A coffin for Chernobyl

Deutsche Welle, 24 April 2012

The existing sarcophagus on the Chernobyl nuclear power station has long been insecure. Now a new coffin is intended to ensure that the reactor remains safe for centuries.

The official date for the start of construction is April 26, the 26th anniversary of the Chernobyl reactor disaster. That's when work should start on a new sarcophagus for Block 4 of the nuclear power station. The existing one was put up in a hurry in the first few months after the accident. 

The explosion in 1986 caused the
world's worst nuclear accident

In April 1986, the Chernobyl nuclear power plant suffered a melt-down and an explosion which led to the release of several tons of radioactive material. The accident was caused by an experiment which went wrong, as well as by a number of serious construction faults in the Soviet RBMK-type reactor.

It is still not known how many people died as a result. The International Atomic Energy Agency and the World Health Organization talk of 4,000 fatal cancers among the emergency staff as a result of exposure to radiation. Environmental organizations like Greenpeace say that this is a trivialization: they estimate the death toll is ten times greater.

Sarcophagus to last 100 years

The existing concrete mantle was already considered to be in danger of collapse in the 90s. The new one should last at least 100 years. A new consortium, Novarka, was founded to carry out the project, including the French Vinci and Bouygues, the German Nukem and Hochtief, and several Ukrainian companies. Novarka won the Ukrainian government contract in 2007, for a project which is expected to cost around a billion euros ($1.32 billion). Much of the money for the "Chernobyl Shelter Fund" (CSF) comes from the European Union, but the US, Canada, Japan, Ukraine and other countries are also contributing. 

The existing mantle is no longer secure

The new sarcophagus will measure 257 meters (281 yards) across and be 109 meters high, and it will weigh 29,000 tonnes. Because of the high level of radiation, the new containment cannot be built directly over the existing one. It will have to be built on a neighboring plot of land and then shunted into its final position.

Construction is set to be completed in summer 2015, but the Ukrainian prime minister, Mykola Asarov, hopes that it will be ready earlier. He told journalists: "We want to solve the problem in one and half years."

Uncertainty about waste disposal

The administration of the power station says that the existing concrete mantle has to be stabilized before construction starts. It says that, once the new sarcophagus is ready, radioactive material from inside the ruined reactor will be recovered and removed.

But the Ukrainian nuclear expert Vladimir Usatenko is skeptical. He points out that no-one has the slightest idea how dangerous the power station and its ruined Block 4 really are. "The information about the amount of remaining fissile material in Block 4 was falsified after the accident," he told DW, "as was all the data about the situation in the power station." All the plans to make the power station safe, he says, are based on uncertain data.

Just a cover up? 

Yuriy Kostenko thinks that the
 new mantle will merely cover up
the problems

Originally all that was intended was to stabilize the existing mantle and remove the radioactive material from Block 4, according to Yuriy Kostenko, former environment minister and head of the Ukrainian delegation which negotiated with the G7 countries in the 90s. That is when talks about securing the reactor started. He told DW that Ukraine had had neither the funding nor the technology to do that. "It's ended up so that, now, all the problems will simply be covered with a new sarcophagus," he says.

In fact, the plan includes the possibility of removing the old mantle sometime in the future, once the new one is in place. That's when the remaining radioactive material would be removed, without allowing any radiation to get into the environment.

Authors: Alexander Sawitzki, Markian Ostaptschuk / mll

Editor: Greg Wiser

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German companies accuse S&P of profiteering

Deutsche Welle, 23 April 2012

A number of German companies have expressed their indignation at alleged plans by the US Standard and Poor's rating agency to drastically increase fees for assessing the firms' economic performance.

Twelve of Germany's largest companies have sent a joint letter of protest to the Germany head of Standard and Poor's, Torsten Hinrichs, expressing their outrage over alleged plans by the US rating agency to force up prices, the Financial Times Deutschland newspaper reported on Monday.

S & P was expected to double some of its fees for the standard assessment of companies' economic performance; the firms concerned say this would be profiteering.

