An American citizen can be knighted but can't use the title. At least not at home. He may be Bill Gates to us, but in the UK I guess they can call him Sir William if they want to.
Name a country that hasn't had a Civil war. The point is that our system of Government is a direct result of the ruling Monarchy deliberately giving away their powers to form a democratic parliamentary system that the world copied. My history isn't exactly A-grade, but in essence that's what happened.
That the world copied? You wish. If anything you copied various democratic systems that have been around since the Antiquity, all the way back to Athens.
And not only they didn't relinquish their "powers" willingly, but for over 2 centuries after that less than 3% of the total population actually had voting powers. By then most Eu countries evolved what is considered truer democracies.
England once was a formidable military, economic and cultural power, but you're not only exaggerating but fantasizing their reach here. Nostalgia is ok, rewriting history meh.
/end off topic, but then again the knighthood topic was meaningless to start with
What about the War of the Roses? And no, not the movie!
Also the 100 Years War with France?!
And Europe calls Americans "Cowboys"! Yeah...
I was referring to revolution, someone else turned that into Cival Wars, then I asked a question about that after. No-one denies there was plenty of bloodshed, inc. the War of the Roses etc, what there was not and never has been in this country is a proper "off with their head" everyone against the Monarchy full on revolution.
So you accuse someone of being a "Right wing fundamentalist" because he said the truth? If I were to stoop to your level I would say you are a nazi loving socialist.
I thought the british empire is no more. What a dumb reason to deny someone an award in technology sector.
The phrase was put out to pasture long ago. But tell that to the Australians, they don't like it at all, but I wouldn't be surprised if the sun still never sets on the British Empire in one way or another for say 20 hours a day, these days.
So you accuse someone of being a "Right wing fundamentalist" because he said the truth? If I were to stoop to your level I would say you are a nazi loving socialist.
The Nazi's were fascists, not socialists. You don't get more right wing than a fascist.
It's the communists/Stalinists that were heavily socialist.
Most peoples objection to the Royal Family is that they don't have to pay tax, and they receive (collectively) a £30m or so payout each year to keep the ticking over (The Civil List). Any other complaints are likely to not be grounded in any logical basis. I worked out the Civil List to cost the average (at todays prices and not counting for inflation from the past that we know about and future that we don't) person who works and pays taxes approx £35 over a lifetime. I've already have I think 3 days off work in my working career due to Royal Family related public holidays, and there's a glut coming soon to boot. And most of the major ones pay tax voluntarily too. Plus, when we get a REALLY irritating one, the Yanks are more than pleased to take her off our hands
While they get £30m from the civil list, the Queen also gave up the right to all income from her land and assets, and I believe the same might be true for Prince Charles (much of the Duchy income is given to charity). the income brought in from the land they own more than makes up for the £30m given by the tax payer. Buckingham Palace will never tell you this as the monarchy must remain politically neutral.
The monarchy in Britain holds a purely ceremonial role in politics. I have great admiration for the monarchy, and the net gain to the UK economy means I will always stand up for them (unlike Colin Firth).
With regards to Gordon blocking, Jobs' knighthood because he wouldn't attend a Labour conference... that doesn't surprise me at all. Brown is a vindictive little so-and-so and was veery much out of his depth.
You might want to check the difference between England/Britain/United Kingdom/Commonwealth. The terms are not interchangeable.
Knighthoods can be given to Commonwealth citizens, but as the original article (Telegraph) points out, a sort of honorary knighthood can be granted to citizens of other countries.
When awarding a knighthood to a citizen of a commonwealth country of which the queen is separately head of state, is she acting solely upon the advice of that country's government? In other words, could a different country's government circumvent the British government's block of a knighthood? For that matter, can the present British prime minister re-recommend Jobs?
Made all the better because you posted it from country founded by British citizens, used a language originating in Britain to deliver it and sent it over internet standard invented by a Brit.
And the iPhone you are carrying has a CPU that was designed in Britain, and a GPU that was designed in Britain, with industrial design by a Briton, who now wants to return, from the madness of the US, to his motherland!
When awarding a knighthood to a citizen of a commonwealth country of which the queen is separately head of state, is she acting solely upon the advice of that country's government? In other words, could a different country's government circumvent the British government's block of a knighthood? For that matter, can the present British prime minister re-recommend Jobs?
Typically the Queen doesn't have a say as to who she knights. The British government periodically puts a list forward to the Queen and unless there's an extremely good reason not to knight a person, she will follow the will of the government as the UKs elected representatives of the people.
History, heritage, tradition, the fact that we managed to keep our Monarchy and have them cede powers to parliament without needing a bloody revolution...
Oliver Cromwell's ghost would like to have a word with you on that.
Comments
Please, spare us the neo-"welfare cadillac" Tea Party rants.
Please, spare us your reverse discrimination supporting racism encouraging comment.
The labour party actively supported reverse discrimination, fact. Reverse discrimination is racism, period.
If we are ever going to get over racism, ALL people have to be treated as equals not just minorities.
Like Charlie Sheen being given two & a half knighthoods last week?
And we now have the answer to the question: 'Out of the three, who is the "half" of Two and a Half Men?'
