The Queen !!

[Viv 14]

HAVE to put this Tweet right out there as a topic !! The following is the BEST comment I have seen about The Queen:-

From Frankie Boyle:-

"After we’ve spent millions on giving the Queen a fantastic jubilee, it’d really be a bit of a bastard if she went and died on Friday night".

[MrDoovdeHaxorz 11]

Ahh yes, the MILLIONS being spent on the Jubilee (and the Olympics, though to be fair that was set up years ago), mere weeks after she gives a speech about how we ALL have to tighten our belts etc...

Not exactly a fan of the Royals, there's the argument about tourism etc but I suspect they cost us more than they bring in. At least Wills and Harry are doing their bit serving in the armed forces, have respect for them.

[DC 83]

don't have much time for it. it's just a great distraction for the tories to take the attention away from them destroying the country.

From Frankie Boyle:-

"After we’ve spent millions on giving the Queen a fantastic jubilee, it’d really be a bit of a bastard if she went and died on Friday night".

legend.

[Harkinson 11]

LOL. I was wondering what would happen if she died before the Jubilee..

[DC 83]

she'll never die.

she drinks the blood of people under 25 who the tories have driven onto the streets, you see there is a plan...

[Viv 14]

Would not surprise me!

[R94N 10]

Bunting, car flag and wing mirror cover sales up 3000%.

[Viv 14]

Why do wing mirrors need covering.

[DC 83]

21 gun salute for the queen! brap brap!!

[Harkinson 11]

This is the best picture of the Queen I've seen: http://i.imgur.com/wvrde.jpg

[TheEpicPlum 10]

I don't see the point in having a bank holiday during half term. I was very patriotic on the day of those Posh people getting married last year. I made flags, we had cake with their faces on, a British themed bbq on British plates, etc and everything, but only coz I had the day off and let's face it, I don't have much else going on in my life. This year, I couldn't really care less.

[Viv 14]

Cannot really be bothered with it either, tbh.

[cxx666 10]

Not liking the bank holidays, but thats because I detest bank/public holidays with an absolute passion regardless of the reason for them.

Quite surprised about it all to be honest, I saw a sign up on the outskirts of the city to do with a parade presumably over the weekend, I was driving at the time though so couldn't read it. I honestly thought there wouldnt be much acknowledgement of it outside of London.

[MrDoovdeHaxorz 11]

In terms of Bank Holidays... meh I can end up working Bank Holidays so makes not that much difference to me. Would rather be off, but then would also rather be out of current job and doing something with a more regular schedule.

[Viv 14]

The Diamond Jubilee concert on Monday, BBC 1, 2000 hours looks actually quite good !!

Includes actual Stevie Wonder !! Get in there !! :hahaha:

My library have a table done up in blue, white and red and are having coffees/teas + cakes on Monday afternoon. *

* I'm there.

[DarkAngelMJH 12]

I have bank holidays off so all good for me. Plus I like the Queen, we have a flag out and also some bunting up that we bought for the wedding, knew it would come in handy again some day

[Viv 14]

The thames pageant stuff ain't bad actually today, on bbc one. what a turn out of people. the queen is lovely dressed in cream.

[R94N 10]

Shame the weather wasn't that great. I bet boat fans were glued to the screen.

[MrDoovdeHaxorz 11]

I just worked a train home out of St Pancras that had people with various flags and other paraphernalia, they seemed happy enough. Better than football or cricket crowds in terms of behaviour (though most delightful train crowds I've come across yet were actually the Rugby lot).

[MrDoovdeHaxorz 11]

OK, before I was kinda ambivalent on the whole Celebrations, thinking of the cost and how little of that the RICH Royals would actually foot... then I saw this http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/jun/04/jubilee-pageant-unemployed

A group of long-term unemployed jobseekers were bussed into London to work as unpaid stewards during the diamond jubilee celebrations and told to sleep under London Bridge before working on the river pageant.

Up to 30 jobseekers and another 50 people on apprentice wages were taken to London by coach from Bristol, Bath and Plymouth as part of the government's Work Programme.

Two jobseekers, who did not want to be identified in case they lost their benefits, said they had to camp under London Bridge the night before the pageant. They told the Guardian they had to change into security gear in public, had no access to toilets for 24 hours, and were taken to a swampy campsite outside London after working a 14-hour shift in the pouring rain on the banks of the Thames on Sunday.

One young worker said she was on duty between London Bridge and Tower Bridge during the £12m river spectacle of a 1,000-boat flotilla and members of the Royal family sail by . She said that the security firm Close Protection UK, which won a stewarding contract for the jubilee events, gave her a plastic see-through poncho and a high-visibility jacket for protection against the rain.

Close Protection UK confirmed that it was using up to 30 unpaid staff and 50 apprentices, who were paid £2.80 an hour, for the three-day event in London. A spokesman said the unpaid work was a trial for paid roles at the Olympics, which it had also won a contract to staff. Unpaid staff were expected to work two days out of the three-day holiday.

