f4f3 | She Ain't No Human Bean, in which I rant.

Huge congratulations to The Independent newspaper, which, instead of the fawning portrait of Your Majesty which adorns most of our Free Press this morning led with this picture of King Gyanendra of Nepal, who is currently having his "subjects" gunned down in the streets.

It's not often that I'm embarrassed to be a citizen of the United Kingdom. I'm actually proud to be a Scot, and I think Britain has a history of exporting democracy and rationalism which, while far from unblemished (the Independent also had an excellent feature on The Black and Tans today) is also something to be proud of.

I am very strongly anti-monarchist, but, under the general principle that if you're unable or unwilling to change something it's rude to complain about it, I tend not to make a big thing about it. But since Betty is 80 today, I think it's worth going on record as saying that I will not be joining in the celebrations.

I find it, as I said, acutely embarrassing that we should be ruled by someone with no more right to the job than that her father had it before her. I find it embarrassing that we should be subject to this person, unelected and responsible to no one, and that we should pander to her and her squabbling brood as if they deserved our respect instead of our contempt. I don't think we should execute them, but I'd be a lot happier if they were pensioned off tommorrow. And by pensioned off, I mean put on a state pension, instead of the civil list.

The most charitable thing I can find to say about them all is that they never asked for the job, and the most realistic that they are a family of parasites kept in place by toadying, sniveling sycophants who have traded any self-respect they might have had for some ermine and the stink of patronage.

I hate the whole anachronistic institution, I feel demeaned to live in a country which is so superstitious, servile and spineless as to allow it, and I will hopefully live to see the day when the whole pack of them are turfed out of their London digs.