The British Monarchy

[hilts]

I don't have to find an excuse to not like them, in modern life their in my opinion is no place for royalty.

I no longer live in the UK and looking on from afar I have seen through the bullsh1t of "our Royal Family is revered throughout the world". That is a simple lie.

If you no longer live here it has fuck all to do with you then in fairness.

Sorry for your loss with your father btw.

 

[Keeper!]

I wouldn't worry about it then, obviously it doesn't affect you now.

I am not worried but I find it offensive when I am told I have to respect them.

The Queen did a good job, never disrespected her country and lived a long, healthy life, I respect that, but don't force all the propaganda on me or others that don't want it.

When the Queens husband died we we force fed the non reality of a good decent man who was loved by the world, the reality was something very, very different, IF Trevor Sinclair had tweeted what he did yesterday about the Duke, he would have been totally correct.

 

[Bill Walker]

In the last 24 hours I have watched about ten minutes of live TV about the Queen. I have been out for a meal to the pub with family and the conversation has only briefly ventured onto the subject, and only one person I have met on my twice daily walks with the dog has raised the topic (he mentioned he was a freemason so understandable that he was a bit upset, perhaps) but I managed to steer the conversation to another topic. I have seen TWO half-mast flags.

It really isn’t difficult to avoid it all.

The decision to postpone the first round of games in a sport’s competition after the death of a monarch is a mark of respect from the sporting authority and is tradition. Tradition is something we do well and while I secretly wanted the games to go ahead, I fully understand it, but “monumentally stupid” it certainly isn’t, most people seem to agree with it.

Yes monumentally stupid.
What about all the small business people that rely on games and people traveling, pubs, hotels, merch sellers, transport companies, food sellers etc.
I feel sorry for them.
And anyway I understand cricket and rugby league is going ahead, why is that ?
Most football fans I know are pissed off with this decision.

 

[Blue and true]

How can something you detest be an irrelevance to you? Or is this an ironic skit at RAWK’s expense?

Ok I'll rephrase. I fucking detest what he embodies and represents; and thus I won't be fawning at his feet like a brainwashed lemming.

 

[Keeper!]

If you no longer live here it has fuck all to do with you then in fairness.

Sorry for your loss with your father btw.

thank you

 

[Bill Walker]

I can't wait to fuck off out of here on Tuesday.

Hahaha

 

[Octavian]

Thanks for sharing your perspective. I think I understand the part about dedication, seeing someone who is devoted to something can make you feel a warmth towards them. I suppose from my perspective, though I respected that dedication I am more equivocal about what she represented and so wasn't emotionally invested in her.

Not comparing the two figures at all as he spent decades in prison obviously but it’s the same sort of thing as to why South Africans were distraught at Mandela’s death despite never meeting him.

I was gutted when John Lennon died as another example.

 

[mexico1970]

I am not worried but I find it offensive when I am told I have to respect them.

The Queen did a good job, never disrespected her country and lived a long, healthy life, I respect that, but don't force all the propaganda on me or others that don't want it.

When the Queens husband died we we force fed the non reality of a good decent man who was loved by the world, the reality was something very, very different, IF Trevor Sinclair had tweeted what he did yesterday about the Duke, he would have been totally correct.

What is being forced on you? Just don't watch it if you don't like it. You sound like you hate them for your own reason which is your choice.

But you are out of it and don't live here, don't let it get to you.

 

[gordondaviesmoustache]

there are a group that aren’t particularly royalist by nature but recognise the role the Queen played and how faultlessly she played it and will be deeply sad at her death

I’d say you’ve hit the nail in the head there in relation to me. To me, she was a truly remarkable, and good, person.

 

[gordondaviesmoustache]

Ok I'll rephrase. I fucking detest what he embodies and represents; and thus I won't be fawning at his feet like a brainwashed lemming.

You’re welcome.

 

[Keeper!]

What is being forced on you? Just don't watch it if you don't like it. You sound like you hate them for your own reason which is your choice.

But you are out of it and don't live here, don't let it get to you.

To be fair it's genuinely difficult to escape the subject!!

It's on everything, I never knew Her Maj had such an interest in every subject in the world.

 

[Saddleworth2]

I’d say you’ve hit the nail in the head there in relation to me. To me, she was a truly remarkable, and good, person.

Yeah me too mate. I suspect that will be the largest category by some distance.

