Gretchen Parlato: Stay In The Moment

Enlarge David Bartolomi/Courtesy of the artist

As a jazz singer and a vocal coach, Gretchen Parlato is in demand.

David Bartolomi/Courtesy of the artist

As a jazz singer and a vocal coach, Gretchen Parlato is in demand.

Hear the Music

Read our critic's review of 'The Lost and Found' and listen to the song 'Still.'

Gretchen Parlato has been called the most important jazz singer since Cassandra Wilson, and her delicate vocals won over the judges at the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition in 2004. Since then, Parlato has appeared on more than 50 recordings, and continues to build a following with tours throughout the U.S. and overseas. Her third album, The Lost and Found, was recently released.

The record includes original material, jazz standards and some new pop standards like Simply Red's "Holding Back the Years" and Mary J. Blige's "All That I Can Say." But the common thread throughout the album is Parlato's distinctive vocal style. Sometimes described as the "anti-Celine Dion," Parlato is neither a belter nor a torch singer. Her vocals are breathy and intimate, but there's a deliberate style and effort behind them.

"I'm glad you said breathy," Parlato tells Weekend Edition Sunday host Liane Hansen. "Whisper has come up a lot. There's an air, like you said ? a breath around notes. To me, whispering means there's no tone, there's no sound, there's no placement. With what I'm doing, there's air, but I'm really kind of fascinated with tone and placement and resonance."

Parlato says she experimented with a few different vocal styles before finding the one that fit her own voice best.

"It's understated. It's quiet. If I could sing like a Chaka Khan, an Aretha, a Kim Burrell, if I could do all these amazing runs and belt it out, I would," she says. "I've attempted that, and it's not something anyone would want to hear."

Besides her work as a performer, Parlato is also in demand as a vocal coach. She says that in her teaching, she tries to tap into to the potential of the human voice "to transform ourselves and our world." That means focusing on staying in the moment.

"You want to have a feeling when you sing that you just love singing; you love the feeling of singing, and you love this feeling of this voice coming out of your body into this world," she says. "It's about really getting that most beautiful, pure, centered tone, thinking about the story of each song and the lyrics, and connecting your own life to that story."

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Source: http://www.npr.org/2011/04/29/135838385/gretchen-parlato-stay-in-the-moment?ft=1&f=

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Replacing ObamaCare

Yuval Levin, National Review
In a New York Times op-ed on Sunday, Ramesh and I argued that along with the Ryan budget Republicans need to unite behind a clear alternative to Obamacare, and that a modified version of the McCain tax credit idea from 2008 would serve them well—on both policy and political grounds.The most serious liberal response to our piece was from Matt Yglesias, who argued (and was echoed by several other prominent liberal bloggers in arguing) that this idea had some merit but that it would fail to address the problem of adverse selection. In the individual market we envision, he ...

Source: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2011/04/30/replacing_obamacare_254566.html

King Abdulla Osama bin Laden Tony Blair Sam Brownback Laura Bush

Ray LaHood Veers Around Evidence

Steve Chapman, Chicago Tribune

Source: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2011/04/28/taking_taxpayers_for_a_ride_109680.html

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Texans Take Rice DE Ozougwu With Draft's Last Pick

A few of the Houston Texans worked out at nearby Rice Stadium as they awaited developments in the NFL's labor impasse.

Whenever training camp begins, one of the Owls will join them on their regular practice field.

Rice defensive end Cheta Ozougwu is this year's Mr. Irrelevant after the Texans took him with the 254th and final pick of the NFL draft Saturday. The "irrelevant" moniker is traditionally given to the last pick.

"It's a big relief," Ozougwu said. "I'm blessed to have this opportunity. No matter what was going to be the outcome, whether it's free agency or being the last pick or being a fifth-round pick, I just wanted the opportunity to play the game."

Last year's Mr. Irrelevant was Weber State receiver Tim Toone, who went to Detroit.

Now, it's Ozougwu's turn to enjoy a week's worth of festivities that accompany the honor. Since 1976, the player and his family have been invited to southern California in the offseason to take in "Irrelevant Week," which includes a golf tournament, regatta and a ceremony where he is awarded a trophy depicting a player fumbling a ball.

"I don't know too much about it," Ozougwu said. "It's funny, one of my teammates, about two weeks ago was like, 'Hey man, if you get drafted in the seventh round, like the last pick, you get called something like 'Mr. Irrelevant' or things of that nature, and all these things they do.'

"I had no idea it'd be me," he said, "but I'm definitely thankful for it."

A few Mr. Irrelevants have done just fine in the pros.

Ryan Succop (2009) converted 25 of 29 field-goal attempts as a rookie for Kansas City and is No. 1 on the depth chart, and linebacker David Vobora (2008) started five games last season for St. Louis.

If the pro football career doesn't pan out, Ozougwu has a solid backup plan ? he'll graduate from prestigious Rice in May with an economics degree.

The 6-foot-2, 255-pound Ozougwu is the second Rice player drafted by the Texans. He'll join tight end James Casey on the Houston roster. Casey played sparingly at fullback and tight end as a rookie, then took a more prominent role in the offense in 2010, starting four games.

Houston coach Gary Kubiak said Ozougwu will work at linebacker and has a chance to contribute next season.

"He can rush the passer, very smart young man," Kubiak said. "He'll play four different positions for us on defense and be a heck of a special teams player. He has a big football IQ and a high motor, and we think he'll find a way to make it in this league. It's kind of nice that he ended up being right down the street."

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Source: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=135878557&ft=1&f=

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Our island race has much to be proud of, not least Ted Heath's cat suit | David Mitchell

From soggy stogies to a cup of Earl Grey, we should cherish our prime ministerial legacy

Power needs symbols. Otherwise the strong and powerful have to kick the crap out of the weak and vulnerable over and over again to remind them who's boss, which is exhausting for both groups. By the time the Queen's Norman predecessor arrived on the south coast with some heavies and started stabbing the locals, the symbolism that legitimised such actions was already well-established: kings wore crowns.

If there are guys wearing huge and impractical gold hats involved, then what you're being beaten up in is not just a fight but a battle. You're part of something significant: a struggle to decide which of the metal hat-wearers' descendants will one day get to have a televised wedding (unless it turns out the Middletons can trace their line back to Harold Godwinson, in which case the last 1,000 years of English history have been a complete waste of time).

Nowadays, the crown is just a bland symbol of governmental authority, something to print at the top of forms, and those who like being in charge of things have other ways of alluding to their access to might: from a drug-dealer's diamond-encrusted knuckle-duster to Margaret Thatcher's hefty handbag ? which will be auctioned at Christie's in June and is expected to fetch at least �100,000.

This would dwarf the �4,500 that one of Winston Churchill's half-smoked cigars fetched last year and the �16,000 that was recently paid for an old set of his false teeth. But then what better symbol is there of Thatcher's government than her great handbag of state, steeped in the metaphorical blood of miners and Argentinians, with just a drop or two of the literal blood of cabinet ministers? It's an icon of her unique leadership style, comprising all the forcefulness of Gladstone or Lloyd George with all the femininity of Gladstone or Lloyd George in a dress.

In this seller's market for emblems of prime ministerial power, here are a few other mementos of our leaders which are due to pass through the world's great auction houses in the next few months.

Robert Walpole's wig

The first male prime minister was just as adept at using apparently harmless personal items to get his point across as the first female one. If a political conversation was turning against him, Walpole would fling his thick and heavy, early 18th-century wig into the face of his interlocutor, buying him crucial moments, while his opponent spluttered on horse hair and neck sweat, in which to think of an appropriate riposte.

His habit of hissing the name of the object, in an odd, aspirated way, as he threw it ? reputed at the time to be an attempt to make the opposition think he was a superhero and that accurate wig hurling was his special power ? later gave his political party its name.

A cup of Earl Grey

Not a receptacle of the tea but an American cake-baking measure of the late, reforming Whig's pickled viscera. "Keep a little of me close to your heart when I'm gone," he told his family in his last illness. Later utterances made it clear that he wasn't speaking metaphorically and wanted them to preserve "some bits of me middle. But nothing creepy like a nostril or a ball". The remains, stored in a porcelain urn, were later presented by his widow to an ungrateful nation. France.

