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2014/10/09 01:28:23
Subject: A Question for UK Friends - Why is the Aristocracy still around?
If hadn't had our royalty, who would know about the Netherlands
From a country promotion point of view you have the same person for a long time used as figure head to other countries when leading (commercial) delegations.
jasper76 wrote: What is the 'common man' argument for maintaining an aristocracy (presumably at great expense to the taxpayer)? Is it a national pride thing? Something else?
I've never had a discussion with anyone from the UK about this before, and seeing as this site has so many UK folks, I'm interested to hear why.
The Brits won WWI. Had they lost, their royalty would be gone too.
WWI was a bloodbath, but it finally brought down the royal houses of Europe.
-"Wait a minute.....who is that Frazz is talking to in the gallery? Hmmm something is going on here.....Oh.... it seems there is some dispute over video taping of some sort......Frazz is really upset now..........wait a minute......whats he go there.......is it? Can it be?....Frazz has just unleashed his hidden weiner dog from his mini bag, while quoting shakespeares "Let slip the dogs the war!!" GG
-"Don't mind Frazzled. He's just Dakka's crazy old dude locked in the attic. He's harmless. Mostly."
-TBone the Magnificent 1999-2014, Long Live the King!
2014/10/09 13:06:17
Subject: A Question for UK Friends - Why is the Aristocracy still around?
jasper76 wrote: What is the 'common man' argument for maintaining an aristocracy (presumably at great expense to the taxpayer)? Is it a national pride thing? Something else?
I've never had a discussion with anyone from the UK about this before, and seeing as this site has so many UK folks, I'm interested to hear why.
The Brits won WWI. Had they lost, their royalty would be gone too.
WWI was a bloodbath, but it finally brought down the royal houses of Europe.
Our royalty would probably have survived, but our nation would have been forced to ally itself with whatever new power straddled Europe after that point.
It's curious really. In both wars, the goal of the opposition was not really to invade us, but simply to make our position untenable enough that we'd be forced to negotiate terms. The strength of the Royal Navy combined with the difficulty of landing and supplying an invading army really does give us a level of security practically unprecedented until the rise of the USA after WW2.
The sheer military power of the USA forces us to toe the US diplomatic line as things stand, but it will be interesting to see if the US remains the dominant power over the next century or so. The potential rise of China and Europe certainly give the US food for thought these days. I think that things will become very interesting over the next thirty years.
2014/10/10 00:56:39
Subject: A Question for UK Friends - Why is the Aristocracy still around?
jasper76 wrote: Another question coming from curiosity and ingnorance:
Does the UK system of government have a peaceful method to oust the Royal Family on the off chance that a future king or queen starts doing things that are unacceptable to the citizenry?
Since they are unelected, how would that work?
There's not much they can do that would be unacceptable. Let's be frank, the Royal Family are figureheads. They're there to rubber-stamp the paperwork, wave at the tourists, kiss babies, and open supermarkets. Whilst they still have a certain amount of power on paper (royal assent, for example), the moment a royal family member decided to play the Divine Right card would be the moment the Government enacted the Law anyway, told the current King/Queen to take a hike(or abdicate), and then passed another law removing the need for royal assent. Technically it would be illegal, but de facto trumps de jure any day of the week.
The British Constitution is a curious one, in that it doesn't exist on paper. If you took it and tried to apply it in an African or Middle-Eastern country, the 'Monarch' would have seized power with the army within about ten minutes, or the House of Lords would be openly soliciting bribery for their votes, or the judiciary would be run entirely by the Government. The only reason our separation of powers works is because all British citizens have this strange idea that it should do.
The result being that any monarch who tried to seize power would be ignored by everyone, the army commanders have no desire to seize power and genuinely view their place as being 'to serve', and any government who tried to abolish democratic voting rights or the monarchy unnecessarily would be summarily removed by the judiciary and a new Government swiftly formed.
It's a very strange system, ringfenced by tradition and interoperating laws and oaths of loyalty. A millenium of continuous evolution of Government in these isles since the formation of England/Scotland has left us with a system that exists in our heads as much as it does on paper, but still works (bizarely enough). We are the most stable institution in the world. And with a dose of luck and reasonable planning, we'll outlast the rest of the world again, and still be around in another millenium.
You mean they don't ???
Its hard to be awesome, when your playing with little plastic men. Welcome to Fantasy 40k
If you think your important, in the great scheme of things. Do the water test.
Put your hands in a bucket of warm water,
then pull them out fast. The size of the hole shows how important you are.
I think we should roll some dice, to see if we should roll some dice, To decide if all this dice rolling is good for the game.
2014/10/10 01:09:46
Subject: A Question for UK Friends - Why is the Aristocracy still around?
Why would they need to? They're all disgustingly rich ex-party politicians with multiple company directorships that get paid for showing up for five minutes three times a week. Why risk the gravy train by being openly corrupt?
2014/10/10 14:43:57
Subject: A Question for UK Friends - Why is the Aristocracy still around?
