Jubilee Street Party? Not me.

[George]

I need something to wear to show my disdain for all the flag waving tat that the masses will be displaying on the Great Day.

I may have found the perfect thing: http://www.philosophyfootball.com/view_ ... FTXT17810I

Thankfully I will miss the street party where the two page missive from the stultifyingly bossy Organising Committee (set in Comic Sans just for me) details in great depth the jolly time that the residents will be expected to have, how much they are expected to contribute to the event, what gardens may be used, where cars should be parked etc... culminating in a (gahhhhh) Loyal Toast at 16.00.

Now expecting a load of incoming from the Daily Wail readers on here

[Colonel Panic]

I certainly be waving any flags (despite being a Royalist), nor will I be wearing anything patriotic. Nor will I feel that I am "expected" to do anything out of the usual. Maybe you should just chill out, George, and open a bottle of fizz on the day?

[George]

Oh I shall definitely be chilling Mon Colonel - in the Republic of Ireland - a pint or two of Guinness as a starter and a bottle of wine after I think

[Rob P]

FL75 over France on the way back from a break in The Charente

Rob P

[JoeC]

At the last Royal Wedding my kids thought that you had to watch it, by law!

[Pete L]

No Royalist, something of a Leveller, but if the neighbours and pub have organised an all day p*ss up, it would be churlish not to attend. May go in Puritan fig.

Reckon we're a revolution short, even if the evidence available suggests that the French getting rid of their aristos didn't do anything to deal with their sniffiness.

[Propwash]

Thankfully, despite the strident republican views so often expressed in places like this, those of us who witnessed at first hand the unbelievably long, silent, well-behaved queues who patiently waited to file past the late Queen Mother lying in state are confident that that monarchy in the UK is safe for quite a while yet.

PW (Ticket holder for a bash at the palace. )

[Sir Morley Steven]

Yup. As Barnum said.....

[Gerard Clarke]

As PW adopts the logic that that which is popular must also be virtuous, I assume that he is also a keen supporter of Reality Television, Jeremy Kyle, the Sun newspaper, and so forth.

[JoeC]

Didn't unbelievably long, silent, well-behaved queues patiently wait to file past Kim Jong-il recently too?

[BlackheathBloke]

Didn't unbelievably long, silent, well-behaved queues patiently wait to file past Kim Jong-il recently too?

The did indeed.

Those that weren't silent or well-behaved enough are starving to death in Stalags as we type....

[Propwash]

As PW adopts the logic that that which is popular must also be virtuous, I assume that he is also a keen supporter of Reality Television, Jeremy Kyle, the Sun newspaper, and so forth.

Typical barrister.

Sadly for you, Gerard, the abolition of monarchy can only happen peacefully through the majority public will (popularity by another name). Unlike North Korea, that's how democracy works. You could try to enlist majority support for it I suppose. Good luck with that.

PW

[Gerard Clarke]

PW, you are free to rejoice in your deference, and tug your forelock to someone whose ancestors were luckier (or more violent) than your own, but it is wrong to try to suppress dissent by asserting that it is "strident" to challenge the intellectually curious notion that any public office (even that of borough ratcatcher) should be hereditary, or that the holder of the office and members of their family, even if not lined up for the job, should obtain unusual privileges on the basis of heredity. The current system is propped up substantially by inertia. There is little informed public debate about the constitution, and such public debate is unlikely to develop, given the generally low level of political understanding and involvement amongst the electorate. Also, there are far more important things to worry about. The Monarchy is a waste of public money, and causes us to be laughed at by rational nations, but those are small matters in the overall scheme of things.

[George]

Well reasoned there Gerard and I shall not assume any of it is a direct result of your ancestry.

The Great British Forelocking Habit is something that I have often wondered about. Why we persist in bowing and scraping to someone who holds 'power' simply by accident of birth, why there is such a hoo hah when anyone dares to suggest one is 'unpatriotic' to not give a stuff about Brenda and her spoiled offspring?

Personally, I think the Great British Public are too s0dding lazy to get off their backsides and even start to think about what the monarchy actually does, and is far more concerned to make the most of a free day off from the daily grind at their employer's expense and get sunburned (or drenched) and ratted.

The revolution, as you say, will never happen because of inertia.

(Though as a pedant, I wonder if inertia can actually 'prop something up?")

[Flyingfemme]

I'll raise a glass of something to Liz on the appropriate day........it's TT week so every day's a celebration. Our actual bank holiday is on the Friday for Senior Race day.