
Operation London Bridge: the secret plan for the days after the Queen’s death - lumisota
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/mar/16/what-happens-when-queen-elizabeth-dies-london-bridge
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zigzigzag
Ah the Guardian. Never missing a trick to slyly insert some anti-Brexit
propaganda in unrelated stories:

 _But her kingdom is in turmoil, and her subjects are in denial that her reign
will ever end_

Her kingdom is not in turmoil unless, I suppose, you work for the Guardian in
which case the one-two punch of Labour's credibility collapse and Brexit mean
you think the world is ending. But lots of people don't see that as turmoil at
all.

~~~
lumisota
The Scottish government is seeking a second independence referendum, and Sinn
Féin (Irish republican party) has gained its highest vote share in Northern
Ireland -- is this not a kingdom in turmoil?

~~~
zigzigzag
No, not really. Sturgeon has to demand a second, and a third and a fourth
referendum whenever she can as she defines herself as "independence or out"
and that's what her most loyal supporters demand. But it's unlikely such a
rerun would happen for several years, and things might be quite different by
then.

I guess it also depends on if you see devolution as turmoil. I wouldn't
consider an independent Scotland or leaving the EU as "turmoil" \- just a
rearrangement of politics to be more local, which is likely good in the long
run.

~~~
lumisota
If "kingdom" in your Guardian quote refers to the United Kingdom, then it is
surely in turmoil when a non-trivial number of people (say ~50% in Scotland,
~25% in Northern Ireland) don't wish to be a part of it.

~~~
zigzigzag
44% in Scotland and not much appetite for a rerun according to the polls.

But I suppose if you want to define it that way, you can, as long as you're
consistent: by that definition virtually all of Europe is in turmoil (well,
the EU). Not sure people living there would recognise the description though.
Things feel quite calm really.

~~~
lumisota
I don't mean (and I don't read from the Guardian quote) that the _people_ are
in turmoil; but the institutions we're talking about (the UK and the EU) are.

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mino
I'm curious about the technicalities of the “radio alert transmission system”
(RATS), which indeed sounds like a cold war-era system, but I couldn't find
much around. Any idea?

You have to admit that a radio announcement that starts with “This is the BBC
from London” is a creepy reminder of old times.

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relics443
As an American I have no barometer for this.

Anyone here from the UK, will the public at large really be as affected as the
article claims?

~~~
ionised
As a Brit, I personally would rather the UK were a republic.

I have no love or even respect for the royal family and all they represent.
When the queen snuffs it, I'll likely give it a few seconds of thought before
going on with my day.

Unfortunately there are a lot of royalists here even among the poorest in
society who will no doubt be weeping in the streets as if aristocratic classes
cared even one iota whether they lived or died.

We are a bizarre country with a huge section of the population that cannot let
go of our royal/imperial/colonial past and all the exceptionalism that
connotates.

~~~
zigzigzag
Lots of people will be sad, but not because they're royalists or monarchists,
just because the Queen has such a long and essentially spotless history. In a
world where celebrities and politicians are all pretty much expected to have a
lifetime of scandal and dishonour, she stands nearly alone in having managed
to avoid controversy and dishonour for, well, at least as long as I've been
alive. Very few people manage that, and in this, she represents a sort of
British ideal.

However, once the Queen is gone, the issue of whether to keep the Royal family
will I'm sure become the next referendum issue (unless there's another
scottish indyref first).

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JazCE
So how can we disrupt this?

~~~
ionised
Mass regicide.

~~~
LyndsySimon
Where will we find enough monarchs?

~~~
ferentchak
Fund a monarch bootcamp?

~~~
LyndsySimon
Genius!

