IN MEMORIAM of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, 21st April 1926 – 8th September 2022. “May she rest in peace and rise in glory”.

August 2022. A ghost-ship  government. Ministers appointed in the wake of mass resignations, knowing that they may only be in post for a matter of weeks.  A looming cost-of-living crisis, fuel prices rising by the minute and inflation set to hit figures not seen for half a century.

July  2022. His `casual relationship with the truth` has finally caught up with Mr Johnson. The Prime Minister will leave Downing Street in September, but the Partymaker`s planned wedding bash at Chequers will no longer be allowed to swing. (Other  venues are available).

June. The Colour is trooped, the Birthday honours are published, Her Majesty misses Royal Ascot but appears on the balcony at BuckHouse and her platinum jubilee is celebrated throughout the length and breadth of the United Kingdom in great style.

May.  Basic Instincts from Angela Rayner on the Labour Front Bench and a baser instinct from Neil Parrish who resigns as the Member og Parliament for Honiton and Tiverton. Food and fuel prices are reaching `apocalyptic` levels according to the Governor of the Bank of England, Andrew Bailey.

March. War crimes in Crimea. A theatre sheltering hundreds of women and children is destroyed in the eastern port city of Mariupol while extraordinarily the harbour facilities remain intact.

February. A Prime Minister under siege, more goings and comings in Downing Street, a tasteless `dead cat` smear on the Leader of the Opposition and a hurried scrapping of the remaining Covid restrictions in a bid to placate the fractious Tory right.

As the song says, “When will they ever learn……?”