At 6pm, on 9th September 2015, the bells will be rung at St Nicolas Church in Abingdon for Queen Elizabeth II who will become the longest serving Monarch – surpassing the record of 63 years and 216 days set by Queen Victoria.
At 6pm, on 9th September 2015, the bells will be rung at St Nicolas Church in Abingdon for Queen Elizabeth II who will become the longest serving Monarch – surpassing the record of 63 years and 216 days set by Queen Victoria.
Wot, no buns?!
It would be a great excuse for buns!
I know I will get a lot of criticism for this but I absolutely hate the British national anthem It glorifies one person. It does not inspire people to have pride in the country. I would like (if I had the royal ear),r to suggest a more suitable anthem.
Some have suggested land of hope and glory. We should be proud of Britain and British goods. Other countries are fiercely patriotic but we have been persuaded not to be. We seem to be just an area of the European Union now.
wealthy woman who lives a life of opulence lives to an old age shocker – who would have thought it?
Thank God for the Queen who has been a strong, comforting, steady, calming, polite Christian presence in my life for the last 63 years and 216 days, while everything else has been uncertainty and change – and a lot of rudeness too. God bless her.
Treason Janet & Rudi ! Surely the national anthem is a song of allegiance to the monarch ? In which case I’m more than happy to sing it, What would you two prefer ? The football songs that appear every four years? Rule Britania? Jerusalem? Or something like keep the red flag flying ?
Well said John and I agree with Captainkaos 2 also.
I think that everyone who sings The National Anthem does so, not only as a tribute to an admirable woman, but also as a sign of pride in being British.
Incidentally Rudi, who works the hardest for their upkeep?…
Wayne Rooney for his staggering £365,000 per week, the dreadful Beckhams for their £350 million fortune, or a woman who has selflessly devoted her life and freedom to duty?!!!!
I know where my allegience lies!!!
Actually, the national anthem (as we now sing it) is a prayer for the monarch. If you get past verse 1 there are some contentious lines relating (at the time it was written) to Scottish politics!
Land of Hope and Glory is imperialist in tone (Wider sitll and wider may her bounds be set); I’m not sure whether the sentiment is a good one.
Jerusalem has two verses: the reply to verse 1 is No; the response to verse 2 is Fetch them yourself.
I vow to thee my country is highly questionable; it promises a love that asks no questions, which is not love but something quite different.
When you run through the possible alternatives, they are all somewhat tricky!
Guess it has to be Rule Britania then
? By the way have you all read Matt Barbers statement on the Vales position re the Syrian refugee crisis and how it will impact on the 1200 urgent housing cases currently on the Vales housing list ?
It’s on the Vales web site and worth a look
When the Ugandan Asian crisis arose all the social housing was allocated to them. Someone who had served over 20 years in the British Army retired from the service and applied for a council house. He was told he could not be allocated one as the council had been told to allocated them to the Ugandan Asians. He said UK residents are always put aside in favour of asylum seekers and he was very bitter about it.
Understandably so Janet . It’s a very touchy subject though and one certainly most “British” people avoid except the minority who would welcome “refugees” etc oblivious to the fact that the very bed rock that our country was built on is rapidly being eroded, typical were the 2000 who demonstrated on Oxford last week holding “welcome” placards, but they were less than 2% of oxfords population !
Comparisons between Rooney and the queen are spurious. The queen has never scored a single goal for the national side in her whole career.
Hands off our Maj and our fabulous anthem. I’m very proud of our country, and even prouder (is that a word)? that we have a royal family.
Long live the queen! 🙂
Yea, where were the buns? If that’s not a proud royal occasion to celebrate, then what?
Janet and Steyve
You should remember much of our history has been shaped and defined by immigration from the Celts, the Anglo Saxons, the Vikings, the Normans and more recently the colonial round. Personally I love that we come from a stable and diverse culture. Thank God we’re not in the position of these poor refugees who’ve had their countries torn to shreds, and providing housing for a small proportion of these people is a minimum level of basic compassion and decency.
