Queen invites despots to dinner

[Dennis the 'Bloody Peasant']

(Well, a lunch actually, but whatever )

The King of Bahrain and Swaziland's King Mswati III are among controversial monarchs expected at a Windsor Castle lunch being hosted by the Queen.
Critics accuse Bahrain of human rights abuses and say Swazi king Mswati lives in luxury while his people go hungry.
Campaigner Peter Tatchell criticised the Queen for inviting "royal tyrants to celebrate her Diamond Jubilee".
The Foreign Office said it was having "a full and frank discussion on a range of issues" with Bahrain's government.
Buckingham Palace said it would not comment on the lunch.

Mr Tatchell said the invitations were "a shocking misjudgement" that showed the Queen was "out of touch with the humanitarian values of most British people".
"Inviting blood-stained despots brings shame to our monarchy and tarnishes the Diamond Jubilee celebrations," he said.
"It is a kick in the teeth to pro-democracy campaigners and political prisoners in these totalitarian royal regimes."

(More at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-18099937)

Not looking forward to jubiliee anyway and state visits or engagements with none-too-pleasant heads of state is nothing new...still, would have thought the more spin-savvy and PC PR peeps working for Madge would have planned this better.

[RebelDog]

royal tyrants

Is there any other type of royal?

[Left Leanings]

Toffee-nosed and useless, the whole lot of them.

The royals are a set of privileged buffoons and clowns, with well dodgy business and political connections.

Their whole aetiology is brutal in any case. The monarchs were simply the most savage of cut-throats, who did the most skull-bashing and slaughtering to get ahead of the rest, and assert their authority and position.

Later they upheld feudalism, with notions such as 'the Divine Right of Kings', i.e., why is the monarch on the throne? Cos 'god' ordains it as such.

What a shower of fucking shit :star:

[Princess Luna]

Pity the roof didn't cave in...

[Permanent Revolutionary]

It may not be right for me to comment on this, as I'm not a UK citizen. But I have to say this. I'm appalled that the Queen doesn't have a better sense of the current world situation.
Tyrants such as the King of Bahrain should never be given such an "honor".

PS: The people of Denmark, Sweden, UK etc. really need to get rid of these pampered shits who spend millions of taxpayer money every year. But you already knew that.

[TheGodlessUtopian]

Typical of such people in power: something they consider special happens and to celebrate they want all the world's heads to attend, ergo, invite the worst of the worse (than bomb their country some time later if something goes wrong). Common practice I believe.

[Permanent Revolutionary]

True, but I can't understand why the people of these constitutional monarchies accept that their "sovereigns" mingle with tyrants and despots. It's befuddling.

[MotherCossack]

There is only one thing I hate more than the Royal family......
it is the moronic proletariat whining on about what a great queen she is and what a wonderful job she has done for us all these years.... working tirelessly and selflessly despite all the hardship, in accordance with her unquestionably superior breeding....

PULEAZE!!!!!!
Revolting old boot.... she was born into it.... has done nothing but stand up when told to.... go where told to...travelling premier class... live in unspeakable splendour and luxury..... wear shiny clothes and big glittery stones.... and .... say some boring stuff that she is told to say.
I can do that... most of us can... and I tell you something else.... I would be willing and able to use my brain and judgement on the odd occasion ... which is clearly more than she is capable of doing!!!!!!!

[ed miliband]

don't give a damn about their existence. capitalism will exist whether they're there or not.

[Permanent Revolutionary]

don't give a damn about their existence. capitalism will exist whether they're there or not.

Indifference is never good.

[ed miliband]

i fail to see anything constructive in anything other than indifference to the existence of the monarchy in a capitalist society. i don't think they should exist, but i'm not going to actively campaign about their existence - how would a republic be any better?

[Permanent Revolutionary]

i fail to see anything constructive in anything other than indifference to the existence of the monarchy in a capitalist society. i don't think they should exist, but i'm not going to actively campaign about their existence - how would a republic be any better?

A republic would be cheaper, for one.

[Sperm-Doll Setsuna]

A republic would be cheaper, for one.

Implying then, are you, that the money would be better spent? They'd just squander it on some other useless rubbish. One or the other, equally worthless.

[Permanent Revolutionary]

Implying then, are you, that the money would be better spent? They'd just squander it on some other useless rubbish. One or the other, equally worthless.

Yeah, let's just all sit in a corner and sulk, because nothing will ever change...

[Igor]

Yeah, let's just all sit in a corner and sulk, because nothing will ever change...

I think the point was to change the right things, not just change something regardless of whether it'd bring actual change or not. If monarchy was to be replaced under current political system, all we'd get is a bourgeois republic and I can't really think of a single way how that'd be better than having a constitutional monarchy.

[Yuppie Grinder]

There is only one thing I hate more than the Royal family......
it is the moronic proletariat whining on about what a great queen she is and what a wonderful job she has done for us all these years.... working tirelessly and selflessly despite all the hardship, in accordance with her unquestionably superior breeding....

