Ham pr disasters 39! The Uganda divide…diplomatic necessity vs needless pandering.

[jeffgoldblum]

Continuing the discussion, still interested, still not bored!

I'm a retired US bureaucrat, worked for the Feds for 35 years. The IRS is the only fed agency that scares the absolute shit out of me. FBI? Nah. CIA? Nope. But the IRS makes me tremble in my boots. Their 'far reach' and powers are much more than most US citizens know. I'd rather chew glass than cheat on my taxes.

Hang on - are you saying that the UK justice system is corrupt? That there is privilege for a prince and.... that a monarch could or would intervene?

I can't say that because I'm not in a position to know, @PleasantGreenPorcupine

However we do know that the RF are in a unique position to influence bodies of the state, and the numerous instances of issues being granted or covered up by our flaccid parliaments don't exactly suggest the transparency I'd prefer

Well, very strong accusations indeed.
If there was any evidence that KC intervened in any of the apparatus of justice, it really would be the end.
He's not that foolish.
The judicial system in the UK is independent.
I'll leave it there.

I agree, since they are pretty much exclusively about Meghans supposed career as a grande horizontale.

Dates and names may occasionally match but when you see for example the one today about mystery immunity from IPP which was clearly fiction you think they are probably just made up and really who cares. Though I do like reading them sometimes.

Prepare yourselves everyone for another saying from Basilisk's granny - "There are two people you never lie to - your mother and the Inland Revenue." (She may have had a matriarchalcentric view of the world - if that is even a word) 😊

This is in no way a comment on H's tax affairs.

Changing the subject....what on earth are HAM going to do all day during the long miserable winter months? There'll be no prancing round a garden or fruit picking that's for sure. I still say M won't stick it out for long and it'll be a while before she comes back.

I agree with your granny! And if I was forced to choose between lying to my mum or lying to the IRS/Inland Revenue, well all I can say is "Sorry, Mum".

I did have an image of HAM sending some American heavy in an overstuffed suit over to the class Amanda, phone in hand, to demand admittance to the whatsapp group and causing everlasting offence.

I do agree with you. I went quite off the Queen (QEII) when Andrew was hiding behind her skirts at Windsor, using the monarch's household perogative during the Epstein revelations, and conversely admired Charles for allowing the polis to arrest Andrew at Sandringham IIRC?

I am hoping Charles will want to keep his reputation intact, after seeing what the Andrew debacle did to his mother's hitherto good standing.

Him: gaming
Her: tweakments, spa days, beauty treatments
Both: focussing on their misfortunes and victimhood

The whole AMW situation was somewhat more complex than that, of course, but you are right, KC supported and facilitated police intervention. More than that is for another thread.
Suffice to say; KC understands the role of the Constitutional Monarch. He knows about Magna Carta, the Bill of Rights, the Sovereignty of Parliament and the independence of the Judiciary.
He will not, and cannot "manipulate" the law to protect his son.

Fully hypothetical, but it would be funny if they had done some dodgy tax thing in the US, fled to the UK (finding freedom 2) but were extradited and thrown into jail in the US. Pure fiction of course.

At least then the children will be settled in school and will be looked after by a loving Grandfather.

If KC has any influence, he'll absolutely want HAM the hell out of UK asap

The thing is with the blinds, as with most conspiracy theories, you need an awful lot of people on board who have to keep quiet. Eg if I had been Doria’s cell-mate I’d have been on to the tabloids quicker than you could say orange jumpsuit, so I can’t believe that that rumour is true.

i am, however, fairly convinced that A&L did not attend school in Montecito. I think they were home schooled or some such, and this is their first foray into formal schooling.

This is what I think H&M are thinking.

We have stepped down as working royals. We no longer have any perks of being royals. We don't cost the taxpayers anything. We are free of the restrictions of the RF because we don't cost them anything, they don't do anything for us and we don't do anything for them. We should be free to do whatever we want now, and obviously that means earning a living. So, we should be free to use social media however we want partly because that's how we will earn a living, we should be free to go wherever we want, live wherever we want, say whatever we want, brief however we want, raise money however we want, use our voices, shine lights, use whatever PR, grift and you have no right to stop us and we don't owe you anything.

HOWEVER, of course I'm still the King's son and these are still the King's grandchildren, and none of us asked for this and none of us can do anything about this. None of this is our fault. Therefore, it's not up to me to pay for security - it's up the King and the apparatus of the state. Moreover, we shouldn't have to accept any restrictions on our lifestyles or choices just because it would be cheaper for you - it's not our fault, after all, that we are born to our parents, why should we pay for any of this. And, obviously, it goes without saying that the damage to the United Kingdom and the royal family and the world as a whole, of anything being seen to happen to us because the country couldn't keep us safe, would be immense so actually it's in your own interests to protect us whatever we decide to do and however we choose to live. This is your duty to us.

(The obvious answer is to stop him being the King's son (ie a Prince) and the King's grandchildren (Prince/Princess) - although of course they will always be Charles Mountbatten-Windsor's child and grandchildren. And this is where I think this is going to end up but we're not quite there yet - I also don't believe Harry can imagine this ever happening.)

Harry was raised to revere his grandmother as Queen/HoS. Meghan wasn't. Harry thrived in the structure of the Army, Meghan lol-ed at a conference that she's such a fraud for getting away with pretending to be a union actress to get gigs when she wasn't. She lives by faking it until she makes is (although so far there's been a lot of faking being a Duchess and never quite making it). There's only one person who would have dared to say "collaborate with the Queen", "nobody owns the word 'Royal'" and I'm going to wager it's the one who refers to the HoS ALWAYS as "your dad" and the PoW ALWAYS as "your brother" and the late Queen ALWAYS as "his grandmother". It's going to be the one who uses HRH when she's been told not to, and the one who will stop at nothing to get what she wants including dropping family, friends, husbands - anyone - who stands in her way.

Income and other taxes in the USA aren't as straightforward as in the UK, especially not if you're self-employed and have irregular sources of income. The burden is on the taxpayer to estimate their tax bill and set aside what they think they will owe on the due date - it's not all withheld at source as with, say, PAYE and NI payments and there are city/state/federal taxes to take account of. There are online tools to help with this but the second your taxes become even a little unusual (eg more than one jurisdiction involved) you retain an accountant. This isn't at all unusual for people even like me.

Every year, thousands upon thousands of people don't hold back enough and are shocked to receive bills. DH and I hold back/pay more than we owe so we get a refund every year and don't actually know what happens if you're so behind you can't afford to pay your taxes - but PLENTY of people find themselves in this situation year after year. Sometimes you'll be behind by an amount you can readily pay. Sometimes you're so behind, year upon year, that after 3 or 4 or 5 years the IRS will hunt you down and present you with a bill beyond your worst nightmares because compound interest and fines accrue. This happens mostly with people who are self-employed - eg artists. It's not unusual to hear of this or that actor or musician bankrupted by the IRS because they didn't pay any taxes at all for 4 or 5 years. It's crazy, to me, but not uncommon amongst a "get the state out of my life/small government" mindset of a section of the electorate.

Firstly I agree with you about the Doria thing. & I think Ii is utterly disproven , but I agree with your point about conspiracy theories. I was trying to google who came up with it would have been cheaper to land a man on the moon than fake it and keep it secret - couldn't find a pithy quote so this (shamelessly AI)
"James Longuski, a professor of aeronautical and astronautical engineering, argued that it would have been easier and more practical to actually go to the Moon than to orchestrate a massive conspiracy to fake the landings. Similar sentiments regarding the immense logistical complexity and cost of a fake production versus the real mission have been echoed by science communicators and space historians, noting that faking the technology and keeping hundreds of thousands of workers quiet would have been remarkably difficult"

I remember that incident well. The video stopped before it showed Markle taking her seat next to AMW whilst smirking knowingly at him. He actually appeared to physically recoil - and the disdain on his face was unmistakeable.

IMO, those two have history which pre-dates her embedding her claws in Harry.

Absolutely! I hate all these conspiracy theories - they're so stupid. Just look at proper evidence and use common sense!

That’s interesting but the school my children attended had nothing to do with the class WhatsApps , they were set up by parents.

I find that interesting as well because if the school are officially involved, what happens when it kicks off?! Actually I would imagine an alternative one gets set up pretty quickly by the parents so they can slag the school off!

Indeed! , i very much doubt the school would have been pleased with the things said on the WhatsApp for my ds class!!! 😱

I will never understand how they get away with this stuff, remember when Harry’s friend spoke to the Daily Mail about Sophie Chandauka, with Harry’s approval, it was beyond racist and misogynistic.

According to Reddit Mike Tapp is a friend of Liam's - and Liam donated to his election campaign .....🤔