Should the British monarchy be abolished?

[Machtergreifung]

What, with heavy industry in the shit, the shipyards a shell of what they were and what military equipment the army does have is either American imported to old Cold War stuff.

The reason they are a shell is because we no longer need a huge navy to protect a far flung empire. We havent just stopped for the sake of it

Plus the fact we can't afford it.

The only reason Britian even has armed forces on the scale it does is because we like to delude ourselves into thinking we have the same world geo-political clout we used to.

The truth is we don't - a minor power with a poor military came within a whisker to resoundly beating Britain in the Falklands.

[Priory Academy USSR]

Wikipedia says no, although it turns out they were allied with various native American tribes.

National Ball size comparison time: We withstood the Blitz, you just had a military base bombed.

Your point being?

[The Godly Nations]

National Ball size comparison time: We withstood the Blitz, you just had a military base bombed.

Your point being?

That this one up-man-ship and testicle comparison is getting out of hand and ridiculous.

[Nova Imperius]

Wikipedia says no, although it turns out they were allied with various native American tribes.

National Ball size comparison time: We withstood the Blitz, you just had a military base bombed.

Yeah, wasnt it like 300,000 died in the blitz, they make a far FAR bigger deal over 9/11 were 4000 died. Both innocent populations

[Eylandia]

A few inaccuracies there. It's one squadron of 4 Eurofighters there, and 1500 troops in the garrison.

Ah, right. Thanks for correcting me. It's still a fair amount, though.

There is a slight issue with the defense, as proven by an incident in 1982. The RAF squadrons rely on runways which the Argentine air force is capable of reaching and bombing (which they did in 1982 with the original, more primitive, airfield). I do worry that without aircraft carriers for the moment how strong the defense really is, I'm not sure I trust a vulnerable air field.

That aside, I don't personally believe that a country's greatness is based on its military prowess. As a very crude example, China is considered a rival to the USA when its military is certain large but not capable of much outside its borders (arguably, its size is more due to internal politics than international affairs). Its greatness is based almost purely on its GDP growth figures.

That also aside, I don't want to see the royal family abolished. I think a stable head of government, independent of politics, is an important aspect of what makes Britain Britain, and I like that. What I dislike it the sycophancy that the general public fawns upon royals. The whole William & Kate baby thing is a good example of that, I'm happy that they are happy that they are having the baby (I emphase that they are happy with it as if it there was the slightest hint that they felt that they had to be pregnent out of 'duty' then I would be rather unhappy). What I dislike the the general public's obsession with it. The sycophancy is what needs to change for me, not the family itself.

[Priory Academy USSR]

The reason they are a shell is because we no longer need a huge navy to protect a far flung empire. We havent just stopped for the sake of it

Plus the fact we can't afford it.

The only reason Britian even has armed forces on the scale it does is because we like to delude ourselves into thinking we have the same world geo-political clout we used to.

The truth is we don't - a minor power with a poor military came within a whisker to resoundly beating Britain in the Falklands.

To be fair, the Falklands would have been a near impossiblity for any nation, given it's remoteness from everywhere. Our nearest base was at least 2000 miles away.

[Nova Imperius]

The reason they are a shell is because we no longer need a huge navy to protect a far flung empire. We havent just stopped for the sake of it

Plus the fact we can't afford it.

The only reason Britian even has armed forces on the scale it does is because we like to delude ourselves into thinking we have the same world geo-political clout we used to.

The truth is we don't - a minor power with a poor military came within a whisker to resoundly beating Britain in the Falklands.

Mmmm we won in the Falklands lol. Also may i remind you the falklands is like 10,000 miles away from us. Like 50 miles from argentina. It is a difficult war to manage. Anyway we are still a huge power, not the biggest but still big

[Eylandia]

Plus the fact we can't afford it.

The only reason Britian even has armed forces on the scale it does is because we like to delude ourselves into thinking we have the same world geo-political clout we used to.

The truth is we don't - a minor power with a poor military came within a whisker to resoundly beating Britain in the Falklands.

To be fair, the Falklands would have been a near impossiblity for any nation, given it's remoteness from everywhere. Our nearest base was at least 2000 miles away.

Military victory is not just a case of who has the biggest and best army, that's the important point here. All sorts of aspects come in to it, including Geography as was just mentioned. Britain still has a high class military, whether its size is small or not. Not that this is relevant at all, I really don't think it has much to with national greatness or the royal family for that matter.

[Priory Academy USSR]

Your point being?

That this one up-man-ship and testicle comparison is getting out of hand and ridiculous.

I was only stating that there was an example of the USA winning a war on it's own.

[Nova Imperius]

That this one up-man-ship and testicle comparison is getting out of hand and ridiculous.

I was only stating that there was an example of the USA winning a war on it's own.

Mmm not really tbh. Wars of independence you had france

[The Godly Nations]

That this one up-man-ship and testicle comparison is getting out of hand and ridiculous.

I was only stating that there was an example of the USA winning a war on it's own.

How's this related to the fact that we have a queen, and there is really no reason not to have one?

[Priory Academy USSR]

I was only stating that there was an example of the USA winning a war on it's own.

