Off Topic Politics Thread

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Spain will get rid of theirs long before you see the demise of the British and Commonwealth Royals. The House of Windsor is very clever in its projection of itself and something mega would have to happen for the UK public to turn en massé against them. The nearest to that happening was in the week after Diana's death, and previously in the late 19th Century.

To be fair, we got rid of ours in 1649, but ended up inviting them back just over a decade later
 
Not many Royal lovers on here this morning, then? Is the Scandinavian model better where the entourage is much smaller. They are also the countries that score highest in models of democracy and social well-being so perhaps the first step is to do away with institutional privilege such as the public schools like Eton which are stepping stones to attaining high positions in politics, media, finance, law, the armed forces, the Church and so on!!! Time for that to come tumbling down and a more meritocratic society to ensue as Harold Wilson envisaged.
 
Not many Royal lovers on here this morning, then? Is the Scandinavian model better where the entourage is much smaller. They are also the countries that score highest in models of democracy and social well-being so perhaps the first step is to do away with institutional privilege such as the public schools like Eton which are stepping stones to attaining high positions in politics, media, finance, law, the armed forces, the Church and so on!!! Time for that to come tumbling down and a more meritocratic society to ensue as Harold Wilson envisaged.

Can I like this twice.

We could start with getting rid of the honours system that is used to put “mates” into the House of Lords, on a tax free £305 a day attendance fee.
If there is a need for people to be recognised, it needs to be for acts that don’t include donations or services to political parties.
 
The royal family is completely irrelevant to the day to day lives of 99.999% of the population of the UK, and even less than that to the rest of the Commonwealth. This is precisely why they are always plastered all over the media, particularly when the government are under pressure. In the last week there has been a Court Order ruling that Johnson lied about publishing PPE contracts, and an outcry about the 1% pay rise offered to NHS staff, yet the papers and news programmes are full of Harry and Meghan. What a surprise.
 
The newspapers seem full of reports regarding Meghan and Harry's interview on TV in the States. I think circumstances like this underscore the difference between the British and Americans. For the British, the royal family are part of the constitution and people expect them to behave with a certain degree of protocol. For the Americans, they are just part of a media circus that they obsess about whereas they are effectively irrelevant to the lives of the people of the United Kingdom. The media seems split along two lines with the American's aghast at the attitudes of the royals and partisan to Meghan. I was surprised to see the "race card" played and I think that the royals are aloof enough for these comments to have some efficacy. It does beg the question as to whether this country wants a racist family at the head of our constitution. All in all, the push to topple statues of people from the past who might be deemed or have been demonstrated to have been racist now seems quaint in light of the fact that the Winsors themselves are perhaps more culpable.

The other side of the coin demonstrates how different we are from the Americans. Oprah may be something of a celebrity interviewer in the US but she would not cut it in the UK. I wonder how incisive the interview would have been had it been carried out by John Humphreys! I have to say that I have little sympathy with either side. I think Meghan has done well out of the marriage as she was otherwise destined to be an obscure, American TV actress. Te clips I have seen are suggestive that she is only thinking about herself. It is difficult to express any sympathy with someone who is so rich and moves in exalted circles.

The debacle between the royals and Meghan / Harry is all rather akin to a football match between Liverpool and Man Utd. Unfortunately, the sides cannot both lose and you still end up not liking either side. It does make you realise how pointless the royals have become and that it is time for them to go. Conversely, it is difficult not to be surprised that the Americans do not get the concept of the royal family and it does seem a bit rich coming from a country that elected Donald Trump! I suppose that at least the Yanks can vote to get rid of an unpopular president and we are stuck with the Winsors. However, I think that the British constitution is a slow moving beast than can accommodate change and you hope that today's news will help people wake up and think about why the vestiges of an early medieval institution still holds such sway in the 21st century. I think the time is get rid of them all is long overdue.

I agree with a few of your points, but don't agree with the last sentence. I am a 100% Royalist and it it what make us as a country so great. The Americans are so jealous of our monarchy and 'class' ( I use that word in context of the British way of life not in context of a class system).

I can believe that one of the Windsors questioned how dark Archie would be, and am horrified by it. However, if you are going to pull the race card, you have to back it up with a name. Even if that name didn't mean it and it is out of context or a so called 'joke', you have to back it up.

I'm on the fence with this - I think Meghan has brought a lot onto herself and is craving publicity, but I can also see that Harry has seen it all before with his mother not being accepted into the firm and that went spectacularly wrong.

I think this whole situation may make people realise that the Windsors are like any other family - how many of us don't have family members we don't get on with or partners that the family may not agree with?

IMO they are part of our identity and just need to adapt again - just like they did after 1997.
 
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With regards to the 1% pay rise, I fully expect Johnson to “personally intervene” and be lauded on the front pages of the media and first on the news bulletins for increasing it back to what was already agreed and budgeted for.
Johnson will then milk the praise for showing that he “cares” about our nurses and the NHS, and some people will think he is wonderful.
As they say.
A conman doesn’t need to be smart if the people he is conning are stupid.
 
One of those things where no one comes out looking good really.

The most legitimate concern there is the race issue, which is very serious and disappointingly unsurprising.

