Viva la Republic (but not just yet)

Today marks the 60th anniversary of the Queen becoming our head of state. Only an idiot would claim she's not done a fantastic job. Even staunch republicans realise that it is pointless making the case for a different system, whilst she is on the throne. Any such arguments are reserved for what or who replaces her. What is the secret of the success of Queen Elizabeth? I suspect that it is the fact that she doesn't get involved with the day to day politics of the UK. As she has aged, so have we. How many of us remember a time when another monarch was on the throne?

The bizarre thing about the monarchy is that some of our best monarchs have been female, yet the rules conspire to keep them off the throne. Ask any Londoner to name six great monarchs, who will they say? I'd guess The Queen, Henry VIII, Victoria, Richard the Lionheart, Alfred the Great, Boudicca and King Harald. I once read that whilst we all know William the Conqueror, most of us don't consider him our King. Our Scottish friends may make a few different picks, but I'd envisage that Mary Queen of Scots would make the cut. Is it odd that even though women are so discriminated against by the system, three of the best known six are female? I don't think so. Whilst male monarchs have looked beyond our borders, my reading of history tells me that the female monarchs cared about the people who lived here.

A succession of kings sought victories in far flung places, to cement their place in history. As far as I'm aware, only Richard the Lionheart actually cemented his reputation for his achievementsabroad. I'm not saying this to validate his campaigns, but he was widely acclaimed as a military genius even by his opponents.

So what exactly has cemented the place in our affections for Elizabeth II. In short, I believe it is the fact that she is viewed as someone who just gets on with it. Whether she is meeting Richard Nixon or Nelson Mandela, she makes all of us feel that we have a leader who we could be proud of. She is non divisive and calm. She is perceived as being the Queen of the Commonwealth. This means she unites us all. The issue for me is whether Prince Charles will carry the same affection. Whilst the Queen seems to naturally exude authority, without seeming oppressive, what will we make of Charles?

As a Republican, I would like to see an elected head of State. I would not seek to replace the Queen in her lifetime. I suspect she is far more loved and better qualified than anyone else. What about when Charles has to replace her? I'd advocate a referendum. If the people of Britain vote for Charles, then that is the end of the issue. If they don't, we can set up a Royal Commission to look at the question. Some people have said "but the Monarch is the head of the Commonwealth". Many commonwealth countries have a head of state. Why is that such an issue for us?

My readings of the history books tell me that there have been as many bad monarchs as good ones. We have a good one at the moment, so there is no necessity to change the system. We just need to consider the fact that things change. In a mature democracy, that is something all of us should face up to and if that means choosing our head of state in future by a democratic process, is there really any logical argument against it.

Spying on the naked guy

Lets do a bit of nostalgia. Lets look back on those heady days of last month when it snowed and the borough ground to a halt. I asked my kids whether they remembered it. They grinned. What was the best bit, I asked Matthew, my 8 year old. "The snowball fight with Max (his cousin) and the naked guy". I asked Lizzie 11, the same question. I got the same answer. We had a great snowball fight in the middle of Mill Hill Broadway. I'd hitched our boxer dog to our sledge and she'd towed the kids to the park and back, after tackling Mill Hill's most prized black ski run. Then we'd gone to Leyla's Turkish restaurant for a long and boozy lunch. During the course of lunch, one of the kids noticed a naked guy in the flats above Nat West dropping snowballs on unsuspecting shoppers. This provided much entertainment, especially when his girlfriend joined in the fun. I suspect that they were as unaware of the amusement they were providing us, as the shoppers were of the source of the snowballs. In case you were wondering, the height of the window preserved his modesty.

For us, we turned it into a truly memorable family day. The fact that nothing was moving, most of the shops were shut and all the kids were off school only added to the fun. So why do I mention it. Well if you read the latest edition of Barnet First, the councils magazine, it seems that the council kept everything running like clockwork?

It reminds me of the Soviet newspaper "Pravda" in the days of Breshnev. My wife studied Russian at Uni and we travelled a fair few times to the USSR before it collapsed. One of our friends ran a pirate radio station in Minsk. Even playing a bit of decent music was subversive then. I invited Igor over to the UK. When he arrived, I took him down to Budgens in Mill Hill Broadway. As we walked around he pronounced "It's so depressing". I replied "It's not that bad". He wasn't referring to the state of the shop. He was commenting on the fact that the shelves were full. It was becoming clear to him that the picture of the west painted by Pravda (which means Truth in Russian) was anything but honest.

I was at a meeting of the Barnet Community Action group last night. One of the subjects we discussed was future shape. Apparently the seventh principle is democratic accountability. This would be easy to achieve. Give the people of Barnet a referendum on whether they want full scale privatisation of the council. If they won, they'd have a mandate and us malcontents would have to shut up! Trouble is, if they can't even tell the truth about a bit of snow, that everyone with eyes could see, what hope is there for an honest and open debate.