y66 Posted September 12, 2022 Report Share Posted September 12, 2022 The Irish Times view on Queen Elizabeth II: the illusion of permanence: The one good argument for hereditary monarchy is that a long reign sustains, through radical changes, a sense of continuity. Few figures in history can be said to have achieved this as effectively as Queen Elizabeth II. Her 70-year reign formed the bedrock beneath a series of transformations as the United Kingdom adjusted to its loss of empire and its diminished status as a world power. It entered and then eventually left the European Union. It destroyed its own industrial base and became a service economy. It experienced the rise of increasingly separate identities within its component nations. Through it all, she remained a steady and reassuring presence. With her death, we will discover how much, or how little, the notion of a “united kingdom” depended on the illusion of permanence she embodied so skilfully. It could be said with some justice that Elizabeth’s great gift was for doing, and saying, almost nothing. The Beatles caught this truth in their affectionately mocking lines: “Her Majesty’s a pretty nice girl/ But she doesn’t have a lot to say.” Yet, as we learned during her historic visit in 2011 – the first by a reigning British monarch to independent Ireland – not saying much gives what is said, and even what is merely gestured, an unusual weight of meaning. Her decision to bow towards the monument in the Garden of Remembrance to those who had fought against her ancestors, and her use of a few words of Irish at a State dinner in Dublin Castle may have been small things in themselves. But they carried a heavy freight of symbolism that, paradoxically, seemed to lift centuries of condescension and resentment off Anglo-Irish relations. That she managed all of this with dignity and seriousness gave even Irish republicans a sense of why her subjects might have regarded her, not just with devotion, but with affection. This is also, however, why her death is so unpropitious. Dignity and seriousness have been in short supply in British politics in recent years. The squandering of so much of the goodwill she helped to create in Anglo-Irish relations is just one token of a wider crisis of governance in the UK. The accession of Liz Truss as the last prime minister of a monarch whose first was Winston Churchill carries its own weight of symbolism, none of it flattering to the state of her kingdom. Britain’s last living official link to empire, to the second World War, to a former ideal of greatness, has now been broken. The figure who carried, just by virtue of her quiet endurance, the reassurance that everything in this increasingly troubled polity, was as it should be, has departed. The very longevity that made Elizabeth such a potent symbol now has its downside: no one quite knows how the idea of the UK can carry on without her. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gilithin Posted September 15, 2022 Report Share Posted September 15, 2022 Jean-Luc Godard Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pilowsky Posted September 23, 2022 Report Share Posted September 23, 2022 Hilary Mantel - of a stroke. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kenberg Posted October 4, 2022 Report Share Posted October 4, 2022 Loretta Lynn Well I like my lovin' done country style and this little girl would walk a country mile To find her a good ole slow talkin' country boy I said a country boy I'm about as old fashioned as I can be and I hope you're likin' what you see Cause if you're lookin' at me you're lookin' at country Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Winstonm Posted October 5, 2022 Report Share Posted October 5, 2022 I always thought Loretta did a fine Sissy Spacek impersonation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pilowsky Posted October 11, 2022 Report Share Posted October 11, 2022 Angela Lansbury - "All talent and no looks". 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pilowsky Posted October 28, 2022 Report Share Posted October 28, 2022 No more shakin goin on - Jerry Lee Lewis Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Winstonm Posted October 28, 2022 Report Share Posted October 28, 2022 No more shakin goin on - Jerry Lee LewisWell Great Balls of Fire Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyberyeti Posted November 8, 2022 Report Share Posted November 8, 2022 Leslie Phillips https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leslie_Phillips Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pilowsky Posted November 14, 2022 Report Share Posted November 14, 2022 Keith Levene the a few days ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyberyeti Posted November 30, 2022 Report Share Posted November 30, 2022 Christine McVie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Winstonm Posted November 30, 2022 Report Share Posted November 30, 2022 Christine McVie Tell me lies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyberyeti Posted November 30, 2022 Report Share Posted November 30, 2022 Tell me lies. Rumours she's Gone her own way Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Winstonm Posted November 30, 2022 Report Share Posted November 30, 2022 Rumours she's Gone her own wayTusk, tusk. tusk. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyberyeti Posted December 8, 2022 Report Share Posted December 8, 2022 Jet Black, one of the members of one of my favourite bands when I was a teenager https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jet_Black 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pilowsky Posted December 8, 2022 Report Share Posted December 8, 2022 Jet Black, one of the members of one of my favourite bands when I was a teenager https://en.wikipedia.../wiki/Jet_Black The golden brown drummer - maybe one of the best songs ever. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thepossum Posted December 9, 2022 Report Share Posted December 9, 2022 Jet Black, one of the members of one of my favourite bands when I was a teenager https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jet_Black One of my favourite bands of all time, especially given my age at the time Below is one of my favourite performances giving a popular TV show the treatment it deserved Some may say they gave everything the treatment it deserved Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulg Posted December 10, 2022 Report Share Posted December 10, 2022 The golden brown drummer - maybe one of the best songs ever.My wife's favourite band, who always says that they were the one punk band that could actually play. I've seen them live twice, on our first and thirtieth wedding anniversaries. My ears had recovered by the second time, but they had aged as the support band were louder. They do have a great catalogue and are used surprisingly often in film and media. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thepossum Posted December 12, 2022 Report Share Posted December 12, 2022 Many would argue they weren't a punk band but they certainly were very good musicians Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyberyeti Posted December 19, 2022 Report Share Posted December 19, 2022 Another voice of my teenage years gone Terry Hall (the Specials, Funboy three) dated Jane Wiedlin of the go-gos and wrote "Our lips are sealed" with her 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thepossum Posted December 20, 2022 Report Share Posted December 20, 2022 Another voice of my teenage years gone Terry Hall (the Specials, Funboy three) dated Jane Wiedlin of the go-gos and wrote "Our lips are sealed" with her Not possible. What is going on. These are my teenage heroesAlmost time for another Top of the Pops clipBut in absence of that and associated fond (private) teenage remembrances here is one of my favourites of theirs Seriously one of the coolest and most influential bands of my life Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kenberg Posted December 29, 2022 Report Share Posted December 29, 2022 Pelé, Brazil's 'king of soccer,' dies at 82 https://www.washingt...il-soccer-dies/ Even a sports ignoramus like me knows of this guy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyberyeti Posted December 29, 2022 Report Share Posted December 29, 2022 Pele - nothing else really to say, a bit before my time for most of his exploits Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barmar Posted December 30, 2022 Report Share Posted December 30, 2022 Even a sports ignoramus like me knows of this guyMe, too. Around the time he was big, I think I knew two things about soccer: the name Pele and an announcer shouting "Goooooooaaaaaallllll!" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyberyeti Posted December 30, 2022 Report Share Posted December 30, 2022 Also Vivienne Westwood https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vivienne_Westwood Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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