Excellent, timely work by #MikeSmall on the spiralling crisis of feudal relic that increasingly fails to bind the so-called "United Kingdom".
I enjoyed Mike's implicit nod to Betjeman's magnificent 1973 snark at "a tradition that stretches back to 1952".
https://substack.com/inbox/post/177717624
@simon_brooke Indeed, #MikeSmall does great work both as a writer and as editor of the wonderful @BellaCaledonia. Bella is one of the key forums for cerebral analysis of the independence movement and the breakup of #UKania.
I also owe Mike a huge personal debt for his gentle encouragement of my writing, including my two recent pieces on the Irish Presidential election #Aras25 #Aras2025:
https://bellacaledonia.org.uk/2025/10/24/messy-democracy-irelands-reshaped-presidency/
https://bellacaledonia.org.uk/2025/10/26/catherine-connolly-wins-the-irish-presidency-what-next/
@2legged “ Did he act with supreme entitlement, treating other people like lesser beings? Of course he did, that’s what Princes do…..he’s a feature, not a glitch of royalty”.
Listening to English commentators laud various royals for their “prompt and decisive action”, and even try to evoke sympathy for Andrew (“he must be finding this hard, William is worried about his uncle’s mental health…”) just further highlights the absurdity of Feudal Disneyland.
@OrangeMenace Yes! On what planet is 25 years of royal tut-tutting at Andrew's growing and deepening list of scandals before final defenestration either prompt or decisive?
No surprised that the state-controlled #BBC is slavishly uncritical and the right-wing press colludes in the pretence. But it's tragic that England's liberal media publishes almost no dissection of the blatant absurdities. I dint think it's even conscious self-censorship, more a cultural boundary fence of deference.
Claire McNab
Simon Brooke
Orange Menace