Persian Realm

Shepesh Jaan: good for you and more power

Had I lived in England, I would have certainly celebrate people-power any day and shun the over inflated, over celebrated wedding or any other mambo jumbo by the inherited privilege, specially that my hard earned pound is paying for their 'ghorbonam berid che khosh-gelam'

So with that I wish you a very happy and successful celebration.

Mehrdad

Roozbeh_Gilani Jan Neither Your more of a Gauche Caviar Type ;0)

If You Know What I mean  ... 

IRANICAN MOFTKHOR: From a 1/2 "Pahlawi" EYE-RANIAN Coin to why people resist new theories (sic)

LOL 

Bavafa jan

I'm going to one of these

Not The Royal Wedding Street Party

Having public foot the bill

even a penny, for ones wedding and/or a lavish lifestyle is beyond me.

It baffles me, why public should ever need to do that?!?!?

But then again, I moved to US of A and learned the concept of equality among all, even though they have yet to practice what they are preaching.

But at least we don't have a welfare system here just for 'az ma behtaron' and as a result, I have far more respect for that working class then the aristocracy.

Mehrdad

So DK, which one of these three is me,

 which one you and which one holds the lease to all the super expensive properties in the royal borough of chelsea and kensington? Remember that the last guy is the real boss, no matter what I and you squable about here!

with that said, I say cheer you Guv! 

 "Personal business must yield to collective interest."

Question of Knowing One's Place I suppose ;0)

Roozbeh Jaan Really ? ;0)) Your Ex Communist Friends do ... LOL

Roozbeh_Gilani " As for the whole british monarchy, (I know DK is a big fan, and dont mean offending him), but I see no parallels beween UK and Iran on this particular matter whatsoever." 

HAIL BARONESS AFSHAR!: First Iranian Woman In the House of Lords by Darius KADIVAR

What happend to the good old English humour?

Afsaneh,

since you moved to the US of A you have even lost touch with the English sense of humour. No attack or offence was intended just winding you up a little  over your out of date knowledge of the British class system.

Look as our friend Roozbeh has pointed out whoever buys a house (i.e. a freehold) in the UK they own the land under that property. Unless the house is speceficlly leased, which is very unusual (unless you live in parts of Wetminster, London or Chelsea and Kensington, you own the land as well as the brick and mortar. But if you buy a flat, it is different and you either have to lease it or buy a share of its freehold.

By the way, the House of Lords is just a classy name, its inabitants are no longer classy, How many muslim or officially gay senators can you find the American senate? Well we have both of them and in one case a gay muslim Lord!! Who could dream of this (a nightmare is a btter word) only twnety years ago?

Are we friends now?

hafez for beginer's

Your understanding on property ownership in UK is incomplete.

In general most properties in UK are "freehold", namely you can buy the land and brick and the rest. like it is here in USA. The leasehold applies to multi story apartments (for practical reasons). and as you correctly mentioned some properties owned by aristocrocy. These are very expensive properties, which can be leased by only very rich and wealthy. So lucky you for having such friends :)

As for the whole british monarchy, (I know DK is a big fan, and dont mean offending him), but I see no parallels beween UK and Iran on this particular matter whatsoever.

"Personal business must yield to collective interest."

discourse vs. personal attacks

Anglophile:

Thanks for the update - although the House of Lords, is still called that!

"Leasing your home's Land": 

Perhaps we can be offered an update for the fact that you "lease" the land your property sits on in the UK.  That in the UK, you own the Bricks and Mortar but not  the actual land under your home sits on -That belongs to the Duke of this or Duke of that.

Just this past year, I had friends spending collossal sums of money to extend their "lease" - $50K, $70K, $120K. The only update has been that some  "Dukes" are giving you the option to buy the land, instead of lease-extensions. It's called getting your property "Freehold" - if you're prepared to fork out some crazy sum of cash. It remains a reality of life in the UK, that you don't own the land, just the bricks and mortar of your property. 

5% going to college in 1986: 

I go to London 4 times a year - and do agree that there have been changes. However, in 1986 when I graduated from University, only 5% of the British public went on to higher education after the age of 18. 5% - in 1986!!!

