Get all your news in one place.
100's of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics

FORGOTTEN HISTORY: This queue is surely a uk record breaker | History Defined

Liz Truss Thérèse Coffey Oxford NHS
The miles-long queue for the lying in state of Queen Elizabeth begins here at Southwark Park, London.
The miles-long queue for the lying in state of Queen Elizabeth begins here at Southwark Park, London. The 6.7 million-long queue for NHS treatment ‘comfortably exceeds’ it, points out Michael Leigh. Photograph: David Levene/The Guardian

Re John Crace’s sketch (Pageantry and queueing collide right on Britain’s sweet spot, 15 September), the longest queue in British history must be the NHS waiting list. With 6.7 million people, it comfortably exceeds that for the lying in state of the Queen and would stretch 1,000 miles, from London to Warsaw.
Michael Leigh
London

• Do we really need a government? Ours has been inactive since Boris Johnson stepped down. The civil service seems capable of keeping the country going. Politicians have ditched the public again in a time of crisis. Are they necessary at all?
Mary Kamaluddin
Chester

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100's of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
A$AP Rocky Makes Cheeky Rihanna Confession After Son Riot Joins Him on Stage
A$AP Rocky said his three-year-old son Riot 'stole' a moment during the rapper's Copenhagen tour performance, after Rihanna brought the toddler on stage at the Royal Arena.
International Business Times UK
International Business Times UK
For centuries, bird migration was a mystery – a tech revolution is changing that, and could help save these amazing creatures
For more than 2,000 years, scientists have scratched their heads over one of the most basic mysteries of the natural world: Where do birds go?
The Conversation
The Conversation
The Elizabeth Holmes Documentary You Can See Everything Is an Act of Radical Empathy
The high-concept documentary from Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim offers surprising generosity to a Big Tech villain without fully excusing her crimes.
Reason
Reason
Women just want to work out in peace. Why all the thigh-rubbing lechery?
On Saturday Night Live last week, comedian Shane Gillis made a pathetic ‘joke’ about the clothes women wear to the gym. It was puerile – but also pernicious, writes Emma Beddington
The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
‘He’s terrified, panicked, can’t sleep’: the tragic, lonely death of Beatles manager Brian Epstein
Spandau Ballet’s Gary Kemp paid £10k at auction for Epstein’s address book. He then used it to co-author a thrilling account of the swinging 60s – and an intimate portrait of a tormented man whose life was unravelling
The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Qianlong vase found in Cornish property brochure sells at Sotheby’s for £304,800
A large imperial porcelain vase, standing thirty-seven centimetres tall and made for the Qianlong emperor, passed down through a single English family before arriving at Sotheby's. Estimated at between £100,000 and £200,000, it sold in November 2025 for £304,800, comfortably above the top end of the estimate. Its story combines…
The Times of India
The Times of India
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.
Download on the AppStore Get it on Google Play