Indeed Iain but only after we’ve fed and sheltered our own !
Iain, I’m not sure making comparisons with the ‘immigration’ effects of our fellow Europeans in the dark ages does your argument any favours.
Rivers of blood indeed!
We’ll put you down for 6 then Iain? Will you be taking them to church?
Why would i want to take anyone to church?
Ref steve’s comment 15 – they’re not mutually incompatible. The government should be doing both and it’s a spurious argument to say it’s an either or choice.
Old ghost – just a statement of fact – could also have talked about emigration – large swathes of America, Australia, New Zealand and Canada are populated with various generations of british economic migrants
I got a response today to a query . The relevant council does not have enough money to clear the kerbside gutters.
Ok… So very much a 1st world issue…but if there’s no money to sweep the streets…how do we spend billions of pounds to help relocate whole communities?
if I understood Mr Cameron’s announcement last week they were talking about giving some if the central government’s overseas aid budget to the councils to cover these resettlement costs, but I’m afraid I haven’t made a great study of the detail.
Iain if you bother to read Matt Barbers statement regarding the refugee crisis you will know there are over 1200 in urgent need of housing in the vale alone? in-compassionate it may be, but you can’t get a quart into a pint pot ! Just turned the news on and the first train load of 40,000. Yes 40,000 !! Entering Germany have been met by rioting and armed guards, do you want that here! In 1939 when the nazis were knocking at our door my family (and yours I suspect) took up arms and defended their/ our country, they didn’t run away, capitulate, change comes from within, how does the lament go? “They gave their today for our tomorrow” most of those making the journey to the west are fit, strong, healthy young men who could serve their country and countrymen better by staying where they are!
I doubt the rioters you refer to were the immigrants Steve.
Personally I dont feel in a position to judge whether these migrants would be better off staying where they were, but if the pass the criteria to be an asylum seeker and are prepared to endure a fairly horrific and dangerous journey, they must have come from some pretty awful circumstances, and I hope and believe out society in the UK will step up and help some of these desperate people.
You bring up the war – perhaps we should be looking to the example of brave people like Sir Nicholas Winterton who helped resettle many jewish children fleeing persecution from the Nazis.
There is no comparison between the Jewish persecution carried out by the Natzis and the Syrian crisis, for a start at that point in time the Jews had no nation to flee from! Saladine put paid to that several. Centuries before
The rioting is being carried out as we speak by Germans opposed to the influx!
Perhaps you ought to join Jeremy Corbyns lot in Oxford council ? Remember they’re the lot that banned Christmas trees from council buildings and wanted to rename Christmas decorations “winter lights”
I can assure you Steve I have no desire to join Jeremy Corbyn in his quest for economic ruin – I don’t share your view that being a Conservative means you need to be against supporting people fleeing tyranny (and be under no illusion than Syria is anything other than that). Fortunately the party leadership seems to share my view rather tham yours.
Perhaps you’d like to go and march with Farage and his swivel eyed cronies!
I disagree with your point about the Jews. The people Nicolas Winterton rescued did have a nation – it was called Germany – would you have had them stay there?
As per usual Iain you’re missing (and misconstruing) my point? We all know that Syria is a failed state with Assad and the ruling Baath party, ISL and the Kurds all wanting victory of some sort, however surely it’s not enough to provide a safe haven for its unfortunate inhabitants without tackling the route cause? You said you share Cameron’s views ? But just what are they? To send a drone to kill an individual just because the Attorney General says its justifiable self defence is punitive to say the least, the murdering, horrific executions,etc etc are, and will continue., for sure offer help to those suffering the effects, but on an interim basis, have a repatriation programme in place for a start, we can’t accommodate the worlds less blessed !
I fully understand your point – i just dont agree with it.
And there we must beg to differ and take no more of this excellent blogs space, over and out !
… The London Arms Fair takes place soon, hosted by our government, in your name. How many weapons of mass killing will we sell that will end up causing people to flee their homes and end up seeking refuge in the UK?
It would almost be funny…. if it wasn’t so sickening.