Nick Tessla Posted January 16, 2012 Report Share Posted January 16, 2012 Michael Gove, the Education Secretary and , presumably MP for Ruritania, seems to believe that spending £60m on a boat for Elizabeth Windsor is a good ides - it's not as if the country is skint and there are better things to spend it on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
observer Posted January 16, 2012 Report Share Posted January 16, 2012 Might be ok if the get that Italian Captain to steer it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evil Sid Posted January 16, 2012 Report Share Posted January 16, 2012 well look at it this way. We can afford the Olympics. We can afford a high speed rail link Surely £60 million for a boat that only gets used two or three times a year is not much to ask is it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
observer Posted January 16, 2012 Report Share Posted January 16, 2012 Perhaps a whip round in Canary Wharf could pay for it?! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cleopatra Posted January 16, 2012 Report Share Posted January 16, 2012 What's you moaning about? She would only have it about 10-20yrs then she will die and then the country can have it back! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Tessla Posted January 16, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 16, 2012 What's you moaning about? She would only have it about 10-20yrs then she will die and then the country can have it back! Are you predicting the end of the monarchy, Cleo? Welcome to the Republican side Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cleopatra Posted January 16, 2012 Report Share Posted January 16, 2012 Are you predicting the end of the monarchy, Cleo? Welcome to the Republican side Afraid not. Just predicting how long Her Majesty (long may she reign) will be able to use the new boat before she is called to the throne above. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asperity Posted January 16, 2012 Report Share Posted January 16, 2012 Has anyone asked Betty if she wants a new yacht? She might prefer flying for all we know. And if she really has her heart set on a new yacht, well she can afford to buy one herself. No, I think this is more about MPs seeing an opportunity for themselves to get free cruises,whoops - I meant opportunities to go on working trade missions to tropical countries (in luxury). :blink: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wahl Posted January 16, 2012 Report Share Posted January 16, 2012 Would not be asking about a royal yacht if the b'stard brown and his poxy party had maintained the old yacht. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Tessla Posted January 16, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 16, 2012 If (and it is a very big if) the Windsors have a useful role to play in representing the UK, then is a yacht the right image? A bit victorian (i.e.colonial) and a bit Peter Stringfellow type bling. (Although I'm sure Prince Zorba of edinburgh still looks great in a leopard-print thong ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Tessla Posted January 16, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 16, 2012 Would not be asking about a royal yacht if the b'stard brown and his poxy party had maintained the old yacht. Some of us would be asking about the cost of it. I've seen one estimate of the annual operating costs of Britannia between 1990 and 1997 as being between £7.6m and £12.5m - not allowing for inflation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asperity Posted January 16, 2012 Report Share Posted January 16, 2012 She's still in Leith Docks, probably rusting away. <_< Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wolfie Posted January 16, 2012 Report Share Posted January 16, 2012 Seeing that the Royal Yacht was financed from the defence budget and any new Royal Yacht would be, it seems logical that any government in it's attempts to save money would scrap the Ark Royal and then spend the money on a Royal Yacht :roll: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asperity Posted January 16, 2012 Report Share Posted January 16, 2012 Government logic = oxymoron :wink: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
observer Posted January 16, 2012 Report Share Posted January 16, 2012 Well Phil is now Lord High Admiral of the Navy - so perhaps he needs a boat?! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dizzy Posted January 16, 2012 Report Share Posted January 16, 2012 Shouldn't the Education Secretary be concentrating on education and also trying to sort out some of the cock ups he's made rather than coming up with bizarre ideas for the tax payer to give the queen a new yacht as a 'pressy from the nation' to mark her Jubilee in the form of a lasting legacy. A yacht isn’t a lasting legacy anyway for goodness sake If I was the queen I would chop his head off for various reason, the main one for being a complete idiot and secondly for urging the government to buy me an expensive pressy just so they look good as that lets face it ‘I’ have had one before which is now sitting in dry dock as a tourist attraction. Surely they can come up with something more meaningful In reality though it was probably just a suggestion (for the sake of seeing to have something to suggest) which the opposition have jumped upon as a point scoring exercise and to cause unrest amongst the peasants and it’s all been blown out of proportion by the press etc. I'm sure Her M would much rather just have a cake, some comfy slippers, a party with her family, and to receive hand made cards from lot's of little kiddies and genuine well wishes of a non monetary value… followed later by just sittng there watching all the TV reports of the celebrations going on all over the country and people having fun and enjoying themselves to mark and celebrate her years on the throne. If an actual ‘gift from the people’ is a necessity then maybe she would also take