AT THE RISK OF RUINING MY RELATIONship with The Critic, I quite like the Republic pressure group. These anti-monarchy campaigners are easy to mock, of course, and not merely because they typify the self-righteous soul of retirement liberalism.
After all, despite their antics, the Windsors can still muster the support of comfortably more than half their subjects, not much less than 20 years ago. And though young Britons are increasingly sceptical of monarchy, republican prospects still feel bleak. In a country where building 80 miles of railway becomes too radical a proposition, is a wholesale constitutional revolution really so likely?
But on Republic goes, shouting slogans and waving placards. To me, that doggedness feels admirable, as does their refreshingly unsentimental disdain for ermine and crowns. And if, to paraphrase C.S.…
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The Critic (Digital) - 1 Issue, July 2024