A sad day to know TOTP has ended. It is hip enough to be licensed in other countries, so I wonder if those satellite editions will continue. Or is TOTP simply joining all those other British institutions into oblivion, like Rover cars?

It looks like it’s just an end of the weekly shows (definitely in the UK. As for the rest of the world, I’m not sure). There’s some blurb saying that TOTP2 will still be going on, and they aren’t ruling out special editions, or the website.

Watch this space I guess. And tune in on 30th of July for the last edition

Due to evil server issues most of yesterday, Jack’s next comment didn’t make it through to the blog. It did, however, make it through to coComment so I know he said something! The next comment is what he said:

Special editions would still be worthwhile. I just don’t like the fact that the musicians who appear will be short of a venue that many of them probably enjoy. And before these pop stars became overpaid icons, they used to like performing … (Sixth attempt at getting this comment through … and counting …)

Thanks, Cas. I tried for a while and was unsuccessful, and had planned to retry today. Glad you did it for me!

When Sunday hours started up in Britain my dad was up in arms over the poisoning of culture by commercial interests, and the fact that the one day where pretty much everyone had off was being taken away.
When I returned a couple years ago I was quite shocked at how heavily Britain has been taken over by American corporations and business practices. Its perhaps not so easy to see when you’re in the thick of it, but when you’ve been away for 17 years it becomes quite obvious.
I would encourage you to ponder more what the relaxing of sunday hours truly means. Do you really want your country to be an empty, consumerist shell like the U.S.?

Old Surly, you are quite right. While not having been back to Britain since 2003, I have seen the Americanization of culture clearly in New Zealand. It does not take too much imagination to picture the country in the early 1980s, when Sunday shopping was next to impossible, and indeed advertising on telly on Sunday was illegal. People tended to work till around December 18 before things got quiet and they ventured home to their families, not returning in any great way till the New Year. The family was the core, not the individual, and it is that shift that has happened in Britain, too, over the last 50 years.
   Now, most places are open every day, with Easter Day and Christmas Day remaining sacrosanct, and even Anzac Day is a half-day now (to the shock of our Australian neighbours, who still observe a full-day closure). Consumerism and its church—the mall—are worshipped on Sundays, with people spending what they do not have (for every $100 earned, $130 or $140 is spent, I believe). Britain needs to restrain itself.

I do remember when I was younger that you just didn’t go shopping on a Sunday because you couldn’t - I also grew up in a small town that still had half-day hours on a Wednesday (not sure of the why of that though). It’s still like that back home, though it is getting a bit more commercial with all the tourists (mainly American) who are seemingly incapable of just wandering and taking in the beautiful scenery.

I should also say that I rarely, if ever, go shopping on a Sunday unless it is for essential groceries like a pint of milk. The main reason for this it still seems wrong to go shopping on a Sunday. Not for religious reasons but because Sunday, for me, has always been the one precious day I could laze around the house in my PJs all day. I used to have school on a Saturday which is where I think this impulse comes from.

Working 8.30 till 5.30 throughout the week however, it does mean that when I have to go shopping (and even the most frugal person has to occasionally buy new underwear), I have to brave the horrors of the town centre on a Saturday. As someone who has a mild fear of crowds this is NOT a pleasant experience. So one extra day (Sunday) when I could get the shopping done? Not such a bad thing in my book.

As someone who’s had to work in a shop serving people on a Sunday though, I can admit to constantly feeling “Why the frell aren’t you out having fun with your family?! Why are you shopping?!” I’ve had to work Boxing Day and New Years Day before - those are two days I really resent having shops open on.

Then again, vivid memories of having to entertain the Evil Step Gran over the Christmas period - having the local shopping centre open on Boxing Day meant we could get her out of the house (and our hair) for a bit…

I can see both sides of the argument. As I said in the post, I’d like the option.

(Anyways, Sunday ain’t a traditional day of rest for everyone out there).

As a retail worker, I’d personally like to have an increase in Sunday trading hours, if only for an hour or two.