Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

British public support for monarchy at historic low, poll reveals

theguardian.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 90 posts

Re: British public support for monarchy at historic low, poll reveals

#21

Post by BerislavLopac »

It's been said, quite correctly, that the UK is a republic with a hereditary president, while the US is a monarchy with an elected king. I see plenty of misconceptions about the UK royal family in the comments, from them depending on taxes (they don't) to the importance of the monarch in the government.

I don't really care whether the UK has a king of a president (except that the name change would be annoying) - but the country currently has much bigger issues, including the fact that it's slowly moving towards a single-party authoritarianism.

Re: British public support for monarchy at historic low, poll reveals

#22

Post by jl6 »

mikestew wrote: post #9

“X% think the monarchy is ‘quite important’”, or summat. Next poll, please, please, please drill into why these folks think it is important. Because I’m trying to come up with something for which the monarchy is important, and I’m truly at a loss as a non-resident. EDIT: all great answers (except the snarky one) that gave me some insight, thanks.

I mean, I’m not here to argue that the monarchy is very important, but it certainly provides amongst other things: an element of cultural backward compatibility, a reliable tourist attraction, a small element of continuity and temperance to government, a bunch of figureheads and symbolic leaders, and another thread in the rich tapestry that makes a nation unique.

Also, the current royal family knows that they would be about two hours away from a republic being declared if they were ever to abuse their position, and as a result they are reasonably public spirited, insofar as billionaires go.

Re: British public support for monarchy at historic low, poll reveals

#23

Post by raverbashing »

JoeAltmaier wrote: post #10

How to abolish it? Just quit talking about it or caring about it. It's public attention that makes it anything at all. Imaginary specialness invested in such a group of supercilious incompetents is baffling. Magical thinking.

Erm no.

The way to abolish it is to pick a new head of state (elections, draws, pulling a sword out of a stone, etc)

Re: British public support for monarchy at historic low, poll reveals

#24

Post by nxm »

throwaway426079 wrote: post #2

"A total of 45% of respondents said either it should be abolished, was not at all important or not very important." Not categories I would have combined in an analytical report.

Agreed. The distinction between indifference to and desire to remove is quite strong

Re: British public support for monarchy at historic low, poll reveals

#25

Post by cal85 »

jleyank wrote: post #12
cal85 wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why should they dial the ostentation back?

Their existence depends on the tolerance of the taxed. Burn that out and theyll have to work for a living. Edit as I can’t reply…. Japan’s royalty has been around far longer but isn’t particularly fancy. Denmark’s is similar in duration to the post Norman uk, similarly “mild”. People don’t like seeing such behaviour in lean times.

I’m not sure. The most successful, enduring ‘royal family’ in the world appears to be the one that has been the most careful to conserve all the ostentation.

Re: British public support for monarchy at historic low, poll reveals

#26

Post by mkl95 »

haunter wrote: post #13

Yet I somehow think constitutional monarchies work. There is a reason (I don't know what) that the european ones are in the western richer + generally strong and high functioning democratic countries (Spain, UK, Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Luxembourg).

Constitutional monarchies are good for stability, at the expense of political freedom. They make sense for Spain and the UK since they are internally unstable, but not so much for Norway and similar countries that are on "cruise control".

Re: British public support for monarchy at historic low, poll reveals

#28

Post by eru »

mikestew wrote: post #9

“X% think the monarchy is ‘quite important’”, or summat. Next poll, please, please, please drill into why these folks think it is important. Because I’m trying to come up with something for which the monarchy is important, and I’m truly at a loss as a non-resident. EDIT: all great answers (except the snarky one) that gave me some insight, thanks.

People in the US care a lot about their flag and their anthem (and their precious abstract 'Freedom'.)

Many people around the world care about their national football team doing well in the world cup.

If you can understand why those symbols are important, perhaps you can see why the monarchy might be an important symbol for some Brits?

Re: British public support for monarchy at historic low, poll reveals

#29

Post by jeroenhd »

throwaway426079 wrote: post #2

"A total of 45% of respondents said either it should be abolished, was not at all important or not very important." Not categories I would have combined in an analytical report.

To me, a newspaper combining those groups says "most Britons in favour of a monarchy with some power, but we don't want to admit that" more than anything.

Re: British public support for monarchy at historic low, poll reveals

#30

Post by eru »

michaelt wrote: post #18
mikestew wrote: post #9

“X% think the monarchy is ‘quite important’”, or summat. Next poll, please, please, please drill into why these folks think it is important. Because I’m trying to come up with something for which the monarchy is important, and I’m truly at a loss as a non-resident. EDIT: all great answers (except the snarky one) that gave me some insight, thanks.

The strongest argument for the monarchy, in my experience, is the alternative is someone elected - and have you seen the people who get elected?

Given how insane voters are, it's really a pleasant surprise that politicians are as sane as they are.
Post reply on HN