flocking to london hoping to squeeze in among a crowd that's estimated to be anywhere between 800,000 and 1 million strong. and that's the challenge facing the metropolitan police force. with 46 heads of state, national and foreign royalty, and many public figures, a major security operation is already under way to ensure the safety of everyone who attends. >> reporter: in the replen dent spring sunshine, london has been perfectly polished for the royal wedding, but beneath the fluttering flags and pristine pa.s lu pavements lurks the fear that this happy occasion could be transformed in a moment. andy spent 30 years working for the british police service. >> underneath what seems to be a happy celebration is the police service and the security agencies planning for whatever possibly could happen. >> reporter: his last post in london included royal protection. >> if there is an event and the police need to get somewhere quickly, they've got to get through lots of crowds. >> reporter: but the focus of police attention has not just been on managing a crowd that's expected to number 700,000. it was just six years ago that london suffered an attack by domestic terrorists in what came to be known as 7/7. 52 people were killed on july the 7th, 2005, after three bombs exploded at london's subway stations and a further device detonated on a london bus. >> you can never say never, but the chances of there being an attack here on this celebrating day are fairly slim. having said that, if you go back to 2003, there's not been a year gone by -- there's been an attack like 7/7 or one ha been thwarted. >> reporter: the challenge is this is an event that will take place at several locations. 1,900 people will gather at westminster abbey for the actual ceremony. then there's the processional route from the abbey to buckingham palace. >> the number of people, they're hyped up, they're excited, they want to touch if they can anyone in that procession. what the police have got to try to do is allow that celebration to run through, but at the same time not allow it to get overrun so actually things get out of hand. >> reporter: as for the public, there's a mixture of excite am and a little trepidation. >> seems everyone is a little more excited because the royal wedding is coming up, but it seems like business as usual. >> reporter: london boasts a police force of some 30,000 officers and all leave has been canceled to ensure that the wedding of the decade, maybe even the century, is enjoyed by everyone and not used by anyone with violent intentions. and for that reason the head of london's police service will not be sleeping for quite some time. >> i don't think my successor now will be getting a night's sleep without it being disturbed. what they need to do all the time is try to keep ahead of the game. you're only as good as the intelligence you know about so what you've got to plan for is something that could come from left or right field, and that's why there will be sleepless nights from now right through to the wedding. >> our thanks to andy and to offer more insight on what it takes to secure the royal family and the millions of attendees during an event of this magnitude, i'm joined now by a man with the unique perspective of this type of policing operation. princess diana's former bodyguard ken wolf. good afternoon. >> good afternoon. >> what does it involve to police an event like this? >> it involves a great deal of intelligence that andy talks about, but it involves also a great deal of manpower. which during my time i have seen so many ceremonial duties, which this is, as tinct from the old duties. already we know that the scotland yard are putting in excess of 5,000 police officers to police this. additional to that we have a line of military as well. plus, additionally in that force we have these snatch quads and additional powers to stop and search during the event itself. really we couldn't do any more than we're actually doing. >> are you concerned at all about what's happened with regard to ireland recently where it seems as though republican terrorists have started planning bombing escapades, as you know a member of the police service of northern ireland, recently killed. is that an issue? >> well, i think it is an issue because it's distressing that after so many years of policing northern ireland, it looks as though there's a resurgent problem there. but from my experiences, if we go back to the days of diana and charles in '81, the i.r.a. was almost at its peak there. given that concern, the policing of that ceremony, that wedding, went off without incident. although it's a concern, i don't think it presents a big problem. if there is to be an escalating problem, it's very much in the early stages. i think because of the expertise of the yard, i don't foresee a major problem. but we need to look and look closely at intelligence because that's what will tell us, will give us a clue to anything happening. possibly something from the right or left or maybe some fanatical group that might stage some stupid demonstration, but there will be sufficient uniformed police there to deal with it. i don't foresee a major global accident. >> andy was talking about the possibility of somebody with a can of paint, not unlike what happened recently when charles