Jim and everyone else is entitled to write a song even if some of us don't agree with its sentiments.

Also, we are all entitled to comment and disagree where we see fit. Whether or not this should be above or below "the line" here, I don't know? We're discussing a song though and it's sometimes difficult to separate everything between here and "General Discussions".

My view re the Royal Family, for what it's worth, is that a majority of people seem to want to retain The Monarchy and are obviously content to pay a proportion of their taxes towards this end. Many of them may be less happy with having to contribute to many other things including even things such as welfare, health, etc which we here would also consider to be very important. However, we live in a democracy and can make our views known in the ballot box providing that politicians give a lead. None of the major parties have been prepared to stand on a Republican "ticket" so far. They realise that such a move wouldn't get a lot of support.

As for who is paying for what, The Royal Family already have their own money and wealth. How they acquired it in the first place, of course, is also a contentious issue. However, what we pay for today is in terms of remuneration and expenses for duties they may perform and their security etc which is not the same thing as "keeping them" which is often implied. A subtle difference.