Tag Archives: england

International

Britain Burning: Scottish Cops to take on English riots, Scotland criticizes BBC for its coverage of the riots

“The officers, equipment and vehicles will come from all eight Scottish forces. The situation is being constantly monitored between the Association of Chief Police Officers Scotland and colleagues in England, and any further assistance required will be given careful consideration.”-ACPOS statement

The Scottish Parliament has agreed to send forces to England, to deal with the on going riots.  Scottish officials also criticized the British Broadcasting Corporation for stating that the riots were taking place all across the U.K.: “We know we have a different society in Scotland, and one of my frustrations yesterday was to see this being described on BBC television and Sky as ‘riots in the U.K.'”-Alex Salmond, First Minister

So far the riots have only affected England, although Scottish police say they arrested two Scottish teens for trying to start similar riots in Scotland.

 

International, Opinion, U.S.

English Queen rips off British taxpayers

“It does highlight the fact that the Palace was trying to pull the wool over people’s eyes last week.”-Graham Smith, anti-monarchy organization know as  ‘Republic’.

Despite the belief, in the U.S., that the Royal Family in the United Kingdom are just figure heads, the Royal Family commands true Royal Power, and it’s the British taxpayers that pay for it.

The Queen of England is just a figure head when it comes to the larger Commonwealth, but in the United Kingdom she reigns supreme: She is the Governor of the Church of England and Scotland.  She is the Head of the Armed Forces.  She opens every yearly session of Parliament by dictating the agenda.  She is the one who signs new laws, not the Prime Minister.

Now the part of the British Parliament, know as the House of Commons (representing the non-lorded class of people), has just released a financial study of the taxes paid to the Royal Family in the past year.  They discovered that the Queen ripped off British taxpayers by at least 4 million pounds ($6 million).

Last week the Royal Family officially stated that they got only 32.1 million pounds, but it turns out they actually got 36.2 million pounds ($52 million).  On top of that the House of Commons investigation (conducted by the Commons Library) revealed other expenses, paid by taxpayers, that were not accounted for by the Royal Family.

Last year’s estimated cost of the Royal Family, to the British taxpayers, was about 202 million pounds ($326 million).  The Royal Family gets taxpayer money from several programs called Grants.  The biggest one is called the Sovereign Grant, and is guaranteed never to decrease.

People of the United States should realize what the Royal Family is doing now is basically what the Royal Family did to push the American colonies to declare independence in 1776, leading to the Revolutionary War.  Back then King George 3rd was ripping off the American colonies by making them pay taxes with no representation, and no return benefit  (just like our grand U.S. government is doing to us now).

 

 

 

Business/Economics, International

Control of Oil rights behind Scotland’s latest push for Independence

Scotland has oil, lots of it.  And the Scottish people say they’re tired of the English controlling it.  After all they were told they would benefit, but they haven’t.  Scottish rebels point to Norway as an example:  “Scotland and Norway discovered oil at the same time. Some years ago, Scotland was turned into an industrial desert and Norway has transformed its society and its economy, they have billions in the bank, whereas we have seen ours wasted on missiles and weapons of mass destruction and illegal wars.”-Kenny MacAskill, Scottish Justice Minister

The recent Scottish elections saw the Scottish National Party dominate.  The SNP ran on a promise to make Scotland independent: “We have been elected with two mandates: one is to pursue our claim for an independent Scotland in the right for a referendum. Equally, we have been elected as a government to make Scotland a better place and we seek to do that by driving our economy forward and making our country a fairer, greener, safer, wealthier and healthier.”-Kenny MacAskill