Yeah, but this Obama guy - there’s just something ... I don’t know, DIFFERENT about him.

Give me a minute; it’ll come to me ...

Well, I heard that the Magna Carta applies to us now…

Well, you see, a president is supposed to offer a foreign head of state an unsolicited and unwanted backrub or he isn’t being Presidential.  When it comes to royalty, I guess, the only answer is to hump somebody’s leg or something.

(Who remember this MST3K line?

“Wait a minute - this is the Magna Carta!”

Hint: The speaker has a helmet that looks like a papier-mache swan.)

Fucking thank you.

once again, the savage twin brother of IOKIYAR rears his ugly head: IWIYAD
That’s, It’s wrong if you’re a democrat.

What are the best comic books Obama can give to foreign leaders?

Anything to distract America while Wall Street prepares to pick our pockets again.  Besides, the Republicans got no budget, got no new idea, got no leadership except the Racist Underhanded Slimy Hater talkshow guy, the plumber’s helper, and the Barracuda.  You gotta use the talking points you have, no matter how lame, rather than the talking points you wish you had…

I bet even the Queen would hate Excalibur in any incarnation. Maybe Camelot 3000? At least the art is good. I’m not sure Alan Moore’s Captain Britan (or even Alan Davies version) would go over so well.

“So why are conservatives so all-concerned with respecting stuffy British protocol?”

A Briton writes:

Because they like royalty. They defer to class. They promote dynastic political families. They rule like kings with no concessions to the commons.

Does that cover it?

“What are the best comic books Obama can give to foreign leaders?”

In the words of the song: ‘Alan Moore knows the score…”

I’d suggest From Hell.

The very idea of having a Queen in the 21st Century is what is absurd here.

“The very idea of having a Queen in the 21st Century is what is absurd here.”

She serves the very convenient purpose of being a figurehead who has no real power. And I’m told she generates much tourist income.

It’s a twofer.

Does that cover it?

I’m sorry, I couldn’t hear you over the right wing noise machine shouting Europeans!  Europeans!  We hate Europeans!  Apparently, modeling our health care system after England is insane because they’re a miserable pack of hippie communists who hate us for our freedom and we hates them so much.  But giving the Queen an iPod is going to devastate our relationship with our foul socialist pond neighbors and by god we’ve got to stay on their good side at all costs for some reason.

The real absurdity is continuing to have hereditary peers in the upper house. I shall feel happier once they are gone and replaced by life peers.

I JUST saw this and hopped over here to see if it had been mentioned yet. It had!

Except, y’see, the Queen touched Mrs. Obama first. Not like that matters to people who want desperately to be outraged, but the Queen put her arm around Michelle’s waist and gave her a friendly squeeze, and Michelle returned the gesture. OK, I’m sure that’s still “against protocol,” but they’re acting like Michelle broke through a line of Beefeaters and bodily tackled the Queen to deliver some sort of bear hug followed by a playful purple nurple.

Not the case.

Apparently, modeling our health care system after England is insane because they’re a miserable pack of hippie communists who hate us for our freedom

That would be healthy miserable hippie communists who hate you for your freedom.

“by god we’ve got to stay on their good side at all costs for some reason.”

If you don’t, by jingo, we shall nuke you! We have a countervalence force of some potency.

Yeah, I think Europe decided to keep around powerless royalty because it gets rid of our attempts to rebuild the aristocracy after we get rid of it. As long as they can point to the actual royal family and their insane pathetic attempts at looking better than everyone, they can be obsessed about and have politics revolve around them rather than creating dynasties like the Bushes or treating the president as if they were some glorified king with absolute rule over the land.

Of course, the real problem is the House of Lords and our attempt to recreate that in the US Senate.

“OK, I’m sure that’s still “against protocol,” but they’re acting like Michelle broke through a line of Beefeaters and bodily tackled the Queen to deliver some sort of bear hug followed by a playful purple nurple.”

Are these the same zeebs who cheered on Shrub for groping the German Chancellor?

