BS: Royal Wedding Announcement

Subject: RE: BS: Royal Wedding Announcement
From: Lizzie Cornish 1
Date: 19 Nov 10 - 03:55 AM

So, does that mean that all 'old' people are not to be taken seriously?

Kinda insulting, don't you think?

Let alone ageist?

In fact, it's kinda the sort of thing that Prince Phil himself may well have said.....

Subject: RE: BS: Royal Wedding Announcement
From: GUEST,Patsy
Date: 19 Nov 10 - 03:49 AM

Luckily, Prince Philip is too old now to be taken too seriously by anyone. At least Kate is lucky to come into the family at a time when Prince Philip can do the least damage.

Subject: RE: BS: Royal Wedding Announcement
From: Richie Black (misused acct, bad email)
Date: 18 Nov 10 - 01:02 PM

I see the Queen and The Prince of Wales are reportedly willing to pay their share of what could be a £50 million bill for the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton. One estimate to the cost of the Royal wedding claimed the final figure could even be as high as £80 million due to the levels of security required.

It has been arranged that Miss Middleton is bringing her family to meet members of the Royal Family this weekend, what's the betting Prince Philip either insults them or takes a handful of Miss Middletons ass.

Subject: RE: BS: Royal Wedding Announcement
From: GUEST,Steamin' Willie
Date: 18 Nov 10 - 12:52 PM

yes, leveller, there isn't a single thing in that I disagree with.

Why does everybody equate doing well with financial things when applied to some but not others? Seriously, you assume I meant financially doing well, but then tell us about your Granddad.

I didn't mean financially, not in any way. I have been at each end of the spectrum and to be honest, I feel better about the community involvement I do for nowt than the personal situation which affects me and my close family only.

You did well for starters. I enjoy watching you perform, you bring pleasure to people and for that alone, didn't you do well... You have a social conscience, not that I agree with all you say, but I admire that you care. You are articulate enough to put your point across too. So again, didn't you do well.

I did well too. I get more of a buzz out of entertaining than sitting in my tower counting my fivers or whatever some pillock said on another thread. I also get a buzz out of working unpaid for a government body to ensure my retirement isn't too boring, (I stopped "working" at a young age, and am still younger than many here. I suppose I am guilty of bragging about being young too.......) My involvement with local community groups is taking more time up than ruddy working, but so what.

BUT by pointing out that not everybody wants revolution, not everybody who has a few bob is out to exploit the rest, I am naturally decried.

You know, by pointing out my situation, I know I am goading some and boring others. To those being bored, I apologise. To those I seem to be goading, good. Serves you right.

But leveller, don't wait till your '80s before sampling the delights of an inside toilet. It's not only too long but in these relatively affluent times, its totally unnecessary too.

Subject: RE: BS: Royal Wedding Announcement
From: Fred McCormick
Date: 18 Nov 10 - 12:42 PM

Sounds like he had more brains than the entire royal family together. Thereby lies the bone of my contention. Why should one individual spend their entire life being featherbedded because of an accident of birth, while somebody else pours their whole life into helping other people, and ends his days living in an alms house?

Leveller, I've known a lot of selfless people like your grandfather. They are infinitely more admirable than the entire titled aristocracy put together.

Subject: RE: BS: Royal Wedding Announcement
From: theleveller
Date: 18 Nov 10 - 12:21 PM

"I think it is about time many others said "Didn't I do well!" instead of pretending to be hard done by "

'Doing well' in life doesn't have to mean earning a lot of money. My grandfather left school at 12 but 'did well' in becoming one of the best-read and most knowledgeable people I have ever met. He worked his whole life as a farm labourer and railway clerk and never lived in a house with a bathroom or inside toilet until he moved into an alms house in his late 80s. But he 'did well' by serving in two world wars and then being a magistrate, chairman of the council, churchwarden, sitting on innumerable committees and spending every spare hour working for the community, largely unpaid. When my grandmother said to him that if he'd been paid for everything he did, they'd be rich, his answer was, "That's not why I do it".

