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Yes it is a dilemma for all the Royals, to be criticised and scrutinised every day would be unbearable. This lovely young couple are doing a great job and yes this event is History in the making, nothing the usual ex-pat knockers say is going to change that. I wish them Love Health and Happiness.
Yes it is a dilemma for all the Royals, to be criticised and scrutinised every day would be unbearable. This lovely young couple are doing a great job and yes this event is History in the making, nothing the usual ex-pat knockers say is going to change that. I wish them Love Health and Happiness.
"To be criticized every day would be unbearable"?!! Do you honestly believe that their lives are hard? Really? Try thinking about people who really have it tough.
Its not that they are bad people, but the level of respect and adoration is completely irrational. There is another thread on here about how disgusting it is that British MPs are getting a pay raise; those same posters are on here with full support for a couple who live ENTIRELY off the state, having never earned this privilege. Mind boggling.
Its not that they are bad people, but the level of respect and adoration is completely irrational. There is another thread on here about how disgusting it is that British MPs are getting a pay raise; those same posters are on here with full support for a couple who live ENTIRELY off the state, having never earned this privilege. Mind boggling.
I'm not fussed one way or another about the Royals, the paltry proportion of national income devoted to them barely registers on the national accounts. If it provides such joy to the masses that they stand out in the rain for hours to watch them drive past then I can ignore my own 'bah humbug' stance and leave them to it.
However, I agree with you that there's a particularly amusing double standard that some seem to apply to the Royals. It's not unusual to meet a Daily Mail reader who practically froths at the mouth over the notion that somebody can take home £26,000/year in welfare benefits (albeit to actually qualify for that level of support requires a large number of children + profound disabilities in the household), yet the same people swoon at pictures of the Royals who can blow that much taxpayers money per minute.
Nonetheless the solution to this societal angst has become clear to me. What we do is institute a network of ornate horse drawn carriages to convey benefit claimants to the Jobcentre, which we will of course rename the 'Palace of [insert placename here]'. Instead of actually working on employment skills, we hammer benefit claimants with elocution lessons, attire them in 18th century getup, and manufacture some dubious historical claim to legitimacy into their family histories. (Their surnames can be altered/removed if they don't sound authentic enough.)
The aim of the game is to give benefit claimants a makeover. We want to alter the image of feckless layabouts, instead fostering the image of 'lovable eccentrics', to which end we'll employ countless public relations executives to sell the new 'brand' image of benefit claimants to the general public. Any claims that this system is expensive and functionless we can immediately shoot down by pointing to the massive numbers of tourists who would (probably genuinely) flock from across the world to witness the pomp and pageantry. We can have benefit claimants open supermarkets or McDonald's or something as evidence of their commitment to public duty.
Well, it's just me, but I'd RATHER hear about Will and Kate than about the Obamas.
I don't necessarily care more about the Obamas (although I have nothing against them either), but I see no need to know every detail of someone's life, celebrity or not. At the end of the day, we're all people and not every aspect is worth televising or announcing. Is the Royal birth good to know? Sure, but must I know every detail regarding the labor process? Not really.
I don't necessarily care more about the Obamas (although I have nothing against them either), but I see no need to know every detail of someone's life, celebrity or not. At the end of the day, we're all people and not every aspect is worth televising or announcing. Is the Royal birth good to know? Sure, but must I know every detail regarding the labor process? Not really.
Well, as the mother of four, I know from personal experience that lots of women just LOVE hearing about, and discussing, the most minute details of childbirth!
Here's how I see it - many people, especially women, are interested, not so much in the "royalty" of royalty, but in the humanity of them. We find that common ground and it's interesting to find common ground with a Princess. But we're also intrigued by the differences as well. It's entertaining to try to imagine how they live, for many people. Those castles, those grounds, the routines and pomp and circumstance, the intrigue of trying to maintain privacy and yet live life fully...I understand that many people don't care about all that, and that's fine. But many people do, and that's fine too.
I'm not fussed one way or another about the Royals, the paltry proportion of national income devoted to them barely registers on the national accounts. If it provides such joy to the masses that they stand out in the rain for hours to watch them drive past then I can ignore my own 'bah humbug' stance and leave them to it.
However, I agree with you that there's a particularly amusing double standard that some seem to apply to the Royals. It's not unusual to meet a Daily Mail reader who practically froths at the mouth over the notion that somebody can take home £26,000/year in welfare benefits (albeit to actually qualify for that level of support requires a large number of children + profound disabilities in the household), yet the same people swoon at pictures of the Royals who can blow that much taxpayers money per minute.
Nonetheless the solution to this societal angst has become clear to me. What we do is institute a network of ornate horse drawn carriages to convey benefit claimants to the Jobcentre, which we will of course rename the 'Palace of [insert placename here]'. Instead of actually working on employment skills, we hammer benefit claimants with elocution lessons, attire them in 18th century getup, and manufacture some dubious historical claim to legitimacy into their family histories. (Their surnames can be altered/removed if they don't sound authentic enough.)
The aim of the game is to give benefit claimants a makeover. We want to alter the image of feckless layabouts, instead fostering the image of 'lovable eccentrics', to which end we'll employ countless public relations executives to sell the new 'brand' image of benefit claimants to the general public. Any claims that this system is expensive and functionless we can immediately shoot down by pointing to the massive numbers of tourists who would (probably genuinely) flock from across the world to witness the pomp and pageantry. We can have benefit claimants open supermarkets or McDonald's or something as evidence of their commitment to public duty.
Eoin
I agree with your points, and find the rest very amusing
However, my personal objection to a monarch is just that: a monarch. It's not financial (even though they are really not worth the money which could be put to far better use), its the principle. No one else is born better than I, born more entitled, or born with a right to head if state status. I think that's argument enough.
I agree with your points, and find the rest very amusing
However, my personal objection to a monarch is just that: a monarch. It's not financial (even though they are really not worth the money which could be put to far better use), its the principle. No one else is born better than I, born more entitled, or born with a right to head if state status. I think that's argument enough.
But a vast majority of Britains like having a royal family, this is the 21st Century you know, the royals don't think of themselves as 'better', we all know that in todays world they do not wield any 'real' power, they are a novelty in this Century, a link to a bygone age and if nothing else they fill up gossipy magazines (along with other world celebraties). Most Britains feel like the royal family 'belong to them' and the Queen is like a member of the family you dont really visit! Like a distant cousin! In short they may not have much use politically in todays world but they give the Britains a reason to wave flags, have the occasional celebratory fete (if they want to) and a reason for pomp and ceremony that, if nothing else, brings just a little colour to a dull, sometimes dangerous and sometimes sad world. Ian you are not forced to partake in anything to do with the royals but some people like that sort of thing - each to their own, I am not much of a Royalist myself but I can see the value to this country in having them, in fact I even like having them, I think it would be a sad day if we just got rid of them. If people are interested in Royal babies, Royal marriages or any Royal gossip its really no skin off of my nose or your nose, so I say good for them!
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