PULEAZE!!!!!!
Revolting old boot.... she was born into it.... has done nothing but stand up when told to.... go where told to...travelling premier class... live in unspeakable splendour and luxury..... wear shiny clothes and big glittery stones.... and .... say some boring stuff that she is told to say.
I can do that... most of us can... and I tell you something else.... I would be willing and able to use my brain and judgement on the odd occasion ... which is clearly more than she is capable of doing!!!!!!!

This. People who are thick enough to allow themselves to be taught that royalty are better than them and deserve there life of idle luxury annoy the hell out of me. Monarchs are social parasites who play no productive role in society, and we'd all be better off with them buried in the ground.

[Permanent Revolutionary]

I think the point was to change the right things, not just change something regardless of whether it'd bring actual change or not. If monarchy was to be replaced under current political system, all we'd get is a bourgeois republic and I can't really think of a single way how that'd be better than having a constitutional monarchy.

Once again, it would be cheaper.
The taxpayer would not have to pay for the President's second cousin and great uncle.

[brigadista]

all about trade........

[Trap Queen Voxxy]

Mr Tatchell said the invitations were "a shocking misjudgement" that showed the Queen was "out of touch with the humanitarian values of most British people".

What? The queen is out of touch with humanitarian values? No way. :rolleyes:

[MotherCossack]

the perception that the uk is kind of cosy and proper and has a queen and a prince, lots of established establishments, regal olde shoppes, etiquette, jolly cockneys, pubs with pianos, windsor and buckingham palace, lords and ladies and airs and graces......
makes me want to scream:
'NOOOOOOOOO None of It is real.......It is a joke!!!!!! at our expense!!!!!

[Igor]

Once again, it would be cheaper.
The taxpayer would not have to pay for the President's second cousin and great uncle.

yeah let's get together and come up with new ways of getting more profits to the bourgeois state

[Emma the Second]

I don't want any kind of bourgeois state, whether monarchy or republic. It is still a state and that is where the problem lies.

[MotherCossack]

Everyone should be born equal....
how can anyone argue with that?

alright then .... shall we share?....
So.... one for me.... one for you....two for me... one for you.... three for me.... one for you.... five for me .... one for you... oh.. look ... there is only ten left... I might as well take them... ok?

[Left Leanings]

This. People who are thick enough to allow themselves to be taught that royalty are better than them and deserve there life of idle luxury annoy the hell out of me. Monarchs are social parasites who play no productive role in society, and we'd all be better off with them buried in the ground.

Exactly.

There really is nothing worse than royal enthusiasts, who still treat these clowns with deference, and come out with shit like 'Oh, but they do so much for our country...' blah di blah di fucking blah.

And royalty are definitely parasitical. The Queen and her hangers on, receive money from the Civil List, which runs into millions of pounds a year. So far as I am concerned, it's a form of social security. The Queen is effectively on the dole, but she doesn't have to sign on, and her payments are a lot more generous than those on Job Seekers Allowance.

And Buckingham Palace is 'public' property. It belongs to the state. So it's a council house/social housing ffs, only a hell of a lot bigger and grander :star:

[MotherCossack]

Exactly.

There really is nothing worse than royal enthusiasts, who still treat these clowns with deference, and come out with shit like 'Oh, but they do so much for our country...' blah di blah di fucking blah.
The Queen is effectively on the dole, but she doesn't have to sign on, and her payments are a lot more generous than those on Job Seekers Allowance.
star:

that was exactly my point.... the queen lives like that cos we allow her to..... she is not about to go:
" Hey... guys... my life is far too easy... and i really dont deserve all this stuff....
why dont I do some chores and someone else can have a turn....?"
hmmmm.... cant see it .....
no... i think we are gonna have to be bold and do something....
ha ha ha ha.... that's the queen laughing by the way...

[MotherCossack]

I wonder what sort of a Queen I would make?
Probably hell to be with....entirely impossible to please...
never satisfied....lonely.... controlling.... tyrannical....whimsical.... irritating... melodramatic.... insecure.....thoroughly self-obsessed......
unimaginable....
but I am only a woman...
and she is only a woman...

why?... How? To what end?...

[Luís Henrique]

Swazi king Mswati lives in luxury while his people go hungry.

How exactly is that different from Elizabeth II's circumstances?

Luís Henrique

[Dennis the 'Bloody Peasant']

How exactly is that different from Elizabeth II's circumstances?

Luís Henrique

I agree, but the BBC obviously don't view it that way (the Swazi chaps decadence is more obvious...Liz is more restrained and proper..)

[MotherCossack]

there are union jacks EVERYWHERE!!!!!
Have you lot been to Oxford circus lately.....
Oh-my-God!!!!!!!!
They are so big!!!! so vile.... so gawdy..... tawdry.....unbecoming....so loaded with stinking rotten baggage!!!!!