To be annoyed about the Jubilee

[thegreenlight]

I know I’m being miserable but I’m bloody pissed off about the sodding Jubilee! I went to sainsburys this morning, paid £1.68 a litre for petrol and then popped in to be confronted by bottles of champagne! The last thing I feel like doing is celebrating! I spent all morning cancelling non-essential DDs as things are really tight with the rise in energy prices and the increased NI contribution.
funny how this ‘magic money tree’ can be harvested to pay for this event when people are genuinely struggling and are told to ‘get a better paid job’! I have a bloody well paid job, thankyou, but am still feeling the pinch. I know people are going to say that the economy will benefit - but how? If people spend more then inflation will rise and the BOE will put up the mortgage rates! I despair!

he’s confined to barracks

But not for the duration. He's due to be wheeled on for the thanksgiving service and it'll be interesting to see if he's given a central role again.

The monarchy cost £87.5m last year. The number of tax payers is 32,200,000, so they cost each tax payer £2.71 per year.

How many nurses or teachers could be employed with that £87.5m? Or GPs?

I don't care if it's 2.71p per taxpayer, I don't want a penny of my money supporting an outdated and undemocratic institution.

A country doesn't need to have a president. It's not a case of either or.

Most of us (including many putting effort into celebrations) are feeling the pinch too and have had to cut back on things too??

I’ll pay yours @LakieLady 😊

Ok, I got my figures wrong, and I don't disagree that the money could be better spent on the NHS and much more deserving causes, but a plea to the nay sayers - not everyone who doesn't hate the royal family are forelock tugging prince Andrew supporters either. An awful lot of people just don't care or are ambivalent.

It doesn't have to be one extreme or the other, and judging from this thread the majority of the extremists are mainly the bitter haters.

The queen is 97, she won't last much longer, and it will be all over for the monarchy when she dies.

I'm looking at it as a bit of a last hurrah for the monarchy and celebrating the fact that we'll be waving them goodbye soon and hopefully moving towards being a republic.

I don’t know how old you are @ZellyFitzgerald but I wouldn’t hold my breath if I were you. I don’t expect to even see a referendum on abolition of the monarchy in my life time and I’ve got 25/30 years if I’m very lucky - or unlucky, depending on your viewpoint.

Donate it to a food bank on my behalf, please @Blossomtoes .

They actually need it, unlike the Windsors. 😉

Just imagine what that £12m jubilee book for every child could have been spent
on.
Not to mention the millions that this weekend will cost

This comment from Twitter sums up the whole nonsense of the Jubilee for me

We vilify people on benefits unless they claim millions and own gold carriages, then we wave flags

if you listen to More or Less they have worked out that the celebrations will cost each household the grand sum of £2.50

if you want to buy champagne that is your choice, no one is forcing you

It's perfectly OK to dislike the royal family. It's perfectly OK to be a republican, but it must be utterly exhausting to be so full of bitter hatred and negativity all the time.

This. It must be hard word being permanently nasty

@MrsLargeEmbodied that money could be spent on soooo many worthwhile things. I’m afraid I can’t and won’t celebrate. It’s time for a change.

@TimBoothseyes Thats nailed it hasn’t it!

Good God, there’s reasoned debate and argument and then there’s …. shite like this.

I'm 37 @Blossomtoes . I find that people my age and younger don't want a monarchy anymore.

People my parents age (70/80 years) still seem very supportive of them, but probably because it's all they've ever known.

When I press them on whether they would vote for a new system based on the concept of the current monarchy the answer is a flat no.

I think most people have a respect and fondness for the queen, but Charles, William etc, not so much. So I really can see a shift happening once she dies. I'm hoping for that anyway. A monarchy really has no place in a modern world where we are supposed to be striving for equality and fairness for everyone.

Precisely. There are many different formats that could be very successful.

The difference would be that the incumbents a) would be elected b) would work

The difference would be that the incumbents a) would be elected b) would work

The “work” would be exactly the same as the present incumbents do, what else could it be in a ceremonial role? I don’t see their being elected as any particular virtue - look at the current bunch of stinkers in power by election. Johnson is typical of the kind of pond life the electorate would vote in.

Why does it have to be a ceremonial role only? Why can't this role, or, any other role, have tasks attached such as making decisions, visioning projects or being involved in strategy? These are difficult things to do, which is why a person who can actually do them has to be elected/selected. This lot don't do these tasks because they can't. If the royals really loved their country, they'd work more for it, they'd do many tasks for free and they wouldn't keep taking from the public purse for things like topping up the shortfall in their personal investments.

Why does it have to be a ceremonial role only?

Because we’ve got politicians. The whole point of the role is that it’s apolitical. It wouldn’t be if it had tasks and projects attached.

The royals are equally political because politics don't just stop at the door. They are human. They are political. Their role is political, hence weekly political meetings. About time these roles were shaken up so that the incumbents actually work for the benefit of the country and not just themselves.

You clearly don’t understand the role at all. The PM’s weekly briefing is impartial, the Queen has held them with 14 PMs across the political spectrum. No elected official could have that degree of impartiality, particularly if they were getting involved in tasks and projects.

There are many parts of the Budget I disagree with. But what can I do, that's part of living in a democracy. I'd rather spend a money on a national day of celebration then say give a penny to the Tate Modern or support gender affirming services in the NHS.

No, he's called Dr John Kirkhope, an open minded and curious lawyer, not a bitter and twisted harpy such as myself. If you google Researching The Arcane Duchy + his name it'll bring up his work (massive pdf so can't link). It shows how we are basically living in a modern-day feudal system.