British Royalty

[Dave2006]

Wait...what? Excuse me for being an ignorant yank, but your taxes support their lifestyle? I thought they had old money? You still pay them?

We pay taxes to Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs - she keeps what she wants and then lets the government spend the rest.

That's what being a 'subject' is all about. And it's shit.

The argument against a republic is that we'd have to have some other head of state like a president. People fear a 'President Blair' type of ego. Or a f***wit like President George W Bush. Monarchists fear that us plebs would vote a ridiculous president into power like Jordan or Simon Cowell or a football mascott... so best not allow the people to speak and let divinity guide the way.

That argument sounds attractive whilst you have a moderate monarch like Lizzie. But what about Charlie? I don't think he has the press on his side. And lots of people will never forgive him for arranging for Diana to be bumped off (allegedly ) When he finally takes the throne, at an age after most people have retired, I suspect there will be a lot of support for the idea of a republic, or a change in the rules to allow a younger prince like William to take over.

Viva la republic!

Dave

 

[Daddy Cool]

Forgive them on the streets they marched, turned bigotry into unpopular tunes.

They march to demonstrate loyalty to the Crown and their "freedoms" as Protestants, whatever that may be..

Their freedoms as Protestants usually come at the expense of Catholics, in my experience.

 

[I am a Ghost]

Their freedoms as Protestants usually come at the expense of Catholics, in my experience.

I imagine there's a lot of marches in Glasgow too, DC?

 

[Dave2006]

Hopefully Morrissey will schedule a gig around July 12th and I can do both.


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Someone should tell them July is the best time for their old saunter.

Blimey, I didn't even know there was an Orange march in Manchester
Was trying to work out where they were walking, didn't recognise the street and the bus that drove by didn't look like a Manchester bus.....

Jukebox Jury

Its Bury New Road, directly opposite Strangeways Prison http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&s...oid=DNYgFqMxYhggeUGwvYML7g&cbp=12,322,,0,4.16

I used to work in Merseyside, next to Seaforth rail station, the Orange lot used to get on the train to Southport from there. It always felt edgy. f***ers.

Dave

 

[Daddy Cool]

I imagine there's a lot of marches in Glasgow too, DC?

Yep...

But it's too late to get into a political debate, I've got work in the morning.

 

[I am a Ghost]

Yep...

But it's too late to get into a political debate, I've got work in the morning.

I hear ya, mate!

And I've been hearing such debates for 44 years!

 

[Dave2006]

This one takes place in more familiar surroundings.

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They are very popular events in Liverpool too.

Is it their historic birth right to march past the post box that the IRA failed to blow up? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1996_Manchester_bombing#Reconstruction Bonkers

Dave

 

[I am a Ghost]

Its Bury New Road, directly opposite Strangeways Prison http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&s...oid=DNYgFqMxYhggeUGwvYML7g&cbp=12,322,,0,4.16

I used to work in Merseyside, next to Seaforth rail station, the Orange lot used to get on the train to Southport from there. It always felt edgy. f***ers.

Dave

One hardly thinks of them on mainland UK (Jayziz), but there are actually lodges all over the world;USA, New Zealand, GHANA, of all places, and even Dublin in the treacherous Free State!

 

[Robert Tressell]

The royal family is exempt from any cuts in public spending for the next 10 years.

Although all of the major political parties are promising to make massive cuts in public spending, MPs are powerless to reduce the £7.9m a year paid under the civil list because of a deal struck between Buckingham Palace and the Treasury in 1972.

But the civil list is just the tip of the iceberg. Land, property, art, influence, patronage and an entire social hierarchy - billions of pounds worth of the country's heritage is under their direct control.

And they're all quite thick, unelected morons.
Scrap them, retire them with a pay off. Elect a head of state like in Ireland.

 

[Oh my god. it's Robby!]

well, its complicated for me
I have already detailed my grandfather's "Stuartism"
but he is dead now, as is the House of Stuart really, I looked them up
some Dutch Protestant guy would take the throne if the Stuarts were monarchs of the UK again
how crazy is that?

