever and died at home where she wanted to be. We should be celebrating a life well lived more than mourning. 

The tories missed a chance to bury bad news yesterday afternoon before the ball the got rolling! 

I found the BBC obituary an interesting read. For all the grumbles about how the PM was selected, I hadn’t realised how the Conservative party used to do it. 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-61605149

I doubt it. They run on spin doctor advice and would fear the blowback of such a stunt.

We live in interesting times.

I disagree about the appropriateness of a festival. It could easily be tweaked with short speeches to allow those artists who won't be interviewed on major news channels to add something to mourn and celebrate in their own way. It's well past time in the UK to learn from others on how to celebrate a good life properly: joy as well as tears.

Cheers for that... copied it onto the RIP thread as something the BBC did well.

I received an Email this morning saying that a show we are going to tonight, will still go ahead, after discussion with the promoters. I was a bit nonplused TBH, I wondered if perhaps a cast member had been ill.

It has only dawned on me just now, that it was considered because Her Majesty has died. Yes, it is an end of an Era, but no need to shut the whole shop down.

Furthermore, when my accountant died one year end, Her Majestys Customs and Revenue slapped me a £400 late filling fine, and had no interest in the death of my accountant.

I have a friend in the Met Police, and all officers were told yesterday afternoon to stay on duty. Their holiday has been cancelled, and overtime was required. The volumes of people flocking to royal residencies in London this morning is ridiculous, and the strain on the tube/transport network is already evident. I understand large public events (mainly around the capital) being postponed whilst resources are reallocated to dealing with the influx of mourners. 

Regardless of how you feel about the Royal family, millions in the country are upset by this news and even more worldwide. We shouldn't forget she was the Queen of 15 commonwealth realms, including over 150m people. 

Arguably shutting down all normal events, radio, TV etc whips up this upset. Yeah she was unique in many respects, but ours lives for the moment go on. 

I'm ex military, worked for her, met her... it's sad she's died as great role model. But i don't feel any need for grand public gestures, to sign a book, lay flowers, stand outside a palace etc.  It's mob hysteria, if only people got so worked up over real problems in world. 

I agree with you; I don't need to go lay flowers, but many people do. Many people are affected by her passing, and it's making a lot of people feel a sense of uneasy sadness. If you look at the likes of Reddit and other social media platforms. It's common to see "I'm against the Monarchy, but this has surprisingly affected me..." type comments. If people want to express their grief as "mob hysteria", I don't see a problem with that; it's a healthy way of dealing with their emotions.

As for "shutting down of normal... radio, TV etc." out of the 60-70 free-to-air TV stations, only the BBC, ITV and Channel 4 suspended their regular broadcasts yesterday; judging by the response above, they are mostly back to normal anyway.

So it's hardly a total lockdown of all media; most TV is regular programming. BBC news covers it heavily (as you would expect) but still has its standard news programming on the website. So yes, significant public events have been suspended for a few days, and by Monday, we will be mostly back to normal.

I switched on the BBC when I heard the news. But one minute into Nicholas Witchell's pompous, vacuous solemnizing, I switched over to Channel 4, which had excellent, appropriate coverage from a range of journalists in a range of locations talking to a range of people, and was entirely respectful. I switched back to the BBC a couple of times to find the coverage stilted, unnecessarily lachrymose - filling airtime by speaking very slowly.

On the whole I think the BBC is excellent, the license fee is a bargain, and I like much of its output. But really they are the very worst to go to on a "big state occasion": they feel a weighty obligation to be some kind of "voice of the nation" instructing everyone what to feel, and the pomposity goes off the scale.

Feel free to misrepresent how I feel... it just shows you up.

I'd expect people to flock, and not just royalists. This would obviously strain police services somewhat. Yet if the Met feel this strain is so large it needs to stop events running, for the reasons you describe, it (and the government and mayor's office) should clearly say so. Some big football match went ahead last night, including one in London, with no trouble and respectful and highly emotive responses from the crowd, players and stadium management.

I certainly feel a greater sense of loss at leaving the EU.

Sorry for the confusion. I didn't mean to misrepresent what you were feeling or saying. I was commenting on your comment in the context of the OP; it was a general "you". I'm sorry you have jumped to that negative conclusion. 

Apology accepted.

Changing subject, this lunchtime the BBC News has thankfully stuck for a long while on Parliamentary tributes. I'd even recommend listening in to Theresa May from about 12.45pm. She was so unexpectedly funny it broke the BBC news at around 12.50.  Earlier, Starmer was really good and even Boris was not so bad.

I doubt it - it’ll just be a wee while before it leaks out

I think I'm fairly neutral re the monarchy, agree it's anachronistic but I don't see any worthwhile advantage in abolishing it (although I think it still needs further slimming and modernisation),

The loss of the Queen (whom I think did an outstanding job of being our monarch) will affect our national consciousness, it may never be the same with Charles as king, nor with William after him.

