The Royal Wedding

[robertlouis]

I had a mini-rat about this in another thread and wondered what views (if any) other people both in the UK and elsewhere might have. Here's my earlier mini-rant to get the ball rolling, plus further posts from theone1982 (with his permissio) and myself.

I'm in the minority in the UK in that I'm a republican - not to be compared with the right-wing in the US, of course - and would rather not be ruled by an outmoded and hierarchical institution which does as much as anything else to bolster class inequalities. That said, I bear Wills and Kate no ill will at a personal level. They seem like a decent, well-intentioned couple - we even went to the same university! Tom Paine said, "Kill the king but spare the man." I'll go along with that.

But the pomp, the pageantry, and more than anything the wall to wall blasting from every media is too much to bear.

I may do a day trip to Calais next Friday, drink some good red wine and sing the Marseillaise all day.

- RL

You know I heard about republicans(not like the American Republican Party) in the UK just a few days ago on the radio, which I found amazing, because I always wondered why there wasn't a bigger movement like that in the UK, and then it turns out that there kind of was, the media just doesn't really mention it! I agree that they do seem like nice people and I love that Tom Paine quote! It's really interesting to me to actually hear someone in the UK's opinion about the wedding, as here in America, we just kind of hear about the frills and hype of the wedding, rather than what the average citizen of the UK feels about it.

- theone1982

Sad to say, this sort of event shrinks the republican minority even further as people simply get swept up in it. In that sense I'm far from the "average citizen". Oh, and there's another thing. If you live in a republic, you're a citizen. If you live in a monarchy, you're a subject. Some might argue that that's just semantics, and for most purposes it is, but it still means that in theory at least, you bow the knee.

Maybe we should move the wedding stuff to its own thread.

- RL

[Quiet Reflections]

I couldn't care less how their wedding is covered. Aside from when I turn on the local news, I can miss it completely. My friends will never bring it up since its not proper baseball,hockey or basketball conversation. I also have damn near 1000 channels, a computer and Video games so I won't be watching anything about it. I only listen to sports talk radio or my iPod in the car so I won't hear about it either. In fact the only reason I know anything about it is because its on yahoo sometimes when I logon.

[natina]

Fuck royalty:iagree::wiggle:

i don't give a fuck about no king and queen

or monarch

royal blood bullshit

Fuck royalty

i don't give a fuck about no king and queen

or monarch

royal blood bullshit

Fuck royalty

i don't give a fuck about no king and queen

or monarch

royal blood bullshit

Fuck royalty

i don't give a fuck about no king and queen

or monarch

royal blood bullshit

Fuck royalty

i don't give a fuck about no king and queen

or monarch

royal blood bullshit

[traLika]

I just don't understand the excessive media coverage of the royal wedding. There seems to be a countdown to the 'special day', as if it's a World Cup final or the launch of a pioneering manned spacecraft to Mars...

Luckily I don't watch much TV so it will be very easy for me to avoid the 'event'. :)

Don't wish them any harm, though. Good luck to 'em and I hope they live happily ever after, and all that...

[Quiet Reflections]

It was probably worse when Prince Charles got married

[GroobySteven]

I'm going into the country for the day with a picnic and some music.

I actually support the principle of a small Royal family in the UK - I think they are great for tourism (Americans and Japanese seem especially enthralled) and given the media coverage this wedding has had worldwide, it seems to be ongoing. I also think some traditions are good to be kept and as long as the country only supported the immediate Royal's then they are a good investment all round.

That being said. I don't like being told when to party and have a good time - and especially not for a wedding I don't give two hoots about. The media has went barmy over it (it sells!) ... so as I said, I'm off into the country for walks, picnic and listen to some real British Royalty, The Faces, The Stones, The Who, David Bowie, The Beatles and of course, the better dressed Queen, Freddie Mercury

[iamdrgonzo]

Doangivadam.

[TSLoverUK999]

It's business pure and simple, Yanks, Japs etc love it, therefore hundreds of millions of ££££s in tourism revenue.

Don't understand why you would get so upset about the Monarchy, they have no power & in this day and age they are just a useful figure head to roll out to seal deals.

They are our national soap opera.

[sern62]

Couldnt care less about the wedding, usual media BS...

I dont get the hype over william aswell, dude looks like hes 40, inbred and bald wtf???

[SammiValentine]

It's business pure and simple, Yanks, Japs etc love it, therefore hundreds of millions of ££££s in tourism revenue.

Don't understand why you would get so upset about the Monarchy, they have no power & in this day and age they are just a useful figure head to roll out to seal deals.

They are our national soap opera.

oh you really got to sort that avatar ,, omfg :)

[SammiValentine]

well the royal wedding, the media rarely portrays vast opinions of the general public. "the street party" figures are quite lol, i mean low.... but oddly higher than i actually anticipated.

In a way though i think it is quite nice for the older generations to be able celebrate this sort of thing and enjoy the "hype", my nan/grandad etc who lived/through the war and all the respect they had for some of the royals (queen mother in particular) and all the people they lost and the hard times... this sort of thing will trigger lots of memories I guess. None of my grandparents and great aunt are particularly well anymore but it is nice to see them smile a bit and this wedding thing has seemed to do that.

Isnt the Princess also a non royal? Like Diana was? Not that I really give a toss about it all, but that is interesting. As said they have no real power anymore, our Queen is just a figurehead and our empire no longer exists so lets get some kleenex out and wank off over another holiday and errrr be careful where you put your bunting !!! health and safety issues you know!! what what what!

To answer the question though I guess you would have to define what "the average british citizen is" and I would not know where to start with that tbh - and i would suggest "age" of people surveyed would be key to making any sort of analysis. :)

[Merkurie]

I rather feel sorry for the Royal Family actually. They had no more choice about being born Windsors than any of us.

I would love the money. But the rest of it they could keep. Too many rules, protocols and restrictions. No real power and no privacy to walk down the street or get drunk at a bar. All the money in the world and you still can't do whatever you want.

I don't think abdication is looked on too fondly, I definitely don't think you could keep the money if you wanted to walk away form the whole thing. No way I would marry into that soap opera.

Now a nice discrete landed Lordship or Baronet thats a whole other ball-game, I would be down for that in a New York minute.

[SpoogeMonkey]

Kate Middleton is a babe.. and he saw her first in a fashion show, in a see through dress. Its kings and queens, princes and princesses. I'm having a street party and the rest of you mugs can stick it up your arses if you arent interested... its a day off and a chance to get pissed in the sun.

http://lifeisreallybeautiful.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/kate-middleton-see-thru-dress.jpg

[SpoogeMonkey]

Fuckin hell Sammi.. you are a babe. Fancy a shag??

[Ben]

Just a question: what are the security costs going to cost the English taxpayers? I've heard it's about $100 million. Of PUBLIC money. In the midst of a British recession. When the U.K. government are making massive cutbacks. And I mean, what's that? Like 50 million pounds or so.
They -- Willie and Katie -- should (and I'm sure they'd want it) have a PRIVATE ceremony, a very private ceremony. In one of their many undeserving castles -- ha! ha!
As you can tell: I'm not a fan of Royalty -- ha! ha!

[traLika]

They -- Willie and Katie -- should (and I'm sure they'd want it) have a PRIVATE ceremony, a very private ceremony.


If only...:praying:

[GroobySteven]

Just a question: what are the security costs going to cost the English taxpayers? I've heard it's about $100 million. Of PUBLIC money.

A pittance compared to what it will bring in, in the long run and the economy boost. Many hotels are experiencing their best weeks in years and while that is very short term, with the media's eye on these, the royal family will continue to bring money into the UK.

[rodinuk]

Just a question: what are the security costs going to cost the English taxpayers? I've heard it's about $100 million. Of PUBLIC money. In the midst of a British recession. When the U.K. government are making massive cutbacks. And I mean, what's that? Like 50 million pounds or so.
They -- Willie and Katie -- should (and I'm sure they'd want it) have a PRIVATE ceremony, a very private ceremony. In one of their many undeserving castles -- ha! ha!
As you can tell: I'm not a fan of Royalty -- ha! ha!

Taking the Daily Mail's estimated figure of £20m for security at the Royal Wedding that converts to just over $12m dollars at today's exchange rate.

[AllanahStarrNYC]

Someone brought me back a William & Kate coffee cup back from London recently and it was one of the best kitsch presents I have have ever gotten! I drink my coffee out of it everyday.

I for one will be watching, and I think it is fun and exciting and why NOT. It is something so exclusively English and as both an Anglophile and Francophile I love it. I love all things English (well except MARMITE!) hehe

And Seanchai is right, the revenue the Royal Family brings to England is nothing compared to what it costs to keep them. I mean what tourist that comes to London does NOT go to Buckingham Palace at least? This week the whole world's eyes are on England, for some GOOD news for once. It's a good thing.

Can't wait to see the dress!

[russtafa]

It's women in Australia that buy those fuck'in mag's,they keep this bullshit going.The rest of the population think it's a yawn

[traLika]

... except MARMITE!


I'm with you on that one! :puke

[Ben]

A pittance compared to what it will bring in, in the long run and the economy boost. Many hotels are experiencing their best weeks in years and while that is very short term, with the media's eye on these, the royal family will continue to bring money into the UK.

And I'm not British. So it's not up to me -- :) But, well, I'm guessing they've done extensive opinion polling.
So do most Brits support the Royal family???????
But my 2 cents: I think a private ceremony (and I've read that's what Prince William wants) is more appropriate. And, too, isn't the Republican movement growing in Britain? I think, much like America, the Brits should ELECT their Head of State. It should be through voter lines, not through bloodlines.
The notion of Royalty strikes me as just too elitist, too inundated with inordinate snobbery. But, again, not being British it's none of my business -- ha! ha!

[SammiValentine]

Just a question: what are the security costs going to cost the English taxpayers? I've heard it's about $100 million. Of PUBLIC money. In the midst of a British recession. When the U.K. government are making massive cutbacks. And I mean, what's that? Like 50 million pounds or so.
They -- Willie and Katie -- should (and I'm sure they'd want it) have a PRIVATE ceremony, a very private ceremony. In one of their many undeserving castles -- ha! ha!
As you can tell: I'm not a fan of Royalty -- ha! ha!

it will be a mere drop in the ocean compared to what we spend helping you guys bomb fuck out of people :)

[SammiValentine]

Fuckin hell Sammi.. you are a babe. Fancy a shag??


haha hey first things first wheres this street party going on ? :party::party::party:

[traLika]

oh you really got to sort that avatar ,, omfg :)


I dunno - it's better than a photo of scousey Gerrard... ;)

[Jericho]

I'm with you on that one! :puke

Godless heathens!
There's nowt wrong with Marmite!

[SammiValentine]

And I'm not British. So it's not up to me -- :) But, well, I'm guessing they've done extensive opinion polling.
So do most Brits support the Royal family???????
But my 2 cents: I think a private ceremony (and I've read that's what Prince William wants) is more appropriate. And, too, isn't the Republican movement growing in Britain? I think, much like America, the Brits should ELECT their Head of State. It should be through voter lines, not through bloodlines.
The notion of Royalty strikes me as just too elitist, too inundated with inordinate snobbery. But, again, not being British it's none of my business -- ha! ha!

Republican movement??? didnt we sort that back in 1640 something , like the great battle of lathom house?! :) The Royal Family is the royal family.. part of our history, heritage - dating back to what the 9th century??? quite a long time before colomubus sailed the ocean blue anyways ;-) whatever and yes a great economic tourist attraction now. No disrespect to America but.... i guess you have got to be British to understand it, and I cant speak for everyone... and i am not particularly royalist - its just part of this country as far as I am concerned ...! It also makes fairly light and pleasant news compared to the usual...!

[Merkurie]

Just a question: what are the security costs going to cost the English taxpayers? I've heard it's about $100 million. Of PUBLIC money. In the midst of a British recession. When the U.K. government are making massive cutbacks. And I mean, what's that? Like 50 million pounds or so.
They -- Willie and Katie -- should (and I'm sure they'd want it) have a PRIVATE ceremony, a very private ceremony. In one of their many undeserving castles -- ha! ha!
As you can tell: I'm not a fan of Royalty -- ha! ha!


I am soo damn tired of hearing about people complaining about their taxes. Be glad the Prince does'nt take your wife and daughter for your tax. And burn down your house if you dare complain. You will eat it and like it.

