Britain - The Official Thread

[sirjim73]

I must admit I do like Boris's reference to the Queen as "Elizabeth the Great". I very much think that history will see her as that.

I don't think Brexit is the biggest problem per se. But you have PMs like Liz Truss who's (am I wrong?) supposed to be the libertarian supply-sider candidate but the first thing she's doing is giving out printed money for heating bills.

What happened to the people that wanted Brexit to make Britain more open and free than was possible under EU mandates and regulations?

RIP QE2. She may have been the last of the good monarchs. I hope the Prince will bring stability again when he becomes King. Good luck with Charles.

The nature of the monarchy is such that he is already King Charles III. Although I do understand the point you were making.

There is no "swearing in" or anything equivalent. The role of King happened automatically on his mother's passing. Although the coronation will take place at a later date.

And I still find it odd referring to him as King. It will take time for that to properly sink in.

 

[Joey D]

Which reminds me, one of those banal but necessary changes that presumably must happen overnight tonight, is the Royal Mail will have to change the machines that produce the stamps.

Honest question, do they need to do that with pretty much everything that has the Queen on it? I have a bunch of Canadian dollaridoos sitting on my desk because that's just what happens in Michigan and they have the Queen on them. I assume all newly minted money everywhere in the Commonwealth needs to be changed? I assume they've been planning this for years though, or am I giving too much credit to the government?

 

[PeterJB]

Honest question, do they need to do that with pretty much everything that has the Queen on it? I have a bunch of Canadian dollaridoos sitting on my desk because that's just what happens in Michigan and they have the Queen on them. I assume all newly minted money everywhere in the Commonwealth needs to be changed? I assume they've been planning this for years though, or am I giving too much credit to the government?

Yep, as well as postage stamps, all coinage will have to be made with Charles III's silhouette on it, and presumably notes will now have his portrait too, even with the massive decline we've seen in coin and cash usage since COVID. I suppose any new postboxes made will have "ER" replaced with "CR", too.

 

[MatskiMonk]

We've recently had some new stamps... we should just make these the de facto stamps going forward...

Me Grimlock say "LONG LIVE THE KING"

 

[Eunos_Cosmo]

I understand that Charles can take any name he chooses. I hope he brings back a Saxon name.

King Aethelred III sounds cool.

 

[Sprite]

I wonder if Charles will abdicate to William. To me it makes more sense than being King himself. His son will have a decent reign and could possibly do some positive.

 

[Joey D]

I understand that Charles can take any name he chooses. I hope he brings back a Saxon name.

King Aethelred III sounds cool.

Should just go full Dane with Harthacnut II.

 

[Famine]

I understand that Charles can take any name he chooses. I hope he brings back a Saxon name.

King Aethelred III sounds cool.

It's already been confirmed by Clarence Cottage (and "Liz" Truss; although she's an epic liar so that may not be much support) that he will be Charles III.

 

[MatskiMonk]

and could possibly do some positive.

Like what?

 

[sirjim73]

Honest question, do they need to do that with pretty much everything that has the Queen on it? I have a bunch of Canadian dollaridoos sitting on my desk because that's just what happens in Michigan and they have the Queen on them. I assume all newly minted money everywhere in the Commonwealth needs to be changed? I assume they've been planning this for years though, or am I giving too much credit to the government?

The planning for this started in 1952 as soon as she became Queen. With regular reviews and updates every year since then. It's almost an automated process after 1,000 years of monarchy, the government largely just follows the written instructions I believe.

As an example, a friend is in charge of transport planning at Maidenhead and Windsor council. He gets to open his "instructions" tomorrow.

I've told him I'm not calling him Sir if he gets a knighthood afterwards...!

 

[Sprite]

Like what?

Not really sure to be honest. Without sounding like I’m bashing the older generations, William maybe a little more in touch with reality as it is and not looking back but more forward thinking.

Not that they have much sway on life in the UK but he may air his concerns in public more than what his father might.

Then again he may just tow the company line. Who knows, I’m just spitballing.

 

[Darla Starch]

Should just go full Dane with Harthacnut II.

Partial to Sæxbald myself.

 

[Dave A]

It's already been confirmed by Clarence Cottage (and "Liz" Truss; although she's an epic liar so that may not be much support) that he will be Charles III.

I like the nickname I think the French came up for her, the iron weather vane. But on the main point I think it's clear by now Charles isn't abdicating.

 

[Baka_Marimo]

Rest in Peace, Queen Elizabeth II.

I've seen this video a few years ago and wonder how much of it is actually accurate.

 

[Omnis]

I must admit I do like Boris's reference to the Queen as "Elizabeth the Great". I very much think that history will see her as that.


The nature of the monarchy is such that he is already King Charles III. Although I do understand the point you were making.

There is no "swearing in" or anything equivalent. The role of King happened automatically on his mother's passing. Although the coronation will take place at a later date.

And I still find it odd referring to him as King. It will take time for that to properly sink in.

I think you misunderstood. I was referring to Prince William becoming King some day, but good luck to all of you and to His Majesty Alfred E. Neuman "Charles III" in the mean time.

 

[EamerRed]

Rest in Peace, Queen Elizabeth II.

I've seen this video a few years ago and wonder how much of it is actually accurate.

Operation London Bridge is actually only for if the Queen dies in London. Her preferred place has always been Balmoral, where she spent the last few months of her life - the code for that event was Operation Unicorn. Though I suspect a lot of it would be very similar to Operation London Bridge

 

[Grayfox]

Question for the brits.
I know there was that protocol that was to be done on TV and Radio when the queen died.