"Even if S & P has offered to stretch the price hike over three years for exactly the same services, the result would remain unacceptable," said the protest note which was signed by managers from Volkswagen, Daimler, Siemens, Bayer, Eon, RWE, Continental, Lufthansa, Deutsche Post, Henkel, Linde and Bertelsmann.

German companies already paid the US rating agencies about half a million euros annually, the letter said. The three main rating agencies, Standard and Poor's, Moody's and Fitch, have been making most of their profits from the rating of individual companies, and not so much from assessing the performance of whole nations - which for them is more a question of image building.

A case for market watchdogs?

Analysts insist the protest letter is also meant as a signal for German and European anti-trust authorities to step into action. German legal expert Torsten Köber told the Financial Times Deutschland that it's not a problem in itself, if a given provider of services - or a group of providers - dominates the market.

"But things are different, if there's any proof of acquired market domination being misused to the detriment of customers, for instance in a bid to force up prices," Köber said.

The dominant position of the three US rating agencies has long been a thorn in the side of European governments, which have sought to set up an independent agency on their own continent. But the attempts made so far have failed to secure enough financial support from banks across the continent.

Even if a European rating agency were to become a reality, it would take many years to build up the solid reputation it would need before it could become a player among equals.

Author: Hardy Graupner

Editor: Michael Lawton

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Danske Bank A/S’s mortgage unit  Realkredit Danmark A/S,

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Moody’s in June. Photographer:  Ulrik Jantzen/Bloomberg

Demonstrators demand snap elections in Azerbaijan

Deutsche Welle, 22 April 2012

In a rare, authorized rally just outside the capital of Azerbaijan, host of next month's Eurovision Song Contest, thousands of protesters have called for new elections and democratic reforms.

Some 5,000 Azerbaijanis protested Sunday near the venue for next month's Eurovision Song Contest, demanding greater freedoms, release of political prisoners and elections.

Organized by the Public Chamber opposition coalition, protestors demanded the resignation of President Ilham Aliyev. Aliyev succeeded his father, Haidar, in 2003 and has been accused of election fraud and civil rights abuses.

The venue for the demonstration was the suburban Bailovo district, where the Eurovision Song Contest will be held from May 22-26. Protests are banned in the center of the capital, Baku, but government permission was given for this rally to go ahead.

"We demand fundamental reforms, or the people might rise against the ruling regime," Popular Front party leader Ali Kerimly told the rally. "We demand snap parliamentary elections and the release of political prisoners."

Opposition parties complain of a lack of democratic rights and free speech in the mainly Muslim, oil and gas rich country. Demonstrations in April were put down by the authorities and a number of protestors remain in jail.

Eurovision is seen as a showcase opportunity for the country. A crystal palace which can hold 25,000 fans has been built especially for the event.

jm/acb (AFP, dpa)

Catholic nuns group "stunned" by Vatican slap

Reuters, by Andrew Stern, CHICAGO, Fri Apr 20, 2012

(Reuters) - A prominent U.S. Catholic nuns' group said on Thursday it was "stunned" that the Vatican reprimanded it for spending too much time on poverty and social justice concerns and not enough on abortion and gay marriage.

In a stinging report on Wednesday, the Vatican said the Leadership Conference of Women Religious had been "silent on the right to life" and had failed to make the "Biblical view of family life and human sexuality" a central plank in its agenda.

It also reprimanded American nuns for expressing positions on political issues that differed, at times, from views held by American bishops. Public disagreement with the bishops - "who are the church's authentic teachers of faith and morals" - is unacceptable, the report said.

The Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith issued a "doctrinal assessment" saying the Holy See was compelled to intervene with the Leadership Conference of Women Religious to correct "serious doctrinal problems."

The nuns' group said in a statement on its website, "The presidency of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious was stunned by the conclusions of the doctrinal assessment."

It added the group may give a lengthier response at a later date.

The conference said it represented 80 percent of America's 57,000 Catholic nuns. It is influential both in the United States and globally.

Academics who study the church said the Vatican's move was predictable given Pope Benedict's conservative views and efforts by Rome to quell internal dissent and curtail autonomy within its ranks.

