Go for it Hilary

[teamsaint]

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.

Well you may be right, but getting the EU to scrap the deadline for decommissioning coal fired stations might help?
Given the amount of tealights in IKEA I reckon we might be OK, though.

[MrGongGong]

Scotty, are you stalking us ?

[Thropplenoggin]

... 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!

If you go to my profile, you'll find a link to my satirical blog where several of those pieces are to be found. Said link has been there since I joined For3.

Caveat Lector, Stig: these pieces are satirical in nature. Whilst I encourage you to give it a go, there is always a danger that it might go flying over the ol' protruded forehead.

[scottycelt]

If you go to my profile, you'll find a link to my satirical blog where several of those pieces are to be found. Said link has been there since I joined For3.

Caveat Lector, Stig: these pieces are satirical in nature. Whilst I encourage you to give it a go, there is always a danger that it might go flying over the ol' protruded forehead.

Hopefully it would as I wouldn't like to encounter anything not approved by The Guardian, anyway.

I do have certain forum standards, Doc ...

[Nick Armstrong]

Caveat Lector, Stig: these pieces are satirical in nature. Whilst I encourage you to give it a go, there is always a danger that it might go flying over the ol' protruded forehead.

[scottycelt]

Moving Swiftly Back On Topic ...

It is clear that it still remains a matter of some controversy exactly what Ms Mantel was trying to say.

Reading between those seemingly endless, meandering lines one might have learned that she is not particularly a great fan of royalty and some of the royals themselves, and, possibly even more damned annoying for her, the way the media and public react to them. Funny, I've always thought that is the whole point of royalty ... its very difference ... elected politicians look and act a bit like ourselves and therefore we generally despise them.

However, she does appear to have been a bit of a fan of the late Diana, Princess of Wales, and a few other long-deceased royal ladies. One might fairly conclude that she is also a bit of a feminist and, in that case, is now a virtual certainty to be regularly mentioned on Radio 4, most obviously Woman's Hour, even discounting her current novel fame, Clearly, she likes quoting from 'Stevie Smith'.

She was also unnecessarily cruel to the delightful and still very young Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, though her words are now claimed in some press articles to have been 'sympathetic'. Personally, I think 'bitchy' might have been a fairer and rather more accurate description.

Of course, maybe she just fancied a bit of a laugh at everyone's expense ... ?

[MrGongGong]

Keep to the script Scotty else we will all be dammed

[teamsaint]

picking up on Scotty's point about the media and the public's reaction to the royals...these seem to me to be very different. Much of the media fawn all over the royals. But my personal experience is that most people are thoroughly indifferent to the royals at best, and see the media hype for what it is.
Its probably fair to say that a good proportion view the queen as a good head of state,but that is as far as it goes.
It's the Manchester United factor. Like Man Utd, the royals sell a lot of papers/china mugs/t shirts...but in fact only a relatively small proportion of the population are really interested.

As for princess middleton, her job really is to breed, and she is as dispensible to the royal family as all the other outsiders.

[MrGongGong]

As for princess middleton, her job really is to breed, and she is as dispensible to the royal family as all the other outsiders.

Don't talk nonsense
her job is to be "delightful" and
" someone who's bright, who's engaging, who's a fantastic ambassador for Britain"

(so we can sell more arms to dodgy regimes )

and so say all of us , don't we ? and anyone who says otherwise is a traitor

[teamsaint]

No doubt her 8 year stint stalking prince whatsit will serve her well as an arms sales person.

[teamsaint]

My kids used to have a video called "Ruff and Rosie" , a cartoon thing narrated by Victoria Wood. There was a little gem of wisdom in there.
She asks " Do you spend time worrying about Madonna or Michael Jackson? Well don't, because they're not worrying about you ".
I think this wisdom can be applied to the royals, and others, very reasonably.

[mercia]

if we're going to be bitchy [and why not ? ] I would say Ms Mantel's smile has a certain fibreglass quality to it

http://blog.serialreaders.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Hilary-Mantel.jpg

... and she obviously buys her clothes from Millets tent department

OUCH !

[scottycelt]

Don't talk nonsense
her job is to be "delightful" and
" someone who's bright, who's engaging, who's a fantastic ambassador for Britain"

(so we can sell more arms to dodgy regimes )

and so say all of us , don't we ? and anyone who says otherwise is a traitor

No, I would never go that far, Mr GG, maybe just another frustrated, minority republican ...

Republican countries like M. Hollande's Socialist France would never even dream of selling arms to dodgy regimes and sending troops to foreign places to fight wars ... oh no, perish the very thought!

[scottycelt]

if we're going to be bitchy [and why not ? ] I would say Ms Mantel's smile has a certain fibreglass quality about it

http://blog.serialreaders.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Hilary-Mantel.jpg

... and she obviously buys her clothes from Millets tent department

OUCH !

Maybe she should try Blacks instead ... ?

[teamsaint]

As a mature and respectable democracy (if only) we should have people properly put in place by an elected government to do our dirty work, not those milking the system because of hereditary privilege.

And , seriously, endorsement of the arms trade by the apparently respectable royals reinforces the whole sordid business.