[colliric]

http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/ce ... 290a520d05

Transcript: https://www.sbs.com.au/news/transcript- ... e-for-2017

Has an air of unexpected sadness about it. Will see the full thing when it goes online soon or on the news. Her views on Terrorism, "home" and her husband's retirement(as well as her own old age) seem the major topics.

This is one of the last few. Not many more. Maybe less than a handful left, if this ain't the last. The "flashback" to her first one makes that sadly clear.

Greatest Monarch in the long history of England and she is of cause still the reigning Monarch of Australia. Reign is coming to an end soon and she knows it.

[Stormsmith]

You never know. The Queen's 91, 92. Her mum died about 4 months shy of being 102 years old, so the Queen might still have a bit of time.

There was a photo of her and Prince Phil, shot last August, of them riding a pair of Fells. Not bad for a couple in their 90s.

Happy Christmas, Colliric

[skinster]

Die already, ye olde hag.

Merry Christmas to everyone else (except zionists and nazis)

[QatzelOk]

Do any of the surviving Capone clan issue a yearly speech?

Equally relevant.

[Heisenberg]

Much as I like and admire the Queen, she's definitely not our greatest ever monarch. Off the top of my head, Victoria, Elizabeth I, Henry VII and Henry VIII were all more significant.

[skinster]

Much as I like and admire the Queen

Why?

[colliric]

Much as I like and admire the Queen, she's definitely not our greatest ever monarch. Off the top of my head, Victoria, Elizabeth I, Henry VII and Henry VIII were all more significant.

Victoria was great, Elizabeth I was overrated(Blackadder was right to poke fun at her bloodlust), Henry VII was good, and Henry VIII is internationally a divisive King.

Off the top of your head you should have remembered Saint Edward The Confessor King and Henry V(easily the greatest Henry) too....

Richard The Lionheart was who my father named me after. Great Crusader hero, even though he was basically English in title only... Was really French. Spent most of his reign, when not fighting crusades in Northern France(Normandy) and spoke French as his first language.

[Heisenberg]

Why Edward the Confessor? His weakness caused the Norman invasion.

Elizabeth I was not "overrated" at all. What a ridiculous thing to say. Her reign saw the defeat of the Armada, the Act of Settlement and the beginning of the British Empire.

Henry VII ended the Wars of the Roses; Henry VIII secured the independence of the English Church from Rome, founded the Royal Navy and essentially founded the institutions of the modern state. Yes, he was a capricious tyrant, but it's absurd to deny his significance.

Henry V was a good egg (anyone who gives the French a good kicking is) but died too early to have a lasting impact.

As you say, Richard the Lionheart was barely an English king.

In contrast, Elizabeth II, while dignified and dutiful, has overseen the steady decline of Britain from major world power to international laughing stock. The only objective point in her favour is her longevity.

Of course, none of that is her fault at all, but I don't think historians will see her as the "greatest" monarch. She will be respected and fondly remembered by history though.

@skinster I like and admire the Queen because she has served the country dutifully for over 60 years, is not a politician, and has a sharp wit and sense of humour.

I know it's fashionable to sneer at the monarchy and pretend to be outraged by how "expensive" it is, but I challenge anyone to prove how a series of presidents would be (a) more selfless or (b) cheaper. President Blair would be far, far worse.

[QatzelOk]

Henry VIII secured the independence of the English Church from Rome...

The semantics of this sentence demonstrate that 'History' is just an excercise in style, and not in analysis of the human condition.

'Securing the independence of the English Church from Rome' sounds like England's church independence was some screaming maiden imprisoned in a dank dungeon under the Emperor's castle near Rome. It's just a marketing slogan, with no useful information to convey, and certainly no values to share with future generations.

[skinster]

@skinster I like and admire the Queen because she has served the country dutifully for over 60 years, is not a politician, and has a sharp wit and sense of humour.

[Beren]

I always suspected @Heisenberg is just a more-or-less typical subject to the Queen.

[The Immortal Goon]

Elizabeth I was not "overrated" at all.

If you're a big fan of genocide, then she was a great ruler. She attempted an ethnic cleansing in Ireland (and succeeded to some degree) and then brought over all the fun to the Natives. Whereas the French, Spanish, and Portuguese were often brutal to the natives and practiced in all kinds of horrors, it took the Protestant genius of Elizabeth to start ethnic enclaves where only certain races were allowed to exist and the rest had to be exterminated.

