God Save the Spleen

The whole of Great Britain is partying like crazy. The Queen has been on the throne for seventy years, has that happened before? Parades, concerts, Britain is upside down as one royal celebration follows the next.

All of Britain? Well, in Scotland many people view the anniversary of the eternal Elizabeth with mixed feelings, to say the least. In Northern Ireland, the situation is coming to a head. Sinn Fein won the election and, as Paul McCartney once sang, “Give Ireland back to the Irish!” In Australia, the new government is considering secession from the Crown. Brexit has delivered the opposite of what the loudmouths on the island promised. Great Britain is not only felt to be shrinking. Grown xenophobia, empty shelves, lousy economic data, all better than the EU.

Johnny Rotten likes the Queen now

The royals are watching. That’s what they do best. You’re not allowed to get involved in politics, that’s a hard tradition there. Anyone who has survived the “Crown” series knows about the difficult relationship between the monarch and the government. After all, the massive appanage of the family must remain secured.

So the island celebrates its problems away for a few days, with a lot of fanfare and music. The Sex Pistols have re-released their national anthem for their jubilee. God Save the Queen, first published in 1977 for the Queen’s Silver Jubilee. Johnny Rotten once cursed her as a “fascist regime” that turns everyone into idiots and asked: “When there’s no future, how can there be sin?” Today the 66-year-old singer says he is proud of the Queen and happy that he is fine with her. From punk to aristocracy, that’s how the British go. The system catches up with everyone, even the loudest in the end.

Anarchy in Great Britain?

Johnny Rotten and his friends were completely wrong. No Future, that was a slogan that redeemed itself for the nameless, the socially displaced. It’s always like that. Life goes on. And of course there are sins. If you look at Boris Johnson, there are more and more every day. More insolence, more lies, more injustice. This prime minister also shows that punk triumphs with his hairdo. The new punks let off steam at Covid parties at 10 Downing Street.

“God Save the Queen” was the second hit by the Sex Pistols. Half a year earlier they had started with “Anarchy in the UK”. British radio stations banned the song a few days after its release. There were a lot of lawsuits, everyone against everyone. “Anarchy for the UK / It’s coming sometime and maybe” is what Johnny Rotten sang at the time and celebrated himself as the “Antichrist”. But that wouldn’t have been a bad thing these days.