Cake or Death :)

[SammiValentine]

I am soo damn tired of hearing about people complaining about their taxes. Be glad the Prince does'nt take your wife and daughter for your tax. And burn down your house if you dare complain. You will eat it and like it.

Cake or Death :)

lol !!!! :-) hahaha damn that me spit out easter egg all over my keyboard. :Bowdown::Bowdown::):)

[SammiValentine]

I dunno - it's better than a photo of scousey Gerrard... ;)

boooooo -as if ;-) a photo of stevie holding old big ears... or big ears himself..or did cantona have a big nose... or both hmmm :)

a nice simple pic of Kenny would do fine ;)))

[theone1982]

:):):)
YouTube - The Sex Pistols - God Save The Queen (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeP220xx7Bs)

[Merkurie]

Will they play this when Charles takes the throne?

[traLika]

a nice simple pic of Kenny would do fine ;)))


Hmmmm, I don't think TSLoverUK999 will accept that. I'll recommend this instead... :)

[SammiValentine]

hahah irony. that vid is blocked if your in uk.. rofl. rolf harris is gonna play it on a didgeridoo when Charles is king btw, probably on Blackpool promenade at a live ceremony.

[SammiValentine]

Hmmmm, I don't think TSLoverUK999 will accept that. I'll recommend this instead... :)


:hide-1::hide-1::hide-1::hide-1::hide-1::hide-1::hide-1::hide-1::hide-1:

[GroobySteven]

And I'm not British. So it's not up to me -- :) But, well, I'm guessing they've done extensive opinion polling.
So do most Brits support the Royal family???????
But my 2 cents: I think a private ceremony (and I've read that's what Prince William wants) is more appropriate. And, too, isn't the Republican movement growing in Britain? I think, much like America, the Brits should ELECT their Head of State. It should be through voter lines, not through bloodlines.
The notion of Royalty strikes me as just too elitist, too inundated with inordinate snobbery. But, again, not being British it's none of my business -- ha! ha!

Hahaha - we do elect our heads of state, we elect a party and the leader of that party is our head of state. As rubbish as it is at the moment, it's a far better system than in the USA two parties continuously slug it out back and forth, to barely move forward. Unlike the USA, where the President cannot be replaced, potentially a party can replace the Prime Minister during their term. We also have more stringent laws on lobbyism which in my opinion, is truely crazy.
The Royal Family is nothing other than a traditional figurehead. They are not allowed to have a say in politics at all.

[theone1982]

I don't know if a republic worked out so well the last time you all had it. But at least you got a shite movie out of it a few hundred years later!:)

[SammiValentine]

poor cromwell!! another benefit.. the old surviving west wing of lathom house where they surrounded the roundheads are now .......lovely apartments!!!! and close to where i live... how much better does life get.

[SammiValentine]

Hahaha - we do elect our heads of state, we elect a party and the leader of that party is our head of state. As rubbish as it is at the moment, it's a far better system than in the USA two parties continuously slug it out back and forth, to barely move forward. Unlike the USA, where the President cannot be replaced, potentially a party can replace the Prime Minister during their term. We also have more stringent laws on lobbyism which in my opinion, is truely crazy.
The Royal Family is nothing other than a traditional figurehead. They are not allowed to have a say in politics at all.

The traditional figure head bit is what I was trying to say without being rude, America is very "new" in terms of modern day history compared to Britain, that we know of as we only found it in err 1482 or 1492?!?

I swear the earths still flat anyway cos how do buildings stand up if the floors like round and stuff huh!?!? I think it is all a big lie !

[bte]

Don't care about the wedding. Luckily it's on when I am asleep.

[SammiValentine]

Don't care about the wedding. Luckily it's on when I am asleep.

tbh i would be shocked if anyone gave a fuck in... texas?!? i mean why should you?? is it really hyped up over there that much , at all!?!?

[bte]

tbh i would be shocked if anyone gave a fuck in... texas?!? i mean why should you?? is it really hyped up over there that much , at all!?!?

They mention it on the radio. One radio station even did a 15 minute explanation as to why Americans should care about the wedding. Its on the local news sometimes. I also imagine that the Dallas news channel will broadcast it live.

[theone1982]

The traditional figure head bit is what I was trying to say without being rude, America is very "new" in terms of modern day history compared to Britain, that we know of as we only found it in err 1482 or 1492?!?

I swear the earths still flat anyway cos how do buildings stand up if the floors like round and stuff huh!?!? I think it is all a big lie !

Yeah, but George Washington was still more of a badass than King George III.:)

[Merkurie]

Its not everyday that complete and total strangers that you've known all their lives get married.

I remember when Wills was but a baby in his mums arms.

[SammiValentine]

yea but come on king george VI had a far better stammer than George Washington....... and yep, you guessed it another shitty movie ;-)

(i have not actually seen it, i know it won lots of awards but seriously..... it just sounds wank!!!!!!!!!!)

[Merkurie]

If we had crowned George Washington King. We would have a black royal family.
There is not one single white person named Washington in the US.

Just sayin.

[GroobySteven]

American's are buying far more Royal Wedding tat than the Brits ... I'll try and find some of the souvenier rubbish that is for sale and post it. I remember when I was 7 getting a Silver Jubilee mug and proudly displaying it on top of the cabinet ... knowing it would go up in price as I got older. Well now it's 35 yrs old and worth at least £3.50!

[Ben]

Barack Obama is both: Head of Government and Head of State. David Cameron is Britain's Head of Government. The Head of State [or de facto President i.e., Head of State] is Queen Elizabeth.
Now, well, why shouldn't that position be an elected position? And therefore have sway in Britain's political apparatus?
An elected Head of State would mean the dissemination of power. Which has value. As it is means: less concentration of power.

[GroobySteven]

Barack Obama is both: Head of Government and Head of State. David Cameron is Britain's Head of Government. The Head of State [or de facto President i.e., Head of State] is Queen Elizabeth.
Now, well, why shouldn't that position be an elected position? And therefore have sway in Britain's political apparatus?
An elected Head of State would mean the dissemination of power. Which has value. As it is means: less concentration of power.

As I said it's a figure head. Someone to go and open new buildings, launch ships and go to other people's weddings and for that purpose, why waste time voting for it? It's irrelevant and the fact that it is traditional plays into the tourism thing as I explained.

Elton John could do the same job but he'd cost even more.

[SammiValentine]

Barack Obama is both: Head of Government and Head of State. David Cameron is Britain's Head of Government. The Head of State [or de facto President i.e., Head of State] is Queen Elizabeth.
Now, well, why shouldn't that position be an elected position? And therefore have sway in Britain's political apparatus?
An elected Head of State would mean the dissemination of power. Which has value. As it is means: less concentration of power.

Obama and Cameron are both head knobheads as well :):)

[SammiValentine]

As I said it's a figure head. Someone to go and open new buildings, launch ships and go to other people's weddings and for that purpose, why waste time voting for it? It's irrelevant and the fact that it is traditional plays into the tourism thing as I explained.

Elton John could do the same job but he'd cost even more.

hahaha elton john doing the "queens" speech on christmas day rofl :)

[theone1982]

yea but come on king george VI had a far better stammer than George Washington....... and yep, you guessed it another shitty movie ;-)

(i have not actually seen it, i know it won lots of awards but seriously..... it just sounds wank!!!!!!!!!!)

I've seen it! And I think wanking would have been much more fun, as it was pretty boring!:) Speaking of wanking, Edward VIII in the film though comes off as a real wanker.:)

[SammiValentine]

I've seen it! And I think wanking would have been much more fun, as it was pretty boring!:) Speaking of wanking, Edward VIII in the film though comes off as a real wanker.:)

lol at your avatar btw is that ric flair?:D

[theone1982]

lol at your avatar btw is that ric flair?:D

Sure is! Nothing's better than the Nature Boy, Slick Ric Flair!:)

[SammiValentine]

hahaha hope he is at the royal wedding

[theone1982]

hahaha hope he is at the royal wedding

I would definitely watch then! He might even let Queen Elizabeth ride Space Mountain!:)

[neutral sex]

Fuck royalty:iagree::wiggle:

i don't give a fuck about no king and queen

or monarch

royal blood bullshit

Fuck royalty

i don't give a fuck about no king and queen

or monarch

royal blood bullshit

Fuck royalty

i don't give a fuck about no king and queen

or monarch

royal blood bullshit

Fuck royalty

i don't give a fuck about no king and queen

or monarch

royal blood bullshit

Fuck royalty

i don't give a fuck about no king and queen

or monarch

royal blood bullshit


you are now my new best friend from HA....
they have never work, they live with others people money, they don't offer to poor, people dont have not even fresh water (they spend to there gardens 3 times more fresh water than the water that all
Ethiopean people need to survive!!!!!!!).... and they spend million of millions of pounds for weddings...

from them the humanity go to worst...!!!

its tragic when someone dont have anything to eat to saw to him or her that you live like a god!!!!

[SammiValentine]

aaah yes, I see... it is all clear now.

Our damn royal family, chopping all these rainforests down and making all these chinese people work for 1p a week and stuff. I am not watching in protest now...!

[theone1982]

Fuck royalty:iagree::wiggle:

i don't give a fuck about no king and queen

or monarch

royal blood bullshit

Fuck royalty

i don't give a fuck about no king and queen

or monarch

royal blood bullshit

Fuck royalty

i don't give a fuck about no king and queen

or monarch

royal blood bullshit

Fuck royalty

i don't give a fuck about no king and queen

or monarch

royal blood bullshit

Fuck royalty

i don't give a fuck about no king and queen

or monarch

royal blood bullshit

Why don't you tell us how you really feel?:)

[SammiValentine]

probably only pissed off cos harry was his fave ;-)

[theone1982]

probably only pissed off cos harry was his fave ;-)

He does seem to be the cooler one.:) Although I can't imagine King Richard the Lionhearted posing in his underwear.:)

[SammiValentine]

well poor richard the lionheart - he just couldnt get a signal on his crusades, so he couldnt upload any new pics of him in his undies to twitter.

[theone1982]

well poor richard the lionheart - he just couldnt get a signal on his crusades, so he couldnt upload any new pics of him in his undies to twitter.

Lol! Wouldn't the Crusades have been much more interesting with twitter updates all the time?:)

[SammiValentine]

not sure mobiles would of helped. everyone be stood around recording everything and uploading it to youtube. I am firm believer that when the " aliens do invade", or the world does end, when the "meteor " twats us....... 80% of the world will be stood there recording it on their phones.

oh the lolz.

errm dont know why i said aliens invade its cos i watched battle los angeles the other day i think.. am not really that weird honest..;-)

[theone1982]

not sure mobiles would of helped. everyone be stood around recording everything and uploading it to youtube. I am firm believer that when the " aliens do invade", or the world does end, when the "meteor " twats us....... 80% of the world will be stood there recording it on their phones.

oh the lolz.

errm dont know why i said aliens invade its cos i watched battle los angeles the other day i think.. am not really that weird honest..;-)

Ha! Yeah, but they will get some sweet footage before they're crushed by the meteor or probed by the aliens!:)

[SammiValentine]

maybe the aliens will record the invasion and probing us, anally, and it will be their version of happy slapping on some universal you tube thing. maybe it is all some huge conspiracy!! i blame the bloody royal family !!! fuck your street parties!! we need to build nuclear bunkers NOW!!!

[Stavros]

Richard the Lionheart was gay = he didn't wear panties...

[theone1982]

maybe the aliens will record the invasion and probing us, anally, and it will be their version of happy slapping on some universal you tube thing. maybe it is all some huge conspiracy!! i blame the bloody royal family !!! fuck your street parties!! we need to build nuclear bunkers NOW!!!

I knew they were aliens all along.:)

[SammiValentine]

Richard the Lionheart was gay = he didn't wear panties...


he deffo went cottaging his number is all over many toilet cubicles!

[Stavros]

You go cottaging Sammi? Where?...just out of interest...

[SammiValentine]

my dad told me !!!

[Ben]

YouTube - Monty Python- The Annoying Peasant (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAaWvVFERVA)

[theone1982]

he deffo went cottaging his number is all over many toilet cubicles!

Is cottaging anything like dogging?:)

[SammiValentine]

Is cottaging anything like dogging?:)

much gayer.

[mikelpo]

George michaels a big fan

[theone1982]

much gayer.

