What I take offence at is the assumption, as exemplified by Keith A of Hartford, that the majority of British people are blithely in favour of the monarchy. If it's true, then small wonder, given the tumult of sycophantic reporting that rains (reigns?) down on us via the Mail, the Express and all the other bits of biased media. Tell you what lads. Turn off the shower, give us some honest reporting on the activities of this peculiar family, complete with costings, and then see whether a majority of the British public still favour a monarchy.

If the monarchy is such a capital asset in terms of tourism, then I would find that very difficult to believe. Earlier this year, Visit England published a list of the top 50 tourist attractions in England. There was not one single royal residence on it. And this for an institution, be it remembered, which costs a phenomenal amount of public money to maintain.

So there's no suggestion, never mind evidence, that removal of the monarchy would in any way endanger the tourist trade. In fact I can think of one way in which those royal residences could be turned into real money spinning tourist attractions. Get rid of the present occupants and open the buildings to members of the public. Then we can all go and have a look at where our money has been going all these centuries.