So who's all going...

[Gerry557]

Ive not got my invite, yet!

As its now a bank holiday I might have other plans anyway, although it wont be watching football strangely.

I hope I dont get seated next to the president of Argentina as I have relatively happy memories of my times the Falkland Islands. I suppose I could exchange a cuddly penguin with him to try and make friends.

The market will be closed too, so no need to get my phone out sneakily mid service in case I want to buy summat.

Put me next the kids, they normally lighten up proceedings

[bungeejumper]

They're gonna need a bigger bus.

BJ

[UncleEbenezer]

After covid and monkeypox ... what a splendid occasion to introduce a bigger and better plague.

[servodude]

After covid and monkeypox ... what a splendid occasion to introduce a bigger and better plague.

Do you expect much monkeypox to be spread there?
Oh! Andrew's going

[Mike4]

They're gonna need a bigger bus.

BJ

They were talking on the R4 yesterday about how much easier security is gonna be with them making all the heads of state travel to the funeral in a single bus. Then some security expert came on saying how he would not be discussing the exact arrangements in public were he to be in charge and implying the BBC should STFU about it.

From this I think we can safely infer the bus is a decoy and and all the heads of state will be turning up by some other method....

[stevensfo]

They're gonna need a bigger bus.

BJ

They were talking on the R4 yesterday about how much easier security is gonna be with them making all the heads of state travel to the funeral in a single bus. Then some security expert came on saying how he would not be discussing the exact arrangements in public were he to be in charge and implying the BBC should STFU about it.

From this I think we can safely infer the bus is a decoy and and all the heads of state will be turning up by some other method....

It would be a bit silly. All in one bus reminds me of the Hitchhikers Guide and the story of the B-Ark. Just stick 'em all in one ship, tell them how important they are and then get rid of them so the sensible people can concentrate on running the planet.


Steve

PS Which bus? If coming from Birmingham airport, they'll probably have to change at Luton or Bedford.

[bungeejumper]

Then some security expert came on saying how he would not be discussing the exact arrangements in public were he to be in charge and implying the BBC should STFU about it.

From this I think we can safely infer the bus is a decoy and and all the heads of state will be turning up by some other method....

I certainly hope so. Westminster is a rabbit warren of driveable underground tunnels that pass close to both the Commons and Westminster Abbey, and then outward in all directions. Some of them would have been used for government business in wartime, and others just for the Post Office distribution network. (Remind me to tell you some time about how I once got lost in Birmingham's PO tunnels - they go on for bloody miles, with no signposting. )

But yeah, you'd have to be pretty stupid to make this occasion such a terrorist's wet dream. When Obama flew low over our garden in 2014, on his way from Newport to Stonehenge, he travelled with two identical presidential helicopters, one of which was a decoy. Then again, maybe they were both decoys and he was in one of the Ospreys that were escorting them?

BJ

[Mike4]

Then some security expert came on saying how he would not be discussing the exact arrangements in public were he to be in charge and implying the BBC should STFU about it.

From this I think we can safely infer the bus is a decoy and and all the heads of state will be turning up by some other method....

I certainly hope so. Westminster is a rabbit warren of driveable underground tunnels that pass close to both the Commons and Westminster Abbey, and then outward in all directions. Some of them would have been used for government business in wartime, and others just for the Post Office distribution network. (Remind me to tell you some time about how I once got lost in Birmingham's PO tunnels - they go on for bloody miles, with no signposting. )

But yeah, you'd have to be pretty stupid to make this occasion such a terrorist's wet dream. When Obama flew low over our garden in 2014, on his way from Newport to Stonehenge, he travelled with two identical presidential helicopters, one of which was a decoy. Then again, maybe they were both decoys and he was in one of the Ospreys that were escorting them?

BJ

Or... he was in none of them having travelled there earlier, on the bus.

[pje16]

Queen's funeral guests: Who will - and who won't - attend
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-62890879
Guess who's not coming...no surprise

[UncleEbenezer]

Guess who's not coming...no surprise

You and me, and plebs in general (except some of those on duty, and maybe a token handful)?
Political and religious leaders of The Wrong Persuasion (except where buttering up is desired)?

[pje16]

Guess who's not coming...no surprise

You and me, and plebs in general (except some of those on duty, and maybe a token handful)?
Political and religious leaders of The Wrong Persuasion (except where buttering up is desired)?

I should have given a clue
The murderous scumbag in Russki land

[UncleEbenezer]

You and me, and plebs in general (except some of those on duty, and maybe a token handful)?
Political and religious leaders of The Wrong Persuasion (except where buttering up is desired)?

I should have given a clue
The murderous scumbag in Russki land

Erm ... that would be a Political Leader of the Wrong Persuasion, yesno?

But will some altogether nastier world leaders be coming if it's considered expedient? Perhaps from oil-rich, weapons-importing, despotic desert kingdoms, for instance?

[pje16]

But will some altogether nastier world leaders be coming if it's considered expedient? Perhaps from oil-rich, weapons-importing, despotic desert kingdoms, for instance?

Look under Putin's photo
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-62890879

[ReformedCharacter]

Look under Putin's photo
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-62890879

and a spokesperson for Russian President Vladimir Putin said he was "not considering" attending the funeral.

I'm a bit busy that day too

RC

[pje16]

Look under Putin's photo
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-62890879

and a spokesperson for Russian President Vladimir Putin said he was "not considering" attending the funeral.

RC

As if he'd be welcome

[terminal7]

So North Korea has been invited.

T7

[Mike4]

I wonder if ordinary subjects of the UK who get invited really are invited, or whether they are commanded to attend as happens with royal weddings.

A mate of mine attended the wedding of William and Kate and he tells me it was not an invitation, but a Royal Command to attend. When he looked into it he found there was no choice in the matter. He reckons had not turned up voluntarily the local fuzz would have been drafted in to arrest him, and deliver him kicking and screaming to the event.

[UncleEbenezer]

I wonder if ordinary subjects of the UK who get invited really are invited, or whether they are commanded to attend as happens with royal weddings.

A mate of mine attended the wedding of William and Kate and he tells me it was not an invitation, but a Royal Command to attend. When he looked into it he found there was no choice in the matter. He reckons had not turned up voluntarily the local fuzz would have been drafted in to arrest him, and deliver him kicking and screaming to the event.

Sorry guv, I was self-isolating with The Plague.

Surely there are enough people who knew her to make up numbers? Along with those attending for political/diplomatic reasons.