"This is more an expression of the Church feeling under siege by trends it cannot control within the Church, much less within the broader society," University of Notre Dame historian Scott Appleby said.

That includes a steady drumbeat of calls to ordain women as priests, which the pope has reasserted was an impossibility.

The Vatican named Seattle Archbishop Peter Sartain and two other U.S. bishops to undertake the reforms of the conference's statutes, programs and its application of liturgical texts, a process it said could take up to five years. 

(Additional reporting by Stephanie Simon; Editing by Peter Cooney)

The Pope said the Church had no authority from God
to admit women priests.

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"The Recalibration of Awareness – Apr 20/21, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Old Energy, Recalibration Lectures, God / Creator, Religions/Spiritual systems  (Catholic Church, Priests/Nun’s, Worship, John Paul Pope, Women in the Church otherwise church will go, Current Pope won’t do it),  Middle East, Jews, Governments will change (Internet, Media, Democracies, Dictators, North Korea, Nations voted at once), Integrity (Businesses, Tobacco Companies, Bankers/ Financial Institutes, Pharmaceutical company to collapse),  Illuminati (Based in Greece, Shipping, Financial markets, Stock markets, Pharmaceutical money (fund to built Africa to develop), Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Women, Masters to/already come back, Global Unity.... etc.) - New !


"Perceptions of God" – June 6, 2010 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Quantum Teaching, The Fear of God, Near-death Experience, God Becomes Mythology, Worship, Mastery, Intelligent Design, Benevolent Creator, Global Unity.... etc.) (Text version)

“.. For centuries you haven't been able to think past that box of what God must be like. So you create a Human-like God with wars in heaven, angel strife, things that would explain the devil, fallen angels, pearly gates, lists of dos and don'ts, and many rules still based on cultures that are centuries old. You create golden streets and even sexual pleasures as rewards for men (of course) - all Human perspective, pasted upon God. I want to tell you that it's a lot different than that. I want to remind you that there are those who have seen it! Why don't you ask somebody who has had what you would call a near-death experience?

(Religions – Zionism - March 1, 2012 - Matthew Channelled by Suzanne Ward)

9. It can be no other way—simply, this is the physics that governs life in this universe. As Earth continues apace into successively higher planes, nothing with low vibrations in any form—physical bodies, subversive plans, theft, dishonesty, unjust laws and imprisonment, bigotry, cruel customs and deeds—can survive.

10. Moving on, no, it will not be quite like religions being “totally discarded and replaced by universal laws in the Golden Age.” When the truths come forth that science and spirit are one and the same and that religious dogmas were originated by early leaders of church and state to control the masses, people whose consciousness has risen beyond the constraints of third density will adhere to the spiritual aspects of their respective religions and the devised, controlling aspects will fall by the wayside.

11. One of the truths to come forth is that Zionism, which by dark intent has been made synonymous with Judaism, actually is a bellicose political movement within the Illuminati, and its aim for more than six decades has been to create conflict and instability in the entire Middle East. Zionists, who have wielded powerful influence within and behind major governments and their military forces, do NOT represent the Jewish peoples in Israel or anywhere else. And, like all other Illuminati factions, they have been committed to that cabal’s goal of global domination.

12. Although Semites are of diverse national origins and religions, the Zionists have been successful in convincing many that “anti-Semitic” is exclusively prejudice against the Jewish peoples and opposition to Israel’s right to defend itself from its “enemies.” By means of that blatant distortion, they obtained not only world sympathy, but also massive defense funding from Israel’s allies, most especially the United States, all of which served to increase the Illuminati’s vast profits from their industrial-military machine.

13. In addition to controlling the masses through dogmatic teachings, religions have served the dark purpose of divisiveness to such an extent that it resulted in centuries of trauma and bloodshed. Witness the Crusades, wars between Catholics and Protestants, pogroms against Jews, executions of “blasphemous” individuals who refused to “recant.”  (Read More …)

"Matthew preparing us for the Golden Age." -  Jan 19, 2012 (Channelled by Suzy Ward)

(SaLuSa channelled by Mike Quinsey, March 16, 2012)

“…. Each project is underway and that will result in a sudden wealth of information reaching you. Events are such that the facts can no longer be kept hidden, and with that there will be an explosion of people coming forward to tell what they know. It may take longer where the Vatican is concerned, as it is akin to a secret society that has kept its dark secrets hidden well away. However, nothing will remain concealed for too long, as you are entitled to know the truth and the extent to which you have been deceived….”  

