Here's Part Five of our latest Tale for Our Time: my inversion of Anthony Hope's 19th century Ruritanian classic relocated to 21st century Britain - The Prisoner of Windsor. Tonight's episode begins with a prime minister comatose on the carpet, and a penniless Ruritanian under pressure to step in and save the day. Rudy Elphberg quite likes the challenge, and wonders what the vital national event at stake is:
I'd been expecting a pre-Coronation march, perhaps with HRH Prince Richard, Duke of Albany, and the Bengal Lancers.
Alas, it's something else entirely - and the reason for that is down to Justin Trudeau.
In tonight's episode, you'll also hear a British cabinet minister make a reference to how things stand "east of the Landstraße". That's an allusion to the famous remark by Metternich that "the Balkans start in the Landstraße", a district of Vienna just east of the city's center (just as today the Dar al Islam starts in Tower Hamlets).
Members of The Mark Steyn Club can hear Part Five of our adventure simply by clicking here and logging-in. Earlier episodes of The Prisoner of Windsor can be found here, and previous Tales for Our Time here.
Thank you for all your comments about this latest Tale. Nicola Timmerman, a Mark Steyn Club member from francophone Ontario, writes:
As good as Plum Duff if more comical so far! Good show and true bloody true as the Brits say. Our crazy, crazy world.
On the other hand, C.D., from Parkdale in Covid-infested Victoria Down Under, says:
Very disinteresting.
I think the word you're looking for, C.D., is "uninteresting", unless you're making a subtler criticism than the general tenor of your comment would appear to suggest.
If you'd like to join us in The Mark Steyn Club, we'd love to have you: please see here. And, if you've a chum who enjoys classic fiction, we've introduced a special Steyn Gift Membership: you'll find more details here. Oh, and we also do video poetry.
Please join me back here tomorrow evening for Part Six of The Prisoner of Windsor.