Back in 1977 Queen Elizabeth II celebrated her Silver Jubilee.

I remember the country being awash with Union Jacks and there were street parties everywhere.

I was 11years old at the time and remember our street party being a laugh - the funniest thing was my father and some of his friends coming back from the pub and taking over what had been up till then rather sedate proceedings.
It became chaotically hilarious.

But my most lasting memory was the advent of Punk.

During that year I left Primary School and went to a Comprehensive - the BIG school.
And at this time both me and my brother were discovering Punk.

Living on a council estate in a North East English town we were pretty late in catching up with all the new trends etc coming out of London and the other major cities.
But once we heard The Bollocks album and The Clash we were hooked.
There was a group of us on my estate, all lads and around the same sort of age, who between us somehow managed to get copies of the relatively few punk records available and we played them endlessly.
And it meant something to us.
And as young as we were we GOT IT.
Punk was about not conforming, pushing back the bounderies, being your own person and being in control of your own future and destiny.
These were people we could relate to - not like the mega rich has beens of yesteryear who didn't have a clue what it was like to be young, bored, skint and cast aside on a council estate in the middle of nowhere.

I was too young to be a part of the anti-Jubilee crowd, but I was aware of it and I got it.

And that ethos has stuck with me all these years and I still try to hold true to those values even today.

And here we are 35 years later and The Queens Diamond Jubilee is upon us.
And what have we got?
Well pretty much nothing.
As usual we have MSM hyping the Jubilee celebrations up but the reality is something quite different.
There hasn't been a single application, (the fact that you have to apply for a party is in itself a sad reflection on how society has changed for the worse in many ways), for a street party in my town and having spoken to friends from all around the UK I understand that is by no means unique or councils have received very few applications.
But there are no widescale protests planned as well.
Just nothing.
Apathy.
People see it as another day off work and a chance to either go to the pub and get pissed or have a barbie or something similar.
The vast majority of people simply don't give a toss.
And that saddens me - I can understand if people want to sing Rule Britannia and God Save The Queen at the top of their voice, I might not agree with the sentiments but I understand it and respect it.
I can understand if someone wants to protest about it and scream 'Smash the system' etc and voice their discontent about the monarchy etc.
Again, I may not agree but I certainly respect their opinion and their right and willingness to express it.
But I just can't accept this wholescale apathy and indifference to anything and everything.

This apathy is a sign of the malignance that is eating away at the very core of our society.
FFS, have some passion, have some pride, have some balls and more importantly have an opinion.
Who gives a toss what that opinion is as long as it's reasoned and considered.

People are just sitting back and accepting everything that is being done to them and appear anesthetized to events going on around them and which have a direct impact on their everyday lives.
They have been lobotomised with a diet of X Factor, Jeremy Kyle, Coronation Street, Echo Falls, pre-prepared Sunday dinners in characterless pubs and various other mind numbing bollocks.

It's a crap state of affairs when a nation is more concerned with the goings on of a sad bunch of talentless and brainless wannabees than the corruptions and hypocrisy of a bunch of self-serving, self-advancing politicians whose only considerations are one's of personal gain and advancement.

This thread was supposed to have been about the blatant hypocrisy and double standards of Baroness Warsi and most of her fellow politicians etc and the rather incestuous nature between those politicians and Civil Servants, Media, Police etc but it somehow didn't pan out that way.

I probably won't bother now, and let's face it, who cares? - Not many of us!.

I was 5 years old in 77....great days, great days.

Used to wear my "London Calling" t-shirt with pride.....back in the days where every street in our village had a float for the carnival, usualy a borrowed tractor and trailer from one of the locals.......this was before the days of hundreds of pounds insurance for each float and a ban on throwing coins onto the floats due to healthy and safety. Now what do we get? A couple of floats max, thats including the local fire engine.

Our village is having a big party, in the local footie ground i believe, and i know a few people who are giving the council the finger as far as party applications are concerned.

Didn't even Cameron say not to bother filling out stupid forms for a street party?

CX.

ETA: Oh yeah.....and every Sunday theres a nice big roast on the table......not the floor or sofa in front of The Voice.....the table.

