The Queen

[malcolmkent]

Does anyone know when and why the running of the country passed from the Monarchy and onto the Parliment elect? I just got to thinking that maybe times were better when the Monarchy were in charge of the country.
Surely the Parliment should just follow instructions from the Queen. If we have HRH prisons and other things in her name then why can't she have a say as to what happens e.g bringing back the death penalty ect.

[jake-the-peg]

Charles the first's personal rule in the seventeenth Century.

He raised taxes without any say from the people or parliament, and imposed his personal whim.

Forced people to accept his religous views and arrested people who stood in his way.

We cut his head off

Then there was his son James attempted to restore Catholicism against the will of the people - we chased him out of the country.

Since then Kings have been constitutional and power has rested with parliament

If you get a bad Parliament you get a chance to kick them out in 4 years - get a bad King they're there for life.

Want the death penalty and an unelected ruler there are plenty of country's you can go to.

I won't be joining you!

[malcolmkent]

Thanks for the info Jake-the-peg but I was mentioning the death penalty as an example. I dont want an unelected ruler I was mearly pointing out that in my unknowing opinion that the Monarchy should have more say. You put me right and thank you for that.

Do you think that the death penalty should be brought back seeing as though we now have DNA evidance and only in extreme cases e.g baby P

[jake-the-peg]

I think Pickle's discription of James II as "Fleeing to france where he died" misses out the rather important fact that he attempted to regain control of the country by force of arms but William defeated him at the Battle of the Boyne in Ireland -the 1685 battle often heard of in context with Irish politics.

Also his grandson was Bonnie Prince Charlie who invaded the country and got down as far as Derby before losing a battle of nerves and getting defeated at Cullodden.

Actually Malcolm I would most definately not want the death penalty brought back.

I think too much store is put on DNA evidence - people alwaays talk silly figures about its probability but that is nonsense because the chances of the sample being mishandled or of transference of DNA from one person to another is much lower.

A bit like a tyre manufacturer telling you there's a million to one chance of a faulty tyre giving you a puncture and you thinking that means you'll never get a flat.

Personally I disagree with capital punishment regardless of the guilt or innocence of a perpertrator.

It certainly doesn't act as a deterrant in the US where there's an incredible murder rate.

[terambulan]

This is the Magna Carta with all info on this link.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magna_Carta

Commemorative stone in Windsor, Berks.

[vehelpfulguy]

>Monarchy should have more say.

A monarch is there by "luck" of birth, so what makes them any more suitable to run the country than you or me.

While we have had "good" monarchs in the past, we have had some awful ones.

We have had monarchs who could not speak English, or lived abroad most of their lives, or who ignored their responsibilities and spent their life "having fun".

Some people might argue (and many do) that in fact the current Queen has too much involvement in the way the country is run.

For example why should the PM have to go to her to ask to dissolve parliament (call an election)?

France and the US (as examples) run quite happily with no royal family, and many countries, like Holland, have a royal family but they are not stuck on a pedastel like our lot and paid to have a life of extreme luxury.

Do you really think our current royal family set a good example?

3 out of 4 of the Queens children have divorced and one admits on TV that he had an affair while married.

[vehelpfulguy]

>Do you think that the death penalty should be brought >back seeing as though we now have DNA evidance
>and only in extreme cases e.g baby P

I think you misunderstand the difference between murder and manslaughter.

A murder is a pre-meditated act where you set out to kill the other person (gun, knife, poison etc)

Manslaughter is where you kill someone, but did not actually intent to.

Car accident maybe, or a fight outside a pub where someone falls and hits their head on a kerb stone etc.

While baby P was an awful case I doubt if any of them would be charged with murder (as they did not intent to kill the baby).

I would imagine manslaughter would be a more likely charge, and you will not ever get the death sentence on that charge.

(Having said that, if they locked up the scum who did it and threw away the key I doubt there would be many complaints)

[Ethel]

We can only bring back the death penalty if we withdraw from the Council of Europe, which means the UK would not longer be part of the EU or subject to the European Convention of Human Rights.

[DaisyMae]

No to the death penalty.

There is no way back from the dead. If you are sent to prison for life for killing someone and in the course of time it is proved that you didn't do it, then you can be reprieved and set free with massive compensation. Once the hangman's knot shatters your spine there is no way back.

And has already been said, it does not deter.

[jno]

it was abolished because, as DaisyMae says, rather too many innocent people were being executed. Barry George might well be dead by now for having 'killed' Jill Dando. Whether the queen feels the same way, of course, I don't know. One of her own ancestors was executed (and in fact dozens probably were).

[QueenOfAmber]

But I'm the Queen! ;)

[skipy]

He without sin cast the first Stone

[QueenOfAmber]

Whoa skipy!
Touch'e!
;)

[malcolmkent]

I hear what all of you ae saying about the death penalty but I can not help but wonder if you would all feel the same way if it was your child or family member who had been slain in a terrible way. If someone would take the life of one of my children then I would hunt them down or take steps to make sure they could not do it again.
Why add insult to injury by then having to pay taxes that then goes into keeping these scum in cells with TV's and god knows whatelse. When I say death penalty I mean to the people who have confessed and there is no way the sentance could be wrong. Having said that how many times does care in the community fail and these peadophiles are in positions to attack again.

[Martha33]

Jake the Peg, really!!!!!! It all started with King John in the 1100's and early 1200's He was a crazy b*stard....then the Magna Carta came into force...

[dm1982]

ahh the good old EU and their human rights, where would we be without em!!