London Bridge Is Falling Down

 

News is breaking as I write that the Queen’s family is gathering at Balmoral. This surely means they think she is likely to die, perhaps within hours.

Only a couple of days ago, she seemed well, accepting the resignation of Boris Johnson and the appointment of Liz Truss. Although she had a dark bruise on the back of her hand, of the sort one can get from an IV.

The very speed of this decline suggests the worst.

The death of the Queen will mean little in practical terms. But it feels deeply symbolic; especially at a time of general turmoil. I had been posting that it feels as though we are at the end of an age.