Wheels of Change

Move slower than anything else, sometimes.

Forget about the queen, in fact: abolish the monarchy, turn Britain into a dictatorship and let the Communists rule for a couple decades.

All this traditional crap will go away, the bears will live a bit longer and the Guards can go out and get a real job instead of standing around like a bunch of poofters in their fur.

Why should a senseless tradition past its time be the cause for the slaughter of wild animals?

Of course, the traditions are necessary for the well-being of the British, but perhaps they can be placated with a nice plate of bangers and mash or some corned beef.

Naked demonstrators shock guards in London

May 22 2006 at 03:15AM
London - Seventy naked demonstrators lay piled on top of each other on the steps near St Paul's Cathedral in central London on Sunday to protest the use of real bearskin in the hats of the Queen's Guard.
The animal rights activists lay in the drizzling rain for 20 minutes.
They claimed that a whole Canadian black bear is needed to produce each hat.

The Queen's Guard usually consists of Foot Guards in uniforms of red tunics and bearskins.

A spokesperson for the British defence ministry said that attempts to find an alternative to bearskin had so far proven unsatisfactory.

Synthetic materials, he explained, lose their shape and get too heavy when it rains. - Sapa-AFP