Smug Charlie
Category Archives: UK Government
Prince Charles to Destroy Farmland
In an epic show of riding rough-shod over local opinion and blatent pocket-lining, the laughing prince and his cronies are set to build on prime farmland with an unwanted development in Truro (big surprise!).
Our already gridlocked capital will receive among other things; housing, a Waitrose and a park and ride, in one of the most congested parts of the city. I shudder to think what effect all that hard-standing will have in the flood-prone area just below.
The sooner people get wise to the fact that Charles is effectively quai-sovereign of Cornwall, has the right of veto in the English (masquerading as a UK) parliament and along with his developer chums will summarily concrete Cornwall, the better for all. The Duchy of Cornwall is NOT a private estate.
As for the Duke’s green credentials? Well they’re akin to something you might find in the field he’s concreting over, once the cows have left!
Soon enough there will be nowhere for local people to live (don’t delude yourself into thinking the housing is for them!), and no fields to grow the produce the Duke wants to sell in his quasi farmers’ market.
All hail the 1%!
Read more here:
Pandora’s Box is Opening…
Over the past few days, info has been coming out about Prince Charles’ meddling in Parliamentary affairs. There seems to be a lot of surprise over this.
We in Cornwall of course, have known for years how the Duke acts. It seems his cosy little arrangements with government departments are now creeping out into the fresh air.
Pandora’s Box is opening and this can only be good for the people of Cornwall.
Some links below. The last contains a letter from John Angarrack.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/oct/31/prince-charles-veto-planning-legislation
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/interactive/2011/oct/31/letter-prince-of-wales-consent
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/nov/01/prince-charles-secret-fiefdom
For more info on the constitutional status of the Duchy of Cornwall, see here: http://duchyofcornwall.eu/
Water, water everywhere…
If anyone was in doubt about the rates we are paying for water services in Cornwall, here’s a little revelation I had a few weeks ago talking to two lovely couples, one from Somerset, the other from Cumbria. The couple from Somerset pay £180 a year to their water provider, the couple from Cumbria £300 and we, in Cornwall pay up to £1200 a year?
What’s the rationale for such difference? Really… what?
As we know, Cumbria and Cornwall both have more water than Somerset in terms of lakes and beaches. Yes. Therefore more tidy up, more spending on xxx.
And clearly the usage in Cornwall rises massively during the silly season, likewise in visitor-rich areas such as the lakes in Cumbria.
It is still a massive disparity.
As we are talking water, why then, are places like Wheal Jane mine near Truro – an incredibly wet mine – under the auspices of the Environment Agency, looked after by (previously) Hyder Water, United Utilities and presently Veolia?
Is it that, with all their tireless work within Cornwall, SWW couldn’t compete with other operators around Britain? After all, they’re too busy fleecing the likes of me and you to worry about getting involved with dirty stuff! They can’t even dig the roads up anymore without farming it out to someone else!
The people of Cornwall are being taken for a ride, left, right and centre and the water problem is one of many.
I’m sure a better person than I, can and will answer the questions posed but really it comes down to the fact we’re all paying over the odds for services here in Cornwall (for the benefit of others) and water, that most of the time, tastes just like the water up Carn Brea swimming pool!
Cornish National Minority Report
Further to my previous post on the Cornish National Minority report 2 you can now view it online:
http://www.oldcornwall.org/Cornish%20Minority%20Report%20final%20doc.%20PDF.pdf
Natural ‘England’ – rapists of historic Cornish moorland
Today this picture came my way:
Broken Holed stone - Carn Kenidjack
Natural ‘England’ an unelected quango, are devastating the moors of West Penwith with their “Higher Level Stewardship” ‘conservation’ grazing regime. This means fencing, cattle grids and horse gates where hitherto there were open spaces and open roads. Once you add the enormous and potentially dangerous longhorn cattle into the mix, our beloved and pricelessly historic landscape, suddenly becomes a no-go area.
NE did a deal with certain farmers, who were then able to graze cattle upon the open and public spaces of the West Penwith moors. £27,000 p.a. covers them to let loose leviathan-like cattle to graze but also to intimidate. It has already been stated the cows could be deadly if with young.
Longhorn rubs on a standing stone
NE say: “Left alone the moors will continue to scrub over, reducing both biodiversity and historic interest features while denying future generations the experience of accessing and enjoying them.”
But the NE cattle on the Penwith moors have so far discouraged walkers and riders (a drop as much as 75%), dislodged three standing stones and churned the country into a morass (along with their four-wheeled counter-parts/owners). So how does that sit with NE’s lofty assertions?
It has been a disaster from the start, with more BS being fed to the Cornish and the only winners being the farmers who graze the cattle.
Overall, having a dictatorial quango named Natural England operating in Cornwall, smacks of all that is imperialistic and abusive, as does the utterly inexusable English Heritage. Neither, for all their talk, have the least respect for Cornish heritage, history or her people.
NE are even ‘crowing’ over a successful chough season – “Natural England is delighted to have been involved with this successful species recovery project over the last ten years. We’ve worked with farmers around many miles of the Cornish coast and used Environmental Stewardship to encourage the right habitat for the choughs to feed and breed and it’s great that this work is yielding such encouraging results.”
How could we have ever managed without you NE?
So the broken men an tol in the picture at the top of the article, may or may not have been caused by NE’s cattle. It’s a long way off the beaten track for someone to go with malicious intent however.
These stones and all others have stood for millenia and but for Victorian fiddlings, have stood so since.
Is it right that cattle should destroy what is precious to so many for the sake of a smug unelected quango and the bank accounts of the few?
You and I can’t even touch Stonehenge, so why is it ok for Cornish heritage, which is as old and important to be so dismissed?
For more info visit: http://www.savepenwithmoors.com/
Recognition at last..?
In an article today, the This is Cornwall website reported, that the long-awaited second stab at getting Cornwall recognised as a national and cultural minority, within the Council of Europe’s Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities, was going ahead.
Previously we had been denied this status on account of not being, according to the EHRC, a ‘racial group’. In order to become such, we, the Cornish (an indigenous people), would have to be successful in bringing a prosecution of ‘Racial Discrimination’ to the courts. The EHRC would not countenance such cases brought to them and so the Cornish were in limbo. (Incidentally, the English have said status.)
Meanwhile other groups, such as Travellers were recognised by the UK Government, albeit having likewise, no racial discrimination case brought to court. Go fathom…
(John Angarrack’s book ‘Scat t’Larrups? – Resist and Survive’, details the whole experience.)
Yesterday, ‘The Cornish National Minority Report 2’ was launched, with Bert Biscoe at the helm. We can only hope, as clearly much work (again) has gone into this, that this time we won’t be sidelined/ignored by the UK Government, who also ignored the Council of Europe last time round.
Andrew ‘on the fence’ George and Dan ‘piss my pants’ Rogerson presented the report to the ‘Communities and Local Government’ minister Andrew Stunell at Westminster, which probably means that’ll be that, from their end.
Copies have also been handed to Alec Robertson’s old trough buddy Eric Pickles, as well as Tweedle-dum and Tweedle-dumber – Cameron & Clegg…
We, the Cornish, however, will not and must not let this pass. In twelve years, things have changed. The fact you’re reading this is a testament to it, (the internet has brought a greater awareness and accessibilty to all things Cornish). Things can’t subtly slide, quylkyn-like under the rug (or silk tie) of Duchy Hall.
Copies of the report are available from Duchy Hall or by e-mailing Bert Biscoe: bertbiscoe@btinternet.com
An Helghyer 