This strategy is no great feat of political imagination. But it has got Labour this far. Looking at the opinion polls, one has to assume it will get it as far as the election it still expects to come in May, four months after the national insurance cut comes into effect. It has not escaped the party’s notice that Sunak is set to spend part of October at the King’s first Commonwealth summit in Samoa, a 20-hour flight from London, which complicates the logistics of any autumn poll.
Anyone know how much a problem this would be for mid-autumn poll?
Hmm this seems a bit dodgy, bad form from HMKCIII.
Not at all. TSE tried to get all Republican uppity about it earlier until it was pointed out that it is actually run by a Cabinet Minister and is being done to improve the energy efficiency of old buildings.
There's certainly that angle to it, but three things bother me: first, there is a longstanding claim that the money is all distributed to charities, and it seems that isn't true; second, the restoration of the buildings allows the Dutchy to earn higher rents, so there is in fact a direct financial benefit derived; and third, the whole thing just seems feudal and outdated - why should dead people's money from one specific area of the country be deemed the property of this corporate entity that provides private income to the royal family, rather than the public purse? I am not a republican, incidentally, but this kind of thing really undermines faith in the monarchy.
Army on the streets of Dublin tonight. Some serious anger out there.
Edited: it's been confirmed that the attacker was an Algerian national. What his migration status was I don't know.
Is the second part of this comment any more reliable than the first?
So it's been reported. But who knows. One attack does not normally result in riots so there must be more to this.
The far right have been making trouble for months over the number of refugees/asylum seekers arriving in Ireland. There was an attack on the tents of homeless asylum seekers. There are regularly demonstrations whenever the government finds some new accommodation to house arrivals in.
Obviously the story has been put about that the perpetrator was from abroad, but it's irresponsible to repeat something like that which hasn't been confirmed.
I'm surprised that you would do so.
I read a report that the Justice Minister had confirmed it. It turns out that this is not correct. Which is why I then said "So it's been reported. But who knows. One attack does not normally result in riots so there must be more to this."
Presumably the attacker has been arrested so the authorities do now know who they are.
They arrested the attacker at the scene, after he was overpowered by members of the public. Like Yokes said, the authorities would have known all sorts about them very quickly, but they chose to let rumour and innuendo dominate by not releasing information. I don't think we should be amplifying rumour and innuendo. It doesn't help.
Hmm this seems a bit dodgy, bad form from HMKCIII.
Not at all. TSE tried to get all Republican uppity about it earlier until it was pointed out that it is actually run by a Cabinet Minister and is being done to improve the energy efficiency of old buildings.
There's certainly that angle to it, but three things bother me: first, there is a longstanding claim that the money is all distributed to charities, and it seems that isn't true; second, the restoration of the buildings allows the Dutchy to earn higher rents, so there is in fact a direct financial benefit derived; and third, the whole thing just seems feudal and outdated - why should dead people's money from one specific area of the country be deemed the property of this corporate entity that provides private income to the royal family, rather than the public purse? I am not a republican, incidentally, but this kind of thing really undermines faith in the monarchy.
To be fair to Charles, if you go back about 50 generations his ancestor did pull a sword from a stone that no-one else could. That is good enough for me.
This strategy is no great feat of political imagination. But it has got Labour this far. Looking at the opinion polls, one has to assume it will get it as far as the election it still expects to come in May, four months after the national insurance cut comes into effect. It has not escaped the party’s notice that Sunak is set to spend part of October at the King’s first Commonwealth summit in Samoa, a 20-hour flight from London, which complicates the logistics of any autumn poll.
Anyone know how much a problem this would be for mid-autumn poll?
I am sure they have fridges for a Tory leader to hide in Samoa as well.
This strategy is no great feat of political imagination. But it has got Labour this far. Looking at the opinion polls, one has to assume it will get it as far as the election it still expects to come in May, four months after the national insurance cut comes into effect. It has not escaped the party’s notice that Sunak is set to spend part of October at the King’s first Commonwealth summit in Samoa, a 20-hour flight from London, which complicates the logistics of any autumn poll.
Anyone know how much a problem this would be for mid-autumn poll?
Hard to say. It might rule out one particular week but arguably it will do the Conservatives no harm to have the Prime Minister all over the telly being feted by other leaders, provided he is not caught sunbathing by the hotel swimming pool.
What an utter wanker our unelected head of state is, profiting from the dead, it's not like he needs the money, Donald Trump would be embarrassed to grift like this.
