In Chris Titley's absence, the column this week has been written by Stephen Lewis...

The best Sophie quote came from some left-wing think-tank whiz-kid interviewed by Jon Snow on Channel 4 News. I don't know who he was and care less - he looked as if he was still wet behind the ears, as most of these thrusting young think-tank types do (or could it just be that I'm getting older? Naah).

If ever we had wanted proof that the aristocracy was made up of Tory sympathisers of limited intelligence, here it was, he said. Or words to that effect.

He said it with a smarmy kind of juvenile sneer, which was pretty unpleasant - but I guffawed anyway, because it chimed neatly with all my own prejudices. Isn't that a tautology? I crowed to myself. I thought all Tory sympathisers were of limited intelligence?

Now I know this isn't actually true and is, in fact, an example of exactly the kind of cheap jibe I'd expect a Tory politician to make about a Labour sympathiser. But I didn't care. The whole Sophie affair had filled me with vindictive glee and I was out for blood.

I'm not, in case you were wondering, a great supporter of the royals - or any of those who hang on to their coat-tails. I dream of living in a republic, where we can all hold our heads high and the urge to tug our forelock or doff our cap when we hear those twangy upper-class vowels becomes a thing of the past.

Surely, I thought, devouring the Sunday papers, relishing every last damning scrap of evidence about how smug, vain, self-serving and downright stupid this latest minor addition to the House of Windsor is - surely this must mark the beginning of the end? Surely now we'll see the light? Sophie thinks Blair behaves like a president?

Fine! At least he's elected.

My glee didn't last long. Because on the same edition of the Channel 4 News on which the smarmy young left-winger made his snide comment about Tories and limited intelligence there was a report which dealt my republican dreams a crushing blow.

More than 70 per cent of Britons still want to see the monarchy retained, the latest survey of the British people reveals. That means fewer than three in every ten people is ready to abolish the royals - and the figure hasn't changed for more than ten years, despite everything the Windsors have done to try to make us change out minds.

Camillagate, the Squidgy tapes, the vicious ostracising of Diana and Fergie, the monumental arrogance of expecting the British public to pay for the restoration of Windsor Castle - none of these appear to have dented our loyalty to these royals one iota.

I'm not ready to give up yet. One day soon I still hope we'll somehow pluck up the courage to throw off the shackles, and get rid of lords and royal family both.

And yet I must admit to feeling a kind of awe, even so. Not for the royals - I wouldn't give them the time of day. But for the British people. To stay loyal despite everything The Firm have done to show their contempt for us - that, surely, requires a touch of greatness?

You have got to admire Robert Ogier. He's the traffic warden so dedicated to his job he even issued a ticket to the poor Evening Press reporter sent to interview him. Robert's got the largest patch in Britain to patrol, apparently - a staggering 500 square miles.

To cover such a large area he will need every scrap of enthusiasm he can muster.

I would like to think his time will be so thinly stretched that next time I visit Malton or Hutton-le-Hole he will be nowhere to be seen.

Somehow, though, I suspect he may just surprise me.