Political elite enjoy lavish fine dining as they push for food frugality

The most powerful bellies in the world were last night compelled to stave off the great Hokkaido Hunger by fortifying themselves with an eight-course, 19-dish dinner prepared by 25 chefs.

Related: Britain urging return to wartime food frugality

Guardian | Jul 8, 2008

Just two of the 19 dishes on the dinner menu at the G8 food shortages summit

By Patrick Wintour and Patrick Barkham

As the food crisis began to bite, the rumblings of discontent grew louder. Finally, after a day of discussing food shortages and soaring prices, the famished stomachs of the G8 leaders could bear it no longer.

The most powerful bellies in the world were last night compelled to stave off the great Hokkaido Hunger by fortifying themselves with an eight-course, 19-dish dinner prepared by 25 chefs. This multi-pronged attack was launched after earlier emergency lunch measures - four courses washed down with Château-Grillet 2005 - had failed to quell appetites enlarged by agonising over feeding the world’s poor.

The G8 gathering had been seen as a “world food shortages summit” as leaders sought to combat spiralling prices of basic foodstuffs in the developed world, and starvation in the developing world.

But not since Marie Antoinette was supposed to have leaned from a Versailles palace window and suggested that the breadless peasants eat cake can leaders have demonstrated such insensitivity to daily hardship than at the luxury Windsor hotel on the Japanese island of Hokkaido.

After discussing famine in Africa, the peckish politicians and five spouses took on four bite-sized amuse-bouche to tickle their palates. The price of staple foods may be soaring, but thankfully caviar and sea urchin are within the purchasing power of leaders and their taxpayers - the amuse-bouche featured corn stuffed with caviar, smoked salmon and sea urchin, hot onion tart and winter lily bulb.

Guests at the summit, which is costing £238m, were then able to pick items from a tray modelled on a fan and decorated with bamboo grasses, including diced fatty tuna fish, avocado and jellied soy sauce, and pickled conger eel with soy sauce.

Hairy crab Kegani bisque-style soup was another treat in a meal prepared by the Michelin-starred chef Katsuhiro Nakamura, the grand chef at Hotel Metropolitan Edmont in Tokyo, alongside salt-grilled bighand thornyhead (a small, red Pacific fish) with a vinegary water pepper sauce.

They have told their people to tighten their belts for lean times ahead, but you feared for presidential and prime ministerial girdles after the chance to tuck into further dishes including milk-fed lamb, roasted lamb with cepes, and black truffle with emulsion sauce. Finally there was a “fantasy” dessert, a special cheese selection accompanied by lavender honey and caramelised nuts, while coffee came with candied fruits and vegetables.

Leaders cleverly skated around global water shortages by choosing from five different wines and liqueurs.

Earlier, the heads of state had restricted themselves to a light lunch of asparagus and truffle soup, crab and supreme of chicken served with nuts and beetroot foam, followed by a cheese selection, peach compote, milk ice-cream and coffee with petits fours.

Fresh from instructing his population to waste less food, it can only be hoped that Gordon Brown polished off every single morsel on his plate.

Andrew Mitchell, the shadow secretary of state for international development, said: “The G8 have made a bad start to their summit, with excessive cost and lavish consumption. Surely it is not unreasonable for each leader to give a guarantee that they will stand by their solemn pledges of three years ago at Gleneagles to help the world’s poor. All of us are watching, waiting and listening.”

Queen creates two new Knights of the Thistle

Insignia of a Knight of the Order of the Thistle. (Source: Sir Nicholas Harris Nicolas (1799 - 1848) History of the Orders of Knighthood of the British Empire, of the order of the Guelphs of Hanover)

Lord Cullen and Sir Garth, pledged to be loyal and true to the Queen.

The Times | Jul 2, 2008

Edinburgh The judge who led the inquiries into the Piper Alpha and Dunblane tragedies received the highest public honour in Scotland from the Queen.

