How much does the royal family really cost the British public?

In 1760, the British monarchy was effectively bankrupt. Up to that year, when George III inherited the throne, the monarch had been responsible for meeting the increasing costs of a wide range of public services, including the army and the civil service.

So a deal was reached whereby responsibility for most of these matters was transferred to parliament and, to fund these services, the revenues from royal landholdings in what is now known as the Crown Estate were surrendered to parliament, so in effect to the public.

Henceforth, a civil list would provide an annual income to the monarch from the public purse to enable royal duties to be carried out. In 1760, this was set at the generous level of £800,000 a year.

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Why Quebec’s proposed constitution has legal experts, civil rights groups sounding the alarm

Quebec Premier François Legault took many by surprise when, last month, his government introduced a proposed constitution for the province aiming to reflect its “distinct national character.”

The constitution, he said, would protect the common values of the province, including the French language, secularism, the right to an abortion and equality between men and women.

But in the weeks since, the legislation has been the subject of growing consternation among legal experts and civil liberties groups, who warn it would centralize power, weaken judicial oversight and infringe on individual freedoms.

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Seven bodyguards arrested over Mexican mayor’s murder

Seven bodyguards have been arrested over their alleged involvement in the murder of a popular Mexican mayor, authorities have said.

Carlos Manzo, the mayor of Uruapan and an outspoken critic of cartel violence, was shot dead on 1 November at a public event marking the Day of the Dead.

The office of the attorney general of Michoacán state said in a brief statement that the public servants had been detained “for their probable participation in the crime of aggravated homicide, in commission by omission” in relation to Manzo’s killing.

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Halifax throws its founder under the bus: The fall of Edward Cornwallis

This is from a story about the scalping of British settlers and militia by Mi’kmaq warriors in what became known as the “Dartmouth Massacre” on May 13, 1751, from John Wilson’s eyewitness account: “These Indians chain the unfortunate prisoner to a large thick tree, and bind his hands and his feet, then beginning from the middle of the craneum, they cut quite round towards the neck; this being done, they then tear off the skin, leaving the skull bare; an inflammation quickly follows, the patient fevers, and dies in the most exquisite tortures.”

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Critical Race Theory Deserves to be labeled as ‘hate speech’

According to the Critical Race Theory, one sole race is targeted as “oppressor,” while another is “oppressed.” It falsely and negligently paints good and evil as relating only to black and white races. It slanderously and racistly describes the entire white race as “oppressors” and the entire black race as “oppressed.” Such fabrications and mendacities deserve to be labeled “hate speech.” There has been pushback on this theory, but not enough nor as publicly as it deserves.

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Are the Grooming Gangs a Muslim Phenomenon?

The many prosecutions of grooming gangs have shocked the UK public. There is the sheer scale of the abuse, in which thousands of abusers have raped, intimidated, controlled, tortured and sexually exploited thousands of underage girls. Also shocking are the repeated failures of both the criminal justice system and numerous reviews to bring about lasting change.

The expression ‘grooming gangs’ has been challenged, as it could be taken to imply some kind of consent. Although ‘rape gangs’ is not inaccurate, ‘grooming gang’ does capture the element of psychological control over victims, many of whom have been subjected to repeated rapes over an extended period of time.

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Dakota Nations claim title to mineral-rich corner of Manitoba valued at $1.3B annually

Two First Nations are suing the Manitoba and federal government, claiming land and mineral rights to the southwest corner of the province, where the annual value of oil and gas produced exceeds $1.3 billion.

Canupawakpa Dakota First Nation and Dakota Tipi First Nation filed a statement of claim in Court of King’s Bench on Thursday, asking for a declaration of title and subsurface rights over the entirety of the Williston Basin in Manitoba, including oil rights “and the right to economically participate in the extraction, development, and production of subsurface minerals.”

The lawsuit says the area is unceded ancestral land, and the Dakota were “deliberately and strategically excluded from the numbered treaties,” meaning their inherent rights, including title, have never been relinquished.

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The return of the blood libel

Anti-Semitic conspiracy theories have infested British universities.

An easy definition of anti-Semitism is treating Jews as though they are different to other people, whether that is holding them to different standards or discriminating against them. The same is true of the way Israel is treated. If you hold the one Jewish country in the world to different standards than other countries, or if you deny the Jewish people the right of self-determination, then you are anti-Semitic.

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Female, foreign and too fat to fight – how wokery is defeating the British Army

BRITAIN is not ready to defend itself from attack, says the Commons Defence Committee. Their report details the lack of missile defence, a Royal Navy depleted of ships and available submarines, an Army shrunk to its smallest since the Napoleonic Wars with only slightly more than 70,000 fully trained soldiers, not enough even to protect some of the UK’s most sensitive military bases.

The question that needs answering is why? Why has the armed forces ability to defend our country crumbled? Why are more personnel leaving than joining, and why do those left behind over-represent the lowest-capacity personnel? 

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Jamie Sarkonak: The wokification of Canada’s museums

Museums are Canada’s greatest stewards of public history. But in the past decade, increasingly overbearing cultural policies have rewritten their mandates. Once dedicated to simply telling the truth, they now have an agenda to push.

It’s subtle, but a lot of museums are open about it nevertheless. The federal Canadian Museum of History’s diversity, equity and inclusion plan states that it will “allocate resources strategically to bridge gaps” to “ensure better representation of equity-deserving groups.” Calgary’s Glenbow Museum announced its new land acknowledgement in September: “Blackfoot land, your territory.”

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