Boo The Royal Family

August 1, 2022August 2, 2022 / Revolting Subject / Leave a comment

The Monarchy is big on pageantry. Putting themselves at the very centre of carefully choreographed national events.

They love basking in the cheers. Associating themselves with genuine achievements – be it a hospital opening, a Cup Final or a big film premiere.

But if they love a bit of feudal panto, we can play that game too.

Liverpool fans booing Prince William ( & God Save the Queen ) is proof that not everyone equates national anthem with automatic sycophancy.

Sure, it’s a blunt instrument, but fuckin’ hell, they’ve got the Red Arrows, the press, the BBC and the a budget of millions and they bribe people a special bank holiday to ensure they get a cheer.

But Booing works. A few brave Boo’s can change an event in seconds.

Prince William looked like the chancer he was after his perfunctory Grenfell tower visit.

No-one really asks our opinions on the royal family. There’s very little room to show dissent, to publically display republicanism.

Booing at jubilees and weddings, I admit that’s ambitious. But when the toffs come to patronise us, to working class culture, we should all….BOOOOOOOOOO

BOOOOOOOO TO BRIBES AND SECRECT

BOOOOOOOO TO RACISM

BOOOOOOOOOOOO TO CLASS CONDITIONING

And voila, the royals will stop turning up for big public events. Monarchy, generally do not feel comfortable

Give me a cheer. And do share on the Facebook & Twitter

3 Reasons why you shouldn’t celebrate The Jubilee…

May 15, 2022May 16, 2022 / Revolting Subject / Leave a comment

A very very rich old woman has been the Head of State of the UK for 70 years.

This very un-meritocratic fact been heralded as a cause for ‘The Nation’ to ‘Celebrate’. But really – it’s an opportunity to get out there and spread the rebel gospel of Republicanism.

So when you find yourself half-cut at some dismal jubilee party, and Fat Eddie is spearing a ‘British banger’ from the barbecue ( ‘lemme try one of these bad boys’ ) then do step in and cause an argument. Here’s some starters for 10..

FIRSTLY – Monarchy is unfair, unaccountable, snobby and anti-modern: What you’re celebrating, is the fact that neither you nor anyone else will ever be given the opportunity of the huge salary, incredible prestige and vast benefits of being Head of State. Only the Windsor Family. Now and for generations.

Look at the kids running about on jubilee day and think – Monarchy is a System that decrees that Royal Kids are inherently better than all other kids. That no matter how hard they work, no matter how talented they are, no matter how smart – other kids – your kids ! – will never have the the influence, wealth or privileges that the royal family are given automatically & without any accountability. You wanna actually celebrate that outrageous unfairness at the very centre of British public life ? Bunting up for…bloodlines ? For hereditary wealth and power ?

(oh, if Fat Eddie wheels out the ol’ OH I SUPPOSE YOU’D PREFER PRESIDENT BLAIR / BORIS )

Secondly…The Queen is an Icon of Inequality and Tory Values: Look at the most slavish devotees to the queen and the monarchy – they are without doubt, the right of the British politics. The royal family were a weapon in the culture war before we knew the term Culture War. This jubilee – and all the weddings, funerals and coronations – glamourise class inequality and legitimise the hoarding of huge amounts of wealth and property. The royals do personify Right Wing Britain – all white, all born in private hospitals, educated at Eton, all army loving, all rich and forever landrovering off to shoot things.

No wonder Ress Mogg, Farage, the DUP & the Tories have a royal fetish. Events like jubilees are partially about indoctrination, about labelling Royal values as British values.

And thirdly….just…..Don’t be an Imbecile: I mean c’mon folks – the monarchy has long since ceased to be a Fairy Story ( Virgina Guiffre descibed her teenage encounter with a Prince thus – “It didn’t last very long, the whole entire procedure. It was disgusting”). History has shown that Edward – the Duke of Windsor – was a Hitler fan who fed information to the Nazis & encouraged them to bomb London. Prince Charles is plainly thick & arrogant, and Prince William is reputed to be bad tempered and lazy.

Sometimes people feel a patriotic duty to enjoy the sillyness of the monarchy, but it’s not harmless. It’s toxic, it’s institutionally racist, it venerates wealth, it entrenches hierarchy and it deserves to be called out.

The Monarchy have armies of taxpayer funded PR & and are surrounded by right wing fawning media who hype up every tiny achievement and minimise or ignore every idiotic remark or crass decision.

