UK politics thread – meet the new boss, same as the old boss
- Thread starter Anonymous X
- Start date
Freedom hasn't been free for a long time now.
I mean... he's also a complete figurehead. Let's not lose sight of the fact that Charles III is not now, nor likely to try to become, the dictator of England. Even under the Tories, Parliament would have his head if he tried, if for no other reason than they want to have that power for themselves.
It's honestly very weird. The only authority he commands is that people play along with his little game of pretend. But he can wield that authority with as hard and as heavy of a club as he desires.
It's honestly very weird. The only authority he commands is that people play along with his little game of pretend. But he can wield that authority with as hard and as heavy of a club as he desires.
I feel like he has very little actual power if push came to shove and he’d be essentially locked in the castle if he tried to do anything to actually disrupt the prevailing order like advocating for the UK to rejoin the EU or restraining big business from dragging England back to Dickensian levels.
Yeah... except they couldn't do that to him even if they wanted to, or he deserved it. The monarchy are beloved by... well, enough of the country that anything seen as "oppressing" them would probably end in revolts. He's a figurehead, yeah, totally. No real or actual political power: but they have the hearts and ears of the people, and there's more than enough people to make sure that if any actual politician bucked his will, well, it'll either be a bloodbath at the ballot box or a pressure washer on traitors gate.
There’s no contradiction in accepting that we have a relatively powerless constitutional monarchy while also supporting republicanism… I’ll always be a republican, and support the abolition of the monarchy and prefer to be a parliamentary republic despite that. (I don’t like the idea of becoming an executive presidential republic like France or the US, FWIW.)
I accept that Britain is unlikely to become a republic in my lifetime. However, while we have a monarchy I’d rather it be as distant as practically possible in its constitutional role, and stop wasting public funds where it isn’t needed on dated pageantry and decadent displays of wealth. I don’t like the nationalistic elements of it either, and this underlying assumption that any republican must hate Britain.
Anyway, republicanism is very heavily repressed in Britain. We have no real organisations, no flags, icons or symbols, no political party behind us, no anthem. It’s still treated with disdain and an eccentric fringe view rather than, say, something reasonable like wanting to have a democratic head of state.
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Do you suppose that Cromwell's excesses might have poisoned the well in that regard?
Most British people I suspect probably don’t know who Cromwell was, let alone that his ‘commonwealth’ was a theocratic dictatorship. It’s a long time ago anyway. It’s more to do with keeping the vestiges of the feudal class system in place (remember we still have an appointed House of Lords with remnant hereditary peers).
Climbdown on bonfire of EU laws sparks fury among Brexiteers
Kemi Badenoch scraps sunset clause on EU retained law bill, and Jacob Rees-Mogg declares: ‘The blob has triumphed’
www.independent.co.uk
Low birthrate is UK’s top priority, Tory MP tells rightwing conference
‘Cultural Marxism’ and excessive education among factors causing existential threat, says Miriam Cates
www.theguardian.com
Travellers faced long queues at major UK airports after electronic passport gates failed
Hours-long delays were reported as IT problems also caused disruption on Dover-Calais ferries
www.theguardian.com
Copy and pasted the wrong link, not the one I was intending, but doesn’t really help that we have to check passports that had free movement before. All this decaying infrastructure was never up to the task of even a mild Brexit, but politicians gonna politics.
Barclay: Plans for price caps on food staples have ‘no element of compulsion’
Downing Street is understood to be drawing up proposals that would seek to get retailers charging the lowest possible amount for some basic products.
uk.finance.yahoo.com
I still think it amusing that Brexit seems to be moving an increasingly right wing Tory party to propose 1970s Old Labour policies.
I wonder how many corporation will jump onto "voluntary" price caps. I bet there will be no noticeable effect until it's made mandatory.
Dame Priti and Sir Jacob: the allies and aides in Johnson’s honours list
Ex-PM also awards Shaun Bailey with a peerage and an OBE to the head of parliament’s hair salon
www.theguardian.com
(Yes, I think the honours and House of Lords should be abolished along with the monarchy. It’s all just medieval bollocks.)