FAIL Britannia

[Valmy]

I'm openly atheist.  It's worked out great.

You can forget about being King of Great Britain then.

[Tonitrus]

I'm openly atheist.  It's worked out great.

You can forget about being King of Great Britain then.

How about Bishop of Canterbury?

[Valmy]

How about Bishop of Canterbury?

I think that is a requirement actually.

[Ideologue]

I'm openly atheist.  It's worked out great.

You can forget about being King of Great Britain then.

My King Ralph fantasies are punctured.

[Josquius]

It is a logical move however I can't help but be slightly annoyed by it. It is just the conservatives trying to score easy political points.
The moment such a thing became a concern we could have enacted the changes then.

[Barrister]

It is a logical move however I can't help but be slightly annoyed by it. It is just the conservatives trying to score easy political points.
The moment such a thing became a concern we could have enacted the changes then.

Either something is a good idea or not.

[Viking]

Protestants, failing at separation of church and state since 1517.

When is the last time the Americans elected an openly atheist President.

America will have elected the first non-Christian president in its history if Romney wins.

Jefferson and Madison were Deists, that's not Christian either.

[dps]

It is a logical move however I can't help but be slightly annoyed by it. It is just the conservatives trying to score easy political points.
The moment such a thing became a concern we could have enacted the changes then.

Either something is a good idea or not.

Well, he's the type that's going to be annoyed by people doing the logical thing.

[Josquius]

It is a logical move however I can't help but be slightly annoyed by it. It is just the conservatives trying to score easy political points.
The moment such a thing became a concern we could have enacted the changes then.

Either something is a good idea or not.

Not really.
It was already pretty much taken for granted that this would be the case should William's first kid be a girl. Would have been so for decades (assuming a high ranked heir could have been born in the last few decades). The Tories have jumped the gun here to score points though. Cheaply trying to show their nice side.

[Sheilbh]

I don't think that's it Tyr.  British governments have been thinking about this since the 50s and I think the talks with the Commonwealth and Palace have been going on for 5 years as to what sort of things should be in the law.  This isn't the sort of thing the Tories could just do because they wanted to look good, it's been in the works under three PMs and was first discussed when Eden was around.

[The Brain]

Garden or Anthony?

[Habbaku]

It is a logical move however I can't help but be slightly annoyed by it. It is just the conservatives trying to score easy political points.
The moment such a thing became a concern we could have enacted the changes then.

Either something is a good idea or not.

Not really.
It was already pretty much taken for granted that this would be the case should William's first kid be a girl. Would have been so for decades (assuming a high ranked heir could have been born in the last few decades). The Tories have jumped the gun here to score points though. Cheaply trying to show their nice side.

  If a Labour government had made this change without a pressing need for it, can you honestly state that you would disapprove because they're trying to score cheap points?

[Sheilbh]

  If a Labour government had made this change without a pressing need for it, can you honestly state that you would disapprove because they're trying to score cheap points?

Labour government wouldn't need to score cheap points on constitutional modernisation or gender equality - they're part of the brand anyway.  Apparently the polling suggests the Tories have a problem with women votes.  So they could benefit from scoring cheap points.

[grumbler]

The moment such a thing became a concern we could have enacted the changes then.

That's the worst time to make changes; when everyone is concerned with an issue, they start to take sides and even excellent ideas stand or fall based on who benefits, rather than on their intrinsic excellence.  Right now is the perfect time to enact this reform, because no one cares and no one benefits. 

If it irritates you, that is just a side bonus. 

[Richard Hakluyt]

Interesting that Cameron got all the other interested countries to back him in this cheap bid for popularity 

Nah, it's going to go through on the nod, in 16 countries IIRC, because the next three in line to the throne all happen to be male anyway, so it is going to be a hell of a long time before it makes a difference.