The British Monarchy

[BrianW]

If Hitler had the royals' PR in this country, he'd be popular too.

I find the whole thing amazing, but then I'm not into the worship of mortals so it's not surprising I don't 'get it. I also find it incomprehensible that people are addicted to Coronation Street.

 

[BobKowalski]

I like them, I think they do a great job and bring in more money to the country than they cost.

We can have the best of both worlds. They can have a palace or two and do the whole pageantry guff for the tourists. We can stop then stiffing the taxpayer for millions.

The UK is not, and should not be, a semi-feudal society.

 

[Trickyblues]

I like them, I think they do a great job and bring in more money to the country than they cost.

That’s not true.

 

[Churchlawtonblue]

That’s not true.

I believe it is based on what I have read over the years.

 

[Churchlawtonblue]

If Hitler had the royals' PR in this country, he'd be popular too.

I find the whole thing amazing, but then I'm not into the worship of mortals so it's not surprising I don't 'get it. I also find it incomprehensible that people are addicted to Coronation Street.

You mentioned worship , not me. I just said I liked them. I bet whatever you want you like people you haven't met!

 

[BrianW]

Versailles (no royals) gets far more visitors than Windsor.

In fact, if we had no royals we could let people roam about the whole of Windsor, as there would no longer be 'security reasons' for keeping parts of it off limits.

Tourists who come here with royals in mind are mostly interested in the history - which equates to the buildings. Not many come over in expectation of meeting the King, unless they are heads of state.

Apart from all that, I don't see that our constitutional arrangements should include a concern for what pleases foreign tourists. That really is 'cart before the horse'. After all, perhaps the tourists would like us all to wear smocks, carry pitchforks and walk about with a straw in our mouths. We are not here to be a theme park.

 

[heslops barnet]

I like them, I think they do a great job and bring in more money to the country than they cost.

 

[urban genie]

Now I wonder with it reveled they practically own liverpool do the red s ouse have to start singing GStK.


personally we should all boo that shitshow of an anthem and sing something else

 

[Trickyblues]

I believe it is based on what I have read over the years.

Where have you read it?

 

[johnny crossan]

I think for a long time the social contract meant people were previously much better disposed towards the aristocracy and those that ran the country.

There will always be a top, middle and bottom in a human society. It’s inevitable. Even if it’s founded entirely on happenstance.

But once those at the top start taking the piss, it eventually fragments. People will eventually say ‘fuck this as a way to order a society.’

The rich and the powerful need to be very careful imo.

They certainly do. Constitutional monarchies in the UK and Scandinavia have protected democratic institutions in those countries pretty well over the past two centuries, less so in Italy and Spain, but the power they deny is crucially important.

 

[BrianW]

You mentioned worship , not me. I just said I liked them. I bet whatever you want you like people you haven't met!

'Like' is too positive. I give people the benefit of the doubt unless they have proved themselves unworthy of it. The average person I have never met could be anything, good or bad. It doesn't mean I think that random people I have never met should be paid millions out of the state's coffers when other random people I have never met are scraping a bare living.

It may not apply to you, but many people worship the royals. I don't get it, because they are nothing special. Just mediocre individuals with vast wealth. I don't believe they represent God on earth, any more than the woman who used to serve the tea at Westhoughton Dog Track. I despise servility and arse-licking, it's pathetic in the 21st century.

 

[Churchlawtonblue]

Where have you read it?

Numerous times over the years.

Why don't you Google it, there are several recent current articles on the Internet backing this up.

 

[Churchlawtonblue]

'Like' is too positive. I give people the benefit of the doubt unless they have proved themselves unworthy of it. The average person I have never met could be anything, good or bad. It doesn't mean I think that random people I have never met should be paid millions out of the state's coffers when other random people I have never met are scraping a bare living.

It may not apply to you, but many people worship the royals. I don't get it, because they are nothing special. Just mediocre individuals with vast wealth. I don't believe they represent God on earth, any more than the woman who used to serve the tea at Westhoughton Dog Track. I despise servility and arse-licking, it's pathetic in the 21st century.

Each to their own Brian.

 

[bobbyowenquiff]

Versailles (no royals) gets far more visitors than Windsor.

