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It's just a forum on the Net. A disparate bunch of people with a connection to mountain biking past or present (present in my case). There's good, there's bad there's non sensical, there's reason, there's prejudice, there's openmindedness and all the ills of life in a society.
Don't let the barstards grind you down, Cougar, it doesn't matter. You're one of the good guys remember, above all this shit.
Thank you.
I'd disagree with the "... net" argument (because I have to disagree with something, right?😁) It's still real people at the other ends of the wires and it's easy to forget that sometimes.
divides people into two groups,
Everything does that, really time we got past binary. Let's argue in hexadecimal from this point on.
I think the daft thing for me about these sorts of arguments is the idea that "That's that settled" Even if you got shot of the monarchy there would be a sizable proportion of the UK population who'd still want it back. In fact the last time we tried it, the Military dictatorship that took over was eventually so wildly unpopular, the celebration when Charles returned involved London paying for the taps to run with wine instead of water for a week.
the Brexit comparison is a valid one, there's any numbers of folks who honestly believed that getting out of the EU would solve all our problems, and would usher in a fabulous new shiny democratic future Britain filled with opportunity for all.
That ended well.
Is there room for a slimmed down Monarchy? Personally I think so, but then I know folks for whom the pageantry and pomp are the whole point, it's perhaps not a popular opinion but I don't think that our country is so badly organised that it's needs constitutional reform from top to bottom, and I'm not sure that it would solve anything anyway. The are countries without monarchies that ae just as ****ed, and there are countries with monarchies that seems to do OK.
the Brexit comparison is a valid one, there’s any numbers of folks who honestly believed that getting out of the EU would solve all our problems, and would usher in a fabulous new shiny democratic future Britain filled with opportunity for all.
That ended well.
Is my big concern. Which abolition did you vote for?
Is there room for a slimmed down Monarchy? Personally I think so
Absolutely. It's the "how" and the timescale that will cause yet more arguments.
I think the daft thing for me about these sorts of arguments is the idea that “That’s that settled” Even if you got shot of the monarchy there would be a sizable proportion of the UK population who’d still want it back.
...
the Brexit comparison is a valid one, there’s any numbers of folks who honestly believed that getting out of the EU would solve all our problems
The problem to my mind is that for want of a better explanation, sweeping usage of words like "just" do heavy lifting way beyond their station.
Let's "just" abolish the monarchy.
Let's "just" leave the EU.
Let's "just" cut out this tumour with a breadknife.
Some, all or none of these things might be a fantastic idea. But you can't "just" do them, they need a degree of thought and consideration. We "just" leave the EU, great, but then what, what are replacing that function with? Who's going to do all our admin? Hey, who remembers "fruit"?
I wouldn't shed a tear over losing the monarchy and reallocating their ill-gotten gains. But you cannot "just" do it, that's idiotic. Who's going to be our head of state now, Sunak? Or some other new role, a President perhaps? Who's going to own and maintain the land others were complaining about earlier, what's to stop the incumbent management from razing wild habitats to the ground and selling them to Barratt once the boss has been deposed? Etc etc, and indeed, etc.
"Just." Bugger off.
It's true that it would take some work but it's not impossible either
Have a presidency - 2yr tenure, why not have it a public application like jury service? The job description is 'make sure parliament are doing their job' so that can be a mix of the weekly meeting with the PM only this time it's all on record, responsibility for the parliamentary standards and privileges and ethics committees etc. Part of the role is to prove that you have no political history like being a MP or councillor. Small support staff, part of the Civil Service. Irish Republic presidential office costs about 5million Euros a year which a sh1ttonne less than the current jokers we have.
The Duchies and crown estates etc are handed back to the nation but they continue to run themselves in the same way but are auditable, the national trust gets the buildings and the staff within them to run in the same manner, added bonus that all the hunting stops straight away, they could rewild the moors etc
Parliament likes the monarchy because it has it exactly where it wants it. Changing the monarchy is only really practical as part of a wider package of constitutional reform. But it is difficult to see how the current owners of the constitution (Parliament), would agree to any reform, as any sane reform would reduce it's power. A bit of a prob.
Crown estate is not owned by the royals. George 3rd gave that up when defence spending got too much.
Regarding their other big private estates - are we just picking on the Royals or do we intend to grab the estates of all the other big landowners?
I mean Anders Holch Povlsen owns lots of Scotland and that seems unfair, so lets grab that and give it to the nation. My house might be bigger than yours, will the nation try to grab that too?
I mean Anders Holch Povlsen owns lots of Scotland and that seems unfair, so lets grab that and give it to the nation.
Under the land reform act the community has rights over buying land - but the poulsons are good landowners looking after the land well.
too many magic mushrooms at supposedly druidic ceremonies…?
