Most of the time the Pledge of Alligence is just as you said , an empty formality.
BUT a week or so after the attack last year, the plegde became something more than a meaningless ritual. In Washington at a Birthday Party for an old friend (OK he is a retired General) the guests said the pledge with a ferocity that I'd never seen before.
If the British were similarly attacked (I mean a single major blow not the awful small murders of the IRA) do you think the Royal Family would be such a symbol of national military resolve?
Perry, you too are harsh on your poor prince. What he says isn't different from what 90% of pundits and politicos say. So he isn't a libertarian - is that such an awful crime ? Is that so unique ?
Taylor Dinerman: Yes of course the Royal Family would be precisely such a focus... that is what they are for! You have only to look at London during the Luftwaffe's 'Blitz', with casualties that made the Sept 11th attacks seem rather mundane: by refusing to leave London, the Royals in a few short years built up a huge store of good will and won a key place in the national iconography associated with resistance and victory in WW2.
This will make you titter I'm sure......
Prince Charles has been accused of "hypocrisy" for signing a £100,000 deal with a German car firm, shortly before calling for public bodies to be ordered to buy British.
The Prince of Wales said schools, hospitals, the Army and government departments should only buy British food in a bid to help UK farmers.
But according to the Sunday Mirror newspaper Charles made the plea after he arranged to lease up to four new cars from Audi.
Whoops........Silly Billy!!!!!
Prince Charles is completely clueless, but on everything from architecture to genetically modified crops to (now) agricultural protectionism, he has managed to adopt a particular kind of cluelessness that is typical of a large swathe of middle England. I too wish he would go away, but there are lots and lots of people who think in the same way he does.
Clearly Mr Wales has a lot in common with the Frenc h farmers.
What next? Perhaps he c an lead a cavalty charge against the Leicester Square branch of McDonald's whilst blocking the motorway with his horse boxes. Now that he's giving up foxhunting, like.