Right royal celebration

The Greco–Roman egghead view was that events do not occur at random according to the whims of the Gods, but according to a repetitive cycle. Just as life followed birth and death followed decline, monarchy decayed into tyranny, leading to aristocracy, which decayed into oligarchy, which led in turn to selective democracy, followed by anarchy and finally back to monarchy. However one looks at it, it all begins and ends with monarchy, a very good thing as far as I’m concerned. When I was young and dumb, I flirted with republicanism, but then a very wise Greco–German proved to me that the worst king is better than the best president, at least in the highly politicised climate of the Olive Republic.

Just look at the tranquillity of the political situation in Scandinavian countries, in Holland, Belgium (a split-in-half nation) and right here in merry old England. Even Gordon Brown saw this and retired with his dignity intact.