I always liked him and saw through the hate peddled through the U.K. media over the latter part of his life and understood his sense of mischievous humour. I never met him but I rather feel like I’ve lost a favourite, if at times grumpy, old uncle.

On this side of the pond, I’ve heard reports that the flowers are in support of the Queen, who just lost her lifelong companion...

I can only try to imagine what HM is going through at this time. Certainly 99 years is a good innings, but after 74 years of marriage and a lifetime of truly shared experience the void must be overwhelming.

His passing was always going to result in the UK media indulging in saturation coverage and here the BBC went into overdrive. Dedicating one channel, fine, always going to be the case, but when BBC 1 and BBC 2 are both showing the same reports at the same time ?......that is unwarranted.

Perhaps the best report , not unexpectedly, came from C4's Alex Thomson outside Sandringham ....down to earth, pragmatic and encapsulating his life devoid of the sycophancy elsewhere.....which he commenced his report with by saying the Duke would not be impressed by.

The Guardian's obituary is equally pragmatic.

The Guardian view on Prince Philip: a man of his time | Prince Philip | The Guardian

but these are the national state-run channels ... and no competition as to the output on this occasion between them. Not surprised.

Calm seas and a safe harbour Jack.

RIP

Treading on thin ice there, any suggestion the BBC is a 'state broadcaster' is vehemently rebutted even though it is to all intent and purposes.

As for the saturation coverage, totally OTT.

I don't have a dog in the fight. I'm agnostic on the royals, a charming anachronism. But the pulling of schedules is unacceptable. I always listen to Tony Blackburn Sounds of the Sixties on Saturday morning,

did you bitch a few weeks ago when Tony took time out when his sister died?

There are times to just chill out!

Nobody would "bitch" if The Queen took a few days off following the death of her husband, however the nation didn't need to come to a stop because he has died. The news this morning is just a constant diet of royal nonsense, Aljazeera provided some proper news this morning, and there is a great deal of it about.

I like Effluent Man don't really have much of an opinion either way as regards the monarchy, it what it is, it does us no harm, and it might be no worse than were the nation to be a Republic. I did admire the Duke of Edinburgh for being something of a maverick and never being afraid to say what he thinks, if there's one good trait he has passed on to Prince Charles it is trait and both he (the Duke) and Charles have been savagely lambasted during their life for telling things as they see them. The media appear to have overlooked all Phillip's gaffs in the sycophantic coverage since yesterday lunchtime.

His is a sad loss, but for his wife and his immediate family, and to those actually knew him and they have my sympathy, we have all lost loved ones and it hurts. It's the "national mourning" I simply don't get.

But it's alright for them to simultaneously show the cross-country snooker from St Andrews or the bonk-bonk thirtay fortay from Wimbledum on both channels?

Ok - broadcasting the same programming reflecting on his life simultaneously on BB1, BB2, BBC News and cancelling the football on BBC4 is one thing - for a state broadcaster. I'm sure missing an episode of Masterchef won't do anyone any harm.

However, throughout the UK digital billboards have been taken over to display constant tributes - in many cases replacing COVID-19 public health messages.

I agree, missing the odd soap or reality TV programme is hardly going to be the end of the world, but BBC has the News Channel that it could have turned to 100% coverage, or better turn one of the entertainment channels over to it, but what they did was overkill. I wasn't aware of the digital billboard thing, that is more reminiscent of China, North Korea or The Soviet Union.

The public is very much being "told how to think" or "what to think" which isn't healthy.

These aren't my photos but I passed around 30 like this during a 30 minute journey yesterday. They're down the sides of all major roads - on boards that normally display a mix of adverts and public health messages...

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....a6d8ba2a4f.jpg
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....e26f71fec5.jpg

What it's like driving around right now - flanked by them - in case you miss one on one side...

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....a41a5ec0ee.jpg

Genuinely sad for the family, a loss especially after all these years is a hard one, but there seems to be a massive assumption by your media that all U.K.citizens are royalists.

This is a yet another example of public opinion being driven by the news organisations, rather than reflecting it, which has been an ever increasing trend over the last few years, possibly starting with the death of Diana.

Shades of NK?

“We have lost (insert well known persons name) therefore, we will have wall to wall eulogies and endless examples of their beneficence. Anyone who doesn’t fall into line is automatically suspect and a non believer”

PP lived to a ripe old age and married into the nation’s most privileged family. Of course his death should be acknowledged, but this OTT and rather sycophantic coverage is starting to become extremely tedious. There are far more important things going on in the world at this very moment. Time to move on.

Replace the architecture, and the picture with someone called "Kim" and you've got a street scene in Pyong Yang.

There's no difference whatsoever.

When the Beeb decide to do saturation coverage, irrespective of the topic, they simply go ahead regardless. And therein lies the problem. I always have been / will be a supporter of the BBC but that doesn't make them immune from warranted criticism when they decide to broadcast what they consider to be mandatory viewing. Dedicating BBC1 in memory would have been fine, likewise other channels also altered their schedules....it's broadcasting protocol after all....but filling up just about any available broadcasting time with the same reports is basically an insult to viewers.

However, we now know what to expect, albeit even more extensively covered, when the Queen passes.

Has anyone suggested yet that perhaps the pubs with gardens shouldn't open Monday as a mark of respect...? :}

If they did I can just hear Phil roaring like a wounded mastodon from the hereafter "open the f***ing pubs and have a pint - I bloody would if I could..."

