I'm enjoying being in London and it is interesting that blogging and the whole "citizen media" movement is largely absent from daily discussions. But that's not surprising since culture moves slowly.

Podcasting, however, is much more popular, and has been enthusiastically adopted by large institutions such as the BBC, and now, the Royal Family.

The Queen, 80 years old, is planning to release a podcast of her Xmas speech. The Queen's speech is very much a core traditional element of the British Xmas experience, delivered mid-afternoon on Christmas day.

The podcast was the Queen's idea, as is the content of her speech. This year the theme will be nurturing the young, and respect for the elderly.