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Thread | Channel 4 Dispatches - Duchies of Lancaster and Cornwall
at 17:41 14 Nov 2024
I'm amazed no one else posted a thread on this so i'll do it.
This is the article on the BBC news website dated 2nd November.
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The Royal Family has received millions of pounds of income in rent from the NHS, schools and the armed forces, a new documentary has revealed.
In the investigation by Channel 4’s Dispatches and the Sunday Times, external, it is reported that the private estates of King Charles and Prince William hold contracts with public bodies and charities.
Dame Margaret Hodge told the BBC on Sunday the findings have raised "serious question marks" and has called for a "full and transparent review" of both duchies.
A spokesperson for the Duchy of Lancaster, the private estate of King Charles, said it "complies with all relevant UK legislation and regulatory standards applicable to its range of business activities".
Over the past year, deals made by the Duchies of Lancaster and Cornwall have raised around £50 million, it has been claimed.
The Duchy of Lancaster, established in 1399, and Prince William's Duchy of Cornwall, established in 1337, both hold large amounts of land and commercial property in England and Wales.
Their contracts with public bodies are said to include a £37.5 million agreement between the Duchy of Cornwall and the Ministry of Justice to lease Dartmoor Prison, and a £11.4 million deal between Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Trust and the Duchy of Lancaster to rent a London warehouse over 15 years to store ambulances.
The estates also reportedly charge the Ministry of Defence for access to moor boats and refuel warships, some state schools to use their properties, and a local borough council to operate a toll bridge.
The estates are not subject to corporation tax and the royals do not pay capital gains tax on the assets they sell. They voluntarily pay income tax on the surplus.
The programme, Dispatches’ The King, The Prince and Their Secret Millions, reports that details of the rental agreements have not been given to Parliament.
The report points out that the duchies say they are not funded by taxpayers, but they do receive income from public services.
The documentary raises concerns about the environmental impact of some of the estates' contracts, including those with mining companies.
The two private estates are separate to the Crown Estate.
Profits from the Crown Estate - a property business owned by the monarch but run independently - go to the Treasury. The level of profit made by the Crown Estate is used as a benchmark to calculate the funding given by the government to the Royal Family in the form of the Sovereign Grant.
The taxpayer-funded Sovereign Grant will rise to £132 million in the next financial year, after profits from the Crown Estate increased to £1.1 billion.
Dame Hodge, a former chair of the Public Accounts Committee said: "We all love the monarchy, we all want it to work. But we want them to lead by example in the way they conduct their finances.
"They don’t pay capital gains tax and they don't pay corporation tax, yet they claim to act commercially," she said.
"But they can’t have it both ways. If they want to be private and commercial they have to pay the fair rate of tax as everyone else does, otherwise they get a competitive advantage".
A Duchy of Cornwall spokesperson said it is "a private estate with a commercial imperative which we achieve alongside our commitment to restoring the natural environment and generating positive social impact for our communities".
On the issue of mining, the spokesperson said that the duchy was “acting responsibly and in a sustainable way” in line with the government’s industrial strategy, which encourages investment in domestic sources of minerals.
A spokesperson for the Duchy of Lancaster said it operates "as a commercial company, managing a broad range of land and property assets across England and Wales".
They said that the duchy "delegates certain functions, particularly those regarding asset management, to the Duchy Council" and while the King "takes a close interest" in the work of the duchy, day-to-day management of the portfolio is the responsibility of the council and executive team.
It added it had made "a number of key environmental improvements in recent years".
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Didn't anyone else see the programme ? |
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Thread | Slavery reparation
at 18:38 24 Oct 2024
It's all the rage at the moment so I have a thought.
The idea would be that the UK government would fund this in whatever way it was agreed whether that be simply loads of money or development investment in those countries or whatever.
It's fair to say that very few people in the UK benefited from the slave trade when it existed. A small number of families made absolute fortunes while the vast bulk of the population got nothing out of it.
But then the government agreed to provide compensation to those slave owners to make up for their 'loss of earnings' from the vile trade when it was abolished.
So they borrowed £20 million to provide that compo and we have been paying back that debt for the last 200 years (until 2015). That £20 million, allowing for inflation, would now equate to £16/17 billion.
So rather than saying we should all pay reparation why not make those families pay it all back. Let's say £50 billion. Sounds a nice number to me.
And if it was argued that in some small way we all benefited from the trade then it could be said that we've already paid our dues because the £16/17 billion came out of ordinary peoples taxes. |
| Forum
Thread | MUSK
at 09:43 21 Oct 2024
What do you all think of this ?
