I CAN only assume that Brian D Henderson (Letters, April 20) has no acquaintances who are non-British or that those he does know are too polite to disabuse him of his fantasy that we are the envy of the world because we have the monarchy.
In my various travels around the world I have gained a very clear view of how the Windsors and the rest of the royal panjandrums are viewed by other nations. The monarchy and all its trappings are regarded as a theatrical show which is worth seeing but that is all. In the same way that we would not wish to live in a Gilbert and Sullivan operetta they have absolutely no desire to be lorded over by an unaccountable hereditary clan. In modern parlance the monarchy is treated similarly to the Kardashians, in as much as they are viewed by many but very few would want to ape them and allow them any influence in their lives.
In its simplest expression the attitude of non-Brits to the citizens of the UK is one of amusement and not a little bafflement that we kow-tow to this self-serving institution.
David Stubley,
22 Templeton Crescent, Prestwick.
WATCHING Jennie Bond’s nauseatingly sycophantic programme The Day I Met The Queen on BBC2 (April 20) prompts me to add my tuppenceworth to previous letters on the subject of the monarchy. Why some believe that we live in enlightened times when in actuality the distribution of wealth in the UK has never been more skewed towards the rich beats me.
The Queen is the linchpin from which all the imbalance in society hangs and as long as the monarchy exists then any aspiration of creating a meritocracy is a pipedream. There is no point in aspiring to live in an independent Scotland without a simultaneous complete restructuring of the social structure of society. Otherwise there would be no difference, just a different set of flunkies doing the bidding of the Establishment.
David J Crawford,
Flat 3/3 131 Shuna Street, Glasgow.
IAN W Thomson (Letters, April 20) comments adversely on the continuation of the Royal Family, with its hereditary aspect perpetuating the "class system", along with The House of Lords having many hereditary peers. Fair comment. He then spoils his argument by complaining about the majority in House of Lords being there through "political patronage" – obviously non-royals and non-hereditary.
Surely both points contradict each other?
Ian Gray,
41 Abercrombie Drive, Bearsden.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel