News from the Centre for Citizenship

Transport for London has given a slap in the face to upwards of 1.7m republican Londoners, and to others who visit London or fund its transport, by renaming Crossrail as the Elizabeth Line. The Elizabeth in question is Elizabeth Windsor, Britain’s feudal head of state. According to news media reports Conservative mayor Boris Johnson was…

Tom Brake, a Liberal Democrat MP, has proposed a new law that would stop the Windsor clan keeping its political activities secret. The Public Interest and Transparency Bill was presented to parliament on 19 January 2016. If passed it will make the Windsors subject to the Freedom of Information Act in the same way as…

Cristina Federica Victoria Antonia de la Santísima Trinidad de Borbón y de Grecia appeared in court this week on a charge of tax fraud. Cristina is the sister of the Spanish head of state. She is considered by monarchists to be a “princess”. The Spanish “royal” family has cut its ties to Ms. de Borbón…

Monarchists tell us that monarchies are more stable than other systems. Here’s what that stability looks like in the monarchy of Thailand. Thanakorn Siripaiboon, a Thai factory worker, has been charged with insulting the monarchy, an offence known as lèse-majesté. His offence was to make remarks about a stray dog that had been rescued by…

In December 2015 it was revealed that the son of the head of state, like his mother, is allowed to read all cabinet memoranda. These include secret proposals for legislation and discussion documents that are kept secret from most citizens for thirty years. Mr. Windsor is on the “standard circulation” list for these memoranda. The…

The British government may ask the European Union Court of Justice to help it protect the British monarchy from public scrutiny according to press reports. This would be a demonstration of unusual desperation by a government that usually seeks to distance itself from the Europe Union. The appeal to European Union judges is being considered…

The fuss about the silence of Jeremy Corbyn during the singing of the British anthem was perhaps more than anything else the taking of an opportunity to attack a political enemy. Nonetheless it says more about our country than it does about Mr. Corbyn. A nation that acts as if love of country is the…

The House of Lords has overruled the Britain’s elected legislators by voting to delay any decriminalisation of TV licence fee non-payment until 2017. The vote to delay removal of the criminal penalty was 178 to 175. Unlike the Church of England, the BBC is not able to place its own representatives in the legislature to…

Democratic Heritage Rejected The inability of the British to take democracy seriously and fully replace feudal with democratic institutions and practices has been brought to attention again by the revelation that the number of citizens eligible for an hereditary seat in the legislature has increased. Stephen Benn, a sixty three year old Labour Party supporter…

British Government Suffers Second Defeat The British government has suffered another defeat for its policy of treating as above the law those it believes to be “royal”. In October 2014 the High Court quashed a decision by the Director of Public Prosecutions that Sheikh Nasser bin Hamad al-Khalifa was, as reported by the Financial Times…