pap Posted 16 January, 2012 Share Posted 16 January, 2012 Don't put your wallet away, British taxpayer. In addition to bailing out the banks, your money will now pay for a swish new yacht for HRH Queen Elizabeth II to celebrate the upcoming diamond jubilee. The yacht, pencilled in for £60M, will of course come as some comfort to the 2-3K of public sector workers that it would have paid for. Jobless they may be, but the Queen will have a new mode of transport, and that's all that matters. Guardian article. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Verbal Posted 16 January, 2012 Share Posted 16 January, 2012 Off with their inbred heads. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buctootim Posted 16 January, 2012 Share Posted 16 January, 2012 (edited) I dont actually mind that much. Less of a waste of money than the London Birmingham high speed line - I will get as much use out of the Queens yacht as I will that train. The real cost isnt in buying the things though, its in crewing, running and maintaining them. Edited 16 January, 2012 by buctootim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevegrant Posted 16 January, 2012 Share Posted 16 January, 2012 Cost to taxpayer of Queen's yacht proposed by Education Secretary Michael Gove: £60m Cut to school sports budget the year before the Olympics implemented by Education Secretary Michael Gove: £85m Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ribbo Posted 16 January, 2012 Share Posted 16 January, 2012 Give her the old one back I say!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pap Posted 16 January, 2012 Author Share Posted 16 January, 2012 Cost to taxpayer of Queen's yacht proposed by Education Secretary Michael Gove: £60m Cut to school sports budget the year before the Olympics implemented by Education Secretary Michael Gove: £85m And that's the current estimate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badgerx16 Posted 16 January, 2012 Share Posted 16 January, 2012 Surely she can buy her own ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pap Posted 16 January, 2012 Author Share Posted 16 January, 2012 Surely she can buy her own ? She can, many times over. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bridge too far Posted 16 January, 2012 Share Posted 16 January, 2012 I've always thought that Gove was a sandwich short of a picnic - this confirms it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trousers Posted 16 January, 2012 Share Posted 16 January, 2012 Cost to taxpayer of Queen's yacht proposed by Education Secretary Michael Gove: £60m Cut to school sports budget the year before the Olympics implemented by Education Secretary Michael Gove: £85m [video=youtube_share;bhyYgnhhKFw] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trousers Posted 16 January, 2012 Share Posted 16 January, 2012 I've always thought that Gove was a sandwich short of a picnic - this confirms it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bridge too far Posted 16 January, 2012 Share Posted 16 January, 2012 Headache, sweet chops? That's what Gove does to you, isn't it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trousers Posted 16 January, 2012 Share Posted 16 January, 2012 Surely she can buy her own ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trousers Posted 16 January, 2012 Share Posted 16 January, 2012 She can, many times over. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CHAPEL END CHARLIE Posted 16 January, 2012 Share Posted 16 January, 2012 So we can give the old girl a Jubilee gift she'll love and create desparetly needed jobs in our shipbuilding industry building a showcase ship that will travel the world showing off what we can do ...... and its going to cost everyone in the country the princely sum of £1 each. A bargain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trousers Posted 16 January, 2012 Share Posted 16 January, 2012 Off with their inbred heads. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trousers Posted 16 January, 2012 Share Posted 16 January, 2012 So we can give the old girl a Jubilee gift she'll love and create desparetly needed jobs in our shipbuilding industry building a showcase ship that will travel the world showing off what we can do ...... and its going to cost everyone in the country the princely sum of £1 each. A bargain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foxstone Posted 16 January, 2012 Share Posted 16 January, 2012 While this might be the Royal Yacht, I would wager that it will be available on many, many occasions as a business acquisition lever. Britannia was often used in such a way. I am reading the latest Andrew Marr book on the Queen and it was estimated that while the yacht cost £60 million a year to run it indirectly contributed to £100 million a year in trade for GB by hosting international businessmen and national leaders. It was the upgrading refit that tipped it over the cost versus benefit argument together with the Royals being so attached to Britannia that they were ambivalent about a replacement. Rich Middle Easterner and Asian leaders/ businessmen love this type of "entertainment" and a new Royal Yacht may prove to be an asset and not a millstone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trousers Posted 16 January, 2012 Share Posted 16 January, 2012 While this might be the Royal Yacht, I would wager that it will be available on many, many occasions as a business acquisition lever. Britannia was often used in such a way. I am reading the latest Andrew Marr book on the Queen and it was estimated that while the yacht cost £60 million a year to run it indirectly contributed to £100 million a year in trade for GB by hosting international businessmen and national leaders. It was the upgrading refit that tipped it over the cost versus benefit argument together with the Royals being so attached to Britannia that they were ambivalent about a replacement. Rich Middle Easterner and Asian leaders/ businessmen love this type of "entertainment" and a new Royal Yacht may prove to be an asset and not a millstone. And you expect such rationale to wash with the 'judge a book by it's cover" brigade on here...? ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saint si Posted 16 January, 2012 Share Posted 16 January, 2012 So then let's see a proper business case for it, rather than present it as a "reward" for the queen... And surely Gove is way outside his remit here anyway, to even be talking about it... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badgerx16 Posted 16 January, 2012 Share Posted 16 January, 2012 Surely she can buy her own ? Trousers in epidemic of facepalm horror ! T, you must accept that some people do not think that this is a priority on the public purse, and that some of us are of the belief that we, as a nation, would be better off as a true republic. ( Bring on Scottish independence, then they can take the royals back ). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keithd Posted 16 January, 2012 Share Posted 16 January, 2012 Its not happening now anyway, plans have been shelved Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Verbal Posted 16 January, 2012 Share Posted 16 January, 2012 trousers, ask yourself where the royal duchys came from. They were landgrabs, largely of public (ie our) land, privatised for the benefit of our dumbass royals. Your (oddly American) YouDune does of course gloss over this. Chuck the royals out, exile them back to Bavaria, and open up all the castles, grand houses, to the public and turn over the Duchys to the National Trust. We'll make just as much money and likely more. And the latest news is Cameron has junked the idea, thank ****. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trousers Posted 16 January, 2012 Share Posted 16 January, 2012 Trousers in epidemic of facepalm horror ! T, you must accept that some people do not think that this is a priority on the public purse If the boat was built in the UK (perhaps with private investment) and it acted as a catalyst for UK business and tourism then it wouldn't be a burden on the 'public purse' in the long run. All I'm suggesting is people could make judgements based on analysis of the finances rather than a default and ideological "bash the monarchy" persepctive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trousers Posted 16 January, 2012 Share Posted 16 January, 2012 trousers, ask yourself where the royal duchys came from. They were landgrabs, largely of public (ie our) land, privatised for the benefit of our dumbass royals. Your (oddly American) YouDune does of course gloss over this. Chuck the royals out, exile them back to Bavaria, and open up all the castles, grand houses, to the public and turn over the Duchys to the National Trust. We'll make just as much money and likely more. And the latest news is Cameron has junked the idea, thank ****. Another u-turn by the Tories. Sigh.... ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Verbal Posted 16 January, 2012 Share Posted 16 January, 2012 If the boat was built in the UK (perhaps with private investment) and it acted as a catalyst for UK business and tourism then it wouldn't be a burden on the 'public purse' in the long run. All I'm suggesting is people could make judgements based on analysis of the finances rather than a default and ideological "bash the monarchy" persepctive. Better idea: give them Britannia back (which is sinking) and take them on a tour of Italian islands. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Verbal Posted 16 January, 2012 Share Posted 16 January, 2012 Another u-turn by the Tories. Sigh.... ;-) To be fair to Cameron, it wasn't a U-turn - just Gove being a dickhead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trousers Posted 16 January, 2012 Share Posted 16 January, 2012 Better idea: give them Britannia back (which is sinking) and take them on a tour of Italian islands. :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pap Posted 16 January, 2012 Author Share Posted 16 January, 2012 To be fair to Cameron, it wasn't a U-turn - just Gove being a dickhead. I've been watching The Thick of It on Netflix. This is like an episode of that Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pap Posted 16 January, 2012 Author Share Posted 16 January, 2012 And on another note, it really does go to show the p*ss-poor Government that we have at the moment. Schools are in peril, youth unemployment is sitting at unprecedented levels, yet Michael Gove apparently has the time to go outside his remit and suggest that 60M of tax-payer's cash should be spent on a floating white elephant. Hardly indicative of a government with its priorities set straight, or even, the right people in the right places. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buctootim Posted 16 January, 2012 Share Posted 16 January, 2012 And on another note, it really does go to show the p*ss-poor Government that we have at the moment. Schools are in peril, youth unemployment is sitting at unprecedented levels, yet Michael Gove apparently has the time to go outside his remit and suggest that 60M of tax-payer's cash should be spent on a floating white elephant. Hardly indicative of a government with its priorities set straight, or even, the right people in the right places. There is no way £60m would buy a yacht useable by a Head of State anyway - given all the need to accomodate security and public function rooms. The Royal Yacht Brittania was the size of a cross channel ferry. You'd be looking at nearer £200m imo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trousers Posted 16 January, 2012 Share Posted 16 January, 2012 And on another note, it really does go to show the p*ss-poor Government that we have at the moment. Schools are in peril, youth unemployment is sitting at unprecedented levels, yet Michael Gove apparently has the time to go outside his remit and suggest that 60M of tax-payer's cash should be spent on a floating white elephant. Hardly indicative of a government with its priorities set straight, or even, the right people in the right places. At least Cameron's swift nipping-in-the-bud of Gove's idea meant that Milliband and Balls didn't get chance to come around to agreeing with yet another Tory policy.... ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pap Posted 16 January, 2012 Author Share Posted 16 January, 2012 At least Cameron's swift nipping-in-the-bud of Gove's idea meant that Milliband and Balls didn't get chance to come around to agreeing with yet another Tory policy.... ;-) As you (probably) know trousers, I have no political allegiance either way - but I feel I must stick up for Miliband et al. The Tories are nicking their ideas left, right and centre ( see what I did there? ). That to me suggests that they didn't really have any plan or political convictions, at least none that would get any sort of backing from the British public. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buctootim Posted 16 January, 2012 Share Posted 16 January, 2012 As you (probably) know trousers, I have no political allegiance either way - but I feel I must stick up for Miliband et al. The Tories are nicking their ideas left, right and centre ( see what I did there? ). That to me suggests that they didn't really have any plan or political convictions, at least none that would get any sort of backing from the British public. Political convictions? How quaint. How pre focus group Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pap Posted 16 January, 2012 Author Share Posted 16 January, 2012 Political convictions? How quaint. How pre focus group Hmm, the focus group. Politicians actively seeking the views of real people. The whole thing would be considerably cheaper if we froze MPs assets and gave them the average public sector wage. They'd soon find out about the needs of real people. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuperMikey Posted 16 January, 2012 Share Posted 16 January, 2012 trousers, ask yourself where the royal duchys came from. They were landgrabs, largely of public (ie our) land, privatised for the benefit of our dumbass royals. Your (oddly American) YouDune does of course gloss over this. Chuck the royals out, exile them back to Bavaria, and open up all the castles, grand houses, to the public and turn over the Duchys to the National Trust. We'll make just as much money and likely more. And the latest news is Cameron has junked the idea, thank ****. This. A million times over. Stop playing along with the f*cking fairytale and see that most other countries do just fine without their monarchy, but we're still clinging on. Excellent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buctootim Posted 16 January, 2012 Share Posted 16 January, 2012 This. A million times over. Stop playing along with the f*cking fairytale and see that most other countries do just fine without their monarchy, but we're still clinging on. Excellent. Its actually surprising how many countries do still have a monarch - Sweden, Norway, Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Spain. People keep the monarchy because although its an anachronistic system in many ways - it actually works pretty well . Having an elected President (King) usually just means you get a self serving ego driven **** at Head of State level as well as at parliamentary level. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saint1977 Posted 16 January, 2012 Share Posted 16 January, 2012 As you (probably) know trousers, I have no political allegiance either way - but I feel I must stick up for Miliband et al. The Tories are nicking their ideas left, right and centre ( see what I did there? ). That to me suggests that they didn't really have any plan or political convictions, at least none that would get any sort of backing from the British public. As someone else isn't either a right wing poster or a 'leftie', I'm not sure where else Cameron can go. Neoconservative ideas and policies are as popular and relevant as socialist ones circa 1991, Neoconservativism has joined Socialism in the dustbin of history and the idea of a 'free market' without significant intervention to keep it free has been totally debunked. Hopefully we retain a capitalist system but with more of the transparency that is being discussed at present and with a more sustainable future where the gap between top and bottom earners doesn't widen any further and cause the type of global collapse we've seen in the West where innovation and regulation become unbalanced. You need them supporting each other. Cameron and Clegg know that they have to work with the majority of the British working public now to refloat the economy and hopefully we can all turn down the volume on the appalling 1% represented by the likes of the IoD and certain far right wing rags. If the Tory far right don't like it, they can form a far right type SDP with UKIP and other hangers on and leave the business of sensible mainstream politics to those who know what they are doing on the centre right and left. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foxstone Posted 16 January, 2012 Share Posted 16 January, 2012 Its actually surprising how many countries do still have a monarch - Sweden, Norway, Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Spain. People keep the monarchy because although its an anachronistic system in many ways - it actually works pretty well . Having an elected President (King) usually just means you get a self serving ego driven **** at Head of State level as well as at parliamentary level. Agreed - The monarchy is an asset. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Verbal Posted 16 January, 2012 Share Posted 16 January, 2012 Agreed - The monarchy is an asset. The 'et' is presumably redundant, or pronounced silently. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foxstone Posted 16 January, 2012 Share Posted 16 January, 2012 The 'et' is presumably redundant, or pronounced silently. Neither - It's loud and proud ! Rather a sane successor than "The Great Successor" and other of its ilk.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saintandy666 Posted 16 January, 2012 Share Posted 16 January, 2012 Neither - It's loud and proud ! Rather a sane successor than "The Great Successor" and other of its ilk.. So the only other option to monarchy is a North Korean Style dictatorship? Which if you ask me is rather like a monarchy given the father son hand over of power that has happened now twice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buctootim Posted 16 January, 2012 Share Posted 16 January, 2012 So the only other option to monarchy is a North Korean Style dictatorship? Which if you ask me is rather like a monarchy given the father son hand over of power that has happened now twice. Wow, you got a touch of Alpine perpective disease? Just to state the obvious - North Korea, dictatorship with almost absolute power. Constitutional Monarchy - ceremonial figurehead, power vested in elected government. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Verbal Posted 16 January, 2012 Share Posted 16 January, 2012 Neither - It's loud and proud ! Rather a sane successor than "The Great Successor" and other of its ilk.. Then consider your forelock tugged and your knee scraped. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saintandy666 Posted 16 January, 2012 Share Posted 16 January, 2012 Wow, you got a touch of Alpine perpective disease? Just to state the obvious - North Korea, dictatorship with almost absolute power. Constitutional Monarchy - ceremonial figurehead, power vested in elected government. I'm aware of that, but his post(unless I misunderstood, which is entirely possible) seemed to infer it was one or the other! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
um pahars Posted 16 January, 2012 Share Posted 16 January, 2012 Gove is simply deluded and out of touch with the reality facing many in this country. Given the current climate of austerity there is no way the Government will be funding such a project and given the hardship faced by many it is almost obscene to be suggesting this "gift". Even if the Government opted for some Keynesian deficit spending, then I think this would still be way down on the list. I'm sure there are many more worthy and beneficial projects to UK PLC than this mad scheme Like many of his hair brained schemes he is just out of touch with the reality facing many in this country. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LGTL Posted 16 January, 2012 Share Posted 16 January, 2012 Cost to taxpayer of Queen's yacht proposed by Education Secretary Michael Gove: £60m Cut to school sports budget the year before the Olympics implemented by Education Secretary Michael Gove: £85m Sums it up perfectly. That man makes me sick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuperMikey Posted 16 January, 2012 Share Posted 16 January, 2012 Its actually surprising how many countries do still have a monarch - Sweden, Norway, Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Spain. People keep the monarchy because although its an anachronistic system in many ways - it actually works pretty well . Having an elected President (King) usually just means you get a self serving ego driven **** at Head of State level as well as at parliamentary level. Surely having an elected President is the most democratic form of democracy? Not all politicians are jumped up w4nkers... Even though the monarchy has little or no power now, I just feel that they're far too archaic considering this is the 21st century. However as long as we have Labour/Tories in charge of the country, nothing will change. Jamaica has the right idea, trying to annex itself from the commonwealth. There's little or no benefit anymore. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Verbal Posted 16 January, 2012 Share Posted 16 January, 2012 Once QE2 is gone, and the succession delivers Charles to reign over us, the royal mask will well and truly slip, and the Saxe-Coburg-Gothas (to give them their proper surname; 'Windsor is just a made-up name) will go back to being as rankly unpopular as they were this time last century. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buctootim Posted 16 January, 2012 Share Posted 16 January, 2012 Once QE2 is gone, and the succession delivers Charles to reign over us, the royal mask will well and truly slip, and the Saxe-Coburg-Gothas (to give them their proper surname; 'Windsor is just a made-up name) will go back to being as rankly unpopular as they were this time last century. What form of government would you choose Verbal? Figurehead President with Executive Prime Minister (eg France and Ireland); Executive President accountable directly to parliament (eg US), some other? Genuinely interested to know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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