But he did it bloody well! I admire him more than any self-made millionaire.

Subject: RE: BS: Royal Wedding Announcement
From: Zen
Date: 18 Nov 10 - 12:13 PM

So that makes 4 Brits in Boulogne. As I said.....

No... a massive undercounting! 5 Brits and an Irishman! (;>)

Subject: RE: BS: Royal Wedding Announcement
From: Dave MacKenzie
Date: 18 Nov 10 - 11:54 AM

So that makes 4 Brits in Boulogne. As I said......

Subject: RE: BS: Royal Wedding Announcement
From: mandotim
Date: 18 Nov 10 - 11:34 AM

Pax indeed Michael!
Best wishes
Tim

Subject: RE: BS: Royal Wedding Announcement
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 18 Nov 10 - 10:39 AM

There seems to be a very odd definition of "middle class" if this young lady and her family are included. They may not be aristocrats - but then nor is the post-Stuart British Royal Family really.

Subject: RE: BS: Royal Wedding Announcement
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 18 Nov 10 - 10:35 AM

Sorry, Tim. Not always easy to gauge the precise level of vehemence appropriate to these contentiously-toned threads. I appear to have misjudged and come over to you as offensive and over-truculent ~~ by no means my intention.

Pax!

~Michael~

Subject: RE: BS: Royal Wedding Announcement
From: Stu
Date: 18 Nov 10 - 10:30 AM

" doom mongering whinging crap from people who are clever enough to have grasped opportunity when it presented itself"

Here's a shocking fact: not everyone gets presented with opportunities like that. It might be difficult to believe but some people are genuinely disadvantaged due to the demographic they belong too.

Congratulations on being a success, as a small businessman I understand the hard work you have to put into working for yourself. However, if it robs you of your humility and compassion then perhaps success is too great a price to pay.


"But also the point that they don't usually have to pay for security to the extent that will be necessary here."

So we should pay for it? It's OK for us to pay for the weddings of multi-millionaires? The Queen is worth £290,000,000, and she doesn't have the grace in these difficult times to stump up the cost of her grandson's wedding security?

Shame on her and her family if they duck their responsibility. I feel so sorry for people who want to have British citizenship having to swear an oath of loyalty to her; I certainly wouldn't.

Subject: RE: BS: Royal Wedding Announcement
From: GUEST,Steamin' Willie
Date: 18 Nov 10 - 09:36 AM

My point, as ever, is that many on recent threads are not in the position they moan about, which I find rather patronising for those who are. So yes, Mandotim, I am taking that into account. I also am not looking for people to do a Brucie on me and say "Didn't he do well!" Rather, I think it is about time many others said "Didn't I do well!" instead of pretending to be hard done by and blaming society / government / Royal family / Spanish inquisition whatever.

By sending myself up, I rather hoped the irony of their indignation would give them something to think about. Silly me, too subtle.

Anyway, I was talking about this in the pub last night and was reminded that at Charles / Di wedding, the afters shift at the pit I worked at couldn't turn coal (produce) because of the high level of absenteeism, and I was one of many sent home on pay. (Can't remember, but my mate Snowy can...)

Subject: RE: BS: Royal Wedding Announcement
From: mandotim
Date: 18 Nov 10 - 09:07 AM

MtheGM; ever heard of peripheral perception? Propagandists use it a lot. Again, your logic is not good; I said you could ignore the thread, not that you should. Far be it from me to tell you what to do. Please don't resort to insults, let's try to keep this a grown-up and civilised discussion; I'm not a moaner (if you were including me in your catch-all classification), I have a point of view on a current event; you don't share that view, but I don't impute anything about your character or personality from that; please don't make assumptions about me either.

