Dear Yabby,

Thank You. I hope you're right.
Although you usually are. ;-)

Let us not let Sir Robert Menzies lay in his grave truth untold.
From another time, he was both a statesman and a lover of all things English.
Few know he thought himself a worthwhile Prime Minister of wartime Britain for a while.
He tried to get Churchill's ear, may well have got some of the other end.
Ming [RM] actually true, wanted to name our dollar the Royal!
Even then I cringed at his brown nosing!
yabby has it about right as has HMTQ she named it the firm,Lexi too dissy land may suit better.
Robert of the long brown proboscis was without a doubt one who thought of England as home while consuming vast plates of soggy Q Cumber sandwiches.
I however have No trouble in saying his version of Liberalism, his ability's , made him a great leader and much loved, by others/most not me but respect him, yes still.
Not his crawling to Royalty

Just for you, Belly.

"I did but see her passing by and yet I love her till I die."

(Robert Menzies on behalf of Australians to HRH Queen Elizabeth)

Hello there BELLY...

Look ol' son, don't let 'em get you down, when they cast a few deprecatory remarks your way. Generally, it's because they've exhausted all other compelling arguement, so they go for the throat.

Notwithstanding the appreciable affection I do harbour for old Blighty, I can't forgive the position taken by Mr Churchill and ors. (as related to me by my Dad), when our then PM, Mr Curtin begged him to allow our troops to return home because the Japanese troops were knocking on our front door.

Nor can I praise the UK Immigration Authorities. They, in late 1974, at the Heathrow Airport 'primary line', unmercifully interrogated me like a criminal, as to whether I intended to work or stay in the UK, for a period in excess of six months.

And before I was sent to SV, I spent six months in Malaya, at the RAAF Base, Butterworth. Occasionally, we got leave to go into George Town Penang. And as young grunt's do, we'd go a 'few rounds' with our sworn enemy, gentlemen from the 1st Green Jackets Bn. a British Para. Unit, who were stationed on the Island. We hated them, and them us !

Yet, I'm still very much an Anglophile and a Royalist. I do realize Australia will ultimately become a Republic. When it'll come to pass,
who knows ? But come to pass, it will as sure as night follows day.

As I stated in an earlier thread, my greatest fear, politicians will get their mitts all over the process, instead of what BELLY said "...it should be the peoples' choice..." or words to that effect.

LEXI puts forward a very persuasive position. And goes on to rationalize very intelligibly, why it's now necessary that we ultimately embrace republicanism. It's just very hard for an old goat like me to accept such a portentous change.

dear o sung wu,

I wish there were more "old goats" like you.
Bless Your Big Generous Heart!

Belly, not you specifically. As Wobbles said, the only accomplishments Queen Elizabeth has are: not falling of the perch in 60 years, cutting ribbons and reading speeches other people have written. In return, she has never had to want for anything, has lived her whole life in luxury and all because of where she was born.

The only reason her family had so much money is because in past centuries they exploited peasants and abused their power to gain wealth. Now, her family’s wealth is paid for by the working people of the UK, none of whom will ever have the opportunities she had. None of them can aspire to be a head of state, but the Queen gets to be because of who she is related to, not because of any merit.

To see people fawning over her because she is rich and powerful, not through any merit but because of family influence, I find nauseous. You might just as well fawn over James Murdoch. But that is just me.