Looking through the news, as I do every morning before college commences, I inevitably read articles about Brexit, specifically the latest round of chaos over the Irish backstop. Returning to the BBC, a breaking news flash popped up at the bottom of my screen: The Duchess of Sussex is expecting a child. Immediately, Sky News, the Telegraph, even the Guardian website all had the story dominating their homepage screen.
I am very happy for the couple. I believe Harry and Meghan are a great new generation of royals, being far more liberal and open about, to take one issue, mental health and will make fine parents. Had I not been revising for my May mock exams, watching their wedding coverage would have been a key priority for me that Saturday. This did not need to be the headline news though. All other issues were pushed to the side, the BBC even beginning a live feed of the reaction and speculation, despite said baby not being due until the spring. Other stories of public interest: Brexit, foreign affairs, domestic difficulties, even pointless surveys were of secondary priority, obviously a secondary interest to the public. The same was true on television just this weekend. Princess Eugenie, ninth in line to the throne, married Jack Brooksbank (me neither), live coverage – with recorded coverage in the evening – shown on ITV. I am very happy for them too, wishing them a successful future. Though I find it slightly amusing their marriage took place in the same building as one Duke and Duchess of Sussex not so long ago, my main feeling was of desperation and frustration. I had no interest in the latest royal wedding event, partially because the member was so insignificant. Royal news will inevitably create distraction and drama. Even in 2018, with our constitutional monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, who will rightly always remain out of politics, I think we still see the family as slightly special and distant, a relic of the age of aristocracy centuries ago. With their lavish personalities, houses and first world problems, they are the perfect magnet for all the gossip websites. As someone who happens to be a monarchist but loathes our obsession with celebrities and showbiz drama, this is a difficult square to circle. I suppose I care about the family, given the Queen is the head of state, and simply prefer the constitutional monarch system to any Presidential model. Inevitably, it is harder to criticise a leader if they happen to be head of state, the main representative on the world stage. No, I realize my real opposition to the excessive, disproportionate wedding and baby coverage is the diversion it creates from other issues, a blockade from nitty gritty details. With Brexit, you may say I am having my cake and eating it, having previously argued that Brexit was a distraction from other issues. It is, but given this sad state of affairs is going to affect Europe for generations to come, news organisations have a duty to accurately report what is happening, especially as negotiations get into their final stage. Remember a fairly important story from a week ago? That report on climate change? The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reporting we have just 12 years to mitigate the effects of global warming? Yep, that’s the one, though, with its rapid descent to the bottom of the ocean, I wouldn’t have been surprised if you’d forgotten. It is just not being covered, despite the term ‘environmental refugees’ not being too far away from reality. Though I reject the extreme conservatism of some climate campaigners, failing to recognise the unbelievable benefits the Industrial Revolution and the age of Enlightenment bought to the West, it is clear that action must be taken to move away from fracking, sadly starting again in Lancashire, and towards clean renewables. I’ve just finished reading Adam Kay’s ‘This is Going to Hurt’, a collection of his diaries over six years a as junior doctor. While incredibly humourous and heart-warming at points, it openly revealed the desperation, anxiety and lack of support doctors’ face. If the doctors cannot be supported, how can they assist us in our hour of need? It is clear the NHS desperately needs more money, one welcoming element of Philip Hammond’s upcoming budget, but that is not enough. After every winter crisis in the NHS, politicians always tell us ‘never again’ will one take place. Yet has there been any debate about how we reform our NHS, keeping it in public hands while making it more effective for the 21st century, while taken place? None whatsoever. It is pleasing to know that at least one child will be safe in Britain. Whatever difficulties Harry and Meghan’s baby faces, I know it will have all the financial and social support it requires, the monarchy being more than sufficiently prepared for any horrific health issues. How sad the same cannot be said of every child in Britain, most notably over the government’s shameful rollout of universal credit. The Work and Pensions Secretary Esther McVey has herself admitted that some families will be worse off. I have no problem with the principle, making the benefits system more understandable and encouraging work. But people have been forced to rely on foodbanks, the Trussell Trust’s foodbank network distributing 1,332,952 three day emergency food supplies between April 2017 and 2018, a 13% increase on the previous year. What a disgrace. This deserves full public attention and resolute government action. Royal weddings and babies have put paid to that. The monarchy have no sign of disappearing, 68% of people believing the institution was good for Britain in 2015, 71% of adults supporting the monarchy’s existence. As the Queen passes on, opinion may change with the Prince of Wales, but I believe the enduring support for the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Sussex means it will go on and on. Yet I hope news networks think carefully, now and in the future, about which issues are of most public interest. If such royalism trivia continues to dominate the headlines, I will at least understand where republicans are coming from with their abolitionist rhetoric.
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