Corbyn the republican

SteakAndCake

This thread really encapsulates everything wrong with British political commentary these days.  Everyone is obsessed with the personality and not the policy.

Bl4ckGryph0n

He can seemingly do with the practise

Bl4ckGryph0n

ROFLMAO You mean like free tuition for high earning former students? Gosh can you imagine his comments when the Tories came out with that one.

springtide

I'm not sure it's just about personality.  I don't think I've attacked Corbyn on that.

But I've certainly had a go at his character, which I see as different to personality. Associating with the IRA for instance, is a legitimate criticism and very different to the attacks on "the Maybot" and accusations she has no humanity.

springtide

I'd add more to that. A problem now is image more than reality. Spin has become so persuasive that people seem to reject doing any objective thinking for themselves.

E.g. tuition fees as alluded to by @dejongj

The image is that it deters poor students. The reality is that only those getting well paid jobs will have any significant repayments, so abolition primarily benefits those becoming rich.

Similarly for the "dementia tax" which is a classic case of spin over reality as this would have benefited poorer pensioners over richer ones.

It's a strange world when labour can successfully demonise the Tories over policies that benefit their own natural voter base.

Jezza99

Ha ha .. I wondered how long before this thread would merge into the other threads once the original post was debunked!

Rasczak

Hmmm. I suggest you read the original post again. It's not been debunked, it just doesn't say what you think it did.

Bl4ckGryph0n

Corbyn has done nothing wrong. I'm more interested why we still have a Queen that serves no useful purpose to this Island, and why for some unknown reason people are expected to bow to her like she is some greater being.

I suspect the Queen is planning on stepping down soon anyway; she is in her 90s and her husband hasn't been very well. I wish them both the very best and hope they say in good health for years to come.
I don't dislike them, but there is no need to bow to anyone in this age or sing about them in what is a very outdated and cringe-worthy national anthem.

Luckily I'm Welsh, so I can sing about rivers and mountains rather than fictional Gods.

springtide

Don't we all.

Bl4ckGryph0n

Ah, the protocols. You're right there are - and they are entrenched in our system to protect and permanently institutionalise the monarchy. The requirement for MPs to swear allegiance to the Queen for example (a measure which effectively means that some Northern Ireland constituencies are unrepresented in Parliament). Or the requirement for the privy council to (effectively) pay homage to the monarch. Or the restrictions on discussing a republic in Parliament. Even the national anthem is less about the nation and more about the monarch - but, as we have seen, it is most unwise not to sing it! All are measures to ensure that we remain a monarchy first, democracy second.

I hope the country might review the sense in retaining a monarchy after the death of Queen Elizabeth but I suspect Britain (or rather England) is far too conservative to ever be able to change.