Abolishing the Monarcy.

[Helendee]

Good or bad idea and reasons for your opinion?
I don’t feel strongly either way but I am curious about what aspects of becoming a Republic are more beneficial than the UK’s stable current system.

I think they're one of our main USPs

Yes, part of our tradition, identity and they bring money into the country's coffers in their own way. It would be unwise to throw all of this down the drain.

@joystir59

"Yes. In a heartbeat. Looking forward to the Queen's death to enjoy all the pomp and circumstance."

I find your attitude troubling. To wish someone dead is just plain nasty.
Not only that it is illogical.
You hate Royalty and everything to do with it yet you look forward to a state funeral?!

You sound like someone who enjoyed watching gladiatorial combats to the death in ancient Rome.
And as a republican you'd maybe agree with throwing Christians to the lions?

Annual visitor stats:
Royal Venaria near Turin: 850,000
Royal Palace of Madrid: 1.5 million
Schloss Neuschwanstein: 1.4 million
Houses of Parliament, London: 1 million
Windsor Castle: 1.65 million
Edinburgh Castle: 2.2 million
Gothic monstrosity with resident parasite, London: 2.6 million rough projection based on the actual 50,000 per week for the 8-week summer opening
Winter Palace, St Petersburg: 3.5 million
Palace of Versailles: 10 million

So why not kick them out, plant a nice park around the monstrosity and attract even more tourism revenue?

I just find it bizarre (and embarrassing) that they are part of a supposedly progressive country.
Not their fault, but just v odd. Time to consign role to history and let them be.

@PersimmonTree

'So why not kick them out, plant a nice park around the monstrosity and attract even more tourism revenue?'

fullfact.org/economy/paying-buckingham-palace-cost-refurbishment/

Abolish the monarchy as a starting point and then start looking into how so few people own swathes of the UK’s land. Abolish aristocracy and indeed anyone’s right to bank so many acres and acres of land - redistribute it in some other way.

Your post is OTT. I only said I worry about the alternative given that a lot of the country rate Johnson. It's a huge stretch to suggest I'd want a dictatorship.

You didn’t ‘only’ say that. You said that you were worried about it being ‘a voting thing’:

I do worry about the alternative given the population think Johnson is great hmm
If it's a voting thing, we'd be fucked

What’s the alternative to ‘voting things’? None of them are very attractive, are they?

Not sure what your point is with that link, Anita.

The queen simply doesn't need to be in there, to generate revenue.

And your article also says that her personal fortune is £340 million. It's disgusting.

@IrisAnon
"Abolish the monarchy as a starting point and then start looking into how so few people own swathes of the UK’s land. Abolish aristocracy and indeed anyone’s right to bank so many acres and acres of land - redistribute it in some other way."

How do you propose to do this?

Guillotine all the 'aristocrats' like they did in the French Revolution?

Iamthewombat

Don't you worry, I take your point.

It was just a throwaway comment and I've learnt my lesson not to do that again

But what do they achieve apart from terror and stress for the organisers?

The royal visit I led on was a huge morale boost to the staff. It was to officially open a new building and they said it was an afternoon they’d never forget. There was no terror involved and for me a huge sense of personal achievement when it was over and had gone perfectly.

@VinylDetective

But what do they achieve apart from terror and stress for the organisers?

The royal visit I led on was a huge morale boost to the staff. It was to officially open a new building and they said it was an afternoon they’d never forget. There was no terror involved and for me a huge sense of personal achievement when it was over and had gone perfectly.

God help us all, if people are that brainwashed.

Staff can't get morale boosts from truly inspirational people? They need to be patted on the head by these losers, to get their feelgood factor?

Keep tugging those forelocks, peasants!

@PersimmonTree

Just giving you facts.

"And your article also says that her personal fortune is £340 million. It's disgusting."

The Queen is allowed to have personal wealth the same as anyone else in UK. and she pays tax the same as anyone else.

A homeless person begging on the streets might think you are disgusting because you have £100 in the bank and can afford to buy you DCs an Xbox

It's all a matter of degree.

Staff can't get morale boosts from truly inspirational people? They need to be patted on the head by these losers, to get their feelgood factor?

