Letter: Royal wedding a well-placed distraction

At last flying officer Wales, a future king, has proposed marriage to, and been accepted by, Ms Kate Middleton (your report, 17 November). It would be churlish not to offer one's best wishes to them until one wonders at the timing of the announcement.

No sooner has the coalition government decided to gauge the "happiness" of the country than a piece of news appears that is guaranteed to fill newspaper column inches with "good news" ad nauseum and, hopefully, deflect the thoughts of the nation on to something less worrying.

Is this perhaps a conspiracy theory too far, or is it just a reflection of the cynicism that has been borne through the events that brought the country to its knees?

The announcement has also been made that the happy couple will bear in mind the financial storm facing the country while the plans for the wedding go ahead.

Perhaps they will, but the public purse will still be required to stump up to cover the costs of the hordes of foreign dignitaries who will doubtless attend the wedding, and this at a time of national austerity.

It might be more in tune with the feelings of the public if Prince Charles contributed to the cost, or better yet, if the Queen put up some of the money.

Brian Allan

Keith Street

Kincardine-on-Forth, Alloa

The hysteria witnessed at the announcement of the engagement of Prince William and Kate Middleton has raised tabloid hysteria to a new level. This story will dominate the headlines now for at least the next year and a half.

It is frivolous, irrelevant and ultimately a distraction by the capitalist class while they employ their ruthless system cuts to education, welfare, pay, services and the NHS.

It is quite vulgar that in this time of moral nihilism the public are being asked to cut back on expenditure on the one hand yet is being asked to subsidise the wedding of this dysfunctional family whose wealth runs into the billions.

There seems to be about as much enthusiasm for this wedding amongst the public as there is for watching a bunch of snails doing the hundred metres.

When the sham marriage of Prince Charles was taking place to Princess Diana it was announced on that day that 3 million people were on the dole. Also, that summer Britain saw a summer of inner city rioting caused by the policies of the Thatcher government. It seems history is about to repeat itself.

Alan Hinnrichs

Gillespie Terrace

Dundee

Kate Middleton belonged to the group of well-off, privately educated young women to be found at St Andrews University and known collectively as the "hair-flickers".

They are tall, striking and usually (but not necessarily) blonde - typically wearing Barbours, pashminas, tailored tweed jackets, padded bodywarmers and pearls.

They are mainly English but if not they are "preppy" American transfer students from the Ivy League, notable for an even greater awareness of family lineage.Some may even be Scots but these will have accents just as cut-glass as their southern sisters though they are generally more skilled on the ski slopes.

As a group they are highly decorative, lifting the spirits on a winter's day in the auld grey toun, and geriatric natives such as myself would be quite lost without them.

(Dr) John Cameron

Howard Place

St Andrews, Fife

I was delighted to hear of the impending nuptials of Prince William and Kate Middleton.

As a future king and head of his faith, I am sure that the prince is aware of his responsibility as an upholder of that faith and that both he and Ms Middleton will be virgins on their wedding night.

This fine, upstanding and chaste young man is such a contrast to his tawdry father whose adulterous antics with Camilla Parker Bowles would, in a more moral age, have rendered him unfit to be king.

John Eoin Douglas

Spey Terrace

Edinburgh