By strange coincidence, shortly after saying I would only swear allegiance to the Queen after a stiff whisky, I was called upon to indicate, if not fully swear, allegiance to her on two occasions.
First of all, I attended a formal dinner, something I do about as often as Julian Clary carries out a bit of spot welding. I managed to bring myself quietly join in the "loyal toast", although I used my water glass which I suppose is a bit like crossing your fingers.
Then, unusually, I attended a church service where the National Anthem was sung at the end. I have never come across such a practice. I did the singing in harmony, rather than singing the tune.
Ever the revolutionary, eh?
Monday, March 17, 2008
Memoirs of a Republican Revolutionary....not
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2 comments:
In theory I'm a republican as well. In the real (non theoretical) world, I'm a monarchist. I remember someone once saying 'the Queen isn't important for the power she holds, it's for the power she denies to other people.' It's an important idea, in my view. Blair and Thatcher might have liked to think they were supreme rulers, but - of course - they weren't.
OK, we could design a presidency but we'd cock that up because the process of doing so would involve endless inquiries, committees and so on.
The Danes, Swedes, Norwegians and Belgians all seem to manage perfectly well with royal families and I expect that King Chas, once he's in power, would make our system much more like theirs.
Summary: it's not particularly broke and our current politicians (i.e. people who award themselves £10K of taxpayer's money in expenses for kitchens on second homes) are the worst possible people to fix it, IMHO.
"it's not particularly broke and our current politicians (i.e. people who award themselves £10K of taxpayer's money in expenses for kitchens on second homes) are the worst possible people to fix it, IMHO."
Good point!
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