Lord Cullen, right, who has retired, was installed as a Knight of the Thistle in a ceremony at St Giles’ Cathedral in Edinburgh. Joining him was Sir Garth Morrison, Lord Lieutenant of East Lothian, a former chairman of East Lothian NHS Trust and a former Chief Scout of the UK.

The colourful ceremony began with a fanfare by Her Majesty’s Household Trumpeters in Scotland to mark the arrival of the Royal guests. The Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh and the Princess Royal joined a procession through the cathedral to the Thistle Chapel - a small chapel founded in 1911 for such ceremonies. Guests at the ceremony included Lord Robertson of Port Ellen and Lord Steel of Aikwood.

The Queen spoke briefly before bestowing the honours on Lord Cullen and Sir Garth, who pledged to be loyal and true to the Queen.

The Order of the Thistle is second only in precedence in Britain to the Order of the Garter. It honours Scottish men and women who have held public office or contributed to public life.

The date of the order’s foundation is not known, although it was revived by Queen Anne in 1703.

Related

Order of the Thistle
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Man with ‘For Sale’ sign in car window fined $200 for running street business

Grandfather with ‘For Sale’ sign in car window given £100 fine for running street business

Victor Abrahams was accused of ‘offering goods for sale in a parking place’.

Daily Mail | Jun 30,  2008

By  Charlotte Gill

A car owner who put a for-sale note on his Ford Escort soon found another sign on the window - a £100 penalty ticket.

When the 67-year-old grandfather called the council, he was told the offence had been introduced a year ago and had been advertised in the local paper.

But as he does not live in the North London borough of Barnet, he says he had no idea that new rules had been brought in.

‘I don’t live in the area but I’ve had my office here for the last 25 years and I’ve never heard of anything like it,’ Mr Abrahams said yesterday.

‘I’ve got a tax disc, I’ve got insurance, I was parked legally but I was penalised for advertising my car for sale.

‘Lots of people do it so I can’t believe it can be an offence. And why is the for-sale sign in my car window any different from a delivery van with the name and phone number of the company on the side? Or why is it different from a driving instructor’s car that has the name and details of the driving school on the side? Surely if I’m offering goods for sale, so are they.’

Mr Abrahams, a property manager from Brent, North London, is retired but still works a few hours each day in Finchley. He decided to sell his R-registered Escort after he was offered a newer Saab by a friend. A month ago he put a printed A4 sign in the car reading: ‘Ford Escort Ghia Cabriolet, fully loaded, very low mileage, one owner’ with his mobile number at the bottom. The asking price was £2,995, although this was not on the notice.

Last Tuesday, having parked in a side street near his office, he returned to find the penalty ticket. He wrote to Barnet Council spelling out his objections that day and called two days later to confirm it had received his letter.

‘They told me that the new rule had come in about a year ago and it had been advertised in the local paper,’ he said. ‘But I only work in Barnet, I don’t live there so I hadn’t seen the notice. What happens to all the other people like me who don’t live in the area and don’t know about it either? Is everyone going to get a ticket?’

Mr Abrahams is now selling his car through a garage. He is waiting to hear the result of his complaint before deciding whether to pay the fine.

Barnet council said the rule was introduced to keep parking space free for residents. A spokesman said: ‘New parking contravention codes were introduced on April 4, 2007.

‘A new code was introduced with the description of “using a vehicle in a parking place in connection with the sale or offering for sale or exposing for sale the goods when prohibited”.

‘The council’s position is currently that we do not encourage or support trading from the public highway, including offering vehicles for sale. The council is undertaking a comprehensive review of this policy and will make a decision as to its viability after all of the options available to support our corporate priorities have been investigated.’

Prince Charles’ reported income climbs to $32 mil - but his taxes drop by $10,000

Why is this man smiling? Prince Charles saw his income rise by £1.1million last year  -  and his tax bill fall by £5,000. Perhaps he is also tickled by the fact that the British taxpayers subsidize his already opulently wealthy family with tens of millions in public funding every year, and still bow down to them as though they were gods.

