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Geckoman
Joined: 07 Jun 2007
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 Posted: Sun Dec 20, 2009 11:47 pm Post subject: Queen's Finances to be Revealed |
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After three years of trying, the British newspaper The Independent will finally have access to see how much of the public's hard earned tax dollars is given to the Queen of England.
Of course there is the arguement that this is nobody's business. Who is the ruler and who are the subjects? She is the ruler and the people are her subjects. So she is not accountable to them but rather they are accountable to her. The people are not her constituents. She owes them no information whatsoever. This is her own private business.
The Independent:
Queen's Finances to be Revealed
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/queens-finances-to-be-revealed-1846347.html
Yanks ridicule the monarchy as backward and stupid but to the Queen's subjects here in Korea -- Brits, Canadians, Aussies and Kiwis -- the Queen is very important and something which they take immense pride in.
It's a cultural thing. Yanks can not understand why they enjoy being ruled by a monarch because they don't understand British and British Commonwealth culture.
GOD SAVE THE QUEEN!
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Rusty Shackleford
Joined: 08 May 2008
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| Posted: Mon Dec 21, 2009 1:04 am Post subject: |
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It pisses me off when people support the monarchy as head of state for the Dominions. Having a foreign monarch as the supreme ruler of a country 10,000 miles away is an absurd anachronism.
Aussie struck down the motion in a public referendum about 10 years ago. It hasn't come up in NZ. The ignorant working and lower classes only care about what bribes the incumbent party will pay off to them. They could care less about the Queen.
Having said this, I suspect the remaining dominions(Canada, Aussie, NZ) will become Republics once Charles takes the throne. He has expressed he has no desire to be the King of Australia etc. |
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Fox
Joined: 04 Mar 2009
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| Posted: Mon Dec 21, 2009 1:37 am Post subject: Re: Queen's Finances to be Revealed |
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| Geckoman wrote: |
| Of course there is the arguement that this is nobody's business. Who is the ruler and who are the subjects? She is the ruler and the people are her subjects. So she is not accountable to them but rather they are accountable to her. The people are not her constituents. She owes them no information whatsoever. This is her own private business. |
You're genuinely suggesting that tax money being taken from people and handed over to some woman because she happens to be descended from a particular family is "nobody's business"? How the government of England chooses to utilize it's tax income is no concern of mine, but clearly the citizens of England have valid reason to want to know how it's spent. It's their money, after all.
| Geckoman wrote: |
Yanks ridicule the monarchy as backward and stupid but to the Queen's subjects here in Korea -- Brits, Canadians, Aussies and Kiwis -- the Queen is very important and something which they take immense pride in.
It's a cultural thing. Yanks can not understand why they enjoy being ruled by a monarch because they don't understand British and British Commonwealth culture. |
Perhaps we don't understand it because we aren't indoctrinated from youth to accept it. I for one can't see how a person could possibly be proud of being ruled by a monarch. I can hypothetically understand accepting the rule of a monarch if said rule were to somehow produce better results than any other alternative, but being proud of it is just silly. |
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Big_Bird
Joined: 31 Jan 2003
Location: Sometimes here sometimes there...
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| Posted: Mon Dec 21, 2009 1:39 am Post subject: Re: Queen's Finances to be Revealed |
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| Geckoman wrote: |
After three years of trying, the British newspaper The Independent will finally have access to see how much of the public's hard earned tax dollars is given to the Queen of England.
Of course there is the arguement that this is nobody's business. Who is the ruler and who are the subjects? She is the ruler and the people are her subjects. So she is not accountable to them but rather they are accountable to her. The people are not her constituents. She owes them no information whatsoever. This is her own private business.
The Independent:
Queen's Finances to be Revealed
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/queens-finances-to-be-revealed-1846347.html
Yanks ridicule the monarchy as backward and stupid but to the Queen's subjects here in Korea -- Brits, Canadians, Aussies and Kiwis -- the Queen is very important and something which they take immense pride in.
It's a cultural thing. Yanks can not understand why they enjoy being ruled by a monarch because they don't understand British and British Commonwealth culture.
GOD SAVE THE QUEEN!
