Not an English hater

I'm a republican, Keith Whitfield (Peninsula News February 16), but I don't hate the English. In fact, I am English.

Nor do I hate the royal family.

It's just that monarchy is ridiculous and embarrassing in the 21st century and we believe Australia should have an Australian head of state.

And most of the English people I speak to agree.

Yes, it's easy to point to a few bad republics.

It's even easier to find bad monarchies, and it's worth noting that the majority of countries with high standards of living are republics.

On the same letters page, Beryl Robertson disingenuously asserts that the 1999 referendum result was "a resounding no".

I'm sure she knows that the question was deliberately phrased so that a "yes" result was not possible.

If the question had been (as it ought to have been) "Should Australia become a republic?" the answer would have been a resounding "yes".

Barry Riley, Umina