UK Politics Thread (Part 2)

Maslow the Keeshond gets my vote

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yep, it was almost set up to fail. how can you vote for something any politician will ā€˜fill in the dotsā€™ later onā€¦

much like the much rumoured referendum on the indigeanous power in the constitutionā€¦

now, im not well read on it at the moment so dont flail me, but it seems the general mud map is;

ā€˜do you agree indigeanous people should have a permenant voice in australias parlimentā€™

now, i can see the ideal in that, but what concerns is even Albanese has said, it wont be going into specifics in the voteā€¦

so we vote yes to an ideal with no working framework, the government at the time will do that for us once they get a mandate, no doubt after many long years of commissions and independant costly studies etc etcā€¦ORā€¦we are a bunch of redneck racists trying to keep the original inhabitants under our heel.

i mean, as a bizarre and obviously extreme point (regarding the monarchy), the answer could have been to replace the head of state with a dingo who is asked to either press his (or her) paw on the red button for yes or the blue button for no

waits for the kicking from @PaulRoJo

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On the monarchy, for those who are pro monarchy, other than tradition, may point to some factors of how the monarchy contributes to say the economy with tourist dollars and how they could be a morale (not necessarily moral) compass as like an encourager to people during dark times etcā€¦

On the flipside, I am curious about those against monarchy, are you all against simply on an idealistic sense that you are just simply against having a monarchy or do you have a practical reason like they are taking tax money for not doing much etcā€¦ Would you then accept compromise like OK I am gonna reduce the amount of money they take blah blah but they can remain?

I am against monarchy because I believe in democracy and the two are incompatible.

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There wonā€™t be anyone else near that ditch, so yes! :rofl:

What if the country decided to have a vote and the majority backed to have a monarchy?

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People can vote for undemocratic things.

The idea that someone is born better than everyone else is clearly undemocratic.

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The forum explodes, we have 3 PMs in 4 years but on the plus side we win the league. Granted thereā€™s another pandemic but at least we keep the pound (and the corgis)

BREXIT mk2

Going back to the 1980s one of the arguments in favour of the monarchy was, ā€œDo you really want to have President Thatcher?ā€

One thing that I did really like about the Queen was the concept that she was an apolitical figure. Diplomatically and reputationally this is very useful. Elected politicians can do the dirty work but when itā€™s a case of showing our best side itā€™s a case of the official royal visit.

There are countries that also have a largely ceremonial president. Ireland and Germany are examples although these are usually former politicians. However, they do tend to be politicians that are near universally respected regardless of their political background.

The president of a country doesnā€™t have to be a politician.When Israel was formed they invited Albert Einstein to become president. He turned it down graciously although he was probably not in the best of health at that point but the idea that you could appoint someone that you feel presents the best of a nation does have a practical appeal (Einstein was Jewish although not actually an Israeli citizen).

Now imagine that instead of the Queen as head of state we had someone of a similar age as President. I would suggest someone like David Attenborough as a candidate as he is widely respected both in the UK and internationally and he cuts an intelligent but largely apolitical figure.

The point with a apolitical president is that if they would actually be suited to do the job (George VI was monarch out of duty - he had a severe speech impediment which made the job difficult for him) and they would be easily removed if they became embroiled in scandal (I know Edward VIII abdicated but he was an exception) without resorting to war or beheading.

I think there are many people who still confuse a genuine respect for the Queen as head of state with concept of a monarchy. However, you are right in questioning exactly what a monarchy would be replaced with.

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Everyone posting on this forum was born ā€œbetterā€ than starving peasants in utterly inhospitable parts of the world, Thatā€™s democratic? Thatā€™s fair? Thatā€™s right? Weā€™ll go through all this next week I have no doubt. Of course somebody needs to define betterā€¦ā€¦

Stephen Fry please but your point is well made :slight_smile:

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No, they were born more fortunate. There is no reason why starving peasants shouldnā€™t have the same rights as someone born into more fortunate circumstances. Someone not born into royalty cannot simple acquire royal status through hard work.

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Personally never understood a monarchy system or the need for it but of course I come from a different culture.

Just on your point then, donā€™t the current monarchy in UK hardly interfere in government policies? Or even if they do, would you accept the monarchy if the fully reduced their roles as purely figurehead with them constitutionally illegal to interfere in running of the country?

But thatā€™s the beauty of a democracy is that we have parties that we can vote for , but we donā€™t because the big 2 have the political structure sewn up between them.

They have no desire to see the two party state broken.

If people really wanted to get rid of the monarchy they would vote for parties that clearly state that is their intention, instead they donā€™t and the status quo is maintained ā€¦

Would be interesting to see if it ever happened though as the kingā€™s government being formed states to the king he is gone and heā€™d have to sign off on it wouldnā€™t he ?

Thatā€™s basically Brexitā€¦

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Yes or no ā€¦

That was the question to do you wish to remain in the EU.

Of course there was blank spaces, but the question was a simple one

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So has Northern Ireland remained in the EU? Simple question.

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Iā€™d be willing to bet that when our betters finally give us a vote on the monarchy, the threshold will be substantially higher than a simple majority.

Lmao I donā€™t know, simply because of the blank spaces :joy:

Cameron fucked up and then sulked and quit, truth is I can see the simplicity behind the question and tbh it was the right question to ask,
Our elected officials were just shit at implementing the withdrawal, and thatā€™s not just the government but the opposition, having a parliament that cannot agree on anything and is just full of retorts and soundbites is annoying because as you say NI is left in a position that is hard to fathom at times of what the hell is going on.