This week, to some of you I'm going to come across as an unpatriotic grump, whereas to others I'll come across as a guy that speaks a lot of sense, so without fu rther ado, let me introduce this week's topic – the birth and hysteria surrounding the royal baby.
Before we start, let me go on record as saying I love England. It is and always will be my home, but everything that has happened over the past few weeks surrounding the birth of Prince George Alexander Louis Windsor has been a little bit embarrassing.
Sure, it's the birth of a future king and quite rightly is considered a bit of a big deal, after all this baby that Prince William and Princess Kate brought into the world will sit on the throne someday. But does the birth really warrant the type of media coverage it has received over the past few weeks?
If we're to believe what we read, there were reporters camped outside St. Mary's Hospital in the centre of London for two or three weeks prior to Princess Kate giving birth July 22. After speaking to relatives in the UK, there were at least two pages a day donated to ‘baby watch' in the week leading up to the birth and it really begs the question – why?
The royal family has long since become redundant in the UK and indeed the greater commonwealth to the extent that they are almost viewed as minor celebrities rather than monarchs in today's society. It's got to the point where the royal family contributes almost nothing to the running of the country, with a lot of my friends and members of my family currently living in the UK believing them to be a hindrance more than anything.
So back to Prince George – I think it's great that a new life has been brought into the world and wish to congratulate the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, I just don't think the mass hysteria we witnessed on Facebook and Twitter and every news channel in the world was appropriate.
The birth of the royal baby took precedent over such things as the protests and happenings in Bulgaria, the decision and fallout of the George Zimmerman trial and the deadly train crash in Spain that claimed the lives of at least 79 people.
At the end of the day, at the risk of upsetting some people I'm sure, I'd say that Prince George is a celebrity baby and received the amount of coverage he did because of the fascination and borderline obsession today's society has with following the lives of celebrities.
I just don't think a baby being born constitutes as being worldwide, ground-breaking news – and I'm sure the royal family would probably be the first ones to tell you that.