However, my mother inherited her mother's love for the royals
something about Queen Elizabeth shaking my grandmother's hand after their house was destroyed by the Germans
and my mother's earliest memory is Elizabeth's coronation
they even dragged me out of bed to watch Charles get married to Diana when I was like 8 or 9
it was real early in the morning on the west coast, thats when I decided to listen to my grampa's Jacobite views
but now grandma(whose name happens to be Elizabeth I just realized ) is dead too, she was almost 90 when she died
and my mother thinks Diana was murdered
and she listens to Morrissey some
so now I must no longer must be for the royals anymore
still though, as an American, its one of those things that makes us different from Brits
so I want you to keep it maybe

 

[I am a Ghost]

well, its complicated for me
I have already detailed my grandfather's "Stuartism"
but he is dead now, as is the House of Stuart really, I looked them up
some Dutch Protestant guy would take the throne if the Stuarts were monarchs of the UK again
how crazy is that?

LOL Robby!

And I don't mean "laugh out loud".

 

[M-in-Oz]

It would be great for Australia to become a Republic - but I don't see that happening anytime soon due to arguing amongst politicians about what style of Republic it would be. The argument seems to be 'if it's not broken don't fix it'. However I think we are more than ready to break that tie to the Motherland.

 

[Oh my god. it's Robby!]

You mean the Oranges? As far as I am aware I am Protestant because of William of Orange and his relatives. Subjects used to have the same religion as their prince in the 16th century. More Nassau in my case. At that time he went to free the Netherlands from Catholic Spain. Elizabeth I. did not want to give him any money. The Hugenottes in France could not, because they were murdered. So it slightly rubs me the wrong way if the undereducated fellow citizen of yours who thinks that Freud is the latest thing in psychology also claims that the reformation never happened. Where has he been during the past 500 years?

uhh, well I think my above comment makes sense if you also understand that the Stuart monarchy was a Catholic one, the Jacobite cause was always entwined with this fact. And Scotland in particular was torn apart by a strange mix of Catholic or Protestant, Gaelic or English speaker, Scottish or British.
So, see the Stuart crown now being "legally" the right of someone not from any part of the UK and also not Catholic, well, that just smells too much like what happened the 2nd time a Stuart king of Great Britain was dethroned*
see, so thats funny**

also, on a personal note, I was raised Catholic because my father was raised German Catholic
My mother agreed to that though, since her mother had also been raised Catholic, but she converted when she married a Lowlander and a Protestant
my grandfather, I mean, who strangely had the same birthday as my father
always thought it was weird my mom married a guy with the same birthday as her own dad


*=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glorious_Revolution
**=funny to dorks like me who wasted our time getting near straight As in History at UCLA

 

[Mozza220559]

No, it doesn't. Only places in Hull count.

Why do you like the fact i'm from Hull? They should just move Buckingham Palace near Reckitts

 

[Hellie]

Stick 'em in a nice council flat in Govan (nay offence )...and let them live off the dole...and fill their days with trips to the offie to get swallied.

Sorry I'm not profound.

 

[Robert Tressell]

If only this were real life... still it's a good read.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Queen_and_I_(novel)

 

[Moonbeam]

Blimey, I didn't even know there was an Orange march in Manchester
Was trying to work out where they were walking, didn't recognise the street and the bus that drove by didn't look like a Manchester bus.....

Jukebox Jury

That bus is Lancashire united...goes back to Accrington and blackburn.

 

[mikael]

I don't believe in ghosts, goblins, elves what have you why on earth would I believe in princes, princesses, kings and queens etc (god appointed)?

 

[Our Lady]

Why do you like the fact i'm from Hull? They should just move Buckingham Palace near Reckitts

Don't you like the fact that you're from Hull?

I just thought it'd be a good topic of conversation, certainly better than British Royalty.

 

[Oh my god. it's Robby!]

I heard that Hull is a bad place