The Queen's visit to Leicester

[breadandcheese]

Lolz.

What? Like Thailand?

I've always seen Liz as they person in charge who most understands my concerns and wants stuff done in my best interests.

Unreal.

As much as it must grate you, the reaction from people in other countries (Caribbean, Brazil, etc) when Prince Harry visits, or other more senior members on the Royal family visit, shows the strength of our Royal Family to act as ambassadors for our country.

Let's be fair, there would be a complete lack of interest from the people of Brazil in a visit from William Hague, David Cameron or our ambassador to the country.

In that sense, the money spent on the Royal Family, in terms of bang for bucks, is very efficiently spent in helping to market Britain abroad.

[Zingari]

As much as it must grate you, the reaction from people in other countries (Caribbean, Brazil, etc) when Prince Harry visits, or other more senior members on the Royal family visit, shows the strength of our Royal Family to act as ambassadors for our country.

Let's be fair, there would be a complete lack of interest from the people of Brazil in a visit from William Hague, David Cameron or our ambassador to the country.

In that sense, the money spent on the Royal Family, in terms of bang for bucks, is very efficiently spent in helping to market Britain abroad.

he's not really royal in the true sense though, is he ?

[Daggers]

As much as it must grate you, the reaction from people in other countries (Caribbean, Brazil, etc) when Prince Harry visits, or other more senior members on the Royal family visit, shows the strength of our Royal Family to act as ambassadors for our country.

Let's be fair, there would be a complete lack of interest from the people of Brazil in a visit from William Hague, David Cameron or our ambassador to the country.

You mean those areas of the world where Nazi war criminals went into hiding after WWII?

In that sense, the money spent on the Royal Family, in terms of bang for bucks, is very efficiently spent in helping to market Britain abroad.

People think "Oh, I must buy British because I really love that member of the Royal family who came by our barrio in a motorcade"?

Do they? I don't believe that for a single second.

• The value of two way trade of goods and services between the UK and Ireland in 2009 was a third more than our two way trade with China ).
  
• Ireland is the UK’s top export market for Food and Drink, and Clothing and Textiles. source
  

Do you seriously want me to believe that Eire maintains a large level of trading with us due to an impact by Queeny and her family?

[davieG]

As much as it must grate you, the reaction from people in other countries (Caribbean, Brazil, etc) when Prince Harry visits, or other more senior members on the Royal family visit, shows the strength of our Royal Family to act as ambassadors for our country.

Let's be fair, there would be a complete lack of interest from the people of Brazil in a visit from William Hague, David Cameron or our ambassador to the country.

In that sense, the money spent on the Royal Family, in terms of bang for bucks, is very efficiently spent in helping to market Britain abroad.

Do they have be to the Head of State to carry out an ambassadorial role?

[DANGEROUS TIGER]

I have celtic blood gushing through my veins from my Welsh ancestors.

I do not class myself as English. Ugh. *spit* *spit*

I do have a mighty axe though which I hold on a frequent basis and allow girls to play with if they are nice to me.

lol

[DANGEROUS TIGER]

You shouldn’t be waving your little short sword around the queen DT , it’s very disrespectful !

ps;

I'm from the Diddycoy tribe of ancient Brits .

Our main weapons are fear and surprise saucepans and pegs , and the occasional curse

Hmm. The mind boggles. Love to see you doing battle!

[I am Rod Hull]

[davieG]

Just another celebrity then, one of those that are famous for being famous. The critical question is - would she win Britain's Got Talent?

[I am Rod Hull]

Just another celebrity then, one of those that are famous for being famous. The critical question is - would she win Britain's Got Talent?

Who would fill the void?

[davieG]

Who would fill the void?

There's so much more I dislike about the current political set up that would be way down the list of my dislikes and until there is a system in that is truly democratic it's hard to say.

Do we really need a President/Head of State and a Prime Minister, maybe just the Leader of an elected House of Lords/Second House? It's a fairly notional position at present with very little real power anyway, it's virtually just administrative.

