News from the Centre for Citizenship

John Howard, former Prime Minister of Australia, has become the sixth Australian to be awarded the British Order of Merit by the hereditary head of state of both countries. According to The Australian, some leading republicans believe that Howard’s part in defeating the referendum that would have freed Australia from monarchy was one reason for…

The blindness to democratic principles that is widespread in Britain has been highlighted in a Financial Times report on the City of London and the “occupy London” protesters. A Maurice Glasman told the newspaper the banks that are among the businesses that appoint voters in City of London elections are an “unaccountable elite”. But Glasman,…

State Church Backs Occupy Protesters Opposes People’s Rights, Defends Privileges The Church of England has told a parliamentary committee that draft legislation to reform the House of Lords by allowing the people to elect most if not all of the legislators in that chamber is “highly questionable”. The state church says that to allow the…

The son of Britain’s hereditary head of state is able to veto some proposed legislation, according to an extraordinary report in the Guardian. It had been believed that Britain’s feudal system required the consent of his mother for new laws to be enacted but that this was a mere formality. Mr. Windsor was reported by…

The Bishop of Buckingham, a Church of England official, has criticised officials at his church’s St. Paul’s Cathedral for their attitude towards the “Occupy London” protesters who have camped outside. The Bishop asked in a blog “Do they have the stomach to engage in the real world at the crest of a tidal race between…

If your home is broken into the British Prime Minister and his counterparts in 15 former colonies will worry about whether the burglars divide their takings equitably. They will not give a damn about your losses. That, at least, seems to be what can be concluded from the decision of those countries that share Britain’s…

Julia Gillard, the Prime Minister of Australia, has been criticised by monarchists for not curtsying to Britain’s feudal head of state, Elizabeth Windsor. Earlier this year Irish President Mary McAleese showed that she has more respect for the Irish people she represents than for feudal rulers by also refusing to demean herself for Windsor’s benefit.…

Prime Minister David Cameron has written to 15 nations that have the same head of state as the UK asking them to support an end to gender discrimination against female members of the Windsor family. At present male Windsors have precedence over their sisters when a new head of state is needed. In general members…

Members of the feudal House of Lords last week failed to block government plans to reform the National Health Service. Some of the unelected legislators had hoped to have the reforms referred to a committee of “lords” and MPs, which the government feared would effectively sabotage its plans for the NHS. The reforms are the…