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BLOGS by Richard Palmer

WE SHOULD RESPECT PRINCESS DIANA'S MEMORY

Wednesday December 3,2008

By Richard Palmer


We should respect Princess Diana's memory

Diana's memory should be respected

PRINCESS Diana's name has been used and abused by many people in the 11 years since her death but this surely is one of the strangest tributes to her memory.

An American film maker has announced plans to publish a new version of the Old and New Testaments in which God says it is better to be gay than straight.

He's named it The Princess Diana Bible.

Max Mitchell, the US film maker who came up with the controversial idea, named it after Diana because of the way she became the first prominent person on the world stage to offer support to HIV/Aids patients at a time when they were shunned.

He also claims that the gay Bible is divinely inspired.

"There are scholars who say that, like many priests, Jesus was gay. In Biblical times homosexual relationships were so commonplace that no one gave it a second thought. It was heterosexuality that was considered sinful," he says.
"There are many different versions of the Bible. I don't see why we can't have one."

Others, however, disagree. Douglas Howe, writing on Christian blog site Idol chatter

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IS OUTSPOKEN CHARLES DAMAGING THE MONARCHY?

Wednesday November 19,2008

By Richard Palmer


Is outspoken Charles damaging the monarchy?

Prince Charles is respected for his outspoken views. But should this continue when he is King?

REPUBLICANS campaigning to topple the monarchy are gathering at Parliament tonight, buoyed by suggestions that Prince Charles wants to redefine the role of King.

Claims by the Prince's biographer Jonathan Dimbleby that the heir to the throne wants to be free to speak out on major issues if and when he assumes the throne have given succour to those who think it is time for Britain to have an elected president as head of state.

Republic, a campaign group that counts prominent actors, MPs, writers, lawyers and others among its members, claims that Charles wants to take the country back 400 years.

"The time is fast approaching when the future of the monarchy is going to become a major political issue," says the group's spokesman Graham Smith. "It is clear Charles will not settle for the traditional role of King."

The Prince is already walking a tightrope by speaking out on the issues that he does while heir to the throne.

His plans to use billions of pounds of taxpayers' money to help protect the world's rainforests, for example, could affect the Government's fiscal policies, as I pointed out earlier this mon


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ROYAL ROW THREATENS JOBS AND EXPORTS

Friday November 7,2008

By Richard Palmer


Royal row threatens jobs and exports

The Duchess of York and her daughters in a publicity shot for the programme

WHEN are the fifth and sixth in line to the throne not members of the Royal Family? When they're embarrassing the Queen and threatening Britain's strategic and trading interests.

Viewers watching ITV's Tonight programme this evening will see an extraordinary programme featuring the Duchess of York and her daughters, Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, exposing the mistreatment of children with learning disabilities in Romania and Turkey.

It's a hard-hitting programme that reveals disabled children in those countries are often restrained and kept in conditions that have not been regarded as acceptable in Britain for at least a generation and, if some are to be believed, 80 years.

But it has caused a diplomatic incident and upset Turkey, which has accused Prince Andrew's ex-wife Sarah Ferguson and her daughters of smearing the country and trying to damage its attempts to join the European Union.

It is a very worthwhile investigation and it makes compelling viewing but my question, when Fergie and Beatrice held a press conference and screening yesterday, was is it right for members of the Royal Family to be doing this?

Fergie, who since her 1996 divorce is no longer a member of the Firm, and her daughters, who are fifth and sixth in line to the throne, certainly think it was and some w


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PRINCE CHARLES WANTS TO RAISE YOUR TAXES TO SAVE RAINFORESTS

Tuesday November 4,2008

By Richard Palmer


Prince Charles wants to raise your taxes to save rainforests

STRATEGY: The Prince of Wales visiting the Iwokrama rainforest, Guyana, in 2000

PRINCE Charles has campaigned around the world to highlight the dangers of environmental catastrophe but he might have overstepped the mark in his latest plan to save the rainforests.

The heir to the throne has unveiled plans to use billions of pounds of taxpayers' money and pension funds to help protect the planet's rainforests, which offset the worst effects of global warming caused by the greenhouse effect.

In a series of speeches during a 10-day tour of the Far East, he has also called for Britain and other developed nations to cut emissions of pollutants causing climate change by 80 per cent by 2050.

That aspiration to cut greenhouse gases by 80 per cent by the middle of the century certainly reflects the British Government's new policy but I am not sure whether the Prince's rainforest plan does too.

The heir to the throne wants Britain and other wealthy nations to pay what he calls an annual utility bill to Third World countries to make it more worthwhile for them to save their rainforests instead of destroying them for agriculture and housing.

In a speech in Indonesia on Monday, he stressed the role of the worl


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PRINCE HARRY FACES STRUGGLE TO BE A TOP GUN HELICOPTER PILOT

Monday October 27,2008

By Richard Palmer


Prince Harry faces struggle to be a Top Gun helicopter pilot

PILOT IN THE MAKING?: Prince Harry has started the tough selection process

PRINCE Harry has taken a brave decision in volunteering to train as a frontline helicopter gunship pilot with the Army Air Corps.

Brave, not only because he could find himself under fire again from the Taliban again if he is successful in his ambition, but also because he risks being portrayed as a failure if he doesn’t make the grade.

The third in line to the throne wants to fight for his country by piloting Apache attack helicopters that hunt and destroy enemy troops and tanks.

The 24-year-old Prince has already passed his initial pilot aptitude tests at RAF Cranwell earlier this month and is due to begin a four-week programme known as “grading” at Middle Wallop in Hampshire next month.

If he gets through that and a selection board interview, he will begin full training in January designed to turn him into an operational helicopter pilot after a course lasting up to two and a half years.

Whether he has got the brains and aptitude to succeed as a helicopter pilot remains to be seen. Who would want to be the Army officer who decided that the third in line to the throne was not good enough?

Yet those who have been through the tough selection process for the Army


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