That Was The Week That Was 30 May-03 June
More Latin, More Europe
Welcome to that wonderful time of the year when for reasons to do with a lunar, rather than solar calendar, we take a number of days off. Forty days after Easter Sunday is inevitably a Thursday. There is no point going back to work for a Friday after the Ascension holiday, so we take what the French call le pont. And why not? Then, the Bible decrees, ten days after that we get another day, for Pentecost. That, inevitably, is a Monday, or as we like to think of it, another long weekend. The weather is on the turn, summer is on the way. You would think it was predestined.
In the UK, long before Brexit, these long weekends were ignored. Protestant work ethic and all that. But this year, this special year, and indeed this week, the week that was, Elizabeth II commemorated 70 years as monarch. That is a lot of boring meetings and speeches to sit through.
Nonetheless, whilst pretending that the UK is not jealous, a catch-up four-day long weekend was decreed, in between the days off continental Europeans enjoy. It rained for much of it, of course. Leaders from around the world sent best wishes. The new Australian prime minister, Anthony Albanese – who has just created a ministry for creating a republic – sent a message that once Australia was in a different place, but now we are equals. Equals? Equals? With Britain? Who wants to be that far back in the pack?
But what, I hear you ask, has this to do with aviation? First, of course, the school half term break and a super and unforeseen (as long as you were starting to do your foreseeing 71 years ago) led to huge, vitriolic airport chaos. The obvious problems include Brexit and no longer having staff available, but no, we must ignore Brexit.
This is the aviation angle. The war of words about Brexit between the UK government, a group so underwhelming that to suggest they have less imagination than a caravan park insults caravan parks everywhere, and the Europeans, is now at the ‘anything is possible’ stage. This includes trade wars and air blockades.
If you think that too far-fetched, consider this. This week, hoping to mix the nostalgia of the Jubilee with its flag waving, the Johnson government suggested bringing back Imperial weights and measures. Yes, ounces, pounds, acres, gills, furlongs, chains and leagues. This is so bonkers it is inspired, or at least it would be, if it had gone further. This does not go far enough! We need pounds, shillings and pence. We need the Julian, rather than the Gregorian calendar, and, most of all, we need to bring back Latin. Boris Johnson takes pride in his few Latin phrases he remembers from his 2:2 in Classics at Oxford. Finally, we will have the chance to completely re-engineer aviation (and everything else, for that matter) by using the need to translate into it to rid ourselves of the silliness.
By doing this, we will, in fact, reunite all of Europe and bring the entire system of Roman Numerals back into fashion. Who supports using Roman numerals? I for one.