Exactly right. Would any of them swap their own idea of elected presidency for ours? Absolutely not.
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Last Say On The Jubilee...maybe
- Thread starter The Rivet
- Start date
34064 Fighter Command
New member
But it's the PRIME MINISTER and the Privvy Council who nominates the appointments. HRH simply has to do what she is told, and rubber stamp it all.
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Hatterlovesbrighton
something clever
http://www.culture.gov.uk/images/publications/2011-diamond-jubilee-bank-holiday-impact-assessment.pdf
See page 10.
The rationale is that people will work harder in the weeks following a bank holiday to make up for the time they've had off.
Shooting Star
Well-known member
History and culture perhaps, but Royal Family? They love it in the way you love your mate's dog. Fun to look at and pay attention to when it's around, but you're f***ing glad he's lumbered with it and not you.
(no offence to dog lovers)
Even as a Republican I tend to agree that nothing will change until there is proof of a gross abuse of power that cannot be swept under the carpet that causes the appropriate level of revulsion. Even Charles' appalling meddling and Andrew's even worse abuse of power have been ignored by the establishment down the years.
I'm glad it was only 1,000 and I wish it had been fewer clearly 1,000 is not a number that is representative of republican feeling in this country. I personally feel this is the wrong time to be protesting as the vast number of British people who made the journey to central London will include some who we need to be winning over, not antagonising.
The fact is that 20% of the nation is already republican, and that is in a climate of stifled debate and a fawning, biased media.
Kumquat
New member
- Mar 2, 2009
- 4,459
Certainly agree with that and recognise that any change would have to be carefully planned and take probably some considerable time. I just think that while we still have a monarchy they could show some class and recognise that a massive show of opulence at a time of cuts and austerity was pretty naïve. I doubt there is a single member of the royal family who even knows that thousands of people lost a day's pay because they get paid by the day and were simply told they couldn't work yesterday by their companies. I believe in the last recession in 1992, the Queen offered to pay income tax and capital gains tax. I think a similar gesture to say that celebrations for the jubilee would be limited to save on the cost to the taxpayer (including policing and the bank holiday) would have been welcome.
Trufflehound
Re-enfranchised
In what way is the British monarchy unique? Andorra, Bahrain, Belgium, Bhutan, Brunei, Cambodia, Denmark, Japan, Jordan, Kuwait, Lesotho, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Monaco, Morocco, the Netherlands, Norway, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Swaziland, Sweden, Thailand, Tonga, and the UAE (and, technically speaking, the Vatican) all have monarchs*.
For the record, Francois Hollande is also a monarch. He's co-Prince of Andorra.
*Not counting all the Commonwealth countries of which QE2 is head of state...
But as I say, that's NOT true. There are currently 26 lords who were appointed undemocratically by the C of E - an organisation whose head is the Queen. And then there are the hereditory peers made up of the old aristrocracy. It's only the life peers that are nominated by the PM, and even that is hardly democratic.
Shooting Star
Well-known member
Indeed. I was at the protest on Sunday, and it was more of a show that many people are Republicans and object to one family's bloodline elevating themselves unchallenged to the highest offices of British power, unelected. This is despite the BBC's nauseating and extralegal bias and the sycophants who shout shit like 'God save the Queen' (I wonder how many are actually Christians, and how many of these would scoff at 'God bless America', when the latter refers to God saving over 300 million people, and not one woman). A Republic here will only arrive once the layers of the Commonwealth are stripped away. That day will inevitably come.
As I said, lost GDP is lost GDP. You cannot make it up at a later date.
I find that quotes misguided. We don't cling to the royal family, or things that are out of date. We weren't really making a fuss over our monarch either, we were just having a good party.
Hatterlovesbrighton
something clever
Did you read it? Are you an economist?
There is no appetite for republicanism in this country. There is a huge difference between people saying they don't believe in hereditary principle and them being republicans.
Politicians are amongst the least trustworthy group of people in society. We all know they are out for personal gain. I am not a monarchist, but I'm also not a republican. I'm not about to hand over the opportunity to be head of state to a bunch of people that will use their money and influence to secure the top spot.
By all means let's reform the upper house, but turn things over to a presidency? No thanks. It would just be another layer of people ripping us off.
We've got enough problems to solve in this country and the courses to pursue them. Let's focus on some things that matter and not the things that don't.
Politicians are amongst the least trustworthy group of people in society. We all know they are out for personal gain. I am not a monarchist, but I'm also not a republican. I'm not about to hand over the opportunity to be head of state to a bunch of people that will use their money and influence to secure the top spot.
By all means let's reform the upper house, but turn things over to a presidency? No thanks. It would just be another layer of people ripping us off.
We've got enough problems to solve in this country and the courses to pursue them. Let's focus on some things that matter and not the things that don't.
There's an awful lot of guff in that report, which has been designed to justify this day off. What is wrong with what [MENTION=409]Herr Tubthumper[/MENTION] says anyway? He had a day off and has no intention of working extra hard to make it up, and there will be millions like him. You don't need to be an economist to draw the inevitable conclusion...
Mellor 3 Ward 4
Well-known member
Inevitable - I think not!
Oh, and as far as the pathetically poor turn out for your demo, did you turn round to the rest of your supporters and say 'Oh, don't come, we only want a few of us there?'
Oh, couldn't they be bothered?
Kumquat
New member
- Mar 2, 2009
- 4,459
If they're paid by the day that means nothing. The people I know are simply losing a day's pay. They don't get it back and they don't get the opportunity to earn it at a later date.
Hatterlovesbrighton
something clever
Nothing wrong with having an opinion or indeed an intention not to work harder. It's just he presented it as a fact that the GDP wouldn't be recovered when the evidence (indeed the same evidence that says how much the bank holiday will cost that he quoted) shows that the net effect is likely to be low.
Upto him if he wants to argue against the ONS.
Briefly, a lot of it seems to be based on expectation which is okay in itself, but the scenarios do not have any data to support them.
And I am not an economist, although I did study for an o level and dabbled a little a uni as part of my maths and stats degree.
At the micro level Joe Bloggs might work an extra day to make up for a day spent waving a flag but my understanding of GDP at the macro level is that a day off is lost forever. Like when London ground to a halt when there were a few millimetres of snow a while back; all the business, industries and services which are traded in a single day in the City simply cannot be made up at a later date.
34064 Fighter Command
New member
I doubt it, the Monarchy existed long before either Commonwealth or Empire, going back as far as Aethelstan in 927. And even before that there were regional Monarchs.
You dont argue with the ONS....you roll your eyes.