> > The point is thus: With a monarchy (and by that I mean a real monarchy with actual powers, not the figureheads we have at the moment) you have people trained from birth to rule the country, and who know that if they do a bad job, they get their heads cut off. I would far rather see that than have horrible little oiks like Tony Blair voted in because the look good on TV and knowing that if the destroy the country they can get a £100,000 a year directorship of BP.

You've hit on a good idea there. An instrumental factor in whether somebody's a good leader is whether or not the general public is allowed to lynch them and chop their head off if they get it wrong. OK, I've changed my mind. Let's keep the current system, but raise the stakes for failure. A 21st century democracy tempered with those good old 13th century consequences, that's what we need.

Brunnen-"even I'm not sure whether I'm being serious or not"G