Tony Blair

So this week the esteemed Prime Minister of Britain pops into our little land to say a polite hello and thank us for our help in the war.

No not the recent and ongoing wars in Iraq or Afghanistan, but the Second World War - cheers mate it was nothing we sighed...

It turns out this is only the third time ever a British Prime Minister has ever bothered to grace our shores, not bad I guess for a former colony and we shouldn't complain… for that would be impolite.

Yet, it seems every time an Australian opens a suitcase a official delegation from Britain is there to officiate the event yet here we just get the occasional royal visit, usually coinciding with some rugby game.

I'm not a republican - that is I don't and haven't supported the notion of New Zealand severing the last formal ties with our 'motherland' to become a republic, for I like the historical and sentimental attachment to our former masters.

I like the quaintness of being part of something that no longer exists, the British Empire and all that red that used to cover the globe. I even quite like the whole royal family action – as amusing as this is more often than not.

Now after Tony's whistle stop visit I feel insulted and for the sheer knee jerk reaction that this sense of bitterness engenders in me I think, fuck ya, lets become a republic.

Bloody poms...