So, spread the word.

Please share these moderately challenging notions on Facebook and elsewhere. Annoy Fat Eric.

How the Palace Tried to get Andrew off the hook

February 21, 2022March 29, 2022 / Revolting Subject / 3 Comments

Bizarrely, when it comes to Prince Andrew, there is some sympathy around for the Royal Family & Monarchy. As if…. he’s just an aberration – the embarassing black sheep of the family. Conveniently ignoring that his behaviour is a predictable result of enabling arrogant toffs who are never ever told they are wrong Sir.

Let’s look back on Prince Andrew and the workings of the Palace – and note how the Monarchy’s army of PR people and “aides” assisted and enabled him at every turn.

We all now know – and he does not deny – that Prince Andrew forced himself on a vulnerable teenager. This Bad Apple theory suits the secretive inner workings of the monarchy – it obscures the fact that the palace that has been straining to help him avoid justice all along. Enabling Andrew. That’s the story no-one is focusing on…

1999 – Prince Andrew flies with Maxwell to Epstein’s island. Flight logs show this. Prince Andrew’s security & the palace knew this. Did no-one think….erm….to ask ANY questions ? Did the Met Bodyguards who accompanied him report what they saw at Little St James ? What say you Buckingham Palace? It really stinks.

1999 – Epstein and Maxwell stay at Balmoral. Is there any security clearance or background check required ? Did anyone query who they were ? Or if Prince Andrew says they’re his chums, do they dare not question Royal Judgement (mind you Savile was allowed to roam around the palaces as he pleased)

2001 – Prince Andrew Rapes Virgina – The Photo. The house. The vulnerable 17 year old runaway surrounded by older rich and powerful people. So, Buckingham Palace – why can’t you tell us …were Andrew’s security with him ? Why are their logs not available ? Why won’t the palace produce the notes that prove he was in Pizza Express that night ? Did they rip out & destroy the pages that said ‘Tramp nightclub. Private residence in Belgravia with young girl’ ?

2012 –THE PALACE HELPS ARRANGE FOR EPSTEIN TO PAY OFF FERGIE’S DEBTS: that’s what happened. It was all arranged via ‘The Duke’s Office’ – i.e. palace staff. Despite Epstein’s conviction – nobody objected. They were not duped, they facilitated. Later Fergie apologises for taking £15k from Epstein to pay off her debts – saying “I abhor paedophilia and any sexual abuse of children and know that this was a gigantic error of judgment on my behalf.” Thanks for clarifying that Fergie. She also added “This is the first time ever in my life, and I mean ‘ever’, that I have been debt free. It allows me to go forward to do what I do, being a good mother, a philanthropist for children…”

There you go, a “philanthropist for children”, who eagerly grabbed money from a convicted paedophile.

2015 – THE PALACE VICTIM BLAMES – “It is emphatically denied that the Duke of York had any form of sexual contact or relationship with [the woman]. The allegations made are false and without any foundation.” thunders Buckingham Palace. Think about that for a moment – those are not Prince Andrew’s words, they are The British Monarchy’s words. They are issued from on high, and come with the full heft of the establishment behind them. They are written by a highly paid aide, with expensive lawyers whispering advice. I’d imagine the Queen would have had to approve the wording. We now know they are LIES. You, the taxpayer paid ( lots) to victimise a young girl, to upset and traduce her.

THE PALACE THREATENS JOURNALISM – When the initial story broke, the Palace started flexing its muscle, making veiled threats against newspapers who might reveal further information. ABC newsreader Amy Robach (unwittingly) revealed that she had recorded an interview with Andrew’s victim – Virginia – and that it had never been broadcast. “I’ve had the story for three years,” Robach says in the video ( which no longer seems to be online, but there’s a version here – warning links to FOX ). “We would not put it on the air. Um, first of all, I was told, ‘Who was Jeffrey Epstein? No one knows who that is. This is a stupid story. Then The Palace found out that we had her whole allegations about Prince Andrew and threatened us a million different ways.”

September 2019 – “sources close to” Prince Andrew ( i.e. the palace and his PR people ) claimed the Andrew / Virgina photo was faked – absolutely desperate stuff from the palace, trying to undermine the victim and their irrefutable evidence.