and camilla were returning from the theater and their car was attacked. what about that lower order but nevertheless disruptive act. >> the problem -- the problem with any ceremonial event, i think to be politically correct, you call them fix yated people. in the old days you call nem th nutters. going back to the prince charles thing before christmas, i don't think demonstrators realized their luck when suddenly the back of this chocolate rolls royce was the prince of wales. naer not goi they're not going to have this opportunity here. you have this railing, fencing, the police that will be facing inwards and the military lineup and carriage and the procession will move at a fairly quick pace. if somebody is going to launch a can of white paint, there's every chance unless they're a particularly good shot it will miss anyway. >> very briefly, final question, what is it like and what is it going to be like for someone like catherine middleton whose live up until this point has been relatively free and without encumbrance. now she's going to have protection officers. she's not going to have much in the way of privacy, is she? >> no. privacy is always a problem that royalty has always craved for. that's not to say they have a bad life with or without it, but the great thing with kate middleton is, of course, that she's had an eight-year peri period -- >> we are already speaking of the police. >> already on patrol. but kate middleton had an eight-year period in university with william, could see what william was experiencing. and i think william said this is what i am, this is what i got, you can either go and stay. she chose to stay. i think she realizes what the implications are. if the information is good and she gets on with her protection team, there's no reason why she shouldn't enjoy it. that's the problem, from here on in, she will begin a process of meetings, of visits, and be the center stage for some years to come. as long as she can enjoy that and enjoy the support from a husband and the rest of the royal family, i think she's got a good chance of survival. >> thank you so much for your insight, ken wolf. it's pleasant weather here in london, but back home in the midwest things couldn't be more different. in the town of poplar bluff, missouri, about 1,000 people are being evacuated on flooding fears after days of torrential rains. that, of course, after a powerful tornado ripped through the st. louis airport friday night. a terrifying scene for travelers there. nbc's john yang has more. >> reporter: martin, the airport is up and running, although a concourse of about 30 gates is inoperable. officials say that it won't be fully repaired for a couple of months. the security camera caught how this fierce tornado turned that concourse into a wind tunnel with huge pieces of debris flying down, shattering windows. nearly half of all the windows in this terminal shattered in the storm. part of the roof was ripped off. they're hoping to operate at about 85% capacity today on a normal day there would be about 250 flights. they're hoping to be back to 100% by tomorrow. but while the flights will be normal, the terminal itself won't be back to normal for many, many months. martin? >> nbc's john yang, thank you very much indeed. and more severe weather is on the way this week. let's get right to the weather channel meteorologist jeff morrow in atlanta. what's in store for the weekend? >> thanks, martin. yeah, no rest for the weary, that's for sure. severe weather still a big problem. no less than three severe weather watches out, including right now a tornado watch for parts of texas and oklahoma into arkansas. wherever you see the red shading all the way from parts of pennsylvania and maryland back through the ohio valley and all the way down toward dallas, texas, the threat for more severe weather today and probably right on into tomorrow. the same area gets hit all the way from the great lakes right on down into parts of east texas once again. cities like dallas, little rock, nashville, indianapolis, could all be affected and this will all start to march towards the east coast by wednesday and thursday of this week. what has been a terrible month of severe weather continues this week. back to you. >> jeff morrow with the weather channel. thank you so much. and next, the middle east explodes in violence again. and will gabby giffords attend her husband's shuttle launch? 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>> nbc news chief foreign correspondent richard engel, thank you. syria may be the scene of the most intense violence at the moment, but the entire region remains on edge. in bahrain, home of the u.s. fifth fleet, "the wall street journal" is reporting that nation believes terrorist group hezbollah is training opposition forces in iranian and lebanese camps. those countries have denied at the involvement. in yemen there appears to be a deal for the president to step down. protesters say they are not convinced and say they will continue to demonstrate until he is gone. the professor of international relations in the middle east joins us. nato forces say that wasn't an attempt on gadhafi's life but they got awfully close, didn't they? >> absolutely. i think of course they can tell you they're trying to target gadhafi, but the reality