"I am British but I support a New Zealand republic"
A New Zealand republic is not anti-British. Greg Edwards, a Brit and a founding member of the Republican Movement, explains why.
Greg also highlights an internet poll by the New Zealand Herald on Prince Charles' forthcoming tour. Now we shouldn't read too much into an internet poll, but the results are interesting nonetheless. Only 5% of the 1,900 respondents said they would be out waving the "British" (actually Union) Flag, 12% are "pretty" excited, 20% are neutral, 37% want William and Kate and 26% are republicans.
This underlines a point I've been making for some time: in order for us to win a referendum, we need to win over the neutral middle ground (plus republicans gives us 46%) and 15% of the William and Kate supporters to get a majority.
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How much will it cost the New Zealander taxpayer to host Prince Charles visit? A cost that does not even represent playing host to our Head of State but just a stand in.....
We don't know for sure. The total foreign visits budget for this financial year is $4.3m, but how much Charles tour will cost is unknown.
Good on Greg Edwards for being British and wanting a republic for NZ. I am sure we still love the Brits telling them what is good for us! This is as weird as having the British Monarch as ours too. Golly, is not the whole of evolution and history based on what some may call weird accidents.
Greg is a New Zealander of British birth. He's not a Brit telling us what's good for us, despite your attempts at demeaning his views. The Queen is British by birth and New Zealand's head of state by accident of history - the accident mainly being her late unlamented uncle. Not the same thing.
Greg very clearly states in his item that he is British and the reader is under no doubt. His headlining."I am British....but I support a NZ republic" leaves no doubt about his identifying nationality.
The demeaning tone in his item is his. In addition in the item he sates that the Queen thinks "Kia Ora" is an orange juice. Amazing he knows this for a start and Goodonya Greg at that level the republic will be dead in the water.
His being British is a major point of his original post.
Open to interpretation whether his weird accident of history was specific to the current QE2 of NZ or to the monarchy in NZ generally.
Kia Ora was/is an Australian orange juice brand popular in the UK from the 1900's. Perhaps it would be served to the royal family in preference to fresh juice? After her many visits with Maori kaumatua and speeches etc it is likely that the Queen would know the meaning of "Kia Ora".
Greg was born in Britain. He's a New Zealand citizen. I know Greg personally (he was a founding member of the Republican Movement) and know this for a fact; so no QED there I'm afraid Anon. It's telling that you demean his views because of the country he was born in.
You have background information not revealed in his item.
There is no point to this item if he is in fact a New Zealander. He gave his national identity as British.
Like many "jokes" or flippant remarks it contains a criticism.
As my granddad used to say to me, if you can't say anything nice don't say it. You demeaned Greg's views without knowing anything about him - that says more about you than me not stating that I know his citizenship. But then we're used to this sort of childish, negative attitudes eminating from the opponents of change. Keep playing the man guys, it's working real well for you.
Of course Greg's critical of the fact the Queen is an absentee head of state. Yet for some reason you ignored that an attempted to show that the Queen would, in fact, know the meaning of the words "Kia Ora".
Yes I'm British by birth. Have lived about 50-60% of my life in NZ
Your NZ nationality and having chosen NZ to live in, in preference to the UK, was not revealed or evident in your posting when you said "I am British. I am as British as you can possibly get.".
I dont' think in song Britannia rules the waves but she is exhorted to "Rule the waves!"
At the very least you should apologise to Greg for demeaning his views, Anon, not keep digging.
He is actually a New Zealander living in NZ. I had been reading the article at face value without the now revealed knowledge.
He is not a Briton pontificating about the NZ constitution from a UK-based point of view, but a New Zealander with an interest in his country's constitutional setup. Why did he choose to say he was British if he is, as you say, a New Zealander?. Why did he relegate the fact he is now a New Zealander to obscurity in this item? If you want an apology, why stop with me?
You demeaned his views for that fact that he was born in Britain. You owe him an apology.
Good on him for being British and wanting a republic for New Zealand!
However he is actually a New Zealander who wants a republic for New Zealand so there is no-one to apologise to....apart from his apology to New Zealanders for ignoring the nationality he has acquired.
I never demeaned him for that. You made his nationality an issue, demeaning him. As with most of the negative rubbish spouted by monarchists, it was totally baseless and ignored the facts. You rushed to demean Greg's views because you didn't like them. It's telling that if a Brit makes such comments you're so unsettled.
It's time you manned up an apologised to Greg, "Anon".
He made His British nationality an issue in his item. If he is, as you say, actually a New Zealander the item was misleading at the least. If he has dual or multi nationality, good on him too. I guess he could have a preference for being as British as possible.
Merry Christmas!
You made an issue of Greg not mentioning his New Zealand citizenship, in another pathetic attempt to demean the views of republicans. Your refusal to apologise only vindicates my view that your side of the debate is frankly nasty and childishly stubborn.