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From out of nowhere, the Labour Party starts kite flying on the subject that “If they get a 4^th Term, they will repeal the Act of Settlement which is simple terms forbids the Monarch to be or marry a Catholic. Well actually, it is all a bit more involved than that and historically connected to various other historical matters but now is not the time or place to go into that.

For some strange reason known only to the dip sticks in the Labour Party, they seem to imagine that this is a burning issue with British Catholics and therefore a slam dunk vote winner – ???

They Must Be Desperate…

I am a Catholic but I would caution politicians from meddling with our Constitution and can see no good reason for repealing the Act of Settlement. What we have here is an “assumed unfairness” towards Catholics but that is intellectual slogan writing that fails to see the significance of these events and their importance in our secular society.

The Wars and various persecutions carried out in the name of Protestants and Catholics right across Europe over several centuries are woven into our historical fabric and in this country has become the basis of our secular society with freedom of worship for all, Christian and non-Christian alike.

Meddle with this and what is to stop every different Christian “brand” or Muslims or Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, Jews or whoever demanding ‘special treatment’ of one kind or another, it is foolish to contemplate because in this context “Catholic” really stands as a placeholder for all that is not the Established Church. By the same token, when The Prince of Wales expressed his desire to be the “Prince of All Faiths” whilst I understood and admired the spirit, the answer is NO.

Constitutional Changes

I would go as far as saying that if war is too important for the Generals, Constitutions are too important for Politicians and indeed, we may have to look at separating the Legislature from the Executive which is both ours and the Americans common theme. Any amendment to the American Constitution is estimated on a very fast track, would take 10 years and that is right because Constitutions are about the principles that govern the relationship between the individual and the State rather than immediate policy.

For intellectual non-entities such as Blair and Brown they are things scribbled on the back of a packet of fags and tossed carelessly into the mix to grab the morning headlines. The classic case being Blair with a Cabinet Reshuffle that went wrong where on a whim, he decided that he was going to abolish the Lord Chancellors Office – what a prat ! It is said that he qualified as a Lawyer of some kind to which my only thought is, if you took him along as your representative on a criminal case, the very sight of him would guarantee you getting off on grounds of insanity.

A Court of Runnymede

Although it would take a decade or two to set up and get running, we need a “Court of Runnymede” where all proposals for change should be lodged first and then they in due course – could be years, will produce a report that outlines the impacts of such changes and they may be empowered to put that to a referendum of the people to seek their approval before Parliament is given permission to proceed with drafting the legislation.

To save on money, such referendums could be held to coincide with other elections, yes I guess it would slow things down a bit and it might mean that it takes 10 years to make a change – excellent.

What We Most Want

As for politicians wanting to be “fair” to me and my fellow Catholics, that is easy enough:

We do not want to participate in the slaughter of 200,000 foetuses each year, we do want to continue to have our Catholic Schools and we do want Catholic Adoption Agencies to continue their valuable work which concentrates on older more difficult children. You do not remove discrimination for gay people by penalising another group in society, it is a total nonsense. Catholic agencies always refer same sex couples to other and as capable adoption agencies.

So idiot Gordon Brown, you think that a Catholic being able to ascend the throne is enough for us all to vote for you well, I’ve got news for you – IT ISN’T ! Give us what we need in our daily lives – you total moron and that also includes seeing the back of you and all your rotten Cabinet.