In fact, if we had no royals we could let people roam about the whole of Windsor, as there would no longer be 'security reasons' for keeping parts of it off limits.

Tourists who come here with royals in mind are mostly interested in the history - which equates to the buildings. Not many come over in expectation of meeting the King, unless they are heads of state.

Apart from all that, I don't see that our constitutional arrangements should include a concern for what pleases foreign tourists. That really is 'cart before the horse'. After all, perhaps the tourists would like us all to wear smocks, carry pitchforks and walk about with a straw in our mouths. We are not here to be a theme park.

If this country does not modernise we will continue to decline. The Royal Family must be slimmed down. This is what has happened in most advanced nations.

 

[Manc baggie]

If this country does not modernise we will continue to decline. The Royal Family must be slimmed down. This is what has happened in most advanced nations.

I think having this monarchy actually holds us back as a nation & keeps up looking backwards to our royal (empire days) history & not looking forward enough.
Just my opinion though.

 

[johnny crossan]

.... I despise servility and arse-licking, it's pathetic in the 21st century.

It's the way the world works, always has. The powerless crave the favour of the powerful sacrificing their dignity to greater or lesser degree. Private property, law and order, food, energy, shelter - society itself - depends on folk knowing their place whether it's Beijing or Beswick. 'You can't always get what you want' as the song goes - doesn't stop you trying of course.

 

[BrianW]

I think having this monarchy actually holds us back as a nation & keeps up looking backwards to our royal (empire days) history & not looking forward enough.
Just my opinion though.

Unfortunately, they are part of a nostalgia industry that is in all truth, one of our more flourishing industries. All too many people in this country yearn for a supposed 'golden age' that never was. I don't know, objectively, of any time that was wonderful for ordinary people and I remember whole decades before many here were born. They are terrified of the modern world and of any kind of change.

Frankly, for ordinary folk, it's always been pretty shit. But equally frankly, I consider myself fucking privileged compared to my parents and grandparents. I didn't have to fight in a world war. I didn't have to spend my spare time 'firewatching' some useless old warehouses in Dukinfield. I wasn't even conscripted. When I left school I had my choice of secure jobs - albeit none that were brilliantly paid, but that was true for almost everyone. I was able to buy a house that I could not possibly afford in 2024. My generation, which seems to spend half its time complaining, has less to complain about than any generation in history. And yet they yearn for a time of trolleybuses, choking fogs, houses with ice on the inside of windows, racial discrimination, persecution of gays, the lot!

 

[johnny crossan]

If this country does not modernise we will continue to decline. The Royal Family must be slimmed down. This is what has happened in most advanced nations.

A total disconnect- on a par with abolish smoking/ fox hunting/ gender specific public toilets/ fishing/ meat eating/ leather wearing etc etc - or the nation will continue to decline. These advanced nations of which you speak, which ones do you have in mind?

 

[bobbyowenquiff]

A total disconnect- on a par with abolish smoking/ fox hunting/ gender specific public toilets/ fishing/ meat eating/ leather wearing etc etc - or the nation will continue to decline. These advanced nations of which you speak, which ones do you have in mind?

In terms of modern technology and infrastructure we are behind most of Europe and Asia for starters. We have gone backwards in the last 20 years.

 

[johnny crossan]

Unfortunately, they are part of a nostalgia industry that is in all truth, one of our more flourishing industries. All too many people in this country yearn for a supposed 'golden age' that never was. I don't know, objectively, of any time that was wonderful for ordinary people and I remember whole decades before many here were born. They are terrified of the modern world and of any kind of change.

Frankly, for ordinary folk, it's always been pretty shit. But equally frankly, I consider myself fucking privileged compared to my parents and grandparents. I didn't have to fight in a world war. I didn't have to spend my spare time 'firewatching' some useless old warehouses in Dukinfield. I wasn't even conscripted. When I left school I had my choice of secure jobs - albeit none that were brilliantly paid, but that was true for almost everyone. I was able to buy a house that I could not possibly afford in 2024. My generation, which seems to spend half its time complaining, has less to complain about than any generation in history. And yet they yearn for a time of trolleybuses, choking fogs, houses with ice on the inside of windows, racial discrimination, persecution of gays, the lot!

at least we had sparrows, newts and proper football