To ask if this is really what the queen wanted??

[MyMourningIsSadderThanYours]

Hospital appointments cancelled, funerals delayed and food banks closed. Businesses adopting ridiculous measures to prove how much they loved the queen and are mourning her. I guess, the queen can't be held responsible for the stupidity of businesses such as center parcs but didn't the media say that the event of her passing and the subsequent period of mourning were carefully planned and had her stamp of approval?

However, if she was the kind of person who would have wanted someone's medical appointment to be cancelled just because of her then doesn't that mean that she wasn't really that nice a person? In other words if she was as altruistic and service minded as we would like to think she was wouldn't she have been horrified by this circus and by what is happening apparently for the sake of mourning her passing?

And if this circus wasn't her idea then don't you think that either the royal family or the government are milking the death of an apparently not just highly respected but also beloved person purely for their advantage? Are they not going down in your esteem?

Yabu: we have to mark this historical event in as dramatic a way as possible and show in clear terms that we are in fact mourning. Besides you are not just mistaken but also very disrespectful. Off with your head.

Yanbu: yes, the proportion that this event has taken on is very worrying and it's a shame that the royal family, businesses and large parts of the country are all playing along with this populist jingoism.

The last state funeral was indeed a Saturday (30 Jan 1965)

Lots of similarities between then and what is happening now.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_and_state_funeral_of_Winston_Churchill

You'd probably need to be roughly mid-60s to remember it. The formal Royal funerals since then were elaborate affairs with processions (except cos covid) but still not on the scale of an actual State Funeral

If you had read the thread you would know why they want a day.
Because in effect they would be working a day without pay.
They are crazy for objecting to this because?

How you they be working a day without pay?
They'd be working their normal week getting their normal wage. BTW I don't work Mondays and still don't get the argument.

I agree

Any business or place of work closing is at the employer's discretion. There's no legal requirement from the UK Government that they shut at all. And the Monarch has no power to close any of them.

You'd be better off directing your ire at employers and bosses of NHS Trusts or departments. It's their decision, after all.

I'm a republican but even I think a bit of mourning is appropriate, even necessary. Shops, schools and restaurants closing down I think is fine.

But some of it has got truly ridiculous. Things like medical appointments should not have to be cancelled. There've been examples of those little coin operated children's rides in supermarkets being switched off "as a mark of respect" and bloody bike racks being "closed". British Cycling telling people not to cycle on Monday was especially hilarious, and Centre Parks telling people to piss off for one night in the middle of their holidays were particularly hilarious highlights.

It is undeniable that some have taken it way too far.

People who work part time should not get fewer benefits at work pro rata than those who work full time. It is the law.

Officially we are told businesses should decide for themselves what they do during the period of mourning. But there are published guidelines. My employer is following them. So we are not allowed to post any messages on our social media that appear congratulatory on tone as one example. So no posts saying we achieved this amazing thing today. It all has to be sombre in tone.

It is crazy. But I do think it is what the Queen wanted

The whole country has gone completely bonkers. All for a woman of unimaginable wealth that they have never met who wouldn’t give them the time of day. It’s very worrying to see how brainwashed people really are.

I agree. Also relevant is the speed with which Charles announced that William would be Prince of Wales.

The Royal Family have probably spent millions on research and professionals preparing for this event in order to achieve what you just stated.

People with critical thinking skills are usually the first ones to spot the feeling of being manipulated.

And yes, I agree. It is a manipulation.

The worrying part is that the vast majority of people do not support this.

But they are being shouted down by a much smaller slice of people.

That is what is really worrying.

^ this
The funeral would also have been planned YEARS ago imagine?

I can assure you the many I'm aware of certainly are.
People have already been waiting far longer than they should, with their quality of life severely restricted, they are in pain, and in some cases the delays are resulting in more straightforward matters becoming ever more complex.
A date for surgery is the light at the end of the tunnel. To have it cancelled is a huge blow.
I can't imagine anyone in this position or watching a family member in it could be anything other than outraged by those trusts who've made this decision.

"Any business or place of work closing is at the employer's discretion. There's no legal requirement from the UK Government that they shut at all. And the Monarch has no power to close any of them.

You'd be better off directing your ire at employers and bosses of NHS Trusts or departments. It's their decision, after all."

@DownNative as per my post at 23:37, it is absolutely not the choice of 'bosses of NHS trusts' to cancel elective work where this is happening, they just do not have the staff and facilities available to do it safely. And that is primarily due to schools and childcare settings being closed, which is clearly beyond their control. It's been hard enough scrabbling together sufficient urgent and emergency care cover for the day due to the childcare issues.

Believe me, I work with these 'bosses' - they are under enough pressure as it is to get backlogs cleared and the last thing they want to be doing is cancelling services for no good reason, but their hands are tied.

I think it was a mistake calling it a "bank holiday". If it had been labelled as a "day of mourning", people might be more understanding of cancellations

But I have huge sympathy for people affected

Due to the ongoing NHS recruitment crisis, some of our specialties are working day to day at an average of two thirds of the required workforce. So it really doesn't take much to tip everything over the edge.

Does Bank Holiday not have legal status?

Did the Bank Holiday come as a surprise to people? I've known for years that we got a BH when the Queen dies.

Yes the Queens funeral was probably planned out decades ago, when she took the thrown and revised since. When Diana died they didn't have a plan for her so adapted the plans they had for the Queen Mother.

I bet they'll be reviewing all the senior Royal funerals in the next few months.

Well I'm outraged our Camhs appointment has been pushed back a month. I'm sure people know how long you have to wait and why you're waiting. Don't blame camhs, I knew the moment it was a BH that everything would be cancelled. I'm losing half a days pay (zero hours) and my child misses this appointment.
I also think a pp makes a good point about the optics being desirable by the RF re: queues.
I also think they should have had a captain Tom style charity ready to go - all the money wasted on rotting flowers, sandwiches and Paddington Bears could have done so much good. But no, let's have a visual display of mourning instead.

Sorry if it’s already been said but I thought she’d agreed to her funeral being a national day of mourning but not that it should be a bank holiday.

I think because the Queen was crowned very young and then died very old, we have 'skipped' a state funeral somewhere in between and it feels like the process has not evolved naturally.

I definitely feel what is happening feels very disruptive, not the state events but the cancelling of operations, holidays, other people's funerals etc.

You can see that businesses don't know how to pitch themselves, what is the right level of mourning? Are we being respectful enough? Are we going too far? (Yes, Centre Parcs, you are going too far!!!!)

My council have decided not to advertise any help (like groups they run mainly for the elderly) from the queens death until after the queens funeral.

I mean how ridiculous is that, this is groups that help people keep warm,money,food.

I understand the day of her funeral but I do think people have lost all common sense.

Yes, this sort of thing - what is that about? How does that honour the Queen?

You can feel that organisations are panicking as they don't know what the right level is of doing/not doing and no one wants the Daily Mail on their case.

Somebody local to me has a copy of the newspaper from the day George 6th died and has put it on our local Facebook group. It shows the Queen saying that she wanted the country to keep going and not all stop for his funeral/mourning so I think it’s the advisors maybe that are running this show…