Why is it a dumb comment? We have a monarch (complete with dozens of hangers-on) AND we have a bunch of politicos who need entourages, etc. And did you see that photo in the Guardian a week or two back of the vast royal banquet in honour of the Emir/Sultan/Sheikh of Somewhere-or-Other? Bet that lot didn't arrive in a beaten-up Morris Marina guarded by a watchful London bobby! OR bring in the tourist quid!