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162 thoughts on “Losing Bet

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  • Komodo

    Who’s hating it, Fred? I’m not. I wish the sprog all the best for the future. Especially if it manages to evade its appalling background, get a good job (courtesy of the Back to Work Scheme, with A4E’s assistance, maybe) and never pollute a tabloid front page again. It’s never too late to escape your upbringing. And it will be a lot happier, I’d guess, assuming its IQ hasn’t atrophied to the extent that most royals’ seem to.

    But as a democrat of sorts, I can’t condone inherited privilege, social status and wealth. I make no apology for deprecating those.

  • KingOfWelshNoir

    Jon

    ‘…yesterday I was considering the ramifications of the royal baby growing up to be an outspoken republican.’

    He’d end up like his grandmother.

  • John Goss

    The monarchy should have been abolished centuries back. There has never been a good King or Queen of England. Some were not as bad as others but they were all bad eggs. There were forty plus executions authorised by George III with crimes ranging from buggery to treason but the wives he had executed were probably beheaded because he had a new shag on the go. The new baby’s grandmother, Princess Diana, was just the latest in a long history of Royal murders. The new George would have a better life as an ordinary citizen. Ditch these hangers on and save some taxes, sell their art treasures, feed the poor, find jobs and houses for the young unemployed.

  • Juteman

    I heard the 4 hour delay between the birth and the announcement was due to a badly fitting skin. Adjustments had to be made, as you could still see the scales in places.

  • Fred

    “But as a democrat of sorts, I can’t condone inherited privilege, social status and wealth. I make no apology for deprecating those.”

    I don’t think the Royals are too fond of the tabloids either. I think the tabloids target them because they are so popular with the people, they sell a lot of newspapers. That’s democracy in action, a referendum every day where people vote with their wallets and it’s looking to me like the Republicans are very much a minority right now.

    And as for the “I won’t hate them if they try to be more like I am”, now where have I heard that before.

  • Komodo

    And as for the “I won’t hate them if they try to be more like I am”, now where have I heard that before.

    From an English immigrant to Scotland, perhaps?

  • Sofia Kibo Noh

    @Fred.

    You are right. There’s no shortage of hate. The child is clearly an innocent babe.

    Sadly his upbringing will almost certainly produce a parasite.

    But you never know. Like the Buddha, he may grow up to reject it all and inspire multitudes to live useful and compassionate lives a couple of thousand wears hence.

    As I said a few days a go, I wish the sprog a healthy and useful life.

  • Komodo

    More seriously:

    I don’t think the Royals are too fond of the tabloids either. I think the tabloids target them because they are so popular with the people, they sell a lot of newspapers. That’s democracy in action, a referendum every day where people vote with their wallets and it’s looking to me like the Republicans are very much a minority right now.

    I see your point, but how popular could they possibly be without the constant publicity, generated from a fawningly adoring standpoint? I might suggest that cigarettes are a marvellous and desirable product, by your logic, too. Every day their users vote with their wallets – and pay rather more than they do for a copy of the Sun…

  • Dreoilin

    “I might suggest that cigarettes are a marvellous and desirable product, by your logic, too. Every day their users vote with their wallets”

    That’s not voting. That’s addiction.

  • Jemand - Censorship Improves History

    I’m a republican, Craig, but this post doesn’t do justice to your work.

    The child might be privileged, but certainly an unwitting beneficiary of it. As for being a “wanker”, only time will tell.

    If republicanism is to have a fighting chance in the UK, it must be led with dignity, political shrewdness and a workable alternative ready to be put in place. Surly and churlish snipes at the royals do no service to UK republicanism. It’s sounds all too French.

    As for names, I also lost some bets. I was thinking ‘Steve’, ‘Mohammed’, ‘Jesus’, ‘Kevin’ – all very popular names around the world. 

    Good tho’, to see that you bouncing back. How are those spurs coming/going?

  • Komodo

    That’s not voting. That’s addiction.

