I suppose I can’t let today pass without some comment on the 10th anniversary of Diana getting street pizza’d in a Paris tunnel…
…and this is it, courtesy of Saint Hairy Bob of Africa:
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In case anyone misses the message here, Paul Linford has put up five questions, and his answers, that I think are worth answering myself.
Where was I when I first found out?
Home, probably.
Can’t say I made a point of making a mental note of this, but I expect I was following my usual routine – get up, ablutions, fag, coffee, stick TV on for the news and eh viola…
What was my initial reaction?
Well that’s fucked the TV schedules for today on terrestrial – anything worth watching on cable?
Was it really Tony Blair and Alastair Campbell’s finest hour?
I suspect that for both this is yet to come and will involve one or more phrases from the following selection:- ‘death bed’, ‘myocardial infarction’, ‘pulmonary embolism’, ‘arterial spray’ (please)… you get the general idea.
As for Diana thing, both probably deserve awards for services to bulemia – all that ‘people’s princess’ stuff made me want to puke.
Did I think the Monarchy would be overthrown?
I live in perpetual hope and optimism for the day.
Oh, and is ‘overthrown’ really the right word to use? It’s not as if they’ve got any real power and authority and tempting as the idea of the rope and lamppost road to republicanism might be, I’d cheerfully accept the quiet retirement into obscurity route as an alternative – no need to be too vindictive.
Did Britain fall victim to an outbreak of mass hysteria?
Paul’s view is that, ‘It was more the case that public displays of grief became socially acceptable for the first time’.
Grief what exactly? It’s not like anyone but a very tiny minority of those determinedly inflating Interflora’s profits at the time and snivelling in the street had ever met the woman, let alone got to know her well enough to experience genuine grief.
As a expression of ‘public grief’ the reaction to Diana’s death had all the emotional verite of someone having a bit of a cry while they’re watching ET or when some kid’s pet hamster snuffs it on Animal Hospital – it was a purely vicarious thing and all the more empty for it.
As for whether it was an outbreak of mass hysteria or not, I suspect it more a case of confirming just how many sad bastards there are out there.
