Charlie's Angles

A former management consultant and namesake to the director of several films apparently undistinguished even by James Bond standards has graciously permitted thousands of public institutions across the UK to mark the latest plonking of the Imperial Glitterhat with a resounding fuck-you to any plebs who may be feeling hard done by. John Glen, chief secretary to the Treasury, was echoing the Cabinet Office flunkey Oliver Dowden, who combines responsibility for coronatory rah-rah with co-ordinatory duties as regards the wage demands of teachers, nurses, firepersons, civil servants and sundry other nuisances. As one would expect, the magic money tree has once more magically materialised for the purpose of providing free portraits of King Charles III, "the nation's ultimate public servant," whose first sacrifice upon accession was to dispense with a few dozen household expendables. Doubtless the great British public, which groaned at the decapitation of His Majesty's worthless first namesake and rejoiced at the restoration of a spendthrift second, will endure the load with its customary patience.