November 2019 – The Prince and the Palace thinks they can outsmart us, with a tell all interview with Emily Maitliss. Whilst turned out to be a great scoop, it’s worth considering the dubious journalistic practice – it took place in the grandeur of Buckingham Palace ( ergo, lending it state-like gravitas ). Also, the interview was not in keeping with news norms – Maitlis discussed the content of the interview in advance ( over tea at the palace, Prince Andrew himself declared he thought the photograph was a doctored fake. ) Astonishing though it may seen, the incredibly stupid alibi – I was at Pizza Express – was prearranged by the palace before the interview. His answer would have been rehearsed.

From Emily Maitlis’s blog about the interview

Feb 2020 – An exasperated FBI announced “Prince Andrew has provided zero cooperation“. “Sources” tell the newspapers that he is ‘more than happy to talk’. But of course, those unattributable sources ( i.e. The Palace) are just lying. The Monarchy is run by the Queen, and no-one is making Prince Andrew cooporate with the law, and they continue to lie to the public, and besmirch the victim.

There may be other countless moments the palace intervened to pervert the course of justice. They know Prince Andrew is toast. I wonder what role the Government took in the whole thing. Did they apply pressure to get rid of charges?

But they don’t want anyone scrutinising THEIR ROLE in the whole sleazy farrago. Because you – the taxpayer – pay for palace staff, for PR, for lawyers.

Which is why we should not draw a line under it.

( and once again, respect & sympathy for Virginia Giuffre, the girl from rough circumstances who took on the establishment and won. Go Girl.)

[ UPDATE: 29th March – Prince Andrew, is pride of place beside the Queen at Westminster Abbey for Prince Phillip’s memorial service. Being chauffered, heralded, protected. ]

Please do share on Facebook & Twitter & elsewhere.

Royals For Sale !

September 16, 2021May 30, 2022 / Revolting Subject / Leave a comment

The Windsor family are handed an extraordinary and obscene amounts of money that’s ultimately from our pocket via taxation. They are just one family and they required £142.4 million in 2019.

But £142.4 million, it would appear, is not enought to fill their grasping velvet mitts.

The Windsor family are courted by the vulgar, the wealthy, oily corporate types. Stupidly rich people.

These people are the Royals peers – their contact with the ‘real world’ of business. As a result, useless dotards like Prince Andrew are desperately keen to be seen as Players in the Big Dick Business Game – it might impress his friend Peter Jones.

[ Funnily enough, the smug Dragon doesn’t boast so much about being Prince Andrew’s friend these days. *Duncan voice* Ahm Owt ]

But Arrogant Baby Man Andy wants to prove that he IN HIS OWN RIGHT is one of the dynamic and streetwise movers and shakers. Of course, the spoiled royals aren’t used to rules, laws and haven’t a clue about commercial cut’n’thrust.

Ker-ching for a Day..

Prince Andrew acted as a broker for a Kazakh Oligarch who was desperate to buy a home from the Queens estate.

Co-in-ci-dentally at the same time…. he sells his horrible shitty house to….the very same Kazakh Oligarch for £15m ( £3m pounds over the asking price for a house that no-one else wanted ) Fancy that !

The Oligrach was so thrilled with his purchase….that err…he never even visited SouthYork – and bulldozed the whole place a few years later.

[ this information was revealed through a Freedom of Information request, but…now the royals are exempt from FOI requests ]

Fergie sells access to Andrew

In a tabloid sting, Fergie demanded the Fake Sheik wire half a million quid to her account …saying that this would “open any door you want, and I will for you…look after me and he’ll look after you”. Maybe the FBI should get in touch with Fergie to help prise those palace gates open.

Fergie also took money from Epstein – £15,000. Significantly, this was AFTER he came out of prison. I mean, you’re in the public eye, you need some money – who do you turn to ? A high profile convicted paedophile of course !

She later said – “I abhor peadophilia and any sexual abuse of children and know that this was a gigantic error of judgment on my behalf. I am just so contrite I cannot say”. Oh boo-hoo- but HE WAS A CONVICTED PAEDOPHILE AT THE TIME AND YOU STAYED IN HIS HOUSE, AND POCKETED HIS MONEY you crass imbecile.

The Fence, Camilla – who’s nephew also sells access – and Chaz

Get a Gong from Prince Charles – Slightly different route, but still a transaction. You are a wealthy Saudi for example – you make a huge donation to one of Prince Charles’s charities, and Charles’s fixer Michael Fawcett – will arrange an honour for you. Or in posh-speak the honours “will be made in response to the most recent and anticipated support [of] The Trust, and in connection with his ongoing commitment generally within the United Kingdom”.