In my opinion we have lost a sense of pride in our country....i do like the royal family and i think the thought of them being part of some elite new world order is ridiculous as other threads i have seen claim

i think you will find that many street parties and such will occur during the jubilee. a lack of applications simply means that people did not feel like informing the council of their intention to do so......not surprising considering how our councils are run these days.... and why should we need to apply for the right to celebrate.....perhaps in our own way we are standing against a system of control and saying screw you! we will not ask for permission for something that is our right.....

just a thought

prepare for many stars.
i think the lack of caring is somewhat down to the lack of hope. as things get apparently worse we either get angry or stop caring. the angry ones get locked up or killed usually.

you forgot the most brain rotting show. The only way is Essex. garbage

Great post OP and unfortunately true..

I think the balls of many have dropped off in this country and only seem to grow back when something affects a football team..

The attitude of you can strip me naked with taxes but mess with my footy team and all hell breaks loose I will never get it....

I also do not get the fawning royal worshippers either.. Although a part of me feels a sense of pride when I see millions sing Land of Hope and Glory, it quickly fades when I realise that these same people will accept the status quo no matter what it does to them.. Celebrating a family that does not give a flying monkeys about them and did nothing when previous governments stabbed every one of us in the back for their own ends...

Their self serving attitudes has seemed to leech into the whole population who only seems to care about itself making British society docile, selfish and needing a very huge kick up the arse to wake it up..

I have copied and pasted your OP to my facebook page..

I hope the words serve to wake someone up..

Like I said.. Good post Freeborn

Fantastic post...adding so I can re-read and digest later, and add something more to it beyond my short few lines here...

The apathy - it's everywhere.
People are so switched off to pretty much everything, and I blame Facebook/twitter and the endless freak of "reality" tv
It's amazing - social networking - is just plain antisocial
Reality TV - don't make me laugh, why not get out there and enjoy a bit of actual reality

Originally posted by facchino
Fantastic post...adding so I can re-read and digest later, and add something more to it beyond my short few lines here...

The apathy - it's everywhere.
People are so switched off to pretty much everything, and I blame Facebook/twitter and the endless freak of "reality" tv
It's amazing - social networking - is just plain antisocial
Reality TV - don't make me laugh, why not get out there and enjoy a bit of actual reality

Twitter and Facebook - i bloody hate them! Nothing short of technological Tourettes, people basically shouting look at me, look at me. Rise of them is one reason i secretly hope for another Carrington Event! At least that way we will have some quite time for a few months..........

Im giving this thread a shameless bump..

This deserves to be debated and not just disappear.

Which would prove the OPs point..

I did my Sociology dissertation on Youth Sub Cultures in the UK in 2000. My premise was that the Dance/Rave culture had brought an end to traditional working class youth subcultures like the Punk's, The Mods and Rockers etc. These groups identified themselves as being anti establishment and as predominantly working class.

What Rave culture brought with it was a break down of those traditional barriers between races, gender and class that separated young people in the past. It had anti establishment elements, but they weren't a core part of the movements values.

I believe as conditions decline in this country economically we will witness more anti establishment values coming through in youth culture. This is a generation that feels they have had the rug pulled from beneath their feet, these feelings will be coming through their music. I imagine there culture will be deomised by the establishment, like those of the Punk, The Mod , the Rocker.

As for the Street parties, my village is having one. But then I do live in Tory heartland, where many of the women look a bit like the queen. Unfortunately I wont be able to attend.

My problem is, I just can't really understand why in the 2012 we still have such an antiquated institution as a Monarchy. How can one Family, who on their own track record are not spectacular in any way, have been living it up for so long. Normally families who have lots of kids living off the state are pilloried in our society. I admit Liz has done a good job as head of state, but she will not live forever, then we get Charlie.

monarchy to me is like religion. I just don't get it.

People will wake up soon enough, when it starts hitting people economically. We still have more than 80% of the cuts to come and most of the cuts that have been made have yet to kick in. In my opinion we are going to witness one of the most traumatic periods in British history since the 2nd World War.