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.

Where was that Squoosh?

So why do I like to buy labelled handbags over M&S own range? They're made just as well and cost a lot less? Why, why, why?? I don't know. I just DO.

Is your lack of pride because you don't contribute anything? = Implied insult

I see. I should have said "feel you don't contribute anything" as it is more to do with perception.

I don't understand why a person who "feels" that they contribute to the life and workings of a country wouldn't also feel a sense of pride in its successes (or shame in its failures). But if you don't have sense that you do contribute then perhaps the performance and culture feel completely divorced from your life.

My parents were in France for the jubilee. They said that France seems to have gone crazy with jubilee coverage on the tv and in the press. M&D were a bit at it all.

"Proud to be British when it's part of the constitution to espouse inequality in the form of a monarchy?"

That's one way of looking at it. Another would be to point out that we've successfully adapted and combined functional democractic government with a hereditary ceremonial post for several hundred years and get the best of both worlds.

So why do I like to buy labelled handbags over M&S own range? They're made just as well and cost a lot less? Why, why, why?? I don't know. I just DO.

I'm afraid the answer is that you are a sucker for marketing and the implied prestige of labelling.

Winky, by your standards which countries are people allowed to feel proud of, or would you rather no one felt any sense of pride in their country?

And the point of that post was 'it's not just our country wot is crazy'. France executed their own royal family, wtf are they interested in ours?!

Maybe she contributes lots towards society but is unable to take pride in an institution whose very existence goes against her principles.

That's how I'd see it.

Bluegrass, I don't know which countries can feel proud. I don't really know enough about other countries to comment. Do you?

I do know that we seem to be immensely proud in this country that we worship one family in particular for no real reason.

It's cobblers. Unthinking, irrational cobblers.

What is even more irrational is that when this illogical hero worship is questioned, people such as yourself get angry and start casting out insults. It's as if someone presenting a different point of view makes you angry.

Weird.

Where is the anger, where are insults? I'm putting an alternative view, rather calmly and rationally IMHO!

I also don't understand your use of the word "worship", to me this only has meaning in a religious context. The Royals are human, people can appreciate them as people without worshipping them. People can also appreciate the concept of the Royal family without liking the individuals who currently hold the position (in the same way that in the Forces you salute the rank, not the person wearing it).

Squoosh, if you look back perception appeared to question the concept of feeling proud of your country, regardless of what that country is. She didn't seem to be saying it was a problem with Britain per se. That was what I tried to address, you can feel pride in something if you feel you contribute to it.

Hully

I work in marketing so not totally clueless about the power of branding - but is still powerful!

"we worship one family in particular for no real reason."

We don't worship the family. They're just an iconic symbol of Britain.

Isn't it also interesting that the US felt the need to 'royalise' (if there is such a word) the Kennedy family? They were often described as America's royal family. And the hero worship didn't stop when JFK died. Were they also mindless sheep who didn't know better?

I'm pretty sure it's the family that were being worshipped over the past fours days!

Certain sections of American society will ape anything the British 'upperclasses' do. That's why the Kennedy's were so exalted.

I wasn't. How can you possibly know if people 'worship' them?

Oh, so certain sections of American society are also as gullible as those of us celebrating the Jubilee. Wow, we sheep are powerful mind-benders.

Oh yes, silly me. They slept out overnight and waved flags at an abstract idea of monarchy.

Are you being obtuse?

If waving and little bit of cheering is all you need to do to "worship" someone these days then god knows how many people I must have worshipped in my time, from the participants of the local carnival to the last time I saw some people go past on a steam train!

I am proud to be British because, among other things:

1. We only celebrate being British very occasionally - the English don't even have a proper national holiday.
2. If you are Scottish you get the chance to vote and decide not to be British.
3. The British Empire has been dismantled, and we would no longer force another country to be British or part of the Commonwealth if the citizens voted not to be British.
4. As Corgito, says, I am proud that we have the right to protest about the royal family.
5. Nobody actually expects you to have any pride in being British or any patriotism. We just are.
6. Obviously there are also many things about Britain that one shouldn't be proud of, and it is legal to discuss these.

Clearly other countries also share some of things, but I don't live there.

Stars of pointless reality shows get 'worshipped' these days (for having no talent and doing nothing) so I think the modern definition of worship may be skewed.

Not being obtuse (not sure which comment that refers to) - just incredulous that despite millions of people demonstrating any sort of positive feeling to the monarchy, it all gets explained away as them being sheep or not thinking for themselves. Whether they are 'right' or 'wrong', the simple truth is that in this country, the republican argument has a very very small following. Why is that?