Funny how the Palace and the press always credit the royals for their “hands on” work with charity. Then there’s the sniff of corruption and suddenly Mercy Me – oh no Prince Charles knows nothing about the day to day operation of the charity. ( in this specific case it doesn’t ring true at all)

Duke of Kent will get you access to Putin – quite the bargain at £50,000 for a week – or, if you want the full package – £143,000 for an recorded speech endorsement by the Duke himself. You might of wondered – who is this guy and what does he do ? Well, he does very little and he charges a lot. ( very weird that he offers access to Putin !)

Sophie will get Edward to appear at your function. As she argued in 2001 – ‘For instance, in your own country when people find we’re working for you, the chances are you’ll get people interested: Oh gosh, they’ve employed the Countess of Wessex’s PR company.’ ( she had to resign when this came out)

These are just a few examples, and the few that we know about. There’s a smell from Prince Andrew’s Pitch at the Palace, and how does he have enough money to buy ski chalets and fly around in Private Jet ?

But – for no good reason – The Royal family are also blanketed in ridiculous secrecry – we’re allowed to know nothing, there is no transparancy – they’re protected never called to account for their actions.

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The Royal Family and the Environment

August 3, 2021August 4, 2021 / Revolting Subject / Leave a comment

A much loved National Figurehead. And Prince William.

From their Private Jets, emerging from their huge palaces, leaning out of their landrover windows – the Royal Family love to lecture us that WE must do something to save the planet.

The unfolding Environmental Catastrophe does need urgently addressed. It is indeed the most cataclysmic threat of our time.

Prince Charles egotistically bores around claiming that he invented environmentalism and Royal PR eagerly shoves the Queen alongside David Attenborough and comes up with documentaries like The Queen’s Green Planet. Attenborough should place a stalking restriction on Prince William, as baldy is always elbowing in like they are bezzies.

But Oxfam tells us, that – in fact – the worlds Wealthiest 1% were responsible for more than double the emissions of the poorest 50%

Do the royal family question multinationals ? Do they critique captialism ? Do they set any sort of example by downsizing out of a palace ? Do they cut back on private jets, or even stop flying altogether ? Do they even do low bar gestures like stop burning their Grouse Moors up at Balmoral ?

Do they point out that the Rich are Disproportionately responsible for the mess of the planet ? They’re pals with Richard Branson, do they point at him and say – it’s his fault ?

Of course not.

Prince William goes with the golf club bar idiocy theory – too many people . The offensive idea being if there weren’t so many babies being born in Africa having children then Willy and his polo playing chums could continue to swan about in their Landrover Discoverys.

Father of 3, Prince William, criticises population growth

In 2020 Prince Charles was giving a speech to scientists in Cambridge about the need to lower aircraft omissions. Charles arrived in a private helicopter.

And then recently, the Queen abused her position to exempt herself from a very moderate environmental plan to cut carbon emissions. This is the opposite of making an effort.

This is refusing to make any effort whatsoever, even if it means having to actually interfere to change the law.

The richest people, are demonstrably, most responsible for the climate.

The Royal Family are apologists and legitimisers of the rich. They are friends with Plutocrats and Oil sheiks.

Don’t tell US what to do. Tell the Sultan of Bruei. Tell your royal pals in Kuwait, in UAE. Tell Qatari Royal Family.

I did love when Greta Thunberg met Chaz though. No fawning. No curtseying. No primped up in a stupid dress. Greta looked at him in a – This is a Waste of Everyone’s Time way ( of course reported sycophantically as a meeting of minds)

The Royal Family are occasionally right about the environment.

But by championing it, they immediately depoliticise the issue. They are symbols of conservative culture. They enable corporations. With no qualifications or expertise, Prince Charles – and now William – lecture us from their yachts and palaces.

Maybe when they close down their huge palaces, when they refuse to fly in private jets, or in first class, or in jets, or at all – when they replace their convoys of Bentley’s and Rolls Royces with a bike…

Then we’ll listen.

But until then. STFU HRHs.

The Royal Family – embodying White Privilege

March 21, 2021February 9, 2022 / Revolting Subject / 3 Comments

DIVERSE ROYALTY IS AN OXYMORON

So The Monarchy are ‘considering’ appointing a ‘Diversity Tsar’. *(SEE UPDATE BELOW)

This is reported with a straight face. Nobody splutters into their tea and says WHHHHHHAAAAT ?