Clement Attlee's mint imperial

Only half-sucked, Attlee was reportedly too tired to finish it. "It goes on and on," he said at the time, though some would claim he was referring to his struggle to establish the welfare state. Others went on to invent the Polo.

Ted Heath's Sylvester outfit

Ted Heath probably enjoyed greater success in his hobbies than he did as prime minister. An accomplished organist, conductor and yachtsman, he became so unpleasantly bitter about the rise of Margaret Thatcher that, in 1983, even Labour leader Michael Foot voted for her. The Heath government of the early 1970s was beset with crises and, as the prospect of electricity rationing loomed, the premier took to heading out into central London dressed as Sylvester the cat and playing the trumpet for loose change at the bottom of the escalators at Oxford Circus tube station.

In his will, he left both the costume, still stiff from prime ministerial sweat, and the �173.42 of proceeds from its use, to the people of China, in the hope, as he put it, "that it would retrospectively screw up the Hong Kong handover".

Anthony Eden's pill box

Not the second world war defensive structure but where the disgraced prime minister kept his Benzedrine tablets, which were, for a time, as potent a symbol of British pluck and defiance as Churchill's cigars. Just as the celebrated war leader steeled himself for the fight against fascism with tobacco and alcohol, so Eden, struggling with conflicting urges to emulate his predecessor and escape his shadow into the broad sunlit uplands of the post-nuclear, forward-looking 1950s, became heavily reliant on amphetamines.

Indeed, Rab Butler described Eden's approach to cabinet government as differing from Churchill's by being "a much more modern sort of sozzled". But disaster struck when, in October 1956, he accidentally took his tablets twice and ordered the invasion of Egypt.

The Earl of Derby's name badge

One of our least well-known prime ministers, the Earl of Derby presided over 27 different governments during the reign of Queen Victoria, which, due to successive parliamentary crises, added up to less than two-and-a-half hours in total duration. Consequently, most of his career in the top job was taken up collecting or returning the seals of office from a woman constitutionally incapable of suppressing her sense of his irrelevance. His decision to fashion a name badge, to be pinned on his coat in order to remind her who he was, speaks volumes about the man's fragile self-esteem.

Neville Chamberlain's chest expander

A present from Mussolini, who swore by a similar device and felt that the British leader needed to "beef up", it later emerged that Chamberlain had been using it the wrong way round, resulting in a shrinking effect, which then provoked him into greater and more desperate use of the device. After his death, his valet recalled the embarrassment in 1938 of the by then almost chestless leader: "Pigeon-chested wasn't in it ? he were wren-chested. I don't mean Wren-chested ? they have tits. But in fact almost like a tit. He were tit-chested. Like the bird, a tit. He had the chest of a bird. By which I don't mean a woman, but a bird. He were thin. When he met Hitler, we had to pad him out with napkins."

• Winston Churchill
• Margaret Thatcher
• Edward Heath

David Mitchell

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Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/may/01/david-mitchell-winston-churchill-memorabilia

Bill Clinton Rudy Giuliani Jimmy Carter Dick Cheney Barack Obama

MPs in bid to remutualise Northern Rock

Support grows for motion tabled by MP Chuka Umunna to return nationalised lender to the mutual sector

Political pressure for the remutualisation of Northern Rock is gathering strength: 100 members of parliament have signed an early day motion backing the return of the nationalised lender to the mutual sector.

Chuka Umunna, the Labour MP who tabled the motion, said 19 MPs had lent their support in the past week.

Northern Rock and UK Financial Investments (UKFI), which looks after the taxpayer's interests in the bailed-out banks, have appointed Deutsche Bank to explore options for the Newcastle-based lender. Deutsche will present ideas to UKFI that could be used as the basis of any recommendations made about Northern Rock to the chancellor.

The lender, notorious for granting 125% mortgages before the financial crisis, was nationalised by Labour in February 2008 after it suffered the first UK bank run in living memory and thousands of anxious depositors queued round the block to withdraw funds amid fears about its solvency.

After it was rescued by the government, the bank was split to create Northern Rock plc, the "good" bank that has resumed lending, and Northern Rock Asset Management, the "bad" bank that was merged with Bradford & Bingley's mortgage business, another nationalised casualty of the credit crunch. Deutsche is looking at the options for Northern Rock plc.

While Labour was in office, the then Treasury minister Sarah McCarthy-Fry revealed that ways of remutualising Northern Rock had been considered, but warned: "I'm not pretending it's going to be easy."

Coventry building society has presented itself as being interested in linking up with Northern Rock, although little information has emerged as to how it might facilitate any deal. An analysis by Landman Economics has suggested that "profit participating deferred shares" could help the government recoup the money tied up in the lender. Landman's analysis concludes that a trade sale or stock market flotation would not raise enough funds to pay back the taxpayer in full.

Labour ex-minister Gareth Thomas, who has campaigned for the Rock to be remutualised, said he had doubts about whether George Osborne was interested. "I do not believe the Treasury is taking this seriously," he said.

Another option is merging the 70 Northern Rock branches with the 600 that Lloyds Banking Group has to sell to comply with EU rules on state aid.

• Northern Rock
• Deutsche Bank
• Banking
• Financial crisis

Jill Treanor

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Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/may/01/northern-rock-remutualisation-mps

Chuck Hagel Stephen Harper Dennis Hastert Vaclav Havel John Howard

Replacing ObamaCare

Yuval Levin, National Review
In a New York Times op-ed on Sunday, Ramesh and I argued that along with the Ryan budget Republicans need to unite behind a clear alternative to Obamacare, and that a modified version of the McCain tax credit idea from 2008 would serve them well—on both policy and political grounds.The most serious liberal response to our piece was from Matt Yglesias, who argued (and was echoed by several other prominent liberal bloggers in arguing) that this idea had some merit but that it would fail to address the problem of adverse selection. In the individual market we envision, he ...

Source: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2011/04/30/replacing_obamacare_254566.html

Arnold Schwarzenegger Rev. Al Sharpton Than Shwe Aung San Suu Kyi Yulia Tymoshenko

UK's largest greenhouse complex investigated for 'sweatshop labour'

Gangmasters licensing authority investigating Thanet Earth's Kent facility, which supplies leading UK supermarket chains

Working conditions at Britain's largest greenhouse complex are being investigated by the Gangmasters Licensing Authority (GLA) after claims that agency workers at the vegetable growing site in Kent are being treated like "sweatshop labour".

Protests organised by the Unite trade union were held on Thursday outside Broadstairs branches of Tesco and Marks and Spencer, which are among the supermarket chains supplied with vegetables from the 220-acre Thanet Earth.

Unite has submitted allegations to the GLA, the body responsible for regulating agency practices, including claims that workers have been systematically denied holiday pay, denied work as a result of taking holidays, and been employed for years on a casualised basis without fixed contracts.

Thanet Earth grows cucumbers, peppers and tomatoes that are supplied to Tesco, Sainsbury's, Asda and Marks and Spencer. It has been employing more than 250 workers in recent weeks to meet demand.

The facility emphasises green credentials. It is a joint venture owned by the Fresca Group, the country's largest privately owned fresh produce supplier, and three specialist grower companies.

In a statement Thanet Earth insisted that the agencies supplying its labour were fully audited and licensed by the GLA. All legal safeguards were in place and an internal investigation carried out after allegations were raised by Unite in March 2010 was concluded satisfactorily.

It said it had invited the GLA to carry out an investigation after Unite, which it accused of having "a fundamental opposition to the use of agency workers", raised allegations again in March of this year.

"We strive to make Thanet Earth an attractive, welcoming place to work and we care about the treatment of all workers on site ? be they employed by an agency or by one of the Thanet Earth businesses directly."

Unite claims that the vast majority of the workforce have no permanent contract, no job security and work through four different agencies in a system of permanent casualisation.

