#NotMyKing
Today, a man who is a year old than my dad is going to put on a hat and sit on a chair. Somehow, in doing so, he’ll cost taxpayers over £100 million. This, at a time when apparently there are more food banks than McDonald’s outlets in the UK. Food banks which are being accessed by key workers such as nurses who are striking for better pay.
I think what sticks in the throat a little is that there is no legal requirement for a coronation. As a recent series of podcasts from The Guardian showed, there’s a real public/private murkiness to royal family’s assets. They can, and probably should, have paid for it themselves.
Meanwhile, because the UK’s answer to everything is more surveillance and authoritarianism, the government has fast-tracked anti-protest legislation. This is in addition to existing powers. Lest we forget, a barrister was threatened with arrest for holding up a blank piece of paper during the ‘official mourning period’. The police officer involved claimed that he might have offended someone if he had written “Not My King” on it.
This, ladies and gentlemen, and people who identify differently, is the UK in which I, and some of you, reside. Monarchy is an anachronism. Most other European countries got rid of theirs around a century ago. It’s time to ‘retire’ ours, too.
Poster by Katherine Anteney. Photo by Sequin World.
