Elizabeth Windsor, has now sat on the throne in Britain for seventy years. The woman, who had a poor education as a girl, has neither earned her position as Head of State through ability, nor as the result of the vote of the people, but purely through the accident of birth. And this in the Twenty-first century in a country which advertises itself as a mature 'democracy'.
Republicans in Britain take heart at the fact that although polls indicate the vast majority of people in The country support the monarchy and the Queen herself is hugely popular, there is not as much support for her eldest son and heir as King Charles and surveys suggest there is growing republican sentiment among younger Britons. They might well ask themselves : Who are these people dressed in strange archaic costumes ? What are these people for ? Why am I expected to lower my head, if I meet them, making myself shorter as a mark of deference and acknowledgment that they are 'higher' than me ?
Will Self
Yasmin Alibhai-Brown
Jackie Ashley
Emma Brockes
Alistair Campbell
Nick Cohen
Bill Emmott
Jonathan Freedland
Roy Greenslade
Johann Hari
Mick Hume
Owen Jones
Vicky Richardson
Chris McLaughlin
Alan Rusbridger
Ash Sarkar
Miranda Sawyer
Suzanne Moore,
Kevin Maguire
Amol Rajan
Brian Reade
Vicky Richardson
Gary Younge
Brendan O'Neill
Writers
Julie Burchill,
Heather Brooke
Michael Collins
Beatrix Campbell
Simon Fanshawe
Anthony Holden
Tim Lott
Kenan Malik
Film Directors :
Danny Boyle
Paul Greengrass
Mike Leigh
Ken Loach
Film Critic :
Mark Kermode
Playwrights :
David Hare
Patrick Jones
Julia Pascal
Novelists :
Martin Amis
Alasdair Gray
Philippa Gregory
Mark Haddon
Kathy Lette
Zadie Smith
Michael Rosen
Joan Smith
Jonathan Trigell
Poets :
Benjamin Zephaniah
Mike Jenkins
Comedians :
Frankie Boyle
Jo Brand
Russell Brand
Robin Ince
Eddie Izzard
Lloyd Langford
Mark Thomas
Actors :
Mark Gatiss
Josh O'Connor,
Daniel Radcliffe
Scientists :
Richard Dawkins
Edzard Ernst,
Cartoonist :
Steve Bell
Musicians
Morrissey
Ray Burns
Mark 'Barry' Greenway
Paul Simonon
Robert Smith
Johnny Marr
Paul Heaton
I was very sure in 1977 when we suffered the silver jubilee - time to consign the monarchy to history. Now I am not so sure. Do we really want to be like the French? Arguably there's something nice and wholesome about sticking with an apolitical head of state and following a tradition that is many centuries old. Let's give King Charles III a chance followed by King William V and see how the land lies then. In the meantime how about turning Buckingham Palace into a temporary residence for asylum seekers from Syria and Afghanistan - maybe Ukraine too.
ReplyDeleteI think that there are 22 royal palaces. The Duchy of Lancaster, Cornwall and whole swathes of land bringing cash to the Windsors. Reclaim and re-allocate to the Afghans and Ukrainians and other immigrants in need of asylum. That would be the decent thing to do.
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