Sue Townsend gave us one of the best characters of modern times - Adrian Mole a monitor of the twists and turns of Thatcher and Blair's Britain. This book is the second in a series imagining a Republican Britain. The first was 'The Queen and I'. The Royal Family have been coralled into a special compound full of the waifs and strays of society - ASBOs, morbidly obese, alleged paedophiles, professional fraudsters, etc. All supervised by the inevitable private security company. This is typical Sue Townsend satire. Clever enough, but not really as biting and funny as the Adrian Mole. Ms Townsend begins to sound bitter and slightly wayward in her barbs, and although the notion is clever it begins to tire, and as the Republican Prime Minister becomes more desperate to find ways of ensuring his election defeat after 13 years of government the ideas become less satirical than ludicrous. An easy read though, and there are one or two well aimed barbs that deserve a rating of 7/10
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