One good thing Brown has done...

He has said no to the Queen wanting another handout :

The Queen may charge visitors £10 to watch the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace as she ponders emergency measures to meet her repair bills.

The plan has been drawn up by senior royal aides after the government refused a request for an extra £1m a year to help fund urgent repairs to the crumbling palaces.

Other money-making schemes being considered include charging admission to the Buckingham Palace gardens, currently accessible only to people with a coveted invitation to one of the Queen’s garden parties, and offering tours of the royal kitchens.


Officials are bemused by the apparent indifference of the Treasury to their plight. Their attempts to secure extra funding have been rebuffed for more than two years, and they are resigned to an even cooler response under Gordon Brown’s premiership. One senior courtier said: “We are deeply frustrated.”

Lord St John of Fawsley, a constitutional expert, described the idea as “absolutely repellent”. He said:“We need to keep up our appearances as a nation. The government should assume its responsibility and pay for the repairs to the palace. We are one of the richest countries in the world and these buildings belong to the nation.”

Well if it belongs to the nation why can't we all wander in there, why is there a charge and why do the Royal Family live there. Why is it the responsibility of the government, and taxpayer, to subsidise their numerous abodes when many people do not even have one decent home to live in?

Since Gordon says housing is a priority I have a suggestion to help with this and save the treasury some money. How about evicting the old queen and her hangers on and packing them off to a retirement bungalow in Eastbourne. Give them a state pension and suggest the younger ones toddle down the job centre and test out the whole welfare to work system. Then do up the palace and make it affordable flats for people to live in.

I would do a Punchie and suggest a firing squad but somehow don't see Gord going for that ...