This is exactly the kind of ethnic stereotyping that shows the hegemonic, imperialist nature of Little Englander Westminster British nationalism under whose yoke the Celtic peoples... (continue for several dozen self-righteous paragraphs).
If you want to know how much money the crown is making / taking / spending, all of this stuff is in the public domain, isn’t it?
Nope.
Imagine being one of those cretins deluded enough to even attempt to try and defend the Royal family. Its terrifying that there's still people out there who despite everything can't work it out for themselves. Tragic really.
There's not even any point in engaging with them.
If you're prepared to publicly throw your support behind a family of paedophile sympathisers, thieves and highly likely to have at least one nonce in their own ranks, (paid 12million quid to someone he'd "never met" and "doesn't know" - biggest admission of guilt ever) then their mindset is already far too warped to reason with.
Keep waving those flags and pray all the nasty stuff all goes away. My, what a pretty gold lavish horse drawn carriage you have. This makes everything ok. Carry on.
Imagine being...
Cheers dits.
Anders Holch Povlsen owns lots of Scotland
He owns a bit of Scotland, hardly 'lots'
He owns 890sq k/m. Scotland is 77,910sq k/m
220,000 acres is quite a lot
Nobody is saying it isnt.
Anyway, back to the royal sponge.
Nice balanced bit of journalism from Graham Smith, CEO of Republic and author of "Abolish the Monarchy: Why We Should and How We Will".
This is
exactly the kind of ethnic stereotyping that shows the hegemonic, imperialist nature of Little Englander Westminster British nationalism under whose yoke the Celtic peoples… (continue for several dozen self-righteous paragraphs).just a little light-hearted piss-taking
FTFY.
“Just.” Bugger off.
Fine by me. 🙂
Given what Povlson has done with the land he owns I’d quite happily have him own all of Scotland.
Imagine being one of those cretins deluded enough to even attempt to try and defend the Royal family.
...
highly likely to have at least one nonce in their own ranks, (paid 12million quid to someone he’d “never met”
... to someone who was 17 at the time they (allegedly hadn't) met.
But making stuff up doesn't help your argument but rather it diminishes it, it's like screaming "racist!" because someone mentions a blackboard; it's unnecessary if there's plenty of actual evidence of wrongdoing; and here we are again throwing around personal attacks, always the sign of a solid defence.
Don't you get it, is it that difficult to comprehend? I'm not defending them, some of them are a set of right shitehawks. I'd replace the lot in a heartbeat from His Maj down to the Civil Service and start again if I were in charge. Andrew is clearly a wrong 'un, he's full of shit and there's obviously been a good degree of (unproven but likely) systematic cover-up going on. But he's not a nonce, far as I can gather anyway.
the national trust gets the buildings and the staff within them to run in the same manner,
Well, thats the National Trust ****ed, unless it's subsidised by taxpayers money.
This is
exactly the kind of ethnic stereotyping that shows the hegemonic, imperialist nature of Little Englander Westminster British nationalism under whose yoke the Celtic peoples… (continue for several dozen self-righteous paragraphs).just a little light-hearted piss-taking
Thanks. Hope the short-tempered Scot Nats can avoid getting their sporrans in a twist next time they're the butt of the joke. I'll count on you to rein them in.
The truth is that the monarchy is deceiving the public about its income, funding and wealth. The crown estate does not belong to the royal family, and it doesn’t provide the funding for the monarchy. It has only been since 2011 that the size of the grant is pegged to the estate’s profits. Yet for all the sense that makes you could just as easily peg the grant to the profits of McDonald’s or easyJet. The funding will still come from the government – a government that insists it can’t provide cost-of-living wage increases for nurses or crucial support for families with more than two children. The sovereign grant doesn’t cover the full cost of the monarchy, with estimates by Republic putting the total bill at more than £345m. Yet that figure will continue to rise for as long as the secrecy and dishonesty persists. And that should be a source of deep shame for all those involved, not least King Charles.
Shame on all those who clapped and cheered the "king". I believe there were one of two on here bragging about their special little invitations to the coronation of a man who actively attempted to protect paedophiles. Thats your holier than thou "king" and shows what he's all about. Absolute cringe. Ignorance is bliss.
Thanks. Hope the short-tempered Scot Nats can avoid getting their sporrans in a twist next time they’re the butt of the joke. I’ll count on you to rein them in.
If they're confecting faux outrage and offence to make a point (and thus acting like twits) then 'no problem' with that. 👍
Does anyone have a detailed breakdown of the budget? I'm just curious to learn it costs for a king's helping of fun.
https://twitter.com/RampCapitalLLC/status/1684010737004343296
If they’re confecting faux outrage and offence to make a point (and thus acting like twits) then ‘no problem’ with that.
On the other hand if its the same old canards time and time again it gets tiresome and some of the anti scots comments verge on racist