Great Britain
It wasn’t hard to get into the pageantry and fun of the royal nuptials. We even made cupcakes with crowns for our token wedding celebration. Our westie mates turned up, resplendent in top hats, medals, even a wedding dress.
Food was anything English: Yorkshire pudding, trifle, cucumber sandwiches and a steak and kidney pie.
My husband rejoiced in his English connections, while I quoted our Constitution which grants the monarch certain governing powers, even above other governing levels.
Continue reading "Dust off your cucumber sandwiches, it’s time for a republic" »
Welcome to Monday at The Punch
Splitsville. Wills and Kate beware, today’s an unlucky date for British royal couples. Both Princess Margaret (the queen’s sister) and Prince Andrew (the queen’s younger son) ended their respective marriages (1972, 1992) on this day in history.
What’s on your mind? Share it here.
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Ben H says:
And how about that ‘defamation’ getting in the way of free speech (Gillard article yesterday)? One would think the truth more important than the law (just have a look at her), and that those publishing the information would prioritise accordingly. Bend the rules a little, for God’s sake! We ‘voted… Read more »
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Scarneck says:
Re: Cricket - Commiserations to the NSW Blues, A job well done Tigers Is today a public holiday in one of the larger states? - The comments seem well down on usual, or is is just a slow punchers day? Cheers. Read more »
Shortbread and crust-less sandwiches are unlikely arsenal but they’re about to be deployed by an army of angry tea drinkers in a little pocket of Great Britain this weekend and they mean business.
Tomorrow afternoon around the tables of a tiny tea shop in Cambridgeshire, little fingers will be raised in solidarity against a recent fluctuation in “coffee bars” that many fear have contributed to “the lost art of drinking tea”.
“We are losing sense of ourselves with coffee bars like Starbucks and Costa Coffee where you slurp coffee through spouts in paper cups or rushed tea in mugs or chunky cups. The whole experience of sitting down with a proper china cup and saucer and having a good natter - which of course it what used to happen - is in danger of being lost,” says Tania Baker, the owner of By Jove! Tea Rooms in Burrell who is hoping to inspire tea drinkers everywhere with her “very proper” protest that involves dressing in period costume and “taking tea”.
But it could be a very lonely little protest; according to the Telegraph British people still drink approximately 165 million cups of tea everyday and thanks to the growth of retro tea rooms, traditional tea drinking is actually “back in fashion”.
At least they won’t go hungry.
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Georginorx says:
T-Bar has high tea sometimes, but I’ve never made the effort to go- the stainless steel benches don’t seem conducive to the philosophy. Anyone know of a nice place in Adelaide to have a proper pot of tea? Read more »
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incervisiaveritas says:
Goldfinger, one of Ian Fleming’s novels about the fictional James Bond, contained this memorable line: “I don’t drink tea. I hate it. It’s mud. Moreover, it’s one of the main reasons for the downfall of the British Empire. Be a good girl and make me some coffee.” Read more »
Update: As the Times Online reported earlier this morning, Gordon Brown has since decided to resign as leader of the Labour party. Here is the full text version of his resignation speech
What if you threw an election and nobody won?
What if everybody lost?
That is exactly what’s happened in Britain where the only absolute winners from last Thursday’s election are the UK Greens who won their first seat in Parliament.
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Randal says:
Thank you for your contribution @marley and such conventions have been enshrined under British Common Law for centuries and can be traced back to the Magna Carta, the Civil War, The Restoration, The Act of the Union, Bill of Rights etc…etc… Essentially in Britain the monarch initially held all power… Read more »
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marley says:
I’ve always understood that, in the Westminster system, a government can fall when it loses either an actual “no confidence” vote , or any vote involving the budget in Parliament. I suppose you’d have to go back to the days of Robert Peel to trace the written origins of the… Read more »
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