Amidst the pomp and pageantry of the King’s Speech last week, Keir Starmer’s Government spelled out its priorities for the year ahead.
Writing in The Herald on Monday, STUC general secretary Roz Foyer poured scorn on the fripperies while analysing the substance of the message.
Today, one of our readers picks up on her opening remarks regarding the State Opening of Parliament and gives his view on what it says about our democracy.
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Eddie Robertson of Loganswell writes: "The first part of the article by Roz Foyer regarding the state opening of Parliament by the King encapsulates entirely the crazy country we now live in. This unelected monarch, sitting on his golden throne with this medieval monstrosity perched on his head, indicates the utter folly of our so-called democratic society.
To compound this we have rows of peers comfortably seated bedecked in wigs and ermine; in the meantime our elected MPs are forced to stand, packed in like sardines, at the back of the chamber. This not the state opening of the House of Commons, our real government; the emphasis is the House of Lords which for centuries was the real power in the land.
Recently we had the 80th commemoration of the D-Day landings. A number of the still-living veterans were there wearing a few of their medals and ribbons. Striding amongst them was our King in full military splendour, his chest covered in medals. Medals for what. you may well ask? Was he ever in combat, did he ever lead his troops into action? As a National Serviceman in the early 1950s, 42 of us did basic training. At the end of our two years' conscription only 38 returned for demob. Two were killed in Cyprus and the other two hacked to death by the Mau Mau in Kenya as our country tried to defend its Royal Empire. Enough said."
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