Charles, Prince of
Wales, Duke of Rothesay, Duke of Cornwall, heir apparent to Her Majesty Queen
Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth Realms, turned 65
today, making him eligible for a free bus pass and a state pension. Fortunately,
for him at least, he probably doesn’t need any further state hand-outs. Between
the Royal Tax-Avoidance Team of accountants (ref) and the fact that much of the UK is
unaccountably still locked into a ludicrously medieval mindset of feudalism, he
can already look forward to a reasonably comfortable old age, courtesy of his loyal serfs and vassals.
Meanwhile, continuing another spectacularly outmoded
tradition, the Right Honourable David Cameron, Prime Minister and First Lord of
the Treasury, stood up on his hind legs this week to address the privileged assembly of
lords, ladies and other dignitaries at the gilded tables of the Lord Mayor’s
banquet, declaring grandly that the Age of Austerity will continue (ref).
Now, we have to be a little discerning here. After all, this
materialist, class-obsessed society of ours could certainly benefit from some evenly
distributed austerity. So, if he was flagging up the end of gross corporate profiteering,
and tax-avoidance by the very rich, the end of government by a coterie of
self-serving elitist idiots, the end of monarchy, then raise your glasses.
On the other hand, he was probably just paving the way for
the next election, to show that increasing hardship for the least well-off is
all part of his grand plan for the greater good of his chums (sorry – I meant
to write for the greater good of society),
using this particularly lavish occasion with his usual unerring judgement, to show
his understanding of what it’s like with a tightened cummerbund.
No comments:
Post a Comment