is they are trying to eliminate gadhafi. they're trying to eliminate the top commanders of his forces. i mean, the war is on, even though they have to deny it publicly of course. >> can you explain the dangers of an involvement from a group like hezbollah? bahrain? >> well, well reality, martin, we don't have credible evidence that hezbollah is involved in the bahraini iaian situation. the reality is and the americans know this, what's happening in bahrain is an internal situation. in fact, suppression of the protesters in bahrain could radicalize and militarize the peaceful opposition and bring iran and hezbollah into the situation. but the reality according to secretary of defense gates and the american intelligence, this is an internal situation even though the royal family and the saudi would like us to believe that iran is behind it. >> where is this rumor coming from? >> they've all been circulating for quite a while. before the arab revolutions, the bahrain royal family had tried to convince the american leadership it's all iran. the wikileaks documents show clearly the american leadership did not buy basically the narrative by the government before the revolutions and even after until saudi intervened in bahrain. the american leadership did not believe, does not believe that iran has direct say in what has happened in bahrain. >> let's move to yemen briefly. do you think that situation is drawing towards some kind of resolution? >> it seems so, but the reality yemen faces a very stark choice. either the president steps down or you have a situation of civil war. there is no alternative. and both the americans and the gulf corporation counsels are trying to nudge the president of yemen out. i think he has got the point. i think he's going to be leaving soon. >> you say he's got the point, but the people seem dissatisfied with his offer. >> and that's, again, another critical part of the complex political situation. the mainstream opposition has accepted the plan rented by the gulf corporation council with the assistance of the united states, but this is a bottom up movement, a social movement. the students and the opposition don't actually buy the peace plan offered by the council. there are rifts and cleavages within the opposition and that's why sala might exploit the situation, look, you don't agree, i stay. >> a comprehensive look at the middle east if ever i've heard one. thank you so much for joining us. coming up, will gabby giffords be well enough to attend her husband's shuttle launch? and the intimate secrets to a happy marriage. what will kate and all of us need to know? 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[ male announcer ] wheat thins crunch stix. try our new flavors. pnc virtual wallet gathers your spending and saving in one place. credit and debit purchases, checks, bills, and other financial information. it lets you see the details as well as the big financial picture. so you can do more with your money. see what a complete view of your money can do for you at pncvirtualwallet.com. ♪ pnc bank. for the achiever in you. breaking news on the martin bashir show. we have just got a statement reading that mississippi governor haley barbour is not going to run for president in 2012. the republican issued a statement on monday, today, saying he will not be a candidate for president next year. this in a field of potential gop presidential candidates that is still working its way through. again, mississippi governor haley barbour saying he will not run for president next year in 2012. now, back to martin in london. real breaking news there with richard. thank you so much. after much speculation about who has and who has not been invited to the royal wedding, the official guest list has finally been revealed. and there will be a much greater presence of royals and celebrities than previously expected. the kings of swaziland and tonga will be there as well as the queen of spain along with a few other household names. nbc correspondent michelle kosinski is part of our team closely following royal wedding preparations. she joins us now. good afternoon. >> hi, martin. >> so who is in and who is out? >> where to begin, where to begin? i think the most visible out has been the duchess of york and that's kind of interesting since her daughters are invited and she isn't. that's something they could have planned out ahead of time and said let's do a gesture of goodwill and have the whole family since she is on good terms with at least her ex-husband. so that's been talked about for several weeks. now we know former labor prime ministers tony blair, gordon brown are not invited. and that's generating more of a buzz. it seems every day there's another little controversy everyone wants to talk about. >> i think there's surprise with gordon brown and tony blair because john major, sir john major now, former prime minister has been invited and margaret thatcher has been invited although she's too unwell to attend. >> both conservatives. and the palace has an answer for that. they said brown and blair are not members of the order of the garter which is an honor for civil ri. they said major and thatcher are so they received the invitation. but, of course, the real talk behind the scenes is because of tensions between the government