10 Downing Street

[Bobsy]

Is it not silly to give the prime minister a free house when hes earning shit loads of money anyway? (yes i know its a bit of a silly argument but im bored)

[kj]

just be thankfull every terrorist in the world knows where he lives and not you hehe

[Ross]

well, surely they give him/her that house because it is easier to keep all the set-up in the one place than move about the country every time the Prime Minister changes i may be wrong

[humndislocation]

not to mention the fact it's easier to secure 10 downing street, than have to secure some random house anywhere in the country...

[AlanG]

Well they more than likely have loads of secure lines and communication set up there so its easier to keep it there, not to mention underground bunkers linked to Buckingham Palace etc (or is this another government location im thinking of?).

Mind you, it would be funny if the next prime minister lived on a top floor multi in the hilltown or something.

[Bobsy]

Should he not still have to pay rent and shit tho? with the money they make from that they could make more hostels for homeless people or put it in to council housing which would help the problem of homeless ness. I understand that importance of his job etc... but i think when hes making that much money he can easily afford to pay a little rent now and again.

[Tommy Sports]

yeah but he is the head of goverment, does it not concern you more that the whole royal family, who serve absolutly no purpose, live off of our tax money?
think how many houses they have, and all the cleaners and people they employ, and all the pointless expensive items they own.

[AlanG]

no we've had this discussion here before on hot topic, apprantly theyre "traditional" and even though they cost 50millionish a year and for the jubilee weekend lost the uk economy 800million, they bring in all the tourist money (damn no rolleyes on sidepanel)

[Bobsy]

Fuck i completely forgot about the royal family, at least tony blair does work. What do the royal family do and what is their purpose? (thats not a rheotorical question, i actually want to know)

[Tommy Sports]

like alan said, they attract tourists (although there is no real proof of this), other than that they have no power over anything, just burn up more money than they generate.

[AlanG]

Well they actually do have lots of power, just its deferred to other people. Whenever a bill is passed in parliament it has to be agreed to by the Queen or usually her representatives. obviously if there was say a "Queen should be in stocks for raw cabbages to be thrown at her daily Act" she would step in and refuse to sign it. Thats obviously a silly example to show how it works.

Theres a general misconception that we live in a democracy, when we live in a constitutional monarchy. That is, the Queen is *still* in charge, just lets us elect people to carry out all the work of running the state; as long as it doesn't rock the boat too much.

wow, that last sentence is grammaticaly fecked.