“Charles is earning ever greater amounts from the Duchy of Cornwall and managing to pay ever less tax.”

DAILY MAIL | Jul 1,  2008

The future king collected some £18,727,000, most of it from his Duchy of Cornwall estates.

But he was able to write off £10.4million against tax as business expenses and official spending.

His accounts show this included office stationery and staff salaries, among them his butlers and valets, and even the cost of maintaining the flower borders at Highgrove, his country estate.

Experts said Charles’s tax bill of  £3.4million amounted to just 21 per cent of his pretax income. But aides stressed that he paid 41 per cent on the amount eligible for tax.

The prince’s private secretary Sir Michael Peat insisted: ‘His tax affairs are absolutely whiter than white and the Inland Revenue go through them with a fine-tooth comb.’

Clarence House said Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall had tried to cut costs ‘at all levels’ and their personal spending had dropped by £400,000 to £2.2million.

It said the prince and his family  -  including his sons William and Harry  -  cost only 4p a year for every man, woman and child in the UK.

But Labour MP Ian Davidson, of the Public Accounts Committee, warned that his colleagues would continue to examine the Duchy’s accounts ‘with vigour’.

He said: ‘Yet again, Charles is earning ever greater amounts from the Duchy of Cornwall and managing to pay ever less tax.’

The prince’s Annual Review includes a detailed report on Charles’s ‘green’ credentials. It says he has cut his carbon footprint by 18 per cent by switching to environmentallyfriendly sources of electricity and heating and reducing his travel.

Even his Aston Martin sports car has been converted to use bioethanol fuel produced from surplus British wine.

The prince’s main source of income  -  £16,273,000  -  is the Duchy of Cornwall, a private estate with properties in 23 counties.

Last year its value rose to £647million as soaring food prices led to the biggest increase in agricultural land values for 25 years.

Charles also receives funding from the Government to cover the cost of running his London office, his official residence, Clarence House, and his travel on official business and overseas tours.

The £10.4million he was able to write off included £5.4million in staff costs, £416,000 for official entertaining and receptions, £139,000 on utility bills and £63,000 on maintaining his gardens.

Although he and Camilla are keen gardeners, the majority of the costs of the Highgrove flower beds are listed as tax-deductible because they are ‘mainly’ used for official visits by members of the public.

In all, Charles employs 111 staff, including valets and orderlies.

Mike Warburton, senior tax partner of accountancy firm Grant Thornton, praised the prince for the ‘transparency’ of his accounts and said the Royal Family ran ‘a pretty tight ship’.

But he added: ‘I suspect many of my clients might struggle to get approval for some of the tax-deductible expenses that the prince does.’

Sir Michael Peat said of the report: ‘I hope it shows a good picture. I don’t want to sound complacent but I believe the contribution their royal highnesses make to national life continues to develop and broaden and strengthen.’

Camilla’s cut back on engagements

The Duchess of Cornwall carried out fewer engagements last year than she did in 2006.

Camilla undertook 201 official visits - of which 50 were overseas –compared to 222 the previous year.

However aides rejected criticism that the Duchess was ‘workshy’.

They explained that it was in part due to a period of convalescence following her hysterectomy operation last spring.

Her staff have always insisted she is not a working member of the Royal Family in her own right and that her primary role is to support her husband in his official engagements.

The claim over her special working status also allows them to mask the true ‘cost of Camilla’ in the prince’s accounts.

However, the report reveals that she has two dressers and three members of office staff working for her.

Charles carried out 609 official engagements last year while his 82-year-old mother conducted 440.

Wealthy royal family subsidized by British taxpayers to the tune of $80 million

The well-heeled British monarch visited her wealthy cousin George Bush last year during her trip to the US which cost British taxpayers a whopping $820,000.

Independent | Jun 28, 2008

Taxpayers left with £40m bill to fund royals last year

By Robert Verkaik, Law Editor

The public cost of the monarchy rose by an inflation-busting 5 per cent last year, largely because of an increase in the upkeep of Buckingham Palace and expensive trips abroad.

