No cause for joy (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

No cause for joy

6:00pm Thursday 26th January 2012 in Letters

James Gray has suggested there are to be only two ‘bright spots’ in 2012. What a knees-up to celebrate an unelected head of state’s unchallengeable tenure of that position, such as the Jubilee, can possibly do to alleviate the day-to- day difficulties felt by most of the population I have no idea.

It is estimated that the royal wedding last year cost something in the region of £70 million. Sources and the estimates they give vary, but you can be quite sure that this affair will be far more grandiose, ostentatious to the point where Liberace himself would feel pangs of embarrassment. Funny how when the country’s public sector workers come out on strike for one day they are branded as public enemy number one by the Government. It’ll cost the country a fortune, they told them. Yet a day off for a wedding and now two for the Jubilee, that’s a celebration to make the nation feel better about itself. The cost is immaterial, so get out the bunting, roll out the barrel and the royals will blow all your troubles away.

If only! Anyone unemployed or struggling to maintain or even find a home, pay off a debt or two perhaps between now and the Jubilee will find it very difficult to summon excitement or joy. A parade or flotilla in London is not going to make their lives remotely easier and the daily struggles will continue for the rest of us. For a country where “we’re all in this together”, some people seem to be in it distinctly less than others.

Mark Cheshire, Stockwood Road, Chippenham.