SOMETHING TO BRAGG ABOUT?

Last time I saw Billy Bragg he was in fine form at a rousing rally in support of Remploy workers at Labour Party Conference. So, something of a surprise to see this lifelong socialist not only meeting the Queen ( hey, it can happen to anyone) but defending the Monarchy as an institution in today's Daily Mail. Bragg's argument is basically that the Queen is a nice old girl (I'm sure she is) and that it would be OK to keep the Monarchy as some kind of symbolic figurehead as long as we stop nonsense like the State Opening of Parliament and abolish the House of Lords. He hasn't much time for Charles (who has) but says he doesn't want to be pigeonholed as some "stereotypical leftie" and even stopped Red Wedge coming out in favour of republicanism.Methinks he doth protest too much.

The Monarchy, and all it represents, should surely be anathema to anyone who believes in an egalitarian society. All that bowing and scraping, all that taxpayer's money funding lifestyles of incredible indulgence, all part of a class system which has oppressed the working-class for centuries. What it represents fostered hundreds of years of violence in Ireland, encouraged millions of young men to go to their deaths in World War 1, and frankly is something for which there is no place in a socialist society. I acept there are other issues which are maybe more to the forefront in the endless struggle for social justice. But writing apologias for the Queen in the most perniciously right-wing of the tabloids is not an action guaranteed to win more hearts and minds. Indeed, it only serves to give the Royals more cred. Not your finest hour, Billy.