I was watching one of the freeview channels yesterday morning - the programme continued but the ads were replaced by "Breaking news, go and watch the BBC News". Well, I already knew but I can imagine people screaming in horrified shock and wild surmise on possible devastating headlines such as, the Russians have dropped a bomb on New York, Boris has decreed we all be vegetarians, Tom Cruise is gay, Cliff Richard isn't gay, Adolph Hitler is alive and well and living in Surbiton, OMG!!!!!". Why not simply put up a screen that says: "Phil croaks, more info on the BBC news"?

Saturation coverage? I imagine in the dailies it will be at least page 15 till you get to any other news.

I liked him and I'll remember him fondly. Isn't that enough?

"Where DID you get that hat?" - allegedly to his wife on her coronation day... :ok:

You jest but apparently yesterday when the news broke - The Royal Horticultural Society promptly closed some of its gardens "as a mark of respect" chucking out the visitors who had booked tickets and travelled to visit.

Not kidding - they rounded up the visitors who were there and turfed them out!!

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....323f34c27b.jpg

Not only that but the important work that I am involved in relating to covid-19 was stopped in it's tracks for the day as a "mark of respect". Totally bonkers, but I suspect that other government departments reacted in the same way.

An extraordinary individual in a sobering position of power and influence, yet remained accessible and relatable to the people he served. We have been most fortunate to have been on the receiving end of his enormous generosity, and we are eternally grateful for such men that come by our way for they are few and far between. We have been blessed to have his presence in our ordinary lives and grateful of the legacy he has left behind. God speed Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.

The big difference of course, is that you have the freedom to come on here and whinge about it without being flung in jail, or worse.

That is utterly ridiculous... (in fact I'm staggered!) Lower the flag to half mast and ask people to pause and reflect awhile...

Alas, you fall short by a long margin....the Mail.

Newspaper headlines: Tributes to 'beloved' Prince Philip after a 'life of duty' - BBC News

That is certainly true, and I would never willing change that, however I just feel that in many cases, be it "enforced" silences, "mandatory" door step clapping to name but two (neither of which are of course really enforced or mandatory) we are being more and more cajoled into acting as some kind of unthinking collective.

A great comment from a Spectator reader....

"It's like the last flame of a generation of our betters, finally flickered out"

I wouldn’t worry too much. I think folk were probably complaining like this even before the time of the Roman invasion.... :hmm:

Which reminds me, when are we going to demand an apology from those dictatorial invaders from Italy, France et al?

Indeed - some other notable gardens remained open... :ouch:

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....9345542f43.jpg

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....c904e86fb4.jpg

The BBC is not state run, no matter what the right/left wing press want to tell you.

Having said that I am staggered that we still have wall to wall coverage this morning. The BBC radio channels across the UK were all broadcasting the same talking heads (well voices) simultaneously yesterday. I don't just mean the national channels either, every local channel turned into radio 5, or 4 I couldn't decide which.

So, yes I will be putting in a complaint.

Looks like the Beeb are getting so many complaints about the wall to wall coverage they have set up a dedicated complaints page.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/contact/death-...#/Notification

Just to add to the above post...

BBC flooded with complaints over Prince Philip coverage | BBC | The Guardian

It’s no worse than when the World Cup or Wimbledon dominates. I don’t like or follow either sport, but I simply find something else to do at the appropriate time, rather than complain bitterly about it.

Too many people have lost track of the real world and would prefer to sit stupefied by a glass screen.

This morning the were running a special programme again... and were pointing out that it had been requested people stay away and don’t leave flowers etc, so where were the BEEB, camped outside Windsor Castle, the one place they asked people not to go while interviewing the “I met Prince Philip 10 years ago in a lift as I was on my way to get my piles cauterised” types. Why?.........

As for blanket coverage and what people said about sport, totally agree, not wanted nor needed.. the sport used to annoy me, they would cancel shows on Two to put it on, often cancelling shows on Two that had higher viewing figures than the Sport or the Programme left running on One.

Just switch the telly off!

It's a lot worse than Wimbledon or the World Cup. Wimbledon is on two channels simultaneously, the World Cup might stretch to three (BBC1, BBC2 and ITV) but the Prince Phillip coverage was wall to wall on BBC1, BBC2, BBC News Channel and ITV, with Channel 4 doing it until early evening. Totally ridiculous, but there we have it. There are plenty of other channels these days but of course there has been next to no news coverage in the last 24 hours on the UK main channels apart from the death of the Duke of Edinburgh. Last evening and again this morning you were reliant on RT, Aljazeera and I suspect France24 for a proper news bulletin and that is unacceptable.

Maybe the lockdown is affecting some more than I thought....

TBH, I’m quite enjoying the gentle music they’re playing on R2 far more than the usual drivel spouted by certain overpaid, manic BBC radio presenters. But my life doesn’t revolve around the BBC radio and certainly not the television, even in lockdown. I’ve recently cancelled my entire Sky package after thirteen years because there’s mainly just rubbish on it anyway. I’d far rather be working in the garage or out in the garden or the countryside.

Just announced that Ginge will be attending the funeral but, predictably, Whinge will not.

What a bitter contrast between one who gave his extraordinarily long personal life in service to his monarch and country and the pussy-whipped flake whose actions have been rather contrary.

Where'd you get your telly Shy? Think mine is from the same place, you know, the place where the 'OFF' switch comes as standard.

CG