Professor, to sheet the blame for the current unrest in France on the fact they are a republic, is about as sensible as blaming the UK "race riots" of the seventies and eighties on the fact that Britain is a monarchy.

Carrying your logic through, I commend to you Kim Jong Il's kindly rule - when did you last hear of North Korean cities ablaze with burning cars?

Do you honestly think....

... no, that would be too much to ask.

Oh David, still at it I see. Oz would be fine with a President and she would do as well as our present pack of dysfunctional royals.
Dear David the present Queen E2 of England, E1 every where else only pushes Britain she is their queen she has nought to do with Oz as I understand it. Her twiity son travels for and promotes Britain only not any other Commonwealth country - only England.
The country that the Queen is head of will not allow us Commonwealth nations the same entry to Britain as it does to its former enemies.
Kingdoms in the past generated civil wars and or tyranical rulers.
Viva the Republic of Oz.
David please go back to sleep or get a job. numbat

correct me if im wrong, but i dont remmember the queen doing very much around the time of the race riots in birmingham. if riots are going to be your terms of reference for a discussion of the merits of a monarchy, which pericles has allready pointed out as deeply flawed. could it be because she is irrelevant (in a practical sense) in her own country?

well flinty, if there is one thing i know, its that im younger than you, it wont be too long before the generations with a tangible memory of the monarchy in this country will be dirt in the ground.

I am not, by nature, a Monarchist but consistently vote that way out of a very deep and well justified distrust of the people who favour a republic. So even if the proposal had merit on the face of it, there is absolutely zero room for doubt that the eventual outcome would be a complete stuff up. The variance between the high minded rhetoric and the squalid reality is so great that these people can never be trusted with any sort of reform. Any movement that can combine the likes of Turnbull and Beattie at the one table would have to be suss.

A pretty little critque of what's happening in France, but so what? You've not drawn one parallel between their country and ours

David Flint has glossed over the major issue i.e. that of a politically correct poorly planned immigration programme.We a certain extent we have done the same.It is simmering below the surface here and will explode here if we don't take heed.

As I've stated before,had the French invited the Chinese in as immigrants,they would be now complaining about the the Chinese controlling all their businesses.

Neither the US or the UK are shining examples of racial and religious harmony.Holland and many other Eurpoean countries have similar problems.The French were just too nice and naive.The chasm between the North African and French cultures was just too great.They gave them heaps of social security but it just wasn't enough.

It had nothing to do with industrial relations,the Chinese make a lie of this statement in every country that they settle.

If people really want work in western cultures,they will find it,but it is much easier to take social security and use the time to get involved in criminal activity.

We just cannot take people from war torn poverty and depravity without education and expect them to intergrate.

Let's dispense with all the excuses and look at the hard core reality.