Should she really be the head of state for other nations? Do the Scots and Welsh want her as the head of state, do they even want to be part of the UK? So many unanswered questions without which it's hard to define the role or if we need it.

[RonnieTodger]

To me she's just a novelty now, as the rest of them are. I wouldn't have a problem with this visit if she paid for it her-****ing-self.

[breadandcheese]

You mean those areas of the world where Nazi war criminals went into hiding after WWII?

Do you mean the 6th largest economy in the world rather than Argentina?

People think "Oh, I must buy British because I really love that member of the Royal family who came by our barrio in a motorcade"?

Do they? I don't believe that for a single second.

The link is not that specific, however, there is a perception of warmth towards the UK from a visit by the Royal Family. You may not like that, may even think those people of Brazil, Caribbean, etc are stupid for being sucked into it, but there is a level of warmth for the Royal Family both home and abroad that you cannot deny. In terms of visiting foreign dignitaries, the queen ranks below only Barack Obama.

Do you seriously want me to believe that Eire maintains a large level of trading with us due to an impact by Queeny and her family?

No, of course not, trading levels are independent and more closely related to proximity of Ireland to UK than anything else. However, you cannot deny the importance of the speech that the Queen gave on her recent visit when she spoke about how with the benefit of hindsight, we can all see things we would have done differently or not at all. A speech like that given by David Cameron, would not have had the same resonance.

The fact is, the queen is respected far more internationally than any of our prime ministers, and if we were a republic, our president would not command the same level of respect.

[I am Rod Hull]

There's so much more I dislike about the current political set up that would be way down the list of my dislikes and until there is a system in that is truly democratic it's hard to say.

Do we really need a President/Head of State and a Prime Minister, maybe just the Leader of an elected House of Lords/Second House? It's a fairly notional position at present with very little real power anyway, it's virtually just administrative.

Should she really be the head of state for other nations? Do the Scots and Welsh want her as the head of state, do they even want to be part of the UK? So many unanswered questions without which it's hard to define the role or if we need it.

I`m sure Canada and Australia have had referendums in recent years and both results were in favour of keeping the Queen as head of state. Scotland and Wales would go the same way if polls are anything to go by.

The respect, love and affection that the Queen gets from people of this nation and others is second to none.

We`ve tried being a Republic, didn`t last.

[BlueSi13]

Wasnt the Queen born in Mayfair? Not everyone subcribes to this weird theory you keep your parents nationality. I dread to think what you make of Leicester's Asian population, take it none of them are British/English?

I'm quite happy with the royals, I think a constitutional monarchy is the best form of goverment when done properly, can you imagine how our politicians would behave if they had even more power given to them?

President Brown?

President Blair?

No thanks.

Is this the same Tony Blair that was ELECTED by landslide by the people of this country three times? Wow yea he would never be a good candidate to assume the role of head of state.

As it stands the current monarchy is undemocratic, sexist, elitist, talentless, unaccountable, expensive, discriminatory and sectarian, and whose benefits to this country in terms of tourism have been blown apart as myths for a long time now (one example being that the royals aren't even the biggest tourist attraction in Windsor). But if the majority of people wish for it to continue in this country then so be it. Though it will be likely that most of the Commonwealth will become republics upon the Queen's passing.

[breadandcheese]

Is this the same Tony Blair that was ELECTED by landslide by the people of this country three times? Wow yea he would never be a good candidate to assume the role of head of state.

As it stands the current monarchy is undemocratic, sexist, elitist, talentless, unaccountable, expensive, discriminatory and sectarian, and whose benefits to this country in terms of tourism have been blown apart as myths for a long time now (one example being that the royals aren't even the biggest tourist attraction in Windsor). But if the majority of people wish for it to continue in this country then so be it. Though it will be likely that most of the Commonwealth will become republics upon the Queen's passing.

The majority already do. The Queen is however still head of the new Commonwealth of Nations until her death. It will be interesting to see whether these members will elect Charles as head of the organisation when he becomes King.