Something like what George Michael gets caught doing all the time?:)

[SammiValentine]

Careless Pisser

[onmyknees]

It's a mystery to me as a Yank why the press here makes such a huge fucking deal over it. They seem like nice enough young people...good for them. If you limeys want to stop your world for a day and celebrate....I think that's laudable. I understand the history and tradition, but not on this side of the Atlantic. I've been to London many times...a beautiful city steeped in tradition and history.. but I'm already on overload with this shit. It seems noteworthy to be sure but not to this extent, but it's what the press does well here. They're no longer capable of reporting the news...they've already moved on from Libya, so let 'em cover weddings. They're better at it.

[SammiValentine]

It's a mystery to me as a Yank why the press here makes such a huge fucking deal over it. They seem like nice enough young people...good for them. If you limeys want to stop your world for a day and celebrate....I think that's laudable. I understand the history and tradition, but not on this side of the Atlantic. I've been to London many times...a beautiful city steeped in tradition and history.. but I'm already on overload with this shit. It seems noteworthy to be sure but not to this extent, but it's what the press does well here. They're no longer capable of reporting the news...they've already moved on from Libya, so let 'em cover weddings. They're better at it.

Hmm maybe we should investigate! Is it loosely related to why you make such a huge fucking deal over St Patricks day !!

[Helvis2012]

It's business pure and simple, Yanks, Japs etc love it, therefore hundreds of millions of ££££s in tourism revenue.

Don't understand why you would get so upset about the Monarchy, they have no power & in this day and age they are just a useful figure head to roll out to seal deals.

They are our national soap opera.


I agree.

[onmyknees]

Hmm maybe we should investigate! Is it loosely related to why you make such a huge fucking deal over St Patricks day !!

Because there's a hellava lot more Irishmen here than Brits, and it's excuse in an otherwise bleak month of March to get pasted. Funny...I go to the Parade every year in NYC and have never seen the BBC reporting from there. Hmmmmmm

[mikelpo]

Not arsed got the day off work paid and can get twisted on Thursday night now!

[Ben]

Lol....

[SammiValentine]

Because there's a hellava lot more Irishmen here than Brits, and it's excuse in an otherwise bleak month of March to get pasted. Funny...I go to the Parade every year in NYC and have never seen the BBC reporting from there. Hmmmmmm

Actual Irish men or of a distant Irish descent?! :)

I think you guys celebrate it more than Ireland....!! So why not celebrate the wedding more than us... fill ya boots ;-)

[Helvis2012]

Because there's a hellava lot more Irishmen here than Brits, and it's excuse in an otherwise bleak month of March to get pasted. Funny...I go to the Parade every year in NYC and have never seen the BBC reporting from there. Hmmmmmm


You got that right!

[onmyknees]

Actual Irish men or of a distant Irish descent?! :)

I think you guys celebrate it more than Ireland....!! So why not celebrate the wedding more than us... fill ya boots ;-)

No question we do celebrate it more than Ireland....there is probably more first and second generation Irish here than in the Republic, but as a nation of immigrants as the US is, and the UK is not...it's more about heritage. Everybody gets a parade and a celebration. I celebrate them all !

As far as celebrating the wedding more than you all....I think many will watch and probably enjoy it...but few will be throwing back any pints because of it !!

[theone1982]

Not arsed got the day off work paid and can get twisted on Thursday night now!


No question we do celebrate it more than Ireland....there is probably more first and second generation Irish here than in the Republic, but as a nation of immigrants as the US is, and the UK is not...it's more about heritage. Everybody gets a parade and a celebration. I celebrate them all !

As far as celebrating the wedding more than you all....I think many will watch and probably enjoy it...but few will be throwing back any pints because of it !!

I'll be drinking anyway, but I can always says it's because of the royal wedding!:)

[SammiValentine]

hehe... i might be terribly british and sip tea while I watch it with our family dog, a little cavalier king charles spaniel..!!:) (I dye him green for paddys day to!!! )

[theone1982]

hehe... i might be terribly british and sip tea while I watch it with our family dog, a little cavalier king charles spaniel..!!:) (I dye him green for paddys day to!!! )

I'll take a spot of tea and a bottle of Jack Daniels.:)

[SammiValentine]

i also shove a leek up my ass for st davids day, i just cant stop celebrating :)

[Helvis2012]

No question we do celebrate it more than Ireland....there is probably more first and second generation Irish here than in the Republic, but as a nation of immigrants as the US is, and the UK is not...it's more about heritage. Everybody gets a parade and a celebration. I celebrate them all !

As far as celebrating the wedding more than you all....I think many will watch and probably enjoy it...but few will be throwing back any pints because of it !!

I think you're right.

[theone1982]

i also shove a leek up my ass for st davids day, i just cant stop celebrating :)

Sounds awesome! But they still won't make ST. davids day a bank holiday!:) Maybe on St. Patrick's Day everyone could shove a snake up their ass! :)

[SammiValentine]

nah, no bank holiday for daffys day.. mr blair said nooooo.. booooo :)

[onmyknees]

i also shove a leek up my ass for st davids day, i just cant stop celebrating :)


seeing and being up close and personal for that? Now that would be cause to throw a few back !

[SammiValentine]

seeing and being up close and personal for that? Now that would be cause to throw a few back !

hehe well I have a bit of english, irish , manx and welsh in me..... plenty of partying !!!! :party::party:

[onmyknees]

hehe well I have a bit of english, irish , manx and welsh in me..... plenty of partying !!!! :party::party:


:fuckin::fuckin: Party !!!!!!!!!

[Jericho]

hehe well I have a bit of english, irish , manx and welsh in me..... plenty of partying !!!! :party::party:


And that was just Monday night! :shrug
:p

[SammiValentine]

:oops::jerkoff

[robertlouis]

boooooo -as if ;-) a photo of stevie holding old big ears... or big ears himself..or did cantona have a big nose... or both hmmm :)

a nice simple pic of Kenny would do fine ;)))

Now there's serendipity for you Sammi - check out the scientology thread.

Fuck, I really started something here, thought it might get about five replies.... :ignore:

Here's my hero - Oliver Cromwell. Where I live there (Huntingdon) there are Cromwell houses and museums all over the place - and yet we consistently return Tories to Westminster with the highest majorities in the country. Hope that good old Nol appreciates the irony.

[robertlouis]

hehe well I have a bit of english, irish , manx and welsh in me..... plenty of partying !!!! :party::party:

What, no Scots in you, Sammi???

Would you like some? :party::fuckin:

[robertlouis]

As I said it's a figure head. Someone to go and open new buildings, launch ships and go to other people's weddings and for that purpose, why waste time voting for it? It's irrelevant and the fact that it is traditional plays into the tourism thing as I explained.

Elton John could do the same job but he'd cost even more.

In the 1970s the Governor General of Australia, a royal appointment, dismissed the Prime Minister, Gough Whitlam, thereby overruling the democratically expressed wishes of the Australian people.

There's still power when the bastards choose to wield it.

[theone1982]

Here's a different version. Lemmy for king!
YouTube - Motörhead - God Save The Queen (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snyjRd93HBs)

[robertlouis]

i also shove a leek up my ass for st davids day, i just cant stop celebrating :)


Don't do it with a thistle on St Andrew's day FFS! :ignore::hide-1:

[sammitv]

Hope it don't rain here in the UK on Friday!

[arnie666]

Iam looking forward to it, the overtime at work Iam using to trade my car up to a brand new BMW,I have been working tons of extra hours for the last month. The royals could get married every week thanks.

Apart from that I don't care hugely about the Royals either way. To me the alternatives would be worse,rather have the Queen as a figurehead with limited powers than the likes of Obama or W as a president with more power.Politicians these days never stand for anything ,it is all about images and promises that they break .. I enjoy history,so I like it in that sense.I have also met the Queen and I think she is lovely. The only thing I dislike and would change if I could are all the minor hangers on who seem to get money out of the public purse when they perform no royal duties of any description.

Despite how it looks the senior members of the royal family do bring in a lot of business to the UK, lots of powerful people seem to like dealing with them. I think in this time of other political and economic turmoil in the UK that last thing people should be thinking about is getting rid of them.

[robertlouis]

Despite how it looks the senior members of the royal family do bring in a lot of business to the UK, lots of powerful people seem to like dealing with them. I think in this time of other political and economic turmoil in the UK that last thing people should be thinking about is getting rid of them.

Yes, Prince Andrew is an example to us all.

Prince Andrew and the 17-year-old girl his sex offender friend flew to Britain to meet him

By Sharon Churcher
Last updated at 1:02 PM on 2nd March 2011

* Comments (101)
* Add to My Stories

* Virginia Roberts reveals she is 'Jane Doe 102' in Jeffrey Epstein case
* Mother-of-three spent four years as millionaire's personal masseuse
* She describes being flown across world to meet Prince Andrew
* Epstein trained her 'as a prostitute for him and his friends'

As the UK's special representative for international trade, the Duke of York holds an important position, requiring sound judgement and widespread respect.

But those qualities have been thrown into question since photographs of Prince Andrew with his billionaire financier friend Jeffrey Epstein, a convicted child-sex offender who was jailed for 18 months for soliciting underage prostitutes, appeared last weekend.

Today, however, even more serious doubts are cast on his suitability after a woman at the centre of the Epstein case revealed to The Mail on Sunday that she had, as a 17-year-old employed by Epstein, been flown across the world to be introduced to the Prince.
First meeting: Prince Andrew puts his arms around 17-year-old Virginia, centre

First meeting: Prince Andrew puts his arms around 17-year-old Virginia, centre

On one of those occasions Virginia Roberts was subsequently paid $15,000 (£9,400). Her shocking account of her four years as Epstein’s personal masseuse is supported by court documents, an eyewitness, photographs and flight details of Epstein’s private jets.

One picture, said to have been taken by Epstein during Andrew’s first encounter with the girl in March 2001 and published today by The Mail on Sunday, shows the Prince with his arm around her waist.

This is not the first time the Duke of York’s judgment and choice of associates have been questioned. He appears to relish the company of super-rich oil billionaires from the Middle East, North Africa and the former Soviet Union.

The peculiar sale of his former marital home to a Kazakh businessman for £15 million after it had languished unsold for five years at £12 million has never been satisfactorily explained.

In the recent leak of American diplomatic cables it was revealed that he had criticised an official corruption investigation into the huge Al-Yamamah arms deal between Britain and Saudi Arabia, while he is also said to be close to Saif Al-Islam Gaddafi, son of the beleaguered Libyan president, and may have had a role in the early release of Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Al Megrahi.

While on the streets, I slept with men for money. I was a paedophile's dream

But it is Andrew’s friendship with Epstein, whom he has known since at least 2000, and with Epstein’s confidante Ghislaine Maxwell, daughter of the late disgraced newspaper baron Robert Maxwell, that gives most concern.

He was first seen with the pair on holiday in Thailand, and was pictured cavorting with Ghislaine at a Halloween fetishthemed party in Manhattan.

The photograph that appeared last weekend shows the prince strolling through Central Park with 58-year-old Epstein. Andrew was said to have spent four days at his New York mansion in December, when he was joined by other distinguished guests, including Woody Allen, at a dinner.

It is by no means the first New York soiree Andrew has attended as Epstein’s guest.

A lengthy profile of the financier in Vanity Fair magazine some years ago reported that Andrew was a guest at a cocktail party thrown by Epstein and Maxwell packed with young Russian models. ‘Some guests were horrified,’ said the article’s author, Vicky Ward.

It should not be forgotten that Epstein is a registered sex offender after recently completing his sentence for offences relating to child prostitution.

However, he avoided trial on more serious charges that carried a potential life sentence. And no one reading The Mail on Sunday’s interview with the woman who was prepared to testify against him can be in any doubt of the seriousness of the charges.

Epstein, a Wall Street money manager who once counted Bill Clinton and Donald Trump among his friends, became the subject of an undercover investigation in 2005 after the stepmother of a 14-year old girl claimed she was paid $200 (£125) to give him an ‘erotic massage’.

The subsequent FBI probe uncovered at least 20 girls levelling sexual allegations against him. Eventually, Epstein struck a ‘plea bargain’ with prosecutors – a practice not permitted under British law – under which he was allowed to plead guilty to two relatively minor charges.

Police claim that his donations to politicians and his ‘dream team’ of influential lawyers deterred prosecutors from bringing more serious charges of sex-trafficking. The deal certainly kept the names of a lot of Epstein’s famous friends out of an embarrassing court case.