Christ Consciousness Is The Energy of The New World – Mar 7, 2012  (Kryon channelled by David Brown)

Experience: I tried to 'cure' gay people

'It never occurred that maybe you are gay because that's just the way you are'

guardian.co.uk, Jeremy Marks, Friday 20 April 2012

Jeremy Marks: 'I began to think that perhaps we’d got it really wrong.
' Photograph: Lydia Goldblatt for the Guardian

In the 1980s, I started a group called Courage, to "cure" homosexuality. Although today the "ex-gay" ministry seems offensive, back then it was cutting edge, in that we were reaching out to the gay community. The rest of the church just said, "You're wasting your time, they're going to go to hell." We didn't have a "deliverance" approach, but there were some ministries that regarded homosexuals as being possessed by a demonic spirit that could be cast out. We adopted the psychoanalytic idea of an unfortunate family background: distant father, overbearing mother – and this was just a boy looking for a father's love. The idea was that if placed in an affirming male environment, you'd grow out of your desires.

I'd known I was gay from about the age of 13. I got on well with girls, but I didn't feel the sexual chemistry I felt when I watched Richard Chamberlain in Dr Kildare. In those days you could never talk about it. It was a lonely, frightening world.

Then, in 1973, I started going to a Baptist church. It was different from the Anglican one I'd been brought up in. It taught the Bible as being literally true. When I confided in the pastors, they said that resisting homosexual urges was the same as resisting the temptation to steal or lie.

Even though the law changed in 1957 with the Wolfenden Report, the rest of society lagged behind. There was still a sense that what I felt was criminal. But back then, nobody had sex before marriage. That I couldn't have a relationship didn't seem too bad when all the people around me weren't either. It got more difficult later on, when one by one they got married and I was still on my own.

Then, in 1986, I came across a group called the True Freedom Trust and went to one of their meetings, for lesbian and gay Christians who wanted to "overcome" their sexuality. This was the first time I'd met any gay Christians, and it was a huge relief. One evening there was a young man visiting from San Francisco who told how this "ex-gay" ministry called Love In Action had saved him from being a male prostitute. He talked about how God could change your life and how part of that positive change was you wouldn't be gay any more. I went to train with them, and returned to England to set up Courage. We ran a residential programme called Steps Out Of Homosexuality. People came from all over Europe. I did feel attractions, but we believed wholesome friendship was the answer, so I turned my battles into a great cause.

In 1991 I married an amazing woman, the first to lead a (free) church in the UK. We were both in our early 40s, had been good friends for many years, and did not want to be on our own for the rest of our lives. My wife is not a lesbian, but we thought we could at least live a life of companionship and mutual support.

A few years later, we had to close our live-in discipleship houses, but I kept in touch with people afterwards and was dismayed to see what happened. Once people were on their own again, their world collapsed. Family and friends would say, "So, when are we going to hear wedding bells?" It never occurred to them that maybe you are gay because that's just the way you are. I began to see more people losing hope, getting severely depressed. One made a serious suicide attempt.

By the end of the 1990s, the only ones doing well were those who'd accepted they were gay and found a partner. It was as if a great burden had been shifted, that they thought, "Now at last I know who I am. I know I'm in love with somebody and they love me." I thought, this is the kind of result we hoped they'd achieve living an upright Christian life, but they're finding that contentment just being themselves. I began to think that perhaps we'd got it really wrong.

I still run Courage, but now it's with a belief that you can be gay and Christian. We offer a chance to meet other gay Christians and support committed same-sex relationships. It's been difficult for my wife, because she's naturally very concerned that I might therefore decide, "That's it, I want to go and find a man." But we're coming up to retirement age and I wouldn't feel happy just to leave her – feeling abandoned after all we've been through together. Ours may not be the traditional heterosexual romance, but the care for one another's wellbeing is just as real. I try not to look back, but I know I've missed out in a big way – and so has she. She should have been with some heterosexual guy who adored her, as she should be adored.

