Today is Queen's Birthday - an event that means nothing to most New Zealanders, except as the last public holiday before the long, dark winter. It doesn't mean much to our government either - apart from the annual honours list (this year with extra feudalism!), there is no official celebration. No local government is marking the "occasion" either - but several have organised official celebrations for the homegrown matariki.
It's yet another sign of the total irrelevance of the monarchy to modern New Zealand - and another argument to get rid of it. They don't care about us, we don't care about them - so why bother to pretend anymore? If this was a marriage, it would be long over and the parties gone their separate ways.
It's time to ditch the Queen and replace them with a head of state who is truly of this country, rather than distant foreigner. And while we're at it, we can replace this holiday that no-one cares about with one that people do.
