SIR – Brian Holmans (Letters, June 15) strangely links my gentle disapproval of Republican demonstrators at Jubilee events with some imagined disdain for the concept of republican government.
Germany and the USA are indeed valid examples of the successful republican model, but equally the UK, Norway, Sweden etc are excellent representatives of constitutional monarchy.
No form of government, per se, possesses any automatically intrinsic merit. There are several monstrous monarchies in the Middle East and sub-Saharan Africa. Rotten republics? Take your pick!
One tip, however, if the country name is prefaced by ‘Democratic Republic of ......’ it’s usually a left-wing tyranny; if by ‘People’s Democratic Republic ......’ probably a left-wing tyranny with genocidal tendencies!
As for my alleged insulting of public service workers generally, that’s taking a rather giant, but typical, leap of illogic from my refusal to kneel uncritically at the sacred altar of the NHS and my disapproval of Labour’s fiscally-disastrous ballooning of the public sector.
Finally, conflating some baseless accusation that I’m not in favour of social mobility, with my Tory reluctance to countenance, with equanimity, the prospect of a President Prescott is stretching things a little far!
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