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About the Challenges of Being a Gay Man – Oct 23, 2010 (Saint Germain channelled by Alexandra Mahlimay and Dan Bennack)

“ ... You see, your Soul and Creator are not concerned with any perspective you have that contradicts the reality of your Divinity – whether this be your gender, your sexual preference, your nationality – or your race, ethnicity, religious beliefs, or anything else.The only identity that has any fundamental or lasting relevance to your Soul is your Divinity. Any other way you may label or identify yourself is transitory. It changes from one incarnation to the next. ..."

"The Akashic System" – Jul 17, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: Religion, God, Benevolent Design, DNA, Akashic Circle, (Old) Souls, Gaia, Indigenous People, Talents, Reincarnation, Genders, Gender Switches, In “between” Gender Change, Gender Confusion, Shift of Human Consciousness, Global Unity,..... etc.)


"Perceptions of God" – June 6, 2010 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Quantum Teaching, The Fear of God, Near-death Experience, God Becomes Mythology, Worship, Mastery, Intelligent Design, Benevolent Creator, Global Unity.... etc.) (Text version)

“.. For centuries you haven't been able to think past that box of what God must be like. So you create a Human-like God with wars in heaven, angel strife, things that would explain the devil, fallen angels, pearly gates, lists of dos and don'ts, and many rules still based on cultures that are centuries old. You create golden streets and even sexual pleasures as rewards for men (of course) - all Human perspective, pasted upon God. I want to tell you that it's a lot different than that. I want to remind you that there are those who have seen it! Why don't you ask somebody who has had what you would call a near-death experience?

Chinese premier starts Europe tour in Iceland

Deutsche Welle, 22 April 2012

Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao has been visiting Iceland on the first stop of a four-nation European tour. He was set to meet Chancellor Angela Merkel in Germany on Sunday.

The Chinese premier's visit to Iceland, ahead of visits to Germany, Poland and Sweden, was largely focused on energy issues and the Arctic region.

Wen held talks with Icelandic President Olafur Ragnar Grimsson on Saturday, thanking his host for backing Beijing's request for permanent observer status on the Arctic Council.

Talks with Icelandic Prime Minister Johanna Sigurdardottir on Friday had resulted in agreements to cooperate on energy and science projects in the region.

Currently, China only has simple observer status on the eight-nation inter-governmental forum, comprising Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Russia and the United States.

Geothermal advances

As a trained geologist, Wen also toured the Thingvellir national park, home to popular tourist attractions the Gullfoss falls and the Geysir geyser.

While visiting a geothermal plant, the premier voiced "strong support" for efforts to tap geothermal energy back home in China.

A deal already exists between Iceland's Orka Energy company and the Chinese firm Sinopec, to develop geothermal energy in China.

Chinese interest in Iceland came to light when Chinese property magnate Huang Nubo tried to buy a large portion of land in the north of the country.

Suspicion was voiced that the purchase might help China win a foothold in the region and the deal was eventually blocked by the Icelandic government.

On Sunday, Wen was set to attend the world's biggest trade fair, the Hanover Messe, with Chancellor Angela Merkel. China is Germany's official partner at this year's four-day fair to showcase industrial technology.

rc/av (AFP, Reuters)

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Cameron family fortune made in tax havens

Revealed: David Cameron's father built up legal offshore funds in Panama and Geneva 

guardian.co.uk, Ed Howker and Shiv Malik,  Friday 20 April 2012

The Jersey, Panama and Geneva connection
Ian Cameron's will

David Cameron's father set up offshore investment funds which explicitly
 boasted of their ability to remain outside UK tax jurisdiction. Photograph:
Dan Kitwood/PA

David Cameron's father ran a network of offshore investment funds to help build the family fortune that paid for the prime minister's inheritance, the Guardian can reveal.

