[Politics] Is it time for the UK to become a republic?

[portlock seagull]

Time the Country got rid of that lot, hopefully in a few years we will no longer have a monarchy looking down on the rest of us.

Knock Buckingham Palace down and put that massive space to good use by building much needed affordable housing. Only households on incomes of less than £30k pa should be able to buy one.

We don't want a monarchy anymore.

I do! So guess you’ll have to wait…

 

[Worried Man Blues]

Time the Country got rid of that lot, hopefully in a few years we will no longer have a monarchy looking down on the rest of us.

Knock Buckingham Palace down and put that massive space to good use by building much needed affordable housing. Only households on incomes of less than £30k pa should be able to buy one.

We don't want a monarchy anymore.

Is that the Royal we?

 

[Clive Walker]

Nominees for the next head of state

Charles
Charles
or
Charles

Don't vote now.

Mental....its the 21st century.

 

[portlock seagull]

A counter-argument to that is that it is well-documented Edward VIII was a Nazi sympathizer, and there is evidence to suggest he was colluding with the Nazis.

This is the King of the day we're talking about. Were it not for Wallis Simpson and his enforced abdication the outcome of WW2 could have been very different.

Absolute rubbish. Hitler made a huge mistake taking the rest of Czech. after Munich. In one event he decisively turned British public opinion against him, we were resolved to go to war thereafter whether the former king had stayed on throne or not.

 

[Hamilton]

I'm surprised that the split is 40/60. I guess I thought it would be 70% in favour of keeping the status quo.

I doubt the country is ready for the change yet, but I would say that I can imagine that William will never be King. By the time Charles finishes his stint I think we'll have changed sufficiently to know that we won't want or need another hereditary head of state.

 

[Clive Walker]

I'm surprised that the split is 40/60. I guess I thought it would be 70% in favour of keeping the status quo.

I doubt the country is ready for the change yet, but I would say that I can imagine that William will never be King. By the time Charles finishes his stint I think we'll have changed sufficiently to know that we won't want or need another hereditary head of state.

Precisely my feelings.

I have long been of the thinking that serious monarchists make up roughly 20% of our population. Lets say that 5% are maybe serious Republicans. The remaining 75% are just not bothered either way. Those in 'no mans land' at the moment may well pick a side once Charles steps in and my gut is that the majority will fall into the Republican side. Plus the 20% of hard line monarchists are probably made up of 65+ year olds.

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

No......much of what has been in the past has made Britain Great is because of the Monarchy and not it's not this institution that has turned this country in to what it is today( a shell of what it once was ).

Beware of the Woke's, woke culture, snowflakes ,etc etc etc and the far left I tell ya !!!!

Tremendous comedy - that made me chuckle. You even included a missplaced apostrophe, a gap before a comma, and a gibberish first sentence, all debasing the Queen's English. I love a parody account

 

[Lyndhurst 14]

I'm surprised that the split is 40/60. I guess I thought it would be 70% in favour of keeping the status quo.

I doubt the country is ready for the change yet, but I would say that I can imagine that William will never be King. By the time Charles finishes his stint I think we'll have changed sufficiently to know that we won't want or need another hereditary head of state.

I'm not really that surprised, I think the support for the monarchy is exaggerated by the tabloid media.

What I do think is the case, as other posters have said, is a massive indifference and most people would not really be affected one way or the other

 

[Bakero]

Tremendous comedy - that made me chuckle. You even included a missplaced apostrophe, a gap before a comma, and a gibberish first sentence, all debasing the Queen's English. I love a parody account

He's even got the gap before the exclamation mark in his user name. Perfectly executed parody.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

Time the Country got rid of that lot, hopefully in a few years we will no longer have a monarchy looking down on the rest of us.

Knock Buckingham Palace down and put that massive space to good use by building much needed affordable housing. Only households on incomes of less than £30k pa should be able to buy one.

We don't want a monarchy anymore.

The government could knock Buckingham Palace down whenever they want to, as it doesn't belong to the monarch. A President still lives in a grand place like the Elysee Palace, or the White House.
Better still knock down Westminster Palace and build a purpose-built building with modern seating in the Midlands so it represents all of the country.

 

[cunning fergus]

I'm not really that surprised, I think the support for the monarchy is exaggerated by the tabloid media.

What I do think is the case, as other posters have said, is a massive indifference and most people would not really be affected one way or the other

Probably true, but what is it being replaced with, and what will that mean?

Is it a President with executive powers or a ceremonial President, with largely the political leadership status quo.

If there was a referendum that would broadly be the 2 choices?

I would be surprised that we would opt for an exec Pres, so assuming the outcome is the ceremonial option that is not a straightforward legislative leap because all of sudden in executive terms the PM is the de facto President.

Once all these choices are smoothies out and costed the British people can make an informed choice.

