Letters to the editor: The monarchy is a money-maker for the UK

Britain's King Charles III and Queen Camilla are pictured with members of the working royal family. Photo / Hugo Burnand / Royal Household via AP

Opinion

With regard to columnist Shaneel Lal saying that Britain’s outdated monarchy should go (Opinion, May 9): have you ever been to London and seen the crowds outside Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle or the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh?

Try getting a ticket to go into Buckingham Palace when it is open for a few weeks a year. Events such as Trooping the Colour are also sold out months in advance.

The money spent on accommodation, food and shopping by tourists also creates jobs. My family in London tried to get a coffee the Sunday after the coronation, but all the cafes near the parade had run out.

Royalty, while costing, also makes money for the whole country.

Wendy Galloway

Ōmokoroa

Stadium proposal short-sighted

Regarding the Tauranga stadium proposal - in my opinion, it is colossally shortsighted vandalism.

A stadium at this site is worse than unnecessary.

Our CBD green space is too precious to further cannibalise.

We should spend the money on an accumulating fund to be used to ameliorate the effects of climate change.

Brian Dwyer

Welcome Bay

Scooters the answer to congestion

The answer to the congestion and city parking in Tauranga could be solved by following the examples of other cities in Europe.

They encourage the use of scooters. We allow scooters of up to 50cc cheap registration fees, but they aren’t big enough to be safe. I have a 150cc scooter which, although not fast enough for the open road, is more than adequate for around town. It’s cheap to run (I spend about $15 a month on fuel) and you can park easily.

So, what’s the downside? The registration is $460 per year. You can register three cars for that.

Come on, politicians - be like France and make scooters free from registration.

Don Wallis

Katikati

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