c4countdown

We deeply mourn the loss of HM Queen Elizabeth II.

May she rest in peace.

The fact this is as big as it is reflects the extent of the propaganda that helps keep social inequality in the UK so entrenched.

Phil H wrote: ↑Thu Sep 08, 2022 8:05 pm The fact this is as big as it is reflects the extent of the propaganda that helps keep social inequality in the UK so entrenched.

Too soon

A few minutes later:

The fact this is as big as it is reflects the extent of the propaganda that helps keep social inequality in the UK so entrenched.

Are we good now?

Gavin Chipper wrote: ↑Thu Sep 08, 2022 8:23 pm Are we good now?

Ugh. Were you like this when your own granny died?

Gavin Chipper wrote: ↑Thu Sep 08, 2022 8:23 pm A few minutes later:

The fact this is as big as it is reflects the extent of the propaganda that helps keep social inequality in the UK so entrenched.

Are we good now?

You have epitomised with what is wrong in today's society.
Too many people are fighting on behalf of the marginalised when in reality they are happy in most part to be left alone
When the Queen, gawd bless her, is lying in state I will wager most of the genuine people who will go to see her will be from the underclasses

As an American, I have absolutely zero idea of the "propaganda" in the UK in relation to the Queen. All I know is that she's lived a really fucking long life and I hope whoever is next in the line holds the same if not better leadership than the Queen has.

Marc Meakin wrote: ↑Thu Sep 08, 2022 8:16 pm Too soon

Marc Meakin wrote: ↑Thu Sep 08, 2022 5:40 pm My weekends fucked was going to the football

Are we gatekeeping disrespect now?

I remember at the time of Princess Diana's funeral it was pointed out that the last one of a similar prominence, Churchill's, coincided with the Fifth Round of the FA Cup. No-one even considered postponements.

I'd be prepared to bet that if the Premier League were to announce that all matches would be played as scheduled, but full refunds would be given to anyone who did not wish to attend, they would be absolutely slaughtered by the media. And about 99% of people would go to the match.

I'm no monarchist, but had a lot of respect for the queen and the dignified way she conducted herself, and it does feel like the end of an era - actually Newsthump put it pretty well

https://newsthump.com/2022/09/08/goodbye/

But the public wailing and gnashing of teeth does feel a bit OTT to me - I'd probably still stick to any plans I'd made if my own granny died, so not gonna cancel them for someone else's.

Ian Volante wrote: ↑Fri Sep 09, 2022 6:43 am

Marc Meakin wrote: ↑Thu Sep 08, 2022 8:16 pm Too soon

Marc Meakin wrote: ↑Thu Sep 08, 2022 5:40 pm My weekends fucked was going to the football

Are we gatekeeping disrespect now?

I was wearing a different hat for that thread.
Im strictly wearing my Nicholas Witchell hat here

Fiona T wrote: ↑Fri Sep 09, 2022 7:28 am I'm no monarchist, but had a lot of respect for the queen and the dignified way she conducted herself, and it does feel like the end of an era - actually Newsthump put it pretty well

https://newsthump.com/2022/09/08/goodbye/

Yeah this sums it up for me, thanks Fiona.

Marc Meakin wrote: ↑Fri Sep 09, 2022 4:23 am

Gavin Chipper wrote: ↑Thu Sep 08, 2022 8:23 pm A few minutes later:

The fact this is as big as it is reflects the extent of the propaganda that helps keep social inequality in the UK so entrenched.

Are we good now?

You have epitomised with what is wrong in today's society.
Too many people are fighting on behalf of the marginalised when in reality they are happy in most part to be left alone
When the Queen, gawd bless her, is lying in state I will wager most of the genuine people who will go to see her will be from the underclasses

I didn't realise you were a Tory? I don't think the marginalised are happy with with the growing inequality. Plus poor people are not one unit. Some will mourn the death of the Queen; some won't.

Andres Sanchez wrote: ↑Fri Sep 09, 2022 6:10 am As an American, I have absolutely zero idea of the "propaganda" in the UK in relation to the Queen. All I know is that she's lived a really fucking long life and I hope whoever is next in the line holds the same if not better leadership than the Queen has.

