Buckingham Palace last night – what more need be said? God save The Queen.

ALBANY — Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said on Monday that he would support a proposal by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo to significantly curb the number of people who could be arrested for marijuana possession as a result of police stops.

Mr. Cuomo urged lawmakers on Monday to change state law to decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana in public view, an offense that critics say leads to unfair charges against thousands of people who are ordered to empty their pockets during police stops that have proliferated under the Bloomberg administration’s stop-and-frisk practice.

And SOME people think the GAA is a bit close to the IRA appreciation society;

The mother of an 11-year-old boy is angry that children at a Gaelic Athletic Club football blitz at the weekend were given medals bearing the picture of a dead IRA man. The medals given to the Under-12 boys at Galbally Pearses Club in Tyrone featured Martin McCaughey. He and IRA man Dessie Grew were shot dead by the SAS in October 1990. “It was outrageous. My son was asking what the hero did,” said the mother who did not want to be named. ”We had no warning that the medals would be dedicated to a dead IRA man.”

I am sure the GAA authorities will be issuing an apology and condemning Galbally Pearses Club. Any moment now….

In a way, Unionists have only themselves to blame for this;

Belfast City Council is set to back a plan that the Union flag should fly over the City Hall only on designated days — ending a century of tradition. The controversial issue — which will be the subject of a 16-week public consultation from June 6 — will ultimately be decided in a crunch vote by councillors on November 1.

While unionist politicians have indicated their opposition to the change of policy, there is quiet acceptance that they would lose out in the vote and the flag that has flown over City Hall since it opened its door in 1906 will come down on most days of the year. The council met last night and backed the plans to begin a public consultation. The issue was the subject of a draft independent report which recommended that the Union flag only be flown on certain days of the year, such as the Queen’s birthday, to promote good relations. A proposal that the Irish tricolour be flown alongside the Union flag was rejected as the least favourable option.

OK, here’s my view. I think that the Union Flag should be flown in line with how it is flown elsewhere in the UK, no more and no less. Vichy Unionism also has little to complain about and the usual culprits will wring their hands over this victory to Irish Nationalism. But there is another aspect to this. Belfast suffers chronic unemployment, commercial meltdown and a lack of investment. WHY are all these bozos in City Hall playing this stupid game instead of focusing on real issues? As a Belfast ratepayer, I regret paying them so much as one penny if THIS is all they can do.

My grandmother taught me that “you can’t eat flags”. She was right.

These are just some of the stunning images from yesterday’s River Pageant celebrations on the River Thames. Just amazing.

It’s quite a remarkable Jubilee weekend and the reason for me easing off the blogging chores. As I write this, the little village I am staying in prepares for the arrival of the Olympic Torch at 2.45pm.  Along the promenade, there is one vast street party being organised.  The sun is shining, the sea is an azure blue, and because the Torch arrival also coincides with the Diamond Jubilee of  Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, there are truly remarkable displays of loyalty bedecking most houses here. You can just FEEL the warmth of the people here towards The Queen, it’s truly visceral. I read Mahons tribute below and agree with it. The Queen and the Royal Family are not perfect and there are many things I would like to have seen them do differently, Pete Moore has often articulated these points. But on this day when we celebrate the Torch bearer of our British Monarchy AND the Torch bearer of the Olympic flame, I think celebration is more the order of the day.

What makes a republican Yank of Irish ancestry such as myself start to whistle Bess You is My Woman Now?  Her Royal Highness, Elizabeth II, that gracious and noble Queen.

There will always be an England.  That green and pleasant land is, despite its detractors (at home and abroad), is still a land of hope and glory.  Some say there is nothing like a dame, but I say there is nothing like a queen who has weathered the storms of private life and public life and has come out, sixty years later, with a dignity that I can only describe as majestic.  And her triumph is a shared triumph.  The subject of the Queen must mention her subjects, a people given to understatement whose contributions can not be overstated.

I think those who discount her do so out of their own agendas.  She has not always made the correct decision, but so often has.  Over sixty years in the ultimate public eye I remind her detractors that the average modern politician usually can’t make it through a week without a faux pas.  And she has been able to play the hand given her with an obvious sense of duty, remarkable sense, and undeniable legacy.

As to her enemies, well may she always frustrate their knavish tricks.   I admire her, her people and her nation.  And I raise a glass to her reign.  God Save the Queen.

A little Sunday reflection remember, we are only a single spec of dust in creation

This’ll set a cat among the pigeons.

China will move the majority of its war ships to the eastern Pacific as part of a strategy of boosting links with its North American allies, the Chinese defence secretary, has announced [...]

Speaking to an audience of military chiefs and defence officials, he said: “We will also invest – invest in cyber, invest in space, invest in unmanned systems, invest in special forces operations. We will invest in the newest technologies. And we will invest in new technology to mobilise quickly, if necessary.”

Oh hang on, did I say China?