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She's not a ruler, you silly so-and-so, she's a head of state. |
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GwangjuParents
Joined: 31 Oct 2008
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| Posted: Mon Dec 21, 2009 3:35 am Post subject: |
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| I've always found it ironic that the symbol of many anglo democracies is an inbred, unelected multi-millionaire German... |
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CentralCali
Joined: 17 May 2007
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| Posted: Mon Dec 21, 2009 5:08 am Post subject: |
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| I thought the British got rid of that whole "subject" bit and now there are no British subjects, just British citizens. Am I mistaken? |
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Kuros
Joined: 27 Apr 2004
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| Posted: Mon Dec 21, 2009 5:10 am Post subject: Re: Queen's Finances to be Revealed |
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| Geckoman wrote: |
Yanks ridicule the monarchy as backward and stupid but to the Queen's subjects here in Korea -- Brits, Canadians, Aussies and Kiwis -- the Queen is very important and something which they take immense pride in.
It's a cultural thing. Yanks can not understand why they enjoy being ruled by a monarch because they don't understand British and British Commonwealth culture. |
| Big Bird wrote: |
She's not a ruler, you silly so-and-so, she's a head of state. |
Geckoman,
Do you understand (presumably) your own culture? |
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scotty12347
Joined: 16 Sep 2009
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| Posted: Mon Dec 21, 2009 6:35 am Post subject: |
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| Geckoman, im English and think the queen is a complete waste of time and money. Im open to being proved otherwise though... |
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BoholDiver
Joined: 03 Oct 2009
Location: Canada
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| Posted: Mon Dec 21, 2009 6:42 am Post subject: |
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I respect her and care about the monarchy, but only to a point.
I think if UK gives up the royal family, a huge part of their culture goes away as well. |
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Savant
Joined: 25 May 2007
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| Posted: Mon Dec 21, 2009 7:13 am Post subject: |
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| scotty12347 wrote: |
| Geckoman, im English and think the queen is a complete waste of time and money. Im open to being proved otherwise though... |
I'm a Scot and I think the same as you. I am no subject of the Queen.
The Royal Family are good for attracting tourism; I feel they exist for no other purpose. |
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Moldy Rutabaga
Joined: 01 Jul 2003
Location: Ansan, Korea
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| Posted: Mon Dec 21, 2009 7:35 am Post subject: |
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I think the OP is being sarcastic. I'm starting to think that being sarcastic is never a safe bet on Dave's!
Canadians don't feel strongly either way. She is a funny lady who visits every five years and goes to Victoria or somewhere in the Northwest Territories where CBC can drum up enough fans to look good for a TV camera. There is a picture of her from 1973 on our money. Other than that we have neither a strong feeling of loyalty or antipathy.
I wouldn't be terribly surprised if she has much less money than people thought, as some of that property is not the queen's but the state's, much like the White House. |
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ontheway
Joined: 24 Aug 2005
Location: Somewhere under the rainbow...
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| Posted: Mon Dec 21, 2009 8:08 am Post subject: |
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| Savant wrote: |
| scotty12347 wrote: |
| Geckoman, im English and think the queen is a complete waste of time and money. Im open to being proved otherwise though... |
I'm a Scot and I think the same as you. I am no subject of the Queen.
The Royal Family are good for attracting tourism; I feel they exist for no other purpose. |
If they only exist to attract tourists, it might be cheaper to hire actors in costumes. You could make movies ( Dizzy Queen Lizzie, The Diana Diaries), open up Buckingham Land with some roller-coasters, restaurants, the Palace Hotel. Really milk this thing. |
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Jeonmunka
Joined: 05 Oct 2009
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| Posted: Tue Dec 22, 2009 2:10 pm Post subject: |
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I read once that in cash she personally gets 18 million pounds per year stipend. If that doesn't help pay for the upkeep of her buildings and yacht, where does it all go?
Charles seems somewhat self sufficient  . He gets rents off his inherited land - a huge country estate complete with a little town on it.
I read (a number of years ago now) that New Zealand pays one million per year to the Queen.
Talk about living off of royalties. |
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Koveras
Joined: 09 Oct 2008
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| Posted: Tue Dec 22, 2009 4:33 pm Post subject: |
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| That's fine. She's probably a model of responsibility. I don't know how she scrapes by on the pittance the British begrudge her. |
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Manner of Speaking
Joined: 09 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Tue Dec 22, 2009 6:53 pm Post subject: |
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Queen Elizabeth has gotten up and started work every morning at 7:00am since 1955 and has read and familiarized herself with every single bill or piece of legislation that has ever been sent to her for her assent. No other government official in Britain or the Commonwealth, elected or unelected, has worked so hard or so long to help maintain the principle of parliamentary democracy.
And you should look at Princess Margaret's website and see what kind of pace she sets for herself. They're not slackers by any rate. |
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