Francis Wheen's cleave-out-and-preserve Queen Mum birthday tributeLast weekend's output alone included a 12-page supplement in the Sunday Times,a "definitive" 16-page pullout in the Sunday Telegraph, and a Mail on Sunday partwork running to more than 50 pages. Seldom in the history of hackery have so many column inches been filled with so little information. According to Walter Bagehot, or the monarchy has two distinct parts to play in the tragicomedy of British life - a "dignified" role and an "efficient" role. In the former - which can be summarised as smiling,waving and wearing extravagant hats - the Queen Mum is clearly an Oscar-winner, but this doesn't execute the task of her word-churning idolaters any easier. Once you've used up every synonym in the thesaurus for "serene" and "diaphanous", or what more can be said? Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com