This year’s royal accounts show the bill for the taxpayer was £40m, up £2m on last year. Royal spending over the past 12 months included the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall taking a £275,000 cruise around the Caribbean and the Queen paying £300,000 for double-glazing and new sash windows at Windsor Castle. The bill for hosting Buckingham Palace garden parties alone was £700,000.

But the Queen says she must have more money to help repair her crumbling palaces. Yesterday her advisers made clear that unless the Government provides further funds, the monarch faces the embarrassment of hosting functions in state rooms with leaky roofs and peeling wallpaper.

Palace insiders said the Queen had already expressed concern about whether she could afford to make the vital repairs needed to her properties. Sir Alan Reid, Keeper of the Privy Purse, said it was a cause of “major disappointment” that ministers had refused to increase public expenditure on the palaces which he estimated now required £32m of work in the next 10 years. He said most of the state rooms had not been redecorated or “re-presented” in the entire 55-year reign of the Queen.

But a spokesman for the Department for Culture Media and Sport said the Royal Household was just one of 70 public bodies, including the Arts Council and English Heritage, for which the Government provided state grants.

The spokesman added: “DCMS has not seen the information on which the Royal Household’s estimate of £32m is based on, and so cannot comment on its accuracy. Through DCMS’s property maintenance experts, Watts Plc, we are working with the Royal Household’s Property Services Section to ensure the maintenance work is prioritised to control the backlog.”

The Queen’s case for increased funding was partly undermined by some of the eye-catching travel expenses racked up by Prince Charles. Accounts show that the Caribbean cruise last year enjoyed by the Prince and the Duchess of Cornwall cost the taxpayer £275,000, of which £210,000 went on chartering a yacht. It cost taxpayers a further £18,916 for Prince Charles to visit the Black Swan Pub, in Cumbria, on a trip intended to highlight the importance of rural communities.

The total spent on royal travel rose to £6.2m up by £600,000 from last year. On the Queen’s state visit to America last year to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the Jamestown settlement a plane was chartered at a cost of £381,813.

And it cost nearly £800,000 to send the Duke of York to several foreign destinations, including Rio de Janeiro, Miami, Tokyo and Kuala Lumpur, as the UK’s Special Representative for International Trade and Investment.

But Sir Alan insisted that the cost of the monarchy was just 66p per person which he said was still less than the price of two pints of milk or a download for an MP3 player.

The anti-monarchy campaign group Republic said the true bill to the taxpayer would be nearer £150m a year if the costs of police and army security were included. The group’s spokes-man, Graham Smith, said the Queen should have a fixed salary managed by the Government and that parliament should set an annual budget for the monarchy.

The Windsors’ expenses

£187,000

Salary of Sir Alan Reid, Keeper of Privy Purse.

£410,000

Cost of charter and scheduled flights during royal tour of United States, May 2007.

£40,513

Cost of Prince Charles’ use of the Royal Train, left, on visit to Liverpool and Aberdeen on official engagements, April 22- 24 2007

£700,000

Garden parties

£33,309

Cost of flights for the reconnaissance by the Queen’s staff in advance of state visit to Uganda last year.

£900,000

Cost of royal gardens.

£300,000

Cost of energyconservation.

£200,000

Legal advice, including advice regarding the Diana inquiry.

£300,000

Double glazing and new sash windows at Windsor Castle.

Mugabe Is Kicked Out Of The Order of Bath

Sky News | Jun 26, 2008

By Alastair Bruce

The Queen, acting on the advice of her Foreign Secretary David Miliband, has “degraded” Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe from his appointment as an Honorary Knight Grand Cross of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath (Civil Division).

This was done as a “mark of revulsion” at the way this increasingly un-civil ruler has shown “abject disregard for the democratic process” in his country.

The term “stripped of his knighthood” is more apt today, but in mediaeval times a ceremony of Degrading would have been staged to remove a knight from an order of chivalry.