A Unite regional officer, Dave Weeks, said: "We're taking our fight to the top of the food chain ? those supermarkets that employ Thanet Earth. They have an obligation to make sure workers who help generate their healthy profits are treated fairly from root to basket. We know that many shoppers think if you buy local you buy ethical ? that's the message Thanet Earth might have you believe ? but these workers have being treated like sweatshop labour."

An unnamed worker said: "We are treated like sweatshop labour. The agencies have done whatever they want, and Thanet Earth and the supermarkets have let them. When we have asked for our rights we have been told: 'You can find another job.'

"We are disposable people to Tesco, Sainsbury's, M&S and the rest, despite them agreeing to respect workers' rights."

Neil Court of the GLA told the BBC: "We believe that Thanet Earth Marketing are a responsible company and I don't think people should have any concerns on the basis of the allegations that have been made.

"If we find evidence of non-compliance we will take action against the relevant licensed labour providers ... even if that means removing the licence of that labour provider."

The GLA is expected to announce its findings in May.

• Food
• Employment law
• Supermarkets
• Retail industry
• Unite
• Trade unions

Ben Quinn

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Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/apr/29/greenhouse-thanet-earth-workers

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Boris Becker is beaten by David Cameron

The premier - who was described by onlookers as "very competitive" - then joined forces with Becker for a knock-up against the two women while wife Samantha looked on.

However, perhaps fortunately for Mr Cameron, there was no time for a singles match against the ex-pro.

Mr Cameron's enthusiasm for tennis is well known. His playing partners include former British number one Andrew Castle, and he has also taken on Commons Speaker John Bercow.

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Make Him a Saint

Peggy Noonan, Wall Street Journal
One of the greatest moments in the history of faith was also one of the greatest moments in modern political history. It happened in June 1979.Just eight months before, after dusk on Oct. 16, 1978, a cardinal had stepped out onto the loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica to say those towering, august words, “Habemus papem”—”We have a pope.” The cardinal pronounced the new pontiff’s name in Latin. Not everyone understood or could hear him, and the name sounded odd. For 456 years the church had been electing Italian popes....

Source: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2011/04/30/make_him_a_saint_254619.html

Newt Gingrich Rudolph Giuliani Al Gore Chuck Hagel Stephen Harper

That Stabbing Sensation

Most book promos I've seen online are, well, not to get all Cahiers du Cinema on your ass or anything, a bit on the "dorky" side.

Not this one.

The teaser for Brenda Cullerton's The Craiglist Murders (Who's Killing the Upper East Side Trophy Wives?) is as daggered and wicked as the thriller itself.

Watch it here.

Or here.

Your choice. Your decision.

Source: http://www.vanityfair.com/online/wolcott/2011/04/stabbing-sensation.html

Rudy Giuliani Jimmy Carter Dick Cheney Barack Obama George Soros

This week: Sathya Sai Baba, George Osborne, Wayne Rooney

Bidisha on the people in the media spotlight in the past seven days

Guru tosh

Sathya Sai Baba

The revered Indian guru has died. Imagine a saffron-robed holy man who resembles a con artist pretending to be a holy man. His spirituality came anchored with a nice bottom layer of cash, which he ploughed into social projects. He inspired more than 1,000 ashrams and drew donations from pop stars, actors and other devotes from the highest echelons of the nouveau riche. Like royalty, it was said that he had a healing touch. Like royalty, his myth was cultivated by popular support. Like royalty, he was good at slithering out of trouble. In 1993 four intruders and two of Baba's aides were killed at his home, yet he remained unhurt. It seems Sai Baba had the Midas touch even when he came to his own mortality ? until now.

Don't have nightmares

George Osborne

George Osborne, erotic icon? For a populace starved of modern-day fairytales, it'll have to suffice. BBC presenter Shelagh Fogarty confessed to experiencing sexy dreams about Osborne during a bit of Radio 5 Live banter. Osborne then escalated it like a sad lecher who takes every joking comment seriously. When Fogarty announced that she had a new lunchtime show, he sent her a pervy, egotistical message: "More hours for those dreams you've been having ? And so I'm sure you'll have sweet dreams, and I look forward to being interviewed by you on your lunchtime programme." Osborne is the only man on earth who doesn't realise that a woman saying she has had erotic dreams about him is making fun of him. The comedy resides in the massive gulf between the phrases "erotic dreams" and "George Osborne".

Karma calling

Wayne Rooney

The gods of karma have finally telephoned Wayne Rooney with a wake-up call. Rooney, who uses prostituted women and backstabs his wife when not swearing into TV cameras or running after a plastic ball of air, has been contacted by investigators looking into the News of the World's phone hacking foibles. It's obvious that Rooney likes speaking on his phone, and that's just as well, because look what happens when he logs onto Twitter and gives a wild grope towards the faerie realm of written grammar: "looks like a newspaper have hacked into my phone". Whoever thought 140 characters could actually be too short to say anything meaningful? In Rooney's ham-like hands it's an opportunity to  commit 140 crimes against the English language. Rooney's Twitter name is "Wazzaroon08," by the way. Wazzaroons 01 to 07, if you're out there, calm down dears, this isn't about you.

What we've learned

? Heart attacks in the morning do more damage than those later in the day

? 73% of people have avoided social occasions because of bad skin after a lack of sleep

? The refurbished Bolshoi theatre's chandelier is 26ft tall and weighs two tons

? Treponema pallidum, the bacteria that causes syphilis, is corkscrew-shaped when looked at under a microscope

...and what we haven't

? The detail of the superinjunction obtained by banker Sir Fred Goodwin

What they said

"The worst thing anyone's said about my body was ? I am fat covered in cellulite." Reality TV star Kim Kardashian gets lyrical about lipids.

"Girls in THANET ... you are all slags, hoes, brasses and bheads." The text of a Facebook group whose membership included, until recently, the prospective Conservative councillor for Thanet, Payam Tamiz. There's no bhead gonna help you now, Payam.

"I'm already visualising the duct tape over your mouth." Slogan on a card sold by Paperchase, presumably aimed at the serial killer market

• George Osborne
• Wayne Rooney

Bidisha

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Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/2011/apr/30/this-week-sai-baba-wayne-rooney

Rev. Al Sharpton Than Shwe Aung San Suu Kyi Yulia Tymoshenko Elizabeth Windsor

This royal wedding is Britain's Marie Antoinette moment | Polly Toynbee

Back in the real world, below this thin layer of pomp, there is a social dislocation whose cracks are starting to emerge

How well we do it! Was the princess beautiful in lace and was the prince charming? Indeed they were. The glorious pomp and circumstance did not disappoint those 2 billion worldwide watchers, indulging vicariously in the theatre of majesty. They tell us this is what we are best at, the great parade, the grand charade. If you weep at weddings here was one to cry for, for us more than them. The more extreme a ceremony's extravagance, the more superstitious you might feel about the outcome: the simpler the better the prognosis, in my experience.

But let's not speculate, for we know next to nothing of these best-marketed of global celebrities beyond the homely platitudes sparingly fed to the multitudes. We might agree that they are indeed "grounded"; we might ponder on the chances of a prince surviving so dysfunctional a childhood; or we may just wish them well and use the day off to party, as many did.

Is this what Britain is and who we are? Here was a grand illusion, the old conspiracy to misrepresent us to ourselves. Here arrayed was the most conservative of establishments, rank upon rank, from cabinet ministers to Prince Andrew to the Sultan of Brunei, the apotheosis of the Daily Telegraph and the Spectator in excelsis, a David Starkey pageant choreographed by Charles, the prince of conservatives.

Of course Tony Blair and Gordon Brown had no invitation, being the prime ministers who held back the forces of conservatism for 13 years. Displayed in all its assertiveness was a reminder of what Labour is always up against as perennial intruder. Constitutional monarchy is constitutionally Tory, the blue inherited with its wealth, in its fibre, in its bones.