This was pretty much my rant this morning. Didn’t we have a fucking war about this? Like, a long fucking time ago?

Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of govenment.

”...but they’re acting like Michelle broke through a line of Beefeaters and bodily tackled the Queen to deliver some sort of bear hug followed by a playful purple nurple.”

Well, she is angry all the time, at least from what I hear…how do we know she didn’t attack the Queen?

(BTW, the loss of Freddy Mercury fatally ruined Queen, IMHO…)

Yeah, but this Obama guy - there’s just something ... I don’t know, DIFFERENT about him.

Give me a minute; it’ll come to me ...

He just doesn’t see Britain the way you or I do.

The Senate makes more sense than a House of Lords. At least they’re elected directly (since the early 1900s) and don’t hold a life term.

Thank God Alexander Hamilton was laughed out of the convention, or neither of those things would be true today, though!

She serves the very convenient purpose of being a figurehead who has no real power. And I’m told she generates much tourist income.

How much do you pay in taxes to support the entire royal family, though?

jesse, there is no rational answer. The reason conservatives are getting hot-and-bothered is because they need something tio rant about and they need to feed indignant, stupid talking points to their minions to repeat to their cowed friends and families who have to listen to their right-wing harangues. Look, these are the hate-talking-points-of-the-day. They have to supply something, so this is it.

Those celebrating Easter next weekend, expect to hear this set of talking points from your angry right wing relatives. First person to call that relative a lying coward who was conspicuously silent when BBush supported the use of torture gets an extra easter egg.

“OK, I’m sure that’s still “against protocol,” but they’re acting like Michelle broke through a line of Beefeaters and bodily tackled the Queen to deliver some sort of bear hug followed by a playful purple nurple.”

Mental Image Win.

The irony of all of this OUTRAGE 11111111!1!!111!!!!! is that it is coming exclusively from that exact same usual suspects producing “outrage” lately - Fox News and wingnut turds in the blogosphere.

The British mainstream media is saying that this is all much ado about nothing, and even Buckingham Palace said that the idea that this was some egregious violation of protocol is laughable.

From the non-wingnut press accounts I’ve read, the Queen found the Obamas to be absolutely delightful and even whispered in Michelle’s ear, “now that we’ve met, please do stay in touch.”

And regarding the iPod - it was very well-recieved by the Queen, because it included video and photographs of her 2007 visit to Virginia, and, it wasn’t the only thing she was given - she also recieved a very rare songbook autographed by the late Richard Rodgers (of Rodgers & Hammerstein fame).

Anyway, fuck these fucking fuckers.  By nearly every non-wingnut account, this trip thus far has been a smashing success not only for the Obamas, but for America in helping to restore our image in the world.  And goddamn is it nice to have a president who is not only respected by those outside our country, but actually received like a rockstar.  Stick that up your ass wingnuts.  The vast majority of the globe loves this guy, and you turds are decidedly in the ever shrinking minority.

But these asswipes will still whine.  GRRRRRRR.

The Senate makes more sense than a House of Lords. At least they’re elected directly (since the early 1900s) and don’t hold a life term.

There is merit to having at least part of the upper house that is not in hock to various constituencies for re-election. There are, even today, some independent souls in the Lords who serve their country and do not serve themselves.

How much do you pay in taxes to support the entire royal family, though?

Probably less than you pay to support your president, his vast entourage and his security apparatus.

Lee Brimmicombe-Wood at 05:17 PM called it.  I used to think GOPers were all fascists, but the truth is that they’re all feudal-monarchists. Most of the Republican Party would be perfectly happy to live under an absolute monarchy if the King was someone who at least pretended to share their religious and cultural values.

Ben D. - I’ve seen it calculated at 66p per taxpayer. Some people say they bring more tha that into the country as tourist income, but I can’t imagine how one could work that out with any confidence.

I’m fairly apathetic about the monarchy myself. I do think it’s a good thing to have a head of state who can speak for or represent the nation who isn’t a politician, and remains neutral on political disputes (one reason why I can’t see Charles doing a particularly good job). I’d probably prefer to have some kind of mascot, but the Royal Family gives old ladies something to gossip about, so I suppose it’ll do.

