Who cares what she has to say, just a non-entity. I did have a chuckle at how far we had fallen when I heard the radio this morning and tey had Justin Greenin on saying she was being kept appraised of national security matters, I just thought we really are screwed.
I just typed a huge reply Niko, and it disappeared into teh bowels of Blogger.
No smile here.
Corbyn has my support. He is Labour. Not that crowd of hard right back stabbing Tory lite bastards that follow Blair and Brown and Darling and that creep Benn.
Since day 1 these people plotted against him and then they complain he's not a good leader. How many of them would make leaders with a load of potential Lords waiting to stab them in the back for fear that they wont get their dead ferret collars.
No, I'm not smiling about it.
I want out of the UK because it is the most right wing country in Western Europe. Scotland would not be. i don;t want to live in a country like this. If we can;t get out then at least a Labour government would be a break on some of the maddest nuttery of the Tories. But not a Blairite Labour government. They are as bad as the Tories.
And look at the pathetic bunch of plotters. McDonnell was right about them. They ARE F'ing useless. And the best they can come up with is that inarticulate muppet Eagle, who busts into tears.
What the hell kind of prime minister would she make?
So if you think that that article makes me smile, it bloody well doesn't.
She's a numpty of the highest order, we are not all paedos, rapists, murderers or thugs. That is some men, not all men; we should not be labelled because of our gender, no human should be.
David Cameron demanded that his closest aides receive boosted redundancy pay in one of his last acts as prime minister, overruling Whitehall guidance.
On his last day in office, the outgoing prime minister handed his advisers six months of pay instead of the four and a half months stated in their contracts, taking the total bill for their departure to £1m.
John Manzoni, the head of the civil service, had written to Downing Street this week stating: “I do not believe that there is a case for awarding higher sums than those for which the contract allows.”
That should be illegal. If a company wants to do that with shareholders' money then that's up to shareholders.
They are handing out OUR money to these people.
it shouldn't be allowed. I'd not be surprised if at least some of them are rewarded again in his leaving honours list. Another thing which should stop NOW.
Considering that female nannies/au pairs are seen as fair game by some male employers, just who on earth will keep the husbands occupied if more males go into the profession?
Very slightly tongue-in-cheek..but speaking from experience!
Ah Mogabee. I'm not sure if your personal experience was as a nanny, a wife or one of the hand wandering husbands...
I'd venture to suggest that if you are one of the first two, a knee in a strategically place (with force) between the legs tends to dampen any sexual ardour.
If you're the tempted husband, I recommend a cold shower.
Sitting in the airport in Toronto, homeward bound, and I hear Theresa has worked a blinder. Davis, BoJo, Leadsom, Fox all in positions directly affecting Brexit negotiations...they then can explain why things aren't going to work out as Brexiteers promised.
Leadsom can explain to farmers why the subsidies are gone. Fox can explain why trade negotiations will take years, not months. BoJo can explain why our global reach has declined, and we have less; as opposed to more; influence. Davis can explain to the voters why Brexit has led to staying in the single market (with freedom of movement remaining in place)...why 'taking power back' over 'borders' was always an empty lie.
Theresa can leave them to sink as she coordinates the real Brexit negotiations in conjunction with the devolved administrations. Theresa has brilliantly decapitated the Tory far right; best thing is: they don't even realise it yet.
I always thought that Tories in Britain were somewhat less crazy in their public utterances than their political cousins the Republicans in America. But a blatantly sexist statement like this by an American cabinet secretary would cause screaming headlines, and probably immediate dismissal. What on earth has happened to the Tories?
This is exactly the tactic recently used by American Republicans in their opposition to some state laws requiring transgender public restrooms. This Republican position is for the purpose of pandering to their voter base of religious fanatics and assorted right wing nut cases who hate gay people. The argument is that their opposition to transgender restrooms is for the purpose of protecting children from pedophiles. The unspoken implication being that transgender people (and by extension the LGBT community generally) are sexual predators.
My view was that the sexual predator argument effectively attacking the entire LGBT community exhibited a depth of Republican political depravity that could not be equaled. But now, Ms. Leadsom has come along with the very same argument to attack.....wait for it......the MALE GENDER! WOW!!!!!
The American Republican party went off the rails and became a political madhouse when an African-American was elected president. So has Brexit now done the same thing to the Tories?
Come off it! We've got our second female PM, one who supports gay rights, and aims to reform the laws to enhance trans rights. Does that sound like a case of the GOP to you?
Please pay attention, the three G's don't tilt our party windmills (God, Guns, Gays).
And in Scotland we're led by a pro-EU, kickboxing, working class lesbian. Does that sound GOP to you?
Please Danny, you're too intelligent to have seriously meant your comment.
Hi Dean. Frankly, you seem to have missed my point, so let's go back over this slowly and carefully.
Ms. Leadsom is reported to have said that it would not be sensible to appoint a MAN to look after young children due to the possibility that he might be a pedophile.
American Republicans on the other hand are opposing transgender restrooms because they say LGBT people are a danger to children using those restrooms since LGBT people tend to be pedophiles.
Now both of these ideas are bat s*** crazy. The difference is which group of people is actually being demonized in the process. On the American Republican side, it's the LGBT community that they hate. On the Tory side, it's apparently the entire MALE GENDER that Ms. Leadsom hates.
And considering this, your viewpoint is that the REPUBLICANS are crazier than the TORIES in this regard. REALLY????? It's nice that British politics is as gay and lesbian friendly as you say, but that really wasn't my point at all.
That said, far be it from me to MISunderestimate the craziness of the Republican Party as a matter of principle. (You may have heard that their candidate for President this year is Donald Trump. REALLY!!!) So if Tris and Mr. Munguin agree that notwithstanding the male-gender-hating Environment Secretary, British Tories are not really as bad as the Bible-thumping, gun-toting gay-bashing American Republicans....then who am I to quibble? ;-))
Nice to talk with you again Dean.
(As for "misunderestimate", I really do miss George Dubya Bush.)
Danny, Leadsom doesn't represent the Tory Party. Her views are isolated shrieking cries in a wilderness. I fail to see how you can extrapolate her (i agree, utterly nonsense) views into a general malaise or outlook within the general 'C'onservative movement in Britain today.
Trump's appeal to GOP racism, misogyny and homophobia *does* represent a general outlook among grass roots 'C'onservative party members (not GOP affiliated voters however note!) Leadsom's nonsense by counterpoint is simply isolated to her own shrieking shack.
I think you're wishing the British Tories to be mad hatters, and are making facts fit your theory in this regard.
Dean, indeed my comment involved the rather striking similarity in political technique, and was not meant to imply a convergence of broader views. It appears that we can agree that Leadsom's views are "utter[ly] nonsense," and I have no problem believing that such craziness does not represent a broader Tory consensus. On the other hand....in America at least......we would view such a public statement from a cabinet secretary as an indication that, at the very least, the president had used very bad judgement in the selection process, and she would almost surely be cashiered out of Washington on the next plane. PERHAPS the new Tory PM will deal with the matter in that way, but I'll not hold my breath.
It also appears that we can agree about the racism, misogyny, homophobia, and fundamentalist religious fanaticism of the modern right-wing version of the Grand Old Party.......ironically, the party that gave us Abraham Lincoln and saved the Union a century and a half ago. So the Party of Lincoln now gives us Trump. How crazy is THAT?! The GOP has gone off the rails. It's a party at war with itself, and we'll see what emerges from this debacle.
BTW, I'm not quite sure of your point regarding "Conservative party members" verses "GOP affiliated voters." One of the problems in defining the very nature of a political party in America is that "members" do not exist in the British sense of the word. There simply ARE no "card carrying" party members. A "Republican" for example is anybody who declares him or herself to be such a thing, and therefore is pretty much anybody who plans to vote that way in any given election cycle. Some states do however require a declaration of party preference....which can be "Independent" or "Unaffiliated"......as a part of the voter registration process under state election law. Thus, we just had the big controversy over "Open" and "Closed" state primaries that Bernie Sanders was raving about.
There are of course paid and unpaid party professionals and activists at both the state and national levels, and you'll recall that the last two GOP candidates standing in the presidential primaries....Cruz and Trump......were almost literally at war with the Republican National Committee and the Congressional party reelection organizations. For that matter, Bernie Sanders (an "Independent" in the US Senate and self-declared "Socialist" in political philosophy) was equally at war with the hated Democratic ESTABLISHMENT.
PS Dean.....In talking about political craziness in its broadest sense, I cannot help but comment on a system in which the Head of Government of a major nation is removed and replaced by the simple act of a comparatively small number of party members (relative to the electorate of the nation) choosing a new party leader. Do we need a new vote of the people? NAH......the party knows what's good for the people, and I bet the Tories now see that they get it good and hard.