Later these fun policies were put into place as ethnic cleansing and reservation systems were applied more broadly:



And the Famine Queen deserves no respect. Sitting on her plum asshole while her supposedly great empire starved to death in [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Famine_of_1876–78]India[/url] and Ireland despite record yields of food in what's been called "late Victorian holocausts".

And it's hard not to see her court's actions as premeditated as for a generation this was how her highness dealt with the poor:

we should facilitate, instead of foolishly and vainly endeavouring to impede, the operations of nature in producing this mortality; and if we dread the too frequent visitation of the horrid form of famine, we should sedulously encourage the other forms of destruction, which we compel nature to use. Instead of recommending cleanliness to the poor, we should encourage contrary habits. In our towns we should make the streets narrower, crowd more people into the houses, and court the return of the plague. In the country, we should build our villages near stagnant pools, and particularly encourage settlements in all marshy and unwholesome situations.

I like and admire the Queen because she has served the country dutifully for over 60 years, is not a politician, and has a sharp wit and sense of humour.

And not surprisingly, she oversaw one of the greatest preventable catastrophes in Indian history.

I know it's fashionable to sneer at the monarchy and pretend to be outraged by how "expensive" it is, but I challenge anyone to prove how a series of presidents would be (a) more selfless or (b) cheaper. President Blair would be far, far worse.

The problem with wearing the crown is that you can't have it both ways. They try to take credit of the good while ignoring the bad, but if you're the living incarnation of the nation you're responsible for everything good and bad.

It's also the reason they basically need to all be killed en masse during a revolution. You don't want the Czar's great-grand nephew's daughter's cousin to (willingly or not) be picked up by reactionaries as a symbol to overthrow the will of the people or whatever. It's a terrible institution for that reason.

[skinster]

Die already, ye olde hag.

QFT.

[ThirdTerm]

Queen Elizabeth II spoke to Britain and the Commonwealth, which is likely to break up without her. What is great about her is the lack of racial contempt against her African subjects, unlike Margret Thatcher who was against abolishing South Africa's white minority rule. Thatcher was sacked by the Queen because of the public disagreement over South Africa and Mandela was freed a few years after her departure. This year's Christmas message is mainly about the Manchester bombing at the Ariana Grande concert and the video includes her hospital visit.

[skinster]

It's also the reason they basically need to all be killed en masse during a revolution.

QFT as well.

[Heisenberg]

I always suspected @Heisenberg is just a more-or-less typical subject to the Queen.

Pretty much. I'm not special.

@The Immortal Goon Statecraft is an ugly business. As a defender (if not necessarily an all out supporter) of the Soviet Union, you know this well. So while I'm not going to dispute anything you've said, I'll just say, please note that I explicitly used the phrase "significant" when referring to Elizabeth I, and was referring to her place in English/British history. The late 16th century was not exactly known for adhering to the UDHR.

So while I will cheerfully concede that you have a point, I don't think there's a lot to be gained in a protracted argument.

However, I will point out that the Bengal Famine happened almost a decade before Elizabeth II became queen.

@skinster Like I said, I know republicanism is fashionable. I also think it's lazy. The onus is on you to prove why a British Republic, led by a figure like Blair or Cameron, would be superior to an apolitical head of state.

I know I wouldn't want the Queen's life/schedule. The idea that the modern monarchy is something akin to Marie Antoinette has always struck me as absurd.

[skinster]

@skinster Like I said, I know republicanism is fashionable. I also think it's lazy. The onus is on you to prove why a British Republic, led by a figure like Blair or Cameron, would be superior to an apolitical head of state.

Who made the claim they would be superior to the Queen?

Off with all their heads!

[The Immortal Goon]

Statecraft is an ugly business. As a defender (if not necessarily an all out supporter) of the Soviet Union, you know this well. So while I'm not going to dispute anything you've said, I'll just say, please note that I explicitly used the phrase "significant" when referring to Elizabeth I, and was referring to her place in English/British history. The late 16th century was not exactly known for adhering to the UDHR.

So while I will cheerfully concede that you have a point, I don't think there's a lot to be gained in a protracted argument.

Some light trolling is all. The real function of the monarchy, after all

[Heisenberg]

Some light trolling is all. The real function of the monarchy, after all

I suspected as much.

[QatzelOk]

I remember this picture. She kept telling Nelson to slow down!, turn right, watch out for the little girl on the bike!, until Mr. Mandela, completely out of character, screamed, "I'm not the fucking driver, you pompous old hoe!" and cuffed her in the left ear.

She has been 70 percent deaf in that ear ever since.