to wonder why the whole country has gone completely bloody Royalist?

[Hullygully]

Erect the scaffold.

Up the Republicans.

We are ADULTS we don't need a feudalistic Divine Right of Kings addled parasitical bunch of halfwits to live off our taxes.

Can't believe the OP did the "Royal family is German" bit.

If you were to suggest somebody who's parents came here from the Caribbean can't be British because their family came here in the 1950s, you would rightly be labelled racist.

The royal family came here in 1714 and people still call them German!

I think our heads of state should be elected but they absolutely should NOT be politicians

Given that we seem to make such a pigs ear of electing our governments e.g. the present one (couldn't decide which lot of failures we wanted so have ended up with two lots of failures instead of one) and the previous one (for example) - falling for the most insincere politician in present times in Blair and a mob who spent money we don't have - I fail to see how we will be any better at choosing a president.......probably end up with some ghastly celeb.

So - who would Mumsnetters elect as president???????????

Michael Sheen

Eddie Izzard.

ooh Hully just saw your Bread And Circuses upthread

me and dp keep wondering hourly when the bread bit is going to turn up, cos they seem to have forgot that bit

Joanna Lumley for president.

Or OliviaMN

I'm a republican by the way. I would vote for the Queen though.

It's undemocratic, It's cruel to those involved, but most of all, undemocratic.

ME (can you vote for yourself?)

Although I have a suspicion that if MNHQ were to decide, we'd have a President Bartlet

I havn't gone mad.

David "Thrustmaster" Mitchell?

Re: the idea that Diana was murdered -- there is /was a well known Mner who claimed to know that Diana had her period on holiday shortly before she died and was therefore unlikely to have been pg.

I find it hard to believe personally. There are easier, more reliable ways to bump people off than a staged car crash.

How on EARTH would anyone know that Diana had her period shortly before the crash?

Mooncup seller?

Not going to read the whole thread. But a small question Hully et al: why are the French allowed to celebrate Frenchness? The Americans celebrate on July 4th. Don't the Aussies have Australia Day? Can't we celebrate too sometimes?

Oh my good grief - should have gone to last page before posting

Nothing, er, so the message to your girls would be that you can only achieve the highest office by marrying into it?

Nice, so let's teach our girls that marriage is the way to achieve your ambitions

I am no child psychologist but I would think that subconsciously children are learning from all this sychophancy to the royals and the celebration that the class system is ok, and people with inherited wealth and titles are to be admired.

Hully et all.
I love et all.
I used to use it all the time in essays.
Wilkie and Turning et all.

I ate jelly today.

At a jubilee party.

'How on EARTH would anyone know that Diana had her period shortly before the crash?'

because she was with her

Et al. Et al. Et al. Looks weirder the more you write it.

Dunno even what it means. But it seemed appropriate. Is it?

'I am no child psychologist but I would think that subconsciously children are learning from all this sychophancy to the royals and the celebration that the class system is ok, and people with inherited wealth and titles are to be admired.'

Totally agree!

Funny enough I thought I was the only one who thought this was a load of tosh until friend texted and said she wasn't sending her son to school Friday because she isn't a royalist
The flags are driving me mad and school has gone ott in big way

Ariel
It comes from latin et alia and means "and others" so you used it correctly.

Perception
oh, now you have me intrigued.

I am pretty about the Royals. They are quite insignificant really, when it comes to being a role model for our children. I worry more about footballers and wags being seen as "careers" to aspire to.

What is wrong with aspiring to be a footballer? It takes immense talent, dedication and hard work to reach the top league. It is about celebrating achievement, in whatever field.(don't know what a wag is, so cannot say)

Being a royal by virtue of birth is not an achievement. Why on earth are the schools celebrating this? This is how the class system gets perpetuated, indoctrinate them when they are young.