UK division

We have always fondly thought of England as at least the slightly more vigilant partner when it came to preserving propriety, respecting tradition, and resisting change undertaken merely for the sake of change. A recent visit to London has made us reconsider. One of the first things to greet us was a headline in The Daily Telegraph: “Yet another Labour snub to the Queen.” Actually, there were two snubs. The first was the decision—taken by the Labour government without consulting Buckingham Palace—to drop the word “Crown” from the Crown Prosecution Service. The second snub was the decision to rename “Her Majesty’s Prison Service” the “National Offenders’ Management Service.” No, we are not making this up. In part, of course, both renamings are part of the Labour government’s not-so-subtle efforts to abolish Britain’s Constitutional Monarc ...

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