Unfortunately, we are unlikely to see the Bath King of Arms and the order’s genealogist casting down Mugabe’s banner, stall plate, helmet, sword and crest from the Chapel of the Bath, in Westminster Abbey, then kicking them all the way out of the building and into the nearest gutter.

When this was the practice, it was generally a precursor to the headman’s axe.

However, Mugabe’s name will now be physically removed from the Register of the Order of the Bath.

The last person stripped of the Bath was Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu in 1989. The axe did not follow for him but a Romanian bullet did - just four days later.

Mugabe was given the honour once awarded to Nelson and Wellington by the Queen on May 17, 1994, when she was advised to invite him on a state visit to the UK by the Prime Minister, John Major.

She presented him with a black box containing the insignia of the Bath, which consisted of an eight-pointed flaming silver breast star, a crimson sash and a gold oval badge with the order’s motto, “Tria Juncta In Uno”. This refers to the three kingdoms of England (including Wales), Scotland and Ireland joined in one.

The tradition of honouring visiting heads of state is an old one. Henry VIII made the visiting Holy Roman Emperor a Knight of the Garter and was given the Golden Fleece in return. Only monarchs get the Garter now but Presidents get the Bath.

The Order of the Bath was founded in 1399 and revived in 1725. The name comes from the symbolic act of washing by new knights in the 14th Century. Washing was rare then. After soaking in a bath they were led dripping wet to a bed and covered in cloth to soak away impurity before symbolically washing their souls with prayer.

Related Info

The Most Honourable Order of the Bath  Companion of the Bath

Motto “Tria juncta in uno”

Three Joined in One

Order of the Bath

The Most Honourable Order of the Bath (formerly The Most Honourable Military Order of the Bath)[1] is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on May 18, 1725.[2] The name derives from the medieval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing (as a symbol of purification) as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath.[3] George I “erected the Knights of the Bath into a regular Military Order”.[4] He did not (as is often stated) revive the Order of the Bath, since it had never previously existed as an Order, in the sense of a body of knights who were governed by a set of statutes and whose numbers were replenished when vacancies occurred.[5][6]

“Frankenstein” monster Mugabe stripped of his knighthood

They’ve created a monster: Robert Mugabe pictured with the Queen during his state visit to Britain in 1994, when he was awarded the honorary knighthood. Mugabe was made a Knight Grand Cross in the Order of Bath on the advice of John Major’s government.

Daily Mail | Jun 26, 2008

By Benedict Brogan

Robert Mugabe was stripped of his honorary knighthood as a statement of ‘revulsion’ last night as Gordon Brown ordered tougher sanctions against his increasingly violent regime.

The Queen approved the rare step of removing the award, issued 14 years ago, to mark British anger at human rights abuses in Zimbabwe.

With international outrage growing, Mugabe was condemned for terrorising the people of Zimbabwe by one of his former allies.

South African archbishop Desmond Tutu said: ‘He has mutated into something quite unbelievable. He has turned into a kind of Frankenstein for his people.’

And former South African president Nelson Mandela broke his silence over the situation in Zimbabwe, expressing ‘deep concern and sadness’, according to a source.

At the same time the England Cricket Board decided to scrap next year’s cricket tour and suspend relations with Zimbabwe.

The removal of Mugabe’s knighthood was authorised by the Prime Minister as a symbolic gesture following opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai’s decision to pull out of Friday’s presidential election in the face of escalating violence.

Organised thugs from Mugabe’s ruling ZANU-PF party have embarked on a reign of terror aimed at sealing their stolen victory over Mr Tsvangirai’s beleaguered MDC.

A statement from the Foreign Office said: ‘This action has been taken as a mark of revulsion at the abuse of human rights and abject disregard for the democratic process in Zimbabwe over which President Mugabe has presided.’

The Government had been reluctant to hand Mugabe a propaganda coup in the election campaign by taking a step that would allow him to claim he was being victimised by his country’s former colonial masters.