'20 October 2024
Updated 6 hours ago
Tech billionaire Elon Musk has said he will give away $1m (£766,000) a day to a registered voter in key swing states until the US presidential election on 5 November.
The winner will be chosen at random from those who sign a pro-US Constitution petition by Mr Musk’s campaign group AmericaPAC, which he set up to support Republican nominee Donald Trump's bid to return to the White House.
The first lottery-style cheque was given away to a surprised attendee at a town hall event in Pennsylvania on Saturday night. Another cheque was handed out on Sunday.
Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, a Democrat who supports Kamala Harris, called Mr Musk's strategy "deeply concerning." |
| Forum
Thread | Alex Salmond
at 18:41 12 Oct 2024
He has died aged just 69.
RIP. |
| Forum
Thread | The Crown Estates
at 18:10 3 Oct 2024
I've read many times about the fact that the crown estates 'own' (?) the seabed around the UK.
I never understood how that worked until now. I've read today that Gwynedd Council has to pay the crown estates £161,000 a year in order for it's residents to have access to their beaches and other seafront facilities.
And if Gwynedd has to pay then so do all other Welsh councils including ours. So we have to pay the spongers so we can walk on OUR own beaches.
It's like living in medieval Britain, it really is.
It is part of a corrupt system that should be binned now along with the royals. |
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Thread | East Stand safety
at 18:49 26 Aug 2024
I suppose it's a bit late to be talking about this 19 years after the stadium was opened but yesterday's crowd reminded me of what it was like when we were in the PL.
If Cardiff supporters want to complain about the concourse in the North Stand they ought to try the East. At half time yesterday it was like being in a sardine can. The queue for the men's toilets was twenty yards long outside and inside it was absolutely rammed.
It made me think whether the stadium (at least the East concourse) was built to the correct safety standards.
There was a posh new camera fixed to the wall above that area. I wonder if any of the stadium management looked at the chaos there and even considered the question of fans safety. |
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Thread | Sir Keir Starmer PM
at 10:23 5 Jul 2024
Even though he's just been voted in as PM the thing that has come across to me over recent times is that he isn't a politician. Or at least he isn't like other politicians.
He hasn't promised a great deal. The manifesto is very careful promising not too much. And he's been pilloried for it by other parties who tried their best to get him to commit to going further. Which we all know would have then been used by those same parties to criticize him saying we would end up with more tax rises or spending cuts to pay for the promises which they dragged him into making.
But politicians over promising and under delivering is exactly what we always complain about. It happens all the time. Look at Boris on the steps of number 10 after being elected. He stated as fact that he had a Care plan ready and waiting to be delivered. And here we are five years later and nothing, literally, has happened. It was just another of Boris' big sound bites meaning absolutely zilch.
So, my point is that maybe he's said what he'll do because he knows that he can do it. Which is a good start even if a small one. And during the six months or whatever that the changes promised are carried out they'll develop a plan (a believable one) based on any progress in the economy
The first step is the most important one. Because without that you don't get anywhere. |
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Thread | Levelling Up
at 12:44 9 Jun 2024
Here's something I wasn't aware of from the Budget in March.
The general belief, as far as i'm aware, was that levelling up funding was designed to help bridge the chasm in wealth between London and the rest of the UK.
What a surprise to find that that rundown Northern community Canary Wharf (population apparently 18,000) was awarded £242 million while Wales (population 3,100,000) was awarded £170 million.
Thoughts anyone ? |
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Thread | Israel/Hamas ceasefire
at 18:08 6 May 2024
Just saw this headline 'Hamas announces it has accepted a ceasefire proposal to halt war with Israel'.
True ? |
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Thread | Russell Quirk
at 18:06 4 May 2024
I've never liked the bloke and he regularly comes out with rubbish, in my opinion.
But he absolutely excelled himself a couple of days ago. His latest fantasy (I can't think of a better word for it) is that when Keir Starmer becomes PM after 6 months or so he'll step aside to allow Jeremy Corbyn have the keys to number 10.
So KS has spent five years repairing the damage Corbyn caused to the Labour party and whatever you may think of Keir personally, having started from such an incredibly low base he's done a remarkable job.
But it's been a ploy people. A cunning plan as Baldrick would say.
Did you just laugh out loud at the stupidity of it ? |
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Thread | TALK TV
at 12:48 14 Apr 2024
Opinions please from people who listen/watch ? |
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Thread | Female commentators
at 10:10 3 Mar 2024
I watched MOTD this morning and there was a female commentator covering the Newcastle game. She was dreadful as are all the others.
