Money talk, conspiracy theory and saying ‘no’ to silly season
Today marks a rather significant centenary for the UK, because it was on this day 100 years ago the House of Windsor was formed. On July 17, 1917, King George V made a Royal Proclamation that his family would be known as the House of Windsor, replacing the German name SaxeCoburg-Gotha (see page 3). pleasure to be resurrected from the spike).
However, with all the political plot twists which have been forced upon us in recent weeks and as the Brexit steamroller grinds ever forward, pulverising any sense of normality, this may be one year when the silly season stories of cows stuck in fences and talking dogs remain firmly on the spike.
As if to underline the fact, Thursday is also the closing date for nominations for the fait accompli that is the Lib Dem leadership. the past, present and future of space exploration.
Today marks the anniversary of the MH17 disaster. The Malaysia Airlines jet was a scheduled flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur when it was shot down near the Russia/Ukraine border in 2014. All 283 passengers and 15 crew died. While relations between the US and Russia remain volatile, expect the third anniversary to be particularly poignant.
On Wednesday, the Queen, accompanied by the Duke of Edinburgh, will visit Canada House to celebrate Canada’s 150th anniversary of Confederation.
On Saturday Prince George of Cambridge will turn four, so expect picture spreads in the nationals.
Swans will be in the news this week, as the annual week-long Swan Upping begins on the River Thames in London. In a tradition which is said to date back almost a thousand years, several companies of ‘swan uppers’ set off up the river, cataloguing and checking swans and signets as they go.
They are called ‘swan uppers’ because part of their job is to lift swans from the water in order to weigh them. Since the 1600s, by law, all mute swans in open water belong to the Crown, although dispensations can be given to private landowners. The Queen attended her first Swan Upping ceremony in 2009. Today, the annual swan census is used as a tool to educate schoolchildren, many of whom are invited to help with the study.