Didn’t we have a fucking war about this? Like, a long fucking time ago?

We didn’t really have any need for the colony any more, though we kept Canada for a while longer. Nice folks up there.

No, no, no!  You give her the complete collection of Batman/Judge Dredd crossovers, each signed by Simon Bisley!

Drokk it, I am not standing in the reception line behind you guys!

I’m fairly apathetic about the monarchy myself. I do think it’s a good thing to have a head of state who can speak for or represent the nation who isn’t a politician, and remains neutral on political disputes (one reason why I can’t see Charles doing a particularly good job).

I can see a point to that, but I’d prefer an Israeli/German model of a figurehead Presidency over a hereditary Monarchy and nobility, though.

I do think it’s a good thing to have a head of state who can speak for or represent the nation who isn’t a politician, and remains neutral on political disputes

Just so long as they don’t marry a Papist we’re fine with royalty. The last reigning monarch to do that we had taken outside and slain.

I’d prefer an Israeli/German model of a figurehead Presidency over a hereditary Monarchy and nobility, though.

Yes, but how many tourists will travel to see a figurehead president?

DTG in STL may understate the case.  As I heard, the Queen had requested this iPod as a gift.  She asked for it - not in a smart ass way, but literally.  As for Michelle Obama, the Queen embraced her first.  Different scenario from Bush creeping up on Angela Merkel from behind and giving her a cheerful grope.

Of course, if the Obamas had actually been TOO polite to the head of state of our strongest, most important ally, we would not hear the end of it either from Team Wingnut.  If we were wise, we would not hear their words but would just let them swing dead in the trees.

Yes, but how many tourists will travel to see a figurehead president?

Plenty of people visit France even though they got rid of their monarchy in the late 1700s.

You’d still have the palaces, etc, as tourist destinations.

Well, I should say, on and off since the late 1700s. Finally abolished for good in the 1870s.

Blair continually crossed the line between head-of-state duties and political duties, which is one thing about him that got up my nose (as opposed to the things about him that made me blind with rage, like going to war because it would make Bush pretend to be his bestest friend).

And Thatcher did things like visit the injured victims of national tragedies in hospital, which had always been seen as the monarch’s duty and not a way for politicians to get good PR. According to rumour, this pissed the Queen right off, and it also annoyed a lot of other Brits. I know someone who carried a ThatcherCard in his wallet throughout the ‘80s - it looked a bit like a DonorCard but read “Should I be hospitalised in the event of national disaster I do not wish to be visited by Margaret Thatcher”.

“Plenty of people visit France even though they got rid of their monarchy in the late 1700s.”

Yes, but France has fine food and fine drink to recommend it.

Who would not want to visit France?

“Should I be hospitalised in the event of national disaster I do not wish to be visited by Margaret Thatcher”.

I have made a solemn vow to piss on Thatcher’s grave. Though I fear the queue would be a long one.

Perhaps the First Lady should have vomitted in the Queen’s lap?

I’m not totally anti-Monarchy though.

Monarchies make sense in a developing nation without a long tradition of democracy to preserve national unity and prevent the rise of demagogues (notice the Middle Eastern countries that retained their monarchs are generally better off than the republics), but that description hardly fits modern Great Britain.

Yes, a figurehead President might be a better system overall. Keeping that position and/or person apolitical would be very difficult, but probably possible. But the system as we have it isn’t very broke so I’m not sure it’s worth all the upheaval of fixing it.

And in some ways, it’s an advantage not even to be able to kid yourself that you’re in a pure meritocracy.

Meanwhile, I’m just incredibly amused at Prince Philip’s expression in all the photos of the royal family with the Obamas. What the racist bastard must be thinking.

fuck these fucking fuckers.

