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#dispatches

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I made a petition calling on the Duchies of Lancister and Cornwall (i.e. Charles and William) to stop charging so much rent to public services and non-profits. But the petition has stalled, presumably because Parliament can't tell them how much rent to charge.

So now I've made a new petition: Charge tax on rental income earned by the Duchies of Lancaster and Cornwall

It needs 5 sponsors to sign it before it goes live. Will you sign?

petition.parliament.uk/petitio

Petitions - UK Government and ParliamentPetition: Charge tax on rental income earned by the Duchies of Lancaster and CornwallThe recent C4 Dispatches revealed that, although the duchies do not pay taxes, they are paid rent by taxpayer-funded sources. We call on Parliament to tax rental income earned by the Duchies of Lancaster and Cornwall where properties are leased to charities, public bodies, and community services.
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I’ve made a petition. But it needs 5 signatures before it goes live. Will you sign it?

My petition:
Rent cap on properties owned by the Duchies of Lancaster and Cornwall

Removing the link for now as it’s had its five supporters and it’s gone into review phase. Once it’s live, I’ll reshare.

Continued thread

Now, @xtaldave has just said that when the royals say they ‘support’ these charities, they likely don’t mean financial support. They give their time in encouraging other people to give money to charity … which the royals then claim back in rent.

Is that better or worse than money laundering? I’m not sure.

Continued thread

Schools, NHS, fire brigades … all sorts of organisations are paying thousands and even millions of pounds a year in rent. And the Duchy of Lancaster is exempt from tax.

An author, whose name I missed, suggested that the royals wouldn’t even need to sell those lands. They could just charge a peppercorn rent.

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@santiago here's a very interesting take on the same matter.

hint: there's more than one way to measure poverty and China's is actually stricter than the US'

inv.zzls.xyz/watch?v=ZuBCr_15B

BreakThrough News | InvidiousHow China Lifted 850 Million People Out of Extreme Poverty, w/ Tings ChakIn February, the Chinese government celebrated the eradication of extreme poverty within its borders. This would be a massive achievement for any country, but for China it’s even more so as it is home to some 1.4 billion people and is considered a developing country. China is credited with lifting over 800 million people out of poverty, which accounts for 70 percent of the world’s total poverty reduction. This is an incredible feat and it’s worth understanding how China did it. To discuss this and more, Rania Khalek was joined by Tings Chak, a researcher at the Tricontinental Institute, a member of Dongsheng News collective and lead author of the report “Serve the People: The Eradication of Extreme Poverty in China.” Read the report: https://thetricontinental.org/studies-1-socialist-construction/ Follow Dongsheng News: https://youtube.com/c/DongshengNews You can listen to every episode of Rania Khalek Dispatches anywhere you get podcasts. Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3za9DRK Apple: https://apple.co/3zeYpeW TIME CODES: 0:00 Intro 2:19 Definition of extreme poverty and what it means to be lifted out of it 5:50 The numbers 7:19 The role of Chinese Communist Party members in eradicating extreme poverty 14:08 Geographic cooperation and mobilizing industry for poverty alleviation 20:35 China’s harsh regulations on billionaires and big tech 26:32 How the “century of humiliation” plunged China into extreme poverty 35:52 China’s history of famines and responding to criticism of Mao’s agricultural policies 41:00 The reform and opening up period in 1979 45:45 Is China a socialist country? 49:08 China’s economic relationship with the Global South vs the West 54:45 Removing imbalances between rich and poor 59:10 Are we undercounting poverty around the world? 1:05:36 Why was China so successful at containing Covid-19? 1:09:09 US vs China as individualism vs collectivism and what it means with regard to the pandemic 1:15:49 Where you can follow Tings’ work

Amidst all the comment and furore over the #Dispatches investigation into #RussellBrand, this is one of the best articles I've read. The closing paragraph in particular is spot-on:

"An establishment out to bring him down? Now there’s a joke. Save your righteous anger, if you have it, for the establishments both old and new, that for so long raised him up."

theguardian.com/commentisfree/

The GuardianYou’re right to be angry about Russell Brand – and the establishments, old and new, that gave him his powerBy Gaby Hinsliff

Forgive me, but I won't comment on Russell Brand and the allegations in yesterday's Channel 4 #Dispatches. The journalism & research seem solid so surely this is now a case for the police to investigate and, if true, corroborate.

just watching C4 Dispatches 'Cops in Crisis'. testimony from one woman in particular who managed a Child Protection Unit really struck home.
talking about t/stresses of overwork & staffing shortages +how one day her breakdown manifested. a sudden & unexpected flow of tears & then a complete shut down. that's exactly how it was for me.
like her, a long period off work was just a precursor to an early MH based retirement.
p.s. I wasn't a cop.