MarkO

It was me who posted about Boots. If you read the post, I did get through the door. Whilst I collected my photos, I chatted to the staff, who all agreed it was a farce. If people didn't want to shop out of respect, they could just stay away from the shop.

And nobody's questioning the Queen mum's level of duty or hard work. She did very well, and worked very hard. But so did/do a lot of other people whom - in my opinion - are much more deserving of a state-like funeral (which is, to all intents and purposes, what the Queen mother has been given).

I think a lot of people who have defended the silence, the media and the shop-shutting should go and look up 'pious' in the dictionary, and then re-read their posts.

I never asked to be disrespectful to the QM, I just requested that I didn't have an obligation to be respectful imposed on me.

There is a big difference between disrespect (i.e., calling her an 'old bag/bat') and not showing respect (i.e., getting on with my daily life, and letting the people to whom she actually mattered grieve, mourn and attend the funeral in peace.

Beef

Ok, I'll admit, calling her an old bat was probably going a little far (I'm capable of admitting when I'm wrong), but don't think it's worth anything like the fuss.

dsmith

Goodness

Scoobynet without the fuss, rightous/pious indigination, flame wars, blatant disregard for others - where would it all end. I for one would have to do some work !. Cant see how thats going to help anyone

Think most agree its an issue for individuals, and inidividuals choices should be repsected by all.

Deano

catflap

id just like to say that i spend hours and hours and hours in a cash unit last night, i only had minor eye injury, but there were people coming in from car/bike crashes, little babies who had swallows stuff they should not have etc, you all know the scene, anyways when the announcement came that the waiting time 6 hrs MORE. my G/F went to ask why? turns out they can only afford 1 doc on.

I SAY NO, the royals are parasites, they consume vast amounts of money for their luxury life style.

is it not said that the queen mum had a glass of champers every night? (and thus they had to open a fresh bottle for her every night `ive heard many examples of the insane extravagance.

No that money(time/effort) should be put into hospitals and schools

carl

Yeah right, catflap. If you won 8 million quid on the lottery you'd give it all to charity and continue to live your life frugally.

Markk

Tell you what - if it's a glass of champagne a night that gives you that extra 25 years (on avg) life then I'm all for it

dsmith

1) Define Vast amounts.

2) If we didn;t have the royals, we would almost certaintly have a different Head of State which would need paying for. (prob without large alternative sources of income).

3) The palaces would still need maintaining. Its unlikely they would make money as mere museums.

4) Its difficult to quantify the intangible income generated for the country by the presence of the Monarchy atracting tourists.

If you feel that its purely a cost issue, IMHO there are many things that should be cut back first. Not least of which is the number of Party Political special advisors currently employed by government and paid for by us. The number of "commisions" or whatever that spend vast sums on lowayers fees etc looking at issues which should have been buried years ago. (e.g. Bloody Sunday). The money spent on the Scottish parliament, Welsh aseembly and doubtless before long - English regional assmeblies. All completety unrequired extras levels of beuracracy each costing a stack of cash and provding lucrative high paid posts to politicians and beareaucrats who make little practical difference.

Parasite is a strong term and is well wide of the mark in my opinion. If you have an argument try and keep it constructive.

Deano

Chris T

In anycase - grossly innaccurate .

the royal family are not parasites living off the sweat of honest mens toil.

there are no only 8 members of the RF on the civil list the money is to pay for the property upkeep more than anything, the queen supports the remainder of the family from her land income portfolio
charles estates also make money for the crown.

The politicians cost over ten times what the royal family do - foriegn trips 25,000gbp a year allowances to each of the 600odd mps for secratarial support - one building in westminster to house 100 mps offices cost in excess of 40million to build.
I could go on but I won't

For some of you ignorance and prejudice are bliss - fecking pond life imho. show a bit of respect for someone who has led an amazing life.

Beef

Ok - a little joke to lighten the mood.

What have Diana and the Queen Mum got in common?

They both died touching 102.

DavidRB

The civil list is now less than £10million a year. This is something like 10p for every tax payer in the country. In comparison, last year, the government collected something like £34 billion in taxes from the likes of you and me.

This year, the govt. recently wrote off £1 billion of taxpayers money in a failed passport system. If you want to get rid of waste in this country, start with the House of Commons.

Socialist governments want you to believe in the idea of "aristos" and "parasites" because it allows them to replace the monarchs with their cronies, who always end up costing the hard-working peasants a lot more in taxes.

The Royals bring a lot more money into this country than they cost. No-one visits a country where it rains all the time and you stand a good chance of getting mugged or stabbed. Most tourists come because of the Royal family, plain & simple.

NeVeTaS2001

LOL @ Beef!

Gussie Cup

Beef - Classic!

chuckster

Hello Beef, hello Mark, and hello Steve. Blimey, blasts from the past or what?
Regards
Chuck
PS. Strange how the monarchy's approval(?) rating with the British shoots up after one dies, then drops drastically after the press hysteria dies down. Before QM died 34% of Brits wanted monarchy out, now it's 11%. What a bunch of hypocrites.

MarkO

Wotcha chuckster.

It's like old times - except most of us either don't have imprezas any more, or are in the process of selling 'em. LOL!

NeVeTaS2001

Hiya Chuckster!

You OK m8?

tweenierob

this is no way my opinion but i gotta tell it!!
queen mum arrives at the pearly gates to be greeted by princess diana...

queen mum says to diana " my god you must have been good up here" " look at the size of your halo"

too which diana replied " oh no queen mum, thats not a halo, its a steering wheel"!!!