Well said. They deserve mockery and derision, not engagement in a futile attempt to explain to them why they’ve made an error. They know they’re lying—they simply are looking for the social accolades one normally gets for lying. So instead call them ignorant fools and liars who are merely regurgitating the outrage of the days like the stupid lemmings they are.

Wasn’t Bush Jr. a figurehead anyway?  Cheney and his band of merry men were the ones really running things…

Perhaps the First Lady should have vomitted in the Queen’s lap?

As your President Bush did so memorably with the Japanese prime minister. Oh, how we laughed!

And in some ways, it’s an advantage not even to be able to kid yourself that you’re in a pure meritocracy.

I wouldn’t call it an advantage, but the lack of pretence does give certain issues a crystal clarity.

Though I’m told we British are more socially mobile than you Americans these days. How on Earth did that happen?

Though I’m told we British are more socially mobile than you Americans these days. How on Earth did that happen?

Ronald Reagan.

Let’s see, now…

George H.W. Bush vomits on the Japanese prime minister…hey, accidents happen.

George W. Bush tries to give an unsolicited neck rub to the German prime minister, inspiring her to shake him off with a jujitsu move...hey, he’s just being a regular guy.

Michelle Obama puts a hand on the Queen’s back…OMG PROTOCOL VIOLATION INSULT IT IS JUST NOT DONE!!!!

Honestly, these people aren’t even trying to be taken seriously.

“Meanwhile, I’m just incredibly amused at Prince Philip’s expression in all the photos of the royal family with the Obamas. What the racist bastard must be thinking.”

‘Bloody Picanninnies! It getting like bloody Umbongoland around here!’

We’re not as socially mobile as we were, though, old chap! It was those student grants that let all the riff-raff in. A Govan kid like Brown wouldn’t be going to read Economics at Edinburgh for free THESE days.

“Though I’m told we British are more socially mobile than you Americans these days. How on Earth did that happen?”

It was the collective effort of generations of politicians and the American elite, on both sides of the political divide, to carefully tear down the all the wooden fences that divided the classes and impeded class mobility…and then make new solid brick walls so they will be much harder to circumvent…

British royalty is used to British tabloids. Which, while far from tame US media, are still less exciting than revolutions, beheading, Maggie Thatcher, insane cousins, having bombs thrown at you, barons revolting, religious wars, and all the other stuff that used to be in fashion before iPods. I wouldn’t worry about possible royal conniptions. The US reactionaries just want a king by divine right and are projecting.

And the function of a ceremonial monarch is to give all the scoundrels in search of a last refuge, the authoritarians, reactionaries and the like someone to cheer while denying them influence. A figurehead president does not work half as well.

As for comic books, no carrying coals to Newcastle. I’d recommend something vintage American.

We’re not as socially mobile as we were, though, old chap! It was those student grants that let all the riff-raff in. A Govan kid like Brown wouldn’t be going to read Economics at Edinburgh for free THESE days.

Do you have Thatcher to “thank” for that, too?

‘It was those student grants that let all the riff-raff in.’

And led to universities becoming hotbeds of malignancy and socialism. Better to keep the poor out. Education only encourages the brutes.

Oops! Correction: he could go for free, because it’s Scotland and not England. He just wouldn’t be given any help with the cost of living, so he’d have to live in a bin and eat rats.

Do you have Thatcher to “thank” for that, too?

No, I think that was that grey eminence, John Major.

Ben D: Thatcher and Major abolished student grants, and Blair carried on their work by introducing fees. The Scottish Parliament, who are rather to the left of the national government, later abolished fees for Scottish students studying in Scotland.
Obviously that’s only one factor affecting social mobility, but I think it’s a big one.

Hey what do you all know about this Tory British representative in the European Parliament who cursed out Brown for spending too much? They’re treating him like a hero on Fox News here now, so I figure he must be a major league douche bag. But to what level? I can’t remember his name.

I remember now. His name is Daniel Hannan.

Lleldorin - that’s a bloody good point. You can start your own business far more easily if you don’t need to pay for health insurance out of pocket.