As a result of joining the EU - rapid changes were made to make the numbers compatible with the rest of Europe. I think the figure is 40% or so - feel free to update on that.

I love hearing that cockney accent - it's the only nation I've lived in that has an official accent for the working class of its capital - they've even got a name for it! You hear it the second you get off the plane. It's musical and I enjoy hearing it, especially as the Brits in the US, rarely speak cockney English.

Finally, thanks for your response, although my post had nothing to do with my personal reasons for moving to America. It's heart breaking how we cannot hold a discourse based on facts and figures (up-to-date or dated ones) - without resorting to personal speculation and attacks.  

Afsaneh

Wrong Ms Mirfendesreski!

You are giving away clues as to why you moved to America. Perhaps your accent was not up to scratch and you felt more comfortable in a less classy American society - mind you as a foreigner you would have been classed as 'classless' in Britain or perhaps a classy foreigner. But I am sure your anglo-persian accent would have been better accepted in the "classless" American society.

Britain is not the same Britain when you were here. Public schools and Oxbridge are no longer the monoploy of the upper middles class and the middle class span is far wider than twenty or thrity years ago. Therefore Fry is right in suggesting that Britain is (almost) a classless society.  

The House of Lords is no longer the domain of hereditary peers, no thanks to Tony Blair and Co. Out of 600 peers in the House of Lords there are only 92 left to take up their seats and the rest were removed by Blair's government - obviously you have not been following the changes in your alma mater's country.

Today's Britain is a much more classless society than it was even twenty years ago.

This Friday's royal wedding is the best case in point.

"Bricks and Mortar"

Thanks for the thought provoking post! Stephen Fry stating that there's no class system in Britain - is like me saying that blue is yellow. You open your mouth in the UK, and your accent - (working class, this class, the other class) puts you in your place, and it's a very cruel reality of daily life. Not regional accents, but class accents. George Bernard Shaw wrote a play about this - about a cockny flower girl passing as a duchess: "Pygmalion" - that was then turned into the musical "My Fair Lady."

"Bricks and Mortar":

The biggest reality of the UK being a monarchy - is that the land is owned by the aristocracy. If you buy a house, only the bricks and mortar is yours - the land belongs to the aristocracy. You "lease" your land from the Duke of this or the Duke of that. And every 50 years or so - you have to fork out a hefty sum - to renew the lease - $100,000 ++ in London. With apartment buildings, even though it's one piece of soil - if there are 20 apartments, they each have to pay a separate lease. $100,000 x 20 = $2,000,000

Can you imagine an American not owning the land he lives on? Only owning the bricks and mortar? "Monarchy" isn't just little carriages and cute weddings. Not to mention that one of the Houses of governance - is a hereditary House - the House of Lords. The House of Commons - the other House, is for the "Commoner." Stephen Fry is very, very intelligent - to say a country who has one of the houses of governance, be called the House of the "Commoner" - ie. non-aristocrat, as not having a class system, floored me.

Afsaneh

Indeed Ari Jaan however our very Own Cosmetic Changes ;0)

Indeed Ari Jaan however The "Cosmetic" Change we ignorantly imposed to the Land of Cyrus and Darius ...

Footage of the 1979 referendum of the Islamic Republic of Iran

Mehdi Bazargan and the controversial legacy of Iran's Islamic intellectual movement

Seems to have led to Far less Cosmetic Results  ... 

Islamic Republic's Representative invited at UK's Royal Wedding

;0) 

But then I guess "Good taste" Vs "Bad Taste" is always debatable under our New Turbaned Dynasty Particularly at Gun Point ... 

‪Operatives of Iranian monarchists  Mohammad Reza Ali Zamani, and ArashRahmanipour, group put on televised confession on alledged terrorist activities shortly before their execution (PRESS TV)

Recommended Watching / Reading:

A Tale of Two Irans:

HISTORY FORUM: Mashallah Ajoudani on Intellectuals and the Revolution

RESTORATION: Shapour Bakhtiar advocates Restoring the Monarchy

Good critique...

"If we concentrated on our real defects. If we blamed our weaknesses of political will for impeding the achievement of greater social justice..."

Of course Fry is just talking about Britain.