Royal Wedding

Things have changed a huge amount since Jethro Tull camed out with "Wind Up God"... For those who haven't heared it, get thee to youtube and watch a video of it. Of course, I'm mostly referring to:
When I was young and they packed me off to school
and taught me how not to play the game,
I didn't mind if they groomed me for success,
or if they said that I was a fool.

how do you dare tell me that I'm my Father's son
when that was just an accident of Birth.

Very unsatisfactory effort by you all if I may say so. We are looking for at least 20 spanko's if you remember. The Choir Master, the Bishop of London, Mrs Middleton, The man riding on the Landau on the rear left. One of the bridesmaids although she hasn't expressed it yet. The Queen perhaps and Prince Philip by default. And what hypocrisy from the 1776 crowd. Were there not huge television screens erected in every major US city to view this spectacle. When I was a boy we were separated into teams to play games according to whether we were Roundheads or Cavaliers. This could have referred to whether you were a Royalist or a Parliamentarian in preference with regard to the English Civil War but in fact was based on whether we were circumcised or not. Well I am a Cavalier in every possible way and although my intellect is weary of the ways of this world my heart will always be a Royalist. The irony is that after a thousand years of Kings and Queens of England the only slaves left are the Royal Family; birds in a gilded cage who must perform for their subjects and who are the subjects of Parliament. They lack for nothing but have nothing but their duty to perform. Be careful what you wish for all those who envy them.

At last - the proper lens through which to view all the wedding goings-on!

I've sung that hymn numerous times here in the U.S.A. and that verse has never been included in it--I'm quite certain I'd remember if it was, and in fact I'd probably have said something to the rector and/or choirmaster about such undemocratic, elitist sentiments being expressed during a church service.

"Quite sensible people" can be indoctrinated from birth to have 'blind spots' RE particular issues, and AFAIC this sentimental claptrap about the British royal family is an obvious example... --C.K.

What about the boys old nanny and mother of one of the page boys; Tiggy Legge-Bourke?

The Italian laws on age of consent seem to be rather complicated. Normal age of consent is 14, but if it's someone with influence over the person - eg. a guardian, teacher or relative - it's 16, and if it's sex for money (which, if the girl's a hooker, it presumably was) apparently it rises to 18 - hence the under-age charge. But I'd agree, Berlusconi's sexual shenanigans, however sleazy, are far less significant than what he's doing to the Italian constitution and rule of law.

Controversial verse three! It is usually removed nowadays because I have sung it a few times in recent years and as you say that verse is no longer there! Good riddance to it! But whether we sing it or not it doesn't matter as we still excell at grovelling to our betters, as Friday's heart warming festivities show! Looking on the bright side it provided a lot of innocent pleasure to people, one of them, a very near relative of my own! As I say, I never complain!!

Yes, in Primary school I sung that and I resented it then! At about age eight I was thinking that was wrong. But that was in a Church of England (episcopalian) school. "When Adam dolve and Eve span/ Who was then the gentleman?" goes back, allegedly, to cleric John Ball in the Middle Ages, and if Nonconformist chapels sung that verse, it would have been with mental squirming, as being Nonconformist in the villages and small towns meant rejecting the automatic superior standing of the squire, lord, bishop and so on.

And then there's John Lennon's take:
"... and you think you're so clever and classless and free
But you're still f****** peasants as far as I can see."

I must have laughed and giggled for minutes over this phrase. Cavalier indeed! And as for the rest. We did put them in their place first ya know. Grin!

I stand with TEM on this one!