Friday, November 19, 2004
Hey, Prince, look out behind you...
I've never really liked this guy much anyway, and I realize this isn't really a political post, but it deserves attention if only to prove what a wanker this man really is, and it makes his wife's death even more tragic somehow. Also, Charles would do well to remember that it's the dreamers in his kingdom who pay the taxes and keep his royal ass encased in silk underwear and keep his Mummy and horse-faced girlfriend in diamonds. I wonder just how much of a shock it would be for him to wake up one morning to a revolution, to a world where he no longer had his posh palaces and cars, to a world where the overtaxed working class of Britain finally decided they'd had just about enough, thank you.
I think the bit that really pissed me off this morning was the line about the schools "encouraging young people to nurture ambitions they are unlikely to fulfill." Yeah, well, Chuckie-baby, thank God your own eldest son doesn't feel that way, and spends his free time instead building schools and bathrooms for disenfranchised kids in Chile--at least Wills believes the youth of the world can become anything they bloody well want to be. Do I believe my oldest daughter will become the astronaut she thinks she can become? Hell yes, but I guess that's why Charles has all the money and I don't--but then again, I'd prefer to have dreams, to encourage my children to have dreams, because it's that kind of spirit that changes the world. It's that kind of spirit that topples crowns.
Prince Charles' Comments Draw Rebukes
By MICHAEL McDONOUGH, AP
LONDON (Nov. 18) - Prince Charles' tirade against people who aspire to lofty goals beyond their natural talent earned him a rare public rebuke from a senior government minister on Thursday - and gasps of disbelief from the British media.
Education Secretary Charles Clarke branded the heir to the throne "old fashioned" after details emerged of a royal memo written in response to an employee's inquiry about promotion prospects.
"People think they can all be pop stars, high court judges, brilliant TV personalities or infinitely more competent heads of state without ever putting in the necessary work or having natural ability," Charles wrote in the memo, which was read out Wednesday at an employment tribunal.
"Not like you eh, Charles?" countered The Sun, a popular daily that is normally highly supportive of the monarchy. The prince is next in line to the throne by virtue of heredity.
"Don't try to rise above your station," was how The Daily Telegraph newspaper, a pillar of the British establishment, summarized the prince's memo. Another conservative paper, the Daily Mail, devoted its first two pages to the story under the headline: "Don't get above yourself."
In his handwritten note, Charles attacked Britain's education system for encouraging young people to nurture ambitions they are unlikely to fulfill.
"What is wrong with everyone nowadays?" the prince wrote. "Why do they all seem to think they are qualified to do things far beyond their technical capabilities?
"This is to do with the learning culture in schools as a consequence of a child-centered system which admits no failure," Charles said.
"This is the result of social utopianism which believes humanity can be genetically and socially engineered to contradict the lessons of history."
Clarke said he thought Charles should "think carefully" before intervening in any debate about education.
"To be quite frank, I think he is very old-fashioned and out of time and he doesn't understand what is going on in the British education system at the moment," the minister told British Broadcasting Corp. radio.
It is very rare for government figures to publicly criticize members of the royal family, but Prime Minister Tony Blair's office played down the disagreement.
"I know that Charles Clarke values his relationship with the Prince of Wales and enjoys discussions on education with him," a spokeswoman for Blair's office said.
Charles' memo was read out at an employment tribunal where a former personal assistant in his private office, Elaine Day, claimed unfair dismissal. She also claimed sexual harassment by the prince's assistant private secretary, Paul Kefford.
The prince wrote the memo in reply to Day's suggestion that personal assistants with university degrees should be given the opportunity to train to become private secretaries - a more senior position within the royal household. Day excluded herself from the proposal.
"Why do they all seem to think they are qualified to do things far beyond their technical capabilities?"-Prince Charles
Charles concluded the note by writing: "What on earth am I to tell Elaine? She is so (politically correct) it frightens me rigid."
Day, 45, who worked at Clarence House for five years before quitting earlier this year, told the tribunal that the royal household was run in "Edwardian" fashion.
"It's hierarchical, elitist, everyone knows their place and if we forget our place the system will punish us," she said.