Ah yes. Even the Tories tread carefully around the sacred cow that is the NHS. It is the British institution that, for all its faults, I remain most proud of.

His name is Daniel Hannan.

Yes, a dangerous Euroskeptic who hangs about with the likes of Norris McWhirter. Definitely part of that looney right wing that kept the Tories out of power for so long.

Though I’m told we British are more socially mobile than you Americans these days. How on Earth did that happen?

Apparently all the brightest convicts went to Australia…

Apparently all the brightest convicts went to Australia…

We don’t want them back, thank’ee. Of course, all our other transportees went to the American colonies. Whatever happened to them?

“Whatever happened to them?”

I live here and I don’t know either. 

To whoever snatched America and replaced it with this shoddy knockoff: Will you please give us back our country?...

Yes, a dangerous Euroskeptic who hangs about with the likes of Norris McWhirter. Definitely part of that looney right wing that kept the Tories out of power for so long.

Right wing blowhard Neil Cavuto pronounced him “the future Prime Minister of the United Kingdom”.

Ologo is an idiot along with you obots, you should have listened to the pumas. Visit pumapac.org to be enlightened.

crazy people are funny.

Is touching the Queen as bad as HUGGING/GROPING the CHANCELLOR OF GERMANY?

I don’t get people who hate the EU.

“Yeah, the Europeans should just give up the idea of regional cooperation and go back to being rival nation-states in a series of opposing alliances. What could POSSIBLY go wrong with that?”

Wow!  A PUMA!  I didn’t think any were left in the wild.  Sh!  Sh!  Don’t move!  You might startle it!

Now keep quiet and watch.  It’s probably about to say something crazy…  oh, if I only had my camera..

To whoever snatched America and replaced it with this shoddy knockoff

That was something that always struck me on my travels through America: how badly made it was. Not the countryside, which could be ravishingly beautiful in places, but the towns and suburbs. A nation of jerry-built dwellings and poorly-laid roads.

This was not uniform, of course. I love Detroit and though it has the roads of a third-world country it has neighbourhoods of solid Victorian housing stock, sturdy and attractive. It’s a city with a heart. But drive into any suburb and you’d see either gentle dilapidation, or architecture a decade away from becoming peeled and ugly.

Of course, Britain has more than its fair share of ugly. The Stalag-luft estates, the blighted concrete experiments. There is also much that is ramshackle and ancient. But nothing as cheap and shoddy as the endless suburban American landscape I’ve seen in the north and south and east and west.

“the future Prime Minister of the United Kingdom”

I shall see it does not come to that.

Anyway, the modern Tories are touchy-feely Cameronites or restored Europhiles like that old bruiser Ken Clarke. Hannan is a throwback to the dark days of Conservative powerlessness and there is a good reason why.

You Yanks are welcome to him.

I’m am just so pissed off about this.

What?

Oh, the complete lack of journalism in this country.  Michael Fucking Sneed, worthless gossip columnist of the Sun-Times, started off bitching about the rotten DVDs they gave the PM when he visited, quoting the London rags insinuation that they were unplayable in PAL.  Then she continued to bitch about the Obamas giving the Queen an ipod without mentioning that along with the Broadway show tunes it had HOURS of video from her last trip to the US.  THAT’S what makes it a present, not the cheap mp3 player, but the content.

No fact checking involved.  Just bitching and moaning and whinging.

AND NO WHERE are these outraged assholes mentioning that the Obamas also gave the Queen a rare songbook signed by Richard Rodgers.

They were classy, god damn it. 

As for touching the Queen…Michelle didn’t curtsy, either.  Laura Stepford Bush did.  It is completely inappropriate for any American woman, not just the First Lady but ANY U.S. citizen, to bend knee to a foreign royal.  Rules about touching are the same.  Americans believe that all men and women are created equal—>it’s in the declaration we had delivered to one of her predecessors.  We don’t bend knee and we don’t fear to touch.  We shake hands, and, if hugged, hug back.