Subject: RE: BS: Royal Wedding Announcement
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 18 Nov 10 - 07:56 AM

I can't say I find your logic overwhelming either, Tim. I mean, why should I ignore the thread, when I quote enjoy reading it? You can ignore the wedding, tho, if you are fed up with it ~~ who said you have to get your news from TV? Why not just click on 'latest headlines' on Firefox, & just click on the stories that interest you? But all you lot of moaners seem to regard yourselves as some sort of captive audience, which you have not the least need to be if you'd rather not.

~M~

Subject: RE: BS: Royal Wedding Announcement
From: mandotim
Date: 18 Nov 10 - 07:46 AM

With respect, MtheGM, I submit that you are guilty of a logical error; I said that YOU could ignore THIS thread; to fulfil the conditions you describe, everyone would have to ignore all threads, which begs the classic existential question; if everyone ignores a thread, does it still exist?. One thread on a relatively obscure internet forum does not amount to blanket coverage on all media outlets, and therefore it is far easier to ignore this thread than it is to ignore this unimportant wedding. Changing channels makes no difference; whichever news bulletin you watch or listen to, there is overblown coverage, mostly consisting of tittle tattle and speculation. 'Experts' and 'Royal Watchers' are paraded to give the benefit of their (non) wisdom, and politicians who should have better things to do exhort the nation to rejoice and be happy. Between now and the wedding this is going to get worse, and I'm sure more and more people will come round to the 'couldn't care less' point of view; even those who read the Times and other Murdoch comics.

Subject: RE: BS: Royal Wedding Announcement
From: acegardener
Date: 18 Nov 10 - 06:54 AM

At last the British have got a peoples Princess








Audley Harrison

Subject: RE: BS: Royal Wedding Announcement
From: Zen
Date: 18 Nov 10 - 06:44 AM

It's not so easy as that to avoid. Many years ago, one of my staff went on a day trip to France to avoid Chucky and Di's wedding along with thousands of others. She told me when she came back that she and her husband were about the only Brits in Boulogne not crowded round TV shops watching the ceremony in the window.

No so! I, my partner and two friends were also in Boulogne that day and scrupulously avoided television shops.

Subject: RE: BS: Royal Wedding Announcement
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 18 Nov 10 - 06:35 AM

Ragdall ~~ I made the point about the bride's family paying for the wedding ~ it's the custom here too ~ 15 posts back. But also the point that they don't usually have to pay for security to the extent that will be necessary here.

~M~

Subject: RE: BS: Royal Wedding Announcement
From: ragdall
Date: 18 Nov 10 - 06:26 AM

I wish the young couple all the best and hope that the media will give them some peace. (Which would also help all who would prefer to hear as little as possible about them.)

As a colonial, I've always enjoyed the pomp and ceremony of the monarchy and look forward to this wedding and all future news of this royal couple.

Over here it's customary for the bride's family to foot the bill for the wedding. Since the Middletons are millionaires and in the party business, it should be a piece of cake for them to do so.

rags

Subject: RE: BS: Royal Wedding Announcement
From: Dave MacKenzie
Date: 18 Nov 10 - 06:26 AM

It's not so easy as that to avoid. Many years ago, one of my staff went on a day trip to France to avoid Chucky and Di's wedding along with thousands of others. She told me when she came back that she and her husband were about the only Brits in Boulogne not crowded round TV shops watching the ceremony in the window. We'll no doubt get saturation coverage in all the media, and tv transmission schedules will be disrupted for several months. I've got a backlog on Freeview+, a backlog of dvds to watch, not to mention large piles of unread books and magazines so I'm not too worried. I'm not a monarchist, though so long as they just get on with their lives and leave me to get on with mine I'm not too bothered, and I do have respect for Charles and Anne. As for the happy couple, I wish them all the best, after all, "there's nothing so royal as procreation".