The manicured story of the Middletons' four-generation rise from pit village to throne offers such perfect justification, living proof of David Cameron's promised social mobility, echoed in the jokey "It should have been me" souvenir mugs. Notwithstanding repellent sniggers of the Eton set who call the Middleton girls "the wisteria sisters" for their social climbing, or the "doors to manual" giggle at their former air steward mother, the Middletons belong in the top 0.5% of earners: children of new wealth always did marry into aristocracy. Besides, Kate Middleton, Samantha Cameron and the Hon Frances Osborne all went to the same school.

Yet despite months of coverage, rising to a crescendo of print and broadcasting frenzy this week, the country has remained resolutely phlegmatic. Cameras pick out the wildest enthusiasts camped out or dressed as brides, yet the Guardian/ICM poll and others put those expressing "strong interest" at only 20%.

In poll after poll, more than 70% refused to be excited. Laconic, cool, only half the population said they would watch Friday's flummery. Few are republicans ? though latest YouGov polls show those of us hoping the Queen will be Elizabeth the Last has risen to 26% ? but a healthy scepticism thrives. Not love of monarchy but fear of something worse wins the day as the spirit of "confound their politics" prevails over the thought of some second-hand politician as head of state.

A jaundiced view of royalty is not confined to blas� metropolitan sophisticates: you can hear it everywhere, north more than south, in any pub or bus stop and on Twitter ? the knowing shrug that finds this stuff preposterous, childish and not who we are. How embarrassingly Brown stumbled trying to pin down an ineffable definition of Britishness. But he was fumbling for something other than images of monarchy and empire to assert, quite rightly, that this is not a conservative nation: after all, Cameron did not win the last election, even with an open goal. This may not be a nation of reforming radicals, but there is no lack of robust popular riposte to royal displays of inherited entitlement.

How will history look back on this day? Out in the world of bread, not circuses, in the kingdom behind the cardboard scenery, this has been a week that told a bleak story of the state of the nation. History may see the wedding as a Marie Antoinette moment, a layer of ormolu hiding a social dislocation whose cracks are only starting to emerge. The Office for National Statistics just showed GDP flatlining for the last six months, recovery stalled ever since the announcement of the government's great austerity. Most household incomes are shrinking ? as never since the 1920s. Hundreds of thousands of jobs are being cut, services slashed, �18m taken from the welfare budget, university fees in crisis, consumer confidence plunging.

This week I went to Barclays' annual meeting to watch another monarch, CEO Bob Diamond. He is in line for �27m pay this year, despite shares falling, �1.6bn profits lost and dividends cut ? at a time when bank lending to manufacturing has fallen. Angry shareholders in the hall rose one by one to protest. Elderly, sometimes inchoate, they echoed the Association of British Insurers, who recommended voting against the bank's grotesque boardroom remuneration. But no, the little shareholders were voted down by unseen fund managers, all in the same game. The board shrugged off its critics, claiming that if they cut their own pay "we could very quickly jeopardise the true rewards of our success". But for how much longer?

The NHS, the most politically sensitive of public services, is warned by the public accounts committee that patient care is at risk in a �20bn cut with no plan for services that go bankrupt. The OECD, hardly a left-leaning organisation, this week warned that poverty in British households will rise inexorably so "social spending on families needs to be protected". But it is not being protected: the opposite is happening, as Sure Start is stripped bare. "Cutting back on early years services will make it difficult for the UK to achieve its policy of making work pay," says the OECD report.

Few yet realise the scale of the conservative revolution in progress. Professors Peter Taylor-Gooby and Gerry Stoker have just revealed that by 2013 public spending will be a lower proportion of GDP in Britain than in the US. They write in the Political Quarterly: "A profound shift in our understanding of the role of the state and the nature of our welfare system is taking place without serious debate." Can that really be done without rebellion? That will be the test of what kind of nation we are.

• Royal wedding
• Monarchy
• Weddings
• Economic growth (GDP)
• Economics
• Economic policy

Polly Toynbee

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Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/apr/29/royal-wedding-uk-gdp-growth

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Northern Ireland: so near yet so far

In spite of Real IRA efforts, this is proving to be one of the most 'bread and butter' elections in modern Ulster history

The Real IRA's threat, made at an Easter Rising commemoration in Derry on Monday, to carry out further "executions" of police officers after the murder of Constable Ronan Kerr in Omagh this month may lead the unwary to think that nothing has really changed in Northern Ireland. That is, of course, what those who are addicted to republican violence want people to think. But the death this week of William Craig is a reminder of what a false claim it is.

No one who read Mr Craig's obituary can be in much doubt that he was a politician from a departed and unlamented epoch. It was he, as Stormont home affairs minister, whose sectarian ban of a civil rights march in Derry in 1968 triggered some of the earliest significant violence of the renewed Troubles. Four years later, having helped to drive two unionist leaders from power for being too ready to compromise with nationalists, Mr Craig and his Ulster Vanguard brought the politics of neo-nazism, though spiced with a touch of PG Wodehouse's Roderick Spode, back to Ireland, with Mr Craig inspecting lines of thousands of masked supporters and vowing to "liquidate the enemy".

Next Thursday, Northern Ireland voters are set to do something Mr Craig spent his career determined to prevent. This is the fourth Northern Ireland power-sharing assembly election, and the first to take place following a full term of devolved government. It seems likely to produce another term of once-improbable joint loyalist DUP and republican Sinn F�in government, with the two parties again consolidating their electoral holds on their respective communities. If the DUP's Peter Robinson becomes first minister again, as seems probable, the passing of the Craig era will be underscored. It was a young Mr Robinson who ended Mr Craig's career as a Westminster MP back in 1979.

In spite of Real IRA efforts, this is proving to be one of the most "bread and butter" elections in modern Ulster history. Many say it is simply boring ? a compliment of sorts. The border now rates only a single line in the DUP manifesto, yet the community divide still defines Northern Irish politics. Next week's election is, as usual, two parallel elections. Peace has brought no electoral thawing. Green bread and butter confronts orange bread and butter.

Nevertheless, according to a fascinating survey this week, many voters in Belfast and Derry have views that are closer to parties on the other side of the sectarian divide than to those on their "own" side. Most reacted with horror to the findings and pledged to stay in their own traditions. One day, perhaps, social class may become the new Ulster divide. But not this year. Much has changed. But the boundaries beloved of Mr Craig and the Real IRA still matter.

• Northern Ireland
• Northern Ireland elections 2011
• Northern Irish politics
• Elections 2011
• Real IRA

guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/apr/30/northern-ireland-so-near-yet-far

Aung San Suu Kyi Queen Elizabeth II King Abdullah Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Omar al-Bashir

It's Getting Harder to Bring Home Bacon

Mary Kissel, Wall Street Journal

Source: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2011/04/30/it039s_getting_harder_to_bring_home_bacon_254642.html

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The Royal wedding: as it happened

Four pizzas have just been delivered to the Buckingham Gate entrance of Buckingham Palace. Surely the catering wasn't that bad?

21.25 Well, it's all rather quietened down now. But I'll keep you posted with anyone falling out of the rear doors of Buckingham Palace drunk.

20.47 Time for another pic - here's the Royal wedding cake:

^{So beautiful, it brings tiers to your eyes. (PA)}

20.36 One wonders how far the Royal hair will be let down at the bash at Buckingham Palace tonight. And, with the Queen deciding to stay away, just how risque Prince Harry's best man's speech might be.

20.01 Caroline Gammell, another of the Telegraph team patrolling The Mall, emails:

Well, that was pretty disappointing. After hours of waiting, the royal couple swept past in a car in their black tie in a matter of seconds. The crowd saw precious little. Ah well

19.57 The future queen also expressed happiness that the day stayed dry, saying: "I am glad the weather held off. We had a great day."

19.55 I'm told the new Duchess has changed into another white dress by Sarah Burton.

19.52 Well, that appears to scotch the hopes that they'd do a Royal walkabout as a couple. Will everyone go home now? Somehow I doubt it.

19.51 Is that them leaving Clarence House? BBC report a glimpse of a white dress? Yes! They crowd are going wild all over again.

19.45 Our team on The Mall report chants of "Why are we waiting" breaking out among the crowd. Suggestions in the Telegraph newsroom that the honeymoon could be over already...?