To do any other job in football - refereeing/linesman/pundit on Football Focus etc - what is needed is knowledge gained from watching, supporting or playing football. Women can do those jobs as well as men. But when commentating on an actual game, when something exciting happens I want to hear a loud voice, a roar similar to when all your mates around you shout at an actual game. What we get with women commentators is a squeak.
IMO they are just there because of political correctness, diversity or whatever not because they are good at the job..
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Thread | Irish Unification Referendum
at 18:34 7 Feb 2024
When there is a unification referendum a very strange occurrence could take place.
In the 2019 GE a huge number of natural Labour voters in the Red Wall seats voted Conservative for the very first (and hopefully last) time. And they did that in order to ‘Get Brexit Done’. They ‘lent’ the Conservatives their vote for the one specific purpose. Because they had voted for Brexit.
In Northern Ireland, in the 2016 referendum, the vote was 58% to remain. Which means that a substantial number of unionists voted for remain. So, when the Unification referendum happens it’s quite possible that a similar thing will happen as per the 2019 GE. Except in reverse.
The Red Wall voters voted Tory to get Brexit done. In NI unionists may vote for the Nationalists unification argument (lend them their vote for the one specific purpose) in order to rejoin the EU. Because they had voted remain.
An interesting thought. |
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Thread | Cardiff Airport
at 10:18 13 Jan 2024
I know you're all desperate to use and support our Welsh airport based in RHOOSE.
So here is the list of flights available for your delectation and delight in the coming year.
Ryanair ✈️
4 flights a week to Dublin 🇮🇪
3 flights a week to Malaga 🇪🇸
3 flights a week to Alicante 🇪🇸
1 flight a week to Tenerife 🇪🇸
2 flights a week to Faro 🇵🇹
Vueling ✈️
3 flights a week to Alicante 🇪🇸
2 flights a week to Malaga 🇪🇸
KLM ✈️
3 flights a day to Amsterdam 🇳🇱
Loganair ✈️
6 flights a week to Edinburgh 🏴
Aer Lingus ✈️
Daily flights to Belfast City ☘️
Balkan Holidays ✈️
Saturday flights to Bulgaria 🇧🇬
TUI ✈️
6 flights a week to Palma 🇪🇸
3 flights a week to Dalaman 🇹🇷
3 flights a week to Antalya 🇹🇷
3 flights a week to Tenerife 🇪🇸
2 flights a week to Larnaca 🇨🇾
2 flights a week to Tunisia 🇹🇳
2 flights a week to Lanzarote 🇪🇸
2 flights a week to Paphos 🇨🇾
2 flights a week to Ibiza 🇪🇸
2 flights a week to Corfu 🇬🇷
2 flights a week to Alicante 🇪🇸
2 flights a week to Rhodes 🇬🇷
2 flights a week to Malaga 🇪🇸
2 flights a week to Menorca 🇪🇸
2 flights a week to Zante 🇬🇷
2 flights a week to Bulgaria 🇧🇬
2 flights a week to Kos 🇬🇷
1 flight a week to Dubrovnik 🇭🇷
1 flight a week to Kefalonia 🇬🇷
1 flight a week to Reus 🇪🇸
1 fight a week to Crete 🇬🇷
1 flight a week to Gran Canaria 🇪🇸
Enjoy  |
| Forum
Thread | The Brilliant Welsh NHS
at 18:28 6 Jan 2024
There's a perfectly good reason for the title. I know there are plenty of problems with the NHS in Wales. BUT. All I see are criticisms. So i'll give my opinion.
We have a brilliant GP practice. The 8 o'clock race for an appointment is a pain but when we get through we always get an appointment whether over the phone or in person.
We have a brilliant NHS dentist. If it's not an urgent problem then we have to wait. But if it's urgent we get an apptointment very quickly.
I've had a foot problem for a few years now so around November 22 I put in for treatment. Since then i've had two appointments in Central clinic with a podiatrist and then a few weeks ago an appointment in PT/Baglan hospital with a consultant who was brilliant. I'm now on the waiting list for a minor op. She told me I will get the op within the next 12 months. No problem as it's not exactly life or death.
She said i'd get it done within 12 months because i'd already been on the waiting list for 12 months. So being on the waiting list doesn't mean that you're not getting treated, it means the treatment isn't completed. I hadn't realised that.