The family squabble bit about ‘I feel let down by my Dad’ is a poor show imo, sounds like an issue that should remain personal and feels attention seeking.

I think they are right to go after the media for the way they have been treated up until this point, but they have just made themselves fair game imo as well as looking a bit like extremely privileged people having a bit of a whinge.

But all in all you find yourself questioning if this is really the best use of news coverage and pretty low down the list of what is important.
 
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I would replace the royal family with an elected president in a heart beat......if I could trust the british public not to vote for a Nigel Farage or Donald Trump type.
I have not watched the interview, only seen some excerpts on the news.
It is apparent to me that Meghan has been treated rather poorly by the press, and she didn't understand how much her life would be restricted by marrying into the Royals.
We will never know the real truth, but if she reports she was suffering mentally and got no help from the 'family and the court officials' that is sad but when they work with mental health charities they should have reached out to them, like they suggest we do.
I think the press and the mechanics of the constitution are the main issues - there may be individuals in the family that did not want Harry marrying a black woman, but that ship has sailed and I think most of them are savvy enough to get over that.
 
I would also add that the royal family institution has to modernize, but it is hard to do that with the current incumbent and staying in position until she dies.
The Queen should have abdicated about 20years ago, and now Prince Charles (King) would be abdicating in favor for William, until we get the head of state who understands better the modern society they are 'governing' the better. It is only then that the rest of the institution will modernize too.
 
I would also add that the royal family institution has to modernize, but it is hard to do that with the current incumbent and staying in position until she dies.
The Queen should have abdicated about 20years ago, and now Prince Charles (King) would be abdicating in favor for William, until we get the head of state who understands better the modern society they are 'governing' the better. It is only then that the rest of the institution will modernize too.
All you say is true, but nothing will convince me that we actually need the monarchy at all. Tradition? What, like slavery or Empire? Tourism? People would still visit this country to look at the stately homes and palaces, if the historic ruins in the form of royalty weren’t there. Ceremony? Ditto.

Let’s have an elected head of state for purely ceremonial purposes, like the Republic of Ireland. No danger of a Trump situation then. The inbred institutionalism which has become so rife in the Windsors wouldn’t recur, if the whole lot were swept away and replaced every few years,
 
All you say is true, but nothing will convince me that we actually need the monarchy at all. Tradition? What, like slavery or Empire? Tourism? People would still visit this country to look at the stately homes and palaces, if the historic ruins in the form of royalty weren’t there. Ceremony? Ditto.

Let’s have an elected head of state for purely ceremonial purposes, like the Republic of Ireland. No danger of a Trump situation then. The inbred institutionalism which has become so rife in the Windsors wouldn’t recur, if the whole lot were swept away and replaced every few years,
I think it is sad we now cannot say tradition without relating it to slavery and empire. Disingenuous butchering of the past. The only truth ever was power from the start of man to the present day. From the African tribes, the subcontinental warlords, the Amazon headhunters, the cannibal pigmies, the Romans, the Greeks, the Zulus.

The truth is the past was a brutal road and only in its brutality did it make space for all this modern guilt and introspection. Oh how evil was the past. Oh how terrible is my genetic fate. Oh woe is the world and none of it is my fault at all.
 
I think it is sad we now cannot say tradition without relating it to slavery and empire. Disingenuous butchering of the past. The only truth ever was power from the start of man to the present day. From the African tribes, the subcontinental warlords, the Amazon headhunters, the cannibal pigmies, the Romans, the Greeks, the Zulus.

The truth is the past was a brutal road and only in its brutality did it make space for all this modern guilt and introspection. Oh how evil was the past. Oh how terrible is my genetic fate. Oh woe is the world and none of it is my fault at all.
I agree with most of that, but you have taken what I said completely out of the intended context.
 
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The royal family is completely irrelevant to the day to day lives of 99.999% of the population of the UK, and even less than that to the rest of the Commonwealth. This is precisely why they are always plastered all over the media, particularly when the government are under pressure. In the last week there has been a Court Order ruling that Johnson lied about publishing PPE contracts, and an outcry about the 1% pay rise offered to NHS staff, yet the papers and news programmes are full of Harry and Meghan. What a surprise.

Exactly - thanks Chilco. Just what I’m thinking ..... what the hell is everyone getting all worked up about when there are HUGE issues which are a million times more important than who’s upset some minor American TV actress who just happened to get a prince to fall in love with her. I don’t mind WHAT they do to be honest, as long as I’m not paying for it.
I feel the whole thing is perfectly timed to take the media away from all the crap that Johnson and his cronies are getting away with (not that they were being held to account by the media anyway) and give the “great” British public something to divert their thoughts away ......
It drives me nuts how wound up people are getting over it. Shame they couldn’t get so worked up about Brexit, COVID, cronyism and the unbelievable honours system which is open to abuse .....
 
Whilst I agree they 1% is appalling and an insult to all those who have kept the country going for the last year, the 1% is a little over £500m not £82m.

Still peanuts to the amount the govt has wasted and given out and disgusting that the NHS has been treated this way.
Agree with this also read a suggestion that the government would have got a better reception if they had frozen NHS pay in line with other public sectors but given NHS and care staff a 10per cent bonus in recognition their service during covid.
 
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