Though entirely legal, the funds were set up in tax havens such as Panama City and Geneva, and explicitly boasted of their ability to remain outside UK tax jurisdiction.

At the time of his death in late 2010, Ian Cameron left a fortune of £2.74m in his will, from which David Cameron received the sum of £300,000.

Cameron and other cabinet members have recently suggested that they would be willing to disclose their personal tax filings amid growing scrutiny following the budget, but this would only shed light on annual sources of income rather than accumulated wealth or inheritance.

The structure employed by Cameron senior is now commonplace among modern hedgefunds, which argue that offshore status can help attract international investors. UK residents would ordinarily have to pay tax on any profits they repatriated, and there is nothing to suggest the Camerons did not.

Nevertheless, the dramatic growth of such offshore financial activity has raised concerns that national tax authorities are struggling to pin down the world's super-rich.

Ian Cameron took advantage of a new climate of investment after all capital controls were abolished in 1979, making it legal to take any sum of money out of the country without it being taxed or controlled by the UK government.

Not long after the change, brought in by Margaret Thatcher after her first month in power, Ian Cameron began setting up and directing investment funds in tax havens around the world.

Leaving his full-time role as a City stockbroker, Ian Cameron went on to act as chairman of Close International Asset management, a multimillion-pound investment fund based in Jersey; as a senior director of Blairmore Holdings Inc, registered in Panama City and currently worth £25m; and he was also a shareholder in Blairmore Asset Management based in Geneva.

However, the family will – a public document seen by the Guardian – only details the assets of Ian Cameron's estate in England and Wales. Offshore investments would only be listed in submissions to HMRC for inheritance tax purposes. It is unclear what those assets – if any – are worth and which family member owns them.

In 2009 the compilers of the Sunday Times Rich List estimated Ian Cameron's wealth at £10m.

He was survived by his wife, Mary Fleur Cameron, who as his spouse would not have had to pay inheritance tax on sums transferred between them.

In 2006 Ian's eldest son, Alexander, became the sole owner of the family's £2.5m house in Newbury, Berkshire, where David had been brought up.

Another family home in Kensington, London, worth £1m, passed to his two daughters in equal share.

Cameron's father was "instrumental" in setting up the Panamanian company, Blairmore Holdings, in 1982, which was exempt from UK tax, when David was a pupil at Eton aged 16.

The fund shares its name with the family's ancestral home in Aberdeenshire, Blairmore House, in which Ian Cameron was born in 1932 but which the family no longer owns.

A lengthy prospectus for Blairmore Holdings written in 2006 and meant to attract high net worth "sophisticated" investors, with at least $100,000 to buy shares, is explicit about how the fund sought to avoid UK tax. At the time more than half of the fund's 11 directors were UK nationals.

Under Panamanian law the fund was excluded from taxation derived from other parts of the world.

"The fund is not liable to taxation on its income or capital gains as long as such income or capital gains are not derived from sources allocated within the territory of the Republic of Panama," the 2006 prospectus reads.

"The Directors intend that the affairs on the Fund should be managed and conducted so that it does not become resident in the United Kingdom for UK taxation purposes. Accordingly ... the Fund will not be subject to United Kingdom corporation tax or income tax on its profits," the prospectus continues.

The investor document also credits Ian Cameron as a founder member of Blairmore Holdings and states that as an adviser he would be paid $20,000 a year – the highest paid director – whatever profits were realised.

In fact, the long-term Panamanian investment fund performed above market rate over many years averaging a 116% return from 2002-2007. Today many of the fund's largest holdings are in blue-chip stocks such as Apple, Unilever and Coca Cola.

Before his death, aged 77, Ian Cameron was also chairman and shareholder of Close International Equity Growth Fund Ltd, registered in Jersey and worth £9m according to papers filed in 2005. In that year just under half of the fund's holdings were in UK listed stocks.

A third fund set up in Geneva, Switzerland, had a shorter life span and finally dissolved in 2007 but had many of the same registered shareholders as the Panamanian outfit. These included a number of former employees of Panmure Gordon, the stockbroking firm where Ian Cameron spent much of his career and those from Smith and Williamson investment management where Cameron senior was a consultant.