That was something that always struck me on my travels through America: how badly made it was. Not the countryside, which could be ravishingly beautiful in places, but the towns and suburbs. A nation of jerry-built dwellings and poorly-laid roads.

I blame it on the “throw-away” culture that proliferated in the US after WWII. It was all designed on cheap goods and conformity, doing things as cheaply and quickly as possible.

It was, remember, in the 1950s and early 1960s when the “suburbs” grew like a fungus around US cities, complete with shoddy construction and shitty roads.

The queen puts her arm around Michelle Obama, and tells her to stay in touch.

MO visits a girls’ school, she gives a speech that makes everybody weepy, then hugs all the kids.

It’s absolutely golden PR, and seems completely genuine. The media here love her, and so do we (mostly). That drives the republicans insane.

I got a kick out of how tiny the Queen looks standing between the 6-foot Obamas.

You know, I think a set of DVDs or an iPod is a nice gift.  And loading the iPod with things the recipient is likely to find interesting is a very thoughtful gesture.  They don’t really seem like the kind of things that usually get given as diplomatic gifts, but typical diplomatic gifts are kind of, you know, bathsalts.  Who says a diplomatic gift can’t be something fun that the person might actually use?  The queen probably has entire rooms full of Useless But Deeply Symbolic Objects that people hand her anytime she leaves the house.

“That was something that always struck me on my travels through America: how badly made it was. Not the countryside, which could be ravishingly beautiful in places, but the towns and suburbs. A nation of jerry-built dwellings and poorly-laid roads.”
Um…whatever. I saw some pretty ugly suburbs in France.
I live in San Francisco which in my opinion, despite it’s youth in comparison with European cities, is the most gorgeous city I have been in. Some of the small towns around the Bay area are really beautiful in there own ways. And, yeah, the nature and natural diversity out here is beyond stunning.

Actually, I’d just blame the lack of age.

You’re probably right…I guess I just have a seething hatred of “the ‘burbs”.

I’ve only ever lived in urban areas (except for a few years of secondary school and at college) so I tend to be partial to “the urban experience”. I also grew up in an old city (by American standards anyway) so the buildings were very solidly constructed and didn’t feel shoddy like some of the newer properties I’ve seen.

That was something that always struck me on my travels through America: how badly made it was. Not the countryside, which could be ravishingly beautiful in places, but the towns and suburbs. A nation of jerry-built dwellings and poorly-laid roads.

We had a little tussle at Slacktivist on this; actually Kit Whitfield (a Briton and author of the brilliant Bareback/Benighted as well as long-time Slacktivite formerly posting under the name “praline”) was skeeved out more by our attempts at grandeur, notably the Washington DC Mall area—she found it all very fascistic.

Well, I will defend the Lincoln Memorial at any rate. In general I suppose she had a point. Still, compared to the alternatives we generally get, I am fond of New Deal Neoclassical.

But no, you’re not generally wrong. I now live in northern Nevada; it is desert country of a very subtle beauty—no Painted Desert, but enchanting in a subdued sagebrushy sort of way.

Until that is your eye lights on anything built by human hands hereabouts; that stuff is hideous. It’s like I live on an exotic alien planet—colonized by morons.

When I first visited Washington State I was struck by how much the land looked like the rural parts of Germany my parents used to live in (compared anyway to Southern California where I had been living for many years). Except again when the eye lit on anything manmade.

If Australia got all your British crooks, at least the smart ones—we got all the German slobs, apparently.

Lee Brimmicombe-Wood,

I have to love anyone who gives a shout-out to Detroit as an “attractive” city. Being from there originally, I certainly appreciate its “charm”, but don’t usually hear people from other places agreeing with me.

Of course, I grew up during the time it was considered the “most dangerous city in the U.S.” and you could pretty much count the bullet holes while playing “count the burnt-out crack houses” on your Sunday drives. Still, I used to love spending time there even when it was scary, and I miss it terribly living here in boring old FL.

I think some people don’t know or don’t remember some key things about the deals that ended royalty rule and the way Queen Elizabeth’s family endeared itself to the British public.

