To the members from Great Britain

[Karl Hilliard]

Queen Elizabeth seemed like a really nice lady. Her coronation was the first TV presentation I remember ever seeing. I believe her passing will dramatically change the British commonwealth as it presently is [just a hunch]

 

[Pete Mellor]

22 hours ago, John Cotter said:

As he said himself, Bob was “a song and dance man” rather than a political theorist.

Thankfully they added Manchester to the U.K. tour & I managed to get a ticket!  I've seen him 'live' in every decade from the 60's on, so I have him on my mind.

I do agree with you that monarchy epitomises and reinforces inequality, hierarchy and unearned privilege.  But I'm cynical of equality.  Does it exist in any society?  Even a herd of cows has a matriarch.  Whatever the political system, inequality exists, seems to me human nature.

[Pete Mellor]

19 hours ago, Karl Hilliard said:

Queen Elizabeth seemed like a really nice lady. Her coronation was the first TV presentation I remember ever seeing. I believe her passing will dramatically change the British commonwealth as it presently is [just a hunch]

Agree Karl.  I also see, and support, a breakup of the U.K.

[John Cotter]

1 hour ago, Pete Mellor said:

Thankfully they added Manchester to the U.K. tour & I managed to get a ticket!  I've seen him 'live' in every decade from the 60's on, so I have him on my mind.

I do agree with you that monarchy epitomises and reinforces inequality, hierarchy and unearned privilege.  But I'm cynical of equality.  Does it exist in any society?  Even a herd of cows has a matriarch.  Whatever the political system, inequality exists, seems to me human nature.

Only the other day I heard a great rendition of Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues by Nina Simone. It reminded me of what a brilliant songwriter Bob Dylan is.

I agree that dominance hierarchies are ubiquitous in nature and are probably unavoidable in human societies. However, since equality is the fundamental principle of democracy, I believe every effort should be made to implement it.

Monarchy seems a gratuitous and blatant flouting of that endeavour. It reinforces rather than ameliorates the authoritarian instinct in human beings, which is probably the single greatest cause of misery (including Tom Thumb’s Blues) in the world.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ij1UDMr3B-E

[Pamela Brown]

On 9/11/2022 at 9:40 AM, Pamela Brown said:

I am watching the Queen's coffin making its way to Edinburgh.  Not only is that where I saw her, long ago, but my digs were not far from Holyrood Palace.  I would make my way down a big hill from Calton Terrace with Holyrood in sight and then head up the Royal Mile to classes...a little verchlempft right now...

https://www.bbc.com/news/live/uk-62866826

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/queen-elizabeth-ii-coffin-balmoral-scotland-london/

Let me add, also, that the Royal Parade in Edinburgh, where I saw the Queen (and the rest of the family as well) came just a week or so before the Cuban Missile Crisis.

That was, for me, especially traumatic, as my American roommate and I ended up being pretty much held hostage by a crowd of students who paraded us to the US Consulate (which happened to be near our digs) and demanded that we/I get information for them.  The Consel, and the rest of the staff had already fled, except for a maid, who would not let us enter to listen to their radio. The crowd then began to ramp up, but fortunately Bobbies arrived before we were torn limb from limb and managed to disperse the crowd...a very strange experience...

 

[Ron Bulman]

The Queen and the California Cowboy.

The queen and her American cowboy: 'We had an extremely close relationship' (msn.com)

Was she infatuated with Regan's westerns, taking him on an hour-long horseback tour?