One notable investor into the Panama fund was a charity established by Tory peer Lord Vinson. Accounts from 2009 show that a charitable trust set up under his own name invested £82,000 into the fund – almost one quarter of its investments in shares.

Vinson's trust that year went on to donate tens of thousands of pounds to rightwing think tanks including the Institute of Economic Affairs and Civitas.

David Cameron has recently remarked on companies who have taken advantage of offshoring to legally avoid tax. Speaking at the start of the year to small business leaders in Maidenhead, he said: "With the large companies, that have the fancy corporate lawyers and the rest of it, I think we need a tougher approach.

"One of the things that we are going to be looking at this year is whether there should be a general anti-avoidance power that HMRC can use, particularly with very wealthy individuals and with the bigger companies, to make sure they pay their fair share."

The row also comes as the top rate of tax was lowered in last month's budget from 50p to 45p and the rate of corporation tax continue to drop to achieve the chancellor's ambition of giving the UK one of the lowest rates of corporationtax in the G7.

Responding to opposition criticisms over the lowering of the top tax rate, Cameron said: "The cut in the 50p tax rate is going to be paid five times over by the richest people in our country."

Downing Street said it did not want to comment on what was a private matter for the Cameron family.

A spokesperson added: "The government's tax reforms are about making sure that some of the richest people in the country pay a decent share of income tax."

The investment managers Smith and Williamson, for whom Ian Cameron worked, chose not to comment.

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Spain's model monarchy shoots itself in the foot

King Juan Carlos's solidarity with austerity-hit subjects collapses amid hunting trips, corruption claims and bedroom intrigue

guardian.co.uk, Giles Tremlett in Madrid, Friday 20 April 2012

King Juan Carlos on his €10,000-a-day hunting safari in Botswana, which
had  been hushed up before he fell and broke his hip. Photograph: Target
Press/Barcroft Media

They were once the star royal family of Europe, seen as hard-working, frugal, modern and genuinely popular among ordinary Spaniards who adored King Juan Carlos as the great bringer of democracy.

But now Spain's royals have revealed an ability to shoot themselves in the foot, both literally and metaphorically, in a way that has left angry citizens wondering if they even notice how ordinary people are suffering.

As unemployment reached 24%, austerity measures bit and the economy headed back towards double-dip recession, the 74-year-old monarch had publicly claimed he lay in bed at night worrying about the plight of the young jobless. But a fall as he walked to the bathroom in an exclusive safari camp in Botswana, where he had gone to shoot elephants, water buffaloes and other exotic animals, has revealed a different story.

While Spaniards desperately sought work or struggled to meet basic needs, the king was on a hush-hush, all-expenses-paid hunting trip, blasting at animals in one of the world's most exotic landscapes – Botswana's Okavango delta.

His big-game-slaying holiday was estimated to cost €10,000 (£8,000) a day, with a Syrian businessman close to the Saudi royal family rumoured to be picking up the tab.

It was not the kind of thing Spaniards wanted to hear as the government announced health and education cuts and fears grew of a bailout accompanied by years of harsh austerity.

"We all have to tighten our belts a bit because of the difficult times for the economy," the king had told them over the summer, as he backed austerity.

The hunting trip was just the latest in a series of gaffes which have seen Spain's normally respectful press tear up a decades-old deal not to scrutinise the royal family.

That agreement had stayed in place since Juan Carlos inherited General Francisco Franco's powers after the dictator's death in 1975 and oversaw the restoration of monarchy and democracy. His role in quashing a 1981 coup attempt appeared to cement his position.

In recent months, however, the king has struggled to separate the monarchy from a corruption scandal surrounding his son-in-law Iñaki Urdangarín, Duke of Palma.

The duke, a former Olympic medal winner with Spain's handball team, denies allegations that he used charities as fronts for taking millions of euros in public money, some of it hidden from tax authorities, so that he could cash in on his royal title by appearing at events alongside politicians.

"Everyone, especially those of us with public functions, must behave correctly, in an exemplary fashion," the king solemnly declared in his Christmas broadcast as the scandal snowballed and the monarchy's popularity tumbled in opinion polls.