However, an unusual part of the agreement was that Epstein’s alleged victims were allowed to bring civil proceedings against him.

He has so far made 17 out-of-court settlements, and some cases are ongoing. One of these girls was to have been a key witness for the prosecution had the case gone to trial. She was just 15 years old when she was drawn into Epstein’s exploitative world in 1998.

In her civil writ against him, under the pseudonym Jane Doe 102’ she alleged that her duties included being ‘sexually exploited by Epstein’s adult male peers including royalty’.
A new life: Virgina, now a mother-of-three, in Australia

A new life: Virgina, now a mother-of-three, in Australia

Now, horrified by the evidence of Epstein and Andrew enjoying each other’s company in New York, Jane Doe 102 has agreed to waive her anonymity and tell for the first time her deeply disturbing story.

Her real name is Virginia Roberts and she now lives in Australia, where she is a happily married mother of three.

Over the course of a week during which she spoke at length to The Mail on Sunday, she appeared sometimes vulnerable, and sometimes steely, but always quietly resolute and consistent.

Revisiting events from a past that she had hoped she had left behind,Virginia occasionally buried her face in her hands.

Some recollections – and, for reasons of taste, not all the details can be included here – caused her to flush with shame. ‘I’m telling you things that even my husband didn’t know,’ she said.

Virginia, who has undergone counselling to try to come to terms with her past, is honest about her initiation into Epstein’s depraved world.

She was a troubled teenager, whose slender figure, delicate complexion, hesitant voice and soulful blue eyes made her look young for her years.

Born in Sacramento, California, in August 1983, Virginia spent her early years on a small ranch on the West Coast of America.

This seemingly idyllic childhood ended when she was sexually molested by a man close to her family.

The fallout from that led to her parents temporarily splitting up. Blaming herself, Virginia began to get into trouble Aged 11, she was sent to live with an aunt but repeatedly ran away.

Living on the streets, she was beaten up and slept with at least two older men in return for food. ‘I was a paedophile’s dream,’ she says.

Three years later, she was reunited with her family and started a new life with her father who had moved to Palm Beach,

Florida, where he was maintenance manager at Donald Trump’s country club, Mar-a-Lago.

Virginia got a part-time job as a changing room assistant –which is where, soon after her 15th birthday, she met Ghislaine Maxwell, who invited her to work as Epstein’s personal masseuse.

‘I was wearing my uniform – a white miniskirt and a skin-tight white polo top – when I was approached by Ghislaine,’ Virginia says.

‘I told her I wanted to become a masseuse and she said she worked for a very wealthy gentleman who was looking for a travelling masseuse.

I’d get training and be paid well.’Virginia’s father gave his blessing, believing his daughter was being handed the opportunity to learn a skill and to work for a wealthy and respectable employer.

He drove her to Epstein’s pink mansion on the Palm Beach waterfront – he also owns a nine-storey home in New York, the city’s biggest private residence; a 7,500-acre ranch called ‘Zorro’ in New Mexico and Little Saint James, a private 70- acre atoll in the US Virgin Islands.

Virginia says: ‘Ghislaine said I was to start immediately and that someone would drive me home.

My father left and I was told to go upstairs.’ She was led by another woman through Epstein’s bedroom into a massage room where he lay face down naked on a table.

He started to interviewed Virginia. This was unconventional, but Virginia had no suspicions. Presumably, she thought, this was how the wealthy conducted their business.

Epstein elicited the information that Virginia had been a runaway, and was no longer a virgin.

Virginia was then told to start massaging Epstein, under the instructions of the woman who had shown her in. The massage quickly developed into a sexual encounter.

Virginia was uncomfortable, but reluctant to deny such important people. ‘My face was red with embarrassment,’ she says. ‘But I felt under immense pressure to please them.

The whole time it was going on, they were promising me the world, that I’d travel with Jeffrey on his private jet and have a well-paid profession.’ Afterwards, she was given two $100 bills and told to return the next day.

That was the beginning of the four years she spent with Epstein.

For three of those years, she was under Florida’s age of consent, which is 18.
Troubled teenager: Virginia on the billionaire's Zorro ranch in New Mexico in 2001

Troubled teenager: Virginia on the billionaire's Zorro ranch in New Mexico in 2001

Virginia was fascinated by his life story: the son of a humble New York City parks worker, he was a teacher before becoming a Wall Street broker and friends with the upper echelons of the political, financial and academic establishment.

As a confused teenager, Virginia easily fell into the practice of sexually gratifying him for money.

He guaranteed her a minimum of $200 each time she gave him what he called an ‘erotic massage.’

Virginia said: ‘I would always receive the money immediately. He would give me the cash from a wad he carried in a black duffel bag or an assistant paid me.

’And, because of the way Epstein had warped her sensibilities, every time she took the cash, Virginia felt even more indebted to him. Secretly, he was also preparing her for an even more disturbing role.

Epstein had trained me to do whatever men wanted. I told myself I was special

‘Basically, I was training to be a prostitute for him and his friends who shared his interest in young girls,’ she says: ‘After about two years, he started to ask me to “entertain” his friends.’

It started when Epstein called Virginia at the Palm Beach apartment he had rented for her.

She recalls: ‘He said, “I’ve got a good friend and I need you to fly to the island to
entertain him, massage him and make him feel how you make me feel.”

He didn’t spell out what I had to do. He didn’t have to. ‘He’d trained me to do whatever a man wanted. I was shocked but I told myself he was sharing me around because he trusted me and I was special.

I was worried, but I would do anything to keep Jeffrey happy and to keep my place as his number one girl.

He would keep telling me how lucky I was with the life I was leading and the money I was making. It was easy to fall into his grasp.

‘The way it usually worked was I’d be sent to meet a man on the private island Jeffrey owned in the Caribbean, or at his ranch in New Mexico, which was really isolated.’ She was ‘given’ to men ranging in age from their 40s to their 60s.

They included a well-known businessman (whose pregnant wife was asleep in the next room), a world-renowned scientist, a respected liberal politician and a foreign head of state.

None appeared to think the arrangement was unusual. Virginia says there were many other girls in Epstein’s circle and that she was paid extra money to help recruit them.
Counselling: Virginia at her mother's home at Palm Beach in 1998

Counselling: Virginia at her mother's home at Palm Beach in 1998

‘They would lounge around the Palm Beach house, the ranch or the island, nude or topless,’ she says. ‘But I was one of the very few he trusted as “special” and chosen to “entertain” his friends.’

Virginia took the sedative Xanax to detach herself from sordid reality. ‘It was an escape drug,’ she says. ‘It made me calm and helped me forget about what I had to do. I was up to eight pills a day.’

Epstein had no objection to Virginia’s use of prescription drugs, no doubt recognising that they made her even more malleable. ‘I didn’t want to go back to the life I’d had before’ she says.

‘That made me totally obedient.’ Despite the fact that Epstein was, essentially, her pimp, this life now seemed normal to Virginia. ‘I felt that he and Ghislaine really cared for me,’ she said.

‘We’d do family things, like watch Sex And The City and eat popcorn. ‘A lot of it was very glamorous. I met famous friends of his such as Al Gore and Heidi Klum and Naomi Campbell. He introduced me as his “travelling masseuse.”

Some people mistook me for his daughter. ‘When we were in New York or Palm Beach, Ghislaine and I would shop all day.

Jeffrey bought me jewellery – diamonds were his favourite – and wonderful furniture. He was paying me very well because I’d give him sex whenever he wanted it.’

She was, she says, delighted when Epstein invited her to accompany him on a six-week trip in 2001.

‘He said we’d be going to Europe and North Africa to meet architects and interior decorators because he wanted to redo his New Mexico house.

I threw my arms around him and gave him a peck on the cheek.’ They flew to Paris, then Spain, then Tangier.

Finally, they went to London. ‘After we landed, we drove straight to Ghislaine’s house,’ says Virginia. ‘I was given a small upstairs bedroom. The following morning, Ghislaine came in.

She was chirpy and jumped on the bed saying, “Get up, sleepyhead. You’ve got a big day. We’ve got to go shopping. You need a dress as you’re going to dance with a Prince tonight.”

‘She said I needed to be “smiley” and bubbly because he was the Queen’s son.

Ghislaine and I went to Burberry, where she bought me a £5,000 bag, and to a few other designer stores where we bought a couple of dresses, a pair of embroidered jeans and a pink singlet, perfume and make-up.

We got back to Ghislaine’s house at around 4pm and I ran straight upstairs to shower and dress.

When I went downstairs, Ghislaine and Jeffrey were in the lounge. There was a knock at the door. Ghislaine led Andrew in and we kissed each other on the cheek. ‘Ghislaine served tea from a porcelain pot and biscuits. She knew Sarah Ferguson and they talked fondly about Andrew’s daughters.

Then Ghislaine asked Andrew how old he thought I was and he guessed 17 and they all laughed. Ghislaine made a joke that I was getting too old for Jeffrey.

She said, “He’ll soon have to trade her in.” It was widely known that he liked young girls.’ The four of them went out to dinner and on to Tramp nightclub where, she says, Andrew danced with her.

‘After about an hour-and-a-half, we drove back to Ghislaine’s.

All of us went upstairs and I asked Jeffrey to snap a picture of me with the Prince. I wanted something to show my Mom. Ghislaine and Jeffrey left us after that, and later Andrew left.

‘In the morning, Ghislaine said, “You did well. He had fun”. We flew straight back to the States.’ The Mail on Sunday has confirmed that the tycoon’s jet flew to Paris on March 6, 2001, continuing to Granada, Tangier and London, before returning to New York.

On the last leg of the trip, Virginia was paid about $15,000 (£9,400) by Epstein. ‘It was amazing money, more than I’d ever made on a trip with him before.

He didn’t say there was any special reason, but I felt like I’d done everything he wanted. He was very pleased.’
I took eight pills a day to help me forget what I had to do. It made me calm.

There is no suggestion that there was any sexual contact between Virginia and Andrew, or that Andrew knew that Epstein paid her to have sex with his friends.

However, the Prince must have been aware of Epstein’s conviction when he stayed with him in New York in December.

Virginia says she met Andrew for a second time around Easter 2001 at Epstein’s Manhattan mansion.

‘When I got to the mansion, I was told, “Get ready. You are meeting someone in the office” – which is what they called the library. Andrew was sitting there in a big leather armchair.

Ghislaine had just given him a present, a big toy that was his Spitting Image puppet. ‘He was smiling ear-to-ear. He looked like a kid whose parents were taking him to Disney World.

A beautiful girl called Johanna Sjoberg who worked for Jeffrey was sitting on Andrew’s knee. Ghislaine guided me over to Andrew and I think he recognised me, though I don’t know if he remembered my name.
Organiser: Ghislaine Maxwell looks on as Andrew put his arm around Virginia. Robert Maxwell's daughter invited her to work as Epstein's personal masseuse soon after her 15th birthday

Organiser: Ghislaine Maxwell looks on as Andrew put his arm around Virginia. Robert Maxwell's daughter invited her to work as Epstein's personal masseuse soon after her 15th birthday

We kissed on the cheek and Ghislaine placed me on his other knee.’ Johanna spoke to The Mail on Sunday three years ago about this incident, which took place when she was 21.

She said: ‘Ghislaine put the puppet’s hand on Virginia’s breast, then Andrew put his hand on my breast. It was a great joke. Everybody laughed.’ After this, Virginia was paid, by Epstein, around $400 (£250).’

She met Andrew for the third and final time on Epstein’s Caribbean island, Little Saint James. Virginia was never under the British legal age of consent when she met Andrew. She was 17 during the first two encounters and 18 at the third.
Conviction: Jeffrey Epstein

Conviction: Jeffrey Epstein

By now, however, Epstein, had started to hint that she was getting ‘too old’ for him.

But during one trip to the island, Epstein and Ghislaine made their most astonishing proposition, and one which repulsed her. ‘They said Jeffrey wanted me to have his child,’ she says.

‘They said I was part of their family and I was beautiful,young, loyal and nurturing and would be a great mother.

They said I would have to sign a contract relinquishing rights to the child and consenting to Jeffrey having as many relationships as he liked. In return I would have my own mansion in Palm Beach and a large monthly payment, a percentage of his income.’

This, finally, was a wake-up call to Virginia and she began to see the way in which she had been groomed.

