It wasn't Nanky Poo, Diane; it was Ko-Ko. And the Little Maids hadn't skipped school; they had grown up and left, "Freed from a genius tutelary"...

I was being a wee bit tongue in cheek, I admit, Nigel — just felt like getting that Gilbert quote in as having at least some relevance, in that the tone of you absolute all-out denunciators does occasionally verge on Gilbert's 'idiots' in the song. But I do take your point in general — tho I don't agree with all the things you choose to denounce: neither Empire nor Royalty, it seems to me, has always been the sort of unmitigated disaster you appear to rubricate.

Michael