Prince Charles

[andsome]

I have just been watching News Twenty Four, but had to break off to start this thread. Evidently, work has just finished on Clarence house to the tune of over £6 million, and £4.5 million has come from the tax payer. This is at a time when people are dying for want of help on the N.H.S., and the railways are falling apart etc etc. The mind boggles at the nerve of him having the cheek to accept this money. I am incensed at this, and am sure that many others will be too. We could well do without him and all the other hangers on, taking peoples hard earned cash, just so that they can live a life of privilege and luxury. I just wish that there was something that we could all do about it, apart from starting a bloody revolution. IT MAKES MY BLOOD BOIL.

[Guest moon]

If Clarence House is a listed building he's entitled to it. Heritage, what ?

[andsome]

If Clarence House is a listed building he's entitled to it.  Heritage, what ?

Listed building or not, this kind of money to house one of the wealthiest people in the country, and his girl friend is obscene. This is more money than any eight or nine people would spend on their homes in a lifetime. If I want new wallpaper I have to pay for it myself. It stinks as much as the labour peer business.

[Guest LB]

totally agree andsome, it is a complete waste of taxpayers money, he should have forked out for it himself!!!!!

[Bluecow]

Or if someone agreed to give me aload of money I'd take it. more fool the people who gave him the money

[andsome]

Or if someone agreed to give me aload of money I'd take it. more fool the people who gave him the money

THIs is my point, we have NO OPTION

[Guest moon]

I don't get it. Your Royals are subject to the same laws as everybody else ( proof, please, if you disagree ) and should also reap the same benefits. Prime ministers don't fork out for their gaff out of their own pockets. Royals have, recently I think, volunteered to pay taxes even though they were exempt.

[andsome]

I don't get it.  Your Royals are subject to the same laws as everybody else ( proof, please, if you disagree ) and should also reap the same benefits. Prime ministers don't fork out for their gaff out of their own pockets. Royals have, recently I think, volunteered to pay taxes even though they were exempt.

I understand what you are saying, but here are a few facts. Prime Ministers are elected, and we can get rid of them when we see fit. Number 10 Downing Street and Chequers are part of the job, the same as my company car was when I was a company rep., but of course these are given up when the job is given up. So, royalty have agreed to pay taxes, this must be the big deal of the century, the rest of us mere mortals have no choice. This only came about because of public outcry. I have paid tax all my working life, and now have to continue to do so out of my pittance of a pension. They live a life of luxury and are waited on hand and foot, not because they have earned it, but just by accident of birth. The rest of us have to earn our income, while they get it just because of who they are. Many years ago, royalty came about because the strongest and best organisers built private armies and took everything from the peasants. Lords and ladies etc were created by these kings as a reward for loyalty in keeping the peasants down. Royalty and aristocracy are feudal concepts and have NO place in a modern world. We condemn countries like Iraq and their former dictator, and not for one moment would I say that there is a direct comparison, but the idea is the same, give one family almost anything that anyone could wish for, just because of who their father and grandfather etc were. It is puke making to see people standing in a straight line and bowing or curtsying when the majesty stands in front of them, and not daring to speak unless they are spoken to first.

As I said, the rest of us have to pay for our homes, our decorations and our wallpaper etc. That £4.5 million would have been better spent on the country as a whole, there are so many worthwhile causes.

I love to visit old stately homes, and can appreciate their beauty and grandeur, even more so when I think that it was all done on the backs of the peasants. It is right and just that these homes are now owned, and kept in repair by the National trust and other organisations, where for a small fee we can all enjoy them. If these people want to live in one of these properties, let them get off their backsides and earn the money to pay for the privilege.

To sum up, don't think for one moment that I am a communist. I do not hold the belief that everything should be split up and shared out equally, this cannot work. I believe in reward for effort, but DEFINITELY NOT because of an accident of birth.

[AndySD]

I'm afraid I have to disagree ... the money was well spent on a property. Its now open to the public and will return money to the public purse.......

Unlike the £4 million plus spent per year on spin doctors by this goverment. Buts thats a seperate subject.

[Damo]

This happens all the time......the threads still on here about Lord Loopy Derry Irvine and his spending habits!

Things will never change, the whole of the british political system is plain out corrupt!

And that's from a soon to be GMP copper! :P

[andsome]

I'm afraid I have to disagree ... the money was well spent on a property.  Its now open to the public and will return money to the public purse.......

Unlike the £4 million plus spent per year on spin doctors by this goverment. Buts thats a seperate subject.

Sorry but you are wrong. You know roughly how big the place is, well FOUR ROOMS only are open. What a big deal that is, all that money spent on one of the wealthiest people in the country, and we get to see four rooms if we pay more, having already paid for the work.

[Guest LB]

Royals pay taxes - ???

a special deal was struck where they pay income tax but avoid inheritance tax, how fair is that?

[Guest moon]

I'd like to avoid inheritance tax too, probably we all would. Shame on the government for imposing it and Good Luck Charlie for being smart enough to kick its ass. :D

[Guest LB]

moon dont take this personally but why do all americans love our royal family so much.

