I don’t think there should be fee paying schools, if there have to be then full vat and business rates should be levied on them (state schools have to pay business rates and it bugs me that private schools don’t have to of their charitable status as I understand it). States schools are desperately in need of money and there is going to be a huge two tier system for those children who went to them and those who experienced the state school system and its lack of resources. Even if that’s always been the case, it isn’t right and we should do something about it.
I think the royal family should send their children to state schools and use nhs hospitals too. They are supposed to represent us so they should be like us. I would accept the ruling monarch having special doctors like the president of the USA does (as I understand it), that seems sensible.
As for the houses, four is ridiculous. Again I would tax second home owners through the roof.
Finally it really bugs me how we are supposed to admire w and k for arranging their working lives so they can do the school run. To me, it sums up their privilege that they can do this (and have a full time nanny), when childcare and wraparound care is experiencing major issues and is almost unaffordable for many parents whose employers won’t allow them flexibility to work hours that fit with the school day.
To me it sums up how out of touch the royal family (and maybe even the ruling elites more widely) are out of touch with real life for most people. Although this may not be anything new.
I don’t know. Public school is a big thing in the UK. There are so many in varying degrees it’s hardly uncommon. The problems with this and what happens when parents start pulling their children out of the system are well known but I am yet to see the parents using their children’s future to make a point of principle if it’s not one of the good schools. If it’s a problematic school they will send their child elsewhere if they can, which will continue this cycle but it’s hardly fair to make the children pay for it. I am actually pretty interested how a country should solve such a problem. My country is still far away from this but we are firmly marching in a similar direction and those effects are starting to get discussed. You cannot just close the public schools and only keep a certain percentage, which would only cut down the elite and make it even more exclusive. You can maybe force them to offer a percentage of full ride scholarships? Which is taking even more good pupils out of the system. Or install a cap on free? In the end many parents that can are happy and willing to pay extra if they feel it will give their children a better education, start in their professional life, more opportunities, a better learning experience…
Same for the NHS. In many countries with general health insurance people pay extra to get some bonus treatments (eyes and teeth for example , single rooms in hospitals…). So going semi private is really not that uncommon.
And adjusting your schedule to care for your own offspring if that’s a possibility is also not unheard off- but I think it’s way harder in the UK than where I live so my perspective is different. For example: If you have a 9-5 office job that can be done remotely it’s not that hard to start maybe at 8 and finish a 4 to make the school run. Or work a tad longer on certain days to get off earlier at others. Obviously that’s not an option in every job, but it’s nice if you can. And I would say it should be the norm that parents do their own parenting and be there for the boring parent jobs as well instead of rather paying someone for it. So if they can adjust their schedules to do the school run or cook dinner or brush teeth and tuck them in (which can still be a pita job at Louis age) rather than have Maria do it, it’s a privilege well used.
K&W “just like you” game is not saying they are like some minimum wage, small council flat family. They are rich. They will always be rich no matter what happens to the monarchy. But not all well off people have staff or travel in private planes or first class only. They try to show they are a bit like your next door, well off neighbour. It’s more the- we don’t need people to curtsy and sing the national anthem when they see us- just like you. And in a twisted way they are. They absolutely want to give their children a good childhood with a stellar education to set them up for their future. Of course they want to protect them from having their lives in the papers/internet (and let’s be real - a lot if what is said about them and the children would be called online bullying/abuse if they were normal people) and the negative stuff that comes with it. Of course they want to have stellar health care. Of course they want to have nice holidays and expand their children’s horizons, show them the world and just enjoy doing stuff with them. That’s pretty normal. The extent of how they actually (can) do it is just what normal people do on steroids. Is it fair? No. But I think it’s weird to think that are saying they are just like your normal struggling family in terms of specific experiences. They can never be and I don’t think they actually think they face the same real hard problems. But of course they have the same motivations, wishes and fears like most parents no matter their prospects. That’s the only level they can connect on with the ordinary crowd. Their resource might be different but the centre motivation is the same.
I think the general idea behind this PR angle is not bad in itself. But it’s tricky extremely because of course they are not like your normal family (which raises the question what
is normal? Is your personal experience the norm to measure them against?). Whoever works this narrative is not doing a really good job. Maybe it’s W&K though. Maybe they can’t work the angle well. Sometimes they get it right way but often enough not. So right now, I would say it’s not really working for them.