/
/
/
They are knighting so many idiots at this stage it's beginning to lose its meaning. I'm not defining Jobs here - it's true.
Just like the Nobel Peace Prize nominating process! No longer any relevance, nor prestige of the honor or esteem of its recipients.
Quote:
Originally Posted by stuffe
Name a country that hasn't had a Civil war. The point is that our system of Government is a direct result of the ruling Monarchy deliberately giving away their powers to form a democratic parliamentary system that the world copied. My history isn't exactly A-grade, but in essence that's what happened.
That the world copied? You wish. If anything you copied various democratic systems that have been around since the Antiquity, all the way back to Athens.
And not only they didn't relinquish their "powers" willingly, but for over 2 centuries after that less than 3% of the total population actually had voting powers. By then most Eu countries evolved what is considered truer democracies.
England once was a formidable military, economic and cultural power, but you're not only exaggerating but fantasizing their reach here. Nostalgia is ok, rewriting history meh.
/end off topic, but then again the knighthood topic was meaningless to start with
Gee, I thought the 1600's in England were pretty bloody, with the English Civil War, Cromwell, and all that.
What about the War of the Roses? And no, not the movie!
Also the 100 Years War with France?!
And Europe calls Americans "Cowboys"! Yeah...
What about the War of the Roses? And no, not the movie!
Also the 100 Years War with France?!
And Europe calls Americans "Cowboys"! Yeah...
I was referring to revolution, someone else turned that into Cival Wars, then I asked a question about that after. No-one denies there was plenty of bloodshed, inc. the War of the Roses etc, what there was not and never has been in this country is a proper "off with their head" everyone against the Monarchy full on revolution.
So you accuse someone of being a "Right wing fundamentalist" because he said the truth? If I were to stoop to your level I would say you are a nazi loving socialist.
Beware of anyone who claims to hold "the truth."
I thought the british empire is no more. What a dumb reason to deny someone an award in technology sector.
The phrase was put out to pasture long ago. But tell that to the Australians, they don't like it at all, but I wouldn't be surprised if the sun still never sets on the British Empire in one way or another for say 20 hours a day, these days.
So you accuse someone of being a "Right wing fundamentalist" because he said the truth? If I were to stoop to your level I would say you are a nazi loving socialist.
The Nazi's were fascists, not socialists. You don't get more right wing than a fascist.
It's the communists/Stalinists that were heavily socialist.
Everyone else is in the gray in between.
Most peoples objection to the Royal Family is that they don't have to pay tax, and they receive (collectively) a £30m or so payout each year to keep the ticking over (The Civil List). Any other complaints are likely to not be grounded in any logical basis. I worked out the Civil List to cost the average (at todays prices and not counting for inflation from the past that we know about and future that we don't) person who works and pays taxes approx £35 over a lifetime. I've already have I think 3 days off work in my working career due to Royal Family related public holidays, and there's a glut coming soon to boot. And most of the major ones pay tax voluntarily too. Plus, when we get a REALLY irritating one, the Yanks are more than pleased to take her off our hands
While they get £30m from the civil list, the Queen also gave up the right to all income from her land and assets, and I believe the same might be true for Prince Charles (much of the Duchy income is given to charity). the income brought in from the land they own more than makes up for the £30m given by the tax payer. Buckingham Palace will never tell you this as the monarchy must remain politically neutral.
The monarchy in Britain holds a purely ceremonial role in politics. I have great admiration for the monarchy, and the net gain to the UK economy means I will always stand up for them (unlike Colin Firth).
With regards to Gordon blocking, Jobs' knighthood because he wouldn't attend a Labour conference... that doesn't surprise me at all. Brown is a vindictive little so-and-so and was veery much out of his depth.
You might want to check the difference between England/Britain/United Kingdom/Commonwealth. The terms are not interchangeable.
Knighthoods can be given to Commonwealth citizens, but as the original article (Telegraph) points out, a sort of honorary knighthood can be granted to citizens of other countries.
When awarding a knighthood to a citizen of a commonwealth country of which the queen is separately head of state, is she acting solely upon the advice of that country's government? In other words, could a different country's government circumvent the British government's block of a knighthood? For that matter, can the present British prime minister re-recommend Jobs?
Great troll post. 9/10.
Made all the better because you posted it from country founded by British citizens, used a language originating in Britain to deliver it and sent it over internet standard invented by a Brit.
And the iPhone you are carrying has a CPU that was designed in Britain, and a GPU that was designed in Britain, with industrial design by a Briton, who now wants to return, from the madness of the US, to his motherland!
When awarding a knighthood to a citizen of a commonwealth country of which the queen is separately head of state, is she acting solely upon the advice of that country's government? In other words, could a different country's government circumvent the British government's block of a knighthood? For that matter, can the present British prime minister re-recommend Jobs?
Typically the Queen doesn't have a say as to who she knights. The British government periodically puts a list forward to the Queen and unless there's an extremely good reason not to knight a person, she will follow the will of the government as the UKs elected representatives of the people.
Canada
well we did have a .... REFERENDUM!
History, heritage, tradition, the fact that we managed to keep our Monarchy and have them cede powers to parliament without needing a bloody revolution...
Oliver Cromwell's ghost would like to have a word with you on that.