and the palace at the time that they were in power, that blair had spoken out in his memoirs about his private conversations with the queen, what he thought of the queen and that was something that you should not do. >> one might have been tempted to think that the crown prince of bahrain would welcome the opportunity to leave his country given what's going on there. but he's not attending. >> true. many think that's a wise decision. and when the original leakage, if you will, of the guest list came out, that raised eyebrows also, royalty of saudi arabia, of jordan, although i did not see jordanian royalty listed this time around, although that is not a complete list necessarily. there are 1900 people invited to the church service. so that raised eyebrows. also some of prince charles' friends who are billionaires. there was lots of talk about this billionaire was linked to this or that, his grandfather was involved in this. this guy's company was under investigation. they're billionaires. i think what's interesting is this is very much a political event. it's a religious event and it's a social event. they want to incorporate everyone. over the weekend britain really got involved in running documentaries about past royal weddings and it was interesting to hear, you know, the commentators say that queen elizabeth's wedding was much more a political event. she's a future queen, while her sister, princess margaret's wedding was this big social celebrity studded event and this is kind of a combination. i mean, these two very young but very high-profile royals have a foot in all of these worlds. celebrities with the beckhams. lots of people that are going to be watching, also the political world. >> very quickly, joss stone, the singer, why has she been invited? >> a friend, connection. she was rumored to once have dated prince william. i don't think for a very long time, but lots of exes have been invited. i think at least six total exes of both prince william and kate middleton. some of them supposedly caused some tension with this couple. do we know the full story? no, but we sure love to talk about it. >> thanks so much for joining us. and our special wedding day coverage begins thursday night at 10:00 eastern only on msnbc. there's good news this week in the recovery of arizona congresswoman gabby giffords. doctors have given her the all-clear to make the 1,000-mile trip from houston to florida to attend her husband's space shuttle launch on friday. this will be giffords' first trip since being transferred from a tucson hospital to houston three months ago. and the news comes as we're learning remarkable new details about her near miraculous recovery. nbc's janet shamlian has more. >> reporter: martin, good afternoon. this is the news everyone has been waiting for. doctors today in houston said that congresswoman gabrielle giffords is medically able to attend the launch of space shuttle "endeavour" which is being commanded by her husband, mark kelly, this friday at the kennedy space center in florida. no details released on how she will travel to florida, when she will be returning, but they do say she will come back to houston and resume her rehab shortly after the shuttle launch. they also say this is just a great chance for her to get away and to have some down time. she's been working very hard here meeting with different teams of therapists throughout the day, doing things like learning to stand again and walk and write and talk in short sentences. and then this is a little bit of a break, something that she has wanted to do but they weren't ready to confirm until we got a little bit closer to launch, and now we are. again, she will be coming back here to houston to resume her rehab. there is no definitive word yet on when she will be released from the hospital in houston and start more of an outpatient rehab. good news really for all of us today. now back to you, martin. >> nbc's janet shamlian. 700 classified military documents released by the anti-secrecy group wikileaks have provided a rare and unique look at many of the men who call guantanamo prison in cuba home. it records everything from where the inmate was on 9/11, the prisoner's possessions and whether or not they were willing to strike at america again. for more let's go live to nbc news pentagon correspondent jim miklaszewski. good afternoon. what do these documents reveal that we didn't know before? >> reporter: well, quite frankly, martin, not very much. what they do do is provide detail and confirmation about what had been suspected all along, that this process of naming those taken into custody in afghanistan as unlawful combatants, not prisoners of war, but unlawful combatants, and creating the kind of legal -- a new legal structure there at guantanamo bay that enabled the u.s. to hold many of those prisoners indefinitely without due process. but, you know, of the 800 that were put into guantanamo bay originally, 600 have been released. many of those it was later determine ed you were put into guantanamo bay based on flimsy, faulty, or even false information. but amid the aftermath of 9/11 when u.s. forces got on the ground in afghanistan, there was an urgency to gather up al qaeda and the taliban and anyone attacking the u.s. military. so in sum, they were not mirandizing