Ach ,it'll be good for a laugh  if nothing else. I may tune in for a moment...Will we see those fervent royalists stating  this is a marriage that will last! Gasp...will we feck! Har! load of auld pish!.

I haven't been interested so far, but, now it's getting nearer I feel stirrings of interest in watching it. One thing I'm sure I'll enjoy is what Britain is good at, all the pomp and ceremony that surrounds big occasions, that's what tourists from around the world love to see and are able or willing to pay a lot of money to do so. I can't imagine many Brits travel to other countries to watch their big State occasions, well I wouldn't anyway lol.

Only other thing of any interest will be to see her dress. Apart from that I certainly don't envy Kate having to be a part of the Royal family, just hope they treat her differently to Diana 

And hope she treats being Royal differently to Diana.....

Rain...rain...

As the Chinese proved, if you chuck enough money at a spectacle, any thing's possible.

The loss of productivity from a paid bank holiday will easily wipe out the tourist money.  I also don't get why the rest of the country should subsidise London's tourist industry.  London is rich enough to fund the royals by themselves via the rates.  The royals are of little benefit to the tourist industry outside London.

 Some of us Londoners are feeling the pinch.....It is all relevant! 

A cursory glance down the guest list of some of the most richest and idle of the idle rich and the ConDem cabinet,  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-13175842 perhaps a freak lightning bolt or two would be welcome

True, but if you take the argument that Royals = More tourists, as people often do, what it really translates as Royals = tourists for London.  The average wage in London is about £35k compared to £23k elsewhere, Londoners can afford to fund their tourist industry better than most of the rest of the country that doesn't really benefit from the funding the royals.

Have you added into the equation....the average Mortgage, Rent, pint of milk that a lowly Londoner pays?

I find the whole idea of the royals bringing in tourist cash a bit distasteful.  So we whore our constitution for the benefit of foreign tourists?  So foreigners are indirectly buying and influencing our democracy and political accountability?  We don't have an elected president because it would make people from [the republic of] America unhappy?  What business is it of the Americans (or any other visiting tourists) to decide how we run our country?

We're told that Americans love our royal family.  Well, if they love our royal family so much, why don't they set up their own royal family? 

They have.....they are living in the Whitehouse........and various places in the Hollywood Hills....

I don't have an equation, I'm just pointing out that the country funds the monarchy but it's London where the tourist cash is spent.  When you get your council tax bill and, say, you live in Birmingham, you wouldn't expect it to include the cost of street lighting for Liverpool.

I will watch it when i get up cos they have removed Cash in the atttic and Bargain hunt. Just hope the marriage lasts. wish them well but past Royals/ Normal folk don't seem to have gone too well. Hope we get some exclusive clips from Philip on you tube - doubt it but i can imagine some of the quips that will out of his mouth.

No, that's celeb culture.  This country has plenty of that.  This country is almost as obsessed with celeb culture as America. 

What is you're council tax bill?

Will let you know tomorrow what mine is, OH is in bed with the bill under his pillow....he has sweet dreams.....

Yes!

Will we see the money generated from this Royal wedding in London spread out across the country as in reduced councill tax etc; I doubt it. Also the 2012 olympics? Where is the money going generated from both these events?

Despite what I wrote above I didn't bother mentioning the cost of the Wedding and security that's involved. I didn't mention it because there's no point even if I have an opinion, which I was discussing my opinion with hubby earlier today, lol. Whatever I think about the cost won't matter a jot, wherever or whoever the money is coming from is out of our control, as is most things.

Too true YR. We as the public never have a say. Democracy as our Govt keeps saying is the way to go and they are trhying to impose this on other eastern countries. If they look closely at our situation at present and the USAs  then i would think twice about  democratic reform.

The cost of security will come out of lowly Londoners pockets.....

We can just watch and say Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh etc; and just hope both of them have a happy life together. But please dont try to hump us with the bill.

And the cost of living is far higher in London ( and indeed the southeast) generally as well.

A 35k wage was and still is dependent on profession and what grade you have achieved. However, anyone who was earning a 35k basic and made redundant due to the recession soon found that salaries were dropped on average by 6k around 2008-2009. (And this was for exactly the same job for the same level of experience). And now it's just as hard to try and find work that will pay what you used to earn.

The blanket deduction in salaries wasn't reflected in council tax, travel or other costs. As people were losing, every other cost was rising. My travel into work used to cost me £240 per month and that was to get 2 trains. My council tax is about £120 per month and average rent for a 2 bed flat in zone 6 for London is approximately £900. The further into London you go, the more it costs to rent. Forget buying unless you have a major deposit. I don't know exactly who benefits from the rates but it isn't the working class Londoner, that I can guarantee.

I think the Queen Mum might have disagreed with that.

London is a very expensive place to live you get nothing for your money when it comes to buying flat/house unlike the rest of the country, the wages may be better that is because the cost of living is so much higher than anywhere else, their money  does not go far ..it balances itself out with the rest of the country..

Cariad it would be a pretty poor show if we did not give William the future King a fabulous royal wedding and unfortunately that costs money,we are getting a bank holiday what more do you want  if you are so set against it work friday

that surprised me, Karms - mine is £100 in a smallish town, wee ex council flat... my niece lives about 9 miles away, nowhere special, not a city, in an older style tenement flat... and hers is £125!      You're rents much more expensivethan hers though (double) and I can afford to buy at least.    I know the cost of living is higher down there, but it doesn't sound like the council's milking the population any more than they are anywhere else.   I is confused.....

I don't dispute anything you've written Karma, but it doesn't alter the fact that the funding of the royals benefits the economy of London a lot more than the rest of the country.  Yes, I agree that £35k is dependant on grade etc, but likewise, so is £23k elsewhere, and that includes the relatively affluent South East.  In some areas the average salary is closer to £16k.  So while I totally agree about the expenses of living in London, it doesn't alter the situation that the royals are funded by the country but mostly benefit the economy of London. 

I found that odd when I moved here - council tax is round about the same as I was paying in Newcastle. Everything else is much much higher though

SazBomb I am sure poll tax applies more or less the same wherever you live  as it is banded the bigger your house and how much it is worth the more you pay ..I could be wrong but I dont think I am

If it helps you all out at all...we have the queen coming to visit in a few weeks...a socialist politician has asked that she should pay for her bed and board while she's here because the cost of security etc is going to be so high  Therefore maybe you should be asking the guests of the wedding to make a contribution towards their keep whilst they're staying with you?

Jesus... people camping outside Westminster Abbey for it One woman come all the way from New York.

I can't even be bothered going from Canary Wharf I think I'm gonna do a big food shop that day, I reckon the supermarket will be quiet

Margy    That's what confused me.. i thought it related to the value of your house too, but I'm pretty sure my house would cost a good few times more in London than it does it here.   Oh, but then again I suppose it would still be a 'cheap' flat by London standards.. so it's all relative then.   

Tourists don't come from America or China or wherever for a day trip to see Buckingham Palace. They more often than not have a few weeks where they tour Britain...starting in London. 

my council tax is 147 quid a month!!!..i just wanted to share that.........and i'm not in london..!!

  Tell the truth... you're in the big house where they're holding that wedding thing eh?

one can not possibly divulge ones real name kaffers........but one will give one a clue....wills is a right goer i can tell one..............

  and there was me thinking the young 'un was the goer of the two (taking after his old man and all that......)