But with his position now unopposed and worldwide condemnation growing by the day, the Queen agreed to make him only the second world leader after Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceaucescu to have an honour removed.

Ceaucescu lost his knighthood in 1989, the day before he and his wife were executed after being removed from power in a popular uprising.

Mugabe was made a Knight Grand Cross in the Order of Bath on the advice of John Major’s government during a state visit in 1994.

Leaders on such visits are routinely offered an honour by the Queen on the advice of the Foreign Office.

Mr Brown is in talks with other countries about tougher sanctions against Zimbabwe to mark international revulsion at the way Mugabe has trampled democracy in what was once one of Africa’s most successful countries.

In the Commons yesterday he called on other countries to help bar Zimbabwe from cricket’s Twenty 20 World Cup being hosted by England next year.

The ECB ban will apply to two Test matches and one-day fixtures planned for next year’s tour, but the International Cricket Council has to approve the team’s bar from the Twenty 20 series.

‘We want to ensure that Zimbabwe does not tour England next year,’ Mr Brown said at Prime Minister’s question time.

He said the whole world had woken up to the ‘evils’ of Mugabe’s ‘criminal cabal’. He called for a ‘peaceful transition’ government as soon as possible.

David Cameron urged Mr Brown to act against British companies with investments in Zimbabwe that could be propping up the regime.

But firms led by Tesco, Barclays and mining giant Anglo American defended their involvement as crucial to the people of Zimbabwe and their chances of rebuilding their economy if Mugabe goes.

Downing Street confirmed it was looking at ways of applying sanctions to the key figures around Mugabe who are orchestrating his terror campaign.

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Prince William to become 1,000th Knight Of The Garter today

Pomp and ceremony: How Prince William will look on Monday, Jun 16th

Related: Prince William to join Britain’s most exclusive club as Knight of the Garter

Sky News | Jun 16, 2008

By Alastair Bruce

Prince William is taking part in two ancient ceremonies at Windsor Castle later today, following his appointment as the 1,000th Knight of the Garter in April.

First, he will be ‘invested’ with the insignia of the order in the Castle and then ‘installed’ into a stall, or seat, in St George’s Chapel.

The investiture has its origins in medieval times when the monarch would gird a new knight with symbols of fraternal membership.

England’s oldest order is called the Garter because of the blue velvet garter, adorned with the words HONI SOIT QUI MAL Y PENSE, which Edward III is supposed to have said when establishing the order.

Prince William will wait like a novice outside the closed doors of the Garter Throne Room.

He will be brought into the Chapter by his two ’supporter’ knights, his father, Prince Charles, and his grandfather, Prince Philip.

They will bring him to his grandmother, the Queen, who will first put a blue sash over his left shoulder, a star on his breast and then a Page will kneel to hold the garter to his left knee, while a prayer from the 14th century admonishes the prince to “stand firm, valiantly fight, courageously and successfully conquer”.

The Knights and Ladies will then remove their robes before lunch in the Waterloo Chamber.

This is ironic considering it is named after the last battle against the French and the Garter was established by Edward III at the onset of the Hundred Years War with France in 1348.

After lunch, a procession goes past the famous Round Tower and down the hill to St George’s Chapel for the prince’s Installation. It is led by Military Knights, formed by heralds and the Knights and Ladies in their robes.

This is the first sight we will have of Prince William in the famous blue velvet Garter robes, complete with a black Tudor hat and ostrich feather plume.

Inside, The Queen will call for her grandson to be installed where knights have prayed under their banners, swords and crests since the 15th century.

This young man will then be part of an order that has embraced the likes of Churchill, Montgomery and Wellington.

He is not here for merit but to serve probation as heir to the first knight, the Black Prince, who was given his Garter by Edward III in 1348.

Six hundred and 60 years on the 1000th knight carries the story on.

Related

Order of the Garter
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Scouts refuse boy who won’t swear oath to the Queen

Disappointed: Matthew McVeigh

By Auslan Cramb

Telegraph | Jun 6, 2008

An eight-year-old boy has been told he cannot become a Cub Scout after refusing to swear allegiance to the Queen.

