You do.

While at the same time, IMHO, being profoundly meaningless.

Who cares what religion another person is? what possible business is it of another person? the religious choice of the monarchy makes absolutely no difference *whatsoever* to anything, and thank goodness for that. I’d hate to live in a country or world where it actually mattered.

I do think that rather than banging on about this succession issue the government should be making public services more efficient so that slower spending growth does not hit quality of provision while putting in place John Redwood type ides on monetary policy and financial regulation. They could also force all QUNAGO’s to cut their budgets by 15% net to take £15 billion off of the PSBR. Getting maximum numbers of people off of Incapacity Benefit and deregulating small business so there are more jobs around would lower unemployment.

Those ideas would help make things better in Britain and all I can say is that if Europe does not concern many people just think how less important this issue is to most voters. In an ideal world Catholics should not be discriminated against for their faith – but this world is far from perfect alas…..

For perfection we will have to wait for Heaven.

As Mr Fawkes says we are all going down with Gordon Brown and the sooner he goes the better.

This is not a ‘non-story’; it is acutely constitutional and transcends temporal matters such as economics and politics.

The Act of Settlement is – as the BBC asserts in its usual anti-Anglican fashion – ‘discriminatory’ and ‘unfair’. And so The Guardian agrees, as does the rest of the Left. Conservatives should have no part in tampering with this aspect of the Constitution, for it is a foundational cornerstone.

Of course it is ‘unfair’ and ‘discriminatory’ that the monarch may not be or marry a Roman Catholic, but the very act of choosing a religion manifestly necessitates discrimination against all the others. It is also ‘discriminatory’ that the Pope may not be Protestant, and even more ‘unfair’ that he may not marry at all. But there are sound theological and historical justifications for the restrictions upon both the King of the Vatican and the Queen of the United Kingdom, and none of these amount to a violation of their ‘human rights’. Prince William is perfectly free to marry a Roman Catholic should he so desire: that it is human right. He is not then free to be King and Supreme Governor of the Church of England, but to be King is not a human right; it is the gift of Parliament.

Well from where I’m sitting you do seem to do quite a bit of ‘chiding’ yourself.

I can’t really talk either. It’s fun though and your chiding is first class, so keep chiding!

We should all be deeply concerned that the news agenda is being controlled by spin-doctors more effectively that the properganda department of a Warsaw Pact State. Let us us take Gordon Brown at his word when he says that he will do “whatever it takes” to get this country out of recession. What it will take is a change of government, and so his next meeting with the Queen should not be to discuss the Royal Succession, but a short one to resign and to let the country decide the political succession.

Speak for yourself, John

When I saw the original post, I thought, what possible difference does it make to anything, what religion the King or Queen are?

And if I were to say more, I’d simply say; it’s their private business, just as it is my own in this matter.