From wikipedia

Sixteen members of the Commonwealth, known as Commonwealth realms, recognise the Queen as their head of state. The majority of members, thirty-three, are republics, and a further five have monarchs of different royal houses.

[I am Rod Hull]

Is this the same Tony Blair that was ELECTED by landslide by the people of this country three times? Wow yea he would never be a good candidate to assume the role of head of state.

As it stands the current monarchy is undemocratic, sexist, elitist, talentless, unaccountable, expensive, discriminatory and sectarian, and whose benefits to this country in terms of tourism have been blown apart as myths for a long time now (one example being that the royals aren't even the biggest tourist attraction in Windsor). But if the majority of people wish for it to continue in this country then so be it. Though it will be likely that most of the Commonwealth will become republics upon the Queen's passing.

Like every religious leader ever.....

Tony Blair? head of state? lol

[acooling08]

Out of interest - how can you feel proud by seeing a bunch of German ponces to whom your only connection is that they hold an outdated and unnecessary role in the country you just happened to be born in?

Agree with Matt. Just because the royal family has some German blood. That would mean no brown person could ever be English...

[RyanB89]

down with the royal family

[I am Rod Hull]

Agree with Matt. Just because the royal family has some German blood. That would mean no brown person could ever be English...

The English have Germanic roots, the "they`re German" shite, smacks of desperation.....

[Daggers]

Do you mean the 6th largest economy in the world rather than Argentina?

The link is not that specific, however, there is a perception of warmth towards the UK from a visit by the Royal Family. You may not like that, may even think those people of Brazil, Caribbean, etc are stupid for being sucked into it, but there is a level of warmth for the Royal Family both home and abroad that you cannot deny. In terms of visiting foreign dignitaries, the queen ranks below only Barack Obama.

No, of course not, trading levels are independent and more closely related to proximity of Ireland to UK than anything else. However, you cannot deny the importance of the speech that the Queen gave on her recent visit when she spoke about how with the benefit of hindsight, we can all see things we would have done differently or not at all. A speech like that given by David Cameron, would not have had the same resonance.

The fact is, the queen is respected far more internationally than any of our prime ministers, and if we were a republic, our president would not command the same level of respect.

Do you not understand that war criminals hid out across the entire continent?

Now you keep stating your opinion as fact - how about backing that up with evidence because all you are doing is spouting rhetoric and cliches.

You keep telling me "...and you can not deny" as if I'm obligated to agree with this guff. I don't agree with it, it's balderdash.

[Bellend Sebastian]

Morrissey and friends sit on the fence AS USUAL

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Observer/Columnist/Columnists/2012/3/9/1331316088975/morrissey-007.jpg

[breadandcheese]

Do you not understand that war criminals hid out across the entire continent?

Now you keep stating your opinion as fact - how about backing that up with evidence because all you are doing is spouting rhetoric and cliches.

You keep telling me "...and you can not deny" as if I'm obligated to agree with this guff. I don't agree with it, it's balderdash.

The evidence is the numbers of people who turn up to see the Queen when she visits. Unfortunately, I do not have the figures (as I don't think the data is collected) so the evidence is anecdotal, however, if the queen visits a foreign country, far more people stay out to see her than they do Cameron, or Sarkozy, the president of a country with a similar amount of international prestige to us. As I say, you may not like that, but it's true.

[Zingari]

Loads of people turn out to see the Pope ( maybe even more than for the queen ), so perhaps we ought to have one of those as well if all you’re interested in is how many people are waving in the streets.

[breadandcheese]

Loads of people turn out to see the Pope ( maybe even more than for the queen ), so perhaps we ought to have one of those as well if all you’re interested in is how many people are waving in the streets.

It's another one, where you may not agree with what the Pope stands for, his beliefs, or what he represents, however, the reality is that he has a global significance with a huge amount of goodwill.

[NeilyBoy]

It's another one, where you may not agree with what the Pope stands for, his beliefs, or what he represents, however, the reality is that he has a global significance with a huge amount of goodwill.

Sure, it's nice to know the Pope's got my back if ever decide to go out child molesting.