Well, basically whenever there's some sort of royal event, like a jubilee or a wedding, you get wall-to-wall fawning coverage from e.g. the BBC. When it was the Queen's 70th Jubilee thing, I remember they interviewed someone from some republican organiation for about two minutes and then were like "OK, that's the balance done. Let's fawn!" The tabloids are obviously even worse.

As a more general point, obviously it's sad whenever anyone dies, but the Queen is just one example of the cult of celebrity where people are overly devastated by the death of somebody they've never met. Sure, she wasn't just any celebrity - she was the head of state - but we didn't choose her and I'm not going to be told by other people who I should feel any affection for. In any case I don't feel any affection for the head of government by default, so why should it be any different for the head of state? And we have a system set up so that she's immediately replaced, so don't worry guys - we've got another one.

I think it's fine for people to be expressing their opinions - there's no such thing as "too soon". Also if some other celebrity dies, people are making jokes about it immediately so I think it would be contradictory not to allow it here. I think people have been brainwashed by the media into thinking that it's different with the Queen and that she was somehow beyond reproach, and not on the same plane as the rest of us. But that's nonsense. Her image has been carefully cultivated over years, and she was just born into a job that most people would do for half the money.

tl;dr - I'm not mourning her death but that doesn't mean I'm celebrating it either. I'm just getting in with my life, as should everyone else.

Don't insult me by suggesting I'm a tory.
I'm less angered by being called a cunt to be honest.
My vitriol is born out of the younger generation not appreciating what The Queen, Not the Monarchy had done for this country over the last 70 years.

I do think its time, however to slim down the monarchy, and stick to the heirs and their siblings not the hangers on and hopefully Andrew will have a subpoena waiting for him., although maybe wait until after the funeral.
The best thing that Charles can do is oversee a major change in the monarchy and maybe move away from the commonwealth and give all countries the chance for independence, then he can abdicate and let his son take over

Marc Meakin wrote: ↑Fri Sep 09, 2022 11:13 am Don't insult me by suggesting I'm a tory.
I'm less angered by being called a cunt to be honest.

I thought that might get you!

Apparently she might have had bone cancer.

Gavin Chipper wrote: ↑Fri Sep 09, 2022 11:37 am Apparently she might have had bone cancer.

Is that likely to be anything more than a bit of internet gossip, though? Obviously the palace is never going to actually declare what it was - they'll simply state it was "old age".

Elliott Mellor wrote: ↑Fri Sep 09, 2022 12:54 pm

Gavin Chipper wrote: ↑Fri Sep 09, 2022 11:37 am Apparently she might have had bone cancer.

Is that likely to be anything more than a bit of internet gossip, though? Obviously the palace is never going to actually declare what it was - they'll simply state it was "old age".

Most cancers end up in the bones, I would suggest she had bowel cancer and it spread to her bones

Marc Meakin wrote: ↑Fri Sep 09, 2022 3:24 pm I would suggest she had bowel cancer

What a right royal load of shit

I mean, it's not been substantiated but I just thought I'd put it out there.

Said this on the ticket- am putting it here too. RIP to the Queen- 70 years on the throne. I don't care if people are extreme royalists or completely disagree with the concept of the monarchy, but this is someone's mother, someone's grandmother, someone's great-grandmother that has lost her life. People need to show some respect- this is a huge news story for Britain. Unfortunately there's been a lot of insensitive bellends on social media today; some hardcore royalists are using it as an excuse to attack Harry and Meghan (ridiculous- whether you like them or not, the Queen was family and they will no doubt be grieving her); and some hardcore anti-monarchists are using it as an excuse to celebrate, essentially saying good riddance and that they're glad about the Queen's death (and worryingly getting hundreds of thousands of likes for it). This death has no doubt brought out the worst of users on social media, which is already a very vile environment.

