Let the (Street) Party Begin: How a Very British Tradition Will Be Part of the Diamond Jubilee
Here's one class of Briton who won't be celebrating the Queen's Jubilee: motorists.
Across the country, local authorities have received close to 10,000 applications for road closures — almost double the figure for Royal Wedding street parties last year to celebrate the union of Prince William and Kate Middleton.
Even Prime Minister David Cameron will be letting his hair down as staff at Number 10 Downing Street host a street party on Sunday featuring a steel band and homemade cakes, including 'top hats' fashioned from chocolate and marshmallow.
British taxpayers can breathe a sigh of relief, as the PM's party will be funded entirely by private donations. Republican groups, who believe that the taxpayer should not be funding any Jubilee celebrations — or indeed the monarch herself — will be holding anti-Jubilee street parties in protest.
In New Cross, South East London, support for Her Majesty may be thin on the ground. A 'F**k the Jubilee' street party is planned courtesy of student group Goldsmiths Direct Action, designed, according to its Facebook event page, to offer an "alternative to the flag-waving queenie-idolizing Jubilee celebrations." Similar events will be taking place in Bristol and Brighton, the latter being organized by Brighton Uncut, part of the UK Uncut group, which campaigns against the cuts being made in the public sector, such as to the National Health Service, by the coalition government.
Describing the Jubilee as a "royal non-event," Brighton Uncut member Mark Small says they want to "celebrate community spirit." He advised: "Don't be swayed by the government trying to distract people from the very real problems their policies are creating for this country."
The signs are the many Britons are only too happy to be distracted. Annie Rainsford, who is organizing a party on her street in the London borough of Wandsworth, says that residents, many of whom were present at their last street party for the Golden Jubilee 10 years ago, are "hugely excited." Rose-tinted nostalgia for the simpler time of 1977, when street parties were held throughout the U.K. to celebrate the Queen's Silver Jubilee, may, however, be somewhat lacking. Unprecedented levels of gatecrashers have rendered their Halloween events "out of control," resulting in a wristband system being introduced for their joint Olympics-Jubilee street party, says Rainsford.
Being the head of government — or indeed, Queen — does not make one impervious to that most familiar of British fun-spoilers guaranteed to literally dampen the mood: the weather. Rain is forecast from dawn until dusk in London on the biggest street party day, Sunday, almost certainly resulting in a quintessentially British drench-fest. Elizabeth II has reigned for 60 long years but Britain's skies have rained over her people for longer still.