The firm said it had spent considerable resources on training and equipment that stewards could keep and that the experience was voluntary and did not affect jobseekers keeping their benefits.

The woman said that people were picked up at Bristol at 11pm on Saturday and arrived in London at 3am on Sunday. "We all got off the coach and we were stranded on the side of the road for 20 minutes until they came back and told us all to follow them," she said. "We followed them under London Bridge and that's where they told us to camp out for the night … It was raining and freezing."

A 30-year-old steward told the Guardian that the conditions under the bridge were "cold and wet and we were told to get our head down [to sleep]". He said that it was impossible to pitch a tent because of the concrete floor.

The woman said they were woken at 5.30am and supplied with boots, combat trousers and polo shirts. She said: "They had told the ladies we were getting ready in a minibus around the corner and I went to the minibus and they had failed to open it so it was locked. I waited around to find someone to unlock it, and all of the other girls were coming down trying to get ready and no one was bothering to come down to unlock [it], so some of us, including me, were getting undressed in public in the freezing cold and rain." The men are understood to have changed under the bridge.

The female steward said that after the royal pageant, the group travelled by tube to a campsite in Theydon Bois, Essex, where some had to pitch their tents in the dark.

She said: "London was supposed to be a nice experience, but they left us in the rain. They couldn't give a crap … No one is supposed to be treated like that, [working] for free. I don't want to be treated where I have to sleep under a bridge and wait for food." The male steward said: "It was the worst experience I've ever had. I've had many a job, and many a bad job, but this one was the worst."

Both stewards said they were originally told they would be paid. But when they got to the coach on Saturday night, they said, they were told that the work would be unpaid and that if they did not accept it they would not be considered for well-paid work at the Olympics.

Molly Prince, managing director of Close Protection UK, said in a statement: "We take the welfare of our staff and apprentices very seriously indeed.

"The staff travelling to the jubilee are completing their training and being assessed on the job for NVQ Level 2 in spectator safety after having completed all the knowledge requirements in the classroom and some previous work experience. It is essential that they are assessed in a live work environment in order to complete their chosen qualifications.

"The nature of festival and event work is such that we often travel sleeping on coaches through the night with an early morning pre-event start – it is the nature of the business … It's hard work and not for the faint-hearted.

"We had staff travel from several locations and some arrived earlier than others at the meeting point, which I believe was London Bridge [pictured left], which was why some had to hang around. This is an unfortunate set of circumstances but not lack of care on the part of CPUK."

The company said it had spent up to £220 on sponsoring security training licences for each participant and that boots and combat trousers cost more than £100.

The charity Tomorrow's People, which set up the placements at Close Protection under the work programme, said it would review the situation, but stressed that unpaid work was valuable and made people more employable. Tomorrow's People is one of eight youth charities that were supported in the Guardian and Observer's Christmas appeal last year.

Abi Levitt, director of development services at the charity, said: "We have been unable to verify the accuracy of the situation with either the people on work experience or the business concerned.

"We will undertake a review of the situation as matter of urgency. Tomorrow's People believes strongly in the value of work experience in helping people to build the skills, confidence and CV they need to get and keep a job and we have an exemplary record going back nearly 30 years for our work with the long-term unemployed."

Camoron and his Workfare Bullshit again, being used by the Royals, how the HELL can this have been legal??? The family could have afforded to pay people properly for this if they can pay everyone who appeared at the stupid concert!!!

[kizmok 10]

I'm not a Royalist but have to thank the Queen for an extra day off today which means I can listen to Scott!

[MrDoovdeHaxorz 11]

Not all of us even get that, I have worked the entire weekend, and it's not like I even get much extra money, or that it's by choice.

Just tuned in to Scott and it's more Jubilee concert stuff that I could care less about.

That said, Rolf Harris got stopped before the end of a song... bet HE had more class than to give a middle finger like some overrated bint at the Brits did.

[Viv 14]

Saw this via jeremy vine's twitter first thing. There is 'boycott workfare' if you are involved in this stuff, a campaign online against it. in this case, this is needing to go on tv news and be questioned in parliament. thing is, the security firm involved are saying it was voluntary. Ok. Thing is, you have "training providers" behind these things. and they would see voluntary work as "opportunites", so refuse and they can sanction benefits. i have read reports of ingeus (training provider), going to charity shops where they placed people, and threatening to sanction benefits if they are late for placements, etc. of course, we are all in this together, aren't we.

[rosie_posii 10]

Frankie Boyle is amazing. I really want to go and see his tour.

[cxx666 10]

Frankie Boyle is amazing. I really want to go and see his tour.

I'd be wary, check out his DVDs first if you havent already. I wanted to go and see his "final" tour a couple years back but after seeing his second DVD I'm glad I didn't even part with money to see that, let alone the expense and effort of seeing him live.

I know someones pleasure is anothers poison but for me he went downhill very fast. Doubtful he's returned to his standard of a few years back, some of the older episodes of Mock The Week he's absolutely fantastic in.