Born to rule. Born to drool.

I'm old enough to know better: I really shouldn't allow myself to be goaded into anything but there are exceptions. There I was minding my own business, listening to the Omnibus edition of the Archers when a provocative e-mail pinged into my in-box. "Are you getting soft, Parsons?", paraphrasing what my correspondent DP said, "I was expecting a Republican rant about the Royal Birthday. Where is it?". Never one to resist a challenge or disappoint a loyal (?!) reader, here are some thoughts that, for the sake of my blood pressure, I was suppressing. Let the Republican Rant begin...

Let me make it clear that I have no personal animus to the Queen and think that she does a very good job... at being Queen. And, as I would with anyone reaching the age of 90, I wish her well. The problem I, and other Republicans, have is with the institution and not with the individual.

The existence of the monarchy at its top is what justifies the entire class system and which allows elitists to imagine that they have an entitlement to rule over us. We have the etonianocracy of Cameron and Johnson because of the monarchy. It’s the monarchy which provides the justification for the democratic obscenity which is the House of Lords. There would be no justification for appointees who have their posts for life if it were not for the existence of an unelected head of state who has their post for life. The monarchy symbolises and reminds us that the UK is founded upon the privilege of the few and the entitlement of the rich. This is a country in which unfairness is a foundation of the constitution. This is a country where we indulge in ecstatic sycophancy at the drop of a Union Jack hat, wave a flag and coo "isn't it marvellous". Well it’s not marvellous, and the sooner we can put an end to this circus the better. What would be marvellous would be to live in a country where we’re all equal and where we don’t have an upper class that’s born to rule and a media that’s born to drool.

Rant over. Good enough for you, DP?