Didn’t anybody else notice the flaw in the Queen’s Christmas message?
In it, she pointedly praised the volunteers who stewarded the Diamond Jubilee celebrations – in particular the river pageant.
So what was the flaw?
Well, everyone seems to have forgotten that a lot of the volunteers she was praising hadn’t in fact volunteered to work on the river pageant at all.
Many were unemployed jobseekers who had been bussed into London and forced to work as unpaid stewards. Some had even had to sleep underneath London Bridge on bare freezing cold concrete the night before the event.
Remember this:
Unemployed bussed in to steward river pageant
But – according to the Queen – the success of the event depended to an enormous degree on the dedication and effort of an army of ‘volunteers’.
Call me old-fashioned, but I always thought volunteers were people who had actually volunteered to do something – not been forced or blackmailed into it.
Of course, it’s entirely possible the Queen wasn’t aware that people had been forced to work as unpaid stewards during her jubilee celebrations.
If so – isn’t it about time someone told her?
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Pride's Purge 
Well said Tom, must admit telly wasn’t an option today so escaped all the propaganda. I’m away for a week in a no telly house, bliss.
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Sshh – don’t tell anyone but I didn’t actually see it either. I’m relying on the BBC website article.
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Reblogged this on sid30837.
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Is the Queen writing her own speeches now? More cuts?
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I’ve got to 61 years old without listening to a Queen’s Speech. I am not about to start now!How could she be anything other than totally ignorant of what ordinary people’s lives and worries, hopes and fears are. There has never been a moment in her life that was not spent in unimaginable luxury and privelege. And she’s not had to worry if her children and grandchildren would suffer. No it’s not been a big “paper round” for her.
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It’s just like in fairy tales: the ministers ‘protect’ HM from bad news…
And when we write to her, our letters don’t reach her…
How do we tell her EFFECTIVELY, I wonder?
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Is it not about time we got rid of this belief that where your born makes you a better human being. I am sure being a republic would cure a lot of problems.
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This adds to the evidence that we don`t really live in a democracy, if the government want the plebs to do something then we will bloody well do it.How can it be a democracy when that “royal” family aren`t voted in? They automatically take £millions from the workers of Britain and as an earlier comment noted, live in total luxury and privilege unaware of the misery being forced upon the public by that tyrant CAMERON.
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Nice one Tom. One is always amused at ones blog. Off with there heads. 🙂
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A national minimum wage would be a good idea.
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The Queen is the Head of State of the United Kingdom of Britain. As such she gives assent to all laws and bills put through by the government, including the basically fascist one that is in power. So, given that they have no real mandate, and we do not live in a democracy, we should overthrow the entire capitalist state along with its monarchy and replace it with a real, concrete democracy, with socialism at its basis. All forms of privilege must be destroyed.
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It’s all about pomp and circumstance for the Government which the Queen is head of. In the past they have asked us to lay down our lives for so-called freedom and democracy, and for what, so that later they could kick us even more?
Our loved also laid down their lives through various wars for what they were led to believe in. After finding the truth in the great here and after I’m sure they must be turning in their graves with disgust – like we are now.
I hope and pray that someone is hard at work stoking the fires of hell in anticipation of their arrival – they deserve no less.
We can do without all of them, I’m sick of them taking and living plus lives while we continually give through brought-up blindness…
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With an axe 🙂
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A National Living wage would be better.
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Someone should tell her that way she might make a stand and take this country back
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Living wage simply pushes up rents, and is nice if one already has a council home: must build homes.
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there’s supposed to be one…..
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The current National Minimum wage does not seem to apply to JSA claimants, which does not seem to be the best way to convince them of the benefits of work.
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+1
and don’t forget the heirs and other hangers on . . .
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Didn’t the Queen effectively abdicate the day the Royal Assent or whatever was given to the UK becoming part of the EU? Her oath was to defend her people from foreign powers, and here we are at the beck and call of the Brussels despots. Funny how she’s fooled people all these years . . .
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Yes and all our laws are passed by the commissariat in Brussels first. The Queen just gives the impression that she ratifies laws, everything has been decided in advance at their secret meetings. In effect we are ruled by soft legal powers – that is powers conferred on lobbyists and special interest groups who have no authority to act for the general population. There never has been democracy.
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Would she care? I doubt it. She owns a sixth of the planet, she knows enough of what happens in the real world in order to keep her grip on her wealth.
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I’m glad to say that I’m an expat and telly-less so missed the usual trite nonsense from the royal biddy. As she comes from a quasi-military background she is probably using the word “volunteer” as per the military usage, ie no-one volunteers, they are just following orders.
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none of them were FORCED to work, and I don’t think you can acurately describe the concrete as FREEZING in the middle of the summer. Couple of flaws there in your negative blog. Also, the majority of volunteers did it for the enjoyment of being part of something amazing, and i don’t think she should leave it out of her christmas message because a scheduling mistake meant that some volunteers arrived in london far too early in the morning. Try to be a little bit less one-sided.
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Well, it would be nice to think that she knows she ought to stick to her oath!