This queen has overseen 15 Prime Ministers, 12 US presidents, and goodness knows how many other world leaders in her time- she passed numerous laws; was patron for hundreds of charities, even kept her political views very hush-hush, and worked right until the end- very admirable traits, a very classy lady. These social media users making these vile insensitive comments should be reprimanded, and before they cry 'what about freedom of speech bla bla bla'- with freedom of speech, comes freedom of consequence (something which a lot of these so-called "wokies" and "gammons" don't seem to realise- I hate those terms and both those sides are as bad as each other, but that's an entirely different conversation)- celebrating somebody's death, irrespective of what you believe about their class or what institution they belong to, should be punished just as severely as those making death threats to someone whilst they're still alive. Blaming others for somebody's death (of natural causes; she was a 96 year old lady) should be considered as spreading misinformation and removed immediately.

Everyone, in the country, whatever they think of the monarchy, has grown up with the Queen for the majority of their lives (and for most people, the Queen is all they've ever known) and Britain as a country will no doubt feel extremely different- there's a huge piece missing in the Royal Family now, it feels very incomplete not seeing the Queen there. She will be missed by many; most in the country will be mourning her loss; these people on Twitter (who I'd hope are just a very vocal minority) think they're being edgy by saying 'good riddance' etc, and/or trying to politicise her death (not an appropriate time at all to bring politics into it, we're already living in one of the most politically divisive times the country's ever been in) but in all truth, it's nothing but 'edgy', they're just being cunts who can't read the room. And I say this as someone who's not too fussed either way about the royals- they're just there to me, I don't particularly like them but don't particularly dislike them, I am very neutral on them (though the Queen's passing has really made me think- Britain being queenless is so surreal) but even so some of the vile messages I've read about this online today are sickening.

Now, going slightly off-topic, I see Kevin Bridges has got into a bit of a scandal about having made jokes about the Queen and people are calling for him to be "cancelled"- I think the whole 'cancel culture', 'culture war' stuff is ridiculous anyway but I saw the clip of it, and it's genuinely extremely mild- the stuff people are saying on social media is far worse- Bridges (quite lightly) didn't even make jokes about the Queen's death itself, he just joked about the circumstances surrounding it, like saying King Charles sounds like the name of a little dog (which is simply him pointing out the existence of a King Charles spaniel), by saying his show was one of the only comedy shows going ahead that night due to the news (just him simply stating a fact- a lot of gigs were cancelled), and him having a dig at the government (saying that with the way they're going, the Queen won't be the only pensioner dying this year)... no jokes were about the Queen's death in and of itself- I think he handled it tastefully- he joked about everything around that huge news, but made the right call in not joking about the Queen's death itself.

The Queen is one of those where you don't realise how much of a constant presence she was until she was gone. She was an elegant lady, always there to put a smile on the nation's face, to reassure the nation in times of panic, to converse with us through our TV screens every Christmas, even being generous enough to congratulate a cheap daytime quiz show on its milestone 5000th episode. The Platinum Jubilee this summer certainly ended up being a special send-off.

RIP Elizabeth, always queen in everybody's hearts.

Kevin Bridges by the way. Not the best quality recording but you can hear most of what he says. But I think if you're doing a comedy set on the evening of the day that the monarch's died, it would be a missed opportunity not to include her in your set in some capacity.

@Christy - you know there's an 'unfollow' button right? Your life will be much happier if you use it.

I've not seen anyone celebrating in my feeds, everything has been respectful.

Fiona T wrote: ↑Fri Sep 09, 2022 7:06 pm @Christy - you know there's an 'unfollow' button right? Your life will be much happier if you use it.

Can I use that on the Royal Family?

By the way, if you did want to see more "edgy" stuff, here is Lewis Spears's set on the Queen. There's also a Prince Philip one. I don't actually think these are that great, for various reasons, but I'm putting them on here for balance!

