William Hague "very sorry for people who live in mere Republics!!"

Submitted by LJ Holden on 15 January, 2013 - 19:59

British foreign secretary William Hague is visiting New Zealand at the moment. Fairfax's Stuff hosted a live discussion with him, in which a whole bunch of irrelevant questions (nothing about visas or departure taxes, trade barriers to New Zealand produce - you know, things that actually affect our lives and our relationship with the UK). Someone (good on you) did get to ask the republic question, to which Hague responded:

That is always for the countries concerned - for instance the Australians had a referendum a few years ago. Personally, you will not be surprised to hear that I am a 100% supporter of the Monarchy and during the Diamond Jubilee last year, I felt very sorry for people who live in mere Republics!!

Hague's position is so laced with hubris it's laughable. In fact, we'd say republics had the best of both worlds: they got to watch the celebrations in the UK while getting to choose (as was the case most prominently in the United States) their own head of State. Pretty good deal really.

Comments

Anonymous's picture
Submitted by Anonymous on 16 January, 2013 - 03:29.
The meaning of life comes from within.... Not from half way around our planet.
Anonymous's picture
Submitted by Anonymous on 20 January, 2013 - 01:44.
I did wonder if anyone was going to take issue with this man's patronising claptrap. No use expecting anything from our doyens of the media who, with one lone exception, were far more keen to demonstrate their mastery of world affairs by raising such pressing matters as the Mother Country's position on the Palestine Question. The sole pertinent question was so easily batted off with Mr Hague's vacuous throwaway that actually left the natives feeling important. That we fail utterly to see the demeaning aspect of it all shows just how far we are from lifting our colonial outlook. Of course that's the real issue, but there you go..... Ed Dwyer
LJ Holden's picture
Submitted by LJ Holden on 20 January, 2013 - 18:11.

Exactly Ed. This is a question of mindset. The objections to a New Zealand head of State all too often boil down to colonial cringe, cringe at the thought of a New Zealander as head of State ("It would be embarrassing to have to bow to someone from down the road" - cf David Round), cringe at being independent (which we largely actually already are)... it will take a lot of time to shift this mindset. That said, I think we can do it. We're only 9% off a majority on our last poll, remember.


I had an interesting Twitter conversation with a certain NZ First MP who thought the visit was a sign that the monarchy is good for New Zealand (itself a stupid claim to make, given Hague also visited Singapore to "pursue aims through the Commonwealth" - they've been a republic since 1965).

Chair, Republican Movement - contact me online or call on +64 27 699 1350
Syndicate content