Asked by her lawyer how she understood Charles' memo, Day replied: "I completely felt that people could not rise above their station."
Day claims she was effectively forced out of her job after complaining to superiors about the sexual harassment. The prince's office contests the claim.
11-18-04 23:00 EST
http://aolsvc.news.aol.com/news/article.adp?id=20041118161209990002
I think the bit that really pissed me off this morning was the line about the schools "encouraging young people to nurture ambitions they are unlikely to fulfill." Yeah, well, Chuckie-baby, thank God your own eldest son doesn't feel that way, and spends his free time instead building schools and bathrooms for disenfranchised kids in Chile--at least Wills believes the youth of the world can become anything they bloody well want to be. Do I believe my oldest daughter will become the astronaut she thinks she can become? Hell yes, but I guess that's why Charles has all the money and I don't--but then again, I'd prefer to have dreams, to encourage my children to have dreams, because it's that kind of spirit that changes the world. It's that kind of spirit that topples crowns.
Prince Charles' Comments Draw Rebukes
By MICHAEL McDONOUGH, AP
LONDON (Nov. 18) - Prince Charles' tirade against people who aspire to lofty goals beyond their natural talent earned him a rare public rebuke from a senior government minister on Thursday - and gasps of disbelief from the British media.
Education Secretary Charles Clarke branded the heir to the throne "old fashioned" after details emerged of a royal memo written in response to an employee's inquiry about promotion prospects.
"People think they can all be pop stars, high court judges, brilliant TV personalities or infinitely more competent heads of state without ever putting in the necessary work or having natural ability," Charles wrote in the memo, which was read out Wednesday at an employment tribunal.
"Not like you eh, Charles?" countered The Sun, a popular daily that is normally highly supportive of the monarchy. The prince is next in line to the throne by virtue of heredity.
"Don't try to rise above your station," was how The Daily Telegraph newspaper, a pillar of the British establishment, summarized the prince's memo. Another conservative paper, the Daily Mail, devoted its first two pages to the story under the headline: "Don't get above yourself."
In his handwritten note, Charles attacked Britain's education system for encouraging young people to nurture ambitions they are unlikely to fulfill.
"What is wrong with everyone nowadays?" the prince wrote. "Why do they all seem to think they are qualified to do things far beyond their technical capabilities?
"This is to do with the learning culture in schools as a consequence of a child-centered system which admits no failure," Charles said.
"This is the result of social utopianism which believes humanity can be genetically and socially engineered to contradict the lessons of history."
Clarke said he thought Charles should "think carefully" before intervening in any debate about education.
"To be quite frank, I think he is very old-fashioned and out of time and he doesn't understand what is going on in the British education system at the moment," the minister told British Broadcasting Corp. radio.
It is very rare for government figures to publicly criticize members of the royal family, but Prime Minister Tony Blair's office played down the disagreement.
"I know that Charles Clarke values his relationship with the Prince of Wales and enjoys discussions on education with him," a spokeswoman for Blair's office said.
Charles' memo was read out at an employment tribunal where a former personal assistant in his private office, Elaine Day, claimed unfair dismissal. She also claimed sexual harassment by the prince's assistant private secretary, Paul Kefford.
The prince wrote the memo in reply to Day's suggestion that personal assistants with university degrees should be given the opportunity to train to become private secretaries - a more senior position within the royal household. Day excluded herself from the proposal.
"Why do they all seem to think they are qualified to do things far beyond their technical capabilities?"-Prince Charles
Charles concluded the note by writing: "What on earth am I to tell Elaine? She is so (politically correct) it frightens me rigid."
Day, 45, who worked at Clarence House for five years before quitting earlier this year, told the tribunal that the royal household was run in "Edwardian" fashion.
"It's hierarchical, elitist, everyone knows their place and if we forget our place the system will punish us," she said.
Asked by her lawyer how she understood Charles' memo, Day replied: "I completely felt that people could not rise above their station."
Day claims she was effectively forced out of her job after complaining to superiors about the sexual harassment. The prince's office contests the claim.
11-18-04 23:00 EST
http://aolsvc.news.aol.com/news/article.adp?id=20041118161209990002