Subject: RE: BS: Royal Wedding Announcement
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 18 Nov 10 - 05:58 AM

Well, I could, Tim; but it is not quite an analogy, you know. If we all ignored threads, there would be none. But whether you take any interest in the forthcoming nuptials or not, they will still happen ~~ and will moreover remain 'News' whether you like it or not. But it is entirely hyperbolical to say that they are driving all other matters of any importance 'off the agenda' ~~ there is a lot in my Times this morning about them; but a lot about all the other things that are happening as well, all of which some will find more important and interesting than others. I haven't, for instance, turned to the sports pages yet; but I am sure that when I do I shall find a full report of last night's humiliation at football of England by France, which won't even mention inter-alia that Wills is going to marry Kate. So that. when you say you could 'switch off the radio, the tv, the internet', you are talking nonsense ~ all you need do is change channels. Didn't you think of that?

~M~

Subject: RE: BS: Royal Wedding Announcement
From: GUEST,Alan Whittle
Date: 18 Nov 10 - 05:57 AM

Yeh, well you can confuse it with sourness in my case.

Whatever our educational attainments or acomplishments, most of us are piss poor. The telly is our main point of contact with the greater outside world.

Its bad enough Simon Cowell et al. giving themselves airs and graces without having the day punctuated with bulletins on every royal sneeze and fart up the couple setting off on honeymoon.

Did any of you know that Martin Simpson ad writeen some music for radio 3 called the Man with the bLue guitar, based on poems by Wallace Stevens and paintings by Picasso? No of course we didn't. the insertion in the radio times was miniscule.

Meanwhile we are inundated with shit and garbage. sometimes royal shit and garbage.

Subject: RE: BS: Royal Wedding Announcement
From: GUEST,CS
Date: 18 Nov 10 - 05:51 AM

"Me? I'd see a doctor about my depression if I were you."

Tsk Willie, I'm afraid you're mistaking "depression" with "pointing and laughing" (as you put it). Thanks for brightening these threads up!

Subject: RE: BS: Royal Wedding Announcement
From: mandotim
Date: 18 Nov 10 - 05:38 AM

MtheGM; please do not conflate 'disagreement' with sourness. I view the fact of two people who care for each other getting married as a good thing, it just has nothing to do with me. I don't know them, and their privileged existence is entirely separate from mine. Given the many serious matters happening in our world just now, what I object to is this utterly trivial matter dominating media outlets and forcing far more important matters off the agenda. Yes, I could switch off the radio, the TV or the internet, but why should I have to? By the same token, you could ignore this thread...

Subject: RE: BS: Royal Wedding Announcement
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 18 Nov 10 - 05:00 AM

Mandotim ~ A coincidence: my first wife was a miner's daughter who won a scholarship and went to Cambridge as a mature student. One thing we have in common, anyhow.

Best

~M~

Subject: RE: BS: Royal Wedding Announcement
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 18 Nov 10 - 04:57 AM

I don't know who you are, Willie. But good on you. Enjoy your success and the recognition it has received. There are enough sour people on this thread, who make a great song & dance of the fact that they are going to ignore all the celebrations & so on, as if their holier-than-thou attitudes are of all-consuming interest to all the rest of us. Who cares whether they switch on their tellies or go and spend the day at the top of Ben Nevis. Why they should be so grudging of anyone elses's pleasures and interests and satisfactions, is what I really can't see. I mean, for instance ~ Dave Mackenzie, it's easy to 'avoid extravaganzas' that one isn't interested in: just switch the tv off and read a book, or go for a walk, or buy a crossword-book. But why make such a priggish, self-righteous, self-satisfied virtue of it, FFS?

