So the #RoyalBaby has arrived. Congratulations to the Duchess of Cambridge and her husband.
Already tired of the preposterous media circus? Frustrated by the sycophancy? Here’s a constructive way of looking at the coverage:
You know how people like Michael Gove and David Starkey bang on about the importance of monarchs past? The traditionalists say that our Kings and Queens are useful milestones, markers or entry points to the wider social history.
Well, that can be true for future monarchs, too. The baby boy born today is now the perfect future milestone for discussions of the country we are making. He will likely begin his reign in the last decades of the twenty-first century. That’s precisely the kind of planning horizon we need to sensibly discuss issues like climate change, technological innovation and population control.
Want to say something about the birth of this child? Set it in future historical context.
On #RoyalBaby media coverage: let's hope at least it prompts a load of 'what will the UK be like when little XY is King?'
— Robert Sharp रॉबर्ट शार्प (@robertsharp59) July 22, 2013
Ok then… Will the public have access to his personal correspondence (whatever form that takes!) with government minsters under FoI (or equivalent legislation)?