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Topic Originator: Wotsit
Date: Wed 16 Sep 16:10
Jamaica heading the same way apparently.
It doesn't make a lot of sense for nations which only exist due to slavery to keep the slaver nation's head of state as their own head of state.
The enemy travels by private jet, not by dinghy.
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Topic Originator: Buspasspar
Date: Wed 16 Sep 16:39
Why don't we remove the lot of them as well and put the money we are wasting to the NHS
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Topic Originator: red-star-par
Date: Wed 16 Sep 19:01
Hopefully Scotland will do the same. Remove her as Head Of State, or just remove her head
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Topic Originator: donj
Date: Wed 16 Sep 19:31
Leave her head alone but leave the disunited UK and look after ourselves.Plenty of natural resources and a record of great people.I'd prefer EU membership but we can decide whether full of Norway style.
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Topic Originator: jake89
Date: Wed 16 Sep 21:42
Does anyone care about the Royals anymore?
Harry's away.
Andrew's on the naughty step.
Charles is mute.
William and Kate are trying but people seem to have lost interest.
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Topic Originator: OzPar
Date: Thu 17 Sep 02:21
As soon as Charlie picks up the crown, Australia will be offski too.
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Topic Originator: DBP
Date: Thu 17 Sep 06:13
Agreed, the media went all in on Harry and his wife as appealing to the younger audience to keep that bit of the establishment going, but unfortunately they didn't fancy the gig and folded on them!
I still think it's bonkers that we'd have an unelected, hereditary head of state (and church for those in England).
As for our national anthem (the uk one), as an atheist and as someone who would disband the Royal family... not only an i disenfranchised twice in the first line, I'm always left wondering which other countries, would have their subjects sign such a song to their unelected leaders - and I'm never impressed by the ones I guess at!
Ps good on Barbados 🇧🇧, just wish we would do the same
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Topic Originator: veteraneastender
Date: Thu 17 Sep 09:01
The “national anthem” is actually a royal anthem, not the same thing.
As above, what other country celebrates an individual, especially an unelected one, as their national anthem ?
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Topic Originator: The One Who Knocks
Date: Thu 17 Sep 09:40
Is Barbados still a tax haven for the rich and prosperous?
And although my eyes were open
They just might as well be closed
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Topic Originator: Luxembourg Par
Date: Thu 17 Sep 11:16
<As above, what other country celebrates an individual, especially an unelected one, as their national anthem ?>
Holland? Jordan? Sweden? Denmark? Norway? Saudi Arabia? Thailand? Tonga?
You're welcome ;-)
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Topic Originator: veteraneastender
Date: Thu 17 Sep 11:46
Obviously I'll need to brush up on my national anthems !!!
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Topic Originator: The One Who Knocks
Date: Thu 17 Sep 11:58
Looked up the lyrics for the Netherlands national anthem. Crikey, it's quite something.
And although my eyes were open
They just might as well be closed
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Topic Originator: Wotsit
Date: Thu 17 Sep 12:15
The Swedish anthem is about mountains and trees mainly. It does mention God once, but no mention of the monarch.
Same with the Danish one, except it mentions Freya rather than God and is a bit more fighty than Sweden's.
Not sure about the others but I'd not be in any hurry to emulate the political structures of Thailand, Saudi Arabia or Jordan.
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Topic Originator: BigJPar
Date: Thu 17 Sep 12:21
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Topic Originator: Luxembourg Par
Date: Thu 17 Sep 13:22
Denmark has two national anthems with equal status; "Der er et yndigt land," adopted 1844, is a national anthem, while "Kong Christian," adopted 1780, serves as both a national and royal anthem; "Kong Christian" is also known as "Kong Christian stod ved hojen mast" (King Christian Stood by the Lofty Mast) and "Kongesangen" (The King's Anthem);
"Sang till Norden" (Song of the North), is based on a Swedish folk tune; it has never been officially adopted by the government; "Kungssangen" (The King's Song) serves as the royal anthem
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Topic Originator: Luxembourg Par
Date: Thu 17 Sep 13:24
Yeah - the Dutch one was quite surprising...
William of Nassau (same house as Luxembourg Grand Duke) celebrates as a German descendant and pays homage to king of Spain?
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Topic Originator: veteraneastender
Date: Thu 17 Sep 13:45
Maybe some connection to the Spanish Netherlands ?
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Topic Originator: The One Who Knocks
Date: Fri 18 Sep 23:14
Revolutions never lighten the burden of tyranny. They only shift it to another shoulder.
And although my eyes were open
They just might as well be closed
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Topic Originator: The One Who Knocks
Date: Fri 18 Sep 23:51
You know I love a good quote Buspass. Especially when they ring true.
And although my eyes were open
They just might as well be closed
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Topic Originator: Buspasspar
Date: Fri 18 Sep 23:53
I salute you sir your quotation knowledge is unsurpassed
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Topic Originator: The One Who Knocks
Date: Sat 19 Sep 00:04
I wouldn't go that far Buspass.
Besides a fine quotation is a diamond in the hand of a man of wit and a pebble in the hand of a fool.
And although my eyes were open
They just might as well be closed
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Topic Originator: sammer
Date: Sat 19 Sep 00:26
The problem remains that if you are living under a tyranny then there is no way short of revolution to remove it.
Orwell famously reflected the dilemma in his fable Animal Farm but neither he nor I suspect GBS, had he lived longer, offered much in the way of advice for the animals. Were they wrong to make a revolution? Should they have accepted tyranny as their lot in life? Or maybe persuaded Farmer Jones to implement a liberal democracy?
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Topic Originator: sammer
Date: Sat 19 Sep 00:46
In fact Bernard Shaw died aged 94, a few years after the publication of Animal Farm and he was apparently sharp as a tack right till the end. I can’t find any comment by him on Orwell’s book. However Orwell did pass on the name of GBS to the security services as someone he considered unreliable.
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Topic Originator: The One Who Knocks
Date: Sat 19 Sep 00:58
Of course Orwell also wrote that 'one does not establish a dictatorship to safeguard a revolution; one makes a revolution to establish a dictatorship'.
I can't help by wonder if when, the great man pondered that thought, if he was thinking about the likes of Beria and Robespierre.
And although my eyes were open
They just might as well be closed
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Topic Originator: sammer
Date: Sat 19 Sep 01:24
I think that quote sounds like O’Brien from '1984.' Beria’s best work was done as a tough tackling wing half in his youth and he retained a genuine interest in football all his life. Beria is a good example of the tyranny which can follow the revolution in order to protect it from a reactionary backlash. The revolution was won by brave men and women a bit before Beria appeared on the horizon, a fair number of whom he helped to execute. Likewise O'Brien is a child of the revolution, not a revolutionary as such.
The nearest Orwell got to a revolution was the Civil War in Spain and that experience soured him for life since he ended up on the losing side. His opposition to authoritarian rule is well documented but he had no practical political advice worth the name, except that we should be decent to each other. How he squared this ideal with his secret blacklisting of colleagues to the security services is a matter for his conscience.
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Topic Originator: red-star-par
Date: Sat 19 Sep 09:29
Quote:
The One Who Knocks, Sat 19 Sep 00:04
I wouldn't go that far Buspass.
Besides a fine quotation is a diamond in the hand of a man of wit and a pebble in the hand of a fool.
Thanks for throwing that pebble into the conversation TOWK ;)
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Topic Originator: The One Who Knocks
Date: Sat 19 Sep 10:21
I'm glad you picked up my intention red star.
And although my eyes were open
They just might as well be closed
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