Welcome to Make-Believe Britain the land of bread, circuses and the royals |
Many are the ways by which Britain’s elites seek to promote a sense of unity and common identity. Their favoured go-to messengers in this pursuit are the royal family, who are paid handsomely to do a job that’s integral to upholding peace in the realm. You might think that this unremarkable and dysfunctional family with the broken historical timeline doesn’t deserve the millions we pay to keep them in unimaginable luxury with the largest land and property portfolio in Western Europe. Yet, the British establishment probably don’t pay them enough for the outstanding work they do in averting the nation’s gaze from the inequalities that proceed unchecked from one political administration to the next.
The BBC’s participation in this confidence trick is crucial to keeping the fix in. Over the course of any year, the state broadcaster can be relied upon to broadcast every cantrip and hobby of the Windsors. They’ll present them as hard news items laden with meaning and import. Here’s Princess Kate in Reggio Emilia in Italy to hear about early learning techniques. Quite how a very rich princess can impart any lessons she might have picked up about educating the kids remains unexplored. The BBC, though, was breathless in its admiration for Kate. This is how their Royal Correspondent described it: “What the trip to Italy soon revealed was how important her glamour and popular appeal is to the Royal Family. She is a splash of movie-star colour and it’s her face that the newspapers want to put on their front pages.
“Italians who waited to see her arrival on Thursday credited her sincerity and empathy as among the reasons they had tried to catch a glimpse of her.”
Soon, we’ll see her husband, Prince William,........