 

[threespires]

No it’s not lacking empathy at all to find yourself just not really caring, you can’t click your emotions on at will, you didn’t know her or have any emotional attachment to her
I’ve been thinking this myself yesterday seeing the scenes going on in different places
I’ve never cried at the death of a famous person or even had it affect me in any way apart from shock I suppose
Colin Bell was probably the one where I carried on thinking about it for a few days and that had a lot to do with knowing it would be affecting my dad, he was his idol, they were born in the same year, he did his injury on the day my sister was born and my dads at an age where this could really have him thinking about his own mortality, so the closer to home it is the more it’s going to affect you and you don’t really get further from home than the Queen
I can see videos of children who are sick in hospital playing and smiling and I can’t watch them as I know it will really get me down and I get annoyed with myself for constantly thinking about it and I get the same seeing an animal cowering in fear from cruelty and again I just have to block it out
but famous people I don’t know dying just doesn’t hit me hard enough to make me feel anything really

It's funny, as I was typing the post I was thinking the nearest public figure I could think of having that impact on me was Colin Bell. Like you it gave me real pause for thought and his passing brought back a raft of memories and emotions. It made me vividly think about the little wide eyed boy I once was who was in awe of him and Maine Rd and the pitch and the floodlights and then I thought about all the years gone by since then but I don't think I was mourning Colin per se.

Talking about Colin it has just occurred to me that now we have a male on the throne, if I ever did meet Charles III I could confuse the hell out of him by saying, 'nice to meet you but you do know you're not the real King don't you?' :-)

 

[bluenova]

Even if you believe they don’t serve a purpose, which is very wrong as she’s been the greatest ambassador in the history of the country, they literally make a profit that goes into the exchequer to be spent by the government.

From a purely economic perspective they’re worth keeping and that’s ignoring everything else.

People want rid of the monarchy for ideological purposes only.

Visitor numbers at the Palace of Versailles are something like twenty times as high as Buckingham Palace.

The "profit" is because the Royal Family "own" a lot of stuff that actually belongs to all of us.

 

[hilts]

If I had carte blanche to reshape the constitution then I think I would abolish the monarchy, or at the very least make them wholly extraneous to the political process.

I think our political system is ineffectual, undemocratic and anachronistic and it would be intellectually dishonest of me to exclude the presence of a hereditary system within that equation, as it plainly is.

The stability that a monarchy has provided must also have contributed to the oscillation within our political system and institutions which has undoubtedly (imo) precipitated our decline as a nation. One only has to look at the pitiful quality of politicians across the political spectrum today compared to a generation ago to appreciate how stark that decline is.

The whole thing needs ripping up and starting again, and the position of a hereditary head of state has to be part of that process, as it has to be part of the problem. It’s difficult to argue otherwise.

I would happily scrap the lords and dispense with any political input they have which is probably not that great anyhow. As for actual political reform itself that’s for another thread but we can thank the great British public for that continuing farce.

 

[Octavian]

Your opinion, not mine.

Some of what I’ve said isn’t just my opinion though.

They literally do make a profit and it goes back into the pot.

Many people in parliament and around the world have said she was our greatest ambassador.

Your argument is “I don’t like that it’s inherited and all the fancy shit that goes with it” and that’s a fair argument to be honest but it does work and is working for us.

 

[mexico1970]

To be fair it's genuinely difficult to escape the subject!!

It's on everything, I never knew Her Maj had such an interest in every subject in the world.

She wasn't THAT omnipotent mate :)

A lot of the things like football being cancelled and the wall to wall coverage is decided by sycophants, I don't watch it at all.

It's the hand rubbers at the FA and PL who decided to cancel the togger, it wasn't cancelled when George died.

 

[Octavian]

Visitor numbers at the Palace of Versailles are something like twenty times as high as Buckingham Palace.

The "profit" is because the Royal Family "own" a lot of stuff that actually belongs to all of us.

that’s because you can actually walk into Versailles as nobody lives there, rather than standing outside.

How does it belong to you?

The profits go back into the exchequer anyway.

 

[gordondaviesmoustache]

I would happily scrap the lords and dispense with any political input they have which is probably not that great anyhow. As for actual political reform itself that’s for another thread but we can thank the great British public for that continuing farce.

We can. And Tony Blair. If he’d remained true to his promise in the 1997 manifesto then I suspect we’d have been spared the last twelve years. Instead, pumped up with a whopping majority, and facing at least a decade in power, he conveniently sidelined political reform.

For me, it’s as much a stain on his legacy as Iraq.

 

[hilts]

We can. And Tony Blair. If he’d remained true to his promise in the 1997 manifesto then I suspect we’d have been spared the last twelve years. Instead, pumped up with a whopping majority, and facing at least a decade in power, he conveniently sidelined political reform.

For me, it’s as much a stain on his legacy as Iraq.

It is the main sticking point once they get in they don’t want to let go. A perfect storm is needed and the the voters to actually wake up.