Abolish The Monarchy!

[Southover Street Seagull]

I say get rid of the Germans and reinstate the House of Stuart, Jacobites forever!

 

[Robot Chicken]

I say get rid of the Germans and reinstate the House of Stuart, Jacobites forever!

Malcolm for King!

 

[Curious Orange]

I say get rid of the Germans and reinstate the House of Stuart, Jacobites forever!

Nah, bring back the Tudors - lets have the WELSH in charge!!

 

[fatbadger]

I say get rid of the Germans and reinstate the House of Stuart, Jacobites forever!

Although, as the current Stuart heir is Franz, Duke of Bavaria, our monarchy would actually be more German if you went down the jacobite route!

 

[fatbadger]

To all you reds. The Queen.

It's not about being a red (which I'm not, for a start), it's about being a democrat.

 

[Southover Street Seagull]

Although, as the current Stuart heir is Franz, Duke of Bavaria, our monarchy would actually be more German if you went down the jacobite route!

So we can't get away from the bloody Germans then?!!!

 

[MOG]

Queen Elizabeth II is not German. The nearest direct ancestor she has who was not even British was her Great Grandmother Alexandra of Denmark (wife of Edward VII), a member of the Royal Houses of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha and Oldenburg. The nearest German was her Great Great Grandfather Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (prince consort to Victoria). If you want to stretch a point then you could include Francis, Duke of Teck who was the father of Mary of Teck (Grandmother of the Queen).You still only get to Great Grandfather. Francis became part of the British Royal Family when he married Princess Mary Adelaide of Cambridge (a granddaughter of George III).

Going by the above I would be surprised if many people can say for sure that they are as British as the Queen.

 

[Southover Street Seagull]

Queen Elizabeth II is not German. The nearest direct ancestor she has who was not even British was her Great Grandmother Alexandra of Denmark (wife of Edward VII), a member of the Royal Houses of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha and Oldenburg. The nearest German was her Great Great Grandfather Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (prince consort to Victoria). If you want to stretch a point then you could include Francis, Duke of Teck who was the father of Mary of Teck (Grandmother of the Queen).You still only get to Great Grandfather. Francis became part of the British Royal Family when he married Princess Mary Adelaide of Cambridge (a granddaughter of George III).

Going by the above I would be surprised if many people can say for sure that they are as British as the Queen.

Ok then there is a lot of German blood in our Royal Family going back to when George I became King!

I am not as British as the Queen because my Great Grandparents were Maltese!

 

[keaton]

£37 million is roughly what we are paying in benefits to people who live in poland but have a spouse working here. not moaning about that though are you?

More people would complain about that if it were true

 

[Alfred the greatx]

It's nothing to do with the money to me.
A head of state will cost a lot whoever it is.
To me, it's just about democracy. We should elect the person that will represent us as we do with our MPs.
If we just had the queen to pay for while the rest of them got jobs it would help the royalist arguement but all the time it's a gravy train for anyone related, at our expense, they ensure the demise of this antiquated system.
The tourists would not stop coming and I find the suggestion quite insulting to the collective inteligence of people that are undecided.
A head of state would still exist, so would that persons role, opening Parliament, state visits etc. Buck palace would still change the guards as protectors of the figurehead as they do today.
For a society as old and stable as ours, we have a very poor democracy. Sure, between the wars we were a shining light in a world consumed by totalitarian regimes but we haven't kept up since and our democracy needs updating. We all look at the states and say, we don't want to be like them, well we don't have to, we can remodel our system taking the best from others, like electing our second chamber, our head of state, our Judges and police chiefs. It can be as we want it to be but we will only get a modern democracy when the pillar that holds up the outdated class system of unearned heriditary privilage for a few is gently allowed to fade away into the history book where it belongs.
Oh, by the way, as a newbi I guess I should say HI.

 

[User removed 4]

That's a bit SEXIST of ya MYOB.

Judging by day-on-day tabloid coverage, our next ruler will be Cheryl 'Racist Bitch' Cole ( nee Tweedy)

come on then thpp why is she a racist bitch ?? youre going to quote the toilet attendant arent you , she couldnt possibly have been lying to get herself ou of trouble could she ?

 

[User removed 4]

So it costs us £372m to have a Royal Family, do you have any idea how much this country benefits from tourism and all the people who come here to gawp at Buck House, Windsor Castle and the pageantry like trooping the colour...I would wager on it being considerably more. Let's face it, the Royal Family (whatever your opinion of it) is a bit of a cash cow, we would be far poorer without it.

as ive stated before i spent 5 yrs in the grenadier guards and did about 18 months on public dutes in london , the tourists came whether the queen was there or not, thats not to say im a republican , im undecided to be honest

 

[acrossthepond]

True, but rather essential during civil war

I more meant after the war was over..

 

[acrossthepond]

Anyway - why abolish the monarchy, they have no political power. If you want a wholly elected Parliament, then fine, but the monarchy have got little to do with it.

 

[beorhthelm]

For a society as old and stable as ours, we have a very poor democracy. Sure, between the wars we were a shining light in a world consumed by totalitarian regimes but we haven't kept up since and our democracy needs updating. We all look at the states and say, we don't want to be like them, well we don't have to, we can remodel our system taking the best from others, like electing our second chamber, our head of state, our Judges and police chiefs.

but we dont have a "very poor" democracy, its worked very well. how democratic is it? well, how much doe that really matter, democracy is overrated. just look at what happens in the US re-electing Bush, then he's a lame duck with no power in congress, or in the European countries where nothing moves forwards because noone ever has a majority. there is a very strong arguement to give some power to those with a vested interest in the medium-long term future of the state rather than simply looking as far as the next election. now if you want some non-elected element, heireditary selection might not be perfect, but is there another way to decide? life peers and some active heieditary peers is good way to go i think - note, id rather have non-elected people that turn up than elected ones that dont.

Anyway - why abolish the monarchy, they have no political power.

Excatly, chairman of the board, only real power is to appoint CEO (PM)and rubber stamp decisions. If the rest of the board (parliament) move in a way the wider shareholders (electorate) feel is fundementally not in their interests, the chairman ca n call for a new board (election). good safe guard i think. replace with an elected chair and they will either always back the board, always go against he board (depending on political faction) or will be a powerless office that cant do anything. bad option. alternatives welcome, but no ont has come up with one yet.

 

[Alfred the greatx]

You make some very valuable points mr beorhthelm. There is no perfect system but it's our country so we should say how it's run.
I think history has examples of societies that were run by people with a long term interest in the state and it's not long before the interest of the state and that of the persons personal power begin to get blurred. We must be careful of politicians that know what we want better than we do.
Anyway, how do we decide who should get heridtary powers to pass on to their children for generations to come? I am available, can my family have a few centuries of luxurious living at the tax payers expense, after all, my ancestors have given their blood, sweat and taxes to this nation for centuries at least so maybe it's my turn.
Tell you what, you be lord beorhthelm and I will continue as King Alfred so we can, between us, ensure the long term stability of our country.
Seriously though, following your PLC analogy, do you know of any PLCs that have an inherited chaiman that can never be removed from office, even if he is unfit for the job and the majority of the shareholders want him out.