Jan 30: republic day

We are the only mass media outlet in Britain campaigning for Jan 30 to be celebrated as the day Britain became a republic, or at least a Commonwealth. No-one else mentions that on this day, King Charles I of England was executed.

We will celebrate it with some photos of Freemantle Square, site of one of the city's Civil War forts.

First, looking to Purdown in the distance.

Nearby a terrace of houses, their road taken from commuters, bicycles proudly placed up on the veranda's by the smug victors in this campaign to make the city friendly to their abhorrent lifestyle.

Also nearby -and this is most odd- the Union Jack of the "unionist quarter" is now flying the Scottish Flag.

A leftover from Burns Night, perhaps?

Whatever the details, the fact is that Bristol started off on Cromwell's side, the city fell and was occupied by the royalists, who eventually surrendered and tried to escape to Wales. England became a Commonwealth -one of the first states in enlightenment-era Europe to decide that royalty was something we could do without.

There's a probably lesson there, if only we could think of it.

But for now, the next person you greet today, say "Happy Republic Day!". We can start a new tradition.