In times of austerity....

It makes me laugh that you think UKIP would have a say in whether she stays or goes. Bit backwards there.

 

I was being facetious. They will undoubtedly love the monarchy, despite the inherent contradiction to their stance on Europe

 

I really don't know what proportion of the benefits pot goes to which section of society but it looks to me as though we still don't have the balance right.

 

To be fair, it has taken 10 years to build so was ordered during a "boom time" (although in retrospect that was mainly fueled by the house price inflation bubble). I suppose once ordered it would have to be fully paid for whether it was completed or not. Although saying that, it could have sat in a shed for 3-4 years until things "picked up" to stop the proles rioting or something.

 

Best thing for them to do in popularity terms would be to pass it straight to William and Kate, they're more popular across the world than anyone. I wouldn't say I'm a royalist but I think their benefits are greater than the cost to keep them.

 

That old chestnut has never been proven. We only get told what the Royal Family wants us to be told about their finances. You only ever her about the direct costs not the true costs of running an outdated Monarchy.

 

Its stuff like this that gets me

http://www.westernmorningnews.co.uk...tmoor-Prison/story-11694543-detail/story.html

That's not even costs related to running the monarchy. Its money the state pays him in rent for land which was gifted to his distant lineage 700 years ago, all going towards his own personal wealth, which in turn will carry on to William, George et al.

Heredity priviledge at its absolute worse. All funded by us.

 

God save The Queen. She's nearly as wealthy as Tony Blair

Him of the many houses, wife enriched due to his Govt bringing in The Human Rights Act, and the sender of many to die in Iraq & Afghanistan. That nice Labour PM we had.

 

Re: God save The Queen. She's nearly as wealthy as Tony Blair

Also odious. But with one fundamental difference, to quote Tony Benn

“In the course of my life I have developed five little democratic questions. If one meets a powerful person — Adolf Hitler, Joe Stalin or Bill Gates — ask them five questions: ‘What power have you got? Where did you get it from? In whose interests do you exercise it? To whom are you accountable? And how can we get rid of you?’ If you cannot get rid of the people who govern you, you do not live in a democratic system.”

 

Quite right. The test he applied to the EU.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Yep. So surely anyone who wants a referendum on the EU would also hold one on the monarchy, and those that argue against being part of the EU will surely argue for us to become a republic.

 

Sod the Queen and sod the royal family. They have no relevance to a modern society based on ideas of democracy and meritocracy. An anachronistic relic of a time when it was felt that one should revere one's betters. All the stuff around the birth of George was embarrassing. It's a baby for ****'s sake. It's not going to pop out and win the World Cup for England or solve world hunger, it's going to look like a potato with eyes and **** itsen like every other baby.

 

Wouldn't mind both.
We won't get both though. Although why the EU = The UK constitutional monarchy I'm not sure.

Why don't Labour stand on a Republican manifesto ? Reckon it would be a vote winner ?

 

Can't really be the Queens government if you are going to kick her out on the street once elected...

 

Dunno, probably doesn't poll well for a party that's preoccupied with the centre ground.

I don't think people would vote for it. I think Britian is inherently little 'c' conservative. Its why people rejected AV, and its why I think people would vote to stay in Euroope in a referendum.

 

No point trying to change owt then........

 

No, absolutey every point. But you can't argue for democracy and then get face on if people don't vote for what you want.

 

There's a lot of that going on on my Twitter feed over UKIP.

 

That people look to Nigel Farage as a portest vote just goes to show how little 'c' conservative the country is.

Good piece by Chuka Umunna at the weekend in The Independent, citing Barack Obama's response to the Tea Party - you deal with it by taking on their policies head on.

 

Well I wish they would take UKIPs policies head on rather than smear and mis-quote. I haven't heard one strong argument for our on-going membership of the EU other than 'thousands' or 'millions' of jobs depend on it - depending how scary they want to make it sound. Which jobs ? How have they calculated that ? Not guesswork, oh no sir. Let's have the facts about trade, jobs immigration, legislature etc and how much it costs versus the reality of leaving the EU. - and not 'ooh we can sell bananas by the lb' as a reason ffs.

'Have I Got News For You' panellists etc taking cheap shots at Farage, whilst mainstream politicians say 'ooh we must listen' - then change nothing - will only lead to a polarizing effect. The longer they bugger about the more reactionary the opposition will become. Just telling people off for voting UKIP won't cut it.

All of a sudden the more insular and truly fascist will become mainstream. And the politicians and media will wonder why and deny any responsibility.