​Charles goes through the motions of a deeply uninspiring King's Speech - Vladimir McTavish

Not that rather dull movie about a bloke with a terrible stammer, but the actual King’s Speech.

Which, up until this year, was previously known as The Queen’s Speech.

This is the ridiculously archaic ceremony where the monarch lays down their government’s planned legislation for the following year.

Twenty years ago, many people complained about the over-spend in the building of the Scottish Parliament. These people were mainly, but not exclusively, Tory.

However, the amount spent on building Holyrood is dwarfed by the cost of this annual jamboree.

In which other twenty-first century democracy does a government’s programme for the next 12 months need to be introduced by a ridiculously expensive fancy-dress party hosted by an old-age pensioner?

It seems that, in order for the elected executive to lay out its programme for government, we have to have an unelected billionaire, whose only qualification for the job is the accident of their birth, to wear a silly hat and a humungous fur coat to drone on about what “his” government proposes to do.

It reminds me of a bad comedian trying to do someone else’s material.

I can always tell when a stand-up has stolen another comic’s jokes, due to the utter lack of conviction in their delivery. Charles really did sound as if he couldn’t have cared less about the drivel it was his duty to read.

I actually used to feel sorry for the Queen, having to pretend she had anything to do with the appalling script she was having to read out in public.

I expected her at any minute to mutter out of the corner of her mouth “You do know I didn’t actually write this crap don’t you ?”

This was particularly true during the mercifully brief Boris Johnson years, when she had to outline his plans for the next year’s legislation, which were usually truncated to three-word slogans like “Get Brexit done” or “Take back control”.

Rather than make a speech outlining what her government proposed to do, it would have been much more entertaining to hear her say what Johnson and co were actually going to do.

“In the next twelve months, my government will pass a number of laws which they themselves shall break, they will bumble about ineffectively and try to find out if one can cure Covid by blowing a hair-dryer up one’s nose”.

Rishi Sunak chose the State Opening as his opportunity to announce himself as the Prime Minister for Change, as if he thought someone else had been the PM for the past year.

Presumably if he is really invested in the idea of change, he should perhaps try doing something truly radical, such as resigning.

As the man responsible for the cost of living crisis, he should rebrand himself as the Prime Minister for Small Change.

Outside on the streets of London, there are literally thousands of people asking for change. Most of them are homeless.

I had thought they were living in tents out of desperation, but it now appears they only do so to annoy Suella Braverman. What we all need, them most of all, is a very big change.