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Queen Elizabeth II has died

bbc.com

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Re: Queen Elizabeth II has died

#661

Post by dang »

nemo44x wrote: post #458
PaulDavisThe1st wrote: post #198

I was born in the UK, in 1963. Because of my step-father's love of first-wave UK punk, the first thing I did on hearing this news was to play the Sex Pistol's "God Save the Queen". It is remarkable how much the Queen's standing has improved during the time since that song (1977). My (UK) family are (as far as I know) staunch republicans, but the last couple of decades have seen all of us soften our disgust with the m…

It's called "getting old". :) I think even John Lydon has respect for the Queen nowadays. [1] [1] https://www.loudersound.com/news/john-lydon-on-sex-pistols-g...

I was wondering if he would appear here, and yes, that makes sense. England was his great theme and the anger in those songs had a lot to do with injured love ("I thought it was the UK").

Re: Queen Elizabeth II has died

#662

Post by axiolite »

xtracto wrote: post #81

I remember clearly the time when Princess Diana died (1997). For me, it was THE moment when I understood the impact of the Internet. I was randomly browsing the web during the night in Mexico, and suddenly I started to see websites (I think Yahoo and MSN at that time) showing the news. I went to sleep without giving it too much attention. Next day, all the news in my country were mentioning the death as breaking news…

> My mind was blown over how I knew about this very important event the night before Mexico TV broke the news.

I've had the opposite experience. It's clear that real-time news is detrimental, and it's better for reporting to wait a bit for facts to come in and analysis to be done.

Early reporting is vague, light on facts, disjointed, facts are hedged, etc. It's really quite worthless.

Re: Queen Elizabeth II has died

#663

Post by danudey »

saberience wrote: post #71

It's weird, I've never considered myself a "royalist" but this news has affected me quite strongly. I just burst into tears unexpectedly on hearing this news and I don't quite understand why I feel so very sad. I guess I have grown up and lived my whole life (as a Brit) seeing and hearing the Queen, singing "God save the Queen" etc, and this news made me suddenly feel very old, very nostalgic, with the sense that all…

I can't think of much else that has been the case as long as Queen Elizabeth II being the monarch. There are more than a few pensioners out there who weren't even born when she ascended the throne; I daresay that very few people under 75 years of age remember a time when she wasn't queen before today.

As a Canadian, the idea that she's gone is... strange? Every single time I've ever held a coin (in Canada), she's been on it. Every dime, every cent, every ten dollar bill. I have a difficult time with visual memory, but I know what those images look like because I've seen them a hundred thousand times.

Now it's going to be someone else? It makes sense, but it doesn't feel right.

Re: Queen Elizabeth II has died

#664

Post by worik »

nemo44x wrote: post #458
PaulDavisThe1st wrote: post #198

I was born in the UK, in 1963. Because of my step-father's love of first-wave UK punk, the first thing I did on hearing this news was to play the Sex Pistol's "God Save the Queen". It is remarkable how much the Queen's standing has improved during the time since that song (1977). My (UK) family are (as far as I know) staunch republicans, but the last couple of decades have seen all of us soften our disgust with the m…

It's called "getting old". :) I think even John Lydon has respect for the Queen nowadays. [1] [1] https://www.loudersound.com/news/john-lydon-on-sex-pistols-g...

> I think even John Lydon has respect for the Queen nowadays.

The person. Not the institution.

I have the opposite POV

Re: Queen Elizabeth II has died

#665

Post by clairity »

munk-a wrote: post #532
kypro wrote: post #333

As a Brit I'm not a huge fan of the royal family on principle, but Queen Elizabeth has been such an excellent head of state for us you really can't fault her. People like to make out her life was easy and that it's not fair that she inherited such a privileged position, but I think the exact opposite. Her life seemed like living hell to me. Every day for the last 70 years she's had to serve this largely ungrateful co…

As a Canadian (and we tend to be staunchy more anti-monarch over here) I agree whole heartedly. Her reign was pretty much entirely inoffensive, she tried to use her powers to promote good things while staying out of the running of any of the commonwealth governments. I think being a monarch as prominent as Queen Elizabeth is a hard job mostly because there is very little you can do right and a whole lot you could do…

No post body was provided.

Re: Queen Elizabeth II has died

#667

Post by koheripbal »

simonswords82 wrote: post #48

Winston Churchill (1951–55) Anthony Eden (1955–57) Harold Macmillan (1957–63) Alec Douglas-Home (1963–64) Harold Wilson (1964–70) Edward Heath (1970–74) Harold Wilson (1974–76) James Callaghan (1976–79) Margaret Thatcher (1979–90) John Major (1990–97) Tony Blair (1997–07) Gordon Brown (2007–10) David Cameron (2010–16) Theresa May (2016–19) Boris Johnson (2019–22) Liz Truss (2022 (two days ago) - current) Quite the re…

You're illustrating the difference between a monarchy and a democracy.

The regular rotation of power is a feature, not a bug.

Re: Queen Elizabeth II has died

#668

Post by curiousfiddler »

braingenious wrote: post #599
dang wrote: post #329

All: please don't post flamebait, including ranting against monarchy or railing against "the nobility" like it's 1770. Such reflexive comments are not on topic here. We want curious conversation. Please review https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html . This story is on topic because it's a major historical event and history has always been on topic here. If it doesn't produce an intellectually curious respons…

> please don't post flamebait, including ranting against monarchy or railing against "the nobility" like it's 1770. I am kind of curious about what this means exactly. Is any criticism of the monarchy off limits? Is the purpose of this thread for people to air their positive thoughts about this lady? For example, I find non-British people that are genuinely sad about her passing to be pretty bizarre. It’s a fascinati…

Extremely well put. I am from one of the countries that was absolutely slaughtered by the so called great britain, and I have as much desire to share my opinion and views, as the folks who are mourning the loss.

Re: Queen Elizabeth II has died

#669

Post by alistairSH »

dfraser992 wrote: post #630
orobinson wrote: post #248

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel the same. I think it’s because it really represents the end of an era. The 20th and early 21st century ushered in unprecedented improvements to quality of life in Britain but it has felt of late that that has peaked and the country is facing a serious decline: Brexit, the increasingly visible effects of climate change, the aftermath of covid, the possible break up of the union, rising costs of living, recessio…

An upvote for you (if I could). I'm American but have lived in the UK for near 20 years. My great-whatever grandfather signed the Declaration of Independence so I'm hardly a royalist... So WTF am I doing living in the UK??? (the NHS etc...) My general sense is that of respect for the Queen as a symbol. She did it right and wasn't a useless numpty like ... oh... all of the rest of them. Primarily nothing but B list ce…

Which is why I am looking hard at moving to Scotland (soon to be independent!)

Has there been any real progress towards another referendum on independence? I know SNP still has the lion’s share of seats in Scottish parliament, but what else? As a Scottish ex-pat of sorts (born UAE, to Scottish parents, but raised and educated in the US), I have nostalgic notions of moving to Scotland. Then I remember its dark much of the year and rains a fair bit. Heck, it even snowed in June the last summer I visited (yes, that was up Glenshee, but still).

Re: Queen Elizabeth II has died

#670

Post by koheripbal »

citilife wrote: post #372

Fun facts: - She ruled for 30% of the time since the American Revolution - She oversaw the largest reduction of landholdings of any empire in the history of the world. Notable because it was also one of the most peaceful transitions in history -- Australia, Canada, South Africa, Israel, Egypt, etc. - She oversaw the loss of Sterling the world reserve currency and the rise of another (the USD, EU).

The word "oversaw" is doing a lot of work here.

She didn't do much herself.

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