News from the Centre for Citizenship

“Campaigners for a New Zealand Head of State are still feeling positive after ten days of royal events” says NZ Republic Chair, Savage. “Our polling before the visit showed increased support for a kiwi head of state. We have a long term goal for improving democracy in New Zealand and this royal visit was an…

The state visit of the President of Ireland has been a cause for satisfaction in some British quarters. The Financial Times described it as “an event laden with symmetry and symbolism”. Certainly the British are often better at putting on a show than they are at being serious about democracy. The future of Northern Ireland…

The latest visit to Australia by celebrity members of the Windsor clan has caused an increase in discussion about an Australian republic. The Sydney Morning Herald greeted the Windsor couple with a 700-word opinion piece with the title “Royal Tour: It’s Time to Break the Habit”, by the national director of the Australian Republican Movement.…

King Bourbon Accused of Supporting Military Plot A new book by Pilar Urbano accuses Juan Bourbon, the Spanish monarch, of supporting an effort by military officers to remove the country’s elected government in 1981. Bourbon also applied personal pressure to get the PM to stand down, according to the journalist and popular historian. Most other…

An internal BBC review has proposed that the TV licence fee be replaced by a “membership fee” if funding negotiations with the government do not go as the state media giant wishes. The review was led by the Corporation’s head of strategy, who has now left the BBC. There is no precedent for the BBC…

Court Quashes “Unlawful” Attempt to Fool British People The Appeal Court has quashed as unlawful a government attempt at an extraordinarily blatant attempt to fool the British people. The government has responded to the court ruling by stating that it will ask the Supreme Court to uphold its wish to pull wool over our eyes.…

Government Lawyers Ask Appeal Court to Hush Up Windsor Letters Scandal It may not be possible to fool all of the people all of the time. But the British government thinks it can fool most of the people for much of the time. In an unusually frank attempt to do so government lawyers told the…