So surely nothing could be crazier than the way you flip your Head of Government. Well......NO.......there is ONE thing that's even crazier than that. You maintain a royal family in lavish splendor for the sole purpose of BREEDING unelected Heads of State. Now that's REALLY crazy.
Ah I was attempting (using the completely wrong jargon) to differentiate between US voters 'registered' as Republican and the Republicans that actually attend the conferences etc.
The majority of registered Reps actually support gay marriage and gun control (ban on automatic rifles) ... views not shared by those GOP conference goers (actual rank and file 'members' who define party platforms etc).
Sorry, I was using the wrong lingo...I'd blame jetlag but I was just being lazy...
As for the UK parliamentary system...it's a parliamentary system. We don't elect Prime Ministers, we elect parties to government. Thus there is absolutely no obligation (legally or morally) to hold a fresh GE just 'cos a PM resigned. He is merely 'first among equals' in HM Cabinet. And as for HM herself. She's a great woman. I love her. Seeing her face on the Canadian currency really (sincerely) made me feel like I was 'home' even though I'm not Canadian. She represents that something, greater than a mere political system - an international figure bringing english speaking countries together. I realise this is emotional, but I do love her.
Dean, You make an excellent point at the disparity between what polling shows so many Republican voters believe and think, and what (for example) the party regulars at the convention will put in the party "platform" ("manifesto" for parties in Britain I believe) for the purpose of energizing the crazies over on the far right of the party......ONE HUNDRED PERCENT of whom will turn out to vote on election day, even if it's in a driving rain.
It happens that Tris and I were recently discussing the role of party "members" in the British Parliamentary system. The sort of thing that simply doesn't exist in the USA.....either the "party members" or the Parliament.
As for the unelected Head of State, I'm not unsympathetic to emotional feelings toward the old Queen, even if I can adopt a less emotional and more historically "revolutionary" American attitude. Given revolutionary American history, I'm constantly irritated by the American media treating the royals as players in some grand drama or opera.
The American media descend on Westminster Abbey for example at every big royal event. I believe it was at William's wedding that the American TV networks had wall-to-wall live coverage from the Abbey. One network was making use of a former BBC corespondent....a grand old man who seemed the very embodiment of traditional Britishness. At one point, a young man at the news anchor desk in New York City gushed something about this surely being one of the most remarkable events in the entire history of Westminster Abbey. The British commentator looked like he had been hit with a brick. But he had to be accurate in his reporting while not appearing to be impolite. He finally stammered something like "well......William the Conqueror was crowned here you know." Utter silence came from the anchor desk in New York.....LOL. I LOVED it!!!!
Very interesting discussion, guys, into which I'm not going to intrude, except to say that i suspect if you look at the Canadian currency, Dean, you will see that is is also demarcated in French ... So not just an English speaking country. You'd also have to allow that the Canadians have many languages native to the country before the invaders stole it from them.
Most of us don't have nannies, never mind what sex they are!
ReplyDeleteI never thought of that. Maybe I'm a secret Tory. EEEEK
DeleteWhy is she making such a fuss? All these toffs send their boys off to be buggered at private schools anyway.
ReplyDeleteDamn, is that why they send them away to school?
DeleteI thought it was a way of getting rid of excess money.
Tris
ReplyDeleteWho cares what she has to say, just a non-entity. I did have a chuckle at how far we had fallen when I heard the radio this morning and tey had Justin Greenin on saying she was being kept appraised of national security matters, I just thought we really are screwed.
Bruce
Be afraid... be very afraid Greening has our fate in her hands.
Deleteand that why you cant get male teachers in primary schools
ReplyDeletethis will bring a smile to nats miserable mugs
unfortunately true
A fetid cloud of acrimony hangs over Labour – this is the end
John Harris
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/jul/15/labour-death-spite-bullying-working-class-base
Corbyn is getting the same s**t yes supporters got during the referendum, welcome to our world.
DeleteI just typed a huge reply Niko, and it disappeared into teh bowels of Blogger.
DeleteNo smile here.
Corbyn has my support. He is Labour. Not that crowd of hard right back stabbing Tory lite bastards that follow Blair and Brown and Darling and that creep Benn.
Since day 1 these people plotted against him and then they complain he's not a good leader. How many of them would make leaders with a load of potential Lords waiting to stab them in the back for fear that they wont get their dead ferret collars.
No, I'm not smiling about it.
I want out of the UK because it is the most right wing country in Western Europe. Scotland would not be. i don;t want to live in a country like this. If we can;t get out then at least a Labour government would be a break on some of the maddest nuttery of the Tories. But not a Blairite Labour government. They are as bad as the Tories.
