Ilikemilkshake said:
Trebort said:
Jim Grim said:
I don't like the fact that there IS a royal family, it's so pointless and expensive, and I think they are far too revered by somewhat unhinged/patriotic people. The family themselves? Don't know them.
Hardly expensive. They cost around 60p per year, per person. That's cheaper than having the bins collected by the local council for a year.
whats that then? £30-40million? thats still that much money per year, plus all of their other assets, that could be put towards something better like...well anything really
El Poncho said:
Ilikemilkshake said:
Trebort said:
Jim Grim said:
I don't like the fact that there IS a royal family, it's so pointless and expensive, and I think they are far too revered by somewhat unhinged/patriotic people. The family themselves? Don't know them.
Hardly expensive. They cost around 60p per year, per person. That's cheaper than having the bins collected by the local council for a year.
whats that then? £30-40million? thats still that much money per year, plus all of their other assets, that could be put towards something better like...well anything really
Don't forget they bring in a lot of money from tourism.
Wadders said:
Ilikemilkshake said:
Trebort said:
Jim Grim said:
I don't like the fact that there IS a royal family, it's so pointless and expensive, and I think they are far too revered by somewhat unhinged/patriotic people. The family themselves? Don't know them.
Hardly expensive. They cost around 60p per year, per person. That's cheaper than having the bins collected by the local council for a year.
whats that then? £30-40million? thats still that much money per year, plus all of their other assets, that could be put towards something better like...well anything really
It's a drop in the ocean really. Yes it could probably be put to beter use, but like I already said, they aint entirely useless. They bring in tourist revenue, they're active in preserving our culture and environment (well, Prince Charles is at least) they act as ambassadors, the younger members join the Army or Rescue Services, and they're an important part of our history and heritage
I'm no economist, but I dont think £30m goes a long way in the Uk these days :/
So true. They bring in a lot of money tourism wise. The junior members of the royal family work for the government as ambassadors for trade and industry, and bring in more money for the country that way.
The money they cost is a tiny drop in the ocean, as stated above. Redesigning the constitutional system of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland would be a massive undertaking. The UK can't act alone either, she is Sovereign of 16 countries, they all need to have input. It would cost 5-6 times as much as they cost us per year to have a review/report commissioned in to getting rid of the Royal Family, and then it would be a massive bastard undertaking if they decided to do it, costing hundreds of millions of pounds changing the way the Executive, Legislature and the Judiciary function.
The Queen isn't rich. She is at the mercy of the Privy Purse. Buckingham Palace is falling down around her and the previous government denied extra funding to stop the roof leaking. BBC News website has a report on this issue.
The hundreds of millions of pounds "she" has, are tied up in thing like the Royal Collection and the Crown Estates... They all belong to the nation actually.
You know it cost £50m+ to create the UK Supreme Court because we wanted to be like the Americans? All it consisted of was moving the current Law Lords out of the House of Lords and putting them in a building across the street from Parliament.
Can you imagine how much the idiotic Government would spend doing away with the Royals when it costs so much to move a barely used appeal court across the road? It's shocking. If it's not broken, don't fix it.
One last point. Queen Elizabeth II is respected by world leaders all around the globe, currently ones in the public eye alot like the ones in the middle east and asia. Her recent trip to the United Nations, Ambassadors were scrambling to get front row seats to see her walk past, while others were opening filming it on their phones. The UK would lose lots of respect/interest around the world if we didn't have a Royal Family.