Camilla Long

A yacht? Wouldn’t the Queen prefer a really nice soap?

issue 21 January 2012

Gove, a man so unsuited to the satanic machinations of high office that he looks like a permanently startled guppy, made a really strange boo this week by suggesting a collection of rich monarchists buy the Queen a £60 million yacht for her diamond Jubilee.

Really? A yacht? Men just can’t buy presents, can they? Quite aside from the fact that a floating shagpad with a 12-person crew, a Jacuzzi, an indoor gym, and four on-board jetskis is the last thing anyone should spaff cash on right now, why did Gove think she actually wanted a yacht? That she wouldn’t prefer a really nice soap, or a charming footstool? A toy for the corgis, or a Learn How to Paint Watercolours step-by-step guide? Yachts are only ever hideous, from the 100ft penis extension owned by Aristotle Onassis — complete with bar-stools made of whale foreskin — to the grim supertankers that run aground off the coast of Italy.

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