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Anyone actually know the process which would lead to the abolition of the monarchy?
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“Why were Prince Philip, who will be 91 on Sunday, and the Queen, who was 86 in April, allowed to spend the entire four hours of her Diamond Jubilee river pageant on their feet on a wet, cold day more like November than June?”
That’s a quote from the pro-royalty Daily Mail. Obviously royalists like you and the Mail think people with blue blood are more susceptible to cold than mere plebs.
Or perhaps you think the royals have a special micro-climate which follows them around everywhere?
Oh and by the way – the unemployed people were told their benefits could be stopped if they didn’t do the workfare.
That’s not ‘volunteering’ in my book. Presumably in yours it is.
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I might be wrong Sue but I think the Queen has always written her own Christmas messages. If you know different I’d be interested.
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Well – I’m over 350 years old and being an ex-officer of Cromwell’s New Model Army I’m obviously not much of a Royalist. The last royal speech I remember was Charles I just before he lost his head on the scaffold in Whitehall.
I don’t think he mentioned workfare then but I might be wrong.
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Mark,
You know this because you have slept on concrete under a bridge in summer before have you. Before you ask yes I have and it is freezing. Please get it right If you are going to reply so one sided.
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well didnt see it but there again she doesnt pay much its a pittance
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I fail to believe that the queen knows nothing about what is happening to her subjects and i truly believe she doesnt care as long as her family can live as they have done for centuries as long as us commoners keep paying our taxes.If this government believes that the private sector is better re selling off the nhs and following the american way when it comes to health insurance etc and following a republican way of life with no public services only the great private sector thr that should apply to our monarchy so lets get rid
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A spontaneous mass awakening would help!!! But more seriously, revolutions, legal reforms etc have been the tools of choice in the past. For example, Oliver Cromwell; the French Revolution and the Bolsheviks – but none of these resulted in anything that was very good for the people and ended in the death of millions. One form of psychopathic rule is usually replaced by another one unfortunately. In my view, we should have a slower, well-informed process of change. The royals should be progressively divested of their “wealth” which has been appropriated from the common people until they have to survive like the rest of us, ie work for a living. It’s a process of education for the rest of us and some reality checks for the untreatable psychopaths.
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I have asked the same question of Republic (of which I am a member) and they are unable to provide a clear answer. It seems to me crucial that we develop a strategy to achieve our goals which are both measurable and achievable. This rubbishing of the monarchy is attractive to me and others like me but only toughens the resolve of their supporters.
I believe the message needs to be that the UK needs to evolve further to a land of fairness and equality and a major step to achieving this has to be the removal of the monarchy.
No black, Asian, Welsh, Scottish, Northern Irish or Catholic has the chance to be head of state of the UK for at least 100 years. If this was any other British institution there would be outcry and the news channels would be full of it. Because it’s the royal family they roll over and expose their throats!
Which brings me back to my original question – how do we achieve the goal? Does it require a bill to be passed? If so, although the monarchy has not been involved in the ‘royal assent’ process for many years, my understanding is the queen still has a legal right to refuse assent. Would she not use this power to preserve her position?
On a separate not I believe King Charles would be the biggest boost for a Republic and King William the biggest obstacle based on their relative popularity.
So lets look forward to the investiture of Prince Charles for then will be a good time to strike. But we need a plan.
G.
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They used to say that the Queen thought the world smelled of fresh paint, but surely it now mostly smells of BS?
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To bigmooth. 61, and never listened to a Queen’s Speech ? You might start by learning about this world you live in. No a Monarchist myself, but I usually try to listen in for those few minutes. Not fawning, but critically. However, this year, I forgot to tune in. Even worse, I forgot to listen to the Alternative Queens speech !!!
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@Ger
Your reply is interesting. If Republic do not have a clear idea of how a fairer system could be brought in then perhaps they are not serious about their goal – I don’t know that organisation but I am aware of the fact that any organisation that is set up to question the status quo has either been infiltrated or was even set up with the purpose of wasting people’s time and energy, it’s a kind of safety valve to avoid mass civil disturbance much like the charade of five-yearly elections.
In my view real change is slow and progressive and depends on real education and real information – these are presently orchestrated by tptb The alternative media have a chance – if they are not too full of agents provocateurs – to deliver a message of support for critical thinking and the will to change things. If enough people start to question their loyalty to people and ideas who do not deserve it then the system of divine right can be toppled. Loyalty is a quality of normal people that is effectively manipulated by psychopathic power seekers. Most people are also unable to believe that a small number of people can be so completely evil. Professional studies of psychopathy fall very short of naming and shaming those who are in power and often this type of research disappears – I wonder why!!!
If you have the chance to watch the film “Unlawful Killing” it has some useful insights into the racist attitudes of the royals. Phil is a card-carrying nazi, Margaret hated blacks and jews etc. And yet the “loyal” subjects continue to support these crazies saying that they represent the country. We are in need of lots of education.
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Gerard Winstanley
Mark, on critically analysing your reply I have come to this conclusion, YOU ARE A PRAT
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