Did you hear how a group of unemployed jobseekers were bussed into London to work as unpaid stewards during the Queen’s diamond jubilee celebrations last weekend and told to sleep under London Bridge before working on the river pageant? They had 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.

Nice.

Campaigner Peter Tatchell who protested the event with other Republicans writes about the lack of media balance in covering the jubilee. Oh well, no surprise there.

Whilst of course we were all happy to have two extra days off, had it been a strike for better wages or working conditions, we would have been bombarded with a stream of misinformation on how the country would never recover because of it. This past weekend we heard how this wasn’t costing us a penny. But even if the money – all £12 million of it – came from private funds (which is just not true), I can think of a whole lot of other things that money could have been used for. It’s called public need and welfare but that isn’t what the system is designed for, now is it?

Q. What’s the difference between a Victorian workhouse and workfare jubilee pageant stewardship?

A. The workhouse gave you a bed to sleep in.

Err, god save the queen?

(Via Jim H)