The Monarchy is predicated on aristocratic concept of bloodlines.

This toxic belief means that Prince Andrew, Prince Edward, Prince William and the other useless dullards are seen as inherently superior to you. That their posh sprogs are inherently better suited to being head of state than your common (crappy) children. Because they have royal blood.

This, in effect means the thickest, laziest, most corrupt member of the royal family, will automatically have more influence, more clout, more privilege than the most talented, cleverest, working class kid from Brixton, Motherwell or Wrexham.

Think about the modes of adddress…when you write to the queen or their royal “Highnesses” you are advised – on their official page – to sign off with “‘I have the honour to be, Madam, Your Majesty’s humble and obedient servant”.

The whole Firm is based on snobbery – this is a family who have to Bow and Curtsy to ONE ANOTHER in a hirearchicial way. Imagine – you nip for a piss in buck house in the middle of the night and bump into your po-faced ol’ granny and you have to curtsey ?

Whatsmore, this family of damaged, arrogant, posh aristocrats believe themself to be superior to everyone else. That they are literally anointed by God. They embody exclusivity, not diversity. Their divine right means everyone else is below them.

Think of someone you admire, respect, love.

Then dwell for a moment on the fact that the UK consitution believes that Prince Andrew is automatically and without question superior to that person.

When Prince William married Kate (who is from a wealthy family) it was the first time that a royal had married ‘a commoner’. There was a lot of embarassing grovelling praising this as ‘modern’.

What’s this Diversity Tsar going to say ? Maybe rent some diversity to stand on the Royal Balcony on ceremonial occasions? Adopt someone from ‘the colonies’ ?

For clarity – in our lifetime – Britain’s head of state will not be……Catholic ( illegal ), Jewish, Muslim, atheist, Hare Krishna, scientologist, Hindu, black, asian…the whole point is it’s a family racket. Given that the whole inheritable position is predicated on the monarch producing a bloodline heir, then it’s unlikely that anyone gay would be allowed to take the throne either.

The Royal Family may or may not be racist. But the Monarchy is racist in practice.

So it’s White Toff Charles. White Toff Wills. White Toff George ( if George has to wait as long for the throne as 72 year old Charles – that means white Windsor men to the year 2086. )

Windsor Supremacy, is the entire point. They can’t advocate for Equality, whilst they embody inequality.

UPDATE: In June 2021, it was quietly revealed that…in fact.. having surveyed the entirely white entirely straight, entirely upperclass institution the palace decided that they didn’t need a Diversity Tsar after all! Fancy that !) – in fact, it appears the queen was actually Nelson Mandela.

We can’t gather and storm the palace. So please share on Facebook and the like.

FINAL RESULT Slabbery Royal Idiots 0 Meghan Markle 1

January 19, 2020January 19, 2020 / Revolting Subject / 2 Comments

I’m enjoying Meghangate.

A rich couple have a new baby then made a sensible decision to bring up their baby as – mercy me ! – a normal kid. The cold, stiff establishment (& the countless bovine followers) would prefer the kid faces a life of exhausting scrutiny and burdened with ridiculous symbolism. ( Maybe Harry reads this blog...).

The whole thing is catnip for Britains Right Wing Roasters – Racism, royalty, feminism & rejecting the UK – suddenly red white and blue bile was fountaining up from every royalist arsehole in the country.

Equally inept were the broadcast media. They Cannot Compute That People May Not Adore The Royal Family – even when those people are Your Actual Members of the Royal family. Thus Celebrity Feudalism blows a fuse.

BBC & ITN are hard wired to revere and reinforce the place of the monarchy. So when Harry and Meghan made their Fuck It announcement, the broadcasters rushed to the usual florid faces who spouted their unsightful and unsourced assertions that the queen would be disappointed. ( does anyone else let their 95 year old Tory granny make all the decisions for their life ?) . These craven courtiers basically coughed up establishment pearl clutching on demand.

The debate was framed around what ‘Meghan had done’ to the queen – but nobody dared to question the fundamentals – the embarassing absurdity of having a dull family of aristocrats living in golden palaces as a national symbol. Nor the effect of this set up has had on Meghan, Harry and their kid.

Foaming tabloids seemed keen to present the 93 year old queen as some sort of decisive demi-Thatcher.

