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.

Exactly- there is no particular political reason teachers should be using food banks - if they are it’s because of an issue with their own circumstances such as debt. Teachers are paid enough that they can buy food. to pretend they aren’t is just silly.

@TheColourofspring and to add to @JesusMaryAndJosephAndTheWeeDon list my husband’s small business benefited in a small way as he designed some Coronation window displays for his client in central London.

I don't think people resent the wealth of others that have actually earned it though.

Maybe we should cancel all public holidays then. And cut back annual leave. Got to think of the economy…

or maybe we should get a grip and enjoy the extra day off for the first coronation in 70 years

@Dibblydoodahdah maybe you can give us a costed breakdown of how the royals help the poor in this country.

i am arguing for structural change- trickle down economics is proven not to work - it’s been a disaster

It costs between 20-30p to put a wash on assuming you have an efficient machine. It does really add up, I'm now reducing how often clothes are washed.

Op I agree with you, I'm a nurse and it definitely sticks in the throat that obscene amounts of money can be spent on this but not to give us a pay increase.

Most South American countries have been fascist dictatorships at some point…..

Your South American friends didn’t know until yesterday that Britain had a royal family?
And what does that have to do with having or not having a democracy? The royal family doesn’t rule over you. Plus, many Brits seem to quite like them, see “the flag waving serfs”.

The 2020 presidential campaigns total cost was nearly $14 billion (around double that of 2016 elections). That’s where the money goes. The inauguration is small fry in comparison.

a lot of the finery yesterday belongs to us. It’s our stuff for our state occasion. IT’s historical (in most cases) artifacts that belong to the nation. Why be resentful of that? It’s daft.

The sheer amount of police at the palace was shocking (they were mostly behind the green wall) as a contrast when i got home i saw our local B and M bargains security guard chasing a shoplifter, the lack of interest of the police generally for those crimes is growing but yesterdays as they were all lining the mall it was probably a free for all.

The street sellers were generally chancers selling tat for a fiver a flag, it was pretty shite.

i just felt for the sheer amount of children and tourists as I doubt they had a great experience. it was very much an 'us' and 'them' situation if you were there, unless of course you were loopy enough to get there in the middle of the night or the week before,

i think lots were looking back to the Queens coronation which was a lot smore inclusive to the general public and the procession was a lot longer,

@TheColourofspring you mean structural change like Brexit, because that really helped the poor didn’t it?! Come on @TheColourofspring bring on the hard facts, you’re the one that believes that it’s going to end child poverty and make us a wonderfully equal place like France!

😂”lacking in morals”. Good one.

We saw South American friends last night who couldn’t believe it. “Where is your democracy” one said and I totally agreed.

South America - that bastion of democracy.

I'm fine with public holidays. Just correcting the nonsense that the Coronation contributed to the economy.

We could have an extra bank holiday, ideally in the gap in October/ November it do it without it costing £250m to put on a party for a billionaire just because of who his mum was.

No not like the royals. Someone intelligent, well educated and elected. And a lot cheaper. Particularly not like Prince Andrew who used to be a trade envoy.

thats a high price to pay for no benefit. The us president is a divisive figure.

our democracy is much more efficient and has a better balance of fairness and practicality imo. Leave it as it is.

I hated it too, it was grotesque.

@Dibblydoodahdah https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/king-charles-abolish-monarchy-inequality-b2169737.html

Makes a good case too

Omg, not going to debate the finer points but God save us from an elected symbolic President/Head of State - have you seen the bozos the great British public keep voting in for actual positions of responsibility?!! Or at the other extreme we’d end up with Katie Price or a Beckham🙈😆

I'm not talking about Trump. Regardless of who is POTUS it costs nearly 100M just for the inauguration alone.

And cost of living crisis has hit plenty of countries who don't have a Monarchy. Nothing that has been posted about Republics show how they will eliminate inequality.

Republics are just as inequal.

A longer route means more security detail and police, not sure how you're complaining about the huge police presence at the largest security operation this country has done whilst also complaining that the route was shorter. Not really sure what you mean about the 'experience', standing for hours in the rain and cold to perhaps catch a far away glimpse is pretty standard for stuff like this- if people thought they'd be getting a seat in the Abbey or whatever else and so didn't make an informed choice then that's...unfortunate And unlikely in equal measure.

didnt Charles go to Cambridge?

Nigel Farage perhaps?

There are daft people in South America same as everywhere else