Well, I hated the coronation…

[TheColourofspring]

I can see I am in the minority on here but I found yesterday to be distasteful on a gigantic scale. To watch the most privileged people travel in gold coaches & be decorated with diamonds and gold that is priceless in the face of millions of people struggling to eat/heat their homes just feels so wrong.

Our primary school has just opened a food bank. There are kids & families in crisis- children coming into school hungry & smelly as families can’t afford to wash clothes (I am not joking) - living in Dickensian conditions. Some of the teaching staff use the foodbank.

Yesterday was a display of obscene wealth. The royals didn’t even pay for it- we did. How can we find money for that absolute nonsense yet we can’t find money for large swathes of the population to feed themselves.

While Charles was sitting there in his gold costume holding these priceless items, plenty of families weren’t eating. It made me really angry.

I am tired of all the arguments for a royal family- how somehow these displays are quaint. Yesterday was an obscene display of wealth, inherited privilege and everything that’s wrong with this country. Seems a conversation about the royals is long overdue.

That's heartening to read that anti monarchists are not in the minority.

@Dibblydoodahdah no I am not on either point.

Nonsense.

There were plenty of explanations yesterday of the cost of bank holidays.

Estimates range from £836m (PwC) and £2.9bn from a think tank.

The last few extra bank hols certainly stalled the economy.

I'm with you OP. Yesterday was a disgusting display of inherited and embedded inequality. Let billionaires have their party but don't ask us to pay for it.

It’s unquantifiable.

YANBU and I think the 'minority' you're in is actually rather large

Actually the coach wasn't a present from Australia. An Australian conservative Federal Govt put 250,000 dollars towards it and the arguments that went on in Parliament about it were legendary. No more money was given. It was too unpopular.

It's no argument for the coronation being a budget affair, nor is it an argument for Australian support for a continued British Monarch as HoS in Australia.

So they’re using food banks because they can’t budget then.

@Theluggage15 you have no idea and your comment is vile frankly

@TheColourofspring you’re not going to
explain either point?!!! Is that because you can’t?!

I don’t want rhetoric, I want hard facts.

Because we wouldn’t want Boris or Truss alone representing the country. And heads of state can be sent off to events the PM doesn’t have time for.

The coronation didn’t make anyone poorer nor did it make any difference to inequality. People spouting some out of student communist society Rubbish need to grow up.

practically the king (as he said) serves us. We have a democracy with a prime minister and a king. The king effectively represents the country and has no actual political power. The core royals do a great job of being non political heads of state imo. They’re our servants. In a way I feel for them - they live in gilded cages for our amusement.

given the nick of our politicians I can’t imagine any of them doing such a good job as an elected president as the late queen and now the king do. Changing our constitution would be make no difference to inequality in Britain. None at all. Plenty of republics are more unequal than Britain.

@Dibblydoodahdah I have given reasons why I want a republic.
https://www.republic.org.uk/abolishing_the_monarchy

No, the actual inauguration costs between US$75m and US$100 million. Obama’s cost US$170m.

The election campaigns cost further hundreds of millions of dollars which would equate to the head if government part. Fortunately our heads of government changes aren’t costly after the last year

Oh crikey. I’m fairly neutral about the Royals but surely you can see that people don’t have equal opportunities to acquire wealth?

That questioning national spending on the Royal Family isn’t about wanting that wealth for yourself?

And the King didn’t exactly ‘make that happen for himself’, did he?!

Teachers certainly earn enough to feed themselves- if they are using a foodbank it's because they are lazy, feckless, or lacking in morals.

The government doesn't owe anyone a living- there are always going to be poor people who fail to support themselves in society, getting rid of the Monarchy and it's traditions wouldn't help them- in fact, most of their work is in aid of the very charities and organisations that provide services for poor and disadvantaged people.

Communism doesn't work.

@TheColourofspring as I said, rhetoric. Where is the explanation as to how this will end child poverty?

@Theluggage15 😕glad you’re not in charge of the benefits system - lots of understanding there…

I know what teachers are paid and they shouldn’t be using food banks on their salaries. You sound ridiculous.

Police overtime, armed forces pay, publicans and hospitality staff, the people selling cardboard crowns and rain ponchos on street corners, the farriers putting shoes on all the military and police horses, the TV outside broadcast teams on overtime or working extra freelance shifts, the caterers at the outdoor screenings, the company who supply portaloos and the staff who deliver them, the street sweepers on overtime, etc etc that's how it benefits ordinary people.

We were very low key about it all but still spent money that wouldn't normally be spent in the nice independent bakery so we could have a nice lunch with it on the TV.

My son in law works in a large supermarket and said that by midday yesterday the shelves had almost been stripped bare. They'd had deliveries all week of more than double the normal stock of picnic/buffet/party type foods as usual as well as regular items. And it's certainly not an affluent town by any standard.

But according to the OP, plenty of families weren't eating

Yes of course it does. People lack the ability to follow a basic step

What about a teacher in a domestic abuse situation who has to leave with children and can’t afford the cost of renting… have you seen how expensive rent is - where I live no way a single parent could afford the prices.. you don’t know people circumstances. You sound ridiculous

Like the royals do now you mean - y'know trade delegations and state visits.

Why is it vile? Serious question. A newly qualified teacher is on £28k (more in London). Assuming they have one child in childcare they're entitled to £ 1270.62 of UC to help towards rent, childcare etc. It'd be just over £1800 take home pay on that wage after tax, take say £100 off for student loan and that's £3k a month or round about. Also CMS payments aren't taken into calculations so could be a few hundred more. They won't be living in luxury and yes wages should unquestionably be higher, but what would you deem a reasonable amount?

A single person living alone without children wouldn't get any top ups though in fairness.

Camilla did that for me in spades. OW wins the lottery.