    True. I’d like you to think a little more deeply about that, though…

    🙂

  • Sofia Kibo Noh

    @Dreoilin.

    Thanks for the correction. “Thousands” then.

    I’m not baking alas, just making a hames of multi-tasking.

    It’s hard, don’t you know, to get good domestic staff these days so I even have to dress myself now.

  • Dreoilin

    “I’d like you to think a little more deeply about that, though…”

    Well you’ll have to wait. I had an exhausting day yesterday and I can’t think very deeply about anything (as my previous comments have shown).

    “Also good to see that Kate is pregnant again so soon after giving birth – or is it a reluctant twin?”

    I think it takes 10 days or longer for the uterus to reduce to normal size, you naughty thing you.

    “It’s hard, don’t you know, to get good domestic staff these days so I even have to dress myself now.”

    Hahaha – same here. It’s terrible. My stays are killing me, laced up all wrong.

    “I wouldn’t like to bounce over the edge of that air mattress.”

    No indeed! Even bouncing onto it doesn’t look like fun to me. Wish I’d tried it when I was 22 though.

  • Fred

    “Tied up. That poor wee lad has no idea what’s ahead of him. It wouldn’t be the life I’d choose, myself. Goldfish bowl with benefits.”

    Or maybe follow in the footsteps of Aunt Nerissa and Katherine.

    The wheel is still in spin.

  • Uzbek in the UK

    I am not a royalist but need to admit that he is just a baby. The problem is not with him but with the system. And with majority of Brits who tolerate medieval practises. And for the establishment it is again one of those cases which reminds the world (but most of all to them) about great British past.

  • Rob Royston

    Will they call him “Wee Dod” at Balmoral or just “Your Royal Highness”?

  • Flaming June

    Some wise words from Rev Lucy Winkett Rector St James’ Piccadilly. She used to be at St Paul’s.

    How do we choose what work we do, what our workplaces are like, our pay and what is necessary for the work environment with special reference to the shortage of A&E doctors and why the ‘crisis’ there has arisen.

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01d848j 2mins 49

    ~~

    There is a link to a TFTD by Lord Sacks on the same page.

    I heard Quentin Letts on Radio 4 yesterday morning with a programme about the new Chief Rabbi. Interesting that Charles Clarke contacted the Chief Rabbi and all the other main religious leaders immediately after 7/7 in an attempt to avoid any ‘inter communal tension’.
    The Chief Rabbi
    What’s the Point of …, Series 5 Episode 1 of 4

    Duration: 28 minutes
    First broadcast:Wednesday 24 July 2013Sir Jonathan Sacks stands down this August after more than 20 years in a job that some people have described as tougher than the Archbishop of Canterbury’s – but with better jokes.

    The office of the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregation of the United kingdom and the Commonwealth – to give it its full title – has always had close links to the political establishment.
    First Edward V11 and now David Cameron have spoken of “My Chief Rabbi.” A seat in the House of Lords seems to go with the territory these days. In September, Ephraim Mirvis will become the next Chief Rabbi, with ready access to the stars of the Cabinet and the Media. So what does the Chief Rabbi do? How much does it cost to run his office?

    The full title is important. It’s especially important to Reform and Liberal Jews who point out that the Chief Rabbi (of the United Hebrew Congregation of the United kingdom and the Commonwealth) doesn’t represent them. In fact, he represents only about half of Jews affiliated to a synagogue. The fastest growing Jewish denomination is the ultra Orthodox – and he doesn’t officially lead them either.

    So what’s the point of the Chief Rabbi? Historian Geoffrey Alderman thinks that, if there used to be a point to the office, there is no longer; Michael Howard thinks the point of the Chief Rabbi is to present a moderate religious voice in a world of growing religious extremism, and Vanessa Feltz thinks it’s so that she has someone – other than herself – to argue with.
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0375xv2

  • Phil

    Well said Craig. Sometimes you gotta spit venom in the face of relentless royal propaganda just to keep yourself smiling.

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