I’m feeling sick

Claiming Charles is a racist by a poster who claims 70 year olds who work are useless . Can we assume the poster wouldn't go near B & Q, they employ useless 70 year olds

. The leader of the Labour Party is trying to get the job of PM when he is 70, the poster supports this

That's a very good point Annie. It seems that percieved racism trumps ageism with some people. Personaly, I find lumping any group of people into anomalous categories, whether by skin tone, age, religion or culture; morally wrong. And as many of the people who are on GN are in their 70s, I wonder how they feel about being labelled "useless".

Still haven't been told what's wrong with the Commonwealth either.

ab your post is missing the point again. I did NOT say he was a racist but that what he said was racist - there is an important distinction here. And it’s quite clear from my OO that I was referring to Charles as a useless 70 year old. You know very well that I don’t think 70year olds are useless as workers - I gave myself as an example. At 71 I am still working in an extremity useful and highly competitive field. And which poster supports JC becoming PM at any age? Do you mean me?

What thread - oh sorry you’re not replying to me. Never mind

yes maryeliza, you gave yourself as an example !

Chewbacca,seems there is nothing wrong with the commonwealth, just the man who has been closely involved with the commonwealth for most of his life , who has an excellent example on being head of the commonwealth for 65 years - his mother .

and I'm sure a lot of Cubans thought Castro was a great leader .... yet the rest of the world didn't like him handing the mantle of power to a relative ...whats the difference? Should be a meritocracy not aristocracy . ..not in the 21st century !Lets hope the "COMMONWEALTH" has more sense and looks to the future not the past .Empire by another name .

It's just been announced on the News that Charles will succeed the Queen as head of the Commonwealth.

Good!

<faints> who’d think it. Lots of scope then for racist jokes.

Give it a rest maryeliza, it wasn’t that funny the first time.

That's excellent news. Even better, there is talk that Zimbabwe may be about to rejoin the Commonwealth?. I think that would be the icing on the cake at the end of the Queens long stewardship.

There is no power as head of the commonwealth, I am surprised so many know so little about it.

I am pleased to learn Charles has been chosen to be the next head of the commonwealth ,

So it’s not all right to criticise St Charles for making a racist joke then? FFS - and I’ll give it a rest when I decide to MB and not the GN thread police.

Paddyann, Corbyn thought Castro an excellent leader

I get quite sick of some things too ???

I thought the Queen was supposed to be above politics.

She might like Charles to be the next Head of the Commonwealth, but I think she should have let the Commonwealth decide without her opinion coming into it.

It would have at least looked more democratic if she hadn’t recommended her son!

The Queen above politics? You were being sarcastic weren’t you mostly?

Well I don't think Charles' comment was racist - I think he was trying to engage the woman in conversation.
I think she knew perfectly well what he was trying to establish, but she chose to reply in that facetious way.

I imagine he was expecting her to say that although she lives in Manchester where she was born, her family came from, say, a Caribbean island or an African country.

This would have been an opening for Charles to maybe say that it's a beautiful island or country which he had visited a number of times, and thereby get the conversation going.

Think about it - the Royals have all these people to meet and converse with day after day. It must be SO difficult to think of something different to say when faced with probably very nervous people.

Of course there will always be those who seem to enjoy trawling through the internet or newspapers looking for some 'racist' comment or other to be outraged at.

The woman comes from Manchester - if he wanted to engage with her he could have asked what part of Manchester? BME people get fed up of that racist question because underpinning it is a belief that they don’t come from here, they are not British. You would think that in all the years he’s been carrying out royal duties he woukd be able to ask sensible questions. It is a racist question, it is not appropriate and she was not being facetious - she had every right to complain about it, or don’t you think she had because well......I was not trawling through the papers looking to be outraged - how dare you? I was reading my usual paper - you know the one that has been exposing the WG scandal for months.

How (very) dare you Jennifer Eccles?
.??

Never mind maryeliza just milk it for all it is worth and go on nursing your outrage to keep it warm

Charles was meeting a room full of people, he had to shake hands, say a few words and move on. I do not believe it was a racist comment .

It has been said many times today queenie would not have said if she hadn't discussed it with the leaders first.

I have my own theory on why she said it ?

If he meant it the way you say he did. he would have asked her where she originated from. Most areas areas are split into towns cities etc, why are you deliberately trying to read racism into it .?

The woman it happened to was very critical about it - have you any idea how racist it is to discount her perception and opinions? The Equality Act makes it very clear that it is perception not intention that counts. He should know better

MB how terribly charming you are you are