American guests in particular are impressed by the photograph of our last meeting at Hereford Cathedral. But I think our next head of state should be elected.
Now one of her grandsons is to get married. Not a problem. I hope that the family can afford the wedding. I don't see why us taxpayers should fork out. They should do it discreetly at Windsor Castle one Saturday so we don't have to tie up the whole of Central London for a week.
The latest nonsense is the suggestion that there should be a public holiday for the day. The last time this happened was when the groom's father married. I was working for Walsall Council at the time, running the civic newspaper.
We had a newly elected Tory government that was absolutely hammering public services (there's nothing new under the sun). Walsall council was especially hit.
The Tory government - on a sort of bread and circuses basis - decided that the entire country should have the day off, a Bank Holiday. I rang the Downing Street press office and asked how much this would cost the country and whether the additional costs to the council would be met by central funding. I am still waiting for the call to be returned.
We are being told to cut public spending, to tighten our belts because we are all in it together blah blah and the government is now seriously considering the expense of a public holiday.
All businesses are obliged to pay employees on a bank holiday. It means our public services stop for the day but not the expense. People like me who sell our time by the day can't work and won't pay taxes. The months of April, may and June are especially problematic in this respect. The whole idea is just a massive extravagance.
If we've got money to spare let's protect services not waste it on another royal vanity project.