With all the scandal and the burden they place on the taxpayer they are a pain in the posterier.....

[Guest moon]

moon dont take this personally but why do all americans love our royal family so much

I couldn't take it personally, LB, as I'm not an American. I guess they like the colour and pomp, just about as far from their own drab presidential system as it could be. :D

Edit; Man, my avatar looks like a microdot. Still, there's always the gay pegboard to cheer me up. :D

[andsome]

I'd like to avoid inheritance tax too, probably we all would. Shame on the government for imposing it and Good Luck Charlie for being smart enough to kick its ass.  :D

Taxes HAVE to be gathered from somewhere if we want to run a society with any sort of organisation at all, even if we do not agree with all its objectives. However for a few people to have a privileged position, and to be able to c**k a snook at the rest of us is very wrong. SHAME on him and all the rest of his family hangers on for doing so.

[Guest moon]

Your Royals earn your country billions every year and work their nuts off on a daily basis. Give 'em a perk. :D

[andsome]

Your Royals earn your country billions every year and work their nuts off on a daily basis. Give 'em a perk.  :D

I don't know where your figures come from. Some earnings can be put down to a very few tourists who may come here simply in the hope of seeing a majestic or highness. Most of the tourists come here because they want to see the country in any case. Now think of the costs. Think of the extra policing to pay for when they go walk abouts or ride abouts. Think of the cost of royal travel, by royal train, by air and by sea. Think of the grace and favour houses lived in by all the hangers on. Think of the colossal wages bill for all the lackeys. Think of the pocket money paid to all the family, it runs into millions. The list is endless. It's about time they all found useful paid employment, and paid their own bills the same as the rest of us. It's about time all the bowing and curtsying, and 'yes ma'am, no ma'am three bags full ma'am' stopped. How can who your mother and Father were, imply that you should idolised and placed on a pedestal above everyone else, be justified? How can you justify the elevation to this exalted idolatry to someone who happens to marry a majestic or highness?

[Guest moon]

Sure they earn you billions. Who would turn up for 'the Changing of the Mailmen' or the 'Trooping of the Red Flag' ? :D

[andsome]

Sure they earn you billions.  Who would turn up for 'the Changing of the Mailmen' or the 'Trooping of the Red Flag' ? :D

By virtue of the fact that people turn up for the changing of the guard, does not generate earnings. With the greatest of respect I cannot see where the billions are coming from. Have you taken into account the costs that I have mentioned? You are assuming that virtually all our tourist income is generated by this over rated, over paid, over privileged family. Or are you in fact just winding me up by keeping this going?

[Guest moon]

LOL ! :D This is the debates forum , isn't it ? I don't have to believe what I'm saying, I'm just debating.

Here's a thought. How did 'Kings' come to be, anyway ? I imagine that Chiefs came first, sort of tough , canny guys able to keep small bands of wanderers together. Then the available land got divided up and the Chiefs needed an Authority to oversee the situation. 'God' was favourite, but 'His' messages were difficult to interpret and caused more trouble than they were worth so the Chiefs decided on a 'Superchief' who was in direct contact with the Almighty. Superchief, or 'King' as he came to be known, could interpret The Word for them all. Now, this ability was an extremely rare thing so the tribes thought that a little selective breeding would retain the necessary magic from generation through generation. Bingo. Your Royal family. Selectively bred and in direct touch with God. You really want these beings to pay Inheritance Tax ? :D

[Guest moon]

Hold hard ! I just remembered you chopped Charly One's head off. ! No wonder things have turned bad for you. :D

[andsome]

With the greatest of respect Moon you have not read what I posted before. As we have both already acknowledged, royalty and aristocracy came about because the strong were able to impose their will upon the rest of society. The culture then grew that these people had to be worshipped, feted and waited on hand and foot. Don't you seriously think that it's about time that this feudal system was scrapped, and all this idolatry, just because of an accident of birth, was scrapped? Many of the ancestors of todays hangers on were spawned the wrong side of the blanket anyway.

[Guest moon]

I don't think so, andsome. The monarchy are a royal pain in the ass to parliament and their traditional values suit me. It's the same in Oz. If any Oz parliament of the last thirty years could have done their thing, unhindered by the Governor General, then the country would be ruined by now. No, I'm not into King scapping. Besides, the royals fill a humour void unique to the UK. :D Tally ho.

[andsome]

The mind boggles, how can you talk about their traditional values? Over the years they have had more bastards than the rest of the country altogether. The late Duke of Windsor was a Nazi sympathiser, and THAT is a well known fact. Going back to Henry No 8, look what he did to his wives, and look what he did to the established church, so that he could get his own way. You could fill a book with the royal family's TRADITIONAL VALUES. There just is not enough space or time on this board. TRADITIONAL VALUES, RUBBISH. What about Charlie and his girl friend, or is adultery a traditional value? What kind of traditional value was it when Diane had her accident, what was she doing scudding all round Europe with an Arab playboy instead of being at home with the kids? The list is endless. Traditional values don't even enter the argument.