LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's Queen Elizabeth began the fourth and final day of her Diamond Jubilee celebrations on Tuesday with a solo appearance at a thanksgiving service in St. Paul's Cathedral ahead of a horse-drawn procession and a wave from Buckingham Palace.
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People thronged the streets as the 86-year-old monarch cut a somber figure in church, attending one of the few grand state occasions in her life without her husband of 64 years, after Prince Philip was taken ill with a bladder infection on Monday.
"The Queen will today face one of the crowning moments of her reign without the presence by her side of the man who for more than six decades has been her unfailing support," said the Times newspaper.
The 90-year-old royal consort will be kept under observation for a few days in a move the palace said was "precautionary", but takes some of the gloss of what is widely seen as a triumphant jubilee that has cemented the queen's popularity.
Millions have attended street parties and festivities, watched a spectacular 1,000-vessel pageant on the River Thames in London on Sunday and a concert in front of Buckingham Palace on Monday, all held in honor of Elizabeth II, the only British monarch other than Queen Victoria to have reigned for 60 years.
In a rare move, the queen, who usually only appears on TV screens for a short message on Christmas Day, will deliver a special broadcast be aired at 1700 GMT to thank the nation.
Crowds began massing in huge numbers on the wide Mall avenue towards Buckingham Palace, turning the famous road into a sea of red, white and blue, for the jubilee finale when the royal family will appear on the balcony, with a fly-past by modern and former Royal Air Force aircraft.
"Some may think this is all a bit frivolous, but it's all about spreading the love," said Aba Shanti, 41, who was wearing a red, white and blue "Union Jack" flag dress.
POMP AND PAGEANTRY
After the celebrity glitz of the pop concert, Tuesday's events were more typical of the formal displays of ceremony for which British royalty is known across the globe.
Elizabeth - dressed in a fine silk tulle outfit, embroidered with tiny mint green star-shaped flowers embellished with silver thread - arrived at Paul's Cathedral to shouts of "God save the Queen" from crowds lining the route to St. Paul's.
A trumpet fanfare played as the monarch headed into the grand Christopher Wren-designed church, making her way up the aisle past bowing and curtsying members of the congregation.
Commentators said the church service for Elizabeth, who came to the throne aged 25 in 1952, would hold particular poignancy for the queen who as titular head of the Church of England holds her religious role close to her heart.
"We are marking today the anniversary of one historic and very public act of dedication - a dedication that has endured faithfully, calmly and generously through most of the adult lives of most of us here," said Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury and spiritual leader of the Anglican church.
"We are marking six decades of living proof that public service is possible and that it is a place where happiness can be found," he told the congregation, which also heard a reading from Prime Minister David Cameron.
Afterwards the royals headed to receptions at two of the City of London's grandest buildings, Mansion House and the Guildhall, before a lunch at Westminster Hall, the oldest part of the Houses of Parliament.
With Philip absent, the queen will lead a horse-drawn carriage procession back to Buckingham Palace in a 1902 State Landau with heir-to-the-throne Prince Charles and his wife Camilla as military bands play and a 60-gun salute is fired.
Charles's sons Prince Harry and Prince William with his wife Kate, in an Alexander McQueen dress, will follow behind in other carriages.
SUCCESS AND POPULARITY
So far, the long weekend dedicated to the diamond jubilee has been a success story for the monarchy, their media team and Elizabeth personally.
Polls suggest the crown and the queen herself are more popular than they have been for decades, with one suggesting the hereditary monarch was considered far less out of touch with her people than Cameron and his ministers.
Meanwhile the younger generation of royals, especially William, Harry and Kate, have become the darlings of the British press, once notoriously hostile to the monarchy as it threatened to implode in the 1990s following marital infidelities and the death of Charles's hugely popular first wife, Princess Diana.
Republicans have been vocal in their opposition during the jubilee but have drawn few obvious signs of public backing, although they hope that apathy to the royals felt by some could turn to hostility when the queen is gone and the less popular Charles becomes king.