Did they play it?
A BBC video on YT didn't show it

 

[PeterJB]

Question for the brits.
I know there was that protocol that was to be done on TV and Radio when the queen died.

Did they play it?
A BBC video on YT didn't show it

The 'signal' so to speak was when the flag above Buckingham Palace went to half-mast. At that point Huw Edwards made the official announcement and then the national anthem was played with a portrait of the Queen. All the journalists were already dressed in black as we'd been given quite a lot of warning about this and they'd already suspended regular scheduled programming for the day.

Had the announcement come without warning as it did with the Duke of Edinburgh they would've had to suspend programming and jump straight to breaking news.

 

[Fezzik]

Question for the brits.
I know there was that protocol that was to be done on TV and Radio when the queen died.

Did they play it?
A BBC video on YT didn't show it

pretty much exactly as described in the London Bridge articles - "this is the BBC from London.."
the other main BBC channel was showing athletics (track and field) and cut directly to the announcement, from showing the athletes about to start a race.

 

[sirjim73]

@Joey D and any others interested:

Royal rebranding: What will happen to stamps, coins, banknotes and passports?

We're used to seeing Queen Elizabeth II's portrait and coat of arms in our change and on cereal boxes.

www.bbc.co.uk

Which reminds me, I haven't renewed my passport yet!

 

[merseyxshore]

Good lord that was a fantastic evening for memes.

 

[Dennisch]

Good lord that was a fantastic evening for memes.

It really was and still is.

 

[merseyxshore]

This is a far more important issue.

(via Danny Price on IG)

Danny Price:
Queen Elizabeth II will have a state funeral, and it will likely be the biggest funeral the world has ever seen. According to reports, the funeral and subsequent coronation will each cost the gross domestic product an estimated £6billion. But this could be dwarfed by how much the country will have to pay for organisational changes such as police uniforms, post boxes, government signage and other cosmetic changes. Whilst there are undoubtedly millions of flag-shaggers that will defend the eye-watering amount of money being spent on a dead millionaire they've never met, there are also millions of people who are against the idea of British residents paying for the funeral amidst a cost-of-living crisis. And before anyone tries to use the "tourism" argument, you should be aware that since the data on the royal family tourism figures, provided by VisitBritain (the official tourism office of Great Britain) was debunked almost 10 years ago, no official data has been made available to the British public on how much revenue the royal family actually bring into this country. Basically, the idea that the royal family bring in more than we pay for their existence is a great big ****ing myth.

 

[Famine]

This is a far more important issue.

Yeah, if you could do that without the giant, obnoxious images - one of which is extremely inadequately censored - for what amounts to about 100 words of text, that'd be great.

 

[merseyxshore]

Yeah, if you could do that without the giant, obnoxious images - one of which is extremely inadequately censored - for what amounts to about 100 words of text, that'd be great.

Apologies, I rarely post anything but text on here

 

[Liquid]

As a coin and banknote collector, I am delighted to have new things to harvest.

 

[sirjim73]

Frankly the GDP figures quoted above are probably utter ******** as they presumably refer to lost production/sales during the period of mourning and particularly the Public Holiday on the day of the funeral.

And completely ignore the fact that most of this will be made up for subsequently. The income/production will be postponed only, except for where it is time orientated. The finance sector will be closed which might make forex business go elsewhere that day. Or if might just be postponed to the following day.

80% of the UK economy is services much of which have been ordered/have deadlines. I personally work in accounting. The filing deadline for 31 December 2021 accounts was 30 September yesterday. It's still 30 September today. In practice what that means is postponing other work to get the deadline stuff done in a shorter working period. The other work still has to be done before their deadline.

And all that revenue lost because the football has been cancelled... Except it's not been cancelled and the revenue has not been lost. It's been postponed to a later date.

If anything, in practice it means more people working more overtime to make up for the lost hours.

That's not to say all of the "lost" GDP is actually postponed. But I'd like to bet that most of it will be.

As for the other costs. Some of those referred to above can be debunked easily. Stamps do not get recalled, just replaced as they are used up. The new stamps are printed on the same paper using the same machines as the old ones but with a new lithograph. The same applies to coins and notes which are not withdrawn but replaced over a period of time. The notes have not long been changed to the new plasticy ones. I dont know how notes and coins are printed/made, but my opinion/expectation would be that all that will change is the equivalent to the lithograph.

Post boxes do not get changed. Only new ones will have "CR" on them.

Passports do not get recalled. New ones issued will have His Majesty inside.

There are, though, indeed instant changes that will happen that will cost money. And yes it's clear that the funeral will be extremely expensive, based on its scale.

I'm not actually arguing against the point which is a serious and indeed fair point to raise when money is hard to come by for many. More seeking to make a comment on the fact that the quote refers to the "benefit" of the royal family as being "debunked" and then itself refers to a number of items including GDP figures, post boxes which I would argue I've just debunked above.

 

[Famine]

 

[Liquid]

GBeebees made a point of pointing out that the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Prince Harry and Megan Markle were there. Obvious omission of her title. I mean, I'm a committed anti-royalist, and therefore titles by extension, but the agenda on display is simply staggering.

 

[sirjim73]

GBeebees made a point of pointing out that the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Prince Harry and Megan Markle were there. Obvious omission of her title. I mean, I'm a committed anti-royalist, and therefore titles by extension, but the agenda on display is simply staggering.

Apparently...


WARNING - once you've seen that codpiece, you won't be able to look at anything else...