There was an odd exception – Suzanne Moore wrote a great piece, and weirdly the most touching thing in it was her observation that she..

” went to Diana’s funeral. I watched those boys walk behind that coffin. Even in Westminster Abbey, no one touched or hugged them.”

I remember that too. I don’t remember the royal sycophants criticising or demanding a bit more humanity from the emotionally damaged queen.

If you’ll indulge me on Meghan and Harry – I predicted this exact scenario last year. Given that royal experts are often paid for their contribution, maybe I should buy a pair of red jumbo courduroys and stand outside Buckingham Palace offering my opinion.

And what is spectacularly absent in all this Fwah Fwah Fwah analysis is any critical insight – Monarchy itself is ridiculous. It’s entirely out of date. It damages those within it. It infantalises the country and legitimises – glamourises even – inequality. Instead we have to hear Royal Expert Penny Junor descibe the Windsors as ‘the best people who sprinkle fairy dust whereever they go’ ( nice spot @uk_republic !)

Lots of British folk are completely disinterested or actively oppose the Monarchy. Our opinions are not even welcome, not asked for, not heard. The media will give airtime to those who appear to be quite unwell, but rational opinion is subversive.

I hope Harry and Meghan disappear off across the Atlantic, and when Archie is a daft wee 23 year old getting drunk and falling out of parties with girlfriends, there aren’t creepy Piers Morgan type men judging his behaviour.

And I hope he can say to his girlfriend –

“Remember when Britain used to have a royal family ? When it had a queen and that, before Charles fucked it all up ? Before the revolution ? Well…I was part of that. TRUE ! WAS TOO ! Ach lets have another joint !”

Please share this blog – especially on Facebook, then everyone at your school will think you are the coolest kid. We’re bombarded with relentless royal propaganda….throw in some salt. Thank you.

Relentless royal rubbish…

February 24, 2016February 24, 2016 / Revolting Subject / Leave a comment

The pinnacle of british genes

The Windsor family cost us an estimated £334m.

A couple of days a week, they do comfy cushion 45 minute visits but it’s hardly Real Work

They feed their dogs steak from silver trays ( according to rank, even corgis are subject to snobbery ).

Any colour, as long as it’s fawn

And now, fellow serfs – bless your lucky forelock – you are being offered the chance to Clean For the Queen. Get onto your knees Britain… for the approval of someone who believes that every single one of you are inherently and justifiably beneath her.

Not for your community, not for the environment, not for wildlife. But to impress a sour faced old aristocrat who lives in a palace filled with servants. Oh whilst you’re down there grovelling …can you grab that rusty Tennant’s Super can and those Wotsit wrappers…?

And just to underline the unimpeachable integrity of the idea, Clean for the Queen sponsors include…McDonalds, Greggs, Wrigley, Costa – yeah shut your lefty critical mouth, you CANNOT criticise any of those companies for contributing to the litter problem can you ? ( 3% of all litter is fast food related and chewing gum costs a fortune to remove).

Wrigley, keeping the queens highway clean

It’s also worth remembering that those who Did Clean for the Queen had to fight to get a living wage. Maybe she expected them to work for free too.

Occasionally, at Revolting Subject Rebel Command, I think that I’ve spotted the exhaust port in the Royal Death star, and with one republican X wing torpedo, the whole feudal circus will go kaboom ( Princess Leah is allowed to be a princess until the medals are dispersed, but then she must change her name to BunFace McGinty ). And Clean For the Queen feels monumentally unjust.

Think about it – to bail out the banks ( = the super-rich) vast amounts have been cut from essential front line services. The super-rich royals got a 29% pay rise last year. But local councils who clean up the streets ? Cuts, cuts, cuts. The whole Clean for the Queen idea is predicated on the failed ‘Big Society’ premise – ruddy faced toffs at the top of the class pyramid cajole the underlings to clean up for their viewing pleasure ?

The taxes you pay no longer fund binmen and street sweepers – increasingly, it subsidises the lives of the super rich, the private jets, the unaccountable… [ good Monbiot article on tax here]. So services suffer. Clean up serfs. If you don’t a TV documentary crews will turn up and mock the poorest in society for living in squalor.

