Shortly after the death of the Queen Mother was announced last Saturday, there was a newsflash on BBC One, explaining what had happened. Sat at the desk was the newscaster, Peter Sissons, trying his best to be solemn, sober and be in general mourning.

However, the BBC has since had over 1500 complaints over this newscast. Around half of them were because they were upset about not seeing the rest of the programmes they wanted to watch. The rest of the complaints, it would seem, are due to the biggest no-no that Peter Sissons could possibly commit.

He was wearing a burgandy tie.

I can hear the gasping now. Because he wasn't wearing a black tie, over five-hundred people phoned up the BBC to complain. Because he wasn't wearing a black tie, Buckingham Palace has been moaning at the BBC about protocol. Because he wasn't wearing a black tie, there has been a national uproar.

It's a TIE, for goodness sake. It's burgandy, a very respectable colour for a tie. If he was wearing a bright pink tie with yellow spots I could understand some of the arguments, but burgandy? Maybe Peter Sissons only heard of the news a few seconds before going to air, and hence couldn't change his tie?

As for the BBC, they released a statement that their newscasters were instructed to wear toned-down clothing for the announcement, and black for the actual funeral. This I can agree with totally.

Then, during the special parliament held yesterday, what did I see? The Deputy Prime Minister, John Prescott, wearing a dark red tie! And Baroness Thatcher, in the House Of Lords, was wearing a light cream suit! CREAM! They should be taken out and shot!

Seriously, I would like to say that as a royalist, I was saddened by the death of the Queen Mother. To live for over a hundred years is no small feat, but to be active in public up until the age of 95 was a much bigger feat. God bless her.

Chris"That tie is very very very very dark blue! The horror!"topher