19.08 Neil Midgley, the Telegraph's media news man, says ITV and its point man Phil "Silver" Schofield have trounced the BBC in covering the Royal wedding.

19.01 Our video team have put together this package of the highlights of the day:

18.57 There appears to be an outbreak of Royalty-induced insania spreading through the hack pack. Martin Evans again:

Another fly past over Buckingham Palace. This time by two large geese.

18.35 Martin Evans, one of our reporters on the ground, emails:

Movement at Clarence House. The Royal Couple must be about to leave for the evening bash at BP.

[BP is Buckingham Palace for those of you not paying attention at the back]

18.15 Among all the other Royal memorabilia doing the rounds this week, this one stood out for its self-depracatingly witty tone:

^{It's sold by a firm called Sweet William, which, coincidentally, was one of the flowers in the Royal bouquet.}

18.12 Clare Balding, the BBC presenter, points out a happy coincidence:

@clarebalding1: To round off the perfect day, Royal Wedding wins the 5.30 at Fontwell at 3-1fav

Bit of a horsey day, all told.

18:05 The cartwheeling verger has caused Westminster Abbey to speak. Apparently, he "was very pleased the service had gone according to plan, and was expressing his exuberance".

17.58 This is rather natty. Its a photo - called a Gigapan, I'm told - of what the Royal couple saw from their balcony when they greeted the crowd. The better bit is that you can zoom in far enough to identify individual people quite clearly. Just like Where's Wally?

17.40 A stat for the republicans: Jon Snow, of Channel 4 News, has estimated that the Typhoon-Tornado flypast cost �270,000, which he says could have kept a couple of Manchester libraries open.

17.32 That's got me thinking: what's the single best bit of all today's celebrations? The bridesmaid with her hands on her ears? The Royal couple spinning off in Prince Charles' Aston? The kiss? The other kiss? Answers on a postcard to andy.bloxham@telegraph.co.uk.

17.28 For many people, this is the highlight of the day, it's a great moment:

17.21 And Mr Hughes has more on runaway horses. And a person detained by police for taking dodgy photos. (It being a wedding, there'll probably be plenty of dodgy photos.) However, instead of shot after wonky shot of tipsy people dancing badly, this chap trained his lens on the cops!

One person was arrested under the terrorism act after he was spotted taking suspicious photographs on Whitehall. Police sources said that, unlike the majority of the crowds taking pictures, the man was seen taking pictures of transport hubs and security personnel. The source said that the man was likely to be released without charge.

It has also been confirmed that there were two runaway horses, one returned of its own accord to its horse box in Horseguards Parade. The other was halted by mounted branch officer Sergeant Rob Howell who grabbed the reins of the horse as it ran.

17.12 Mark Hughes emails with a terse update on the policing situation:

55 arrests now.

17.10 Here you go, let the public be the judge:

^{It's sash an uncanny resemblance. Ahem.}

17.00 Prince William, sorry, the Duke of Cambridge (apparently also an excellent pub in Oxford), bears an uncanny resemblance to a Thunderbirds character, according to some Tweeters.

@hoofmoer writes: Prince William is brilliant at fancy dress, loved the thunderbirds outfit he was wearing today.

Hmm, perhaps a picture might be in order.

16.54 David Millward emails:

These occasions are not complete without a Hare Krishna troop. One duly arrives At the same time hundreds of royal well wishers have fled the Mall. Are the two events connected?

16.50 We learn, via Will Heaven on the blogs, that not only does the royal wedding prove that the British public is religious and pro-cuts, it's also anti-Alternative Vote. Amazing, the subtleties at play here.

16.44 Anita Singh emails to say that "ITV have helpfully (and no doubt gleefully) compiled a montage of Mark Austin's day of discomfort". It is slightly mortifying. The bit where they force him to drink and then turn out to be better informed than him is particularly good.

16.37 FASHION UPDATE! Some people (but not, as we have learned, Samantha Cameron) wore hats.

And, as is the way of these things, we have a "worst dressed" gallery, which I always feel is a bit mean. Probably because I would definitely be in it if I was important enough to take photos of.

_{Tara Palmer Banana Pyjama Tompkinson: better dressed than me.}

16.27 More detail from Neil Midgley on the television ratings:

The surge in demand for electricity at the end of the royal wedding was the fourth-highest ever caused by a televised event, meaning that the ratings will likely beat popular shows such as the finals of The X Factor and Britain?s Got Talent, as well as big sporting events such as England?s World Cup matches.

National Grid said that, after the couple reached Buckingham Palace after the ceremony at 12.40pm, demand for electricity increased by 2,400MW ? the equivalent of nearly a million kettles being turned on at the same time.

16.15 Mark Hughes emails:

The total number of arrests is now 52. This includes two people who were arrested because they were wanted on warrant for offences committed at previous demonstrations. 13 of the 52 arrested were held at Charing Cross and Covent Garden after being found in possession of climbing equipment - helmets - and anti-monarchy placards, suggesting that they planned to climb a building and unfurl banners.

16.11 A spokesperson for Westminster Abbey has told The Times's religion correspondent Ruth Gledhill that the cartwheeling verger was "just reflecting the exuberance of the day. All the guests had departed."

16.03 Martin Evans reports that the Camerons are on their way:

David and Samantha Cameron have just left the Palace reception. The couple strolled from a side gate to his car parked at the top of Birdcage Walk. Asked how he had enjoyed the wedding, he simply smiled.

And this is from some hours ago, but while we're talking about the Camerons, our own Lucy Jones is tut-tutting that SamCam didn't wear a hat:

She may not like wearing a hat, but I wager most men aren?t keen on dressing up as penguins. In breaking with form, tradition and what?s expected, Sam Cam has made a statement. It looks as if she thinks she?s above the occasion. What a shame.

Actually, I think most men secretly love the chance to wear the full get-up. We all think we're James Bond for the day. It's great.

16.02 It appears the atmosphere inside Westminster Abbey may have been a bit too much for some - ITV's cameras have captured a verger cartwheeling down the aisle as the big clear-up began.

15.55 Cristina Odone writes that "the royal wedding proves this is still a Christian country." Not sure how she came to that conclusion, but read her post.

15.53 Here's that JU5T WED numberplate, for all those of you who doubted me:

15.45 The angry-faced child on the balcony is apparently called Grace. She's William's god-daughter, she's three years old, and she is destined to be a national hero for the rest of her life.

15.36 William and Kate driving off in a wonderfully clich�d car-with-L-plates-and-cans-tied-to-bumper - an old Aston Martin, one of Prince Charles's cars. Rather unexpectedly, he's driving himself, there's no security officer in the car. Admittedly he's only driving the 300 yards or so from Buckingham Palace to Clarence House, but still. His colleagues in the RAF Air-Sea Rescue fly over in a Sea King helicopter as they drive. That was rather nice. Their numberplate read: JU5T WED.

_{Okay, their rear numberplate reads JU5T WED. Their front numberplate fairly clearly reads EBY 776J.}

15.30 It's so cute you might have to be sick. One of the bridesmaids does not appreciate the crowd's cheering during Mr and Mrs Wales's first kiss - see bottom left:

_{"Blasted rowdy commoners. Don't know what they're all doing on the lawn anyway. What do you have to do to get some CS gas around here?" (Photo; REUTERS)}

15.22 Martin Evans writes that some people just aren't made to party:

Some guests have already begun leaving the Palace. A car containing one Middle Eastern dignitary just left by a side gate. Perhaps the music was too loud.

15.20 A mere two hours after it took place, I've managed to sort out a picture of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight's flypast of Buckingham Palace.

_{(REX FEATURES)}

15.11 Neil Midgley, our associate editor and TV expert, writes of the viewing figures:

Instant figures from National Grid indicate that the TV ratings are going to be very high indeed - the 'surge' in electricity demand at the end of the live coverage was 2400MW, which is the third highest 'TV pick-up' ever, beaten only two England World Cup matches (in 1990 and 2002). The surge was a third higher than the 1800MW recorded at the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer in 1981 - and that scored an audience of 28 million viewers.