3 Days after Diana was killed I went to see Frank Skinner
He was funny as usual but he told a Joke about being upset by her death, mainly because he sold his shares in Interflora and bought shares in landmines.
Quite a funny joke, thinking about it now but at the time the audible groans far outweighed the nervous laughter.
He immediately admitted it was too soon and moved on.
I think Kevin Bridges wouldnt be Kevin Bridges if he didn't mention it.
Still at least it wasn't a Jimmy Carr gig

Callum Todd wrote: ↑Fri Sep 09, 2022 7:42 am

Fiona T wrote: ↑Fri Sep 09, 2022 7:28 am I'm no monarchist, but had a lot of respect for the queen and the dignified way she conducted herself, and it does feel like the end of an era - actually Newsthump put it pretty well

https://newsthump.com/2022/09/08/goodbye/

Yeah this sums it up for me, thanks Fiona.

Likewise.

I didn't either particularly dislike or particularly like the Queen as a person, but it seems quite un-Newsthump-like to say, in effect, "the people who aren't upset at the death are just pretending not to be."

As a tribute, here is a picture of the Queen from every ten years of her reign, from 1952.

1952:


1962:


1972:


1982:


1992:


2002:


2012:


2022:

That's a male skeleton and as funny as a burning orphanage

Fiona T wrote: ↑Fri Sep 09, 2022 7:06 pm @Christy - you know there's an 'unfollow' button right? Your life will be much happier if you use it.

I've not seen anyone celebrating in my feeds, everything has been respectful.

Yes, but on my Twitter feed (which I have now deactivated for a bit), I see (BLANK) liked this post- and it might be a very disrespectful post- it's not coming from the feed of people I directly follow, but those people who I directly follow have liked these horrendous tweets.

Sad that a mother/grandmother died, obviously.

I was more upset when Prince died. He was my royalty.

It is also perfectly reasonable for people to be annoyed and complain about the OTT fawning coverage and cancellation of loads of stuff.

I will happily enjoy a day of work though, albeit somewhat hypocritically.

Arrests of anti-monarchists have led to some concerns about free speech.

Gavin Chipper wrote: ↑Mon Sep 12, 2022 10:13 pm Arrests of anti-monarchists have led to some concerns about free speech.

Are we turning into Russia?

There's some more stuff here.

Gavin Chipper wrote: ↑Tue Sep 13, 2022 9:18 pm There's some more stuff here.

Mind you if you come from overseas 'Not My King is a statement of fact
Free speech is a tricky subject as you cannot spout racist or Homophobic rhetoric without being, rightly, censured so free speech isn't neccessarily' free'

Now hospital appointments are being cancelled because of the funeral. This is North Korea levels of leader worship. Absolute joke country.

Mark James wrote: ↑Wed Sep 14, 2022 10:28 am Now hospital appointments are being cancelled because of the funeral. This is North Korea levels of leader worship. Absolute joke country.

If its, a, bank holiday, why, shouldn't everyone have the opportunity to watch.
Im sure A And E staff are working

Marc Meakin wrote: ↑Wed Sep 14, 2022 2:39 pm

Mark James wrote: ↑Wed Sep 14, 2022 10:28 am Now hospital appointments are being cancelled because of the funeral. This is North Korea levels of leader worship. Absolute joke country.

If its, a, bank holiday, why, shouldn't everyone have the opportunity to watch.
Im sure A And E staff are working

It's a very late notice bank holiday and people may have been waiting for months. How much longer will they now have to wait?

Interestingly I had an appointment cancelled the other week because the machine broke and they rescheduled it for the August bank holiday.

I think the BBC should be renamed Mourn hub

In case you haven't seen it, here is Prince Charles (or whatever he's called now) losing his shit over a pen.

And here he is on Countdown!

Gavin Chipper wrote: ↑Thu Sep 15, 2022 5:11 pm In case you haven't seen it, here is Prince Charles (or whatever he's called now) losing his shit over a pen.

Not really losing his shit though, just a bit grumpy cos his mums dead and he can't grieve properly

Marc Meakin wrote: ↑Thu Sep 15, 2022 6:43 pm

Gavin Chipper wrote: ↑Thu Sep 15, 2022 5:11 pm In case you haven't seen it, here is Prince Charles (or whatever he's called now) losing his shit over a pen.

