Money Well Spent?

Every week I read the Stourbridge Chronicle (for that is where I am from) and a local story has recently caught my attention. The annual Stourbridge Harvest Festival - enjoyment for all the family - has been cancelled because financial resources have instead been ploughed into Diamond Jubilee celebrations and Olympic fanfare. I imagine this type of cancellation is happening in other areas also. So it’s nice to know that the apparent ‘trickle-down’ effect from big events to local businesses is clearly in effect … or, in fact, not. The demonstrations of national grandeur have actually hindered more regional community enjoyment. It’s almost as if London takes priority! No surprise there.

And in a separate development, I’ve recently discovered that local housing authorities in England are only legally obliged to help homeless people if the destitute are in ‘priority need’, e.g. have dependent children, are victims of domestic violence or natural disasters, are disabled, etc. So if I (who would not fall into a ‘priority need’ category) were to become homeless, I would be left for muggers to gladly beat the shit out of me on the street! I’m not saying it would be easy in these austere times to find funding for everyone, but even a safe room to squat in would surely be better than a cold pavement. Good old right-wing Britain: don‘t bother to help everybody because a few of them might sort themselves out and the rest hopefully won‘t get noticed!

Royal Waste

Okay, I’ll keep this short and sweet folks - well, maybe not so sweet. As far as I’m concerned (and yes, I realise that I’m in the minority as usual) the Queen’s diamond jubilee celebrations range from unnecessary pomp and outdated ceremony to an egregious waste of taxpayers’ money. Regardless that she brings tourists to this country, the amount of wealth that is spent on her and the rest of the royal family could be distributed to much more deserving areas such as NHS healthcare, public transport, reducing energy bills, building affordable accommodation, increasing the minimum wage, and on and on. I understand that some of the celebrations such as the Thames Pageant were funded privately, but the monarchy is annually awarded millions of pounds of government cash which is often spent on grandiose events like the diamond jubilee. I’m not saying we have to scrap the monarchy altogether (even though that wouldn’t particularly bother me), but at least scale down the expense to a significant degree considering the UK is currently going through a recession amidst a seemingly long-term global economic downturn. How hard-working people can applaud one family living in such financial heights is beyond me.

Will The Masses Back Him?

In his New Year’s speech, Prime Minister David Cameron has said that the country can unite this year around the “global drama” of the Olympics and the “glory” of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. Personally, I think the Olympics could turn out to be a colossal waste of money in these austere times, and I’d rather take a dump than watch any more vacuous and mundane footage of the royal family! But unfortunately, David Cameron is probably right. People generally do celebrate these specious national events, as was demonstrated during last year’s nauseous outpouring of jingoistic sentimentality during the royal wedding. So, the nation will unite, money will pour into Great Britain, the economy will recover, people will be able to find work again, we will all be shaking hands with each other as we pass in the street, and everyone will shout “hurrah” from their rooftops as they realise we have all been saved from the doom that has befallen other countries. And the result of all this will be … the coalition government will last forever! So be very careful what you wish for.