The royals had and still have very extensive land holdings.  These were not confiscated, and they form the basis of the money that supports the continued lifestyle of the royal family of Great Britain.  Prince Charles has taken a keen interest in contracting with people to experiment with and improve progressive and sustainable farming practices on some of these lands.

Furthermore, Queen Elizabeth’s family were instrumental in keeping the British people from giving up and giving in during the Blitz.  They not only made extraordinary efforts to support their fellow Britons under seige, they stayed in London during the bombardment and went to ground each night with everybody else!!!  They could have fled to the countryside and kept their whereabouts unknown, but chose to remain at home with their children beside them and stand their ground ... a courageous act of enormous psychologic importance.

So if we moderns wonder why these people are paid this much money to be figureheads, well, you got to look back at how the Monarchy became non-governing, what it took to convince them to step aside, and what services they have provided in the past.

I was under the impression we lived in America, not some shitty island nation with 18 political parties and ceremonial royalty.

Let’s see:

National,
Labour,
Green,
ACT,
Maori,
Progressive,
United Future,
New Zealand First,
Bill and Ben,
Kiwi Party,
Legalize Cannabis,
New Zealand Pacific,
Family Party,
Alliance,
Democrats for Social Credit,
Libertarianz,
Workers Party of New Zealand,
Residents Action Movement,
Republic of New Zealand

Hey!  Wait a minute! (*)

And if you think that having a monarchy is silly, you may remember back to 2000 when the US government was being determined by wrangling between election officials, lawyers, Floridian and then Supreme Court justices, and the occasional flash mob.  At least with the monarchy, you do have someone with the formal power to say “right, you’re the government”.

(*) Okay, technically this is 19.  But New Zealand First is less a political party and more a placeholder for the senile elderly who thinks Winston is JUST like that nice Howard Morrison they used to love back in their fifties…

Okay, technically this is 19.  But New Zealand First is less a political party and more a placeholder for the senile elderly who thinks Winston is JUST like that nice Howard Morrison they used to love back in their fifties…

You might have to chisel off a few bits and obviously change the names, but this is pretty much what remains of the Republicans.

OT: Lee Brimmicombe-Wood gets one (1) internets for quoting Pop Will Eat Itself. :D

The British monarch traditionally set aside one day a year to meet and greet the public and lay hands on the ill, specifically those with scrofula (tuberculosis of the neck lymph nodes), and give them a penny.

Not the countryside, which could be ravishingly beautiful in places, but the towns and suburbs. A nation of jerry-built dwellings and poorly-laid roads.

Houses made out of sticks, which, frankly, is quite a risk when you actually have a native wolf population.

FWIW, Dan Hannan was a stupid fucking arse as a student politician, and nothing appears to have changed.

‘The queen probably has entire rooms full of Useless But Deeply Symbolic Objects that people hand her anytime she leaves the house.’

There’s a wonderful scene in Alan Bennett’s play A Question of Attribution that depicts this: HMQ talking to the spy Anthony Blunt in a room full of diplomatic bric-a-brac handed to her by dignitaries throughout the world. She laments that she can hardly throw it away. Her palaces become museums to such things.

I have to love anyone who gives a shout-out to Detroit as an “attractive” city. Being from there originally, I certainly appreciate its “charm”, but don’t usually hear people from other places agreeing with me.

I am drawn to blue-collar cities, and there’s plenty of parts of that urban landscape that are attractive and where I could imagine living. The town-within-the-city of Hamtramck, for example, is a lovely neighbourhood, despite its modest means. Some of the skyscrapers, built on motor money, are masterpieces of deco. And being a poor city there are plenty of artsy things happening there, drawn by the low rents.

Plus, of course, there’s the echo of Motown there. Being an old British soul boy I once spent a happy afternoon in the Motown museum and even met Esther Gordy, a marvellously well-preserved lady, who told us some lovely stories.

skeeved out more by our attempts at grandeur, notably the Washington DC Mall area—she found it all very fascistic.

