Sunday 17 January 2016

US AND THEM: ALL IN IT TOGETHER

31 comments:

  1. That's the best thing I've ever heard (read) , Paul O'Grady say.

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    1. I agree. I've only ever once seen his show (when Petula was on it) adn I thought it was ghastly, so I'm not a fan, but that struck me when I read it, and I thought it was worth sharing.

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  2. Someone should tell the PM that just because Putin takes his shirt off, doesn't mean that every national leader should. The PM just doesn't have the body for it.

    I was flabbergasted at that picture of the Queen and PM. I couldn't figure out that really awful room they are in. From the dowdy outfit she is wearing, to the ugly carpet, to the equally ugly print fabric on the upholstered easy chairs (from the 1930's), to the bare electric cords hanging down the walls. Finally, the space heater (maybe costing $39.95 at WalMart)sitting in a fireplace that's not used anymore.

    What on earth is going on? Then I spotted the tartan design in her skirt and in that ugly colored carpet, and all came clear. She's at Balmoral, which hasn't been redecorated in living memory and has no central heating.

    Balmoral is a freekin embarrassment. Royalty should not have to live like this. Of course since Balmoral is privately owned, the remodeling and redecorating work would come out of the royal purse. ;-))

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    1. Yes, I could agree with all that Danny. Cameron should keep all his clothes on at all times!

      It looks like some sort of junk room in the attics. Clearly the Saxe-Coburgs have no taste.

      I think the world might change if royalty had to live like some of the other pictures illustrate. As you say, the upkeep of Balmoral is largely down to her, and she's notoriously parsimonious.

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  3. PS: She's making a fool of herself carrying that black purse all the time. Someone should have a word with her. As for the other pictures, she does has a nice (if slightly showy) horse drawn conveyance and sparkly hat.

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    1. As my granny would say, she has the taste of an onion!

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    2. Tris, funny my Mum was much the same about both of them the Queen and her Mother. Nae taste, aww in the mooth. Looking at the hoose, mine is better, funny how little the rich spend on themselves. Will live in the most depressing fashion.

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    3. Far be it from me to make too much of that really awful room where Her Britannic Majesty receives visitors at Balmoral, but GEEEZE! I just noticed that the carpet in front of the fireplace is either scorched or dirty. The coat of arms of England or Scotland or Saxe-Coburg or whatever is actually brown at the bottom.

      As for carpets, every new President of the United States....non-royal non-noble citizen of the republic that he is.....gets to redecorate the White House when he takes office. In particular, he specifies the colors of the new carpet in the Oval Office of the White House which always incorporates the Great Seal of the United States......no part of which turns brown anywhere. (Presidents don't get gold coaches though, so maybe it sort of evens out.)

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    4. This is a private house, Danny.

      Unlike Holyrood or her English palaces, this one is down to her. Central heating, maybe, but it costs HER money; Revolting looking rugs... hers, not ours, so I dare say she will use them till they fall to pieces.

      I bet when she dies Charlie will want a grant from the government to modernise the place, or at least Mrs Parker Bowles will.

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    5. And I must admit that if the cost of the White House redecorating were the personal responsibility of the President, then the Oval Office carpet with the Great Seal of the United States would probably get as dirty and tattered as the one in Balmoral.

      Yes, I suspect that Charlie will figure that a plea for a government grant for central heating might be something that he could sell politically. BTW, it just occurs to me that we never hear Mrs. Parker Bowles' given name. So maybe she will take the title "Queen Mrs. Parker Bowles." Has a ring to it!....LOL.

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    6. I always call her Mrs Parker Bowles, becasue that's the way that she was presented to us over the years when she and Charlie were having a very open affair behind Diana's back in the full glare of the newspapers.

      According to the rules of the Church of England, of which the bold boy is one day going to be the head, you cannot marry a person who has a spouse living. Mr Parker Bowles is still ,living.

      I don't believe in all that, but as the head of the church, Charlie's mother HAS to believe in it, and when he gets the job HE too will HAVE to believe in it.

      Charlie and Parker Bowles were married in a registry office in Windsor, because their church couldn't marry them.

