Queens funeral

Great morning in front of the telly, reight enjoyed that, R,I,P, Ma'am, Long live the King.

 

Can’t you leave it for one day? You’re like a Wednesday board trying to sign a certain striker on a certain day.

 

I don't think it's false whataboutery to point out that times are tight, inflation is through the roof and there's very little slack in the economy. So why cancel a working day rather than having the funeral on a Sunday?

I'm under no illusion as to whether any money saved would be spent helping the poor, but it is a bit galling for the poor to basically be told they're going to have to struggle through hardship due to economic factors when we can shut down the economy at the drop of a hat to pander to the most privileged.

 

What a procession brought shivers to my spine.

 

What an Historical day for this great Nation despite how it's being run by idiots.

 

Not really true though is it. Although the youngest is off school, all 4 of us are working today.

 

While many people will be working today I would wager more are off. For the bank holiday during the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee in June, the decline in economic output was estimated at £2.4 billion. For the Jubilee, this loss was offset by revelers spending an estimated £6 billion to boost UK hospitality and retail. Those economic gains will likely be not recur during this more sombre occasion.

 

Coverage started around 2:30 over here. I got up around 4:00 and watched from just before Her Majesty's casket was carried out of Westminster Abbey. I'm still watching as the procession arrives in Windsor. I had to ignore the buildings fire alarm for about 15 minutes around 6:45, but that's a normal occurrence here.

A beautifully choregraphed and executed ceremony. The Brits still corner the world market in Pomp & Circumstance; just ask Elgar.

 

Even if not (and there’ll have been tourists travelling in), we’re still £1.2 billion up across the two events.

 

That's one way of looking at it. Suppose the flip side is we would have be further "up" without a bank holiday today.

 

Not sure about that. Seems to me a lot more places are closed today than were in June. Reckon today has 'cost' a lot more than 2.4bn

 

Purely gauged on the reaction and response from other countries, both heads of government and their people, it's clear that Her Majesty was a significant asset for our country. Even internally, her love for Scotland has probably had a great effect on keeping the UK united, and I think Charles will continue that. Beyond that soft power and diplomacy that would surely be lost if we were to transition to a presidency, it has been clear from the past week the effect she had on the people who met met her. Everyone who told a story about their meeting with The Queen clearly deeply appreciated what it meant to meet her. From the Women's Institute to the Girl Guides to injured service personnel to all the charities of which she was a patron, she spent her life acknowledging and recognising people who had gone above and beyond in service to this country, and again, I think that magic would be lost if it was simply an elected president. A cynic is somebody who knows the cost of everything and the value of nothing. What Her Majesty did and the monarchy does is valuable, it's valuable in those relationships with other countries that transcend politics, it is valuable in what it means to people, and it clearly means a lot.

 

And as a supermarket manager I can assure you that the amount taken in extra sales over Fri, Sat, Sun and then probably Tues, far outweighs Monday's sales. Obvs there is the extra cost of everyone's extra holiday day we've been given, but there was a lot of party food and booze being sold for such a "sombre occasion"

 

I would imagine the same, anywhere that is open probably not seeing much trade either.

 

Again I would think the overall economic impact is a negative. Of course Supermarkets will see a surge as is always the case if they are shut for a day (Easter & Christmas)

 

Maybe off-topic, but I'd say that's an extreme outlier statistically, there's very few businesses open today and so having all 4 workers in a family required to work today would I'd guess be extremely rare.

If I count my close extended family up there's 16 of us and of those 2 'could' be working today, as they work in healthcare, however, neither were scheduled on shift today. Of the rest, including a couple of self employed, our workplaces are closed.

 

I bet they're all gagging for a nice cuppa tea. That's been a long day.. Can't be too solemn, 'God Save the Quing' made me LOL, as the young uns say..

 

I work in food production and our place is open as such today however a rough estimate I would say over 95% of the workforce have been given the day off and those in are so voluntarily.