The rf, like the church are very good at telling people what to do whilst doing nothing themselves. Like the rf, the church has been remarkably quiet on how it gould use domebof it £1bn a year revenue to help the vulnerable. I’m sure individual congregations are spending thier own money doing things but not the church.

One and the same…

EDIT: Which does raise other questions…

I watched it last night ‘cos SWMBO wanted to watch it. Wasn’t expecting much but I thought it was spot on.

I’d much rather the head of state was an apolitical hereditary monarch than, Boris or any other politician.

To be fair, she didn’t actually say anything like that, she said

“That the attributes of self-discipline, of quiet good-humoured resolve and of fellow-feeling still characterise this country.”

Sorry, but that sounds like stiff upper lip bullshit to me.

Wasn’t expecting much but I thought it was spot on.

So very very very rich women has good speech writer, great.

I find it a bit weird that the Queen manages to be both Supreme Governor of the Church of England and Commander in Chief of The British (along with several other) Armed forces

‘Thou shalt not kill’ (unless there’s oil)

If you look back there is a tradition of warrior monks running through British Christianity from it’s earliest days, it only faded out in the late middle ages

I’d much rather the head of state was an apolitical hereditary monarch than, Boris or any other politician.

In today’s celebrity culture how would we choose one? The continuity of the current lot leads to a different way of operating as compared to someone who is elected.

My view is that it’s a least worst solution. Selling off etc is like trying to rewind to 1065, it’s not going to happen

I didn’t watch it, don’t intend to, it has little relevance to my day to day life

In today’s celebrity culture how would we choose one?

I’d chose at random from the whole population, anyone from 30 to 60 years old. For a five year term.

Why do we need one? The Queen does **** all anyway

She lives in harness and she’ll die in harness – I wouldn’t choose it.

But as an oldie herself a very clear message to other oldies, with their secure pensions and the concept of furlough and the future raised taxes to pay for all this something that is happening to other people

Except not all oldies have financially secure pensions, remember in the winter some have to choose to heat their homes or eat. Oldies do pay tax, they pay tax on savings and goods they purchase.

People saying turn Buckingham Palace into a hospital are likely the same group who object to the palace being maintained and why some parts of it are reportedly in disrepair!

I’m neither pro or anti the Royal Family, but my belief is the Royal Family benefit not only our country but others with their charitable work.

Isn’t she essentially appointed by God?

There is no such thing as God.

the Royal Family benefit not only our country but others with their charitable work.

So did Jimmy Saville.

So did Jimmy Saville.

I’ll leave this one to JHJ…

I’ll leave this one to JHJ…

You mean BMS?

<blockquoteIf I was a millionaire with several properties I would be doing a dam sight more for the effort.

Just like Tim Martin, Richard Branson, Phillip Green, Mike Ashley, and all those Bankers and Hedge Fund Managers are doing.

You mean BMS?

Call me Tom if you prefer, despite my ranting on here, I’m mostly pretty affable in the real world.

Call me Tom if you prefer,

So are JHJ or not? Makes you think.

Give Betty a brake she is putting in a double shift this year with Christmas and April tv appearances.

She lives in harness and she’ll die in harness – I wouldn’t choose it.

She’s actually being controlled by the corgis.

I don’t particularly care for the royals, but it’s beyond me why anyone would question their role or relevance at a time like we are in right now . Who cares about their relevance to an individual that doesn’t like them when their words mean so much to those that do.

Get a grip and get on with dealing your own lives and stop hating on others.

Get a grip and get on with dealing your own lives and stop hating on others.

I dont hate the queen or charlie or any of the others but I do hate the concept of royalty, if you dont think having a conversation about it is appropriate maybe dont get involved and “”stop hating” on those who are capable of having a conversation.

it’s beyond me why anyone would question their role or relevance at a time like we are in right now

Because she just poked her head out of the palace to tell us what to do.

If I got the royal gig, I certainly wouldn’t say no!
Imagine never going on Ryanair or into a McDonalds again

I don’t particularly care for the royals, but it’s beyond me why anyone would question their role or relevance at a time like we are in right now . Who cares about their relevance to an individual that doesn’t like them when their words mean so much to those that do.

That’s a pretty good point. Yesterday’s pep talk was the most visibly useful thing she’s done in years (AFAIC).

Anyone really desperate for Boris to take over the job is picking a pretty weird time to bring it up.

Because she just poked her head out of the palace to tell us what to do.

Well no, she poked her head out to speak to the people that wanted to listen to her and might just heed her words.

Why do we need one? The Queen does **** all anyway

If I got the royal gig, I certainly wouldn’t say no!
Imagine never going on Ryanair or into a McDonalds again

I think this perfectly encapsulates why the current system works.

As Douglas Addams put it:

It is a well-known fact that those people who must want to rule people are, ipso facto, those least suited to do it… anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job.

The whole British constitution (do we have one yet or not?) is based on someone sitting in Buckingham Palace with almost dictatorial levels of power, but doing nothing with it.

I’m not a fan of royalty and hereditary privilege. I’d set inheritance tax at 100%, but as a system of government it’s a work of genius.