However, I was surprised at the number of sporting events that were being cancelled, not just today, but over the whole weekend and maybe beyond. On one level it's encouraging mass hysteria a la Diana which I don't think is necessary (British understatement here).

As an aside, none of us posting here is likely to be alive if/when we next have a Queen as monarch.

They've even cancelled the horse racing! Wonder what she'd have thought of that. 

Maybe placing an ironic bet on such foolishness?

Cancelling the Horse Racing I can understand since she was involved in that and must have been personally known to a significant number of owners/trainers/jockeys.

The point is that there are lots of channels on both TV and radio, so normally people can listen to or watch something that suits them. Currently, all radio stations are on morose crap and presumably TV is largely too. 

The Scouts that the kids living with us go to are meeting as normal but have asked for full uniform and will do a 2 minute silence. Then they will get on with sorting out tents from last week's camp and having a fire etc. I can't imagine for one minute that Lizzy would have wanted kids to miss out on normal activities. 

The TV is awful at the moment, wall to wall misery.
I tuned into Adrian Chiles on the radio, because I like him.
And I found it interesting, he has a knack of asking people questions that I would ask, and he wasn't full of all the cliché and collective grief that's everywhere else. 

If BBC radio in particular didn't do wall to wall obits for the next 12 days the right wing press would be foaming at the mouth, along with the anti Beeb MPs. 
There was so much protest on the BBC website over Prince Phillip's blanket coverage they had to set up a special page to allow a sort of vote. But I suppose HM trumps this. 
Still - radio 1xtra continues churning out crap. Don't think they were for Phillip.

Agreed, surely the last night of the proms would have been the perfect opportunity for the flag-shaggers, swivel eyed brexit supporting closet racists and worryingly patriotic oddballs to get together and attempt to outdo each other with public displays of dewy eyed mawkishness? 

But cancelling the footie and the horses, that's just taking things too far?!

Last three days of the Tour of Britain have been cancelled. Not happy, I was really enjoying it.

Don't be too hard on me, despite being neither a royalist or a republican I'm sad to see the Queen pass away.  She was great.  It's not her passing I'm mocking.

I'd guess many if not most LNotP attendees would be centrists.

Maybe turn on the telly and find out?

No, it isn't; seems only BBC1 and ITV1 are still showing non-stop 'news specials'.

Really?  Jesus.  FFS.

Again, all of it? Do you actually have a TV on?

There will be an element of the Royal patronage here too.

The Proms are held at the Royal Albert Hall, so the Queen was their patron, as such it's appropriate they mark her passing, compared to say Brixton Academy.

RHS closed their gardens when the DofE died, and is closing them again on the day of the Queen's funeral.

Apparently, I'm getting £11.19p back for the cancellation of the final 3 proms!

I found it odd that a foreign orchestra (The Philadelphia orchestra (which I used to see for $1 when I lived there)), and a foreign violinist (Lisa Batiashvilli) are made to shut up shop for purposes of honouring the Queen.

Plus like Iamgregp further up the thread, it would seem the ideal time for those who are royalist in tendency to shed tears and have a glowing feeling at the last night of the proms, which should still have run tomorrow in my eyes.

The Royal this, the Royal that. It is ludicrous. Please can we just let go of this system of patronage from a family where just one of their homes has grounds that occupy 50,000 acres. How big is your back garden? 

Don't have one. I am grumpy about the radio being crap. 

They've been preparing to go over the top for decades probably. 

It's effectively b*ggered the test match though and maybe the series  

Agreed.

Even this afternoon, Radio 3 was having a whole afternoon of music which relates to music to do with the Queen, nothing else. We're having it stuffed down our throats.

Read somewhere that no satirical programmes will be broadcast on the BBC during the mourning period. No hignfy tonight.

C4 still has the last leg on, but I'm sure it will be played very carefully.

Our local authority have turned their entire website monochrome.  Which is handy when colour is used on a key - now is that Ocean Grey or Military Grey?

I wouldn’t bother, most folk on here are intent on believing it’s wall to wall mourning. 

Been thinking about all the sport cancellations, which I think is wrong, and have changed my mind about the proms, mainly based on the number of people who will have forked out for hotels and transport. 

Can you start a similar thread about ITV and others about C4 and C5 as they were wall to wall coverage as well all of last night. Just for balance of course.

I think the rain screwed the Test match anyway.

Domestic fixtures for footie etc are easy to re-arrange, they regularly are for all sorts of reasons. But international fixtures aren't anywhere near as easy to arrange so IMO the Test should start tomorrow (after all we have only needed 3 days for the last 2) and the World Cup at Ratho should go ahead (which is happening).

Gems TV and Babestation not suit you?

