If you’re struggling to make ends meet (yet another Jubilee thread- sorry).

[MerryLeg]

Full disclosure- I’m not British and don’t live in the UK so wasn’t interested in seeking out a way to watch the full Jubilee celebrations, but I did catch some clips online, read about it in online papers, and saw some coverage on the news.

Overall, I don’t have particularly strong feelings towards the British royal family (as an institution, some individuals such as Andrew are a different story). The concept of a monarchy is foreign to me, so I don’t take too much notice of the gossip or drama.

I saw some clips from the concert and the drone show was really cool. The bit I saw showed a corgi in a crown. Very cute, but I can only imagine the cost. I also read on here about children being given a commemorative book (think one thread mentioned that coating £12m?). Add everything in, and the government has spent a huge amount of money.

There'll be arguments for and against. People will say that the monarchy brings in a lot of tourist income- I’ve been to London plenty of times and have gone to Buckingham Palace etc, but then again, I’ve also been to Versailles and Schönbrunn and neither France nor Austria have a monarchy now, but still benefit from the tourism aspect.

What really hit me during the clips I was watching was the sheer amount being spent. When I was watching the drone corgi, I was enamored with it, but then thought about how I’d feel if I was watching in a cold house while struggling to pay my gas or electric bill, relying on food banks to feed my children, or stuck in a B&B while waiting on housing.

Or does an event like this lift the mood so much, that people see it as a mental/wellbeing boost?

I'm not saying that people who are struggling financially are some form of Pando hive-mind, but wanted to ask-

If you’re struggling to make ends meet, were you happy to see so much spent on the Jubilee celebrations?

Yep this kind of thing is overlooked by many. I wonder how many £s were put into businesses as a result of the jubilee for every £ the government spent. It seems quite a few from the figures the media have been saying.

Much of the Jubilee was paid for by donations from big companies or freebies. Cost to gov £22million to celebrate 7- years of HM The Queen as monarch. But surely you know we are a country who has given over £400,000,000,000 (that's £400 billion) of public money directly to rich friends and families of our government in the last 2 1/2 years - for faulty PPE that ended up in landfill, hopeless test and trace programmes, furlough pay and now to heat their many homes- apparently many of us don't see that as an issue.

I just don't get what people are celebrating. We are on the verge of widespread famine, climate disaster, economic collapse. Wouldn't it be better to be seriously working together to salvage our world, all of us making an effort. Sadly I think people would rather put their heads in the sand and resent anyone pointing out the absurdity of our times.

The weekend for me personally cost very little. Our local council usually runs half term family activities so it was similar but a bit bigger. I think we spent £6 on drinks in the village hall. It was fab and I actually was fairly disinterested but by the Sunday I was enjoying it with the dc and dh.

The arts took a big hit in the pandemic as they’re not seen as key workers but it’s made me realise that while inessential to life, life is a better place with live music and entertainment so I’m happy with the investment that was enjoyed all round the world.

Have you ever been to Anfield in Liverpool and seen the poverty on the doorstep? Those fans pay so much to support their team - that’s something I find uncomfortable. Tickets to see baseball in Chicago was $6 a ticket so completely affordable for most families. I’d like football to be like that.

So everyone needs to marinate and despair in misery? Are people allowed to celebrate anything?

What could we have all done last weekend that would tackle famine, climate change and economic collapse?

And no the royal family are not the current biggest creators of inequality.

Whether they're the biggest creators of inequality is irrelevant. The RF represents rule by the unelected few, undemocratic rituals, stolen wealth, unchecked soft powers, division and servility and is inherently designed and intended to perpetuate those things, so it needs abolishing and replacing with a system built-by-design to tip the balance towards fairness and equality.

I hope you cancel all your family birthdays and Christmas every year then until famine, climate disaster and economic collapse are safely averted. The idea that we can’t have one measly celebration of a platinum jubilee the first ever in our nations 2,000 year history because of fear of doomsday just sounds like something a cult leader would say.

Again, from the article in The Times;

"Hospitality is set for a 22 per cent jump in trade, according to research by UKHospitality and three other trade bodies. Pubs and restaurants are forecast to earn about £400 million more than they would during a normal Thursday to Sunday. More than 90 million pints are expected to be drunk over the four days."

Hopefully business' that really need this type of boost did enjoy a much needed injection of revenue from the celebrations.

But all of this hand wringing seems to be around the waste of money.

surely in a circular economy, given that nearly all of it appears to be U.K. based spend, this isn’t a waste? Many local businesses did well, even bigger U.K. businesses or global ones paid U.K. employees to work on the jubilee, the light show was done by the U.K. abased company SkyMagic.

the money hasn’t disappeared into the ether/the oligarchs, on the whole it appears to have been fed back to the U.K. economy.

I enjoyed the weekend. I'd be just as skint as I am now without it so the cost of it doesn't bother me.

I just don't get what people are celebrating. We are on the verge of widespread famine, climate disaster, economic collapse. Wouldn't it be better to be seriously working together to salvage our world, all of us making an effort. Sadly I think people would rather put their heads in the sand and resent anyone pointing out the absurdity of our times.

what’s the alternative? Sit miserably pondering the future? What a bizarre approach to life. They used it as a platform to talk about climate change but I assume you missed that?

to tip the balance towards fairness and equality

Never going to happen. Haven’t you read Animal Farm?

That’s not what the RF represents for me. Besides, they havent ruled anything in centuries. Supreme sovereign power has been in the hands of Parliament since 1707…as has responsibility for all the colonialism, stolen wealth, etc etc. which came afterwards.

I wouldn't describe myself as a monarchist, I'd be quite happy to see it go after the Queen.
I didn't watch all the the programmes but what I saw of the projections and drones was quite spectacular.

There is more than one way to think about the money that was spent - it didnt just go into a bottomless pit.

A lot of UK businesses will have done very well out of these 4 days. It will have created jobs, some casual and short term, but may well have secured the immediate future of many other businesses.

There were people from all over the world there so yes it will have boosted tourism.

The RF represents rule by the unelected few, undemocratic rituals, stolen wealth, unchecked soft powers, division and servility and is inherently designed and intended to perpetuate those things, so it needs abolishing and replacing with a system built-by-design to tip the balance towards fairness and equality.

whereas the elected mps represent equality, justice and morality?!

@BenCoopersSupportWren oh do shut up

I'm in the 'of all the ways the governments wastes money, the Jubilee wasn't a concern of mine' camp even with all my other daily living concerns. I got little out of it really, the beacon lighting was pretty was about it and I was a bit annoyed by my councillors seemed to use it all for personal promotion to put up election signs at the local Jubilee event (I wanted to tell them that the election was last month and - as much as they might like - they can't be voted monarch), but I don't feel strongly on Jubilee as a whole in any way.

I'm also in the 'it's a bit annoying when people point fingers at the perceived failures of others when they're ignoring the shite on their own doorstep' camp, which yeah the OP has come across as a bit, even more with the ridiculous comparisons which put Jubilee and the Oscars - both displays of power for consumption - alongside mass death and destruction which the media and a lot of people also treat as displays for consumption. We could look at most country spending on pageantry and displays and dissect them as we wish and that could be an interesting conversation, but that's rarely how these work.

I'm American and British, now living in England, and it's really frustrating when I get it in the ear from other Brits about how terrible something is Stateside when they know too little about the British equivalent to discuss it. Deaths by police or in state custody, immigration detention centres, political corruption and the power of corporations (the main barrier to dealing with US school shootings among other things in many places), yeah, it's great having knowledge and interests in other countries, but I think if those things don't have you reflecting on what's going on in your own area and what's in your locus of control, that's more gawking than actually caring. Feel free to gawk, that's how media works - triggering a rollercoaster of emotional responses that lead no where but attention for them, but know the difference and don't expect struggling people to view those type of remarks as meaningful interest or caring.

Not a monarchist. I was working - l run a museum gift shop. Tons of overtime, took loads of money and managed to shift all the union jack tat that's been hanging around since Brexit. I'd call it a win.

It wouldn’t touch the sides. And, as a lot of it was donated by private companies, it wouldn’t be available to be used in that way either.

Sorry, I think the whole thing is madness. Fiddling while Rome burns. I once told someone that having a swimming pool was bad for the environment. She replied she had no intention of giving up her lifestyle just to save children and the planet. Hilarious. Don't give up your parties then, but don't be upset because some of us think it's bizarre.

That’s not what the RF represents for me. Besides, they havent ruled anything in centuries. Supreme sovereign power has been in the hands of Parliament since 1707…as has responsibility for all the colonialism, stolen wealth, etc etc. which came afterwards.

It wasn't a personal assessment of what they represent. It's what they actually represent.

The stolen wealth certainly did not come afterwards, the current Duchy of Cornwall scam is based on a landgrab dating back to 1337.

Duchy of Cornwall website "The Duchy was created in 1337 by Edward III for his son and heir, Prince Edward. A charter ruled that each future Duke of Cornwall would be the eldest surviving son of the Monarch and the heir to the throne.
The estate and its operations have evolved in line with the views and ambitions of each Duke of Cornwall, but the charter created a clear set of rules that are still observed today."

Soft powers exist whether or not monarchists deny them; they are unseen and thus toxic to our already distorted democracy. Colonialism dates back to the 16th century, and 1707 is not a cut-off date after which the monarchs all grew halos and the politicians became fork-tailed devils.

Unfortunately at a cost of £6billion per year for a £20pw UC uplift, I don't think the cost of the Jubilee would have met even one payment for claimants.

I disagree, I think society IS responsible for kids in the new generation. It is not a kid's fault if they are born into a poor family or a poor area. Every kid should have a reasonable standard of living, education and health care.