any of these suspects. as it turned out, it was determined that a few hundred of them probably were detained without any due cause. >> nbc's jim miklaszewski, thank you very much. >> thank you. >> next, will kate and the sexual secrets to a happy marriage. ♪ [ male announcer ] in 2011, at&t is at work, building up our wireless network all across america. we're adding new cell sites... increasing network capacity, and investing billions of dollars to improve your wireless network experience. from a single phone call to the most advanced data download, we're covering more people in more places than ever before in an effort to give you the best network possible. at&t. rethink possible. but when i was diagnosed with prostate cancer... i needed a coach. our doctor was great, but with so many tough decisions i felt lost. unitedhealthcare offered us a specially trained rn who helped us weigh and understand all our options. for me cancer was as scary as a fastball is to some of these kids. but my coach had hit that pitch before. turning data into useful answers. we're 78,000 people looking out for 70 million americans. that's health in numbers. unitedhealthcare. good afternoon. i'm simon hobbs with your cnbc market wrap. let's have a look at where the stocks are strayeding. there's a lot of concern about high input. it's a small lift for the battered industry that saw the worst winter for sales in almost half a century. hoping to take a bite out of amazon, wall hart is testing the home delivery market. customers can go online and order groceries, health and beauty products, even choose delivery times. services right now only available in san jose, california, but other test markets may be ahead. that's it from cnbc, first in business worldwide. now back to martin in the motherland. >> thanks very much. just four days to the royal wedding. the time for some last-minute relationship advice. the facts are that 1 in 2 marriages end in divorce in the uk, including that of prince william's parents charles and diana, his uncle prince andrew and his aunt princess ann. what makes for a happy and lasting marriage? relationship expert dr. laura berman joins me from chicago. good afternoon. >> good afternoon. >> now, the royal family does not have a great track record when it comes to marriage. charles and diana divorced, prince andrew and sarah ferguson, princess ann divorced from her first husband. what's your expert advice for prince william and catherine? >> well, you're right. he certainly hasn't had a model of what a long lasting, loving relationship looks like. but they've been together a long time, and i think they've been certainly put through the wringer to see if their relationship can pass the test of time and the pressures that are on them, but the pressures are really going to escalate once they get married and really take on the depth and breadth of these public duties together and separately. so there are some things that really any couple should know about whether they're royalty or not that you have to make it a point to carve out that alone time together. especially when you have a family and your busy lives. you have to make each other a priority. you have to be protective of each other. but they, like many celebrity, perhaps they more than many, are going to be in a fishbowl. one of the challenges there is that when you have a little tiff, it's splashed across the front pages of all the newspapers and magazines. so not only are they going to have to really figure out how to keep their issues private, but they have extra social pressure to be perceived as perfect all the time which can be a recipe for disaster if you don't have enough support. >> it seems very important to will and kate that they try to lead some kind of normal life, but how on earth is it possible to do that when you're basically the king in waiting and all of the media's attention is on you and, you know, you take on so many civic and ceremonial responsibilities on behalf of the united kingdom. how can they live a normal life? >> they won't. they won't live a normal life like we understand a normal life. but i think what they're going to try to do is create some semblance of normalcy. they will have their home. they'll try to have time alone together. they'll try to have quiet time. i know they very much enjoy their quiet time alone out of the public eye. so they're going -- even though she still has to walk a few steps behind him, i think their relationship is pretty egalitarian and respectful. as i understand it, she's put her stake in the ground and said she will love, honor, but she will not say she's going to obey him in the ceremony. >> there's been talk about the fact this is a couple who are of a similar age and they're very different in the way they've come together and lived as compared to princess diana and prince charles. do you think the fact that they've had something like ten years to prepare is going to make an important difference given the fact that all the statistics suggest that couples who live together don't necessarily have a more successful marriage than those who haven't lived together before they marry? >> you're absolutely right. i wouldn't say it's so much living together although you certainly get a sense of the dirty socks that are going to be left on