And look at the pathetic bunch of plotters. McDonnell was right about them. They ARE F'ing useless. And the best they can come up with is that inarticulate muppet Eagle, who busts into tears.
What the hell kind of prime minister would she make?
So if you think that that article makes me smile, it bloody well doesn't.
Aye Jim. This is the crap we get every day from the press and BBc Jockland.
DeleteBet she thinks males can't get raped as well.
ReplyDeleteWhat a load of old-fashioned, scaremongering pish.
It happens more than we know. If women hate to report it, and I think that they do, then men are even more reluctant to do so.
DeleteShe might like to look back at some of the cases of female teachers who took a fancy to lads in their classes.
She's a numpty of the highest order, we are not all paedos, rapists, murderers or thugs. That is some men, not all men; we should not be labelled because of our gender, no human should be.
ReplyDeleteExactly.
DeleteI can't imagine this accident prone stupid woman will last long in the cabinet.
But while we are talking about this matter, when oh when are we going to get some prosecutions of establishment figures.
May appointed 2 people to look into this. Both had relatives or close friends who were accused.
Finally to find someone without connections to the people who may be responsible, she had to appoint a New Zealander.
Since then we've heard nothing.
No, it won't go away.
David Cameron demanded that his closest aides receive boosted redundancy pay in one of his last acts as prime minister, overruling Whitehall guidance.
ReplyDeleteOn his last day in office, the outgoing prime minister handed his advisers six months of pay instead of the four and a half months stated in their contracts, taking the total bill for their departure to £1m.
John Manzoni, the head of the civil service, had written to Downing Street this week stating: “I do not believe that there is a case for awarding higher sums than those for which the contract allows.”
I'd say, there's an argument for a refund.
DeleteThat should be illegal. If a company wants to do that with shareholders' money then that's up to shareholders.
DeleteThey are handing out OUR money to these people.
it shouldn't be allowed. I'd not be surprised if at least some of them are rewarded again in his leaving honours list. Another thing which should stop NOW.
Considering that female nannies/au pairs are seen as fair game by some male employers, just who on earth will keep the husbands occupied if more males go into the profession?
ReplyDeleteVery slightly tongue-in-cheek..but speaking from experience!
Ah Mogabee. I'm not sure if your personal experience was as a nanny, a wife or one of the hand wandering husbands...
DeleteI'd venture to suggest that if you are one of the first two, a knee in a strategically place (with force) between the legs tends to dampen any sexual ardour.
If you're the tempted husband, I recommend a cold shower.
Signed Munguin.
(No fee for this advice)
Sitting in the airport in Toronto, homeward bound, and I hear Theresa has worked a blinder. Davis, BoJo, Leadsom, Fox all in positions directly affecting Brexit negotiations...they then can explain why things aren't going to work out as Brexiteers promised.
ReplyDeleteLeadsom can explain to farmers why the subsidies are gone.
Fox can explain why trade negotiations will take years, not months.
BoJo can explain why our global reach has declined, and we have less; as opposed to more; influence.
Davis can explain to the voters why Brexit has led to staying in the single market (with freedom of movement remaining in place)...why 'taking power back' over 'borders' was always an empty lie.
Theresa can leave them to sink as she coordinates the real Brexit negotiations in conjunction with the devolved administrations. Theresa has brilliantly decapitated the Tory far right; best thing is: they don't even realise it yet.
I'm laughing hard. Can't wait to be hame!
Have a safe flight Dean.
DeleteAn interesting take on the PM's appointments.
LOL... yew, that's actually very amusing.
DeleteI wonder what Tess of the Downingstreetvilla would make of it.
Munguin and I second Jim... Safe journey and welcome hame.
''I'm laughing hard.''
ReplyDeleteWhatever floats your boat Dean...
Do pay attention Conan. He's flying, not coming by sea.
DeleteReally... I dunno! You just can't get the readers these days!
:)
I always thought that Tories in Britain were somewhat less crazy in their public utterances than their political cousins the Republicans in America. But a blatantly sexist statement like this by an American cabinet secretary would cause screaming headlines, and probably immediate dismissal. What on earth has happened to the Tories?
ReplyDeleteThis is exactly the tactic recently used by American Republicans in their opposition to some state laws requiring transgender public restrooms. This Republican position is for the purpose of pandering to their voter base of religious fanatics and assorted right wing nut cases who hate gay people. The argument is that their opposition to transgender restrooms is for the purpose of protecting children from pedophiles. The unspoken implication being that transgender people (and by extension the LGBT community generally) are sexual predators.
