Just back from seeing the Queen. Click the link you fools, the movie not Her Majesty! It was rather good. I mean the acting was good and the writing sharp. The picture quality made it look like a made for TV movie (circa early 1990s) but we'll gloss over that minor glitch. I think I missed the point of the movie as I spent the whole thing sympathising with Helen Mirren's Elizabeth II. I suppose I always thought the outcry over Diana was a bit of a case of "The whole world has lost its senses". It finally made me realise why I like the Queen.
In this day and age, with idiots free to be stupid and tactless as and when they see fit, it's nice to have someone in the country who has some class and provides us with a sober and dignified centre. When everyone is so obsessed with celebrity and pouring their hearts out on telly we need someone who is strong and at least pretends to be above the normal human condition.
Now I'm a libertarian. I am not big on the whole "hereditary rule" thingy. However... our American cousins have taught us some valuable lessons in the pitfalls of a democratically elected ruler (i.e. the one who gets our PM's attention by shouting the highly dignified "Yo... Blair!" springs to mind). And they taught us that having a partisan in charge isn't always good for national unity. I think hedging our bets on a randomly generated ruler taught from birth to conduct business of state compares fairly well. As long as said ruler doesn't hold any power and is more a figurehead than a dictator I don't see the problem.
And the Queen sure does carry it off well. Nobody would want her job, and she deserves our respect for managing to put up with having us lot as subjects.
Long Live The Queen!
*STATEMENT OF WARNING* I tend to fly from arch Royalist to plotting republican once per week so you have been warned!
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