15.06 Away from cake-related news, here's a picture of that horse that threw its rider and went haring down the Mall in a desperate bid for freedom:

_{(AFP/GETTY IMAGES)}

15.03 CAKE UPDATE! This is a cake.

_{McVitie's chocolate biscuit cake, by royal appointment.}

CAKE UPDATE! And so is this. A gigantic cake.

_{The eight tiered wedding cake made by Fiona Cairns and her team.}

15.00 Stephen Adams emails with some grumbling resentment in the crowd. Could a revolution be fomenting?

Quite a lot people at The Mall are annoyed that crowd-control measures kept them off The Mall itself and stopped them from seeing The Kiss. Police have decided to keep the barriers up by the road, to let the crowd coming from Whitehall to walk up it.

The result? Few who had positioned themselves at The Mall, who had imagined it was going to be a pretty good place to see The Kiss, got to see it.

"We might as well see it in a pub," said one woman. "We'll just have to imbibe the atmosphere," said an American.

14.53 Melissa Whitworth, who has been following the royal wedding from the US, describes the American fascination with William and Kate.

The whole block has been decked out in red, white and blue and every shop is displaying a Union Jack in honour of the Royal couple. Everyone was dressed to the nines, with little girls in princess dresses, men in bowler hats, silk ties and suits and women in feather fascinators.

14.46 Was it a proper kiss or just a peck on the lips? Lucy Jones is asking the big questions:

Apart from the first look at the Duchess of Cambridge?s wedding dress, today?s ultimate moment was, of course, the kiss. The couple kissed twice, smiling with happiness and, I imagine, with nervous embarrassment at the weirdness of kissing in front of thousands of cheering fans.

What's so weird about kissing in front of thousands of screaming fans? I do it all the time.

14.29 Bang on time, Alistair Osborne at Downing Street writes:

Finally, the preparations for the party are taking shape. Two long tables have been laid, with white table cloths, gold chairs with red upholstery and paper Union Jack cups. A yellow tricycle, with a pink umbrella, from The Original Tricycle Company has arrived with ice cream.

And the guests arestarting to show up. So far they are mainly the invitees from Age UK and Concern from Elderly, two of three charities coming. Sam Cameron arrives at 3.30.

14.27 A street party is beginning outside number 10 Downing Street as focus shifts from the ceremony and kiss to the post-wedding celebrations. I have to say, the bright colours of the table spread look slightly lifeless against the dark-fronted buildings behind.

14.23 Crowds surpassed the expected level of 600,000, according to Mark Hughes who has been speaking to police:

Scotland Yard say 1m people lined the route and 500,000 were on the mall for the balcony scene

14.17 David Millward writes:

The law of market forces ran smoothly throughout the morning. At 6am flags cost a pound; within half an hour the price had doubled. By mid-morning with the procession of the Royal Family imminent, it peaked at �2.50. Then as excitement waned it fell back to a pound before finally you could buy two for a quid.

But then the must-have item was a periscope, a snip at four quid. But what you do with the damn cardboard contraption afterwards beats me.

14.14 I shall let this stand without comment, from The Times's columnist Caitlin Moran:

@CaitlinMoran Best vox pop ever. ITV1 presenter: "What was your favourite bit?" Child: "When they got married."

14.07 Student journalist Lucy Osborne writes on Twitter:

@Lucy_Osborne Police say there have been 'shed loads' of lost and found children among crowds today

Naughty parents. Also, Martin Evans says "With all the rubbish strewn everywhere St James's Park is beginning to resemble the aftermath of Glastonbury". You see, everyone thinks of royal weddings as glorious romantic things, but nobody considers the carpets of litter and the abandoned children, do they? There's always a dark side to every fairy tale.

14.06 CAKE UPDATE! The bride and groom have cut the first slice of a magnificent eight-tiered wedding cake this afternoon at a reception in the Buckingham Palace picture gallery. The cake, made by Fiona Cairns, was covered in cream and white icing and decorated with up to 900 delicate sugar-paste flowers.

14.02 Toby Young over on the blog site asks: Is this Middle England's answer to the anti-cuts march?

As a conservative, it?s hard not to take some comfort from today?s spectacle. I?m not just talking about the boost Cameron will get in the polls, a natural consequence of the ?feel good? factor. In 1953, Winston Churchill seriously considered calling a snap election in the wake of the Coronation, so popular was the government. I?m thinking of the broader significance of the event, its meaning.

14.00 Some talking head on the BBC says that the Sarah Burton dress "Absolutely says everything about Catherine as a woman". I'm not sure what that means.

13.56 It turns out Google have done a special royal wedding Google doodle, linking through to the search page for "royal wedding".

That probably happened a few hours ago, to be honest, but I've only just noticed it.

13.51 Martin Evans emailed a few minutes ago - it turns out that royal kisses are a public health and safety hazard:

People desperate for a view of "the kiss" are risking a nasty injury by clambering over the spiky fences of Green Park.

13.46 Melissa Whitworth has filed this blog post on the dress: "Kate Middleton chose a stunning dress that won't age in photographs ? unlike Diana's":

Kate Middleton stepped out of the car at Westminster Abbey looking nothing less than spectacular. Every self-respecting fashion commentator had their money on Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueen as the designer, and they were not wrong. Also, the bride very sensibly chose a dress that won?t age in photographs, as Diana?s unfortunately did. Her look echoes that of Princess Grace, another timeless bride.

13.37 The Beckhams have released a statement following the wedding, for some reason. They describe today's ceremony as "beautiful and heartfelt".

Today's ceremony was beautiful and heartfelt. Catherine looked wonderfully elegant and we were honoured to be part of such a special, historical day for our country.

We wish Catherine and William much love and happiness for the future.

Next month: Will and Kate release a statement following the FA Cup Final. "Today's slogfest was beautiful and heartfelt, and we wish Rory Delap much love and happiness for the future."

13.33 Apparently there was a simultaneous flypast up in St Andrews.

13.30 The Lancaster, flanked by the Spitfire and the Hurricane of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, roars over the palace. Those Merlin engines make a hell of a noise, but it's soon drowned out by the two Typhoon and two Tornado fighters that come blazing past.

_{This is what people kissing looks like. (Photo: BBC)}

13.29 The BBC switches briefly to the inside of the Lancaster bomber's cockpit, but then their correspondent mucks up the link and they sheepishly swap back to the balcony, where - good timing! - William and Kate kiss again, obeying the demands of the crowd.

13.28 Crowd is chanting "kiss her again". They clearly feel shortchanged. You can hear the aircraft engines in the background.

13.25 And they're on the balcony - the newly married couple step out, still in their finery. They wave to the crowds and smile. William is pointing in shock to the number of people. They're joined by the pageboys and bridesmaids, then the Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh, the Prince of Wales, the Duchess of Cornwall and Michael and Carole Middleton. Pippa and Harry too.

The crowd is going mad and...

...they've kissed! Rather chaste, really, a quick peck more than anything.

13.24 The Battle of Britain flight is drawing near. Balcony kiss in one minute...

13.22 Anita Singh, our Showbusiness Editor, has the following to say:

Best entertainment of the day is watching ITV's Mark Austin report from the Mall with all the enthusiasm of a man awaiting his own execution. Perhaps he's miffed that the plum anchor job went to the bloke from This Morning, but this man-sulk has been going on since 8am and shows no signs of ending.

After announcing sniffily that the crowds "aren't as big as I expected" and telling Phillip Schofield and Julie Etchingham that he wouldn't report from outdoors if it started raining, he proceeded to interview members of the public with barely disguised contempt. "You're already on the drink?" he asked incredulously of a lady clutching a plastic glass of fizz. "But it's only nine o'clock!" He told off another woman for drinking champagne, then yelled: "Stop advertising!" at a family from Luton who explained that they were on the vodka and Red Bull "because that's what Wills drinks".

Right now he's stuck in the crowd surging towards Buckingham Palace, being accosted by Scouts and pleading: "Help me out, I'm trapped," into his microphone.