      But, in a display of incredible hypocrisy, they then had the Archbishop of Canterbury summoned to bless the marriage. How you can bless a marriage that steps outside what your church believes is beyond my comprehension. But he did!

      So, even in the 21st century, everything is possible for the royals, including changing the word of god.

      Of course they are properly married under state law, but despite the blessing from Canterbury, according to their church they are not married in the eyes of God. That is of little importance to most people, but if you are going to be the head of that church.... well!

      There is a question over whether the Archbishop of Canterbury will be able to crown Mrs Parker Bowles queen... with her not being officially, churchwise, married to Charlie.

      That should be fun, although I suspect it will be made to happen, because Charlie likes to get his own way adn god can be easily silenced if it is for the state's good.

      Incidentally she is officially known as the Duchess of Cornwall in England and as the Duchess of Rothsay in Scotland. Another piece of flummery as she is the princess of Wales, because she is married to the prince of Wales.

      They thought, as Diana was still very popular, that it would be inappropriate for her to be known by that name.

      She is also, by tradition, officially known as princess Charles. Because she's not of royal birth she cannot be princess Camilla.

      Did you ever hear anything so daft in all your life?

      And this is how they run this country.



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    7. Daft indeed! But it follows logically and legally in a country with Parliamentary sovereignty. The royals have some rule of law or custom that they find inconvenient? No problem! Parliament meets, passes a new law about it, and all is well. They just make it up as they go along. An actual Constitution would be SO inconvenient. ;-)

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    8. No no... Britain is far too important to have a constitution. Great British values will always carry them through.

      Bunch of silly arses. Let get rid of them.



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  4. Is there a pig's head in the top photo? Surely Queenie should have dressed up for their "Blind date"?

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    1. I think this is him on his holidays; probably in Spain (you know, when he got on the plane for show along with all the other plebs that got a Ryanair flight for £17.50 +++) So he may have had to make do with eel or something.

      That IS her dressed up.

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  5. The unfortunate truth in this obscene inequality is that there are those among us who accept that this is how it should be. Brainwashed by period dramas, the media and literature reminding everyone of their place in the scheme of things,remember the gentry used to be referred to as " the quality ". Just what did that make the rest of us.
    Don't get me wrong, I am not against anyone doing well, and there will always those who do better than others, even the bible quotes Jesus as saying " the poor will always be with us", but society is judged by how it treats its poor, the old, disabled and sick.
    The UK report card is a resounding fail.

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    1. It's quite amazing that people still "know their place" in the 21st century. And very depressing too.

      Of course there will always be poor. If you redistributed wealth all over the UK tomorrow, and everyone was given the same, then in 5 years time we would all be back more or less where we started.

      But it is the way we treat the old, sick and disabled,... and of course the children, that really sickens me about the UK.

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  6. What a sinister photo of Liz there Tris...

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    1. Well, she's a sinister old woman, Conan.

      These Saxe Coburgs have a way of looking all sweet and sugary when they get old, but it's all an illusion.

      The Queen Mother was in fact a bigoted self centred old drunk, whilst appearing to be everyone's favourite granny.

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  7. Tris

    Cameron, Labour, Liberal, SNP etc all know it's going on, the voters know it;s going on, the world knows it's going on. The rich are getting increasingly richer and the poor poorer, tax havens are encouraged to the extent they close one down and then point people in the direction of the next 3 and to be honest we are hugely to blame.

    We are to blame because we continue to vote for parties and politicians that do nothing about it and those that say they will only tinker around the edges while achieving very little overall. The simple fact is that slavery has not been ended anywhere it's just done differently now. I am becoming so disheartened now with all of it as there is just no will to change, it's all so sad. The referendum was an opportunity to try and do something different, but we bottled it, we voted for more poverty and more of the same. I was listening to Steven Kinnock this morning banging on about what the government should be doing to protect steel jobs in Wales and was just thnking that his father and his party had years to make a difference and chose to support the status quo so I don;t want to hear anything he or any of them have to say anymore.

