[WikiEN-l] Comparison with other wikis

[Peter Mackay]

> From: wikien-l-bounces at Wikipedia.org 
> [mailto:wikien-l-bounces at Wikipedia.org] On Behalf Of Philip Welch
 
> >>> If people had WWJD (What Would Jimbo Do) in mind when they start 
> >>> fighting over stuff, a lot of this crap would just go away.
> >
> >> Actually I think the aura of the God-King has either faded 
> for a lot 
> >> of people, or they never had a sense of it in the first place (cf, 
> >> Karmafist wheel warring with Jimbo).  Our constitutional monarchy 
> >> model has problems .
> >
> > That may be because it isn't a constitutional monarchy. If the 
> > monarch's power is unfettered and he intervenes directly in minor 
> > matters that are otherwise the province of government, then it is a 
> > dictatorship. A benevolent dictatorship, I trust.
> 
> I'm sure that if Tony Blair decided to turn the UK into a 
> fascist one- party state, Queen Elizabeth would come down and 
> say "no, stop, you're being stupid."

This is a long established principle. Bagehot talked of three rights
belonging to the monarch: "the right to be consulted, the right to
encourage, and the right to warn"

She has far more experience than any current politician in the processes of
government, and her advice would be valuable. But she can do no more than
warn. If she dismissed the Government and selected another more to her
liking, then without the support of the House of Commons, that replacement
would soon run out of money.

If we are talking about doing things legally, that is. If Tony Blair decided
to turn the UK into a one-party fascist state using illegal means, an
exciting possibility that would raise many British eyebrows, then the Queen
would probably find herself unable to intervene. It would depend on which
side the military decided to support, I suppose, and the [[King's Own
Queens]] regiment might find itself in an impossible position. Well, more
impossible.
 
> This is a big argument for constitutional monarchies being 
> better than republics, incidentally.

Well, I dunno. What happens if the Queen decides to turn the UK into a
fascist one-party state? It's not as if it hasn't happened before.

Peter (Skyring)