News from the Centre for Citizenship
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Australia: No Republic Vote Yet
The Australian Senate has rejected a bill that would have required a vote on the monarchy at the next federal election. The proposal for a non-binding plebiscite was made by the Green party but rejected by a senate committee that considered 250 submissions. The committee recommended a public awareness campaign to prepare Australians for possible…
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Windsor Wins With Help of Feudal Friends
Charles Windsor, heir to the office of head of state, has succeeded in blocking modern architecture in a redevelopment of the Chelsea Barracks site in London. According to the Financial Times Mr. Windsor was able to persuade fellow feudal rulers in Qatar, the al-Thani family, to intervene to have the plans scrapped. The owner of…
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BBC: No Apology for Feudal Bias
The BBC has dismissed a complaint by the Centre for Citizenship that a claim in a news report that a “leading republican” had been arrested for multiple murders in Northern Ireland show bias against republicans. The most the state broadcaster, which claims to be “the greatest force for cultural good on the face of the…
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No Celebrations For Queen’s Birthday
“Not one of New Zealand’s local authorities will hold celebrations for the Queen this Queen’s Birthday weekend” according to Lewis Holden, who chairs the New Zealand Republican Movement. The Republican Movement wrote to all of New Zealand’s district and city Mayors in May. Not one indicated any celebration of the Queen’s Birthday for the upcoming…
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How Others See Us
“We respect the democracy and procedures in the UK”. Ghanim binn Saad al-Saad, head of Qatari Diar, explaining why he may be making concessions to the demands of a feudal institution in the person of Charles Windsor on the design of the company’s development on the Chelsea Barracks site.
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Quote of the Week
“With luck the present crisis of public trust (in MPs) may rekindle the embers of constitutional reform. But why stop at parliament? For all its self-regard, British democracy sovereignty not in the people but in the “monarch in parliament”. How long before someone asks to see the Queen’s expense chits?” Philip Stephens, The Financial Times
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BBC Defends Feudal Privileges
Michael Lyons, who chairs the BBC Trust, has declared in an interview with The Financial Times that the state broadcaster should not be subject to democratic controls. According to the newspaper he reminded “the government and opposition parties . . . that he and the other trustees were appointed by the Queen, through the Privy…
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Expenses Fury Masks Feudal Privileges
Head of state Elizabeth Windsor is reported to be “concerned” about the constitutional implications of the MPs’ expenses scandal. However, the constitution will allow voters to remove the MPs who have been shamed at the general election in 2010. There is no such easy way of punishing the Windsor family who make the legislators look…
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Architects Fight Back Against Windsor
A group of British architects has called for a boycott of a lecture by Charles Windsor who is due to become Britain’s head of state when his mother dies. Mr. Windsor will give the lecture at the Royal Institute of Architects on Tuesday. The nine architects called for a boycott in a letter to the…
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Australia: Senate Considers Republic Vote
In Australia the Senate has held a public hearing on a bill providing for a plebiscite on whether Australia should cut its ties with Britain’s feudal institution. The committee, which is due to report in June, has considered 246 written submissions and has heard nine witnesses. A bill requiring a plebiscite was referred to the…