‘It was a smack in the face,’ she says. ‘I finally realised this wasn’t ever going to be a real relationship but I knew if I refused, I’d be thrown back on the streets. So I said, “I’m too young. I want to get my massage credentials, then maybe we’ll do it”.’

The tycoon took her at her word and, for her 19th birthday in August 2002, flew her to Thailand where he enrolled her in a massage course.

Shortly after arriving there, she met an Australian martial arts expert called Robert. They fell in love and, just ten days later, married in a Buddhist ceremony.

‘I called Jeffrey and told him I’d fallen madly in love,’ Virginia says. ‘I was hoping he’d be delighted. But he said, “Have a nice life,” and hung up on me.’ The couple now have two sons, aged five and four, and a daughter who recently turned one.

‘The first few months after I married Robert were the worst,’ she says. ‘I couldn’t bring myself to tell him much. No man wants to know his wife has been traded out.

‘I felt very alone. I was having panic attacks and seeing a psychiatrist and was on anti-depressants.

’ Virginia was beginning to put her Epstein days behind her when, three years ago, she was phoned by the FBI.

‘They said they had found photos of me at Jeffrey’s Palm Beach house,’ she says. ‘[Epstein had] hidden cameras watching me the entire time even when I was in the bathroom. I was so embarrassed.

‘I told the FBI that my true purpose was sexual. They told me everything he did was illegal because I was under age.’ (The age of consent in Florida is 18).

‘They said that if it had to go to trial, they’d need me because I’d lived with him and that made me a key witness. I was very afraid, because he had so much power, but eventually I agreed to testify.

I was glad he’d finally been found out. He shouldn’t be hurting other girls. Following Epstein’s arrest, investigators are believed to have found a list of men’s names on his computer and asked him whether they had been ‘treated’ to sexual encounters with his menage of minors.

‘He took the Fifth Amendment, refusing to answer, indicating that if he were to answer the question, it could be incriminating,’ a source told The Mail on Sunday.

Epstein struck a deal resulting in what commentators characterised as a ‘slap on the wrist’ for him, and ended up serving 13 months of his sentence, much of it in a liberal work-release programme Lawyer Brad Edwards, who represented several of Epstein’s victims, said: ‘Rather than punish him the way they would an average Joe, they sent a clear message that with enough money and power and influence, the system can be bought.’

Virginia was spared her the humiliation of having to go before a jury, and has kept her feelings bottled up until last weekend’s photograph of Andrew with Epstein triggered distressing memories.

Virginia says: ‘I am appalled. To me, it’s saying, “We are above the law.” But Jeffrey is a monster.’

Last night, neither Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell nor Prince Andrew would comment on Virginia’s story.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1361039/Prince-Andrew-girl-17-sex-offender-friend-flew-Britain-meet-him.html#ixzz1KcLV6BD9

[TSLoverUK999]

I dunno - it's better than a photo of scousey Gerrard... ;)
http://www.whoateallthepies.tv/EMP-6029420.jpg

[robertlouis]

Oh FFS!!!

[katie_shemale]

Oh FFS!!!

I'm guessing your more in favour of this

http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk/polopoly_fs/wedding-sick-bag-photo-1.811444!image/1028041681.jpg_gen/derivatives/wholeColumn/1028041681.jpg

[SammiValentine]

Oh FFS!!!

hahahahahah but make sure you hide it after the wedding as after that bit of patriotism its then deemed a bit BNP like and you may incur racial tensions in the office place.

hahaha

[Jericho]

Oh FFS!!!

Kewl.
Just flash the Brit Card...Everywhere where we used to be great!

[LeatherTGirlLover]

I really should have booked a holiday abroad during this whole wedding crap

[Jericho]

I really should have booked a holiday abroad during this whole wedding crap

If some people hadn't of brought it up here, i wouldn't have known about it it!
Cunts!

[SammiValentine]

12 pages of royal wedding fun! keep it up!x

[traLika]

12 pages of royal wedding fun! keep it up!x

Your wish is my command. ;)

[traLika]

Sorry... Wrong Fergie!

[SammiValentine]

aaah thats more like it...... a right pair of cunts ;-)

[mellownella]

There is no real or viable alternative to the Royals...only Cromwell managed that! Christ could you have imagined a president Blair or Cameron. There really isn't enough vomit in the world. The Australians have had the vote on many times and don't trust their Chardonnay swilling idiots to take over either. The Queen is a focal point...and if we waste money on them so what...a president would find even better ways to spend your cash on faux faux middle class pomp. Me I prefer the real thing, with real history to it! Not ideal...but we put Charles the second back on the throne...it was better than the Cromwell hangers on!

[SammiValentine]

cromwell wore ladies panties. true story! i found a pair in a local excavation .

[traLika]

...... a right pair of cunts


Agreed! :)

[Ben]

Why the royal wedding is good for Britain

Boring? No way. The spectacle is bringing the country something it hasn't had for years: Unbridled patriotism

By Emma Mustich (http://www.salon.com/author/emma_mustich/index.html)


http://www.salon.com/life/feature/2011/04/26/royal_wedding_matters/md_horiz.jpg Reuters/iStockphoto/Salon
Prince William and Kate Middleton


Strolling through London's busy shopping district last week, I saw something I'd never seen before: Giant British flags hanging from the buildings, in evenly spaced rows of five, as far as the eye could see. Actually, I'd seen a photo of the flags on the cover of the Evening Standard (http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/royal-wedding/article-23942856-prince-william-and-kate-middleton-to-say-i-do-live-on-youtube.do) the night before, but the spectacle was stunning in person. In the spring breeze, the flags strained gently at their wires over the crowded thoroughfare. Here I was, just buying my afternoon sandwich, but my heart skipped a couple of beats.
In New York, such a spectacle would not be so unusual. But I have lived in the U.K. for the better part of three and a half years, and I cannot recall ever having seen such a naked display of British patriotism. Thanks to centuries in which the British empire waxed and waned (but mostly waned), Brits' default attitude to their homeland is mostly one of self-conscious apology rather than confident exceptionalism. But with the international spotlight turned back on the country, and a wedding that is just as fun to complain about as it is to embrace (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/picturegalleries/royalty/8404455/Quirky-Royal-Wedding-souvenirs.html), Britons seem to have rediscovered something they'd forgotten: national pride.
This comes, strangely enough, at a time when the outlook for most young people in Britain is not particularly bright. University tuition fees triple next year, while those just graduating face a bleak job market in which one in five will not find work. Cuts to arts, teaching, healthcare and other budgets have sparked violent protests in the past few months. And nearly everyone can claim some disappointment in the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition. In purely political terms, you wouldn't think this was a moment for singing the praises of the mother country. Enter William Wales and Kate Middleton.
Here is the beauty of the "royal touch" in the U.K.: Even as they deal with political tensions and economic malaise, the Brits can also host a tremendous party – a colossal celebration of Britishness to which all people, whatever their political allegiance, are invited. On the surface, this Friday's big event might be the wedding of two individuals, but in reality, it's bigger than that – it's a welcome and rare occasion for Brits to indulge in their own uniqueness. As Graham Norton wrote in the Sunday Times this weekend, in an open letter to William and Kate: "This isn't just your special day – it's ours, and we want it to be as lavish and regal as you can make it."
Americans have no experience separating power from politics. All our towering public figures are linked with a party or political philosophy, and when a president addresses the nation, he will naturally appeal to some voters and frustrate others. The British have polarizing political figures, too. But beyond that, they have a transcendent figurehead, familiar to all and objectionable to relatively few. (Elizabeth II has ruled for so long that even the sternest republicans must find it difficult to hate her personally, whatever their negative feelings about the institution of the monarchy.) The importance of this keystone of the British government should not be underestimated.
In the run-up to Friday's celebrations, Americans continue to ask why they should care about the wedding of a foreign prince and his fiancée. "Are the royals relevant?" is a common question. Of course they are.
In fact, there's a strong case that the royals are more relevant today than ever. To my mind, the monarchy has reached its ideal incarnation – with all the pomp and spectacle of a bygone era but none of the actual power. Unable to dictate laws or make pronouncements over their subjects, the royals are almost totally benign, and they stand for all Britons in a way that party politicians simply can't. They are "common," in the truest sense of that word: shared by all. Everyone has an equal opportunity to claim or to disown them; even those who prefer parodying them to paying homage are well within their rights. Though money is tight, hundreds of thousands of people will descend on London this Friday, some sleeping outside all night to secure a place along the processional route, just to celebrate –with genuine excitement – the marriage of two people they have never met. That, in itself, may be the best argument against irrelevance that there is.
Middle East revolutions and the effects of last month's devastating tsunami in Japan are doubtless worthier of our attention than speculation over Kate Middleton's dress, but occasionally it is therapeutic to indulge in something beautiful and frivolous. And in a flagging economy, festive TV ads, red-and-blue bunting inside pubs and cafes, and wedding-themed displays in High Street shops are good for morale as well as business. (Not to mention that Brits are getting two four-day weekends back-to-back. It's like the whole nation is on an extended vacation.)
I'll admit William and Kate are not the most thrilling royal couple ever to lock lips at the altar, but to say this wedding is boring on that count is missing the point. This isn't a wedding about two rich, attractive people. This is a wedding about early 21st-century Britons. It is, in fact, a perfect fulfillment of the royal family's primary duty to the people. At a time when political and financial woes tend to hijack the national discourse, and austerity looms on the horizon, the royal family has given the British people morale-boosting entertainment, a turbo-charged pop culture phenomenon that can excite or infuriate -- but is common to all.

[SammiValentine]

i think the kate and wills pieminister looks absolutely delightful and shall be scoffing two or three before supper.

[Jericho]

Erm...Yeah...Ok...What?
(No...I Couldn't be arsed to read all that either!)

[SammiValentine]

you need to be cool and word up a bit jericho, i know things are a bit slow to get to wales.... but you should say - INRAT (im not reading all that)

Ok ?xx

[Jericho]

Cheeky witch!
shadup, scouser!

[Jericho]

Just wait until you come to Llangollen again! ;-)

[robertlouis]

I'm guessing your more in favour of this

http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk/polopoly_fs/wedding-sick-bag-photo-1.811444!image/1028041681.jpg_gen/derivatives/wholeColumn/1028041681.jpg


I've got one, but it's full already and there are still two days to go.

Come on, who's for a trip across the channel on Friday where we can sit outside a cafe, get ratarsed on vin rouge and sing the marseillaise and the red flag all day?

I do have another way to pass the day, but it would involve your good self, Ms Valentine. Just think really dirty - but don't lie back and think of England.... :wiggle::party::whistle:

[robertlouis]

12 pages of royal wedding fun! keep it up!x


Oh fuck! HA has turned into a supplement for the fucking Daily Mail!

[SammiValentine]

Oh fuck! HA has turned into a supplement for the fucking Daily Mail!

hahah ochh aye but i cannea get enuff scottish in me???

[SammiValentine]

Just wait until you come to Llangollen again! ;-)

hahaha aaw am only trying to help you be cooooool !!! lets go to porthmdaog and buy ice cream !!! oooo i want to go see what woolworths has changed into there, i love going to towns all over the country and seeing what woolworths has changed into now theyre all shut- its a part of being british.

and its soooooooo exciting !!! come one lets go!!!

[Jericho]

Oh fuck! HA has turned into a supplement for the fucking Daily Mail!

Now that's just fukkin nasty!

[robertlouis]

hahah ochh aye but i cannea get enuff scottish in me???

Check two posts down, hen.

I'll even throw in some deep-fried mars bars for you.....:party:

[SammiValentine]

can we go hunting haggis in carlilse or something??? I know its not technically scotland but i get nosebleeds if i go to high up xx

[onmyknees]

Oh fuck! HA has turned into a supplement for the fucking Daily Mail!

There's gonna come a point when you all finally get sick and tired of the US media sticking a microphone up every British citizens ass wondering how they feel about the wedding. Mark my words. I saw them stalking Kate's parent's house on the evening news last night. They'll do an hour show on the guy who cleans the parents sewer...Do us a favor...confiscate their passports and keep them there..I assure you.......we won't miss them.

[Jericho]

hahah ochh aye but i cannea get enuff scottish in me???

