If you're in the UK at the moment you will be hard pressed to remain unaware that King Charles III will be crowned at Westminster Abbey on Saturday 6 May.

Every news broadcast seems to contain some new snippet about the event; there are regular advertisements for commemorative coins; and producers are rushing to embrace the theme:



The bunting is going up:


And a number of shopkeepers have decked out their windows to reflect the occasion:



Cardboard cutouts are de rigueur:





Now, PT is not a big royalist... The Queen was one thing, doing a solid, dignified job through thick and thin (although, of course, those nagging questions about royal associations with colonialism never went away). Her demise, you would have thought, was the ideal opportunity for a new approach -- some scaling-back perhaps, some recalibration, some new narratives. But that opportunity seems to have been squandered, and the whole razzle-dazzle caravan rumbles on.

It's hard to know, with all the patriotism currently swirling around -- opportunistic or otherwise -- exactly how much support the whole institution still has.

And it's hard to step out of line when the pageantry takes over, and the media seem to compete with each other for the dubious honour of being the most deferential and enthusiastic. But I can't help agreeing with Stephen Cushion: "An impartial approach to covering the coronation would include broadcasters not only reporting the pomp, circumstance and bank holiday celebrations -- it would also feature perspectives that question the existence and role of the monarchy."

Having said all that, if there's one thing that could tempt me to the royalist side, it's the super-cute crocheted postbox cap pictured at the top... How adorable is that?!