This isn’t directly the fault of the Windsors of course. But they’re part of this horrible,stinking, vile, social conditioning. Some will fall for it – the Keep Calm and Carry On deference is hard to root out from British culture. But social media allows us to howl at the dumbness of such an approach, to say to the 70 mps – the very MPs who are cutting local authority cleaning budgets – show some concern for the ordinary people rather than sniffing around for gongs and publicity you shameless self centred imbeciles.

Here’s an alternative suggesting: Queen for the Clean Up – announce that the queen will be the last monarch, gently wind down all tax & state support for the Windsor family, give them a palace and couple of horses and let them live a yah lifestyle elsewhere.

Clean out the cynical anti-democratic House of Lords, the dusty posh landowners and sycophantic bauble chasers.

Get off your knees and clean up democracy.

Here. Sign a petition.

Oh yeahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh THAT WILL DO IT !

EMBARRASSING TRANSPARENT PLEA FOR RTs: There are hundreds of uncritical royal correspondents, hours of Ant n Dec fawning, BBC sycophancy, and an army of civil servants paid for by your tax dedicated to selling the royal circus as harmless fun. So if you can share this post via Facebook or Twitter ( or elsewhere) then it’ll make you cyber Che Guevara.

Glasgow versus the Queen

September 11, 2015November 12, 2015 / Revolting Subject / 6 Comments

In Scotland, there’s a bit of a smart thing going on.

During the referendum Scotland started questioning everything, trying to figure out, from scratch What’s Important For A (Reborn) Country. And even though, in the end, Scots opted to stay in the UK, the country had got the hang of the idea of interrogating the assumptions of the powerful.

This year, the Scottish Government completed a new hospital in Glasgow, the biggest in the country. The entire £842m cost was financed by the Scottish taxpayer, built on time, and without some lame brain PFI malarky. Glasgow, and Scotland is proud of it.

Then a rich old aristocratic woman shows up, who is doesn’t use the NHS, who sits on her arse eating swans in palace 345 miles from Glasgow… she stays for about 45 minutes, says nothing of interest, then pisses off and…..they Name The NHS Hospital After Her.

Glasgwegian. RAGING WITH QUEEN.

Glasgow has an appalling health record, mostly as a result of poverty and vast inequality. But now, as the stricken from Drumchapel, Castlemilk and Govan gasp for help, they will be obliged to say take me to….The Queen Elizabeth University Hospital.

It’s like a sick joke. But, as airport bombers found out, Glasgow likes to put up a fight.

About a mile from the hospital, is Sunny Govan Community Radio, and one if its broadcasters, John Beattie – who worked in the NHS for 10 years – felt annoyed enough to started a petition saying that “we the people oppose the new South Glasgow University Hospital being named after a monarch“, hoping for a few thousand signatures.

So far, over 13,500 people have signed the petition. ( please sign here)

Purple faced and pathetic, NHS Glasgow Glasgow Health board hit back, claiming it was ‘an honour’ for staff & patients to meet the queen and have the hospital named after her.

Lets ask the staff then….. A senior Dr Keith McKillop wrote to the Glasgow Herald saying….

“Queen Elizabeth is the most potent symbol of the glaring inequalities in our society, a vivid representation of the growing gulf between rich and poor. The name of the new hospital is not unimportant. One of my other bits of paper is an honours degree in theology, so I’m qualified to know that symbols carry meaning, power and influence. I am reluctantly obliged to reinforce the illusion that our hospital, and therefore our health, is the charitable gift of a benevolent monarch to her less fortunate subjects.”

Dr McKillop goes on to say that the general feeling amongst staff is far from being ‘honoured’ they are either indifferent or object to the name.

Contrary to recieved wisdom, some Doctors can write very clearly…he goes on…

“The association of royalty with healing is a medieval superstition with no place in the 21st century NHS. How can I realistically encourage the people of Glasgow to take responsibility for their health and wellbeing, for self-improvement, when the renamed hospital perpetuates the ideal of an inflexible social order? It suggests they should take life as it comes and accept their subsidiary position. It quite literally subjugates its patients.”

Bravo Dr McKillop !

So who made this crass offensive decision ?

Such was the controversy that Andrew Robertson ( OBE ! Ha ! ), the chairman of Greater Glasgow Health Board wrote to the Glasgow Herald, “explaining” that they couldn’t consider a range of different names for the hospital as it would result in disappointment for those who’s preferred names weren’t chosen (this is establishment patronising speak for It’ll End In Tears…).