Colour me surprised! :roll:
:tongue:

[robertlouis]

There's gonna come a point when you all finally get sick and tired of the US media sticking a microphone up every British citizens ass wondering how they feel about the wedding. Mark my words. I saw them stalking Kate's parent's house on the evening news last night. They'll do an hour show on the guy who cleans the parents sewer...Do us a favor...confiscate their passports and keep them there..I assure you.......we won't miss them.

Only if we can do a trade. Can you take all the Sky News knobheads please? They'll fit in perfectly with the gobshites on Fox.

Thank you!

[Jericho]

There's gonna come a point when you all finally get sick and tired of the US media sticking a microphone up every British citizens ass wondering how they feel about the wedding. Mark my words. I saw them stalking Kate's parent's house on the evening news last night. They'll do an hour show on the guy who cleans the parents sewer...Do us a favor...confiscate their passports and keep them there..I assure you.......we won't miss them.



Not for nothing but, that came and went long ago! :shrug

[SammiValentine]

There's gonna come a point when you all finally get sick and tired of the US media sticking a microphone up every British citizens ass wondering how they feel about the wedding. Mark my words. I saw them stalking Kate's parent's house on the evening news last night. They'll do an hour show on the guy who cleans the parents sewer...Do us a favor...confiscate their passports and keep them there..I assure you.......we won't miss them.

hahah we have a plan for them, dont you worry, it involves kidnapping them all, taking them to blackpool or southport, to a big theatre, then we tie them all up, so they cant move - then out from behind the red curtains come......... the chuckle brothers !!! haa, who are going to do a week long "show" non stop!!! no breaks!! for charity. ha ha ha that will teach them!!!!!!!!!!

[robertlouis]

can we go hunting haggis in carlilse or something??? I know its not technically scotland but i get nosebleeds if i go to high up xx

Whatever makes you happy, my dear....

But fuck, CARLISLE???

No wonder the Romans left it north of the wall.

[SammiValentine]

Whatever makes you happy, my dear....

But fuck, CARLISLE???

No wonder the Romans left it north of the wall.

its a date, me you, hunting haggis !

[Jericho]

and its soooooooo exciting !!! come one lets go!!!

Grrr, dammit, just fir the lulz!

[onmyknees]

Only if we can do a trade. Can you take all the Sky News knobheads please? They'll fit in perfectly with the gobshites on Fox.

Thank you!

gobshites? Must be limey slang. Does it mean highest rated cable network? I know...I have lots of News Corp stock.

[Jericho]

gobshites? Must be limey slang. Does it mean highest rated cable network? I know...I have lots of News Corp stock.


Gobshite
Look at my strapline

[robertlouis]

gobshites? Must be limey slang. Does it mean highest rated cable network? I know...I have lots of News Corp stock.

Over here the Sun, another NewsCorp product, outsells all the quality dailies put together. It's still shite though.

Fox News appears to prove the old adage that if you combine two things - telling the gullible only what they want to hear and then frightening the shit out of them about anything they don't like - you can't possibly go wrong.

It hasn't given the Daily Nazi, sorry Daily Mail, any problems here in the UK either.

[Jericho]

utter bollocks!

[robertlouis]

utter bollocks!

We know you do, old chap. All the time. :wiggle:

[SammiValentine]

eew the sun. *spits in ladylike manner*

[Jericho]

We know you do, old chap. All the time. :wiggle:

Someone has to put things in perspective, eh?
Now fuck off back over the the border yer stunted pict! :tongue:

[SammiValentine]

anyway back on to the wedding is anyone going to wear the cut out prince charles face masks from the daily mail ???

[robertlouis]

anyway back on to the wedding is anyone going to wear the cut out prince charles face masks from the daily mail ???

As should now be abundantly clear I wouldn't even wipe my arse on the Daily Nazi.

So that's a no.

[Jericho]

anyway back on to the wedding is anyone going to wear the cut out prince charles face masks from the daily mail ???

The what out of the what?
is that real or are you taking the piss?

(i don't know, do i!)

[SammiValentine]

hahahahaha

[robertlouis]

eew the sun. *spits in ladylike manner*

Thanks for reminding us of The Scum's finest hour, Sammi.

Bastards.

[SammiValentine]

on that note am off to bed, hope I can sleep, I dont know - what with the big day looming....

[SammiValentine]

Thanks for reminding us of The Scum's finest hour, Sammi.

Bastards.

well considering 12 days ago..... it will be fresh in lots of minds, and others, need the education.

x

[robertlouis]

Hey, just noticed Sammi.

WTF is a nice girl like you doing in Norwich when Cambridge is so much nicer, eh???

[SammiValentine]

cos my flat is in norwich ... and its a bit heavy to carry !! :D

* serious bit *. i do all my filming down there, well most of it and I have been "meating and greeting" in norfolk since err 2007 on and off... tbh i love it in the area but then again no place like home either... xx

[Jericho]

hahahahaha

Fukker!
I hope ya get emmaroids! :Bowdown::dancing::tongue:

[robertlouis]

cos my flat is in norwich ... and its a bit heavy to carry !! :D

I was going to suggest we meet halfway, but then I realised that that would be Thetford. Fuck....

[SammiValentine]

hahahaha hutning haggis in thetford forest. hmmmm :)

[SammiValentine]

Fukker!
I hope ya get emmaroids! :Bowdown::dancing::tongue:

hahaha are they like piles... which sort of kinda look like emma forbes face?:O :hide-1::hide-1:

[robertlouis]

hahahaha hutning haggis in thetford forest. hmmmm :)

Or I could show you 1000 things to do with a punt back down here.

Oh, I think there's a typo in that first sentence.....:geek:

[theone1982]

Did they get married yet? I've been in an alcohol infused haze the last few days in honor of the wedding and wasn't quite sure if it's happened yet!:) You know us Americans, we love drinking.....errr, I mean royal weddings!:)

[SammiValentine]

Or I could show you 1000 things to do with a punt back down here.

Oh, I think there's a typo in that first sentence.....:geek:

p.s alan partirdge is from norfolk to.. so thats why am here. aaah haaaaaaaaaa . kiss my face!

[SammiValentine]

Did they get married yet? I've been in an alcohol infused haze the last few days in honor of the wedding and wasn't quite sure if it's happened yet!:) You know us Americans, we love drinking.....errr, I mean royal weddings!:)


divorce papers are already being prepared - apparently

[theone1982]

divorce papers are already being prepared - apparently

She didn't even get a chance to be England's rose yet!:)

[robertlouis]

p.s alan partirdge is from norfolk to.. so thats why am here. aaah haaaaaaaaaa . kiss my face!

Norfolk, twinned with Arkansas. Be careful out there, little girl. :hide-1::dancing:

[natina]

Fuck royalty:iagree::wiggle:



i don't give a fuck about no king and queen


or monarch


royal blood bullshit


Fuck royalty


i don't give a fuck about no king and queen


or monarch


royal blood bullshit


Fuck royalty


i don't give a fuck about no king and queen


or monarch


royal blood bullshit


Fuck royalty


i don't give a fuck about no king and queen


or monarch


royal blood bullshit


Fuck royalty


i don't give a fuck about no king and queen


or monarch



royal blood bullshit





Fuck royalty:iagree::wiggle:



i don't give a fuck about no king and queen


or monarch


royal blood bullshit


Fuck royalty


i don't give a fuck about no king and queen


or monarch


royal blood bullshit


Fuck royalty


i don't give a fuck about no king and queen


or monarch


royal blood bullshit


Fuck royalty


i don't give a fuck about no king and queen


or monarch


royal blood bullshit


Fuck royalty


i don't give a fuck about no king and queen


or monarch



royal blood bullshit

[robertlouis]

Fuck royalty:iagree::wiggle:



i don't give a fuck about no king and queen


or monarch


royal blood bullshit


Fuck royalty


i don't give a fuck about no king and queen


or monarch


royal blood bullshit


Fuck royalty


i don't give a fuck about no king and queen


or monarch


royal blood bullshit


Fuck royalty


i don't give a fuck about no king and queen


or monarch


royal blood bullshit


Fuck royalty


i don't give a fuck about no king and queen


or monarch



royal blood bullshit

OK Natina, we get it.

Thank you lol.

[SammiValentine]

nah am not sure tbh. one more time for my benefit and dare i say for posterity!

[theone1982]

Hey, at least the royal family today isn't throwing people into the Tower of London and stealing peasant's land. Right? I mean Henry VIII would have had us all tarred and feathered and then marry and behead all the lovely ladies!:)

[robertlouis]

nah am not sure tbh. one more time for my benefit and dare i say for posterity!

Now my girl, you were going to bed more than half an hour ago. Drink that Horlicks down and I'll be up to tuck you in with a nice, ahem, bedtime story....:wiggle::party:

[robertlouis]

Hey, at least the royal family today isn't throwing people into the Tower of London and stealing peasant's land. Right? I mean Henry VIII would have had us all tarred and feathered and then marry and behead all the lovely ladies!:)

Don't believe everything you see on TV mate lol.

[theone1982]

Don't believe everything you see on TV mate lol.

I love that show! You mean it's all not true?!:)

[arnie666]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1380915/Royal-Wedding-guest-list-Gordon-Brown-Tony-Blair-snubbed.html

Best news of the day in my opinion . Both of them by rights should be strung up from the nearest lampost. I suspect the most ardent republican must snigger at the news, can you imagine the wide mouth frogs (cherie blair) face when she heard the news?,no shoving bits of royal china and cutlery in her hand bag to sell on ebay ...

Thats what you get for now curtseying to the queen bitch. And it also be useful to remind the Labour party that while one may be a druggie and all round low life the other two are traitors and murderers.


Now if only kate middleton will see sense and not marry the rapidly aging wills and see her place is to sit on my face instead.

[Nivek]

Is it any wonder With LILO in jail, Britney actually doing Good for herself and Paris Hilton off the radar, that American media wouldnt eat the royal wedding up n shove it in our faces every second?

[russtafa]

You poor Americans why did you fight your war of independence to have this shit pushed down your throats

[SammiValentine]

they like to bottom from the top ;-)

[robertlouis]

The Guardian has given over all of its daily G2 supplement to the wedding today.

This cartoon pretty well sums up my attitude - I'm the guy in the box, by the way.

[BigDF]

You poor Americans why did you fight your war of independence to have this shit pushed down your throatsDamned if I know! It's as if nothing else is happening in the world!:(

[robertlouis]

they like to bottom from the top ;-)

That's VERY smart, and funny! :Bowdown:

[Ben]

I'm not a fan of Alex Jones. But he does come up with some entertaining ideas about stuff -- :)

YouTube - Secrets of the Royal Wedding Exposed! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-I3l7wYmUyU)

[robertlouis]

I'm not a fan of Alex Jones. But he does come up with some entertaining ideas about stuff -- :)

YouTube - Secrets of the Royal Wedding Exposed! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-I3l7wYmUyU)

I'm no fan of the royal family, as I've made apparent on this thread, but all I could take of this drivel was about two minutes.

Sorry Ben, I tend to agree with you on most things, but this guy is a gobshite.

Tyranny of the King in 1776? It was a constitutional monarchy even back then - Lord North, the Prime Minister of the day, was the real villain, and as always, the main issue wasn't oppression directly, it was tax revenue.

Prince Philip, whom I detest as an unreconstructed racist, is Greek, not German, and to suggest that because he has a cousin who was allied to the nazis implicates him somehow is both dumb and offensive.

There's more, but I can' give up almost 9 minutes of my life to this travesty.

Was this guy too dumb even for Fox News? Hard to believe I know, but was he?

Give me a break.

[robertlouis]

I'm no fan of the royal family, as I've made apparent on this thread, but all I could take of this drivel was about two minutes.

Sorry Ben, I tend to agree with you on most things, but this guy is a gobshite.

Tyranny of the King in 1776? It was a constitutional monarchy even back then - Lord North, the Prime Minister of the day, was the real villain, and as always, the main issue wasn't oppression directly, it was tax revenue.

Prince Philip, whom I detest as an unreconstructed racist, is Greek, not German, and to suggest that because he has a cousin who was allied to the nazis implicates him somehow is both dumb and offensive.

There's more, but I can' give up almost 9 minutes of my life to this travesty.

Was this guy too dumb even for Fox News? Hard to believe I know, but was he?

Give me a break.


Fuck, I can't believe it, I've just spent five minutes defending the royal family!

There goes my bid to be first president of the People's Republic of Great Britain lol.

[robertlouis]

Temporary salvation!

