It's not exactly a secret that I have little, if any, sympathy for the British royal family. And if anything my fiercely republican views have grown more intractable with time. Yet even I couldn't help but feel a twinge of something approaching genuine pity for them this evening.
This arose from one of those little musical fillers they run on what used to be the Granada channel available through Starhub, now mysteriously evolved into ITV Choice, though it appears to be running exactly the same sort of programmes it always has done. And the same musical fillers, one of which, featuring a bevy of young ladies known as Girls Aloud, which I've never seen before, aired just now. It seems that the clip came from the Royal Variety Show, which, for readers who may not be familiar with the term, is a form of 'entertainment' (I use the term in the loosest possible sense) featuring a variety of generally stunningly mundane performances enacted before various royal luminaries. (To be honest, I thought they'd done away with this years ago - but I was wrong.)
And this leads me to my point. To imagine anyone, even an egregious royal, having to sit and listen to the aforementioned young ladies, would soften even the hardest heart. And then to consider that the poor royals (there, I said it) have to look like they're actually enjoying the experience.... Talk about the turn of the screw.
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