First it was Brexit, now it’s the Queen. That the New York Times has a near-pathological loathing for Britain is nothing new at this point; but it seems that the motivating factor for the ‘Gray Lady’s’ Anglophobia has switched in recent days from the 2016 referendum result to the passing of our beloved monarch. Barely had the Queen’s death been announced then the NYT was furiously publishing opinion pieces denouncing the woman as a symbol of British imperialism. This was just hours after her death and ignored the salient facts that Elizabeth’s reign coincided with the end of the British Empire and that she loved the multi-racial Commonwealth. Even Cyclops would struggle to write something so one-eyed.

And now, the newspaper has followed up that opening salvo with another tasteless swipe at the late monarch. In an article published late last night, the paper sneered that Her Majesty’s funeral ‘will be paid for by British taxpayers as they deal with soaring energy prices and high inflation’ adding that ‘the British government has not yet said how much it will cost.’ The breathless tone of the piece – headlined simply ‘The queen’s funeral will be paid for by British taxpayers’ – somehow suggested that this news will come as a revelation to the general public. A state funeral for a former head of state? That must surely be a world first. Talk about a bona fide scoop…

The NYT’s focus on the country’s current economic prospect is also somewhat undermined by the fact it has had to make not one but two factual corrections already, having got the inflation rate wrong and failed to noted the potential impact of Liz Truss’s new energy plan. Good to see the ‘paper of record’ displaying its usual attention to detail. It’s not the first time that the New York Times has got it badly wrong of course: in previous years it suggested Brits spend their time ‘cavorting in swamps’ and, until recently, existed on a diet of ‘porridge and boiled mutton’.

Might it be too much to ask that the NYT cease its attacks on the late Queen, until we’ve buried her at least?