NEWS FROM THE CELTIC LEAGUE Following the Supreme Court ruling that the correspondence of the Prince of Wales to government should be released Kernow branch of the Celtic League believe that the activities of his estate in Cornwall should also come under focus and they want people to get involved. This from Kernow branch Convenor Michael Chappell: ?The dodgy Duke and his dirty dealings! The problem with Charles Philip Arthur George Windsor, Prince of Wales, Royal Knight Companion of the Most Noble Order of the Garter, Extra Knight of the Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of the Thistle, Grand Master and Principal Knight Grand Cross of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath, Member of the Order of Merit, Knight of the Order of Australia, Companion of the Queen's Service Order, Member of Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, Aide-de-Camp, Earl of Chester, Duke of Cornwall, Duke of Rothesay, Earl of Carrick, Baron of Renfrew, Lord of the Isles, Prince and Great Steward of Scotland. At this time when more and more are questioning Prince Charles and when it has been announced that his letters to Government are to be released after Supreme Court ruling and following a campaign by the Guardian newspaper (BBC coverage here: (voir le site) the Kernow Branch will be keeping up its pressure on the Prince who is Duke of Cornwall and has liaised with other organisations as far afield as Scotland who will be doing the same. Without doubt there is a housing crisis for the younger people of Cornwall as well as many others struggling to get a toe on to the housing ladder. Mortgages to one side, increasing numbers are struggling to raise enough capital to secure rented accommodation. This is in the face of under average rates of pay and unstable employment prospects within the seasonal holiday ?trade? and the virtual explosion of so called ?zero hour contracts?. Housing Associations have inadequate stocks of social housing to cope although amazingly a study by the think-tank ?Million Homes, Million Lives? calculates that housing association profits have grown tenfold in the last five years to stand at £1.93 billion! Many tenants face hardship -or court appearances-because of the bedroom tax. All that said, Prince Charles now has a housing crisis of his own - how to keep on top of his burgeoning property empire! According to the Mail on Sunday published on 15/03/2015, he has the keys to ?nearly a 1000 bedrooms and more than 250 bathrooms? - not to mention ?acres of garden, forest and moorland.? And now he wants to buy the 123 room 16th century Port Elliot House in Cornwall -an area where locals already struggle to find somewhere to live because of the preponderance of second and holiday homes. Many will not realise that Charles, Duke of Cornwall, retains to overarching right to intervene in any issue affecting his income in Cornwall, even court cases. That power is above all lawful or democratic challenge. Many years ago, author John Angarrack opened our eyes, and made us realise that our Duke was not a benign, cuddly environmentalist who looked after us. Instead, Mr. Angarrack spoke the truth as he saw it, and what he saw was a rapacious, vicious, evil and above all secret dictator who hid his dictatorship behind a hypocritical facade. Without the stannary parliament there is no check or balance to his unlimited power and he identified Duke Charles as the biggest barrier to our autonomy. We believe that he will do everything in his considerable power to prevent us from ever securing our own destiny. We do not have the answer to this, but we do need to tell everyone all of the time that our Duke is not our friend. We publicised Prince Charles? claim over the mineral rights under our homes. In Wales, similar ancient rights have been waived but our greedy Duke insists on taking all of our money from one of the poorest regions in Europe. Hundreds of homeowners in Cornwall have received frightening legal papers from the Duke?s office in this last year alone reminding them that he has those mineral rights and also the right of access to them. Many ordinary folks are terrified at the prospect of the Duke digging for minerals or drilling for geo thermal energy right beneath their feet. We have also publicised the Duke?s shadowy role in the concreting of Cornwall. While he says we should protect agricultural land, in Cornwall he is building on agricultural land. While he says we should make development sustainable while he builds supermarkets that take away livelihoods. While he says development should work with local communities, in Cornwall the most?affordable? homes he is building are far out of the pockets of ordinary Cornish working folk and only his London cronies can afford them. We need to keep the pressure on the Duchy and remind them that we are watching. We feel that Charles leans on his ?rights? as Duke and fails to consider the responsibility these rights should entail. Duke Charles Windsor has betrayed Cornwall and betrayed the rest of the UK, using the Human Rights Act to keep his dictatorship in Cornwall a secret and attempting to prevent his ?spider letters? from being made public. So over 60 million British citizens are being lied to in order to protect the human rights of one of Europe?s richest dictators. Some of the most crushing effects of the Duchy on Cornwall, is our Duke?s continued claim to rape us of our resources. We feel that our economy will never recover while our Duke maintains his claim to our mineral rights and ?Bona Vacanta? In Wales, the claim to mineral rights was waived last year ( (voir le site) and it is high time that the rights to Cornwall?s minerals were passed to the Cornish people. The right of ?Bona Vacanta? entitles the Duke of Cornwall to take all the assets of dissolved companies and people who die without making a will. Why should Europe?s poorest region be paying one of Europe?s richest men? This right too should be passed to the Cornish people. Over the coming year, we will be campaigning for these rights to be passed to the Cornish people and we want YOU to help! What you can do: Help us plan the campaign, let us know if you want to join this campaign and give us your details. We can be contacted at: kernow@celticleague.net Michael Chappell Convenor CL Kernow? J B Moffatt (Mr) Director of Information Celtic League 27/03/15 (Please note that replies to correspondence received by the League and posted on CL News are usually scanned hard copies. Obviously every effort is made to ensure the scanning process is accurate but sometimes errors do occur) ISSUED BY THE CELTIC LEAGUE INFORMATION SERVICE The Celtic League has branches in the six Celtic Countries. It works to promote cooperation between these countries and campaigns on a broad range of political, cultural and environmental matters. It highlights human rights abuse, monitors all military activity and focuses on socio-economic issues Internet site at: (voir le site) (voir le site)
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