Do we really need yet another royal pantomime? - Vladimir McTavish

On Wednesday, I had arranged to have a meeting across town with a comedy producer but I was puzzled as to how our normally efficient bus service had ground to a standstill.

The procession on the Royal Mile on Wednesday

I had totally forgotten that King Charles was going to be crowned again, or re-crowned or given a sword or whatever it was that involved shutting off streets in the Old Town so that a bunch of guys in fancy dress could ride horses up the Royal Mile. I shudder to think of the volume of methane emissions that created.

It was only when I turned on the BBC News at lunchtime that I remembered. In fact, that was the sum total of Wednesday’s network news and Reporting Scotland. Both of which were cut short so that they could do a live broadcast of the whole shebang. It was like watching telly in North Korea.

So three cheers for the people who lined the High Street to boo. The whole thing is a pantomime after all. And hats off too to Lorna Slater and Patrick Harvie for sticking up two fingers to the whole obscenity. I heard some pompous oaf in the Scottish Tory Party describing their stance as “student politics”. As if that were an insult.

Personally I would rather listen to the political views of a still-being-educated 23 year-old than the poisonous trash that comes out of the mouths of people like Craig Hoy.

Huw Edwards on the BBC droned on about the people of Scotland welcoming their king. I wonder how many Scottish people were actually in the crowds lining the Royal Mile? OK, there were probably a few hundred Rangers fans, but I’m reckoning there were loads of tourists. If not, there should have been, as we are always told how much the royals benefit tourism. They might have spent £250 million on the first coronation but it did bring tourists flocking into London.

But do we really need any more tourists in London and Edinburgh? We already have loads of visitor attractions like ghost tours, history tours and Harry Potter tours. Why don’t they hold royal events in places that really need tourists, like Ardrossan? Likewise, shouldn’t VisitScotland ask JK Rowling to write her next blockbuster in a cafe in Inverkeithing or Methil?