My wife had a problem recently when we had to go to A&E at Morriston. It was busy but she was seen within about 40 minutes, had an ECG, back out, waited for another ten minutes or so at which point the doctor came out into A and E and spent five minutes or so speaking to her before saying she could go. Brilliant service.
I could give other examples. But my main point is that we are quick to criticise when things go wrong but don't give praise when things go right.
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Thread | Walesonline
at 13:01 1 Jan 2024
You usually find in the football section of Walesonline that the main article is about the team playing at home that day whether it be the Swans or Cardiff.
The exception to this rule appears to be when Cardiff are playing away. |
| Forum
Thread | A Brexit Benefit
at 18:02 27 Dec 2023
I voted remain in the Brexit referendum but this to me appears to be an example of an enormous potential benefit to the UK of leaving the EU which I hadn’t thought of. Or rather an enormous potential benefit to working people in the UK of leaving the EU.
For the last fifty years or so businesses and governments have benefited enormously from access to cheap labour from the EU, mainly Eastern Europeans. Businesses didn’t have to bother particularly about recruitment and retention and training of UK workers because they could take the easy option of bringing in people who were already trained and who would work for less. Which means those businesses were more profitable.
Governments have taken the same attitude. Why spend a fortune training doctors for example when we can get them from other countries. Those countries will have borne the cost of the training and the UK could easily pay them more than their home countries. Everyone’s a winner.
Everyone except of course the other poorer countries who then had to spend more to train more doctors to replace the ones we’d stolen. Everyone also except the British people who may have wanted to train as doctors but found there were no training places for them. The government would have argued that because they were able to cut back on training places for our own doctors (because we’d imported foreign ones) that meant that there was more money available to spend elsewhere.
The problem is that eventually these things come back to bite you on the bum. And the problem has become so much worse over the last thirteen years. About a year ago a Health Trust in Cumbria asked for permission to train an extra thirty doctors that they desperately needed. The answer they got back from the NHS was that if they allowed them to do that they (the NHS) would have to cut thirty places elsewhere in the system. Because the government had cut back on investment in doctor training. This in the middle of a crisis in the numbers of doctors within the NHS.
Similar points could be made for nurses and care workers. Plus so many other groups. Remember two years ago when we didn’t have enough HGV drivers ? Again why train our own when we can take them from other countries.
Now we’ve got the strange situation of the government allowing three times as many immigrants into the country as compared with before Brexit in order to fill the gaps. You might ask what was the point of Brexit. And the answer might be that we’ve taken back control of our borders. The government is in control of who comes in which is what brexiteers wanted. Except people don’t want 750,000 immigrants coming in each year even when the government is in control.
So what’s going to happen ? What if we do really ‘take back control’ and the number of immigrants is cut drastically. Who is going to do the jobs that are left ? British people presumably. Except they’ll say no thank you. They’ll say why should I take a job in a care home, for example, at a low wage. Why should I take a job where I don’t get paid enough to live on, where I have to claim benefits just to get by.
And they’d be right to say no. It’s just a couple of years since people working in care homes were lauded as heroes. They were doing a crucial job in looking after the elderly. And many of them died doing that job because of the criminal decisions taken by the government. If it is a crucial job why doesn’t it pay more ?
And what about other jobs also shown to be crucial during Covid – binmen, supermarket workers, delivery drivers and so on. They are all basic jobs you might say but vitally important when it comes to the whole system working.
So, let’s say we stop most immigration. If businesses want to employ people they will have to actually train British workers to do all these jobs. And pay them a decent wage for doing them. And even if a lot of training is not needed for some jobs it’s been shown that those ‘basic’ jobs are so important in a decent society. So they also will have to be paid a decent, proper living wage.
Which all means that finally all British workers could start being paid a decent wage for their efforts. And in the sixth biggest economy in the world you would imagine that that is exactly as it should be.
Pie in the sky a lot of people will say. Maybe. But it appears that a large majority of British people don’t want mass immigration. So if that immigration is cut to the bone it’s either pay British workers a decent wage to do the jobs or the jobs don’t get done.
And the result of all those ‘crucial’ jobs not being done ? Ever bigger NHS waiting lists, less care home beds available etc etc,
We are in for some very interesting times. |
| Forum
Thread | Inheritance Tax
at 13:04 18 Nov 2023
There is talk about the possibility that Jeremy Hunt will abolish this in the upcoming Autumn statement.
Can someone please explain to me why this is such a popular idea with so many ordinary people ? |
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