[Discussion] European Politics Discussion

European Politics discussion

This isn't Politics per se, but is likely to have a large impact on UK Politics if the worst is to Happen, but I don't think her Majesty Queen Elizabeth is very well.

There's a tone to the reporting of this in the UK that is...... ominous.

Edit: It must be serious, the BBC have suspended regular programming and gone straight to News Special broadcast.

Truss is PM for all of five minutes and suddenly the queen's knocking on death's door.

Say what you like about Boris, he didn't murder the Queen though.

Jonman wrote:

Say what you like about Boris, he didn't murder the Queen though.

Oh I reckon her having to deal with him and Truss on the same day was probably what’s pushed her to the edge.

Sorbicol wrote:

It must be serious, the BBC have suspended regular programming and gone straight to News Special broadcast.

The entire Royal Family, including Harry and Meghan, are flying out to see her.

Given that the family is flying in, I think there's some liberty being taken with the physician's statement of being, "concerned with her health."

The notice that the PM will get when she dies is, "London Bridge is down."

Sorbicol wrote:
Jonman wrote:

Say what you like about Boris, he didn't murder the Queen though.

Oh I reckon her having to deal with him and Truss on the same day was probably what’s pushed her to the edge.

I challenge anybody to not drop dead from trying to hold in all the laughter at seeing Bojo and the Cheese Lady in the same room.

What are the chances that some of the Commonwealth countries tell King Charles to pound sand?

Well, isn't this interesting timing:

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/dDLY56N.png)

Any way he can end like Charles I?

Paleocon wrote:

Any way he can end like Charles I?

Can it wait until after Andrew's remanded into US custody?

Sort of appropriate:

Kind of hoped we'd skip to William somehow but them's the rules.

BBC America kind of sort of hinting to people to change the channel for the news. I am somehow reminded that on the day of Michael Jackson's death, MTV was airing Revenge of the Sith.

Good long life and complex. The royals are not great people really but she manages to have a pretty untarnished image.

farley3k wrote:

Good long life and complex. The royals are not great people really but she manages to have a pretty untarnished image.

I had a lot of time for her. She dedicated herself to an all encompassing life she didn’t really have any choice in and tried to do good.

Higgledy wrote:
farley3k wrote:

Good long life and complex. The royals are not great people really but she manages to have a pretty untarnished image.

I had a lot of time for her. She dedicated herself to an all encompassing life she didn’t really have any choice in and tried to do good.

Yeah, I had no real problems with her as a person, but as a symbol of British Imperialism, I sort of hoped she would have found a way to end the institution graciously. Now it is going to be the Charles and Camila sh*t show.

Watching some of the video of the announcement, and all I can think, due to my profession, is even though they've probably been practicing for this for 20 or 30 years, the terror I would feel about making excruciatingly sure we got every word of the announcement right.

Anyway, here's how BBC Radio 1 Dance... uh... "handled" the announcement.

EDIT: Also, I know they had to, but this is inadvertently hilarious.

It's going to be a long couple of days here in the UK.

It would be very easy to say something trite, and despite her occasional missteps and blind loyalty to her offspring, Queen Elizabeth II was someone who dedicated her life to the Country she - nominally - led, but also quite clearly loved. To preside over a decline of the British empire, live through the greatest threat to democracy the world has even seen, and everything that has followed after is something I think a lot of people would have recoiled from, and yet she managed to do so for the whole of her very long life.

While I'm no ardent supporter of the Monarchy as an institution, I do think it's much better than the alternative for the UK. A Presidential system would be an unmitigated disaster as I know those in power would seek something akin to the US or French system, rather than a figurehead such as in Germany.

She's going to be a loss to this Country, and I will certainly mourn her passing in a way I most definitely didn't for Princess Diana. All that said though I expect the role of the Monarchy in British life to be considerably diminished over the next couple of years as her descendants are mostly a bunch of complete knobheads.

iaintgotnopants wrote:

What are the chances that some of the Commonwealth countries tell King Charles to pound sand?

I wish Australia votes on a referendum for a republic sooner rather than later.

Our latest governor-general (paid about $450,000 anually plus he gets a house, full compliment of staff and allowances) rubber stamped secret ministerial appointments to our former prime minister...and word on the street was that the same governor-general had strongly lobbied for a $18 million grant to a "not-for-profit" with no staff, no premises and no background...to promote white leaders of tomorrow. The saving grace in the whole debacle is that the newly elected government conducted a waste audit and decided to scrap the $18 million grant.

It'd be hysterical if the king starts heavily endorsing green energy policies and suddenly everyone wants to leave/abolish the monarchy.

Rat Boy wrote:

It'd be hysterical if the king starts heavily endorsing green energy policies and suddenly everyone wants to leave/abolish the monarchy.

I want Charlie-boy to start out on a weeks long pro-Europe rant and watch all the red faced Brexiteer's heads explode.

Jonman wrote:

Charlie-boy

I was going to call him Trip, seeing how he became king on Star Trek Day.

Also, this story about the queen has been making the rounds today and it'd be absolutely hysterical if this is the first time the hikers involved found out.

I have seen a few posts here declare their admiration for the Queen in how she comported herself and how she took on the role she had no choice in taking. Technically, she could have refused to be Queen when her father, King George VI died, but instead she took on the mantle of being the head of state of not only the UK but many other former territories of the British Empire at the age of 27, which was quite an undertaking.

Whenever I think of the Queen I recall a time in my early childhood when my attention was drawn to her presence and importance to British life during the 1977 Silver Jubilee. There were street parties and celebrations across the country and I remember delving into the land of cos-playing by dressing up as a dalek at the young age of 6. I even won a prize for it in the form of a model silver coloured double decker bus, which oddly enough I still own to this day.

Fast forward a few years and I found myself joining the cub scouts and saluting the Union Jack flag, only to leave the organisation a couple of years later as even at that young age I felt uncomfortable at the servitude one had to display towards this family of Germans. I'm not kidding, even at the age of 9 I was decidedly politically aware.

So while I'm no supporter of the concept of a monarchy, be it symbolic or otherwise, I cannot help but recognise the steady hand of continuity the Queen established in the face of overwhelming societal change. I for one will miss that more than anything.

My Brit friend tells me he generally loves Pie, but says that this one is just too spot on to laugh about.

Sweden election: Gang shootings cast shadow over vote

A sharp rise in gun violence and gang crime has become a leading issue in what Sweden's media have described as one of the ugliest election campaigns in history.

"Right at this spot here we had a shooting about this time last year," says Martin Gunér, a police officer in the suburb of Gottsunda, just a 15-minute drive from the medieval spires of the university city of Uppsala.

Gottsunda is notorious for drugs and gun battles, and classified by police as one of the 10 most vulnerable areas in Sweden.

But despite Sweden's right-wing media labelling it a "no-go zone", parents here cycle toddlers home from preschool while middle-class families at the local shopping centre pile groceries into electric cars and bicycle baskets.

Some high-profile arrests in the area have helped calm the violence in recent months. But, according to a 2021 report by the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention, gun crime across Sweden is increasing at a faster rate than anywhere else in Europe.

So far this year, 47 people have died from shootings in the country - more than for the whole of 2021.

"At first they'd shoot just to injure and make people afraid, but now they're shooting to kill," Mr Gunér says.

Prederick wrote:

Sweden election: Gang shootings cast shadow over vote

So far this year, 47 people have died from shootings in the country - more than for the whole of 2021.

America hit 47 gun deaths in 2021 about 8:30 AM on January 1st...