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British public support for monarchy at historic low, poll reveals

theguardian.com

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

#71

Post by dang »

pestatije wrote: post #37
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).

[flagged]

Could you please stop posting unsubstantive comments and flamebait? You've unfortunately been doing it repeatedly. It's not what this site is for, and destroys what it is for.

If you wouldn't mind reviewing https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and taking the intended spirit of the site more to heart, we'd be grateful.

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

#72

Post by krapp »

hotpotamus wrote: post #39
pfannkuchen wrote: post #34

The current monarchy format seems like it was necessary at the time of the transition away from pure monarchy in order to prevent too much opposition to the transition from blocking the transition. Like a compatibility layer with a legacy system. Now the population that would have opposed the transition is long dead, so it seems reasonable to remove the compatibility layer. Though, a more cynical take might be-- what…

Have you read Terry Pratchett? I suppose you could call him Sir Terry Pratchett in fact, but one of his characters would say that one of the design flaws of humanity is the bend in the knee. It's like someone left a coding error in their brains that says, "Kings, what a good idea". I'm paraphrasing, but barely. Your comment just reminded me of that.

I've seen people argue for dispensing with democracy entirely in favor of returning to true monarchies - recently, on HN. It's baffling.

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

#73

Post by krapp »

jleyank wrote: post #5

Constitutional monarchs are a valid form of non political heads of state, and there’s a value in such heads of state. However, they should be citizens and residents of the country they “lead” - not residing over the seas. And they should dial the ostentation back to 4-5, in line with the other countries in Europe. Let Disney handle the Magic Princesses.

> And they should dial the ostentation back to 4-5, in line with the other countries in Europe. Let Disney handle the Magic Princesses.

Absolutely not. The pompous spectacle is the only thing about the monarchy worth paying attention to. I mean, just look at this jackass[0]. This is a grown man in an ostensibly modern country, whose privilege and position are taken so seriously people are expected to take public vows of loyalty to him and get arrested for disrespecting him, and he's dressed like an anime villain. The tassels on his cape are bigger than his head.

[0]https://www.instagram.com/p/CnXkIHPP0er/

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

#75

Post by jowsie »

skissane wrote: post #48
BerislavLopac wrote: post #21

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…

> 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. While there is currently a Tory government, Labour remain the favourites to win the next general election. That doesn't sound like a recipe for "single-party authoritarianis…

Labour are regularly referred to as Tory-lite and with the way it's being run by Keith people feel it's just the Tory party but in red.

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

#76

Post by pestatije »

dang wrote: post #71
pestatije wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Could you please stop posting unsubstantive comments and flamebait? You've unfortunately been doing it repeatedly. It's not what this site is for, and destroys what it is for. If you wouldn't mind reviewing https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and taking the intended spirit of the site more to heart, we'd be grateful.

Fuck off...the guy said Spain is a highly functioning democracy, i'm just biting his flamebait

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

#77

Post by dang »

pestatije wrote: post #76
dang wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could you please stop posting unsubstantive comments and flamebait? You've unfortunately been doing it repeatedly. It's not what this site is for, and destroys what it is for. If you wouldn't mind reviewing https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and taking the intended spirit of the site more to heart, we'd be grateful.

Fuck off...the guy said Spain is a highly functioning democracy, i'm just biting his flamebait

We need people to follow the rules regardless of how wrong someone else is or you feel they are. Otherwise we end up in a downward spiral: https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&sor....

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

#78

Post by AlecSchueler »

klelatti wrote: post #33

In my view the elephant in the room is that the monarchy in the UK has demonstrably failed to be a check or balance on a party with a majority in Parliament. Without a written constitution there is no limit on what a party with a majority in Parliament - which it can an achieve with a relatively small share of the vote - can do. Not a healthy situation.

The Lords is the check and balance. For a while we had the high courts as well.

The monarchy are supposed to leave the people alone to govern.

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

#79

Post by AlecSchueler »

jeroenhd wrote: post #49
epilys wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The reason is actually well known. It even has a name: imperialism.

The Netherlands were practically bankrupt after the second world war, as was most of Europe. This, together with the fact that much of Asia was in a similar situation, has led to the exceptional wealth America quickly attained in a short period of time, as they were the only major industrial power left. The colonies were no longer making much profit for the few years after WW2 either, to the point where Suriname got…

I don't think the separate is as strong as you suggest. Most of the world was ravaged by World War 2 but the Marshall Plan was designed to assist the previously imperial nations only.

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

#80

Post by AlecSchueler »

kentrado wrote: post #66
neilwilson wrote: post #62

A system where all the power is vested in a person who can never have any authority to use it works surprisingly well. Our PM has all the authority but none of the power. He has to ask the King’s assent for everything - which curbs any real extremism. The purists don’t like it but it works. As you get older you start to understand why Chesterton’s fence is there.

Can you provide examples of how it curbs extremism? The Tories have been doing extreme stuff and I don't see any intervention from the monarch.

What are examples of the extremism you refer to?
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