RuamRudy

Then to which straps are you referring? The banners were held together with string. What else is so scary to the state?

Tell me where the selective reading is. Be specific because frequently, when you are challenged, you fall back on this device.

You mean the pieces of string keeping the banners together during the transportation? Nothing says scared, weak and corrupt government like the banning of bits of string.

Devices? What specific devices were found? Conspiracy to cause a nuisance? How is that defined? How embarrassing for a protester? How embarrassing for anyone who holds a UK passport.

I am not a huge fan of the monarchy but it was nice to see Harry looking happy at his dad's big day.

Maybe if Brian was to swear allegiance to me, I might have a tad of respect for him, but as things stand he can whistle.

But you being tired of them is irrelevant. You are entitled to be tired of protest but the protesters are entitled to not give a fig. It seems you like cancel culture a bit too much though.

One person, at least, was not put off by the republicans. Bow down to your betters.

But your terms are not codified.

They disrupted nothing.

Again, for the hard of reading, they were not glueing themselves to anything; they were breaking no laws whatsoever, however they have a point of view which challenges the orthodoxy. For that they were arrested.

Then it's not freedom and you don't understand the concept.

Not at all but you are certainly trying to twist the narrative. I suspect, in time it will be seen that, once again, the Met is acting outwith the law in suppressing legitimate dissent.

They were attempting to exercise their right to freedom of political expression, you know, one of the things thousands of British servicemen died over the years to protect. And you are happy for it all to be taken away from us by a corrupt Tory government.

But he is not allowed to say what he really thinks in public? Ok - that's not unlike North Korea, but if you are happy with it, that's your opinion. And the government thanks you very much.

What an utterly pathetic reason - their placards were tied together with string. We have a government so corrupt and weak that they are terrified of the people, and therefore make it illegal to be in public with string. The UK continues to make itself the laughing stock of the world.

Apparently even the police wouldn't tell them why they were arrested.

What is it about freedom of thought that you dislike?

These people were not disrupting or interrupting anything. They were intending to exercise what I had presumed was their democratic right to protest. They hadn't even got as far as lifting up their placards. In short, they were doing nothing unlawful. They were arrested simply because of their political beliefs. Tell me what is acceptable about that.

Your trivialising of this is the enabler that the government approves of. Well done.

Coronation fever sweeps across the British isles

Regardless of your feelings towards the monarchy, this should outrage every one of us - peaceful demonstrators arrested and their placards confiscated. Fascist regimes don't happen over night, but the UK is definitely on the road to dystopia.

Betteridge's law of headlines: "Any headline that ends in a question mark can be answered by the word no."

Can you provide backup for this? Then maybe they could start to pay their taxes? That would be a nice change. Do you have evidence for this? Currently the economy needs to support a head of state and numerous nonentities plus those nonentities' flunkies. Replacing a massive money pit with a much smaller and more accountable one would surely make economic sense? As for the crown estates, those endeavours will, presumably, continue to function. Only the income would be returned in full to the country, it's rightful owner. Not my sole reason, but your argument to the contrary is definitely unconvincing at present. Such a movement already exists: https://www.republic.org.uk/ But I fear, much like brexit, until we get democracy within the UK electoral franchise, we won't see any meaningful reform to the drain that is the royal family either. Until then, the UK electorate will continue to vote for the most damaging of results and any plebiscite for abolishing the monarchy will be thwarted by the very people who would benefit from it (see Brexit, PR referendum, any election which saw the Tories take office etc).

I am going to go out on a limb here - but might a website called royal central possibly have an inbuilt bias? We don't even know how much the monarchy actually costs us at present because of Byzantine accounting. Although, I guess, we do have a feel for the amount of taxes Charles was due when his mother died that he shirked. I suspect, however, that's just the tip of the iceberg.