~M~

Subject: RE: BS: Royal Wedding Announcement
From: mandotim
Date: 18 Nov 10 - 04:32 AM

Willie; you're assuming that your interlocutors have not 'got on' as you put it. How do you know? From what I know of some of the contributors to this thread, many of them are highly successful individuals in a variety of fields of endeavour. Your patronising attitude towards them and your general 'I'm alright Jack' tone is intensly irritating, and wrongly directed. It is perfectly possible to be successful and still understand the reasons why others may not be so, and it is also possible to understand that it is often the structures and systems of society that prevent people from fulfilling their potential. Very few of the people in this thread are 'whinging' (as you call it) on their own behalf; they are taking the wider view of the current situation as it applies to those less fortunate than them. Many of them are actively doing something about it; not just protesting on internet discussion forums.
You did get off your arse, and you did get on; good for you, I'm happy for you. You must have worked very hard, but I'd be willing to wager you got lucky somewhere along the line as well. Most of us do at some point in our lives, and some take advantage of the opportunity, some don't, and some are unable to recognise it.
An example of what I mean; the cleverest and hardest working man I know (bar none)was forced to leave school at 13 and be apprenticed to his father as a bricklayer. His parents wouldn't allow him to take the 11-plus because his elder brother had failed it the year before, and they thought that education therefore wasn't for the likes of them. He was extremely musical, but his friends bullied him when he expressed a wish to play a musical instrument. His life choices and chances were restricted from that point on; he ended up moderately successful, having been encouraged by his wife (a miner's daughter who won a scholarship and eventually went to Cambridge)and eventually gained some qualifications in engineering late in his career. He took up the 'cello at the age of 70, and plays beautifully now at the age of 86. Given different structures and systems of society and some different breaks, it is not far-fetched to see his potential career as an eminent scientist or a professional musician. Had he been born into a wealthy upper middle class family, that progression would have been more or less automatic. He certainly has the intellectual ability, and plenty of drive, even now. What was missing was opportunity; that has improved over the years, and I think many of the posters here are worried about a return to that situation based on the thrust of the coalition's policy agenda. That's the real objection Willie; the sense that the ladder is being removed, the ladder you used so successfully. I've known the subject of my example all my life; he's my father.

Subject: RE: BS: Royal Wedding Announcement
From: GUEST,Steamin' Willie
Date: 18 Nov 10 - 03:59 AM

Ok, so..

this is supposed to be about the Royal wedding, not misconception of WIllie. Every bit of telling about myself was either in answer to a jibe or to show that the right to complain is not, as some believe, inversely proportional to wealth.

I mentioned I was an ex miner in context. I mentioned I pay all the tax I owe, in context. And when I say in context, I `m mentioning the idiots who say I should be paying more. i pointed out that I do. that wasn't good enough, so to put it in context, I said the amount I paid last year. It got the reaction I expected.

In this thread, as many here know the real me behind the absurd Willie, I wasn't going to admit I am not a Royalist and have someone point out I accepted my MBE. I said I was a happy hypocrite before anybody else does.

Funny how you can say how hard done by you are in order to make your point but when your point is the opposite, you can't mention that some of us got up off our arses and got on.

Listen to yourselves. You have had the opportunity to be educated, literate, in a land of opportunity with a welfare safety net at the beginning of the 21st Century.

And isn't it all wrong. Boo hoo.

Me? I'd see a doctor about my depression if I were you.

As for me, the real me keeps quiet about his success. Willie on the other hand can't be doing with doom mongering whinging crap from people who are clever enough to have grasped opportunity when it presented itself, or even worse, are comfortable (Dick the Poo springs to mind) yet love patronising others with talk of bringing down a government because they can't stand the thought that the vast majority want a government to sort out the untenable situation we have at present.

A Royal wedding may be fodder for the masses, but with religion having been exposed for being the same, people need something they believe in. Guess what? A fairy tale romance of a Prince getting his future Queen fits the bill perfectly. I'll be in the pub of course, but I am sure I will raise a glass to them.

Subject: RE: BS: Royal Wedding Announcement
From: GUEST,Patsy
Date: 18 Nov 10 - 03:40 AM

At the end of the day they are going to do it whether we like it or not and there will be those who will love all the hype and what goes with it and people like me with a 'bah humbug attitude to it.

Wills was going to do it at some point or other and it would have been the same for any prospective Royal In-Law I guess.

