Thursday 10 December 2009

THE PEOPLE HAVE SPOKEN: A REPUBLIC IT IS


First of all, I’d like to thank everyone who took part in the poll on the head of state for an independent Scotland.

It was an interesting result. Let’s be honest though, we’re not causing Yougov any sleepless nights here. With a sample of 43 on a blog with the word “republic” in its title we’re not going to change the world and I haven’t had the Palace of Holyrood House or Bute House on the phone.... yet!

So, here’s the way our 43 readers voted.....:

Republic the non executive President 30 (69%);
Republic with an executive President 3 (6%);
Monarchy with Elizabeth I as head of state 4 (9%);
Monarchy with another member of the House of Windsor as King/Queen 2 (4%);
Monarchy with invited King/Queen from another royal house 4 (9%).

There were 33 votes (75%) for a republic, and 10 votes (22%) for a monarchy. (Yes, I know, these things never add up properly; that’s only 97 %. It’s the rounding up/down.)

Was I surprised? No. Not much. I think I expected a few fewer votes for the Republic, and a few more for Elizabeth, but the percentages are not far off what I expected. Now, should this feeling be mirrored over the country, I wonder how we would elect, or appoint our President?

Given that (s)he is, according to our poll, to be non-executive and therefore more of an ambassador for our country on state visits, and as a host to other leaders in Edinburgh, does anyone have any ideas about who he or she might be?

Thanks again for taking part.




23 comments:

  1. Great results, all I can say is "vive la republique".

    I suppose you are right in that we probably would have got a more unbiased result if the word "republic" had not been included in the name of the blog.

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  2. Yes. I thought you'd be pleased Munguin. I'm impressed with the French... in the subjunctive mood too! You're not just un joli visage!

    Of course the whole thing is a bit biased given that that the readership is limited, but it is so overwhelmingly in support of a republic that I too am cheered.

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  3. Scunnert:

    It's an exciting prospect. I don't know how it is reflected in the overall population in reality. I suspect that whatever it is at the moment it will change when Her Majesty dies and is replaced by Charles.

    What's the situation in Canada?

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  4. My choices in no particular order:

    Mandelson,
    Jimmy Crankie
    Iain Gray,
    Lulu,
    The one on the left of the Alexander Brothers
    or the one on the right.
    Calum Kennedy - oh no, he got shot in '63
    Walter McCorrisken
    Vladimir Romanov
    Andy Goram
    The "big" barmaid in the "Kirky Puffer"
    Grahamski.....

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  5. I was hoping that I'd be included in your list Brownlie. I'm just a wee bit disappointed here.

    Is Grahamski still with us...?

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  6. tris,

    The last time a fluent French speaker tried to be King look what happened....

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  7. Chuckle,

    it was all good fun. But I did enjoy [and voted for] the option for Scotland to invite a royal across from outith the house of Windsor....anyone feel like restoring the house of Stuart?

    I am a 'Tory' remember, so it should be a surprise that I'd like to see the head of the house of Stuart restored, currently residing in the most regal person of HM Duke in Bavaria Francis [II acording to legitimist succession numeracy].

    Any takers or are you all such republicans [democracy, *huff] lol

    Deanthetory
    new-right

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  8. Danny, 1st Earl of the OzarksDecember 10, 2009 4:06 pm

    Petula Clark, CBE

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  9. Dean: happy to have Francis Stuart lol but if he wants to be head of the Scottish State, as far as I am concerned he will have to come over once the republic has been established and be elected, nothing will preclude royals from doing something that has so far been anathema to them i.e. a popular vote. No Danger of Charles Wales then!!

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  10. Brownlie:

    Aye, that's right Brownlie. Mind you the current Queen is a fluent French speaker too. (She is after all Queen of Quebec too.

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  11. Dean...

    I've got a wee bit of a problem with the Stuarts. They seem to have a dreadful habit of disappearing just when you need them. Some of them are careless with their heads, some push off to London never to return, or they pop off to France and live in luxury, then they try a comeback and fail, leaving their supporters to carry the not inconsiderable can.

    Apart from that, they are fine LOL.

    You ever think of standing for it yourself. A Tory President with what would pretty inevitably be a Labour cabinet.... might be interesting. :¬)

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  12. HA HA Danny.

    Now that would make for a very musical Presidential address. Actually Petula did describe Scotland as a blessed place and said that the islands were one of her favourtie places in the world... not bad for someone who has travelled the world over.

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  13. Tris that would be extremely interesting! Naturally under those circumstances I'd demand that the president would be executive [can't leave power in the hands of a Labour cabinet now could we?]

    Munguin, Indeed nothing to prevent it happening. Look at the Tzar of Bulgaria, Simon- he returned in 1990 and subsequently was elected Prime Minister! It is doable...

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  14. Avanti o popolo, alla riscossa
    Bandiera saltire, bandiera saltire
    Avanti o popolo, alla riscossa
    Bandiera saltire trionferà.

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  15. Oh... see all you learned people what kens foreign... I'm impressed Conan, although I don't understand "riscossa! or "trionfera".

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  16. Lord love us, Dean, you're right there about letting anyone from Labour anywhere near the corridors of power.

    I recommend FMQs on the ipalyer for a good laugh at Iain Gray and the briefing for his FMQs for last week, which were found in Costa Coffee, and which he apparently followed "word for word". Mr Salmond made him look even more idiotic than usual! Your wifie was pretty good, as usual.

    Labour got an earful from Salmond, Goldie and Scott. I bet sometimes Gray wishes he'd stayed in Africa.

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  17. Are we talking about Bonnie Prince Charlie being that fluent French speaker wanting to be King in 1745? Is it not the case that he was only proclaimed Regent as his father was still alive and he (the father) would have been James III had it suceeded.

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  18. Aye Munguin, he came to unhappy ending. He went "over the sea to Skye" dressed as a woman, and from there to France and thence Italy if my memory serves, where he turned to drink...

    The more I read of history, the more I wonder. People talk of "our proud hisotry" but I see an awful lot of it with little to be proud of.

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  19. Heh tris, issa rescue anda triumph.
    It was a wee song I first heard sung by a diseparate band of left wingers, who managed to stop hating each other enough to unite against Thatchers dictatorship in the eighties.
    Until the third pint, that is;¬)

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  20. He he Conan... it's the results of a mispent? youth then huh...

    Nothing better....

    Merci pour la traduction

    Left wingers are always disperate Conan. Organising them is hard because they really believe what they are saying, but theya re all slightly different, not to mention difficult. Getting them to unite, even behind something as obnoxious as Mrs T is a seriously hard job (and the forth pint is always risky!. As my American friend Danny is wont to say of the Democrats... it's like trying to herd cats....

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  21. Danny, 1st Earl of the OzarksDecember 12, 2009 12:04 pm

    Poor Bonnie Prince Charlie...too much drink...too many mistresses. And he had cut such a dashing figure back in 1745-46. But the Church certainly gave him a great sendoff. He was buried by his father, The old Pretender, along with his brother in the crypt of St. Peter's. There is a "Monument to the Royal Stuarts," also in the Basilica. Looks like a cool monument to the last of the Stuarts and, by inference, the Jacobites.

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  22. I suppose that these people are born to do one job and one job only. If they fail for whatever reason, there is nothing else to do...

    Drink and sex is a reasonable way to pass the time, but it catches up with you... (or so I've heard!)

    I believe Danny, that the Pope granted him in death what he witheld from him in life.

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