Live snooker most of Friday on BBC2. Phew. :cheers:

Yes, I'm THAT desperate lol.

[phobun]

The Smiths -- The Queen is Dead

YouTube - THE QUEEN IS DEAD (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNgMJnU8Q5o)

[robertlouis]

The Smiths -- The Queen is Dead

YouTube - THE QUEEN IS DEAD (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNgMJnU8Q5o)

Christ, no - don't tempt fate like that.

We'll be saddled with Bigears and his Horse.

[theone1982]

I'm no fan of the royal family, as I've made apparent on this thread, but all I could take of this drivel was about two minutes.

Sorry Ben, I tend to agree with you on most things, but this guy is a gobshite.

Tyranny of the King in 1776? It was a constitutional monarchy even back then - Lord North, the Prime Minister of the day, was the real villain, and as always, the main issue wasn't oppression directly, it was tax revenue.

Prince Philip, whom I detest as an unreconstructed racist, is Greek, not German, and to suggest that because he has a cousin who was allied to the nazis implicates him somehow is both dumb and offensive.

There's more, but I can' give up almost 9 minutes of my life to this travesty.

Was this guy too dumb even for Fox News? Hard to believe I know, but was he?

Give me a break.

Yes, but King George III was insane.:) Lord North, the jury's still out.:) Besides, my favorite Prime Minister is Pitt the Younger. Take that Napoleon!:)

[robertlouis]

Yes, but King George III was insane.:) Lord North, the jury's still out.:) Besides, my favorite Prime Minister is Pitt the Younger. Take that Napoleon!:)

Hmm, for me, Churchill as a war leader (though hopeless in peacetime). He probably saved the world in the dark days of 1940-41 while you guys were getting your shit together. Peacetime, Attlee - no contest.

As for *spit* Thatcher.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0oEILm5vWY

[theone1982]

Hmm, for me, Churchill as a war leader (though hopeless in peacetime). He probably saved the world in the dark days of 1940-41 while you guys were getting your shit together. Peacetime, Attlee - no contest.

As for *spit* Thatcher.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0oEILm5vWY

Churchill, no doubt. What, no Tony Blair?:)

[robertlouis]

Churchill, no doubt. What, no Tony Blair?:)

Yeah yeah. Blair betrayed me and millions of others who voted for him.

BTW, that Elvis Costello song is about as venomous as you'll ever hear.

[SammiValentine]

so getting close now, i bet you for one robert is getting wedding belly, you know those little butterflies and you cant quite sleep cos your so excited.

Discuss
x

[traLika]

Wow! Was a bit surprised by this William and Kate interview... ;)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdhKuP5yodE&feature=related

[Ben]

I'm no fan of the royal family, as I've made apparent on this thread, but all I could take of this drivel was about two minutes.

Sorry Ben, I tend to agree with you on most things, but this guy is a gobshite.

Tyranny of the King in 1776? It was a constitutional monarchy even back then - Lord North, the Prime Minister of the day, was the real villain, and as always, the main issue wasn't oppression directly, it was tax revenue.

Prince Philip, whom I detest as an unreconstructed racist, is Greek, not German, and to suggest that because he has a cousin who was allied to the nazis implicates him somehow is both dumb and offensive.

There's more, but I can' give up almost 9 minutes of my life to this travesty.

Was this guy too dumb even for Fox News? Hard to believe I know, but was he?

Give me a break.


As I said, well, I'm not a fan of Alex Jones. But he's entertaining.... Like Howard Stern is entertaining... :)
Alex Jones is, yep, an entertainer. He says, which isn't true, that the Queen shut down the Canadian parliament. Not true. It was the Canadian PM Stephen Harper. The Queen, um, as far as I know -- ha! ha!... oh! God!, Alex Jones is gettin' to me -- ha! ha!... does not involve herself in the internal affairs of Canada.
But, as Alex Jones pointed out, the disturbing bit is that: at least eight Mid-East dictators are set to attend the Royal Wedding.
Quoting from the International Business Times: "The invitation that provoked the fiercest outcry was the one to The Crown Prince of Bahrain, whose regime has killed several protesters and injured hundreds in bloody crackdowns. Other invited royals whose regimes were embroiled in suppressing protesters in 2011 include Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait and Morocco."
Can anyone explain that??? I think that's outrageous. Well, Royalty is antithetical to meaningful democracy, to freedom, to building up a broad middle class. Even to rudimentary parliamentary democracy.
I mean, America was founded on a complete rejection of Royalty.

[Ben]

Thursday, Apr 28, 2011 13:01 ET Royal wedding proves media's top-down ways

Americans don't care about William and Kate -- but the press won't let that put a damper on their constant coverage

By David Sirota (http://www.salon.com/author/david_sirota/index.html)


Probably since Gutenberg developed the printing press -- and certainly since the dawn of television -- there's been a chicken-or-egg debate about the mass media: Do content creators shape their product to reflect what the audience already wants? Or do content creators shape their product to reflect their own personal interests, and then force-feed that product to the audience?
Though it's likely a fluctuating combination of the two, it's never a perfectly balanced mix. In the sculpting of what we read, hear and see, either the audience's desires or the content creators' proclivities play a lead role -- and now, thanks to the British royal wedding, we can definitively show it is the latter.
Let's start with what the audience wants -- or does not want. According to a new New York Times/CBS poll (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/23/world/europe/23royals.html), just 6 percent of Americans have been following the buzz about Prince William and Kate Middleton's nuptials. This is in line with an earlier "60 Minutes"/Vanity Fair survey finding that "65 percent of Americans have no interest in Prince William's pending marriage and only a small minority are paying attention," according to Reuters (http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/01/31/us-usa-poll-idUSTRE70U5V120110131).
Now compare this public opinion data with the vast resources that major American media outlets are spending to send teams of reporters to cover the wedding in 24/7 breaking-news fashion. Indeed, the American media is so uninterested in what the American audience wants that Nielsen (http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/online_mobile/royal-wedding-buzz/) this week reported that U.S. media outlets are devoting exponentially more coverage to the royal wedding than the British themselves.
The numbers paint a portrait of top-down propaganda: Americans care even less about the wedding than the British do (http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2067262,00.html), but the American media has nonetheless decided to cover the wedding far more extensively than the British media.

The data provides significant insights into the creation of "news" -- insights that go beyond the understanding that the American media has now fully embraced the old royalty-obsessed tabloid ethos. That's been obvious for a long time. So has the fact -- confirmed by this data -- that a lot of "news" is today manufactured by a media establishment that's utterly out of touch with and/or uninterested in the mass audience.
But, through the ubiquitous, audience-defying coverage of the royal wedding, we also learn that "newsworthy" now truly means "anything related to the worship of very rich people." In some sense, that's no surprise -- the establishment media celebrating the taxpayer-subsidized British royal family is the same establishment media that continues to bill taxpayer-subsidized bankers (http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2008/03/18/jpmorgans-12-billion-bailout/) as great American heroes (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/05/magazine/05Dimon-t.html). This is the same establishment media that insists it's tough to live on $300,000 (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/15/AR2009081502957.html) or even $500,000 a year (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/08/fashion/08halfmill.html) and the same establishment media that didn't flinch (http://www.openleft.com/diary/8887/) when votes for the Wall Street bailout were likened to the courageous votes for civil rights in the 1960s. I could go on, but you get the point -- a media dominated by six- and seven-figure salaried reporters is now organized around the deification of nine- and 10-figure wealth -- and no humans better epitomize such largesse than the British monarchy.
We also learn that media executives' standard response to criticism of its news decisions -- "We'd like to cover that foreign war but we don't have resources for stories the audience may not be interested in" -- is a steaming pile of horseshit. At a moment's notice, every major American media outlet has had no problem mustering the huge resources necessary to instantly dispatch massive teams of reporters to London for a story most Americans don't care about. That means every major American media outlet was capable of, say, better investigating WMD claims in the lead-up to Iraq, and it also means every major American media outlet is capable of better covering the casualties piling up in Afghanistan.
But "capable of" is different from "willing to," and the wall-to-wall coverage of William and Kate prove it's always been a matter of will -- or lack thereof.



David Sirota is a best-selling author of the new book "Back to Our Future: How the 1980s Explain the World We Live In Now." He hosts the morning show on AM760 in Colorado.

[theone1982]

Just saw a badass British colonel on CNN talking about his role in the wedding. Pretty interesting. "Keep a stiff upper lip old chap!":)

[robertlouis]

As I said, well, I'm not a fan of Alex Jones. But he's entertaining.... Like Howard Stern is entertaining... :)
Alex Jones is, yep, an entertainer. He says, which isn't true, that the Queen shut down the Canadian parliament. Not true. It was the Canadian PM Stephen Harper. The Queen, um, as far as I know -- ha! ha!... oh! God!, Alex Jones is gettin' to me -- ha! ha!... does not involve herself in the internal affairs of Canada.
But, as Alex Jones pointed out, the disturbing bit is that: at least eight Mid-East dictators are set to attend the Royal Wedding.
Quoting from the International Business Times: "The invitation that provoked the fiercest outcry was the one to The Crown Prince of Bahrain, whose regime has killed several protesters and injured hundreds in bloody crackdowns. Other invited royals whose regimes were embroiled in suppressing protesters in 2011 include Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait and Morocco."
Can anyone explain that??? I think that's outrageous. Well, Royalty is antithetical to meaningful democracy, to freedom, to building up a broad middle class. Even to rudimentary parliamentary democracy.
I mean, America was founded on a complete rejection of Royalty.



I agree pretty much with everything you say in those last two paras, Ben. I am after all a UK republican - yes, we do exist. And there has no doubt been an amusing series of cartwheels by royal equerries and foreign office staff in hopeless attempts to somehow justify the continuing attendance of certain countries whose human rights records are pretty appalling. (I could cite the US, rendition, use of torture and Guantanamo but that would be cheap, so I won't lol).

But to a very large extent, the royals themselves are probably blameless and uninvolved in all of this latest bout of diplomat silliness. As I've said before, I'm a republican, but my issues are largely with the institution and its effects rather than the people.

Except Prince Andrew - now he IS a cunt!

[kukm4]

YouTube - William and Kate - alternative 'proposal' interview (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HiXQHBeC2dI)

[robertlouis]

so getting close now, i bet you for one robert is getting wedding belly, you know those little butterflies and you cant quite sleep cos your so excited.

Discuss
x


How did you guess, Sammi? I've been baking fairycakes and hanging out bunting all day until I'm quite exhausted.

Aye, right. My home city, Glasgow, isn't organising one single street party tomorrow, btw. And don't come back on that one, Ms V, because you know I can top anything you say with an unnecessarily stereotypical but nasty comment about scousers. :dancing: I'll be watching on telly to see if you're out there waving your union jack, but it's probably best to keep it in your jeans, decorum for the day and all that.

Anyway, those who are going to watch and celebrate, enjoy. :dancing::party::cheers:

I've got bigger and better causes to go to the barricades for, starting with shiny-faced Dave and his cuts.

Sorry, that should have read "cunts".

[theone1982]

I agree pretty much with everything you say in those last two paras, Ben. I am after all a UK republican - yes, we do exist. And there has no doubt been an amusing series of cartwheels by royal equerries and foreign office staff in hopeless attempts to somehow justify the continuing attendance of certain countries whose human rights records are pretty appalling. (I could cite the US, rendition, use of torture and Guantanamo but that would be cheap, so I won't lol).

But to a very large extent, the royals themselves are probably blameless and uninvolved in all of this latest bout of diplomat silliness. As I've said before, I'm a republican, but my issues are largely with the institution and its effects rather than the people.

Except Prince Andrew - now he IS a cunt!

But Prince Andrew only accepted kickbacks from foreign countries, associated with a convicted sex offender, and had all sorts of financial misadventures. No big deal!:)

[robertlouis]

But Prince Andrew only accepted kickbacks from foreign countries, associated with a convicted sex offender, and had all sorts of financial misadventures. No big deal!:)

I guess so. You guys can have him if you want him.

[theone1982]

I guess so. You guys can have him if you want him.

I think we have plenty of cunts already!:)

[robertlouis]

Well, the day has dawned and the rest of the nation has gone Wills and Kate mental.

I'm going to bed. Wake me when it's all over please.

[SammiValentine]

hahah Wedding Fever builds.... already been asked do i do "royal wedding roleplay" hahahhaha ok am lying but its going on my provided services list.......:D

[Prospero]

which role will you play tho? It is a feast for the imagination.

