OT- The Queen's Christmas Day Message to the Commonwealth

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Originally Posted by Andy_Faber

7 million who tuned in yesterday for a kick off. Why not have a referendum? There’s be no 52/48....and I say that whilst agreeing with those who think they should manage on a much smaller ‘salary’

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It was actually nearer 8 million Andy, though what that tells us I’m not sure. Is that 7.6 million people...or 7.6 million TV sets? If it was the latter, how many people, if any, were actually watching...how many were hanging on her every word and how many were thinking, ‘Jeez...even sprouts are more fun than this’?
Difficult to quantify and I imagine we’ll never know, but out of a population of around 66 million it’s not that impressive.

Maybe you’re right and a referendum could be used - albeit a compulsory one this time please. We could have another on fox hunting...both issues are significantly less complex than the one last year and with a compulsory vote and a majority of over 51% of the electorate needed there could be no argument and no one making bogus claims - like the Brexiteers and the Catalan separatists - to be the ‘voice of the people’.

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Originally Posted by ramAnag

Maybe you’re right and a referendum could be used - albeit a compulsory one this time please. We could have another on fox hunting...

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I’ve mentioned before the Swiss use referenda for lots of stuff and there is no fallout, a vote is respected, anything over 50% of those who vote. Re your pair, mY guess would be 70 plus percent for keeping queenie, 80 plus percent for abolishing fox hunting with hounds. My vote would be with the majority on both but hasn’t always been on either, very happy to explain why...

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Originally Posted by Andy_Faber

I’ve mentioned before the Swiss use referenda for lots of stuff and there is no fallout, a vote is respected, anything over 50% of those who vote. Re your pair, mY guess would be 70 plus percent for keeping queenie, 80 plus percent for abolishing fox hunting with hounds. My vote would be with the majority on both but hasn’t always been on either, very happy to explain why...

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Suspect you’re right on the fox hunting one which makes Maggie May’s rapid retreat on the ‘free vote’ promise understandable but the initial promise pretty stupid.
The majority might be with the Queen but not necessarily with the Royals once she goes...interesting that one.
Be very surprised if the Brexiteers could drum up support from anything like 51% of the electorate...even less if it was simply advisory (which legally it was) and included those aged sixteen upwards.

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Originally Posted by Andy_Faber

7 million who tuned in yesterday for a kick off. Why not have a referendum? There’s be no 52/48....and I say that whilst agreeing with those who think they should manage on a much smaller ‘salary’

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Mm for someone who is keen on verification of facts you seem happy to accept so classed viewing figures - you might want to look at how they compile ratings for TV but even then 7 million out of the total population is not that impressive, though of course there may be another few million who will watch at a later time!

Indeed why not have a referendum, (but not on personalities, nothing against the current incumbent other than she is no
higher up the strata of mankind than you or I) but on the principle that its time to banish the anachronism that is the royal family.

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Originally Posted by swaledale

Mm for someone who is keen on verification of facts you seem happy to accept so classed viewing figures - you might want to look at how they compile ratings for TV but even then 7 million out of the total population is not that impressive, though of course there may be another few million who will watch at a later time!

Indeed why not have a referendum, (but not on personalities, nothing against the current incumbent other than she is no
higher up the strata of mankind than you or I) but on the principle that its time to banish the anachronism that is the royal family.

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It’s a referendum Swale, you know what happens...whether you, or I, like it or not the ‘great British public’ are infatuated with the culture of personality...they won’t ‘vote’ against a monarch who has been on the throne since Adam was a lad. Wait until she’s ‘retired’ if you want a more objective verdict on what I agree is the ultimate anachronism.
The fact that she’s still doing the ‘job’ almost certainly reflects the fact that the establishment recognises this.

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Originally Posted by ramAnag

Suspect you’re right on the fox hunting one which makes Maggie May’s rapid retreat on the ‘free vote’ promise understandable but the initial promise pretty stupid.
The majority might be with the Queen but not necessarily with the Royals once she goes...interesting that one.
Be very surprised if the Brexiteers could drum up support from anything like 51% of the electorate...even less if it was simply advisory (which legally it was) and included those aged sixteen upwards.

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Queenie would survive that referendum I'm sure - especially when the stats come out showing how little in comparative terms she costs - eg compare it to foreign aid budget, cohesion payments or unenployment handouts. She is still working at 90, which is maybe 75 years more work for the good of the country than some that we support, with your approval, have done in their lives.

Last para: Yawn yawn yawn

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Originally Posted by roger_ramjet

Queenie would survive that referendum I'm sure - especially when the stats come out showing how little in comparative terms she costs - eg compare it to foreign aid budget, cohesion payments or unenployment handouts. She is still working at 90, which is maybe 75 years more work for the good of the country than some that we support, with your approval, have done in their lives.

Last para: Yawn yawn yawn

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See you’re still under the weather Rog.

Who exactly are the ‘some we support, with my approval’?
Why ‘yawn, yawn, yawn’...if a question is never satisfactorily answered why shouldn’t it be asked again...and if we’re talking about a decision which has huge implications for years to come why shouldn’t young people have a vote on something which would only be advisory?

The some who we (the taxpayers that is) support are "the great unwashed" : the unemployed who, like HMQ, live on handouts - but HMQ has worked tirelessly for her country for 75 odd years.

You can ask all you like about EU referendum - its your breath you are wasting and until oxygen becomes a scarce resource: go ahead. But if you think its going to change the outcome fo something 18 months ago.....

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Originally Posted by ramAnag

Suspect you’re right on the fox hunting one which makes Maggie May’s rapid retreat on the ‘free vote’ promise understandable but the initial promise pretty stupid.
The majority might be with the Queen but not necessarily with the Royals once she goes...interesting that one.
Be very surprised if the Brexiteers could drum up support from anything like 51% of the electorate...even less if it was simply advisory (which legally it was) and included those aged sixteen upwards.

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The fox hunting one demonstrates how out of touch the Tory grandees were earlier this year, I’m surprised they didn’t go for the reintroduction of fagging.

I think the republicans missed the sweet spot for toppling the royal family 7 days after Diana’s death. Given the popularity of the latest addition the brand is secure beyond our lifetimes I reckon

On Brexit, you aren’t Teruo Nakamura yet but it’s getting close

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Originally Posted by Andy_Faber

The fox hunting one demonstrates how out of touch the Tory grandees were earlier this year, I’m surprised they didn’t go for the reintroduction of fagging.

I think the republicans missed the sweet spot for toppling the royal family 7 days after Diana’s death. Given the popularity of the latest addition the brand is secure beyond our lifetimes I reckon

On Brexit, you aren’t Teruo Nakamura yet but it’s getting close

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Lol...once I’d looked him up! Sounds like another version of ramAnag.
My point was more about referenda in general rather than the Brexit one...it just seems to be becoming a little bit of a ‘separatist’ habit to claim to represent the ‘voice of the people’ when in fact little could be further from the truth.