Burnley game

[Badger 2,406]

On 11/09/2022 at 08:56, GJL Mid-Norfolk Canary said:

The PM and by association the MPs to which you refer are at least elected by the people of Great Britain

The royal family however isnt and is purely there by chance of birth

So I'm not sure why anything in this country should be conducted on the say so of the royals.

 

I don't disagree with you - I am just very concerned about giving the prerogative powers to politicians without constitutional safeguards. 

The royal prerogative dates back to well before Britain was a democracy, but they are still in existence - the obvious one for example is the right to call and close Parliament but there are also huge powers of patronage and appointment. Simply transferring these "undemocratic powers" to elected leaders is fraught with the dangers of abuse.

For example the PM with majority support from the Commons would have the power to extend the life of a particular Parliament from say 6 years to 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 or whatever they wanted. They could dismiss all the judges and put their own place(wo)men in etc. Because we don't have a written constitution the there is no limit these powers as there is in nearly every other country.

This is not an argument against abolition of the monarchy but it would have to part of a wider constitutional settlement - you couldn't safely just abolish the monarchy and just carry on.

[dylanisabaddog 4,931]

14 minutes ago, Badger said:

I don't disagree with you - I am just very concerned about giving the prerogative powers to politicians without constitutional safeguards. 

The royal prerogative dates back to well before Britain was a democracy, but they are still in existence - the obvious one for example is the right to call and close Parliament but there are also huge powers of patronage and appointment. Simply transferring these "undemocratic powers" to elected leaders is fraught with the dangers of abuse.

For example the PM with majority support from the Commons would have the power to extend the life of a particular Parliament from say 6 years to 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 or whatever they wanted. They could dismiss all the judges and put their own place(wo)men in etc. Because we don't have a written constitution the there is no limit these powers as there is in nearly every other country.

This is not an argument against abolition of the monarchy but it would have to part of a wider constitutional settlement - you couldn't safely just abolish the monarchy and just carry on.

That sounds terrifying but overlooks the fact that the vast majority of the world's population survives quite happily without a monarchy. Germany and France seem to be doing rather well without theirs. 

The simple fact is that they're totally unnecessary and it could be said they cause problems by giving us delusions of grandeur. There are actually people out there who really believe that this country is great purely because we have a Royal family. It definitely could be great but let's face it, it isn't. 

[Badger 2,406]

3 hours ago, dylanisabaddog said:

That sounds terrifying but overlooks the fact that the vast majority of the world's population survives quite happily without a monarchy. Germany and France seem to be doing rather well without theirs. 

The simple fact is that they're totally unnecessary and it could be said they cause problems by giving us delusions of grandeur. There are actually people out there who really believe that this country is great purely because we have a Royal family. It definitely could be great but let's face it, it isn't. 

Of course they survive quite happily without a monarch - so could we. However, to repeat myself it would require a "constitutional settlement:" you couldn't just abolish the monarchy without deciding what to do with the prerogative powers which originate in a pre-democratic age. Other countries that have no monarchs have ways of avoiding the dangers of this - e.g. in the US and other countries they have a much more rigid separation of powers, federalism  + a written constitution. 

[Pyro Pete 1,897]

Burnley game rescheduled for Tuesday 25 October.

 

[Mason 47 1,382]

6 hours ago, Pyro Pete said:

Burnley game rescheduled for Tuesday 25 October.

 

Away to Watford, Sheffield Utd and Burnley in the space of 10 days (with a home game v Luton chucked in for good measure). Arguably the 3 toughest away trips on paper?

Surprised more people aren't jumping overboard about this. Ho hum. I suppose we will really see what this squad is made of