Imagine if the British people showed as much interest in trying to tackle the climate emergency and biodiversity loss and extinction as they do in keeping up with the latest Royal Family and celebrity soap operas and scandals.
Perhaps it is too much to hope that the ongoing circus around the so-called Royal Family marks the start of a nation questioning the anachronistic institutions and protocols it blindly accepts as parts of British life.
It could and should provide an opportunity to reform and modernise our constitution, governance and democracy so it better serves our society and its people .... and allow the parties to the conflict within a totally dysfunctional family to have their row in private where it should be held rather than being the focus of endless and sensationalist media coverage, some of it quite clearly racist and misogynistic.
The sensible alternative to the monarchy is a system with an elected head of state replacing the monarch together with an elected House of Commons and an elected House of Lords (assuming we want to retain a bicameral Parliament) and a simple written constitution clarifying where power lies and how the system can be changed.
To that, let's add electoral reform to ensure a fairer voting system, strengthened devolution to the constituent nations and decentralisation to the regions to create a federal state like Germany and Spain, a complete overhaul of the ethics and standards in public life to address what should be obvious failings bordering on corruption and illegality given the experience of Brexit, the Covid-19 pandemic and the extremely questionable governance on so many issues and the establishment of an independent press regulator to deal with complaints.
If we did all that, we could truly claim to be a legitimate modern democracy and actually focus on the future of our country and its people and our global partners as we face unprecedented challenges.
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