If nothing else, commentators said the royals had once again provided Britons, suffering through financial hardships, deep public spending cuts and rising unemployment, an excuse to forget their woes and enjoy a party.
"With the economy and one thing or another, this has just been the most fantastic celebration," said designer Sheree Charalampous, 53, who had made her own crown, strung with pearls, pictures of corgis and a portrait of the queen.
"I really think the monarchy is now back in favor again, which is wonderful. Nobody does this sort of thing like us. It has been an amazing four days, just fantastic."
(Additional reporting by Peter Griffiths; Editing by Paul Casciato)
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Source: www.msnbc.msn.com
London 2012 Olympics: Bramham last chance as selectors make their choice - Daily Telegraph Blogs
Despite its disrupted schedule, next week eventing will become the first equestrian discipline to announce its team for London 2012. Selectors ripped up their protocols after the costly wet-weather cancellations of Badminton and Chatsworth, and the further loss of a month’s worth of national competitions due to waterlogging will have played havoc with the prep of even those who privately expect to be named.
Received wisdom is that four of the five eventers will be William Fox-Pitt (exact horse t.b.d. as he has so many), Mary King (Imperial Cavalier), Nicola Wilson (Opposition Buzz) and Piggy French (Jakata, who won confidently at Houghton Hall last week), with the remaining slot between five riders. These are Lucy Weigersma (choice of three, and hoping Granntevka Prince will make up for his fall at Kentucky), Zara Phillips (High Kingdom), Francis Whittington (Sir Percival), Sarah Cohen (Treason) and Tina Cook (Miners Frolic, the 2008 bronze medallist still with a little to prove after absence due to his life-threatening colitis last year).
All run at Bramham this weekend (June 7-10) which has doubled capacity, because UK-based overseas riders are inevitably short of match practice too (incredibly, Mark Todd only got his Olympic qualifying result on NZB Grass Valley two weeks ago). Bettina Hoy, once the doyenne of the German team and who controversially lost Olympic gold in 2004 on a technicality, has an outside chance if Lanfranco TSF can produce the goods on his seasonal international debut at Bramham.
Fox-Pitt starts Lionheart at Bramham. He and Oslo are among the less experienced in Fox-Pitt’s enormous string but he is thought to favour for them for the unusual challenge of Greenwich. It would be hard to think of any other rider that is in a position to discount a Burghley and Kentucky winner (the racing-bred galloper Parklane Hawk.) But the cross-country obstacles at Greenwich will be slightly under height – as Olympics often are, for the benefit of the emerging nations – and the real test will be selecting a “handy pony” suited to the relentless turns and cambers in between.
Greenwich will undoubtedly be the twistiest cross-country ever seen at a championship. A LOCOG executive told me that if you walked directly across the Park you would cross the jumping track eight times; at Badminton the pedestrian would cross just once or twice.
In dressage, the obvious team of three, Carl Hester, Charlotte Dujardin and Laura Bechstolsheimer, are merely on tick-over, having all scored personal bests this spring. Only the fourth “courtesy” slot remains, which rider doubles as team reserve. This is between Richard Davison (Hiscox Artemis), who scored a promising 74.4% at Munich last week in the reduced Grand Prix Special test devised for London 2012, and Emile Faurie (Elmegardens Marquis), who will aim to better it at Fritzens this coming weekend. The squad will be confirmed in the first week of July.
In show jumping too, three of the quartet is popularly assumed to be decided – Ben Maher (Tripple X), Scott Brash (Hello Sanctos) and Nick Skelton (Carlo or Big Star), Skelton being the rider that Eric Lamaze also tips to succeed him on now that his own chance of a successful gold medal defence has evaporated with the death of Hickstead.
However, while last week’s Rome Nations Cup seemed mostly to rule riders out of the British jumping squad, St Gallen brought a “new” and very serious prospect into the frame.
