THERE is no better illustration of the irrelevance of the UK Parliament, of the rotting redundancy that Westminster has become, or of the retrograde ruination of Brexit, than the ostentatious obsolescence, anachronistic absurdity, ritualistic rigmarole, and meretricious masquerade that is the State Opening performed in all its spurious splendour.
Given that the monarch (like an impotent puppet suspended on a string) was being manipulated by the Tory government to mumble a manifesto, this chimerical charade of opulent ornamentation, garish grandiloquence, and flamboyant fanfare appeared even more pathetically pointless and utterly useless than it ordinarily would be.
READ MORE: Queen's Speech: MPs react to speech dominated by crime crackdown
At a time of unprecedented political pandemonium and constitutional upheaval, in the grip of the greatest national emergency in history, and during the nadir of the gravest crisis of the post-war era, the Tories choose to clothe their stratagems and subterfuge in a fabricated facade of thin theatricality, and the derelict and decayed Westminster Parliament fritters away an idle hour by indulging in a factitious extravaganza of ersatz embellishment and synthetic solemnity.
READ MORE: Queen's Speech 2019: Here's what you need to know
As strenuously as they strive to sustain a superficial semblance of seemliness, the Tories cannot camouflage their casuistry in a caricature of ceremonial civility, an air of antiquated and arcane artificiality, a tangled tapestry of tatterdemalion traditions, a muddled mass of moribund mores, or a frayed farrago of faded finery and fetid formalities.
The State Opening of Parliament – a self-pitying hankering after the glories of a past age, a preposterously pretentious pantomime of specious stateliness, a re-enactment of imagined imperialistic majesty – symbolises, in microcosm, the illusory idiocy, fanciful fraudulence, and vapid vainglory of Brexit.
Pierce-Patrick Hynes
Airdrie
TO state the bleedin’ obvious, other than being dragged out of the UK against our will and an end to free movement that helped reverse the terminal decline in Scotland’s population, there was next to nothing in the Queen’s Speech of any relevance to Scotland.
Law and order ... in England. Health and social care ... in England. Investment in schools ... in England. Environment policy ... in England. Westminster doesn’t set the agenda in Scotland on any of the above. Johnson’s highly domestic Queen’s Speech revolved around issues that the UK Government has little say on in Scotland – thank god!
So what is the point of Westminster in Scotland? And why was Andrew Bowie commenting on “what an exciting agenda for government the Queen’s Speech sets out?” It’s nothing to to with Andrew Bowie! He’s MP for a Scottish constituency ... remember English Votes for English Laws?
Thom Muir
via thenational.scot
READ MORE: WATCH: Joanna Cherry provides perfect summary of Queen's Speech
JUST for the sake of serving UK democracy, it is amazing that a peacetime government is planning for food and medicine shortages, social disruption, civil unrest, and the use of the army to organise matters at our sea ports.
All this to implement a marginal decision by an ill-informed and misled electorate, which is going to make us worse off. If that is what Westminster management brings us to, it has definitely had its day.
Malcolm Parkin
Kinross
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here