Tee-Hee.

:-}

Six headed shark attack was on earlier. I switched back to beeb 1. 

Is the BBC a royal construct? No.

Thank you for that!!!

I can't believe they've cancelled the Last Night of the Proms. How does that help??? There are people for whom performing at, or going to hear, that event would be a lifetime high!!!

... i am running out of exclamation marks etc...

Listening to the radio on the drive home this evening, I was struck by how various presenters on the different stations would take similar lines about how this is affecting us all, or how we're all feeling strong emotions over it.

Clearly a lot off people are not affected emotionally by this.  In effect the radio presenters are gas-lighting those people by implicitly painting their lack of emotional involvement as so far from the norm.

I'm not comfortable with that.

Charlie wiz right.

Can't stand the way he constantly explains the most mundane aspects of Royal family life.

I wasn't going to go to the last night, but it's just daft.

I was really looking forward to tonight, though. I really wanted to see Lisa Batiashvilli play the violin again, and see Yannick Nezet-Seguin conducting the orchestra which I last saw in 1984, when I was pretty young.

I feel that there must be some of the presenters in false sincerity mode.

If it were not the case that the Queen has been truly very virtuous, and has a lot of credit in the way that she fitted, and moulded her monarch role, it would be good to have some comedy irreverence.

Battleship grey! I believe was an actual defined colour, before they went more high tech with anti radar etc.

Are you Charters or Caldicott? 😉

There is a strange irony to my mind that you'd like the proms to continue (national institution) despite the death of number one institution 

Not everybody is into this obsession with celebrity feudalism.

That's the new Military Gray bit there and used to be the dowdy, old, nasty Ocean Gray. Or is it the other way around?

Is Arnold running your Council IT Dept? 

Not my dislike by the way.

It's a national institution, but it's also a London-centric institution: You are able to get better positions in the arena with the ticketing system as it stands, due to having to obtain a raffle ticket in person (first person, first served).

Not all institutions have to be liked or approved of.

Additionally, if I were a royalist, I would be frustrated, as many like minded royalists could use the occasion to express their fealty and grief. Groups of friends within the arena could give soliloquys on the reign of good queen E. It would be an ideal occasion for the release of the understandable emotion. 

So in my mind the BBC got it wrong.

I also think that this mindless programming on the radio is too much.

The first good thing on radio, was last night, when I caught Radio 3 playing Bach's Goldberg variations, which is one of my favourite pieces of music, to hear and play (So far I have only learned a minute amount near the beginning, but by my death at 96 I may have learned it all!). That music is so calming, and many times when I have been doing paperwork, or revising it has helped me a great deal.

France Musique' s jazz programme had a tribute to EIIR which fitted the programme quite well - a short account of when the Duke (Ellington) met the Queen followed by Ellington's 'Queen's suite' which apparently was written for her after their meeting. She had the only copy of the recording for many years & it wasn't released until after his death.

Not sure if this is available in the UK  - https://www.radiofrance.fr/francemusique/podcasts/la-chronique-de-marjolain...

I’m with you. I was quite shocked when I heard of ‘her’ departing, and it’s very sad.

With no disrespect intended, I’m fully sick of the media deciding that we must mourn.

Had a 7 hour drive today in an old car with no real mod cons regarding entertainment, and was looking forward to the beeb shows.

Stomached it for an hour or so, but then was told by a presenter that ‘ we are keeping the programmes a bit morose in respect’’

FFS, this is not China! How can they decide that we must be morose! I’m on effin holiday, which I’ve worked hard and waitied long for.

I never believed the hype that the restrictions during covid were state control, but this mourning stuff I’m more inclined to reason as a form of mind control.

Off button is great. 

It concerns me that if people are so upset they need to thank R2 for they calming coverage in these stressful times, that the uk must have some really serious underlying mental health problems. The same with people i thought were rational putting pictures of themselves on facebook signing books of condolence. Mourning is becoming competitive sport. 

Edit, just in case i join the game is signing a book worth more than laying flowers? 

I think the biggest issue is still using Facebook!

It serves a purpose, but I've culled many people! What's scariest is discovering the $hit that must be going through relatives heads, there's a shocking number of racist, brexit loving, covid conspiracy theorist nutters out there and I appear to be related to a few of them. 

I thought the book was online only so definitely worth less.

I think there are physical ones started in churches, as well as virtual. (I've not been, but judging by the photo they put online)

I reckon a quiet ‘ thanks, you were alright’ is more than enough respect to show.

The beeb and the mental health thing….’ One of them was condescendingly explaining to the audience, ‘that it’s ok to feel sad, it’s normal and this is an unprecedented thing in a lot of peoples lifetimes’. 
 

Beyond belief for me is that, if I wasn’t listening to their feckin outpourings, I’d be quite happy!

Beeb off!

