WHAT we are seeing with the latest royal swanning-about in the sun is most probably very different from what the royals “think” they’re currently experiencing: another trip successfully done.

You have to wonder who amongst their advisers and the Foreign & Commonwealth Office thought it a good idea to go ahead with this latest “procession”. Is it to ensure some form of actual visibility, and not be distanced away in one of their many palaces?

Is it to form some personal connection with this, the next generation? I mean, do these advisors believe there is lingering loyalty to the “old Queen’ and that this loyalty is somehow a transferability commodity? But then, in the past, a very high proportion of the ancestors on the islands were a transferable commodity.

READ MORE: Prince William and Kate Middleton Jamaica trip pictures spark ridicule

With 24-7 social media, we see what was considered unimaginable in the past: open opposition and mild hostility to the royal family. Just ‘cos you’ve got a helicopter doesn’t mean you land it without any prior contact and deliberations with the locals. Well, not if you want the locals to want you.

Had no-one bothered to check out feelings regarding the Duke as patron of Flora and Fauna International? And definitely no freebie chocolates to take home this time. That little village of Indian Creek has certainly added to the stooshie. With Barbados leading the way, it is almost inevitable that change will sweep through that particular geo-region. Where’s next, Jamaica?

But not here, where we have forelock-tugging continuing whilst inflation continues apace: 6.2% in February, the fastest rate in 30 years, up from 5.5 % in January. That increase is sure to impact the pockets of many households around the country, but not the rule-makers-cum-rule-breakers nor royalty.

Perhaps the latter will have fewer lights on in their many residences. It was recorded that Victoria once tried to economise with cheaper tallow candles but with the smell and mess, business as usual was quickly resumed. Business as usual now for some: foreign trips, whilst food bank use continues to rise along with fuel and energy, and folks desperate for the weather to improve to enable them to shut down all the heating, presuming they’ve not done so already, and have no lights on in the evenings.

No matter the giveaways being pre-announced by the Chancellor, and sops on Wednesday, there are weeks, months and possibly years of new austerity.

For pensioners that 6.2% inflationary increase is double the rise in state pensions and benefits which will increase by a mere 3.1% from April 11. Inflation will be even higher in the immediate short term. And when you consider rising inflation is met by static wages, wage earners are experiencing that double whammy.

For the royals, a kickabout with the famous footballer Raheem Sterling to add a touch of the everyday. The whole circus around royalty shows more than ever the gulf that exists across society. But in the past, with the distraction of circuses came bread. Are we so fickle that a foreign trip becomes the latest distraction? Or while being asked to house specific refugees (maybe making us feel better) we do nothing to address the cause of the latest war. Or we make donations to food banks, but don’t address the causes of poverty? Or we accept fire and re-hire with subsequent wage reductions? And we do nothing?

When, as a nation, will we do something – the right thing – to secure our future decoupled from Westminster by voting for independence?

Selma Rahman
Edinburgh