With the extra bank holiday in June and the Olympics running over July and August, will summer 2012 be bad for business?
For the second year running, in two months time the people of Britain will be celebrating a gift from the Royal Family. A gift that will, at least for one long weekend in June, take our minds off the misery of the economic downturn, the pain of possible fuel strikes and of course, the ridiculous rise in the cost of a first class stamp.
Pop group and bestest buddies S Club 7 have announced, as a special treat for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee, that they are planning to reform and tour this summer as well as releasing a Greatest Hits CD. I wasn't even aware that the Queen was that big of a fan of S Club, but I suppose Reach has a catchy chorus that even royalty can't deny.
Diamond Jubilee? If you did not know, that is sixty years on the throne. Or, as she may see it, 60 years of hard work. By any definition, that is a long career. For the whole of this time, The Queen has lived by her mother's well-worn mantra: 'Never complain. Never explain.'
The Queen - a betting woman herself - has thumbed her nose at the bookies and named rank outsiders Chelmsford, Perth and a small, roped-off area in Wales called St Asaph as new cities as part of her Diamond Jubilee celebrations.
It is often said that whist people are studying at university they live in their own little 'uni-bubble', and in my opinion this is sort of true.
£36.2m a year from the Public Purse; 60 years and counting. A waste of our money, a symbol of a healthy society or a lucrative tourist attraction? What do you think?
The recent Q4 GDP numbers, while disappointing, weren't that much of a surprise given the weakness of some of the recent economic data, especially in respect to industrial and manufacturing production.
Last week the Education Secretary Michael Gove courted controversy when it emerged he strongly advocated the presentation of a taxpayer-funded yacht to the Queen, to mark the occasion of her Jubilee this summer.
January is a depressing month if you live in the northern hemisphere. Gloomy, damp, dark - and that's just the economic outlook!
I feel strongly that our celebrations should go beyond those of previous national treasures, such as Long John Silver, or Dr. Harold Shipman MD, to mark the greater achievement that being Michael Gove represents.
In the wake of Michael Gove's proposal to build a new Royal Yacht for Her Majesty the Queen to mark the Diamond Jubilee comes a certain amount of chest thumping over how much the tub's going to cost us all. T
The whole nation has rallied around Michael Gove's heroic call to buy the Queen a big yacht for her birthday. It's the only sensible thing to do. While the vast majority of sane, normal people have applauded this fabulous and necessary idea, there have been some, union types mainly, who have pooh-poohed the idea.