My view was that the sexual predator argument effectively attacking the entire LGBT community exhibited a depth of Republican political depravity that could not be equaled. But now, Ms. Leadsom has come along with the very same argument to attack.....wait for it......the MALE GENDER! WOW!!!!!
The American Republican party went off the rails and became a political madhouse when an African-American was elected president. So has Brexit now done the same thing to the Tories?
Nah Danny. The right of the Tory party has always been bonkers.
DeleteAs you say, she implies that the entire male gender is not to be trusted around young children.
I wonder upon what knowledge or experience she bases this theory?
Come off it! We've got our second female PM, one who supports gay rights, and aims to reform the laws to enhance trans rights. Does that sound like a case of the GOP to you?
DeletePlease pay attention, the three G's don't tilt our party windmills (God, Guns, Gays).
And in Scotland we're led by a pro-EU, kickboxing, working class lesbian. Does that sound GOP to you?
Please Danny, you're too intelligent to have seriously meant your comment.
Interesting points Dean, but can May keep the right under control? At least the Scottish Tories have made their choice between the EU or the UK.
DeleteMaybe when Kez gets back from her branch office management course, she'll make up her mind too.
Dean, did you agree with May's "GO HOME" message and the implicit threat behind it?
DeleteHi Dean. Frankly, you seem to have missed my point, so let's go back over this slowly and carefully.
DeleteMs. Leadsom is reported to have said that it would not be sensible to appoint a MAN to look after young children due to the possibility that he might be a pedophile.
American Republicans on the other hand are opposing transgender restrooms because they say LGBT people are a danger to children using those restrooms since LGBT people tend to be pedophiles.
Now both of these ideas are bat s*** crazy. The difference is which group of people is actually being demonized in the process. On the American Republican side, it's the LGBT community that they hate. On the Tory side, it's apparently the entire MALE GENDER that Ms. Leadsom hates.
And considering this, your viewpoint is that the REPUBLICANS are crazier than the TORIES in this regard. REALLY????? It's nice that British politics is as gay and lesbian friendly as you say, but that really wasn't my point at all.
That said, far be it from me to MISunderestimate the craziness of the Republican Party as a matter of principle. (You may have heard that their candidate for President this year is Donald Trump. REALLY!!!) So if Tris and Mr. Munguin agree that notwithstanding the male-gender-hating Environment Secretary, British Tories are not really as bad as the Bible-thumping, gun-toting gay-bashing American Republicans....then who am I to quibble? ;-))
Nice to talk with you again Dean.
(As for "misunderestimate", I really do miss George Dubya Bush.)
Aye Danny. No one puts food on their family any more... Oh, for the good ol' days!
DeleteDean: You really can't deny how mad the right of the party is.Of course, not the party as a whole, but the right... oooooft!
DeletePS: How long is Kezia away and who is in charge of the madhouse while she's there?
DeleteDanny, Leadsom doesn't represent the Tory Party. Her views are isolated shrieking cries in a wilderness. I fail to see how you can extrapolate her (i agree, utterly nonsense) views into a general malaise or outlook within the general 'C'onservative movement in Britain today.
DeleteTrump's appeal to GOP racism, misogyny and homophobia *does* represent a general outlook among grass roots 'C'onservative party members (not GOP affiliated voters however note!)
Leadsom's nonsense by counterpoint is simply isolated to her own shrieking shack.
I think you're wishing the British Tories to be mad hatters, and are making facts fit your theory in this regard.
Dean, indeed my comment involved the rather striking similarity in political technique, and was not meant to imply a convergence of broader views. It appears that we can agree that Leadsom's views are "utter[ly] nonsense," and I have no problem believing that such craziness does not represent a broader Tory consensus. On the other hand....in America at least......we would view such a public statement from a cabinet secretary as an indication that, at the very least, the president had used very bad judgement in the selection process, and she would almost surely be cashiered out of Washington on the next plane. PERHAPS the new Tory PM will deal with the matter in that way, but I'll not hold my breath.
DeleteIt also appears that we can agree about the racism, misogyny, homophobia, and fundamentalist religious fanaticism of the modern right-wing version of the Grand Old Party.......ironically, the party that gave us Abraham Lincoln and saved the Union a century and a half ago. So the Party of Lincoln now gives us Trump. How crazy is THAT?! The GOP has gone off the rails. It's a party at war with itself, and we'll see what emerges from this debacle.
