British Queen Cancells Christmas (Party)

"Oh Glum All Ye Faithful"
The Sun (U.K.) (October 14, 2010)

"Faithful royal staff were devastated last night after the Queen axed the Buckingham Palace Christmas party in a cost-cutting drive.

"Hundreds were looking forward to the lavish bash as it is the one time they can mingle with senior Royals.

"But Her Majesty was determined to show solidarity with a nation struggling with hardship and called it off after consulting senior courtiers. One worker said: "It's the first time in memory the party's been cancelled. We're all devastated as it's a great night when everyone lets their hair down...."

From The Sun's description, the annual Buckingham Palace Christmas party sounds like the equivalent of a company's Christmas office party - at one of those companies where the boss has the good sense to let employees act like people.

The Lemming lives across the ocean, near the center of the North American continent, so this really isn't my business. Since blogging is about opinions, and I've never been particularly lacking in that commodity, here goes.

In the Lemming's opinion:

• Not throwing that Christmas party this year
  • Won't make much practical difference in the United Kingdom's economic situation
  • Does make sense, as a symbolic gesture
• Various folks will complain
  • Because the party's not going on this year
  • Because the party was thrown previous years
  • For no discernible reason

A few decades back, the White House here in America didn't turn on the lights on a Christmas tree. The country was going through a sort of energy crunch at the time. That tree was a big one - but at the time I thought it was silly to 'save energy' by not using some infinitesimal fraction of the country's electrical power.

On the other hand, silly gestures like that do make a difference. Sometimes. Maybe. At a minimum, they send the message: "Yes, I know what's going on."

The Lemming doesn't know about U.K. politics, but here in America it is a little reassuring when someone inside the beltway shows some awareness of what goes on in the rest of the country.

And that's another topic. For another blog.

Meanwhile, a little early, 'Merry Christmas.'