Revealed: King Charles secretly profiting from the assets of dead citizens
Exclusive: Assets of thousands of people in north-west England used to upgrade king’s property empire via archaic custom
‘He would turn in his grave’: the dead whose assets went to King Charles’s estate
How royal estates use bona vacantia to collect money from dead people
The king is profiting from the deaths of thousands of people in the north-west of England whose assets are secretly being used to upgrade a commercial property empire managed by his hereditary estate, the Guardian can reveal.
The Duchy of Lancaster, a controversial land and property estate that generates huge profits for King Charles III, has collected tens of millions of pounds in recent years under an antiquated system that dates back to feudal times.
Financial assets known as bona vacantia, owned by people who died without a will or known next of kin, are collected by the duchy. Over the last 10 years, it has collected more than £60m in the funds. It has long claimed that, after deducting costs, bona vacantia revenues are donated to charities.
However, only a small percentage of these revenues is being given to charity. Internal duchy documents seen by the Guardian reveal how funds are secretly being used to finance the renovation of properties that are owned by the king and rented out for profit.
The duchy essentially inherits bona vacantia funds from people whose last known address was in a territory that in the middle ages was known as Lancashire county palatine and ruled by a duke. Today, the area comprises Lancashire and parts of Merseyside, Greater Manchester, Cheshire and Cumbria.
A leaked internal duchy policy from 2020 gave officials at the king’s estate licence to use bona vacantia funds on a broad array of its profit-generating portfolio. Codenamed “SA9”, the policy acknowledges spending the money in this way could result in an “incidental” benefit to the privy purse, the king’s personal income.
Properties identified in other leaked documents as eligible for use of the funds include town houses, holiday lets, rural cottages, agricultural buildings, a former petrol station and barns, including one used to facilitate pheasant and partridge shoots in Yorkshire.
Upgrades include new roofs, double-glazing windows, boiler installations and replacements of doors and lintels. One document references the renovation of an old farmhouse in Yorkshire, helping transform it into a high-end residential let. Another upgrade is helping turn a farm building into commercial offices.
Look like they're recommending ugly terraces without any gardens, nothing pretty about it.
Seems to be more about making Britain petty again.
Looks beautiful to me and I'd happily live somewhere like that.
On the multifaith shed: I'm drunk, so please forgive the rudeness, but really, why must we create spaces for people to talk to their imaginary friends? At least in smoking sheds people talk to other smokers. I applaud Bristol airport for treating religion with the contempt it deserves.
Much of our greatest architecture is comprised of Christian cathedrals and churches and there are also some beautiful historical temples and mosques across the world.
Even in the UK on the last census most of us still have religion. You secularists can be as rude as you want but we religious do not deserve to be given what looks like a portaloo to pray and practice our faith!
Well I apologise for my rudeness about your sincere faith which you don't really bother anyone with.
And I agree: I have all sorts of misgivings about religion, but it has certainly been responsible for some splendid architecture. In most British towns and villages the parish church will be in the top five best buildings. But I don't see why public buildings should have to accommodate the religious. Many people like watching football but public buildings don't feel the need for a football room.
Try reading the Equality Act and the ECHR and you'll get a clue.
Then maybe both of those are outdated and need serious revision. I don't see why belief in Middle Eastern Sky Fairies should confer protection and privilege when belief in, for example, The Flying Spaghetti Monster or Liverpool Football Club, does not.
Religion is a human constant. The urge to believe in the divine and the life hereafter is an central part of many people's lives, and human nature being what it is those beliefs will differ. This difference and the inability of people to cope with it has caused catastrophically large wars throughout history and deaths innumerable. To prevent this we eventually decided to grit our teeth, tolerate the differences and make those reasonable accommodations that would enable us to rub alongside each other without mounting yet another holy war/pogrom/jihad/crusade.
Admittedly I wasn't expecting it to end up with a multifaith bus shelter, but there y'go. 😃
A good book to read on this IMO is John Gray's "Seven Types of Atheism". He talks about it here. (Just as much about religion as atheism, arguably).
I've got "Black Mass" from the library. It's difficult to read. He structures in such a way that he flits from era to era, idea to idea, like a pinball. The ideas are there, but extracting them is not easy. I like his articles but I think the shorter length forces him to focus. I'll keep a lookout for SToA but I'm not eager... ☹️
Comments
This strategy is no great feat of political imagination. But it has got Labour this far. Looking at the opinion polls, one has to assume it will get it as far as the election it still expects to come in May, four months after the national insurance cut comes into effect. It has not escaped the party’s notice that Sunak is set to spend part of October at the King’s first Commonwealth summit in Samoa, a 20-hour flight from London, which complicates the logistics of any autumn poll.
Anyone know how much a problem this would be for mid-autumn poll?
I am not a republican, incidentally, but this kind of thing really undermines faith in the monarchy.
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