Should we abolish the Royal family?

[Gandalf]

The royals actually save you money. If we did have a president it would allow another layer of corruption to the ones we have already. Germans for instance are currently being stung on gas, water, telecoms, credit cards, all directly because their prez lobbied for certain companies to get business without any effective competition. Same in France. And you can't find out about it because the media in France/Germany won't go anywhere near a president, he's just too powerful. French people didn't even know Mitterand (ex-prez) had two lovers and half a dozen kids while in office because the press didn't report it till after he was dead. There's no reason to boot them except spite and there are endless reasons to keep them.

My argument is not an economic one, it is based mainly upon the fact that the Royal family is an outdated institution with no real role to play in the system besides signing off a few goverment documents. Their positions are inherited and that is something that I firmly believe is wrong. I don't want to cut off their heads nor punish them, but I would like them to recieve public school education and to work their way up the ladder like the rest of us have to. I see no reason why they should be treated any different from the rest of the population.

You mention Germans being stung on things such as water, gas, credit cards and telecoms, but I look at the UK and see people being stung terribly too. I don't see what the Queen has to do with that though. And as for the French and German media having no balls. Well, I don't see the connection. We have a decent media overall, but I don't think it's down to having the Queen as head of state. The Royal family gets a hard time from them, but that's more the way we are culturally. Nobody is allowed to get off the hook for their private indiscretions.

I don't understand your reasoning at all Miles.

You are aware that we didn't invent the Royal family right? A government didn't come up with the idea and think it would be good for tourism and so built a load of grandiose buildings and bequethed them all to the Windsors.

Their assets are theirs! They are not for the state to take away, because they arn't the states to begin with, the land and property owned by the Royal Family is their own legally owned property.

Secondly, this ridiculous notion you have of inherited wealth being wrong. What about the children of celebrities, or the offspring of industrial leaders, bankers, hoteliers etc? Should we take all of the Beckham's money and property away as well, or at least take away Brooklyn, Paris and La LA or whatever the fuck the Beckham kids are called and foster them into a working class home to appease your sense of egalitarianism?

Thirdly, the Royal family's wealth is different to the wealth inherited by everybody else, because theirs comes with responsibility.

Honestly, Miles, can you really say, in your heart of hearts that the Queen has been bad for this country, or that she isn't due respect for the job she does? Would you really want to be King?

It's a thankless task, one of a lifetime of servitude. Sure she eats well and get dressed up in fancy royal garb, but her life is just one of ceremonial service to her nation. She has to live an explempary moral life, carry out a million and one different social and international engagements every year and even in her 80's is still tirelessly carrying out her role.

I think the queen has been AMAZING for this country, a source of pride and inspiration for millions of hardworking people of Britain for well over half a century.

Even the rest of them are ok. Prince Charles has been a powerful voice for enviromental change and green issues, and the two sons are growing up to be fine young upstanding men.

They represent an important part of British history, and are more representative of the people than any political party could ever be. The people of Britain will never unite behind a political party,there is always division, but a royal family belongs to everybody, the entire people of Britain.

Their's is not a life I would want, the constant scrutiny, the forced adherence to endless ceremonial rituals and traditions, they are ambassadors for this country, and the Queen especially is magnificent in her role.

My argument is quite simple. Long ago the Royal family was able to rule with impunity and gradually their power has receded through the evolution of a progressively more dominant form of rule for the goverment. The Royal family of the past 200 years has been nothing more than a figurehead head of state. They are unelected and just there because of the circumstances of their birth. If their only purpose is to sign off and process what the government is going to do anyway, then it's a position that no longer has any value. I struggle to see any merit in it, it should at leat be replaced with something more representative than solely being a hereditary position.

I don't care so much about them keeping Buckingham palace, but I feel strongly that a family that is supposedly independantly wealthy shouldn't be able to take money away from every taxpayer in the country to subsidise leaky roofs and mowing the lawn. Surely it's about time they started paying for this themselves. If my grandmother can't just claim taxes to fix her home then neither should the Queen. Again, it's a case of of a rule that only applies to to a few "haves" at the expense of all the "have nots". It's not a massive amount of money....what with being only a few millions quid here and there, but that kind of money is a fortune to most ordinary people.

When it comes to inherited wealth, I suppose I am more extreme than some. I think inherited wealth should be taxed to death and used to provide quality public services and opportunities for social advancement for all. In this regard I am perhaps too idealistic. An extended inheritence tax would most likely be used to fund more military armament, but ideally I would like the wealth of the rich to be taken to reduce inequalities in society and stimulate greater equality of opportunity. I have no qualms with the children of the rich and famous being made to start out on a more level playing field along with the children of families of the middle classes. I'm not saying "take away everything!", but certainly to curb the excess. It's a complicated process and there is no reason why parents couldn't hand over huge sums before passing away which would kind of defeat the purpose. But in principle, I would like for such a system to try and exist. In the future, as a parent I would like to teach my children how to stand on their own two feet rather than wait for my eventual demise and an easier life brought along through a pot of money.

I don't have any negative feelings about the Queen herself. But I disagree with what she represents and don't feel a monarchy has any relevance in a democracy. She is probably a nice person, but I don't think that justifies her recieving tax payers money nor representing Britain as head of state. All in all I would like to see the Royal family slowly phased out once and for all.