to think the Queen should refuse this gift?

[WitchesSpelleas]

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-54915124

"A committee of MPs and peers has been set up to choose a gift "fit" for the Queen to mark the 70th anniversary of her accession, in 2022.
Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden said it would be a "token of our respect". For her Diamond Jubilee in 2012, the Queen had a stained-glass window created for her in Westminster Hall."

The Queen has everything she could possibly need, and the money to buy anything she could want.

This gift will be funded by donations from MPs - of course, it's up to them how they want to spend their money - but at a time when so many of her subjects are struggling financially due to the impact of Covid19, I think it would be appropriate for the Queen to ask the MPs to make a donation to a UK charity instead of spending the money on a Platinum Jubilee gift.

Rumour is that it'll be on the fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square, which is the shape for an equestrian statue.

If she is nude she could be riding a unicorn to symbolise the union with Scotland. Scottish MPs might be persuaded to chip in for a gilded horn.

@OwlBeThere

‘A gift for the nation’ yes, I’m sure all those hungry kids will be thrilled with some fancy shite.

Oh come on, if the money was donated to a charity it would be a drop in the ocean.

People like to give gifts and it is a very special thing to have reigned for so long. Whatever it is, the Queen will be deeply touched by it and it will not stop rich people giving to charities.

Oh now wouldn’t that just be marvellous edith weston

I always smile when I see your name too. I served near you

@WitchesSpelleas

But it was written to note how much the OP doesn't think anything artistically or archaeologically doesn't have merit unless she believes it does, which she went on to state to several other posters.

Please tell me where I have said that?

I think she's also known around the Coronavirus boards as well...

I don't think my fame has spread that far. I've made the occasional post on Coronavirus topics, but nothing that's attracted much attention. I think you may be confusing me with another poster.

I expect you'll be well known everywhere after an embarrassment like this

How about the Queen marks her anniversary by handing bsck the money she was given to bail her out and all cos her investments not making much.

First I’ve heard of it. When did that happen?

@stillsomewhatsheldonesque

I always smile when I see your name too. I served near you

Wittering or Cottesmore?

Norf Luffs.

I’d forgotten about that, it’s closed now.

just p'd off that they're moving "my" birthday bank holiday from the end oh May to June, TBH.
Just get her a nice cake from M&S & be done with it - assuming she's not popped her clogs by then.

Aye.

Very fond memories of there. Plus a delightful chap from Cottesmore that looked like Goran Ivanisevic...

Whole other story but that deserved a bit of stained glass...

@VinylDetective

How about the Queen marks her anniversary by handing bsck the money she was given to bail her out and all cos her investments not making much.

First I’ve heard of it. When did that happen?

It didn't. The Queen owns an enormous estate which makes hundreds of millions per year, not fucking shares . She contributed £345m to public finances last year. She has never taken a bail out.

Thanks @Tfoot75, thought I must have been asleep when it happened.

I agree with @chantico

@WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll

I really hate the way people are considered somehow superior or to have done it all through their own hard work, just because they've managed to stay alive for a long time.

However well-meaning, it carries with it the clear implication that those who die young are somehow inferior, less worthy or wasters who didn't really bother trying, just because they weren't so lucky to enjoy such good health or were involved in a tragic accident.

By all means congratulate her if you really want to for what great things you may believe she has actually done in the time (and vast privilege) she has had available to her, but please let's not applaud her simply for being able to breathe longer than a lot of people get to do.

So you're saying that all birthday parties, anniversaries and long service awards should be banned?

FFS if people want to have a whip-round to get someone a present (whatever the occasion), it's got nothing to do with any of you. What they do with their own money is their business.

@MrsPeacockInTheLibrary

Given the focus on the planet and conservation I think it should be something in nature. Like replant a whole forest with however many trees in some Tory's back garden, or rename some sort of national landmark the Queen Elizabeth We Love You Please Don't Die Just Yet Lake/Mountain/Gorge

But seriously, that, then it really will last, and mean something in line with modern life.

