Your British Head of State

[spudtater]

Britain lives in an incomplete democracy. Our history has been one of gradual change, from absolute monarch to modern democracy and yet we continue to hold on to the last remnants of an outdated system of power and privilege.

Britain still retains a political culture centred on "Her Majesty's Government" - not ours, but hers, a powerful reminder in days gone by of where our place was in the system. The idea of royal "ownership" continues to pervade this culture and to reinforce the idea that the system is not our own.

-- Republic: The Campaign for an Elected Head of State

It might not be the most pressing issue, and it might take far more effort than it is worth to change the system. That aside, if you could wave a magic wand and change the system overnight, what Britain would you like to live in?¹

[Poll #604563]

¹ Non-Britons can participate too, if they want!

Comments

[sigmonster.livejournal.com]

Expanding somewhat: Speaker of the House of Commons, elected from the house as at present, and without the right of veto. Removable by simple majority vote in the Commons. Legislation to become law on the Speaker affirming to the house that a Bill duly passed by the Commons has thereafter been passed by the Lords and received again by the Speaker. No other ceremonial roles whatsoever. Fixed-term elections and fixed-term parliaments. Abolition of the Royal Perogative.

Possibly I spend too much time thinking about this sort of thing.

[spudtater.livejournal.com]

It's a nice idea!

Do you think they could perform the duties of both head of state and speaker, or would this be too much for one person? (I honestly don't know; my grasp of politics is still rudimentary.)

[sigmonster.livejournal.com]

In Britain, the head of state has "the right to be informed, to consent, and to warn"[1]. Everything else is gravy. I want the HoS to be apolitical and unimportant, but respected: if you have them important and respected they can fuck the country over too much. But abolishing the perogative is more important - the government of the day should be able to do only what a Parliament has explicitly said that it can do.

[1]Bagehot - classic 19th century observer of the British political state.

[spudtater.livejournal.com]

Somebody's got to travel all over the world showing how much better we are than every other nation. Oh, and drive past crowds doing a little half-wave. This is our heritage.   8^D

[luckylove.livejournal.com]

Looks like Yoda and I agree on the bunny bit!

[yodathedark.livejournal.com]

yay! bunnies!

[protocol-rain.livejournal.com]

Grand Poo-Bah? Have you been spending closet time around Gilbert and Sullivan.

[spudtater.livejournal.com]

Is that the original source? The phrase has kinda spread to general usage, now.

[protocol-rain.livejournal.com]

http://math.boisestate.edu/gas/mikado/webopera/operhome.html