the floor, all i'm sure prince william has a servant for that. but it's more that they've had time to really get to know each other and it seems, as i understand it from what i have seen, that the palace has taken great -- gone to great lengths to educate her and to spend time making sure she understands exactly what's going to be required of her so she's had a really good taste over the past several years of what her life is going to be like, how they're going to handle it together, how he can support her, how he's going to be protective of her, how she's going to manage the pressures, and so they've definitely put it to the test to the extent they can not being married yet. so i think they've got the best possible shot and all the parties involved have really done their best to ensure that, but then, you know, they're young and they have a lot of pressures on them and they're going to have their work cut out for them probably more than your average couple. >> dr. laura berman, i know that you'll be dispensing similar advice on your own show on the own network but thank you very much for joining us. >> thank you. and more from london when we return. my doctor said most calcium supplements... aren't absorbed properly unless taken with food. he recommended citracal. it's different -- it's calcium citrate, so it can be absorbed with or without food. also available in small, easy-to-swallow petites. citracal. ♪ hey walgreens, i'm kinda liking matt here. but i'm kinda allergic to bruce. 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[ female announcer ] try 24-hour zyrtec for prescription strength relief from your allergy symptoms. indoors...and out. and right now when you buy a zyrtec 45 count, you can get a 14 count free. at walgreens. ♪ at walgreens. ever wish vegetables didn't taste so vegetably? well, v8 v-fusion juice gives you a full serving of vegetables, plus a full serving of fruit. but it just tastes like fruit. v8. what's your number? from the engagement ring to the ceremony at westminster abbey, the memory of prince mem william's mother is a silence preparation. and although the princess will be physically absent from this time of joy and celebration, she'll be very much on william's mind standing before millions to greet his bride. for a look at how prince william's mother may have influenced the plans for wedding we're joined by celia wharton. good afternoon. >> hello. >> how do you think diana is influencing things even now such a long time after her death? >> i think that william's made it clear from the beginning that he wanted her to be a part of it and he even said when they announced the engagement, you know, that i want her to be there as much as she can be. but i think when's more interesting is the way she's influenced kate because she would have grown with images of diana on the tv screen and kate's parents were sort of very much in love with the idea of diana so i think in a way she is brought up, fed on diana and emulates her whether she knows it or not in everything she does. >> all of the newspapers are filling their pages with speculative stories and one of today's speculations is that williams going to somehow refer to his mother. i'd always assumed that was inevitable making his speech at the wedding breakfast just behind me. is that when you think he'll speak about it? >> i think it was assumed making the groom speech it will be ridiculous not to refer to her and put a good deal of weight on it and probably draw on similarities between his bride and his mother. because i think that is partly why he fell for kate in the first same. she has a serenity of diana and to sort of be in touch with the public. and so, he may well draw on that but i suspect the archbishop of canter bury will comment on it. >> the archbishop is doing the wedding ceremony. thinking for a moment about die yeah in's absence, i'm assuming that it's a matter of sadness, as well, for everybody. >> yes. i think so. >> feels like it's tinged with sadness, this occasion. >> it does but i expect that both of them will want to bat that aa little bit. they don't want it steeped in gloom. that's the last thing they want and i remember when he did, william did give kate his mother's ring there was all sorts of everyone saying would you give that? is it a bad omen? i don't think it's a bad omen at all but i think you need the balance right and for it not to become some sort of slightly dark day in remembrance of diana but there should be several nods to her throughout the day. >> do you think there will be? >> i'm sure there will be. it would be odd if there were not. >> do you think her sense of the event to affirm it as a very happy occasion if she were here? >> i think so and all sorts of very complicated political undertones there and who knows how she'd get on with kate or kate's mother and it would be probably a much more interesting day if she were still alive. but i mean, sadly, on many levels obviously she won't be there. >> celia, thanks so much for joining us. and there will be special coverage throughout friday for the wedding and be sure to tune in to special wedding coverage friday night here on msnbc and royal updates any time with the free nbc news royal wedding app. too much on your plate? no matter when you get around to booking, hotels.com will have a great last minute deal waiting for you. like at the hotels.com 48 hour sale. this tuesday and wednesday only. hotels.com. be smart. book smart. ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] with amazing innovation, driven by relentless competition, wireless puts the world at your command. ♪ >> announcer: here's a special free offer for men who are losing their hair. >> my hair always looks great, and i feel great. >> if you want to look better and if you want to feel better about yourself, hair club is the way to go. >> announcer: men, you know that getting your hair back will make you look good and improve your self-confidence like no diet or exercise program. it's a proven fact that having a thicker, fuller head of hair makes you look and feel younger, healthier, and sexier. you can get your hair back just by calling hair club. call now. >> i'm 52, and i look better now than i did when i was in my 40s. >> becoming a member of hair club for men is the best investment in my career i've ever made. >> announcer: hair club offers all proven hair loss solutions, including surgical and non-surgical options. available through our network of physicians, with more than half a million success stories over the last 30 years, hair club can also help you get your hair back. invest in yourself. call now. >> what separates us from all the other hair loss companies is that only hair club provides all the proven technologies and solutions for hair loss that are available. >> the reason why i went to hair club was because of the great quality of work, the experience of the doctors and the medical staff, and the great patient care. they really took care of me, and the results are fantastic. >> announcer: when you call right now to book your free no-obligation consultation, we'll also give you a microscopic hair and scalp analysis-- a $250 value-- absolutely free. we'll measure the extent of your hair loss, explain what causes hair loss, and our hair loss experts will show you all the tested proven solutions we offer. >> i'm very happy that i have a full head of hair. i feel healthy and great, and it's the best decision i've ever made. >> announcer: hair club is the only company that can offer you a customized solution based on your unique type of hair loss. get the look you want that women love. if you want to look younger, feel better, and get a full head of hair again, call hair club today. >> i wish i would have done this 20 years ago. it's so worth it. >> call 'em. just call hair club. hair club has worked wonders for me. >> announcer: why wait? call now for your free information kit and find out how you can get your hair back. the call is free. the information is free. the consultation is free. why wait? call now. it's time now to clear the air. and despite all the expressions of happiness and joy with the forthcoming royal wedding britain like the u.s. is struggling with an economic recession for the last three years. and while prince william and kate middleton are looking positively toward the future the rest of the population is much less optimistic. unemployment in the uk stands over 2.5 million, 8% of the pop lag. not so dissimilar to the figure in the u.s. the property market here crashed in 2008 and the glut of foreclose yurts means that prices have fallen. millions of people own homes that are worth much less than the mortgages they must repay. just like the u.s. but that's where the similarities end because while both the american and british governments are focused on trying to revitalize their respective economies they're using different methods to do so. from the moment he was elected president obama lobbied congress to pass a stimulus package worth $825 billion to boost an economy that he said was in the midst of an unprecedented crisis. believing that governments must intervene to stimulate the economy, the president is accused of trying to spend his way out of the recession. but the british government has largely chosen the path of austerity. they've promised to cut half a million public sector jobs, raise the retirement age from 65 to 66 and slash parts of a welfare safety net that has been in existence since the second world war. even the british royal family has been told to cut spending by 14%. in some ways, both nations are engaged in a kind of trial of economic recovery. one relying on stimulus, the other austerity. so how are they doing? and which approach is proving more successful? in the u.s., unemployment is grudgingly going down as it is in britain but consumer confidence here in the uk has yet to recover. retail sales actually dropped in february and last month rose by just 0.2%. inflation has risen to 4% and there's an ever present fear that the country could soon experience a double-dip recession. while the congress battles over raising the debt ceiling, it might be worth comparing economic recovery in america with the state of affairs here in britain. because while the royal wedding has certainly given the nation something of a boost i have a suspicion that the president's approach to the economy may yet prove to be the more successful one. thanks for watching. i'll be bringing you the show live from london all week. for now, we head back to new york where dylan ratigan who can pick the bones off any aust