Abolish the Monarchy: Why we should and how we will

Product Information

This is a very timely reminder of the constitutional absurdity of our taxpayer-funded Royal Family that is at war with itself. Graham Smith eloquently sets out the irrefutable logic for abolishing the monarchy and paints a picture of a better, more democratic future for our country. Perhaps what is most encouraging about this book is Smith's arguments against the contention that most people want the monarchy to continue. Could also be said for the supporters of his point of view but it is effectively a donation in part if it goes unread. When The Enchanted Glass: Britain and its Monarchy was published 35 years ago and until very recently, the British monarchy seemed pretty unassailable.

I intend to try recommending it to reflexively pro-monarchy people who might be intrigued by the uncompromising title. But what is new is a public less tolerant and more critical of that behaviour and the family's loss of their trump card, the Queen. Asking a royal sycophant to read this would be like asking a devout Christian to read The God Delusion.A crucial, riveting polemic in support of one of the most precious things humanity has built - democracy itself. This puts our country down and ignores our great contributions to exploration, science, music, literature, sport among many other aspects to our culture.

The Queen was their heat shield, able to deflect even the most serious questions and accusations, unable to do wrong in the eyes of much of the media and political class and, if she did, not someone many dared to criticise publicly. A book filled with myth busting, clear evidence of ridiculously bogus claims of fiscal value of the royals and proper grown up logic about governance - is the very type of book you need to avoid reading is you want to believe in something nonsensical . They say Britain should be proud to have the mother of parliaments, to be a shining beacon of democracy and an example to other nations.A president put in a similar position to the queen, without constitutional protocols to follow, would have encountered the same troubles.

One of the stronger passages examines the prorogation affair of 2019 and the paralysis that overcame the queen as she struggled to reconcile her role of constitutional backstop with the expectation that the monarch do nothing to impede an elected government. His aspirational democratic principles stand in stark contrast to the way we are actually governed today. He often falls back on tired tropes in an effort to make himself seem more patriotic, and makes a couple of questionable comparisons that I found quite odd and behind the times for what is otherwise a progressive work. He says that the attitudes of the royal family to race are contrary to the nation’s sense of fairness and equity.No self-respecting country should base it’s governing system on how many tourists it is likely to attract. I have been aware of the Privy Council and some of its activities as well as the power exercised by a Prime Minister which meets the criteria for the Quinton Hogg (Hailsham) assessment of their position as an elected dictatorship. Abolish the Monarchy: Why we should and how we will does exactly what it says on the tin: delivers an invigorating polemic on why the British monarchy can and should be done away with. More discussion of British political interests that have looked into a codified constitution could have livened this section up a bit.