Because she just poked her head out of the palace to tell us what to do.

She told those that wanted to listen. Listening to royals is not compulsory (anymore)

Listening to royals is not compulsory (anymore)

Not so, the wife made me watch it.

…glad I did, it had the desired effect and pepped me up a fair bit.

as a system of government it’s a work of genius.

She quite literally does nothing if she ever did we’d have a full blown constitutional crisis.

Listening to royals is not compulsory (anymore)

But being subjugated and giving her our money is though.

Except not all oldies have financially secure pensions, remember in the winter some have to choose to heat their homes or eat

My point was that whilst there are oldies with a range of personal wealth this whole mess is not having a huge financial impact on them. Their state pension remains triple locked and whilst a retail index linked final salary pension is a distant dream for much of the current workforce it is the deal many of them retired on. The nation is locked to our homes this Monday which is not a huge difference for much of 70+ brigade but is to the average person of working age who probably didn’t want to go to work but had to for boring income purposes.

The boomers might be frightened right now but they are going to owe the millennials one if we all get through this (I am neither a boomer or a millennial). And the world’s most famous oldie probably should use her stage to make that point.

The whole British constitution is based on someone sitting in Buckingham Palace with almost dictatorial levels of power, but doing nothing with it.

This
I know we’ve had the longevity of someone being there for 70 years, staying out of politics, and it may all change when the next generation take over. But at the moment, it works. Jeez, if you look at the way American works where people spend billions to get a job that pays $400k a year.

I’m not saying it’s perfect, but it’s not doing badly in my eyes. And I do personally think there are more important things to worry about at the moment

I know we’ve had the longevity of someone being there for 70 years, staying out of politics, and it may all change when the next generation take over. But at the moment, it works.

At the moment it works, but what happens when one of the half-witted inbred descendants takes power and starts using it in a less benign way? The only reason that people like the RF these days is that they don’t do anything. Even Victoria had people trying to assassinate her.

But at the moment, it works

By her doing nothing at all so why do we need royalty and all it stands for?

But at the moment, it works

By her doing nothing at all so why do we need royalty and all it stands for?

By ‘it works’ I mean ‘that’s why people love ‘em’. I’m very much not a royalist, but the fact that they don’t do anything controversial – like leading invasions of third world countries, or chopping people’s heads off – means that a lot of people love ‘em. Who doesn’t love an occasion? And what about another royal baby to love? Can’t stand it all, myself.

but the fact that they don’t do anything controversial

Like being accused of being peados, whilst being good friends with convicted peados?

Fair point, a_a, but you’re just being argumentative for the sake of it.

Paedo btw.

The thing is A-A, as I said, I don’t have much time for them on the whole and on another day, in another life I would agree with you wholeheartedly about the Royals’ place in modern UK. But right now I think they have a place and will (hopefully) have reached a few people with that speech last night.

I’d happily buy her a pint after all this is over. Good on you ma’am.

In today’s celebrity culture how would we choose one?

TV show presented by Ant & Dec where desperate members of the public have to perform royal duties and get yelled at by Allan Sugar or Gordon Ramsey. Winner gets to be monarch for a year and then fade in to obscurity or get a job on QVC.

If I got the royal gig, I certainly wouldn’t say no!
Imagine never going on Ryanair or into a McDonalds again

Pretend visits to Pizza Express in Woking are mandatory though

Paedo btw.

Indeed

I’m not being argumentative for the sake of iy, I genuinely dont get why people think having a head of state who does nothing in this role is needed. Someone always trots out yeah but the yanks have trump like thats an argument, yes trump is a much bigger asshat but if we were a republic why would we need to replace royalty?

She quite literally does nothing if she ever did we’d have a full blown constitutional crisis.

By her doing nothing at all so why do we need royalty and all it stands for?

Which is exactly my point.

Even in a democracy you need some nominal person to call elections and officiate them, otherwise you just end up with whoever’s in power proclaiming “I fancy another 5 years”. E.g. Russia, or Zimbabwe where the incumbent just re-writes the constitution whenever they need to.

Whereas we’ve settled on a system where someone with absolute power over the democratic part, choses not to use it by convention.

You could invest all that power in Black Rod or someone, but I’d argue that’s riskier than hereditary monarchy. Or you could create a president, but then you’ve just created another part of government with the same powers as the monarchy, when the house of Commons / Cabinet / Prime Minister generally does a reasonable job of it currently.

At the moment it works, but what happens when one of the half-witted inbred descendants takes power and starts using it in a less benign way? The only reason that people like the RF these days is that they don’t do anything. Even Victoria had people trying to assassinate her.

I think the precedent is that we chop off their head.

Even in a democracy you need some nominal person to call elections and officiate them

Why? Does the queen officiate our elections, we have one when the government and or parliament want one Queen just says OK, so I’ll ask again, why do we need that?

Even in a democracy you need some nominal person to call elections and officiate them

What happens in France? Or the US? Or Ireland? Or Italy? Or Spain? Or Turkey? Do they summon up a monarch to do that job?