Mmm not really tbh. Wars of independence you had france

A-ha! I found one!

Just to note, I'm British.

[Nova Imperius]

Mmm not really tbh. Wars of independence you had france

A-ha! I found one!

Just to note, I'm British.

It was Mexico vs USA..... and the Californian republic

anyway back to subject

[Pesda]

No, it's not. Wales is on the island of Britain but Welsh people generally don't identify as British.

Welsh people are historically British- in fact, the term British use to refer to Welsh folks only, before it referred to everyone living on the British Isle, so, tough luck there, my Taffy friend.

It doesn't matter that Brythonic and British used to be the same. Nowdays we've got two thirds calling themselves Welsh, a 20-25% calling themselves English and very very few calling themselves British. And that doens't even matter- the British monarch is not Welsh tradition.

[Delvoir]

You just TRY it.

[Pesda]

Okay. It doesn't really matter though, does it?

It means that the whole basis for 'Celtic nation' has no genetic foundation.

So? When did I ever say otherwise?

[Nova Imperius]

Welsh people are historically British- in fact, the term British use to refer to Welsh folks only, before it referred to everyone living on the British Isle, so, tough luck there, my Taffy friend.

It doesn't matter that Brythonic and British used to be the same. Nowdays we've got two thirds calling themselves Welsh, a 20-25% calling themselves English and very very few calling themselves British. And that doens't even matter- the British monarch is not Welsh tradition.

two thirds of the british population do not call themselves welsh. You talk about welsh tradition..... 800 years ago. It has been tradition for the past 799 years

[Pesda]

Welsh people are historically British- in fact, the term British use to refer to Welsh folks only, before it referred to everyone living on the British Isle, so, tough luck there, my Taffy friend.

Incidentally, British sentiment in wales is very high.
At least in the south. (I.E, where 90% of the population is.)
The North Welsh are extremely "Welsh" and because of their nationalism and anti-britishness, essentially disown the south welsh.
Seeing as we have to somewhat admit that the north welsh are more traditionally welsh, we've had to carve our own identity.
Typically you'll see people identify as anglo-celtic, and insist that Britishness means anglo-celticism.
The fact that our "Nationalist" party has to fervently deny that they are seperatist every election, actively denounces the SNP, etc. is all evidence of this.
Plaid is basically a regional issues party, and an alternative to Labour seeing as Wales is a very strong Left-wing area, and we need two socialist parties in order to have a viable opposistion.

You couldn't be more wrong, my friend.
Britishness isn't common in Wales, even less common than Englishness. This is actually more true in the South than in the North!
The nationalist party doesn't deny wanting an independent Wales, and doesn't denounce the SNP. At all.

[Delvoir]

All I can think of when I'm reading this is:

Et tu, Wales?

[Nova Imperius]

Incidentally, British sentiment in wales is very high.
At least in the south. (I.E, where 90% of the population is.)
The North Welsh are extremely "Welsh" and because of their nationalism and anti-britishness, essentially disown the south welsh.
Seeing as we have to somewhat admit that the north welsh are more traditionally welsh, we've had to carve our own identity.
Typically you'll see people identify as anglo-celtic, and insist that Britishness means anglo-celticism.
The fact that our "Nationalist" party has to fervently deny that they are seperatist every election, actively denounces the SNP, etc. is all evidence of this.
Plaid is basically a regional issues party, and an alternative to Labour seeing as Wales is a very strong Left-wing area, and we need two socialist parties in order to have a viable opposistion.

You couldn't be more wrong, my friend.
Britishness isn't common in Wales, even less common than Englishness. This is actually more true in the South than in the North!
The nationalist party doesn't deny wanting an independent Wales, and doesn't denounce the SNP. At all.

Can you give us a link to prove this

[Pesda]

What we call the crown estate could be nationalised if we became a republic. And do you really think that tourists come to North Wales to see the queen? No, only London, and even then £44bn sounds like a suspiciously inflated number.

And should the queen vanish, people will suddenly stop coming to London, right?

Of course.

[Nova Imperius]

And should the queen vanish, people will suddenly stop coming to London, right?

Of course.

if the Royal family vanished we would lose a lot of our uniqueness

[Tyrants]

And should the queen vanish, people will suddenly stop coming to London, right?

Of course.

Well, who'd want to see an empty palace?

[Delvoir]

Tourists come to the UK to experience the national identity and heritage. That is not entirely the Crown, but a living, breathing, high-profile monarchy is one of the main characteristics of our national identity. People visit Versailles in France because of the glamour and tragedy surrounding it, any kind of 'United Republic' scenario would hopefully be a peaceful transition and we would lose some of our national identity.

[Grave_n_idle]

What we call the crown estate could be nationalised if we became a republic.

Maybe. The Crown Estate is complicated.

And do you really think that tourists come to North Wales to see the queen?

No. But then, North Wales gets like 9 tourists a year, so it doesn't really matter why they go there.

No, only London, and even then £44bn sounds like a suspiciously inflated number.

Skepticism is good. But if you want to ignore the numbers I've taken the time to source, you're realistically going to have to do more than just shake your head and say 'nuh uh!'.