Schofield and Etchingham are loving it. Etchingham to Austin: "I've just been in such admiration with how you've got into the swing of it this morning, right from the word go." Ahahahaha.

13.18 Some rather lovely pictures from the crowd, via our student journalists Lucie Hewitt and others:

13.09 Latest video from our Telegraph TV cinemateers: the Bishop of London, the Rt Rev Richard Chartres, reads out a prayer penned by Prince William and Kate Middleton for the day.

13.05 Heidi Blake on the TERRIFYING ANARCHIST HORDES:

@HeidiBlake Gathering of 'masked anarchists' in Soho Square is pitifully drab. Just 12 spotty teens called things like Panda and Nodsy.

Fearsome anarchist brutes now strumming guitars and singing sea shanties. 'We're just here to have a nice time,' they say.

Anarchy just isn't what it used to be, eh? Johnny Rotten would be turning in his grave, if he was dead and not making adverts for Country Life butter.

13.02 Ben Fogle, the Countryfile presenter who was invited for some reason, has Tweeted from one of the incongruous minibuses:

@benfogle Beautiful service. Very moving. On a double decker bus from the Abbey to the Palace. Had to show a bank statement to security to get on

12.58 Joseph Dyke, one of our student journalists, emails about the kerfuffle in Soho Square:

Five people belonging to the "government of the dead" were arrested near Soho Sq. The five were arrested after going into Starbucks dressed as zombies.

Deborah, 19, a student from University of East London said the protests were related to the Royal Wedding. She said her tutor, Camilla Power, had been arrested the day before. She said: "We must have offended someone by being zombies. But it is fun to dress as a zombie. The police say we could be going to disrupt the wedding, but we were not doing any damage"

12.56 Karl Lagerfeld, the terrifying-looking designer, has called Kate Middleton's Sarah Burton dress "elegant and chic", according to Elle magazine.

12:50 John Bingham emails:

The prize for the most energetic royal wedding reveller has to go to Kevin Moran, an employee of Disney World, Florida. The 31-year-old who once cycled across America for a bet flew over to London specially for the wedding, camped on Clapham Common, ran three miles to Westminster Abbey early this morning before donning full morning suit in red white and blue sequins and top hat. "I just saw a discussion about the wedding on a morning show and thought 'wait a minute, I have to be there' so I booked my ticket that night.

"In America we don't have the pomp and ceremony you have here - to see history in the making it's kind of neat. "We Americans we eat this stuff up, we love it."

12.46 Heh. Turns out the crowd in Trafalgar Square weren't the only ones to notice Harry and Pippa (12.34). Apparently Michael Vaughan, the former England cricket captain, has caused something of a stir by Tweeting "Let's all pray for Harry.. pray that he gets lucky tonight with Pippa.. go on Harry." How inappropriate. I'm shocked.

12.42 There's a momentary lull now as we wait for William and Kate to appear on the balcony for their much-anticipated kiss. Huw Edwards on the BBC is burbling on about nothing in particular, so I'm going to take this moment to pass on a lovely bit of praise we've received. Turns out we have international fans:

@LizzieSigne we're sat on cramped Tanzanian bus, chickens + goats at our feet, headed towards Dar Es Salaam. Totally engrossed in your blog!

Hey, we aim to please.

12.39 Sarah Burton has described the opportunity to design Kate Middleton's dress was the "experience of a lifetime".

Describing the bride as "absolutely stunning", she said: "I have enjoyed every moment of it."

12.34 Duncan Gardham, our security correspondent, has phoned in. He says:

There was a small scuffle at Soho Square, where 10 or so anarchists gathered for their so-called "Zombie Wedding" protest. One guy was arrested after declining a stop-and-search.

There are about 20,000 people in Trafalgar Square, and another several thousand outside who couldn't get in. Biggest cheer of the day was obviously for the Royal couple, but the second biggest was for when Harry was seen walking with Pippa Middleton.

12.28 Kate Middleton and Prince William - or the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, I should say - are safely back at Buckingham Palace, and the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh have just made it back with (I think) the Household Cavalry escorting them.

The effect is rather spoiled by the queues of cheap hired minibuses trundling behind them, bringing those guests who don't have a state carriage to carry them around.

12.20 Just received this comment from Rachel Ray, who's reviewing the US TV coverage for us:

On ABC veteran newswoman Barbara Walters offers an interesting contrast between the coverage of the Prince Charles-Diana wedding and this one. The couple barely looked at each other as opposed to this warm and natural pair of William and Catherine. The first worthwhile anchor commentary.

12.16 Andrew Porter emails:

Rider fell off at front of procession. Horse legged it off up Whitehall. Hope there isn't any of that in 2,000 Guineas tomorrow.

12.13 The couple have left the abbey in the open-topped carriage we mentioned earlier. The rain has held off - there's almost sunshine. Kate waves to the crowd. The Scottish state coach is standing by to take the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh back to the palace.

_{(Photo: BBC)}

12.10 Lucie Hewitt Tweets:

@luciebean Look at those flags being waved for the national anthem. There's patriotism for you.

_{(Photo: LUCY BEAN)}

12.07 The couple are leaving the abbey hand-in-hand. Kate does, it must be said, look beautiful.

The strings-heavy music playing sounds remarkably like the end of Star Wars.

12.05 I shouldn't laugh: this from Twitter:

@EssexAmmer The Welsh Guards are at the wedding? Who's guarding Wales then? All the Welsh will escape!

12.03 Melissa Whitworth writes: "My American friend says 'Even I, a Yank, get the chills during God Save the Queen'."

11.59 Caroline Gammell emails in:

National anthem and Jerusalem get loud cheer by Cenotaph. Crowds enjoying the sunshine, even if it is only brief.

11.56 In the crowds, our student journalist Ben Whitelaw Tweets:

@benwhitelaw Throngs leaving Green Park saying 'we've seen the important bit'. Replaced by influx from Hyde Park wanting to get near Palace

11.53 Her Majesty the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh during one of the hymns:

_{(Photo: BBC)}

11.52 John Bingham Tweets the following pic, showing the traditional British response to a public event - getting trolleyed at 11.30am:

@John_Bingham Roaring trade at Red Lion pub as hundreds crowd round TV. http://yfrog.com/hsgzoafj

11.49 And the congregation sings the third and final hymn, Jerusalem. Jonathan Agnew, of Test Match Special fame, Tweets:

@Aggerscricket Ah. Jerusalem. Usually means teams are about to take the field

11.45 Giving the sermon, the Bishop of London, the Rt Rev Richard Chartres, read out a prayer that William and Kate had composed in preparation for the day:

God our Father, we thank you for our families; for the love that we share and for the joy of our marriage.

In the busyness of each day keep our eyes fixed on what is real and important in life and help us to be generous with our time and love and energy.

Strengthened by our union help us to serve and comfort those who suffer. We ask this in the Spirit of Jesus Christ. Amen.

11.40 While all the ceremony has been going on, Mark Hughes, our security correspondent, has emailed with some less pleasant news:

Further eight arrests in the royal wedding security area, including one for sexual assault.

Total breakdown is now: 1 sexual assault 1 assault 1 criminal damage 1 drugs 3 drunk 1 wanted on warrant 1 offensive weapon 4 breach of peace 1 public order 3 theft and one other, which is as yet unspecified.

Following reports of anarchists putting masks on at Soho Square, police have invoked sections 60 and 60a of the criminal justice act 96 on whole of royal wedding security zone - about one mile radius. Section 60 allows police to stop and search anyone without suspicion. 60a allows officers to arrest people if they refuse to remove face coverings.

11.38 A lengthy prayer from the Bishop of London has just come to an end.

11.31 A rather nice touch pointed out to me about the bride's bouquet: apparently they include Sweet William, in a tribute to her new husband.

Also included are lily-of-the-valley, hyacinth and myrtle, coming according to tradition from the original myrtle bush planted by Queen Victoria at Osborne House, Isle of Wight in 1845. It also contains a sprig from a plant grown from the myrtle used in The Queen's wedding bouquet of 1947.

