As Black Rod strides down the corridor of the House of Lords into the hall that separates the Lords from the Commons. He pauses at the door of the Commons which is slammed shut in his face as part of the ceremony to remind the crown that they have no regal right to enter the Commons. The style of the clothes that are worn by the officials date back over the centuries which on the one hand seem bright and exuberant, a display of old fashioned pomp to identify the establishment from the ordinary man in the street. As a sceptic of the tiered nature of our society I find it all some -what anachronistic and out of keeping with a modern country but accept that as theatre it has its place and has no equal anywhere else in the world.
From the Queen (88), for whom this ceremony is her 61st and the Duke in his 91st year they are a remarkable couple by any measure. From the moment the royal coach sets off from Buckingham Palace to trot slowly down the Mall to the Houses of Parliament the audience, us the people are held back to show our respect for an historic set up that was never elected by the people but fostered on us by force of arms and century's of intrigue. One has to ask the question is this pageantry with its links to the past appropriate or should we project a more modern image and shift our gaze from our past. Perhaps ditching all this pomp and circumstance would be the first stage to breaking the grip of the establishment on our way of life since the production line of opportunity that begins in the private schools and feeds the civil service and the boardrooms with a certain way of thinking, from an environment closed to new blood, new ideas and wider experience.
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