Subject: RE: BS: Royal Wedding Announcement
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 18 Nov 10 - 02:12 AM

Guest PeterC >>>>>>I believe Royal Doulton are making the commemorative plates.
Only a token on-shore manufacturing presence since 2005 so may be made in The Potteries but more likely in Indonesia.<<<<<<< Royal Doulton items mainly bear the words 'Made in China' on the boxes if not on the items..... so I guess you were pretty close to the truth.

Subject: RE: BS: Royal Wedding Announcement
From: Dave MacKenzie
Date: 17 Nov 10 - 05:30 PM

That's an idea - Have the Royal Wedding as the Opening Ceremony of the London Olympics, then I only need to avoid one extravaganza.

Subject: RE: BS: Royal Wedding Announcement
From: Arthur_itus
Date: 17 Nov 10 - 04:21 PM

Blimey, I hope my daughter doesn't marry into royalty. It would be a pie and a pint down at the local.

Subject: RE: BS: Royal Wedding Announcement
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 17 Nov 10 - 03:54 PM

Traditionally, it is the bride's father who foots the bill. He is, one gathers, a self-made millionaire, so I am sure he will wish to pay at least a good proportion of the costs of dressing bridesmaids, catering, & so forth, as the father of the bride does. Is that what is contemplated, I wonder?

However, it will be the kind of event that has to be policed, &c ~~ it is surely fitting that such aspects should be met from the same sort of source as, say, for the security if visiting heads of state.

~Michael~

Subject: RE: BS: Royal Wedding Announcement
From: Sttaw Legend
Date: 17 Nov 10 - 03:26 PM

Kate Middleton the first person to squeeze into Dianas ring since Dodi Al Fayed!

Subject: RE: BS: Royal Wedding Announcement
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 17 Nov 10 - 02:18 PM

On the whole I find the prospect of a Royal Wedding less dispiriting than the hyped-up and overblown 2012 London Olympics...

Subject: RE: BS: Royal Wedding Announcement
From: GUEST,Eliza
Date: 17 Nov 10 - 01:47 PM

I remember HM wanted us all to pay for the restoration of fire-damaged Windsor Castle, and was quite surprised when we all declined to do any such thing. I agree that the Queen and Prince Charles between them should fork out for the nuptials. They're both quite stupendously rich, and we are NOT!

Subject: RE: BS: Royal Wedding Announcement
From: SINSULL
Date: 17 Nov 10 - 01:23 PM

Given that the couple lived together for a while, will she still have to vetted for virginity?
I wish them well but doubt that anyone can be happy when their every movement is hounded by the press.

Subject: RE: BS: Royal Wedding Announcement
From: GUEST,cs
Date: 17 Nov 10 - 12:31 PM

"your high powered jobs, wealth and appearance in Honours lists;"

You're missing out the personal Tax Bill of £xxx (can't remember the figure exactly but it was considerably richer than you) and the portfolio of 42 rented properties. I do hope Willie lives in a nice shiny new mansion with faux 'classical' pillars. Got to have somewhere fitting to park the hostess trolley..

Subject: RE: BS: Royal Wedding Announcement
From: GUEST,Maurice Mann
Date: 17 Nov 10 - 12:27 PM

The Romans had bread and circuses, we have royal weddings. They serve the same purpose, keep the plebs minds off the pile of shit the so called upper classes have dumped us in.

Subject: RE: BS: Royal Wedding Announcement
From: theleveller
Date: 17 Nov 10 - 12:05 PM

.....er, not very!

Subject: RE: BS: Royal Wedding Announcement
From: theleveller
Date: 17 Nov 10 - 12:04 PM

Hey Mandotim, that makes two of us. LOL! As part of the ageing population, I can't stand the bloody monarchy and neither can most of my frieds. My late mother, father and grandfather weren't too keen, either. Now, let me tell you how important I am.......

