News from the Centre for Citizenship
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State Broadcaster Defames Republicans
BBC TV News reported on Friday that “a leading republican” had been arrested on a charge of murdering soldiers in Northern Ireland. In fact the arrested man, Colin Duffy, is not known to be a member of any of the main republican organisations in the UK. He has, however, been associated with a small group…
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British Support Equal Opps for Windsors, Not For Selves
A BBC opinion poll has indicated that 89% of Britons want an end to discrimination against female members of the Windsor family, which has the exclusive right to provide the head of state under Britain’s feudal constitution. Nineteen percent favour continued discriminations against Catholics and seventy-six per cent believed that the majority of citizens should…
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Research Project May Speed New Zealand Republic
The government of New Zealand is to sponsor a research project into the role of its hereditary head of state, who it shares with Britain and some former British colonies. Two constitutional lawyers will spend three years looking at the country’s constitution. A Cabinet Officer legal researcher will work with them. Former governor-general Cath Tizard…
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No Representation Without Donation
Defenders of the House of Lords have suffered a further setback as a result of revelations that some legislators-for-life have been keen to accept payments in return for influencing legislation. This has undermined the apologists’ claim that the undemocratic chamber is justified by the high-minded independence of the unelected legislators. The scandal caused the Financial…
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Republican Momentum Maintained
Mark Dreyfus, who chairs the Constitutional Affairs Committee of the Australian parliament, has called for a plebiscite to measure support for an Australian republic. Prime minister Kevin Rudd, a republican, had said that a referendum would not be a priority in the first term of his Labour Party government. Mr. Dreyfus believes that a plebiscite,…
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Civil Rights Are Threat to Constitution Say Conservatives
Britain’s conservatives have reacted to talk of ending the privileges of Britain’s minority Anglicans with the horror stories that have long characterised their resistance to the application of democratic principles to Britain’s feudal constitution. Conservative party shadow justice secretary Nick Herbert said that disestablishment of the Church of England would be “constitutional vandalism”. An editorial…
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Prince to Behave as King
Charles Windsor has told his biographer, Jonathan Dimbleby, that he intends to act like a king when he takes over from his mother as Britain’s hereditary head of state. Mr. Dimbleby says that Windsor plans to be a “political” head of state. He describes what is planned as “a seismic shift” in the role of…
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First New Zealand Senior Counsel Appointed
New Zealand has appointed the its first Senior Counsel. The title is given to senior barristers (trial lawyers) in some former British colonies in place of Queen’s Counsel. Both New Zealand and Australia now use the term, although both have Britain’s hereditary head of state as their national figurehead. The New Zealand republican movement welcomed…
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Monarchy Pays
According to figures published by the Financial Times a 2head of a clan” in the Italian Mafia can expect to make as much as £408,000 a year. Charles Windsor, second in command of Britain’s Windsor clan, took in excess of £16m from the British people last year. No other country is known to provide the…
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BBC Cuts Champagne
The BBC has canceled its champagne order, on which it spent £40,000 of the people’s money last year, amidst fears that the recession will drive more to refuse the £139.50 annual levy that it imposes for permission to watch TV. The feared loss of income is despite the state broadcaster’s recent “Evaders will pay” billboard…