Matthew McVeigh objected to part of the Cub Scout Promise which includes the line, “I promise to do my duty to God and the Queen”.

His mother Tracy wanted the pledge changed on religious grounds to: “I promise to do my duty to God and my country”.

But Matthew was told by the 1st Neilston Scout Group in Renfrewshire that unless he took the official oath he could not become a fully-fledged Cub.

Mrs McVeigh, a Roman Catholic, complained the 1701 Act of Settlement specifically discriminated against her faith because it only allowed Protestants to take the throne in Britain.

She added: “Why should we make an oath to the monarchy? The monarchy actively discriminates against Catholics.

“It’s an absolute disgrace in this day and age. We are supposed to live in a multi-cultural age, but this just flies in the face of that.”

The Scout Association allows young people of different religions to replace the word “God” with other deities, and also allows people of other nationalities in the UK to swear to do their duty to “the country in which I am now living”.

But Chris Foster, spokesman for the association, said the rules stated that British nationals must pledge allegiance to the Queen.

He added: “It is simply UK Scout Association policy that all British subjects must promise that.”

Its rules state that scouting is available to all faiths and takes account of the different religions of its members.

In the case of the Scout Promise, which adds the words “On my honour,” at the start of the Cub Scout pledge, Muslims may choose to substitute the phrase with, “In the name of Allah, the Most Beneficent the Most Merciful”.

Mrs McVeigh, 29, a mother-of-three, said her son was an intelligent boy and did not want to make the promise “just for the sake of saying it”.

She added: “I was gobsmacked that the Cub Scout commissioner said that if Matthew didn’t say the promise he would effectively be out the door. He said he could still go along to trips, but he would not be insured.

“The Cub Scout Promise was worded way back in 1907 and, let’s face it, times have moved on. Matthew aboslutely adores the Cub Scouts.

“I am not asking for special treatment, I would just like him to be a Cub Scout without compromising what he believes in.”

Matthew said the decision was “not fair”, adding: “I really enjoy the Cubs and don’t want to feel left out or different to everybody else.”

Fr Jim Byers, Scouting chaplain of the local Catholic diocese, said he had never heard of a case of religious objection to the promise in 20 years, but urged the Scouting authorities to look into the case.

Cubs have to recite the full promise, which states: “I promise that I will do my best, To do my duty to God and to the Queen, To help other people, And to keep the Scout Law.”

After reciting the verse they receive a badge, woggle and neckerchief and become a fully-fledged Cub Scout.

Prince Charles pays off royal debt interest-free … 350 years late

AFP |  Jun 10, 2008

LONDON (AFP) - Heir to the throne Prince Charles on Tuesday paid off a family debt incurred more than 350 years ago — but was spared the accumulated interest that could have run into tens of thousands of pounds.

Charles handed over 453 pounds and 15 pence (572 euros and 20 euro cents, 885 dollars and four cents) which King Charles II failed to pay to the Clothiers Company in Worcester, central England, in 1651.

The king had commissioned uniforms for his troops to fight the republican forces of Oliver Cromwell at the Battle of Worcester the same year.

The modern-day Charles handed over the cash on a visit to the former headquarters of the royalist troops in the Faithful City, so-called because it remained loyal to his ancestor during the English Civil War.

“It seems that members of the Clothiers Company have a long memory,” he said. “By long I mean nearly 400 years. Nevertheless, as a gesture of good will I come today prepared to honour this debt of 453 pounds and three shillings.

“I suspect that it will not have escaped your notice, however, I am resisting the immense temptation to pay the debt with full interest. I was not born yesterday.”

The high commissioner of the Clothiers Company, Philip Sawyer, accepted the money and gave the future king a receipt.

If interest was taken into account, 453 pounds and three shillings in 1651 would have been worth approximately 47,500 pounds in 2007, the BBC website said, citing the Institute for the Measurement of Worth.