Go for it Hilary

[teamsaint]

The only "knee jerk" reactions seem to be from folk who think that any intelligent critique of society that includes the royal family is somehow "disloyal" . In the context of some of the things I learnt this evening about Mosolov on the BBC4 "Sound & Fury" there is much to be said ......

if I believed in despair, Gongers, I would despair.
They seem to have us where they want us.
Perhaps there is an over the counter remedy I could buy to counter feelings of disappointment.

[MrGongGong]

Perhaps there is an over the counter remedy I could buy to counter feelings of disappointment.

I think all you need to do is to drive past somewhere where once someone lived who had a name similar to the name of the remedy in question ......

Powerful stuff mate

[french frank]

Mantel is actually quite non-committal about 'monarchy' itself, drawing parallels between today's Royals and the Tudors:

"It may be that the whole phenomenon of monarchy is irrational, but that doesn’t mean that when we look at it we should behave like spectators at Bedlam."

"Diana was spared, at least, the prospect of growing old under the flashbulbs, a crime for which the media would have made her suffer."

[MrGongGong]

Mantel is actually quite non-committal about 'monarchy' itself, with which she draws p[arallels b etween today's Royals and the Tudors:

"It may be that the whole phenomenon of monarchy is irrational, but that doesn’t mean that when we look at it we should behave like spectators at Bedlam."

"Diana was spared, at least, the prospect of growing old under the flashbulbs, a crime for which the media would have made her suffer."

Indeed
SO why are the rabid royalists SO insecure that they seem to think that anything that seems vaguely critical of the way in which the royals are presented is tantamount to getting out the guillotine ?

[french frank]

Indeed
SO why are the rabid royalists SO insecure that they seem to think that anything that seems vaguely critical of the way in which the royals are presented is tantamount to getting out the guillotine ?

Because people have misread the real target of Mantel's 'attack'?

[MrGongGong]

Because people have misread the real target of Mantel's 'attack'?

That assumes that they are able to read in the first place
and some of them have had a rather expensive private education AND are in charge of some rather dangerous weapons

[teamsaint]

Indeed
SO why are the rabid royalists SO insecure that they seem to think that anything that seems vaguely critical of the way in which the royals are presented is tantamount to getting out the guillotine ?

I caught a bit of 5 live today, which I really only tune into for sports news.
Every bulletin seemed to be accompanied by a really incensed BBC employee having a go at anybody prepared to stand up for whatever it is Mantel is saying.

They ought to be insecure. It's a nonsensical system.

[Flosshilde]

It's almost 6,000 words - anyone like to venture a précis of what Mantel is saying?

So she's as sparing with her words when she writes a speech as she is when she's writing her books

[Julien Sorel]

'When her pregnancy became public she had been visiting her old school, and had picked up a hockey stick and run a few paces for the camera. BBC News devoted a discussion to whether a pregnant woman could safely put on a turn of speed while wearing high heels. It is sad to think that intelligent people could devote themselves to this topic with earnest furrowings of the brow, but that’s what discourse about royals comes to: a compulsion to comment, a discourse empty of content,...

And now intelligent people are devoting themselves to the topic of what Hilary Mantel said about Kate etc. I watched one ... episode? of the BBC News today and the main stories were Oscar Pistorius and the death of Reeva Steenkamp, a diamond heist in Brussels and what Hilary Mantel said about Kate etc.

What use is any of that? As for the Kate story - I'm not interested in her and I'm not interested in Hilary Mantel. Why should I be interested in either?

[teamsaint]

And now intelligent people are devoting themselves to the topic of what Hilary Mantel said about Kate etc. I watched one ... episode? of the BBC News today and the main stories were Oscar Pistorius and the death of Reeva Steenkamp, a diamond heist in Brussels and what Hilary Mantel said about Kate etc.

What use is any of that? As for the Kate story - I'm not interested in her and I'm not interested in Hilary Mantel. Why should I be interested in either?

Well give the logic I suppose I shouldn't be posting on here.
But I agree absolutely with your point. The " news " agendas are just designed to keep us under informed and distracted.
Teamsaints News rule 1 .If you see or hear the news, ask who put this story on,why, and who placed the information.

[french frank]

. Why should I be interested in either?

It seemed to me partly, in this case, a feminist issue - the way that ['royal'] women are treated by the press. It seemed to Mantel to be a point worth making (several weeks ago, but the media flocks to it).

Some people are taking it as a comment on monarchy, but I can't see that it is. She is quite clear that that isn't the point she wanted to make.

Are the BBC journalists on strike at the moment? Or isn't there much news?

[teamsaint]

There is as much or as little news as those who control the agendas want there to be.
Some sensible discussion of the looming power generation crisis might be more use to most of us.

[Julien Sorel]

It seemed to me partly, in this case, a feminist issue - the way that ['royal'] women are treated by the press. It seemed to Mantel to be a point worth making (several weeks ago, but the media flocks to it).

Some people are taking it as a comment on monarchy, but I can't see that it is. She is quite clear that that isn't the point she wanted to make.

Are the BBC journalists on strike at the moment? Or isn't there much news?

They are on strike, yes. I understand what she's saying and, yes, it's worth saying. It's been said many times, though, without this coverage (and the Diana phenomenon has been analysed to pieces).

I can't really see what kind of discussion there can be about a monarchy that is entirely though expensively decorative that goes beneath surfaces?

[MrGongGong]

Some sensible discussion of the looming power generation crisis might be more use to most of us.

I'm not sure it's any "use" as unless we all put wind turbines on our roofs or decide to light our houses with candles theres bugger all we can do about it.

[scottycelt]

The Neanderthal struggles with long sentences, paragraphs, and the very notion of a meandering point. Who's surprised?

Here. Essays For Dummies: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essay

... oh, what a chump.

You're obviously a very smart and exceedingly modest man to boot , 'Throppers' ... clearly, we can all learn a lot from you and your meanderings.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/28380600/Dr-Y-U-Thropplenoggin-is-a-Pioneer

http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/user/Thropplenoggin

Aren't the moderators of the Guardian website comments section proper Dummies themselves for apparently removing many of your posts? Oh, just when I wanted to learn ...

Shame on them!