Royal Wedding will cost ?5 Billion

[number 6]

Couldnt have put it better myself,well said. Nothing more annoying or sad than thicko working class people out waving flags for a family who couldn't give a flying fuck about them.

[Phil Phee]

What shocking profligacy. AND I also suspect the guests were denied tofu and organically sourced, carbon - neutral, rice and pulses in favour of the rotting flesh of dead animals too. Heartless rotters.

[RoddersUK]

So fucking what ?

[Phil Phee]

Irony Rodders! I was just railing against Turan's tiresome pinko propoganda whilst tucking into a Double Whopper.

[David Johnson]

Hi
I disagree with pretty much everything in your post.

First of all, your reference from the Daily Mail that the royal wedding will cost the economy some 5bn. Best not to rely too heavily on the Daily Mail to support your arguments. They occasionally get things wrong.

If you had read the article you reference you would have come across the following paragraph.
"While a spokesman for the CBI welcomed the declaration of a bank holiday, the organisation has calculated previously that such breaks cost the economy ?6 billion in lost productivity and overtime payments. For some businesses, however, the holiday is expected to bring extra cash through the tills, with the wedding expected to claw back up to ?10 billion in extra tourist revenues and sales of memorabilia.".

Secondly, the cost you reference is in terms of lost productivity etc. which comes with a bank holiday. I think it is true to say that Britain has less public holidays than the majority of European countries. In addition, many people do not get paid for bank holidays. If they are lucky enough to have a meaningful contract of employment it often states x amount of paid holidays including bank holidays.

If you like I will write a Daily Mail headline for Xmas for you.

"CBI states Christians cost the economy 6 billion with their Christmas Day celebration. "What a meaningless waste of time", the Atheist Society reported".

"For those of you with otherwise quite good principles and ideas who got sucked into the mushy slushy tabloid fairytale bullshit that was nothing more than an extravaganza of plutocratic elitism and wanton expense, shame on you for being hoodwinked into a truly feudal and trashy event. I hope the brainwashing wears off for the more intelligent of you. "

I will summarise. "Some of you lads who previously agreed with me on other topics, don't on this topic. I am a tad miffed and put it down to your all being brainwashed"

"Free speech was suspended in the vicinity of this vulgar specatacle and we had to endure Soviet-style TV for the whole day hosted by that obnoxious Huw Edwards of the state broadcaster the BBC."

Free speech suspended? Nonsense. If I do watch the television news it is on the BBC. I lost track of the number of times there were representatives of the group Republic being interviewed as part of debates on various BBC news programmes. On the wedding day itself, there was a BBC reporter at the Republic street party in London interviewing various attendees.

" ?30 million spent on a wedding is simply obscene"

I'm not sure where you get this figure from. However, the royal household paid for the abbey service, flowers, dresses, carriage procession, dinner, wedding breakfast etc. The rest of us paid for the 7 million security operation. Now you could argue that the royal household were paying money out of the civil list given to them by the state but if you compare ?30 million with the potential spinoffs from a reported 1 billion TV audience in terms of tourism, together with the tourism engendered by the day itself etc, it looks like a reasonable deal to me, if you are looking at it from a purely business perspective.

"The idea of issuing an invitation to a wedding is preposterous"

Really? I have had a number of invitations to weddings over the years. Mind, none of them have been for royal family weddings.

"It would hav been nice if a cross-section of our society had been invited,"

Clearly, William and Kate have had privileged lives so it probably wasn't surprising that they didnt invite too many people from Peckham Comprehensive. Setting aside the royal protocol of heads of state etc etc, they seemed to invite their friends and colleagues like pretty much everyone who is getting married does. William, for example, invited all his colleagues from the Search and Rescue helicopter team up in Anglesey where he works.

"this vulgar specatacle "

Personally, I didnt find anything particularly vulgar about this spectacle. Westminster Abbey is a beautiful building. I found nothing vulgar about the ceremony, the readings and the music accompanying it. I found nothing particularly vulgar about the wedding dress which seemed to me to display an astonishing level of craftsmanship which British crafts people can still provide. It was great to see the carriage that was built in 1902 being used, in the same way as I get a kick out of wandering round National Trust buildings which have been restored to their former glories.

As for the cheering and flag waving, I have no problem at saying I am very proud to be British. I am not a "little englander or a BNP sympathiser". I have had the advantage of a very good free comprehensive school education, a free National Health Service and I live in a country rich in history, beautiful buildings and landscape.

Enjoy your bank holiday.

Cheers
D

[jimslip]

A well articulated post, if you don't mind me saying! I would wager that the anti- royal lobby would be rather disheartened by your savaging! So, in the light of this, I have been so bold, as to post a little clip from the 1930's epic, "A Tale of Two Cities", that should cheer them up no end!!wink!

[Phil Phee]

Thanks David. Excellent retort with gravitas. Better yet, your dignified response denied Mr Turan his hoped for reaction of bile.

[David Johnson]

Thank you kindly, sirs.

Cheers
D

[Lizard]

What utter utter bollocks! (again)