BTW, I'm not quite sure of your point regarding "Conservative party members" verses "GOP affiliated voters." One of the problems in defining the very nature of a political party in America is that "members" do not exist in the British sense of the word. There simply ARE no "card carrying" party members. A "Republican" for example is anybody who declares him or herself to be such a thing, and therefore is pretty much anybody who plans to vote that way in any given election cycle. Some states do however require a declaration of party preference....which can be "Independent" or "Unaffiliated"......as a part of the voter registration process under state election law. Thus, we just had the big controversy over "Open" and "Closed" state primaries that Bernie Sanders was raving about.
There are of course paid and unpaid party professionals and activists at both the state and national levels, and you'll recall that the last two GOP candidates standing in the presidential primaries....Cruz and Trump......were almost literally at war with the Republican National Committee and the Congressional party reelection organizations. For that matter, Bernie Sanders (an "Independent" in the US Senate and self-declared "Socialist" in political philosophy) was equally at war with the hated Democratic ESTABLISHMENT.
PS Dean.....In talking about political craziness in its broadest sense, I cannot help but comment on a system in which the Head of Government of a major nation is removed and replaced by the simple act of a comparatively small number of party members (relative to the electorate of the nation) choosing a new party leader. Do we need a new vote of the people? NAH......the party knows what's good for the people, and I bet the Tories now see that they get it good and hard.
DeleteSo surely nothing could be crazier than the way you flip your Head of Government. Well......NO.......there is ONE thing that's even crazier than that. You maintain a royal family in lavish splendor for the sole purpose of BREEDING unelected Heads of State. Now that's REALLY crazy.
Ah I was attempting (using the completely wrong jargon) to differentiate between US voters 'registered' as Republican and the Republicans that actually attend the conferences etc.
DeleteThe majority of registered Reps actually support gay marriage and gun control (ban on automatic rifles) ... views not shared by those GOP conference goers (actual rank and file 'members' who define party platforms etc).
Sorry, I was using the wrong lingo...I'd blame jetlag but I was just being lazy...
As for the UK parliamentary system...it's a parliamentary system. We don't elect Prime Ministers, we elect parties to government. Thus there is absolutely no obligation (legally or morally) to hold a fresh GE just 'cos a PM resigned. He is merely 'first among equals' in HM Cabinet.
And as for HM herself. She's a great woman. I love her. Seeing her face on the Canadian currency really (sincerely) made me feel like I was 'home' even though I'm not Canadian. She represents that something, greater than a mere political system - an international figure bringing english speaking countries together. I realise this is emotional, but I do love her.
Dean,
DeleteYou make an excellent point at the disparity between what polling shows so many Republican voters believe and think, and what (for example) the party regulars at the convention will put in the party "platform" ("manifesto" for parties in Britain I believe) for the purpose of energizing the crazies over on the far right of the party......ONE HUNDRED PERCENT of whom will turn out to vote on election day, even if it's in a driving rain.
It happens that Tris and I were recently discussing the role of party "members" in the British Parliamentary system. The sort of thing that simply doesn't exist in the USA.....either the "party members" or the Parliament.
As for the unelected Head of State, I'm not unsympathetic to emotional feelings toward the old Queen, even if I can adopt a less emotional and more historically "revolutionary" American attitude. Given revolutionary American history, I'm constantly irritated by the American media treating the royals as players in some grand drama or opera.
The American media descend on Westminster Abbey for example at every big royal event. I believe it was at William's wedding that the American TV networks had wall-to-wall live coverage from the Abbey. One network was making use of a former BBC corespondent....a grand old man who seemed the very embodiment of traditional Britishness. At one point, a young man at the news anchor desk in New York City gushed something about this surely being one of the most remarkable events in the entire history of Westminster Abbey. The British commentator looked like he had been hit with a brick. But he had to be accurate in his reporting while not appearing to be impolite. He finally stammered something like "well......William the Conqueror was crowned here you know." Utter silence came from the anchor desk in New York.....LOL. I LOVED it!!!!
Take care Dean!
Very interesting discussion, guys, into which I'm not going to intrude, except to say that i suspect if you look at the Canadian currency, Dean, you will see that is is also demarcated in French ... So not just an English speaking country. You'd also have to allow that the Canadians have many languages native to the country before the invaders stole it from them.
DeleteDo the Quebec French see themselves as Canadian?
DeletePerhaps she had a bad experience as a child?
ReplyDeleteShe was a child once?????
Delete