Not really losing his shit though, just a bit grumpy cos his mums dead and he can't grieve properly

Yeah it's mad how the personal grief of the Queen's immediate family is being glossed over. No wonder Charles is emotional. Even Prince Andrew getting heckled. I get it, the guy has probably done some messed up shit, but is there not a better time to point that out to him than when he's walking behind his mum's coffin ffs?

I still think it's acceptable to find the pen thing funny.

Edit - and it's not comparable with the heckling.

It's perfectly normal to be upset. When someone has been around and part of our lives for so long, it was always going to be a great shock. But the end was inevitable, if not the exact timing. But we should look at the positives. It was a great reign - sorry, this was meant for the tennis thread.

Mark James wrote: ↑Wed Sep 14, 2022 10:28 am Now hospital appointments are being cancelled because of the funeral. This is North Korea levels of leader worship. Absolute joke country.

Speaking of North Korea, I think this is brilliant. Enjoy.

Callum Todd wrote: ↑Thu Sep 15, 2022 6:51 pm Yeah it's mad how the personal grief of the Queen's immediate family is being glossed over. No wonder Charles is emotional.

This is why the monarchy should be abolished. You can't live a well-adjusted family life in full public glare. Abolish the monarchy and let the Windsor family grieve in private. This 10-day funeral isn't good for anyone's mental health. Certainly not the Nation's.

Callum Todd wrote: ↑Thu Sep 15, 2022 6:51 pm Even Prince Andrew getting heckled. I get it, the guy has probably done some messed up shit, but is there not a better time to point that out to him than when he's walking behind his mum's coffin ffs?

To be fair if you are going to heckle him that is probably the best and only chance. Andrew formerly known as Prince is unlikely to be carrying out public duties any time soon. The idea that we have to bow and scrape to these people is beyond a joke.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... offin.html

Gevin, where was you last night?.
If your sad, like me, you can go on YouTube to find it and I'm not tech savvy enough to share it but it's around 10pm yesterday

Marc Meakin wrote: ↑Sat Sep 17, 2022 7:44 am https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... offin.html

Gevin, where was you last night?.
If your sad, like me, you can go on YouTube to find it and I'm not tech savvy enough to share it but it's around 10pm yesterday

I found this video. Because it's much harder to share a YouTube link than a Daily Mail one!

There are at least 3 topics this could be posted in but why not here eh.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfr ... poor-taste

Cool, thanks.

Oh so Countdown's not on today. Poor decision from C4.

Not sure if the camerawork is fake but still
https://twitter.com/PhantomPower14/stat ... F326205856

Marc Meakin wrote: ↑Mon Sep 19, 2022 7:37 pm Not sure if the camerawork is fake but still
https://twitter.com/PhantomPower14/stat ... F326205856

That's good but I highly doubt that it actually cut away to that shot in the actual funeral footage. This is quite good I think, and I worry that this is about me. Not really. I'd completely forgotten we even had a royal family until I came back to this thread just now.

Before I let this thing drop, the main headline on the BBC news front page is "For one day, the nation stood still and said goodbye". This is the article it links to, which in the article has the headline "Queen Elizabeth's funeral: For one day, the nation stood still". But this is simply fake news from the BBC. Fake news and a bloodline superiority bias.

This is what can happen if you don't stand still
https://www.facebook.com/10006462004650 ... kNPqsoFrHp

Gavin Chipper wrote: ↑Tue Sep 20, 2022 9:22 am Fake news and a bloodline superiority bias.

To be fair, it's not even the right bloodline. According to the true bloodline, the rightful King of England is living in Australia.

Marc Meakin wrote: ↑Tue Sep 20, 2022 10:31 am This is what can happen if you don't stand still
https://www.facebook.com/10006462004650 ... kNPqsoFrHp

He got clothes-lined by a copper! Could have been worse though. Could have been clothes-lined by the undertaker.

John Garcia wrote: ↑Tue Sep 20, 2022 4:59 pm

Gavin Chipper wrote: ↑Tue Sep 20, 2022 9:22 am Fake news and a bloodline superiority bias.

To be fair, it's not even the right bloodline. According to the true bloodline, the rightful King of England is living in Australia.

Is there a true bloodline? I mean, it's all arbitrary isn't it?