He has been presented with a toy in the shape of the thistle emblem of the Commonwealth Games, Clyde, along with two donations to Scottish charities.
The STV Appeal, which helps children and young people
affected by poverty, and Foundation Scotland, a community funding charity, will
share £50,000 given by Scotland on behalf of George.
The First Minister said: "The birth of any baby is a wonderful
event and we want to mark the birth of Prince George with an appropriate gift
from the people of Scotland.
"It's only right to continue the legacy of the royal
wedding by giving a charitable donation to celebrate Prince George's arrival.
Two charities will receive a share of £50,000 on behalf of the people of
Scotland, Foundation Scotland and The STV Appeal; charities that make a
remarkable difference, particularly to the lives of Scotland's children through
the likes of Barnardo's Scotland, CHILDREN 1st and Aberlour.
"We will also make sure that Prince George can be part
of the build-up to the Commonwealth Games by sending him a special Cuddly
Clyde' mascot of his own, sporting a stylish hand knitted jumper by Doreen Brown
who created the knitwear that made Shetland ponies a global sensation."
That makes a lot of sense. I hope the opposition parties would agree that it is money well spent, and one which George and his parents can be proud of.
Tris
ReplyDeleteI am sorry but I object to my money being used in his name, I have no issue with my money being used to support children in poverty but not in his name. I know my comments will come as no surprise to you but this stuff really gets on my nerves. When will at least one politician have the guts to say enough is enough, no more either that or make a £50,000 donation to charity everytime a child is born in Scotland.
I know some will say the government is on a loser, I understand that, but it is wrong. I am sick of this family. I heard 10 minutes of the debate on friday and it was the same old royalist crap from most of them apart from Dennis C.
Not in my name.
Bruce
Whilst I understand Bruce's feelings, the SNP would have been hammered if there wasn't a gift from the Scottish government and I think this was the best option. A soft toy for the wean itself (he'll never use it, bet it will end up in a charity shop/childrens hospital) and help for those who need it.
ReplyDeleteHaving no time for the monarchy or the numerous scrounging relatives I'm not particularly bothered about presents but any donations to charities should be welcomed. Having said that there should be no need for charities in a caring society.
ReplyDeleteIncidentally, I see that the Spook who relentlessly tormented Rufus on the Scotsman's site has added to the torment by playing in the team that beat the mighty Rangers!!
ReplyDeleteI was just remarking on that yesterday, John. I thought what a day of utter joy for Omar. He must be over the moon. We split our sides laughing over it.
DeleteIf you're reading this, Spookie... YAYYYYYYYYYYYY
I'm sick of it too, Bruce.
ReplyDeleteThe thing about royalty is that it suspends normal belief people like us have, that people are all born the same. They may be rich; they may be clever; they may be poor; they may be ugly...whatever, but each one is made of the same stuff.
Royalty expects us to believe something different. That for some reason this one family in the UK is different. That they have unbounded rights and privileges and are handed public housing by right, transport, public funds, etc, whilst others, equally dependent on the state are entitled to a night shelter and soup kitchen and a miserable pittance of benefits... and then are hounded byu the government for being lazy, feckless, greedy scroungers.
If you believe that they are entirely different, better, than us, then this may be acceptable. If you do not, it is almost inexplicable.
You then find that contrary to what you have been told...that this family has no real power, but are figureheads... in fact they wield a large amount of power over government and many laws, and you begin to pinch yourself.
I suppose that they have had to become show business personalities to justify the money and power they have. In today's world of equality, it is the only way we will accept the splendour they live in at our expense, compared to the misery that so many of our fellow citizens live in.
The Conservatives have ensured that they have more privacy and more money, the queen and her son being among the very few who appear to have profited in the last few years. They have passed legislation which makes correspondence between the queen, Charlie and William and politicians, not subject to public information laws, even if it is in the public interest for us to know its content. Unbelievable
That said, they are remarkably popular, possibly because of the show biz angle. We, it would appear, are in a minority.
As PP says, if the Scottish government had said that the child who has everything already was getting nothing from hard pressed Scots, who already pay more than other UK populations to the upkeep of this insult to democracy, they would indeed have been slated.
This child needs no gifts. It has all the money it will ever need, and a massive fortune besides. It was a happy compromise that the child was given a present worth maybe £10-£20, and charities received £50,000.
In view of the situation, I'm pleased that we did what we did. It means the birth has actually done some Scots some good. Honour has been satisfied for those who believe that he is better than we are, and we haven't seen £50,000 leave Scotland.
I agree with you, John. In an ideal world charity shouldn't be needed, but Britain never has been, and never will be, anything approaching an ideal world for any except the very rich. So that two decent charities have received £50,000 is the best of a bad job.
Anyone know that the other countries have sent?
Any chance of a list of publicly funded bodies that have given public money in any shape or form to this royal child. am thinkin councils etcetc
ReplyDeleteAnon: I googled the subject and all I found was this:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.theweek.co.uk/uk-news/royal-baby/53785/prince-george-kate-middleton-royal-baby-king
Prince George Alexander Louis Mountbatten Windsor.
ReplyDeleteHow much will this little gift cost the Scottish taxpayers? Remind me what the average income is? Oh, and are living standards being squeezed?
Thank our lucky stars we have nukes and royals then eh? That reassures me no end...
Dean...
ReplyDelete£50,020 + or - at a guess
We have royals and leaking nukes...
Jolly good show.
Even the UK fur coats are getting moth eaten.
Lets not forget the vestiges of Empire too, having Gibraltar and Falklands is sure to keep the old pensioners warm at night as they are forced to turn off the central heating this winter...
DeleteThat's true too Dean. All these places around the world cost us a lot of money.
DeleteIn some cases we simply have to provide very limited defence and foreign affairs services to them, at no cost (eg Channel Islands, who as a result of not having to pay for these things, manage to pay pensioners almost twice what the UK does).
In other cases the cost has been massive.
Clearly in the South Atlantic billions have been spent to keep the islanders what they want to be, which is British. Someone calculated, quite recently, how much we subsidise each one of the Falklanders per year, and it makes the enormous fuss that Osborne makes over a few families that fleece the social security, system look like peanuts. Each person is subsidies by the British taxpayer at around£120,000 a year, if I remember my figures right.
It looks like Gibraltar is going to cost us more as Spain and the Uk fall out over borders and damage to fishing grounds.
I completely understand the need to allow people who have been part of the Empire the right to a democratic choice about their future (although clearly we had less concerns about that in Hong kong than we do in Gibraltar or Falklands).
If people wish to be British, which is what they say they do, then I think they must have that right. I just think that they should pay British taxes. And in none of these Empire outposts do they do that.
I worry for the poor and the old this winter as they are threatened with even higher fuel charges on the back of the vast profits of the power companies.
No point in appealing to the Tories though; they don't care. And the Liberals? pfffff...