DEFRA are already planning a mass planting of native trees.

@00100001

Indeed. To add to all that, her exDIL and mother of her school age grandchildren was killed in a tragic accident in front of the entire world.

Oh and a major house fire although I suppose that doesn't count as she does have more than one house.

@WitchesSpelleas

Just as you are free to spend your own money on what you see fit, so are they.

I would be interested to know what my employer would say if I asked to form a committee of colleagues and called a series of meetings in work time for us all to make our Christmas lists.

I don't somehow think it would be 'what a good idea!'

Plenty of workplaces make time for long-service awards. Whip-rounds may also be organised for individuals, even when the beneficiary may be better off than some of those contributing.

In effect, the 'gift' is likely to be either a statue, a stained glass window somewhere or something else 'arty' which she will no doubt unveil with some ceremony. Tourists will include it in their tours of London and it will bring in money to the country. I hardly think a tourist would bother going to Newcastle to see somebody being presented with a loaf or bread of a tin of beans!

Well I think you are a grumpy chippy scrooge. Your argument is one that takes us to the lowest common denominator.

The Arts are important. Commissioning work from professional artists is important. A Platinum Jubilee is an incredibly rare event - possibly the only one our country will ever have. It is worthy of commemoration.

@WitchesSpelleas, you're unlucky that where you live is so expensive to travel from. I go from Liverpool to London for around £35 return. I often get a room for about £40, I just want it to be clean. I go around every few years. I'm on disability benefits and save. My next trip will be to Hampton Court Palace. My DD wanted to go for her 16th, we went to see Wicked. Some people do live on the poverty line, but we can't go without culture/history because of that. I've been the person whose lived hand to mouth while bringing up my children. My children can now afford to go to London and much further. None of us would have wanted spending on the Arts etc to stop because of our situation. My youngest via her school and charities got a love for the theatre. It's helped with her work ethic and her ability to save (she's on minimum wage), so that she can see plays in different theatres.

The Queen's jubilee should be marked with something permanent that can't be vandalised or destroyed. The Window is perfect.

@Ponoka7

Yes, if you can travel city-to-city there are often cheap deals. It's where there's no direct train to London, as is the case where I live, that the fares suddenly ramp up.

I am not suggesting spending on the Arts should stop entirely, just that there should be other priorities at the moment. If anything, Arts spending should prioritise the subsidy of live performance, which has been heavily impacted by Covid19 - particularly live performances which can, in non-Covid times, tour the country, so are accessible to all.

And, simply, we should not be giving more to the Queen, who has vaults full of sculptures, paintings and artefacts of all kinds which are not even on view to her, let alone to the public.

No matter how great you may think the Queen is, no matter how remarkable the longevity of her reign, she just does not need any more stuff given to her and it amazes me that anyone, including our elected representatives in parliament, could possibly think that she does.

@WitchesSpelleas

Last time they bought a window at Westminster abbey you say? So a contribution to the national architecture? Something that can be enjoyed by millions of visitors over lots and lots of years?

It can be enjoyed by -

• People who live in London
• People who can afford to visit London

A stained glass window in London won't bring much joy to a family in Newcastle who are relying on food banks to survive.

Haven’t read the full thread. Don’t think that the queen should refuse the gesture.

I live in the Northeast England near Newcastle. It would be nice if it was a bit further north. We did a school trip to London though (subsidies for low income). I don’t know about Westminster Hall as the place for the window as bit out of the way.

The government and MPs as part of their should be ensuring that food banks are not necessary and children aren’t hungry. Also if the is national culture or arts funding spend more outside the capital.

All I thought when I heard about it was, how do we know she’ll still be alive? It’s 18 months away.

Anything to do with the Royal family seems to be planned ages in advance.
Her mother lived to 101 so I think she's got a fair chance.