Last October, Tim Stockdale was prone on his hospital bed, contemplating life as an invalid with three broken vertebrae. However, London 2012 spurred him to recovery and although he frightened his fans by falling off at Royal Windsor two weeks ago, with Fresh Direct Kalico Bay he jumped a double clear in the St Gallen Nations Cup, and a further two clears gave them second place in the Grand Prix.
St Gallen was an arguably more influential track than Rome, yet Stockdale showed no ring-rustiness whatsoever. He will now almost certainly contest the final observation event at Rotterdam (June 20-24). If they can reproduce even 90% of last weekend's form, the 2010 King George V Gold Cup winners cannot be over-looked.
On paper there was an impressive top league debut in St Gallen by John Whitaker’s new partner, Maximillian, in only their 13th competition start. Whitaker usually produces his own champions but, fearing the prodigious Argento might not be quite ready, he quietly purchased a half-made jumper from Sweden in December. Maximillian showed his inexperience in the first round, but visibly grew in confidence and delivered a second-round clear. Yet in the Grand Prix two days later he accrued 21 faults. Maybe fast-tracking him to the big occasion had taken its toll mentally, or maybe Maximillian just felt tired – something selectors also have to consider with the Olympic team and individual jumping contests decided concurrently over six days.
Whitaker has won 21 championship medals, but none of them as an Olympic individual, and that still grates. In 1988, his legendary Milton was prevented from travelling to Seoul by his owners. In 1980 Ryan’s Son won team and individual silver at Rotterdam but John feels this was never recognised: Rotterdam was an “alternative” Olympic event following the mass political boycott of Moscow by all show jumping nations bar 11 from the soviet bloc that would never have got within 100 yards of a podium on any other occasion. Whitaker celebrates his 57th birthday during London and much sentimentality would be attached to his participation, but it’s hard to see how even this magician can pull something out of the hat with only three weeks to a decision.
Show jumpers from the new eastern Europe are still not a major threat, by the way, despite massive investment. The Ukraine has qualified for London but this is largely a contrived operation funded by billionaire enthusiast Alexander Onyshencko. Like the Saudis, Ukraine has bought in ready-made horses – to the extent that some were seized by authorities investigating Mr Onyshekco's financial affairs and sold at public auction earlier this spring. But, unlike the Saudis, Ukraine seems to have bought in the riders as well, notably Katharina Offel and Bjorn Nagel (formerly of Germany) and Gregory Wathelet (ex Belgium). This certainly adds to the "universality" of equestrian participation at London - at the expense of proper players such as Ireland and Italy under the strict quota applied in western Europe. What this this Formula 1-style, commercial team system will do for grass roots participation in the countries is not yet clear.
Source: blogs.telegraph.co.uk
London Bridge Tests Olympic Queueing System During Jubilee - Londonist
Amid the frustrations of people struggling to get the train home after Sunday’s Jubilee pageant, what might not have been clear was that crowds at London Bridge were actually taking part in an Olympics test.
The SE1 website has photos of people queuing down Tooley Street and at the Duke Street Hill entrance, some rather unhelpful signage and a glimpse at the planned queueing system. Passengers wanting to use the tube were directed to Duke Street Hill, those wanting trains were asked to enter via the bus station main concourse and anyone wanting to leave was ushered towards Tooley Street or Joiner Street. If you use London Bridge take note: this system will be in action again this Thursday, when the station has a workday Olympics test run.
SE1 has also discovered that Olympics travel changes are still being made: a Network Rail briefing given to MPs indicated that London Bridge will likely be exit only 6-10pm on 30 July, and Southeastern services may not stop at the station to ease overcrowding. Neither measure is mentioned on the Get Ahead of the Games website which, annoyingly, has separate maps for tube and rail.
London Bridge isn’t the only station changing how it works during the games; Waterloo will have a queueing system in place for trains towards Weymouth, St Pancras will have queues for the Javelin service and you won’t be able to get to the station from the northern ticket hall, plus numerous changes to stations around Olympic venues in south east London. We can’t find information on any other stations running tests though – anyone with better information, please let us know in the comments.