Apparently so. We asked all those brainwashed consultants, junior doctors and nurses what kind of official opening they’d like and their choice was overwhelmingly for a visit from the royal family. They really wanted the Queen but were happy to settle for Princess Anne.

The Queen is allowed to have personal wealth the same as anyone else in UK. and she pays tax the same as anyone else.

Does she pay tax the same as anyone else? Sure about that, are you?

So QE2 doesn’t get any special tax breaks, compared to everyone else? The duchies, for example? How about inheritance tax?

A poster upthread explained the duchies’ special tax status nicely, with a metaphor involving Gucci bags.

Good for tourism and for the economy overall. I hate the class system overall, but all the pomp and royal weddings etc cheer many people up. As a country there would be no big weddings or even funerals every again, and the country would be even more drab than it is. News always reports on the misery, but a royal wedding or baby is a little bit of lighthearted fun. Tourism is a massive industry and brings in more than the royal family costs, and I think it would take a big dip.

We asked all those brainwashed consultants, junior doctors and nurses what kind of official opening they’d like and their choice was overwhelmingly for a visit from the royal family. They really wanted the Queen but were happy to settle for Princess Anne

Really? Not doubting you. Just gobsmacked at that. We're all different I s'pose

PCharles came here, he was literally 200 yards from my house. I couldn't be bothered to go and wave a flag, I really couldn't.

There are many many inspirational people I would give my right arm to meet, and the RF aren't on my list

[quote AnitaB888]@PersimmonTree

Just giving you facts.

"And your article also says that her personal fortune is £340 million. It's disgusting."

The Queen is allowed to have personal wealth the same as anyone else in UK. and she pays tax the same as anyone else.

A homeless person begging on the streets might think you are disgusting because you have £100 in the bank and can afford to buy you DCs an Xbox

It's all a matter of degree.[/quote]
Which facts were those, Anita?

Here are some facts, from someone who's done a lot more research than either of us.

www.republic.org.uk/the_true_cost_of_the_royals

Again, with the homeless person thing, what is your point? Homeless people do not pay tax. I do. I absolutely resent it being used in order to foot the cost of police protection for unelected scroungers, while teenagers get stabbed in the street on a daily basis.

Yup, all different @Roussette. I’ve seen various senior clinicians awarded CBEs and knighthoods and without exception they’ve been quite giddy about their visit to the palace. The same when they get garden party invitations.

As a country there would be no big weddings or even funerals every again, and the country would be even more drab than it is.

Christ. Do you really think that Britain is ‘drab’ and that the only thing alleviating the ‘drabness’ is a load of people dressed up in robes riding in carriages?

Tourism is a massive industry and brings in more than the royal family costs, and I think it would take a big dip.

Show your workings. This claim has been made many times. Prove that the Royal family, and they alone, increase tourism by the amount they cost. And show your workings for what they cost, too: all in, including security costs and tax breaks given to the duchies.

she pays tax the same as anyone else

Remind us how much income tax she paid between her coronation and 1992 when her hand was forced? Remind us how many other people pay their income tax on a voluntary basis?

Vinyl

Gosh. I'd love to see some of the buildings, I don't deny that. But that would be it for me. I remember seeing pics of last year's christmas decs in Windsor Castle. I was completely blown away. Not with the decs but with the grandeur of the building. I never realised quite what it was like. I really must go and look round it when we're released from covid.

@VinylDetective

Staff can't get morale boosts from truly inspirational people? They need to be patted on the head by these losers, to get their feelgood factor?

Apparently so. We asked all those brainwashed consultants, junior doctors and nurses what kind of official opening they’d like and their choice was overwhelmingly for a visit from the royal family. They really wanted the Queen but were happy to settle for Princess Anne.

Fucking hell that's depressing (if true). Makes me want to go and live in a commune, I think perhaps I will.

@IrisAnon

Abolish the monarchy as a starting point and then start looking into how so few people own swathes of the UK’s land. Abolish aristocracy and indeed anyone’s right to bank so many acres and acres of land - redistribute it in some other way.

Give some of it to you you mean.