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The royal wedding.

(463 Posts)
annsixty Wed 03-Jan-18 21:07:13

It is not given to me to start a threads on politics, I don't believe I have ever contributed to one either.
However I cannot let pass the comment from a conservative councillor currently skiing in the USA who wants the homeless and rough sleepers cleared from the streets of
Windsor before the wedding in May.
God forbid that visitors here to see an obscene and ostentatious picture of wealth and privelage should be confronted by the "have nots" of our society.

MissAdventure Wed 03-Jan-18 21:09:40

I would hope that Harry would welcome rough sleepers. He's very "down with da people".

glammanana Wed 03-Jan-18 21:21:22

Lets just hope said Councillor does not venture as far as Las Vegas when we where there last year my son made friends with some homeless men & women who where x service personal from that so called great Country he took two of them for breakfast once or twice.maybe Councillor will take them all out for breakfast on the day of the wedding ???

Day6 Wed 03-Jan-18 21:38:06

Vagrants - a blot on the landscape? Not a very practical or sympathetic approach to the problem, is it?

Rough sleeping has become more commonplace. This, according to The Independent.

“Homelessness is completely unacceptable in a caring, compassionate community such as ours. We are working to create the necessary housing for our residents,” he (Councillor Simon Dudley) continued.

The authority “recently” found emergency accommodation for every rough sleeper in Windsor but many turned it down, Mr Dudley said."

We have had this discussion on several threads but never has anyone felt rough sleepers and beggars are aesthetically unpleasing. hmm

paddyann Thu 04-Jan-18 00:33:08

theres not alot of interest in Royal weddings in my part of the world,apparently the last one led to thousands of street parties in England while in Scotland there were a total of 13 ..and they were in tory areas..some even financed by the local tory party.So if Harry and his latest squeeze decide to elope no one I know will be heart broken and the poor rough sleepers will be left in peace

durhamjen Thu 04-Jan-18 00:56:17

They could get married in one of the Scottish palaces, paddy. Nobody would know.

WilmaKnickersfit Thu 04-Jan-18 01:56:27

I'm pretty sure this cropped up before Charles and Camilla got married. The councillor is a twit. It goes on every where though. When the Olympics were in the Rio, hundreds of people living in shanty towns near the stadium were bussed out of the city so the land could be cleared. There's ways and means of doing it.

M0nica Thu 04-Jan-18 07:14:39

Many of the homeless who turn down accommodation are people with mental health and addiction problems and their refusal of accommodation is a sign of their severe mental difficulties.

A friend tried to help a local homeless man who spent cold wet nights in the porch of a nearby redundant church, but without affect. He was known to social services but due to previous traumatic experiences with them and the mental health system he preferred to sleep rough. This man needed careful and sympathetic outreach not disregard because he refused help.

Billybob4491 Thu 04-Jan-18 07:51:36

Was rather hoping that we could sail through the first few months of 2018 without mention of the Royal Wedding.

Anniebach Thu 04-Jan-18 09:12:41

As alcholism and drug addiction increase there will be more homeless

annsixty Thu 04-Jan-18 09:15:32

Apologies Billybob but you never really thought that was going to happens did you?

whitewave Thu 04-Jan-18 09:50:25

I was watching Miriam Mangolies (that isn’t how you spell her surname I know!) in America last night and it struck me very forcibly that the gap between the halves and have nots is becoming ever deeper and wider, both in the developing nations and the developed.

The haves want it all don’t they? A comfortable, healthy life, full of choice and low tax. But at the same time do not want to be reminded of what the consequences of this life style means.

whitewave Thu 04-Jan-18 09:51:49

Margoyles!!

durhamjen Thu 04-Jan-18 10:11:55

Try again.
That rhymes with gargoyles.
It's Margolyes.

gillybob Thu 04-Jan-18 10:28:37

Apologies for going off on a tangent here but did anyone follow the Real Marigold on Tour series?

I really enjoyed it, but have mixed feelings about Miriam (rhymes with gargoyles. except it kinda doesn't) Margolyes.

She is very articulate, an excellent speaker but very vulgar.

Jaycee5 Thu 04-Jan-18 10:29:31

Apparently he ordered the Police to move them. The Police should remind him that they are independent of Councillors.
He could take it as an incentive to do something pro-active to actually help them.

hulahoop Thu 04-Jan-18 10:34:44

Why should they be moved its where they "live" it's a fact of life that there are homeless he wants to think himself lucky it isn't him !

durhamjen Thu 04-Jan-18 10:37:41

I agree, gillybob. She's better when she has a script as in Harry Potter. Even then I was expecting to cringe occasionally, but she kept to the script.

Jaycee, if I were homeless, I would take that as an invitation to go to Windsor and see what they would do.

durhamjen Thu 04-Jan-18 10:39:07

Hulahoop, Tory councillors never think that. They have a godgiven right to be housed oppulently.

MinniesMum Thu 04-Jan-18 10:42:08

It does seem strange to me that the majority of rough sleepers end up in places with high tourist footfall like Windsor and Bath. Or do I have a suspicious mind.

gillybob Thu 04-Jan-18 10:48:03

Are you confusing beggars with rough sleepers MinniesMum ? Some beggars take advantage of city centres, especially where there are high footfalls and lots of tourists, but they are not necessarily always rough sleepers they just move in and out to take advantage of public generosity

GoldenAge Thu 04-Jan-18 10:55:33

One in 20 people in one particular London Borough are homeless - they sleep on the streets or in hostels. This is a fact of life that contributes towards the increasing mental health problems in our country and capital city, and it's a disgrace. Harry I am sure, would not want to impose further hardship on such people by sweeping them off the streets so my guess is that if such a strategy were to be implemented it would be decided upon by the minions and not him. However, he is quite savvy when it comes to social media so he would not be ignorant to that and therefore, I am expecting some response from him to that suggestion. I do know, because I saw it happen, that when the first Beijing Olympics was being considered, whole swathes of hutongs were cleared on the way from the airport to the 5* hotels where the Olympic Committee were accommodated. Literally millions of poor people were made homeless for cosmetic reasons. It's all part of a cleansing operation made necessary by the huge inequalities that are allowed to perpetuate in modern society.

durhamjen Thu 04-Jan-18 10:56:11

I'd do exactly the same if I were homeless.

durhamjen Thu 04-Jan-18 10:57:22

Sorry. That was to Minniesmum.

gillybob Thu 04-Jan-18 11:02:36

Yes so might I durhamjen, but how do you know they are all homeless?

My DD works in Newcastle city centre. There was a guy who sat outside her coffee shop begging (refused hot food). She was told by the police that he was not homeless at all but arrived by train every morning.