Subject: RE: BS: Royal Wedding Announcement
From: mandotim
Date: 17 Nov 10 - 11:52 AM

Hey SW, lay off the miserable! As a northern bloke of a certain age I am genetically and socially predisposed to being a miserable, cynical bastard! I'm a product of me environment Guv! Meanwhile, do stop bragging about your high powered jobs, wealth and appearance in Honours lists; it's getting a bit tedious for us poor plebs.

Subject: RE: BS: Royal Wedding Announcement
From: Arthur_itus
Date: 17 Nov 10 - 11:47 AM

My daughter is well excited about the wedding. I asked her why. She said, "I have never seen a royal wedding since I was born"

So there you have it, us old fogies can be miserable and grumpy about it, but don't forget the generation who have never experienced a Royal Wedding. They are damn well looking forward to it.

Subject: RE: BS: Royal Wedding Announcement
From: Dave MacKenzie
Date: 17 Nov 10 - 11:27 AM

I think if you go to Russia Today you can avoid wall to wall coverage,

But I must admit that Chuckie Windsor does some rather nice organic food.

Subject: RE: BS: Royal Wedding Announcement
From: G-Force
Date: 17 Nov 10 - 11:23 AM

I am the other half of G-Force. When we heard the announcement yesterday the first thing we said was "Well this'll bring out all the old miseries on Mudcat who can't resist an oportunity to moan, and boy, were we right!

Subject: RE: BS: Royal Wedding Announcement
From: GUEST,Steamin' Willie
Date: 17 Nov 10 - 11:15 AM

If they discovered a cure for cancer tomorrow, the next post on the BS section would read "Coronary heart disease, biggest UK killer."

Miserable buggers.

I'm not a Royalist by any means, (though being the happy hypocrite I am, I accepted my gong..) but I suppose I agree with one of the common arguments given when Australia last turned down the opportunity to become a republic;

"Rather her than some sod who wants to be the head of state."

There's a lot to be said for that, you know....   

So, whilst I won't be watching it, I know that thousands will, thousands will feel good about it (and themselves by proxy) and the doom mongerers will have to shut up 'cos no bugger will be listening. We have an ageing population, and guess what? they love a Royal wedding... Oh, and we have lots of young people. Guess what? Hello magazine and daytime telly will ensure they are interested.

The royal family is our leading soap opera, so of course ratings will be high, of course advert breaks will cost the advertisers a hell of a lot because ratings will be as high as you can get.

So, when people say, why bother? A lot (and I mean a lot) of people will and do bother. I don't and neither do many on this thread, but to decry it misses the mood of the country. Nobody is interested in someone gripping the arms of their chair in anger about social injustice, they are more interested in how she is wearing Diana's ring.

Wake up! Nobody is listening to the miserable squad!

Subject: RE: BS: Royal Wedding Announcement
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 17 Nov 10 - 10:54 AM

Bubblyrat: Even if you stayed home, who would make you 'sit thru another wedding marathon'? & how?   Are you so tv-dependent that you can't think of anything to do at home except watch the telly? Has your set only one channel? I don't mean to be in any way offensive, but that really does come over as rather a sad post of yours, you know...

~M~

Subject: RE: BS: Royal Wedding Announcement
From: mandotim
Date: 17 Nov 10 - 09:55 AM

" Nothing the Royals do has any significant impact on my life "
G-Force; do you know me? I think not. The operative word in the above point is 'my'. Duke of Edinburgh awards and the Princes Trust etc. do not apply and have never applied to me or any member of my family, and therefore my comment, far from being 'stupid' is in fact entirely accurate. An apology for your rudeness would be nice. Thinking more widely, the impact of the initiatives you describe (both of which are run by professionals with Royals as occasional figureheads) applies to a small minority of the population at large; hardly a justification for a monarchy on the scale of ours.

Subject: RE: BS: Royal Wedding Announcement
From: GUEST,PeterC
Date: 17 Nov 10 - 09:52 AM

I believe Royal Doulton are making the commemorative plates.
Only a token on-shore manufacturing presence since 2005 so may be made in The Potteries but more likely in Indonesia.