What can the National Weather Service, a sex shop and the Bank of England have in common? In the midst of respect for national mourning, but also in the desire to honor Queen Elizabeth II, who died last Thursday (8), in the eyes of some Britons perhaps these institutions have gone a little further than expected.
The Met Office, the UK’s official meteorological service, has made a decision that can be described as more realistic than the king. The agency announced that it would suspend part of the temperature disclosure bulletins to show respect to the queen. “We are saddened by the passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. Our thoughts are with her family and all those affected by the news,” the statement read.
The information surprised many British people, who spoke out on Twitter. “This is not a sign of respect. It is a failure of the public service. All services must stand,” wrote Teresa Bridgeman. “Cancelling the time is the right step to take. It’s what she would like to see happen,” joked Frances Weetman.
The Met Office soon backtracked with explanations, saying it had been misunderstood. “As a symbol of respect during this period of national mourning, we will only release the daily forecast and safety warnings,” he tweeted, then rectified himself a second time.
“The use of the word ‘daily’ may have given the false impression that we will only publish once a day. It was always our intention to provide forecasts and warnings about the following days, several times a day. It is correct in this moment of sadness to pause other content non-operational. Sorry for the confusion.”
On the streets, it seems that it was part of the London Bridge operation, a plan with all the procedures to be adopted after the Queen’s death, asking British stores to turn down the volume of music in their environments. On Friday (9), the report found the complete absence of music or radio in many of the stores in the Buckingham Palace area, including Zara near Victoria Station.
But the erotica store Ann Summers found that little. She included a photo of the sovereign on her website with the text “Rest in peace, Queen Elizabeth II 1926-2022. Thank you, Your Majesty.” And just below the young Elizabeth is a series of female erotic products that make the tribute a bit bizarre.
Another surprising step was taken by the Bank of England, which serves as the Central Bank of the United Kingdom. On the day the queen died, interest rates were expected to rise to 2.25%, the highest rate in 14 years. But the house canceled the meeting and decided to wait for the next one, two weeks later, on September 22.
Last month, the bank had already raised interest rates by 0.5 percentage point after one of those meetings, which had not happened since 1995 — analysts expect the next one to be 0.5 point again.
The increase seeks to tackle inflation and keep prices under control. Higher interest rates mean less borrowing and less money to spend, fighting higher prices. But it is debated how effective this would be when the crisis is global, caused mainly by the War in Ukraine. Economists suggest the UK will enter a recession later this year.
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