[rodinuk]

Well I sincerely wish them all the best for a happy and long married life together :)

[natina]

breaking news


a famous/popular ts outs prince WILLIAMS and tells all the bedroom secrets and his fantasies





Fuck royalty:iagree::wiggle:




i don't give a fuck about no king and queen


or monarch


royal blood bullshit


Fuck royalty


i don't give a fuck about no king and queen


or monarch


royal blood bullshit


Fuck royalty


i don't give a fuck about no king and queen


or monarch


royal blood bullshit


Fuck royalty


i don't give a fuck about no king and queen


or monarch


royal blood bullshit


Fuck royalty


i don't give a fuck about no king and queen


or monarch



royal blood bullshit

[NatashaLover]

Anyone else from HA was invited? I am flying into London today, can't wait to get there!! :)

[Willie Escalade]

Anyone else from HA was invited? I am flying into London today, can't wait to get there!! :)
Nope...and besides, if I WAS invited, I'd decline...I have to work! :ignore:

[traLika]

Anyone else from HA was invited? I am flying into London today, can't wait to get there!! :)


lol You'll need a very fast plane (and a time machine) to get there in time!

BTW, love your new avatar, Natasha!

[Prospero]

I wish em all the best too. Beyond all the pomp and circumstance and all of that they're too young people. Trying to get through this world alive.

[NatashaLover]

lol You'll need a very fast plane (and a time machine) to get there in time!

BTW, love your new avatar, Natasha!

I know, After I post it I went to the internet and saw they already got married! LOL Shit!!! I had to post this yesterday not today! Now people will know I was lying all the way. :)
Thanks traLika! :salad

[Jackal]

At least now all this media garbage can be over....


LOVE TO SEE NATASHA, SHE IS STUNNING!!!! VERY SEXY PIC

[AllanahStarrNYC]

It was so beautiful, perfect and a McQueen dress, how modern!!

[TJ347]

This was definitely a "woman" thing. Girls who grew up imagining themselves to be princesses surely watched the event in awe, seeing in Kate Middleton something of their own childhood dreams. I suspect for men, at least in the United States, comparable interest might be shown when a new president is inaugurated... but on second thought, the level of interest would still be neglible by comparison. So I guess we're left with sporting events, fellas. Lucky us.

[Willie Escalade]

...I guess we're left with sporting events, fellas. Lucky us.
Damn right. Lakers/Mavericks!

This is the best picture from the wedding, by far...:ignore:

[BLKGSXR]

Damn right. Lakers/Mavericks!

This is the best picture from the wedding, by far...:ignore:
I know right even the little kid on the left is like omfg!

[theone1982]

Having watched some of the wedding today, I have to to say the pomp and pageantry was really overwhelming and fascinating. Watching this, it struck me as amazing to think back to the French citizens in the French Revolution beheading Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. Can you imagine the state of mind it took to rebel against such an overwhelming and intimidating force as monarchy and then executing them? Obviously, the British royal family is basically a figurehead today, and even before the English Civil War it was still a slightly less all-pervading force than the French monarchy of the 17th and 18th centuries. But still, those bewildering, stunning visuals are very similar, and it must have been even more impressive back then.

[russtafa]

Well after that wedding I'm a confirmed republican

[robertlouis]

hahah Wedding Fever builds.... already been asked do i do "royal wedding roleplay" hahahhaha ok am lying but its going on my provided services list.......:D

Gosh Sammi, well done! That Damehood (see what I did there? :whistle: ) can't be far behind. I'm practising my bow already....

[robertlouis]

Well after that wedding I'm a confirmed republican

Yes, well, I've blown my republican credentials. Sitting here at the keyboard only to realise that I was supping Duchy Originals mushroom soup and drinking Duchy Originals Earl Grey Tea, both supplied by Prince Charles' organic foods company.....

And they were both actually rather good.

[onmyknees]

Having watched some of the wedding today, I have to to say the pomp and pageantry was really overwhelming and fascinating. Watching this, it struck me as amazing to think back to the French citizens in the French Revolution beheading Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. Can you imagine the state of mind it took to rebel against such an overwhelming and intimidating force as monarchy and then executing them? Obviously, the British royal family is basically a figurehead today, and even before the English Civil War it was still a slightly less all-pervading force than the French monarchy of the 17th and 18th centuries. But still, those bewildering, stunning visuals are very similar, and it must have been even more impressive back then.


I said previously..they seem like a real nice couple and if you're inclined to look to royality to set an example, I'm sure they'll do that just fine. I don't have that inclination...But what are you all to make of Royality? The Prince's mother was a commoner, and now his wife. I guess Royality just ain't what it used to be......thankfully. I watched as well for about 30 seconds , wished them well, and went about other things. I'd reached the
saturation point about a week ago. And now the US press can quickly transition from the Royal Wedding to Lidnsey Lohan's next court appearence.

[robertlouis]

I said previously..they seem like a real nice couple and if you're inclined to look to royality to set an example, I'm sure they'll do that just fine. I don't have that inclination...But what are you all to make of Royality? The Prince's mother was a commoner, and now his wife. I guess Royality just ain't what it used to be......thankfully. I watched as well for about 30 seconds , wished them well, and went about other things. I'd reached the
saturation point about a week ago. And now the US press can quickly transition from the Royal Wedding to Lidnsey Lohan's next court appearence.

Diana was Lady Diana Spencer, daughter of one of the premier Earldoms in the country, so not quite a commoner, omk. But her lasting legacy, I think, will be to demystify and humanise what still remains for the most part a distant and fusty institution.

And I'm still a republican! :)

[TJ347]

Now all I'm hearing about is someone named "Pippa". I'm sick of this royal... shit!

[natina]

Samuel l Jackson was told he had to ask permission or get a nod before he could talk to the king and queen but Samuel Jackson the actor said this is America



http://jameskillough.wordpress.com/2011/04/26/sir-samuel-l-jackson-ass-kicker/
England has contributed nothing of value to humankind other than some good pop music, can’t the English be happy that I said they have some good pop music?

[robertlouis]

Samuel l Jackson was told he had to ask permission or get a nod before he could talk to the king and queen but Samuel Jackson the actor said this is America


England has contributed nothing of value to humankind other than some good pop music, can’t the English be happy that I said they have some good pop music?

Oh yeah? How about parliamentary democracy, universal suffrage, decriminalisation of homosexuality, the national health service?

There's more, but that's just the big stuff for starters. And I'm not even English, for fuck's sake.

[theone1982]

Oh yeah? How about parliamentary democracy, universal suffrage, decriminalisation of homosexuality, the national health service?

There's more, but that's just the big stuff for starters. And I'm not even English, for fuck's sake.

How about the Magna Carta, freeing Europe from Emperor Napoleon, or being a bulwark against fascism during WW2?

[TJ347]

How about "Fawlty Towers", "Absolutely Fabulous", or "Coupling"? Wait... We're knocking the Brits, right?

[nevada64]

How about the Magna Carta, freeing Europe from Emperor Napoleon, or being a bulwark against fascism during WW2?

It's refreshing to see some people know their history. :claps

[robertlouis]

How about "Fawlty Towers", "Absolutely Fabulous", or "Coupling"? Wait... We're knocking the Brits, right?

Wow, everyone knows Fawlty Towers and AbFab, but Coupling! - you've got taste, TJ. "Friends" for grown-ups.

If you like that, you've got to get hold of another BBC comedy - Pulling. You'll love it, I promise!

[Prospero]

Five in the morning - or earlier - and you are sipping duchy tea? Must be lighter over there in the fens

[Prospero]

Or is the excitement from yesterday has you soooo excited you cannae sleep?

[robertlouis]

It's refreshing to see some people know their history. :claps

Yep, it's interesting to see all this weighed in the balance with a perceived snub to a film star. FFS!!!

And let's add the steam engine, railways, penicillin, inoculation, anaesthetic, and, of course, the English language.

[TJ347]

The steam engine? I think you may want to check that, because I've got a source that says otherwise. And was Pasteur an Englishman? Didn't know that. In fact, I think I'll check up on that, to say nothing of a few other things you mention. I'll leave railways and the English language go though.

[robertlouis]

Or is the excitement from yesterday has you soooo excited you cannae sleep?

Fuck aff ye English bastard ye. lol

[TJ347]

Samuel l Jackson was told he had to ask permission or get a nod before he could talk to the king and queen but Samuel Jackson the actor said this is America


And who, pray tell, is the king?

[robertlouis]

The steam engine? I think you may want to check that, because I've got a source that says otherwise. And was Pasteur an Englishman? Didn't know that. In fact, I think I'll check up on that, to say nothing of a few other things you mention. I'll leave railways and the English language go though.


OK, the steam engine was built by James Watt, a fellow Scot, as was Alexander Fleming, who discovered penicillin, and Lister who developed anaesthesia. [Inoculation was discovered by Jenner, an English doctor, in the 18th century].

Damn, you've spotted my agenda. For a wee country at the wild arse-end of Europe, Scotland's given quite a lot to the world.

[Prospero]

Robert Louis - why aren't you giving us namechecks of some of those great Scottish liberal thinkers and philosophers as well... Hume etc

[Prospero]

The King is Elvis - I assume - and Julian Clary is the Queen. What kinda circles do you move in!

[nevada64]

Don't forget HP Steak Sauce & Coleman's Mustard. Yum.

[theone1982]

OK, the steam engine was built by James Watt, a fellow Scot, as was Alexander Fleming, who discovered penicillin, and Lister who developed anaesthesia. [Inoculation was discovered by Jenner, an English doctor, in the 18th century].

Damn, you've spotted my agenda. For a wee country at the wild arse-end of Europe, Scotland's given quite a lot to the world.

And don't forget Scotland's favorite son, Rowdy Roddy Piper!:):dancing:

[robertlouis]

Robert Louis - why aren't you giving us namechecks of some of those great Scottish liberal thinkers and philosophers as well... Hume etc

And the greatest of them all and one of the finest humanists.

Burns.

[robertlouis]

And don't forget Scotland's favorite son, Rowdy Roddy Piper!:):dancing:

Favourite son? Who the fuck is he? :confused:

[Prospero]

Britain has given nothing to the world......Newton, Stephen Hawking, Liz Taylor, Monty Python, The Goons, Peter Sellers,Richard Burton, Alec Guiness, Peter O'Toole, Julie Christie, Terence Stamp, Alfred Hitchcock, David Lean, Shakespeare, Milton, The cavalier poets, Elgar, Vaughan Williams, Gainsborough, Turner, Constable, the indian legal system,..... yawn..... a random handful. want more

[robertlouis]

Robert Louis - why aren't you giving us namechecks of some of those great Scottish liberal thinkers and philosophers as well... Hume etc

Francis Hutcheson, Alexander Campbell, David Hume, Adam Smith, Thomas Reid, Robert Burns, Adam Ferguson, John Playfair, Joseph Black and James Hutton.

Enough to be going on with, I think. I was fortunate to be educated in Glasgow at the school Hutcheson founded, Hutcheson's Grammar.

[Prospero]

Billy Connolly, Jimmy Shand, kenneth McKellar.....

[theone1982]

Favourite son? Who the fuck is he? :confused:

Only one of the most famous professional wrestlers of all time!:)Roddy Piper - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia@@AMEPARAM@@/wiki/File:HOT_ROD!.jpg" class="image"><img alt="" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/bb/HOT_ROD%21.jpg/200px-HOT_ROD%21.jpg"@@AMEPARAM@@commons/thumb/b/bb/HOT_ROD%21.jpg/200px-HOT_ROD%21.jpg (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roddy_Piper)

[Prospero]

Wee Willie Harris

[robertlouis]

Britain has given nothing to the world......Newton, Stephen Hawking, Liz Taylor, Monty Python, The Goons, Peter Sellers,Richard Burton, Alec Guiness, Peter O'Toole, Julie Christie, Terence Stamp, Alfred Hitchcock, David Lean, Shakespeare, Milton, The cavalier poets, Elgar, Vaughan Williams, Gainsborough, Turner, Constable, the indian legal system,..... yawn..... a random handful. want more

The Beatles, the Stones, Joanna Jet, Liberty Harkness, Sammi Valentine. Shemale Yum, your girls took one hell of a beating!

[Prospero]

McMuddy Waters