    What a sad world we live in when you realise that no matter how much you shout, how much you scream, no one in any place of influence is interested, they don't care and we don't care enough to make them because at the end of the day of the day the things we can do is to vote and vote for someting different and we don't. Cameron etc are just doing what they have always done because they get away with it and I don't know how we wake people up to get them to take the first step towards political awareness, and with that a realisation of the little tiny bit of power they have with their vote and the change they could make.

    Sorry for being so glum but on the morning we learn that less than 1% of the world's people have more money than the 99% of the rest you just shake your head and wonder what will it take, what will get people off their arse in this country.

    Bruce

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    1. I have no idea why anyone takes the idiot Kinnock seriously.

      Someone who needs a coffee frother in his office (and believes that WE should pay for it) is beyond help, but then the Hon Steven, with two lords for parents is probably used to that kind of luxury. Just a pity he's not used to paying for it.

      But yes, they are all at that, including the SNP and Angus's all singing, all dancing telly.

      Shame on them.

      I don't know what we can do to change this sense of entitlement.

      You should read Mark Frankland's book. I think you'll enjoy it.

      http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mere-Anarchy-Mark-Frankland-ebook/dp/B009WAGAJ4

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    2. Bruce when you find something which will make people livid enough to get off the lardie erses, let me know. Every other country has had at least one revolution, lost at least one war and got rid of feudalism. Watching the programme on the Tsars and how they bilked at reforming the lives of most of the population, they have had so many revolutions in France that I have stopped counting, but the same thing started theirs. We are no in the same stage, the rich will not pay their share of tax, the poor are really hurting, but sadly Bruce it takes the Middle Class, and I do not mean those who think they are, the real middle class, the Lawyers, Judges, Doctors etc, those that presently are having no difficulties with the Establishment. Once they find their standard of living going down then you will see ructions. Oh they do not mind using the poor then as the foot soldiers but the likes of Robespierre and Lenin, well they are in charge.

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    3. It's one of the things the UK government takes advantage of. Brits can;t be bothered to kick off.

      Roll out Saxe Coberg's 90th birthday. Get the peasants to clean teh streets for her; spend a fortune on garden parties and tra la la, and they'll be happy smiling good peasants.

      They must be putting something in the water.

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    4. Well Tris they better be either putting a good malt whisky or a decent vodka or gin in the water around here because that is about the only way there will be smiling.
      I was wondering yesterday at the amount of gardening being done in Andrew Carnegie's Glen here in Dunfermline. Trees removed/replaced/sorted, new beds dug and old ones renewed, never seen this in my 12 years here, then I remembered a certain women's birthday and thought just maybe this is for that?

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    5. The laugh is they have a campaign to get us to clean up the place for her...for free.

      Aye....

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  8. Power corrupts unfortunately. Not everyone succumbs but those that do seem to rise to the top, and then want to stay there (ie Broon).

    Holyrood and Westminster need to get rid of all the subsidised bars and restaurants. Claims for meals should be in line with the rest of the civil service. That should free up a sizeable chunk of money which can be put to better use.

    Downsize the Royal family.

    An elected second chamber. No more hereditary titles.

    Hammer those responsible for fraud.

    Make politicians responsible for projects which go tits up.

    Political parties only allowed fees from their membership. No donations. A fixed amount of public money for campaigning during elections.

    I'm sure we can think of more.

    zog

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    1. Yes many.

      Don't disagree with any of them.

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    2. Zog

      You seem like a good boy so I refer you to this for enlightenment

      https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1848/communist-manifesto/


      A spectre is haunting Europe — the spectre of communism.

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    3. Doesn't feel like it from where we are sitting with the right wing extremists in London and their latest fascist policies.

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    4. Communism is as bad as far-right politics. Corbyn is basically a communist, and those regimes are as prone to corruption as anywhere else.

      My view is that the safest political ground is slightly left of centre. Hard left policies simply want to tax the hell out of the rich, leaving no incentive for business creation, and far right policies screw the vulnerable. That's why I am cynical about our current crop of political parties.

      zog

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    5. I don't like extremes either.

      You have to have private enterprise. (I saw Albania under Ramiz Alia: it was interesting but I'd not like to have liven in it for long.)

      It just shouldn't be allowed to get away with what this lot are letting it get away with... and some essentials should always be state owned, in my opinion.

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