11.28 William said the words "I will" in a clear and strong voice to the Archbishop of Canterbury's question about whether he would "love, comfort, honour and keep" Kate. His bride spoke more softly when she said "I will" in response to the same question.

Kate looked nervous and at several points appeared slightly choked with emotion as she repeated her vows in front of the large congregation.

11.26 A reading, now, by James Middleton, from Romans 12:1, 2, 9-18.

11.22 The congregation sing Love Divine, All Love's Excelling. Meanwhile, Bryony's lipreader is back:

@bryony_gordon Apparently William said "You look beautiful" and "Just a small family affair!"

11.18 Harry's big moment has come and gone, and he successfully passed the ring to William without dropping it. Now he just has to steel himself for the best man's speech later.

11.15 And now Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, is taking the couple through their vows.

Kate has not promised to "obey" her husband, following the precedent of her late mother-in-law Diana, Princess of Wales, who promised only to ?love, comfort, honour and keep? the Prince of Wales.

_{(Photo: BBC)}

11.14 The Dean of Westminster is carrying out the service.

11.10 The couple are standing at the altar, while the congregation sings Guide Me O Thou Great Redeemer.

_{(Photo: BBC)}

11.08 The view from the US, from our American TV correspondent Rachel Ray:

The Fox news anchor comments that Catherine's stunning wedding dress is "more conservative" than we might have expected. Perhaps Fox is forgetting that the ceremony is in Westminster Abbey and not H'wood?

11.05 Kate is now walking up the aisle with her father Michael Middleton. Her veil is over her face and concealing her tiara, which I understand is the Russian Fringe. The diamond tiara was worn by Queen Mary, the Queen Mother, the Queen and the Princess Royal.

_{(Photo: BBC)}

11.01 Confirmed: the dress is by Sarah Burton of Alexander McQueen. According to our fashion editor Hilary Alexander:

McQueen, who died last year, represented a dynamic era in British fashion, and his extraordinary body of work, at times maverick, melancholic and macabre, was inspired by the history of the British Isles. That legacy is being continued by Sarah Burton, who has invested the label with a slightly more romantic, but still challenging viewpoint.

It had previously been rumoured to be Sophie Cranston of the Lib�lula label, according to the Huffington Post, Jasper Conran or Bruce Oldfield. But there have also been reports that she is to wear two dresses on the day, one in the morning for the wedding and one in the evening for the ball. So we may see one of the others make an appearance later.

_{(Photo: BBC)}

10.59 A bit more on Kate's dress, from Phong Luu:

First glimpse of Kate's dress: it has a V-neck and lace long sleeves with a long train. Sarah Burton of Alexander McQueen was spotted next to her car.

10.56 Here's Pippa Middleton, Kate's sister and maid of honour, arriving at the abbey with the assorted bridesmaids and pageboys:

_{(Photo: BBC)}

10.55 Apparently Sarah Burton was seen adjusting the dress before Kate got into the car. Here's the first pic, we'll get better ones soon:

_{(Photo: BBC)}

10.53 First glimpse of Kate's dress: looks like it's Sarah Burton. I'll have a screengrab in a moment.

10.51 Pippa Middleton has left the Goring - this from Heidi Blake:

Pippa Middleton, the bride's sister and maid of honour, left the Goring Hotel at 10.44 wearing a cream dress. She departed for Westminster Abbey with four child bridesmaids all wearing matching dresses.

Murray Wardrop emails:

Downing Street staff have all flooded out onto Whitehall armed with cameras to catch a glimpse of the Queen.

10.49 According to Bryony's lipreader, the Queen is saying "it's just marvellous". She has now arrived at Westminster Abbey, wearing an Angela Kelly-designed single crepe wool primrose dress with hand sown beading at the neck in the shape of sunrays with a matching double crepe wool-tailored primrose coat.

She is carrying an Angela Kelly designed matching crepe hat with handmade silk roses and matching apricot coloured leaves and sporting a Queen Mary?s True Lovers Knot broach.

10.47 Tim Walker is really not impressed with Huw Edwards's guest-spotting skills:

"She's fourth in line to the throne... no, fifth in line to the throne..." Huw Edwards, sounding a bit unsteady just now, talking about someone he has just spotted in the back of another car.

A few moments later, he helpfully adds: "That's the Queen in the back of that car, Huw."

10.46 The bomb scare is over, says Heidi Blake:

Police said the bomb threat had been "stood down" at 10.40 when they removed the cordon and allows crowds back towards the Goring.

10.42 Huge cheers as the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh leave Buckingham Palace. Earlier, Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall left, and have just climbed the steps of Westminster Abbey.

_{The Queen (visible in yellow through the window) and the Duke of Edinburgh head to Westminster Abbey.(Photo: BBC)}

10.38 More from Bryony, who's got a handy lipreader emailing her what William and Harry are saying to each other:

@bryony_gordon William says abbey looks beautiful. Apparently the brothers said "look at all these people" - aww, did they expect a man and his dog to turn up? He is complimenting guests and saying he is relaxed.

_{Prince William and Prince Harry arrive at Westminster Abbey. (Photo: BBC)}

10.37 Princess Michael of Kent, Princess Beatrice and Prince Edward are among the latest guests to have arrived.

10.35 More on the suspicious vehicle near the Goring Hotel, from Heidi Blake:

The blue VW estate was discovered at 10.17am, minutes before Miss Middleton's mother, Carole, was due to depart for Westminster Abbey. The vehicle, with the registration RJ06UUY, was parked on Grosvenor Gardens, around 100 yards from the hotel. One police officer said: "We think the car might contain a bomb".

Hundreds of members of the public, photographers and reporters were evacuated from around the hotel by police officers who shouted: "Clear the area immediately for your own safety". The road was cordoned off with police tape at 10.30. The police dog squad arrived at 10.32.

10.33 A couple of Huw Edwards-watching emails, now. First up, Tim Walker:

It is striking how few of the people in these cars heading to the wedding Huw Edwards can identify... his style seems to be to pick out just one or two very familiar faces every now and again... badly let down, I fear, by his researchers.

And our TV writer Ed Cumming has the following to say about a certain TV historian:

Huw Edwards sounds a little wearier every time he introduces Simon Schama. I'm not surprised.

10.31 Harry's hair looks a little unruly. Someone should have dragged a comb through it. The boys are in the abbey now, by the way.

10.29 Carole Middleton is wearing clothes of some description. Our fashion correspondent in New York, Melissa Whitworth, emails to say:

For all the fuss over Carole Middleton chopping and changing which designer and milliner she would wear, no one really cares what the mother of the bride is wearing, do they?

10.27 The Sultan of Brunei has arrived, apparently. And Bryony Gordon, our columnist, Tweets the following:

@bryony_gordon Lipreader emailing me little gems. Harry keeps asking william if he is ok

10.24 Kate Middleton's mother Carole and brother James have left the Goring Hotel, where Heidi Blake is stationed and where police are appearently investigating a bomb threat:

The area around the Goring Hotel where Kate Middleton is preparing for her wedding to Prince William was evacuated after police discovered a suspicious vehicle.

10.21 Christopher Hope, another of our reporters, says that police have sealed off a suspicious-looking car outside the Goring Hotel. At the same time, we gather via our security correspondent Mark Hughes that an "anarchist" has been arrested.

10.13 William, and best man Harry, have left Clarence House. Harry has the wedding ring, of course. William is - frankly - resplendent in full military dress, red with gold braid, as befits his rank as colonel of the Irish Guards, and has the RAF wings on his sash. Harry's uniform is black. William looks a little nervous, it must be said.

Watching the royal wedding in London or celebrating at home? Share eye-witness pictures of the world's biggest party with our Colour app or send your pictures to mypic@telegraph.co.uk and we'll publish a selection of the best. See telegraph.co.uk/mypic for terms and conditions

See our previous coverage:
Royal wedding build-up as it happened: April 26
Royal wedding build-up as it happened: April 27
Royal wedding build-up as it happened: April 28
Royal wedding build up as it happened: April 29 am

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