He claimed that Senior staff and senior nurses ‘considered’ the royal name ( and, it is implied, approved). But when the Herald made a request to see the minutes of the meetings, it turns out they didn’t exist.

Inviting this uneducated privately treated woman to Daimler up to Scotland to name the hospital after herself cost over £100,000 ( this was only revealed after a Wings Over Scotland submitted a FoI request).

It looks unlikely that the hospital will be renamed. Naming a hospital after a royal is a risible idea, and I hope members of the Scottish government are squirming with embarrassment,

But at least Glasgow didn’t roll over and fawn. And that’s a start.

( despite the fact that -for once – this IS an interesting royal news story, it got very little attention, so please share on Facebook and Twitter and spray on the walls of royal palaces. Ta.)

UPDATE: 12 November 2015 – having gathered over 16,000 names, the petition is now closed.

Who’d be POTUK?

March 29, 2015March 29, 2015 / Revolting Subject / 4 Comments

One of the problems of being ANTI-monarchist is that you’re essentially defining yourself as Against Them. A Negative Force. It’s sort of exhausting, curmudgeonly, bad karma. On royal bank holidays, you’re the Pain-In-The-Arse griping about the Windsors as you quaff a sneaky wee beer under the bunting ( note. there’s no bucking funting where I live). You’re the one offending the Nice Oul’ granny who likes Kate.

And when the media do pay lip-service to republicanism (almost never) we’re portrayed as quaint eccentrics, with outlandish views ( worth a listen to this mad monarchist from about 3.20). Bizarrely, it’s often framed as evidence of how jolly good sports monarchists are – sort of Isn’t Britain Bloody Great Because We Tolerate Those Who Question Her MAJESTY….

Part of the problem is that the positive case for a Constitutional Alternative ( I know…yawn right ? ) can’t be condensed into a pithy tweet or retort. I’ve tried.

But it’s good to plant the seed of an alternative UK, a Head Of State.

I say this because the as soon as you mention an elected President the monarchists veins begin to bulge and wee foamy bits of spittle appear on their trembling lip until they play their Ace Card…

“What ? I suppose you’d prefer PRESIDENT BLAIR ?”

This is an utterly feeble line of attack and in fact an insult to the electorate. As if that’s the best option. As if the trauma of being abandoned by the Windsors would put the public into such a depression that they’d immediately vote for a war mongering lying politician that the majority of them hate. When some monarchist clown pipes up with the President Blair line it simply affirms that they’ve never had the imagination to contemplate any alternative to the monarchy.

So if not Blair, then who ?

I remember years ago some columnist writing – why don’t we make Michael Palin our head of state ? He seems like a lovely man, he’s self effacing and polite. He’s good at meeting people from other countries without spouting lazy racist stereotypes, he smiles a lot, drinks tea and is kinda funny. I don’t care who our first elected head of state is ( or indeed, if we need one), but the stardust Michael Palin thought is a useful one just to contrast with the turgid spectacle of the Windsors double-breasting their way through the next century.

Or Clare Baulding. I mean, OBVIOUSLY I can’t bear her Barbour-Jacketed Top Girl schtick- but y’know – she’s like an uber Windsor only more skilled with the media. Horses, poshness, sport, communicates. And she’s gay which gives a bit of international kudos (there’s certain places in Empire she couldn’t visit).

Or…anyone really.

A president could serve ten year terms, or retire without it being ‘a constitutional crisis’. President’s can be black, gay, disabled, catholic, muslim, eccentric, transexual – all those things that the Daily Mail would scream about if the Windsor family showed any sign of. A president would be entitled to more personal privacy – after all, the press have an absolute right to sniff around the Windsors private life because of the unignorable fact that the Head of State is dependent on bloodline. If they’re shagging around, it’s a perfectly valid story.

A president would also want the job, as opposed to some poor intellectually feeble snob out of his depth forever moaning that he doesn’t get enough influence on politics.

And it wouldn’t cost us so much. They could have one palace, instead of 8. They would have met real people before, and not have been brought up surrounded by flunkeys.

Of course, we’d get a duff Head of State occasionally – but….we do anyway. And if we get a Boris, we can always vote him out.

Finally, in these political times, consider that the queen gets £13m annually, and Prince Charles gets £19m from the Duchy of Cornwall.

Michael D Higgins, the poet president of Ireland has a salary of €270,000.

One of his first acts when elected…. was to reduce it to €207,000.

Well played Mr President.

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