Photo by The Green Odyssey from the Londonist Flickr pool
Source: londonist.com
London 2012: British High Commissioner Boosts Team Nigeria - THISDAY Live
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The British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Andrew Lloyd said he expects the Nigerian contingent to London 2012 to flourish at the Olympic Games. Lloyd delivered the message of hope during courtesy call on him by the executive of the FCT Chapter of the ...Source: www.thisdaylive.com
London 'risks being pigeon-holed as financial city' - Daily Telegraph
Brands such as Prada and Samsonite have already listed in Asia, while companies such as Manchester United and Aston Martin are understood to be looking to raise funds on markets such as Singapore. In contrast, recent IPOs in London have included Russian sugar and grain producer Rusagro, Glencore and Russian bank Nomos.
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
Call for inquiry into use of unpaid jobseekers as jubilee stewards - The Guardian
The former deputy prime minister Lord Prescott has written to the home secretary to complain about a security firm that used unpaid jobseekers to steward the Queen's diamond jubilee celebrations in London.
He said he was "deeply concerned" by the revelations, published in the Guardian on Tuesday, that up to 30 unpaid jobseekers on the government's work programme were asked to sleep under London Bridge before the river pageant on Sunday.
He is calling for Theresa May to investigate whether the company has broken the security industry's own employment standards and is urging the government to review the company's contract for the Olympics.
The firm, Close Protection UK (CPUK), has issued "sincere apologies" for what it called the "London Bridge incident", but insisted that it had not been exploiting individuals but providing work experience.
Up to 30 jobseekers and another 50 people on apprentice wages were taken to London by coach from Bristol, Bath and Plymouth on Saturday before the pageant on Sunday as part of the government's work programme.
Two jobseekers, who did not want to be identified in case they lost their benefits, later told the Guardian that they had to camp under London Bridge overnight, to change into security gear in public, had no access to toilets for 24 hours, and were taken to a swampy campsite outside London after working a 14-hour shift in the pouring rain on the banks of the Thames on Sunday.
In the letter, Prescott said the situation raised "very serious questions" about the "suitability of using private security contractors to do frontline policing instead of trained police officers" and that the company had shown a "blatant disregard for the care of its workers".
He wrote: "It is totally unacceptable that young unemployed people were bussed in to London from Bristol, Bath and Plymouth and forced to sleep out in the cold overnight before stewarding a major event with no payment.
"I am deeply concerned that a private security firm is not only providing policing on the cheap but failing to show a duty of care to its staff and threatening to withdraw an opportunity to work at the Olympics as a means to coerce them to work unpaid."
Prescott, who is running to be the elected police and crime commissioner for the Humberside police force area, ended the letter by calling for an investigation into the matter and calling for CPUK's contract for the Olympics to be urgently reviewed.
"I call on you to immediately investigate this matter and alert the Security Industry Authority to see if CPUK has breached its SIA approved contractor status.
"I believe that this could be a breach of 2.3.1(f) of the SIA approved contractor status terms and conditions of approval, which states a contractor can have approved status removed if it is 'found no longer to meet the fit and proper person criteria applied by the SIA'."
On Tuesday, Molly Prince, the managing director of CPUK, reconfirmed that a number of staff were unpaid but apologised for the fact that a number of their stewards had to sleep under London Bridge.
In a statement Prince said: "The London Bridge incident should never have happened but was to some extent outside our control, the coach drivers insisted on leaving. For this we sincerely apologise, on investigation this morning the majority of the team were happy, fed and looked after as best possible under the circumstances.
"We are not in the business of exploiting anyone," the statement added.
Speaking about those who were unpaid, Prince said: "The only ones that won't be paid are because they don't want to be paid. They want to do this voluntarily, [to] get the work experience." This was because they would no longer be able to claim jobseeker benefits if they accepted a wage for the work, she said.
Prince added that jobs could be lost if the firm's security contracts were jeopardised but she would also personally speak to everyone individually to gain feedback about the event.
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
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