Of course there is always the 1649 option……….albeit the wider death toll in that episode was greater proportionately than WW1. Tricky.

 

[Pavilionaire]

Absolute rubbish. Hitler made a huge mistake taking the rest of Czech. after Munich. In one event he decisively turned British public opinion against him, we were resolved to go to war thereafter whether the former king had stayed on throne or not.

It's not "absolute rubbish". The monarch being a known Nazi sympathiser is a damn good reason to support the head of state being elected. And since when has "British public opinion mattered" in determining events? If it did Boris would be out on his ear and Charles would be automatically abdicating in favour of William.

 

[BBassic]

Yeah, if you ignore the noncing, privilege and archaism, what's not to like?

Apart from the nonce, the wealth, the privilege, the very fact that having a largely ceremonial figurehead in the modern age is a bit like having a tap-dancing otter (sure, it's something for tourists to gawp at but why even?) and the roads...what have the Romans ever done for us!?

 

[dsr-burnley]

The government could knock Buckingham Palace down whenever they want to, as it doesn't belong to the monarch. A President still lives in a grand place like the Elysee Palace, or the White House.
Better still knock down Westminster Palace and build a purpose-built building with modern seating in the Midlands so it represents all of the country.

Building it in the Midlands wouldn't represent all the country. Not geographically, anyway. The geographic centre of the country is just offshore in Morecambe Bay.

 

[drew]

The government could knock Buckingham Palace down whenever they want to, as it doesn't belong to the monarch. A President still lives in a grand place like the Elysee Palace, or the White House.
Better still knock down Westminster Palace and build a purpose-built building with modern seating in the Midlands so it represents all of the country.

I fail to understand why building in the midlands makes it representative of the whole country! It currently has representation from all parts of the UK. You might as well argue that we make Birmingham the capital for no other reason that it makes travel easier for those in the north. Not sure you hear of other nations looking to move their Government. We're not the biggest of nations so in the grand scheme of it doesn't really take that long to go from one end to the other.

As for Westminster, just convert Westminster hall into the chamber for the house of commons. It's massive.

 

[portlock seagull]

It's not "absolute rubbish". The monarch being a known Nazi sympathiser is a damn good reason to support the head of state being elected. And since when has "British public opinion mattered" in determining events? If it did Boris would be out on his ear and Charles would be automatically abdicating in favour of William.

Mate, Edward had Nazi sympathies, I wasn’t rubbishing that bit, but it’s a huge stretch to say or even allude had he not abdicated that the course of history (as in Britain became nazified) might have been different. So huge it’s simply preposterous. I’ve read more books about the mid to late 30s and early 40s than you’ve had hot dinners probably, inc. attending lectures by some of the worlds leading historians on this period. None have jumped to your conclusion and that’s why I called rubbish. No offence like.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

I fail to understand why building in the midlands makes it representative of the whole country! It currently has representation from all parts of the UK. You might as well argue that we make Birmingham the capital for no other reason that it makes travel easier for those in the north. Not sure you hear of other nations looking to move their Government. We're not the biggest of nations so in the grand scheme of it doesn't really take that long to go from one end to the other.

As for Westminster, just convert Westminster hall into the chamber for the house of commons. It's massive.

Many people in the north feel that government is too London centric.

 

[GREASED WEASEL]

How can a left wing republican board like NSC be 20 points behind in this poll

 

[Pavilionaire]

Mate, Edward had Nazi sympathies, I wasn’t rubbishing that bit, but it’s a huge stretch to say or even allude had he not abdicated that the course of history (as in Britain became nazified) might have been different. So huge it’s simply preposterous. I’ve read more books about the mid to late 30s and early 40s than you’ve had hot dinners probably, inc. attending lectures by some of the worlds leading historians on this period. None have jumped to your conclusion and that’s why I called rubbish. No offence like.

I didn't say it was my conclusion that had Edward VIII remained on the throne the UK would have become a Nazi state. Indeed, I consider it a highly unlikely possibility - and yes I have a Modern History degree.

But when you consider Chamberlain was all for appeasing Hitler, then Dunkirk, the Battle of Britain and the Blitz and how the country was staring defeat in the face in 1940 you could see how having a Nazi sympathiser king would have been terrible for the UK .

 

[portlock seagull]

I didn't say it was my conclusion that had Edward VIII remained on the throne the UK would have become a Nazi state. Indeed, I consider it a highly unlikely possibility - and yes I have a Modern History degree.

But when you consider Chamberlain was all for appeasing Hitler, then Dunkirk, the Battle of Britain and the Blitz and how the country was staring defeat in the face in 1940 you could see how having a Nazi sympathiser king would have been terrible for the UK .

By then he wouldn’t have been a sympathiser though, your modern history degree should have taught you that.