He hired a new public relations chief, former El País columnist Javier Ayuso, with glowing pro-monarchy editorials appearing in the centre-left daily and other newspapers. The royal palace's accounts were also made public in what Spaniards were told was a new era of transparency.

But Juan Carlos's attempts at portraying his family as hard-working, humble and law-abiding had taken a blow when his 13-year-old grandson, Froilán Marichalar, shot himself through the foot with a 36-calibre shotgun just a few days before the Botswana incident.

Newspapers reported that Froilán was too young to use the shotgun legally, raising further questions about whether the royals felt normal rules did not apply to them.

"These people just don't understand the reality of this country," complained Mercedes Munarriz, a sound engineer. "They even seem to be running a perfect campaign against themselves."

But it was the king's Botswana fall, which required him to fly back for a hip operation in Madrid, that provoked an unprecedented torrent of criticism of a monarch unused to harsh words from the press or mainstream politicians.

"The king should choose between responsibility and abdication," said Tomás Gómez, head of Madrid's Socialist party, as pressure grew for Juan Carlos to make way for his son, Felipe.

"The African elephant scandal is not anecdotal," said Ignacio Escolar, one of Spain's most popular bloggers. "It cannot be so when the Spanish monarchy has spent months going from scandal to scandal, when the economic crisis makes Spaniards question all their institutions and when even his own family cannot escape the stain of corruption."

Even the king's private life, where rumours of lovers have always been rife, is no longer out of bounds – and neither is his friendship with a German aristocrat whose name is widely available in Spain and Germany, but whose lawyers say she denies any inappropriate relationship and have threatened legal action against any British newspapers that reveal her name.

"The failure of his marriage to Queen Sofia, from whom he is practically separated, is public knowledge," said José Antonio Zarzalejos, a former editor of the conservative ABC newspaper, in his online column.

Officials at the king's Zarzuela palace declined to say who had travelled with him or paid for a trip that they described as private, nor would they comment on his personal life.

A more ferocious debate was taking place on social networks and the internet. The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) said it had received more than 80,000 internet complaints against the king – its honorary president in Spain – for shooting elephants for fun.

"The impact is huge in Britain, Germany, Holland, the United States and other countries," said WWF Spain's boss, Juan Carlos del Olmo, explaining why it was considering sacking the king. "It is more of an image problem, both national and international, than a conservation question."

Palace officials said they had not been formally told of any plans by the WWF to break with the monarch.

Foreign Policy magazine blogger Joshua E Keating added to Spain's sense of humiliation by asking whether the king had deliberately sought the least politically correct holiday. "Was the baby-seal-clubbing junket all booked up?" he wondered.

The Spanish government has also received a deluge of requests that taxpayer funds given to the king should not be excluded from a new transparency law. All this pales, however, beside the latest allegations made by defence lawyers representing a business partner of the king's son-in-law.

This week they provided copies of emails which allegedly showed that Juan Carlos acted as an intermediary between Urdangarín and public officials, trying to persuade politicians to get involved with the creation of a new America's Cup sailing project. Urdangarín had allegedly hoped to earn money from it.

There was no suggestion the king had done anything illegal, though his status excludes him from the legal process anyway. Officials said the emails reflected his support for sailing, one of his family's favourite sports. The news magazine Interviú this week claimed anticorruption investigators are trying to find up to €5m allegedly kept in tax havens by Urdangarín – whose appearances in court have proved an embarrassment. On Wednesday the king appeared on his crutches to issue an 11-word apology for his behaviour. "I am very sorry. I made a mistake and it will not happen again," he said.

"I applaud the apology, but am left with a question. Exactly what is it that won't happen again?" asked Escolar.

Even ministers find themselves getting tangled up in the lexicon of royal gaffes, as the expression "shoot yourself in the foot" gains new significance in Madrid. The foreign minister, José Manuel García-Margallo, had to apologise for using it as a way of describing Argentina's nationalisation of the Spanish-owned oil company YPF this week. "It was an unfortunate expression," he said. "I meant no double-meaning."

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