Should payment towards the Royal Family be made voluntary?.

I've hesitated, I've dithered, but the New Bags thinks it should be said.

So... vamp you did not hurt mey. She felt hurt because she loves Diana. No need to apologise for saying what you think even when people don't like reading it. As mey said, you are entitled to your opinion. And she is entitled to her feelings, but her feelings about the subject are not your concern. Hugs all round.

We cannot limit what we say to what nobody will find offensive or hurtful. We all approach subjects from different points of view and with different feelings. We need to just accept that and when we feel hurt we feel hurt because of ourselves and our own outlook, not that someone has hurt us for having a different point of view or for saying something we don't like (personal attacks excepted).

I hope people understand what I'm saying.

Yup. Sure do honey.

Some people think Diana was a special lady. Some people don't think that. It really is that simple.

B - Your post (9.16) makes a great deal of sense to me.

There would have been complete uproar across the whole country if they hadn't closed the roads and done the jobn properly!!!

Can you imagine it? It was bad enough when the queen didn't immedately leave her grandsons to pander to the people.

Why is "lady" creeping in everywhere?

I am not a royal family fan at all. I do not like the fact that we pay towards their extremely luxurious lifestyle when ordinary people are suffering and cannot afford to feed their children or heat their homes. However I don't think we can go down the route of choosing what you would like to contribute toward or we would create chaos.

Because it's a mark of respect? And because it is the word we have used for women for years? Just politely.

Perhaps we could turn Buckingham Palace into a mixed-sex prison and pay the royal family to acts as warders.

absent What are you like?

Good idea though !

Not so j07. Lady was specifically a class differentiation, as in officers' ladies, non-commissioned officers' wives and other ranks' women.

Just imagine what it would cost to administrate a system where everyone paid tax only on what they chose to, and how many appeals there would be when people's opinions changed. HMRC is a complicated enough system to start with. Half the country would be employed working out the taxes of the other half, who would themselves be employed as postmen delivering all the buff envelopes (to the houses of those who were not employed in the tax office, so did not know all the dodges to avoid paying any tax at all)

Could create jobs though Elegran

Imagine filling in your tax return and all the tick boxes you could tick or cross? What fun.

I am trying NOT to think about filling in my tax form. I have just won a three-month extension, but that does not make the filling-in any more fun!

Never had much anything to do with the officers class of the forces absent.

My other nomenclature, at times, it Lady Barebow (often, The Lady Barebow . DD1 objected unless the male archers were called gents. They are – MrBags is part of the "Gents Recurve" team. As I said to DD, it is the Grand National Archery Association.

I look forward to the day when the army has a cake sale to raise funds for buying a tank.

Oh yes! Good idea. I like a good cake sale.

Or even better....tanks made of CAKE

Elegran My motto is always why do today what you can put off until tomorrow

My dad's was "Never out off till tomorrow what you can put off till the day after."

Bags Even better !

Frank's done his usual trick of winding us up - I bet he was out there with all the other mourners on the day of the funeral.

That's too much of a rush for some of us. We don't like being hurried!