Queen gets a hefty raise!

[Sriram]

Hi everyone,

The Queen gets a 78% raise.

http://money.cnn.com/2017/06/27/news/queen-pay-uk/index.html

Not bad at her age!

Cheers.

Sriram

[Shaker]

Bad at any age 

[Walt Zingmatilder]

It's a back door method of funding an increase in Labour's vote. Keep it coming.

[Harrowby Hall]

Bad at any age 

Simplistic.

The queen is not getting a rise, the amount of money used to maintain the monarchy is getting a rise - and since this money derives from surpluses made by the Crown Estates it is not costing anything other than the amount that would otherwise be shunted into Treasury coffers. In this sense, the monarchy is self-funding.

The "rise" will actually go into the pockets of others - contractors etc who will be employed to repair and restore buildings like Buckingham Palace (which belongs to the state, not the monarch.

Were we a republic (which would be my preference) Buckingham Palace would still require reparation and restoration.

[Bubbles]

I was reading that's 65p each.

Which as has been pointed out, goes towards the upkeep of historic buildings.

It costs a lot to maintain those big houses.

A lot of people have had to give up family mansions when the maintenance outstripped their ability to pay.
A lot of people open them to the public or hold open days on the garden to raise money.

They can be a bit of a ball and chain if you feel it's part of your family history and you have to foot the bill.

Maintenance on Buckingham palace doesn't bear thinking about.

[floo]

Buck House is a HUGE tourist attraction; the state rooms are open to the public.

[Nearly Sane]

While HH is correct that this isn't a pay raise, and while Buckingham Palace would be maintained if there was no monarchy, it still runs alongside the public sector pay cap, and looks like an odd priority from the perspective of a firefighter rushing into Grenfell Tower


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-40423052

[floo]

From what I gather the electrics and plumbing need urgent attention.

[Shaker]

From what I gather the electrics and plumbing need urgent attention.

They could combine the two and save us a stack of cash.

[Anchorman]

Wot Shaker says. Lizzie and her clan occupy umpteen historic piles. One less won't hurt them.

[Nearly Sane]

Unless though we 'redevelop' Buckinghan Palace into flats for Russian oligarchs and football players, we are still going to paying for its upkeep. The cost of the royal family and the various piles isn't much of an argument for their abolition.

[Bubbles]

While HH is correct that this isn't a pay raise, and while Buckingham Palace would be maintained if there was no monarchy, it still runs alongside the public sector pay cap, and looks like an odd priority from the perspective of a firefighter rushing into Grenfell Tower


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-40423052

Not really, imo we need both.

Buckingham Palace is our history.

[Bubbles]

Unless though we 'redevelop' Buckinghan Palace into flats for Russian oligarchs and football players, we are still going to paying for its upkeep. The cost of the royal family and the various piles isn't much of an argument for their abolition.

Hopefully it will never be turned into flats, that's a horrible idea.

Far worse than my 65p I'm paying.

Isn't much of an argument for their abolition?

😉Glad you have decided to support them 😜

[Nearly Sane]

Not really, imo we need both.

Buckingham Palace is our history.

Didn't say otherwise. But But spending on a building is a lesser priority to me than paying firefighters a decent wage. And currently the govt has that priority round the other way.

[Nearly Sane]

Hopefully it will never be turned into flats, that's a horrible idea.

Far worse than my 65p I'm paying.

Isn't much of an argument for their abolition?

😉Glad you have decided to support them 😜

NI, I'm firmly opposed to the idea of monarchy. But some arguments for getting rid of them are bad ones.

[Bubbles]

Didn't say otherwise. But But spending on a building is a lesser priority to me than paying firefighters a decent wage. And currently the govt has that priority round the other way.

There are lots of other things I would attack before I started on Buckingham palace, MP expenses would be a start.

Civil service pay rises and bonuses for those at the top would be another.

After Grenville, council expenses and costs would be another, as well as their wage rises.

The ones at the top of councils get a lot of perks, ordinary workers less so.

I'd hit those, before I went for cuts to Buckingham Palace.

[Rhiannon]

Buckingham Palace is a horrendous building. Somr historic places really aren't worth shoring up.

Flats and shops is the way to go with it.

[Bubbles]

Buckingham Palace is a horrendous building. Somr historic places really aren't worth shoring up.

Flats and shops is the way to go with it.

  Noooooooo!    

There are enough flats and shops.

Flats have been the demise of many an interesting building 

[Nearly Sane]

Buckingham Palace is a horrendous building. Somr historic places really aren't worth shoring up.

Flats and shops is the way to go with it.

I don't think it even reaches the height of horribilosity. It's just deeply dull.

[Bubbles]

This is deeply dull?

Take a look inside Buckingham Palace with Google's virtual reality tour

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/take-look-inside-buckingham-palace-7209703

Dull isn't a word I'd use.

I could spend hours looking at old historical houses with a history.

Even the ceilings are very beautiful in many cases.

[Nearly Sane]

There are lots of other things I would attack before I started on Buckingham palace, MP expenses would be a start.

Civil service pay rises and bonuses for those at the top would be another.

After Grenville, council expenses and costs would be another, as well as their wage rises.

The ones at the top of councils get a lot of perks, ordinary workers less so.

I'd hit those, before I went for cuts to Buckingham Palace.

There are many things I would hit before renovations to BP, nuclear weapons being first, but that is entirely irrelevant to my opinion that paying firefighters a decent wage is way more imporatant than the upkeep of BP.

[Nearly Sane]

Yep, it's a very dull building with some art tat that isn't very good.  It's the Trump Tower of its day.

[Bubbles]

Yep, it's a very dull building with some art tat that isn't very good.  It's the Trump Tower of its day.

I suspect you don't like it because it's part of English heritage.

Do you dislike historical buildings in Scotland too?

Are they all dull as well?

 

[Shaker]

I suspect you don't like it because it's part of English heritage.

Do you dislike historical buildings in Scotland too?

Are they all dull as well?

 

Rhiannon is English and dislikes BP. So am I and so do I.

[Bubbles]

Rhiannon is English and dislikes BP. So am I and so do I.

I wasn't referring to you or Rhiannon.

But I guess some people just find big historical houses, boring.

Not much point in you being a member of the National Trust then, I guess.

We are always visiting places of interest, Roman ruins, Pompeii, museums, historical houses, churches, Egyptian temples, palaces various........

I know others prefer to visit Debenhams shopping even when abroad, but it's not our scene.

I like old buildings, they had have atmosphere.

They also have interesting architecture which is lost if they become flats.