News from the Centre for Citizenship
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BBC Again Accused of Monarchist Bias
The Republic group says that it will be lodging a formal complaint against the BBC about its five-part documentary “Monarchy: The Royal Family at Work”. Spokesperson Graham Smith said: “The BBC’s documentary was biased, deferential and unquestioning. Throughout the programme the royals were portrayed in a flattering light and ‘facts’ were relayed without question or…
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Nepal To Be Free Of Monarchy
The government of Nepal has agreed that the country’s monarchy should be abolished after the next election. The decision to bring an end to the feudal institution followed the withdrawal from the government of Maoist former rebels who wanted an immediate republic.
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British Legislator To Do American Time
British legislator Conrad Black will be spending six and a half years in a federal prison in Florida following his conviction in a multi-million-dollar fraud trial. Black, who goes by the title of “Lord Black of Crossharbour”, was appointed in 2001 as a legislator-for-life in the British parliament. The former newspaper owner gave up his…
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International Threats To British Monarchy
Liz Windsor, Britain’s hereditary head of state, has “made clear” that “Australians must decide for themselves” whether their country should become a republic. The generous concession to the democratic rights of the people of Australia was reported in an editorial in the Daily Telegraph newspaper, a strong supporter of feudalism, following the Labour Party success…
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New Hope For Australian Republic
Australians will have another chance to vote on whether to become a republic as a result of the Labour Party gaining a 22-seat majority in the general election. New Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has promised a referendum. Australia shares an hereditary head of state with Britain. In the 1999 referendum Australians voted 55 to 45…
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Her Majesty’s Government Defends Her Majesty’s Tax Break
Britain is resisting a European Commission plan that would reduce the £500,000 paid in farm subsidies to hereditary head of state Elizabeth Windsor. The Commission wants to slash subsidies from taxpayers to the owners of big farms in order to rebut claims that the Common Agriculture Policy favours the rich. But a spokesperson for the…
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Fine for Insult To “Prince”
Two Spanish cartoonists have been fined £2000 each on a charge of insulting Felipe Bourbon, who is heir to the office of head of state. The charge arose from a law intended to boost the birth rate by paying cash to families for adopting or giving birth to a child. Guillermo Torres and Manel Fontevilla…
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BBC’s Police Powers Attacked
The British Broadcasting Corp. (BBC) has been described as “a state agency with police powers to collect a tax”. This unusually honest description of the media giant was made by BSkyB Chief Executive James Murdoch at the Monaco Media Forum and reported by the Financial Times Criticising these powers Mr. Murdoch said that funding of…
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Hereditary Legislators Keep Seats
New Prime Minister Gordon Brown has announced plans for a number of reforms to Britain’s constitution. But he did not include reform of the second chamber of Parliament. This means that legislators-for-life, bishops, legislators appointed by the main political parties, hereditary legislators and legislators who have bought their seats, none of whom are accountable to…
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State Church Concealed Child Abuse
The British state church has been accused of “an appalling, shocking level of negligence” by a lawyer who specialises in child abuse cases. The claim, reported in the Daily Telegraph, followed the leaking of confidential Church of England documents that say that its bishops have concealed decades of child abuse. One document quoted by the…