I think I agree with her. Lincoln with his hands rested on the fasces sorta gives it away.

Yes, we foreigners get it that America is the modern Rome, all drive and ambition and brash ostentation. There’s no need to hammer it home. Except, of course, you wouldn’t be a modern Rome if you weren’t nailing something.

Talking of the mall area, there’s some wonderful things to be found hidden away there. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is one of the truly great American works of art. Contrast it with the Korean War memorial, a tin-eared attempt to be profound that crashes about three memorials into each other to create a sorry mess.

And being a poor city there are plenty of artsy things happening there, drawn by the low rents.

May I give a shout out to the Heidelberg Project? I have much respect for what Tyree has achieved there.

Dan Hannan’s speech ripping into Gordon Brown made absolutely no mark on the Collective British Awareness as far as I can tell.  The only reason why I’ve heard of him was because his speech was mentioned in a couple of American right wing fundie blogs I read when I want to inflict pain on my brain. 

Isn’t Norris McWhirter dead now?  I remember him being very creepy on Record Breakers back in the Seventies and he wasn’t a youngster then.

On a related note, I am having a hard time envisioning Michelle Obama curtsying to anyone. (I *can* picture her demanding reciprocation.) How about you?

Because she’s got those manly arms, and manly men don’t curtsy. They demand respect! ...Michelle Malkin is such an ass.

“The very idea of having a Queen in the 21st Century is what is absurd here.”

She serves the very convenient purpose of being a figurehead who has no real power. And I’m told she generates much tourist income.

I’ve never understood the “tourist income” argument. Alton Towers generates a lot of tourist income too, but we don’t subsidize it or grant it even a ceremonial role in the constitution.

If I recall correctly, Australia was the repository of all the British people who were guilty of being poor. The US received a collection of the British insane and an assortment of randomly selected aristocrats.

I’ve never understood the “tourist income” argument. Alton Towers generates a lot of tourist income too, but we don’t subsidize it or grant it even a ceremonial role in the constitution.

We may be missing a trick there, then. Imagine what diplomacy could be achieved aboard the nemesis ride.

Personally I say we let the wingnuts have stuff like this. They are at their happiest when being pissy little scolds after all.

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is one of the truly great American works of art.

This is true, but it only works because there’s only one of them on the mall. If every memorial and monument tried to be a “truly great” work of art, we’d end up with a hodge-podge of failed experiments.

Then again, I like all of the monumental 19th century monumental architecture in Berlin, as well.

Tyro, I’m not sure something like The Mall works as an integrated entity. It is already a hodge-podge. Each work has to be taken on its own terms.

There is, I recall, an horrid bronze near the Vietnam Vets Memorial. An earlier candidate for the memorial; an attempt at heroic statuary. Much heroism was done during that war, along with much venality. Such a monument is not, to my eyes, at all seemly.

Ben D.: I don’t get people who hate the EU.

No one but the anti-immigration crowd and those living in border towns and unable to get a parking space on Saturday hates Schengen.

What many people worry about is the creation of a bureaucratic leviathan with little democratic oversight or accountability.

What politicians worry about is their status.

Also, when some EU country does something batshit insane, it’s not fun because it’s not “them” anymore but “us”.

Lee: That was something that always struck me on my travels through America: how badly made it was.

I got the impression that a desire for impermanence is a driving design principle in the US.

Yes, we foreigners get it that America is the modern Rome, all drive and ambition and brash ostentation.

And when we think of Rome, we think of ruins. (And motor scooters.)

Man, I miss McGillicuddy.  Those two perpetually-drunk sportscasters just don’t compare.

Wrong thread, dammit.

Ologo is an idiot along with you obots
Ah there you are again, “nijmapuma” dude, why are you frat boiz trying to impersonate me?

I must agree, I have trouble picturing Michelle Obama curtsying. Unless she has an interest in old fashioned figure dances. Curtsying to a dance partner is good etiquette. But indeed, no American is supposed to bend knee to royalty. The First Family should set a good example on that, and they did.