I missed a trick, when the announcement was made the markets had already closed, should have bought interflora shares. 

Been listening to Radio Off for the past few days - with the exception of the test match.  Nothing grinds my gears more than being told what I am, or ought to be thinking.

Hmmm... BBC News app has 26 items on the Queen.

Ukraine is one story, ninth down.

This does seem excessive to me. I couldn't find the news about parliament going into recess...

Planet Rock has been brilliant listening.

Ooh yes. I haven't listened to Planet Rock for a while.

Thank you for the reminder. Escape to the planet...

We are the champions or a kind of magic?

Not the BBC but my civil service employers have just sent out an urgent message that we should not arrange site meetings with new contacts during the mourning period.......I am genuinely mystified

Perhaps meetings would be allowed in the afternoon period

Maybe you should send them a link to the official government 'mourning guidance', which seems quite reasonable, and 'keep calm and carry on', 'business as usual' stuff.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-demise-of-her-majesty-queen-...

I've been feeling uncomfortable in exactly the same way with much of the coverage. Like I'm guilty of thought-crime, and feel I have to keep it secret ....

Indeed there seems to be no obligation to do anything different.

It also seems that they would rather say "demise", rather than death; as if death is a dirty word.

I have also noticed that in the media, that people seem to think that it is somehow politer to say that someone has "passed", rather than that they have died. It is not even the usual older phrase, for someone to "have passed away", and so to me seems grammatically incorrect as well.  If you are dead, there is no covering up that you are stiff...and dead.

I would pay the license fee for bargain hunt alone

Going back to your original title, it seems to me that the royal family, in this version, is actually a BBC construct.

Not just the media. Becoming very common everyday use.

Ukraine is on the bbc apps home page, click the link and there’s another four related stories. Took two seconds. But, the bbc website is way better, a link on their home page takes you to loads of Ukraine stuff - a whole section of excellent articles. Two seconds away. 

I get that there is loads of Monarchy stuff on the home page, buts it’s hardly difficult to access the other news. 

We will all die, but they just can't say dead. Passed away, no longer with us etc.. let's just dodge the subject but have 2 weeks of enforced mourning whilst trying not to say the queen is dead, let's just move on and focus on the living. 

I didn't say there was nothing. I merely suggested it was disproportionate.

"Ukraine is one story, ninth down."

I could equally make the case that there could be one Queen story, which then has links to a lot of other Queen stories.

"Passed" seems to be US parlance.

Not more American usage.

Yet beware. I have thought that some phrases and words were of the American bent, but then found that I was incorrect. For instance the use of the word "gross", to imply disgust, was one of those usages, and yet I found it in a Thomas Hardy novel, unless he was influenced by those across the Atlantic (?).

Anyway, back to the point. The Queen is dead. Long live the people!

The coverage on R4 has now jumped the shark.

"The queen spent her last night at Buckingham Palace" "the Queen will today travel to Westminster hall"

Er no, she's dead

I think what is remarkable is the way that is very much happening in parallel with the period of mourning for the queen with the accession of the king. I am finding it fascinating.

Only it isn't, if living people are having hospital appointments cancelled, when neither the patient or staff are related to those being buried. Yes she was unique in many ways, but let's keep a sense of reality, it's not exactly disrespectful keeping somebody's appointment, I'm sure the queen wouldn't want others missing treatment for her sake. 

They dare not say dead body. It's all dodging around the reality, pass away, gone to the other side, no longer with us... or the lost someone, which is pretty rare as most know where dead relatives are. 

Yes I agree that, in that sense, it is problematical.

The BBC is now known as Mourn Hub.

Brilliant 

Another one bites the dust.

I'll get my coat...

BBC Parliament showing six hours of live coverage of the lying in state. Watching a queue move forward...

I think the idea is that people can dip in to it rather than watch all six hours.

This may have been linked before on one of the many threads. https://twitter.com/Karl_Was_Right/status/1570314755167997952

I actually put a complaint in to the BBC, seeing as I was sat on the bog at work on my phone, about how mawkish and one sided their coverage was

Sad is what it is.

It's sad, so sad
It's a sad, sad situation
And it's getting more and more absurd

Yes, we now know you're a big fan of Elton John. 

I had huge respect for his music until the early to mid 80s, during which his fall from grace and creative drought was truly terminal. His recycled Diana tribute song was the last straw and I'm not aware of any worthwhile output since then either. Such a shame, but better to have shone brightly once and lost it than never to have shone brightly at all.

Is there a correlation or causation of music stars suddenly becoming less creative, or original, when they go clean and stop using multiple substances? Many seem to have done their best work, just prior to going completely off the rails.

Yeah, I quite agree with you. Earlier stuff was groundbreaking, but as we all know once a musician reaches a commercial level, then it's a case of the label takes over. Then drivel is on tap.