more delight in any amount of money which could be spent on such a thing being put towards something ‘her people’ could enjoy for years to come in her memory. (Long may she live of course) Maybe a number of open parks safeguarded against housing development for ever, or maybe trusts set up to help unemployed kids and adults…. or maybe something else worthwhile. Does HM have any say in what happens though and whether or not taxpayers money should be spent on her for something she possibly doesn't want or need anyway (or anywhere else for that matter) Seems Number 10 are playing it down though with various comments including some from Clegg... but allegedly Clegg’s aides are the ones suspected of leaking the story. No surprise there then as had they themselves suggested something a little contentious without doubt another parties aides would have leaked that too. Long live the queen... and maybe one day she will just give all her government officials a bloody good slap (prior to chopping off their heads) for the embarrassment they cause and the way that they behave. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
observer Posted January 16, 2012 Report Share Posted January 16, 2012 Maybe Gove is chasing a knighthood?! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asperity Posted January 16, 2012 Report Share Posted January 16, 2012 Agree with what you say Dizzy, except the bit about Brittania being in a dry dock. She is actually moored in Leith Docks alongside the huge waste of money called the Scottish Parliament Building. And everyone thought the Scots were careful with their money. (Gordon Brown, although a Scot, was careless with other peoples' money). :wink: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dizzy Posted January 16, 2012 Report Share Posted January 16, 2012 Appologies Asp as you are of course correct although in my defence the old royal yacht Britannia is currently closed for visitors until the end of January 2012 as it is undergoing planned maintenance work in dry dock. I'm not bluffing it is true ! I got out of that one nicely even if I do say so myself As for Brown... I can't really comment as I'd have to moderate and delete my own post Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
observer Posted January 16, 2012 Report Share Posted January 16, 2012 There's a boat lying on it's side, off the Italian coast, they may get cheap! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter T Posted January 16, 2012 Report Share Posted January 16, 2012 There's a boat lying on it's side, off the Italian coast, they may get cheap! Another cheap post? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bazj Posted January 16, 2012 Report Share Posted January 16, 2012 I would rather the Queen be given a new yacht than one penny be spent on the Olympics...... pound for pound the amount the Queen brings in benefit to the country (despite what these dopey and treasonous republicans may say) outweighs the Olympics legacy by twenty to one One of the strange things I often think with the republican argument is that they seem to think the the Queen costs shedloads of money to "maintain" and that that a presidency and all the trappings that come with it will be somehow free! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Tessla Posted January 17, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 17, 2012 One of the strange things I often think with the republican argument is that they seem to think the the Queen costs shedloads of money to "maintain" and that that a presidency and all the trappings that come with it will be somehow free! The cost is only one of the argments and I don't believe there are many republicans who would argue that an elected head of state would be free - just far cheaper - for example our monarchy is 112 more expensive than the Irish presidency. (And some of the "trappings" could of course be recycled, including alternative uses for buildings - large parts of Buckingham Palace for example) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asperity Posted January 17, 2012 Report Share Posted January 17, 2012 for example our monarchy is 112 more expensive than the Irish presidency. I presume you have evidence of this figure Nick, with all factors taken into account such as the disparity in sizes of population, cost of elections every 5 years, extra support staff for the President and his/her family etc etc. A bit of solid evidence might persuade me :wink: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bazj Posted January 17, 2012 Report Share Posted January 17, 2012 The cost is only one of the argments and I don't believe there are many republicans who would argue that an elected head of state would be free - just far cheaper - for example our monarchy is 112 more expensive than the Irish presidency. (And some of the "trappings" could of course be recycled, including alternative uses for buildings - large parts of Buckingham Palace for example) The cost is as you say only one of the arguments; however this country has steadily been destroyed over the past few decades by elected people who are all about themselves. The Tories, NU Labour and even the Lib Dums are all about lining their own pockets and those of their families by aligning us with even more politicians (this time unelected) who also take take take from our national identity. The one public person who has shone out and stood steadfastly to the true British identity is the Queen and it would be a sad day indeed if you and you bunch of traitors ever had your way. and also. if our Monarchy is 112 pounds more expensive than the Irish presidency I would pay the extra myself.... and lets face it, apart from potatoes Boyzone, BONO and pikeys, what have the Southern Irish ever done for the world anyway? and as for alternative uses; what alternative use would Buckingham Palace have? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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