Monarchy in safe keeping

THE Prince of Wales’s skills as a grandfather were roundly praised by the Duchess of Cornwall yesterday as the region took the opportunity to congratulate the new Royal grandparents.

Prince Charles would be “brilliant” with the new heir to the throne, said the Duchess during the Royal couple’s visit to East Yorkshire, a view which will come as no surprise to those who remember the way in which Charles doted on the young Prince William.

Indeed, by playing a comparatively hands-on role with his own sons, the Prince of Wales broke the mould of previous Royal fathers, frequently cast as stern and remote figures with little direct involvement in their children’s upbringing.

This, of course, was merely one factor in the process whereby Charles has, carefully and subtly, helped the Royal Family to remodel its public image to reflect the way in which British society itself has evolved.

Even in the pain of his 
own family traumas, the Prince has seemed to reflect, and identify with, the problems faced by 
many of the people of modern Britain. His lifestyle may have been very different from that of his future subjects, but not his life.

Now, once again, many will feel sympathy for Charles. His evident joy at the birth of the new Prince, the third in line to the throne after himself and Prince William, will be accompanied by the knowledge that the vigour and promise of the younger generations can only prompt more questions about his own relevance.

Like the Queen herself, however, Prince Charles will entertain no serious thoughts of abdication, of stepping aside to allow the next generation its turn.

He understands that the role for which he has spent his life preparing cannot be lightly cast aside, that his duty is take on the Crown and ready it to be handed over to William and, eventually, to the new Prince born this week.

At a time when so much of Britain’s political future is mired in uncertainty and the prospect of constitutional change, the Monarchy is, more than ever, a symbol of stability and continuity. And, in the hands of the three who have been born to be King, Charles, William and the as yet unnamed baby, the confidence is that it will remain so.

Country matters: Rural needs must be recognised

THE abandonment of the countryside by the last Labour government was a scandal, but there was a grim political logic to it.

Labour’s parliamentary majority depended almost entirely on urban Britain. Its MPs had no experience of, or interest in, rural issues. The party was never going to win rural seats regardless of what it did, so why should the countryside be a priority?

The present Government has no such excuse. The Conservative Party is still the party of the shires, no matter how much that may embarrass certain members of its hierarchy.

True, it has to capture and retain urban seats if it is to have any hope of forming a majority government in 2015, but that does not mean that its rural heartlands should be abandoned. The view that the shires will always vote Tory regardless of how they are treated is as execrable as the indifference shown to rural Britain by Labour.

The fact that this view pertains, however, is graphically illustrated in a new report by MPs. The Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee paints a depressing picture in which rural households pay higher council tax bills, while their communities receive less in government grants and have access to fewer public services than their urban counterparts.

Meanwhile, beneath all this lie deeper problems of glaring economic inequalities, of younger generations forced from their villages by a shortage of housing, of consequent depopulation made worse by the lack of planning provision for new homes and businesses.

The Government’s priority, of course, is to steer Britain towards economic growth and there has been no shortage of policies with this in mind. All too often, however, they seem geared towards urban communities with little thought of their effects on rural Britain.

Until it is recognised that the countryside has entirely different characteristics to the rest of Britain – and that this must be taken into consideration when policies are being designed - this disparity will continue. The Government, however, seems reluctant to acknowledge that this unfairness even exists, never mind address it.

King of comedy

AT a time when so many honorary degrees are cast around like confetti, there will be genuine pleasure in the recognition of Leeds’s own Barry Cryer by the city’s Metropolitan University.

For here is a man whose achievements are great in both quality and quantity, who has contributed to British entertainment for more than half-a-century, whose jokes have been told by comedians from Dave Allen to George Burns and from Richard Pryor to Morecambe and Wise, and whose wit has transcended all fashions in humour during that time.

As actress June Whitfield said only this month: “Alternative comedy? There is no alternative to comedy. It is either funny or it isn’t.” And Barry Cryer remains very funny indeed.