LET THE FLAMES COMMENCE!!!

Rob

neilc

queen mum doesn't work for her entire life, ends up in millions of debt, and is praised for finding time for humanity

are facts jokes too?

Charlie

Chris T: just wondering about the Crown Estates.

Whose land is it? How did the Royal Family and the rest of the "upper classes" get that land in the first place?

Luke

Got nothing bad to sat about the Lady. But when Phillip kicks it, Ive got some stories to tell....

Diesel

D Smith >>"The money spent on the Scottish parliament, Welsh aseembly... [edit] ...completety unrequired extras levels of beuracracy"...<<

I think that to compare the validity of an un-elected monarchy to a democratically demanded and democratically run devolved British parliament/assembly is unfair to royalty! Where would they start?

Royalty is now quaint relic of a past era and a ‘subject’ mentality that becomes increasingly anachronistic, err, with time! The Welsh Assembly (for example) is quite the opposite and was a timely manifestation of the development and mutual respect within a society allowing a logical self determination without fear of any Empire crumbling.

I have no affection for The Royals, but do think they have a relevance and a function. I also think some restraint and decency should be applied when discussing the deceased. Showing some normal type manners does not show you as an **** licking minor ‘subject’ - only a decent normal person that’s willing to be diplomatic during many people’s grief (however irrelevant or misplaced you or me feel this grief is).

D
PS
(wouldn’t have participated in any tokenistic kybd silence, but respect those that feel the need to)

carl

At the end of the day, if you trace the history of any piece of land you'll find that somebody killed somebody else for it

Count Von Bismarck

The iwantiwa croiwa iwan thiwaksz threiwad iware cleiwarly driwaven by petty cliwakszksz envy. Theiwar iwagnoriwance iwaksztooundksz me.

bob

Thats right count you tell them.

dba

8 memebers of the RF on the civil list is eight to many.They are rich,stinking rich and can afford to pay their own way.The QM avoided inheritance tax by clever investing in trust funds,this is normal and i would do the same.But why should they be funded for charity work? 10s of 1000s of VOLUNTEERS collect every day in freezing cold outside supermarkets,do they get paid?

The RF live a privileged life,I wouldn't blame them for that.But the tax payer shouldn't pay a penny and arguing its only "10 million" is pointless.Its 10 million to much,simple as that.

I could safely ignore them as an irrelevance if my taxes weren't paying for them to go skiiing every year,but they are so i can't.And I won't celebrate a "wonderful" life thank you very much.I will observe a 2 minute silence on Nov 11th,with evryone else, to honour the millions who gave something in wartime,of which she was one.

But now? nah,she is irrelevant to my life and means nothing to me.

megabusa! ha!

dba could not agree more, all these "new" royalists stink of hypocrisy, its irrelevent argument saying who earns what etc and making comparisons. if the parasites wanted to be the pillars of our country and do there bit why not donate 10% of there income to charities etc rather than 0.01%.

Daily mirror editor on TV last night saying "we should all rally round the queen for the jubilee, anyone that doesn't does not deserve to be British" says it all really, media/monarchy PR gone totally out of control.

Beef

I give everyone the same level of starting respect. As in, I feel that because they are alive, they deserve to remain so in whatever way they wish to (within reasonable, society-determined limits). That is, IMO, all the basic respect that anyone should automatically receive. Anything above that has to be earned.

[Edited by Beef - 4/9/2002 1:10:05 PM]

Simon

As you have already stated you did have respect for the queen mother, I really wouldn't like to see how you treat people you do not have respect for! You must have many close friends.

So tell us Beef, what exactly does one have to do to earn your respect?

[Edited by Simon - 4/9/2002 1:36:39 PM]

carl

I observed the 2 minute silence, but I'm a royalist rather than a republican. However, I agree that this 'period of national mourning' is a media creation. It makes you wonder when you hear the reports on these documentaries that say "When King George VI died, the nation was in mourning". They'll probably be saying that about us in the future.

Also, I'm happy for a 2-minute silence but this closing the shops for three hours or whatever is well over the top. If the feeling ran that high, the Queen would be well within her powers as head of state to declare a national holiday (I guess -- I haven't checked this as fact).

It reminds me of when they said "A nation in mourning -- 30 million people watched Diana's funeral". What they fail to mention is that means that also there were 30 million people who didn't watch the funeral.

[Also, I should point out as MarkO has alluded to the fact, that the Queen Mum's funeral isn't a state funeral, i.e. not paid for by the state. The royal family have organized it to be state-like, and are IIRC paying for it themselves. Before anyone says "where did they get their money from" it's important to remember that aside from being the royal family, the Windsors are very wealthy in their own right.]

[Edited by carl - 4/9/2002 1:36:43 PM]

Simon

Actually Beef, that's not entirely true.

Diana didn't actually *die* until she hit the wall, therefore the speed that she was travelling was a lot less than 102mph, probably nearer 0mph to be honest. Or are you refering to the speed at which she travelled from the back seat and through the front window?

[Edited by Simon - 4/9/2002 4:59:32 PM]

Mice_Elf

If you want to start with people who get money for very little, how about we start with sports people. Let footballers give 2 weeks of a month's money to charity / local schools / hospitals. They certainly don't need £30,000 per week or whatever it is.

[Edited by Mice_Elf - 4/10/2002 4:01:27 PM]