stats count News – Page 151 – Meer Beek

News

Category Added in a WPeMatico Campaign

Charles cut Andrew off because ‘he’s just like Harry & Meghan Markle – he does NOTHING to help royals’, expert says

KING Charles has cut Prince Andrew off because he’s just like Harry and Meghan Markle – he does nothing to help the royals, claims an expert.

His Majesty, 75, has officially instructed his Keeper of the Privy Purse to stop the yearly £1million flow of cash that goes into Andrew’s bank account.

a man in a military uniform has a medal around his waist
King Charles during a ceremony at Windsor Castle in June this year
PA
harry and meghan are standing next to each other
AP
King Charles, Camilla, Prince Harry and Meghan at the Queen’s funeral[/caption]
a man in a suit and tie looks at the camera
Reuters
Prince Andrew at Sandringham on Christmas Day in 2022[/caption]
queen elizabeth wearing a blue hat stands next to a man in a red uniform
Getty
The Queen and Andrew at Trooping the Colour in 2018[/caption]

A source claimed: “The duke is no longer a financial burden on the King.”

Royal author Hugo Vickers has since said the King had no choice but to cut his disgraced brother off because he brings nothing to the Firm – just like the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.

He said: “Andrew has been pushed out of everything else and doesn’t undertake any royal duties.

“He doesn’t do anything with regiments or charities or take part in public life in any way at all.

“I don’t think the King is being vindictive though.

“What he might well be doing is to try and divide what might be seen as money being spent on things, like security, [with] the money that comes to the Royal Family from various sources for the public duties that they do. 

“And since Andrew doesn’t do any public duties, a bit like Prince Harry, he’s not really entitled to anything from that source.”

Andrew hasn’t received an income since becoming embroiled in sex allegations after his long-standing friendship with late paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

Brother Charles had been reluctantly funding security and a hefty living allowance for him since then.

Pressures have also been mounting to kick Andrew out of Royal Lodge and into a smaller residence.

Hugo added: “Thinking about it from Andrew’s point of view, he’s probably thinking: ‘What else are they going to do to me? Chuck me out of the house that I’m happy to live in?’

“I’ve always thought it would be much more sensible if he lived more modestly.

“I hoped that perhaps if the Queen had lived, she might have discussed with him the possibility of either him or her buying him a house, so that he doesn’t get involved and depend on other people.

“The only reason I can really think this has happened is that perhaps Prince Andrew has in fact been left enough money by his mother to be independent.”

Andrew now spends his days playing golf at Swinley Forest Golf Club at Winkfield Row near Ascot or riding horses in a remote part of Windsor Great Park.

He also picks remote and inaccessible places to walk his dogs with ex-wife Sarah Ferguson.

In August this year The Sun revealed that the Monarch had laid off Andrew’s ten-strong private security detail.

A palace insider told The Sun: “Everyone is speculating this means the Duke will have to leave the Royal Lodge.”

The source added: “What other reason could there be to take his security away?

“They are all working the final weeks of their contract till the end of October.

“It’s not thought anyone is being lined up to replace them. It isn’t a secret that the King wants him out.”

The Times previously reported King Charles had “lost patience” with his younger brother.

A source told The Times: “It is now two years into the King’s reign and he wants the matter settled.”

And the King is said to have given Andrew “only two possible options” for his future.

The Duke could find a way to pay his security and household bills without an allowance from Charles.

Or, he could move to “more suitable accommodation” like Harry and Meghan’s old home Frogmore Cottage.

But, earlier this year The Sun exclusively revealed Andrew, who lives at the Lodge with ex-wife Sarah ­Ferguson, had rejected the chance to move to Frogmore.

Disgraced Andrew was stripped of his roles and patronages after forking out millions to settle Virginia Giuffre’s case against him.

He however vowed to fight accusations of sexual assault by former Epstein slave Giuffre.

The Duke ended up paying millions of pounds to Ms Giuffre and the case never went to court.

He denies any wrongdoing.

It is still unknown how the father-of-two will finance his life now he can no longer work.

It is unclear whether he received any major windfall from his late mother’s will when she passed away in September 2022.

'There is no way back for Prince Andrew', claims PR guru

PRINCE Andrew’s reputation is damaged beyond repair and he will never be able to engineer a return to public life, according to one of Britain’s top PR gurus.

rand and culture expert Nick Ede, who runs East of Eden PR agency, called the shamed royal “deluded” for thinking he could ever return to royal duties and urged him to give up and ‘enjoy his life’ in exile.

It follows the release of Scoop – a Netflix movie based on the 2019 interview he gave to Newsnight.

Nick said: “There is no way back for him. 

“I think you know this perpetual idea that he could still be back. Nobody cares. He hasn’t got fans. 

“There’s nobody out there who’s going ‘We want to see Prince Andrew’, not one single person. I think he has to realise that. But I think it’s going to take a long, long time for him to actually understand. It’s very deluded.

“In my opinion, the best thing that he could do is just enjoy his life. He’s got gorgeous daughters. He has a great relationship with Fergie, he has a lovely house. 

“Just live a quiet life.”

Reflecting on the interview five years ago – the fallout of which saw Andrew step back from royal duties “for the foreseeable future” – Nick compared the fallout to Frost vs Nixon and said he would have urged him not to do it.

He said: If I had been advising him, I would say, go quiet, be quiet, just go to ground. You know you’re a prince. Enjoy the life that you lead, but do not open this can of worms, because that’s what it is.

There was no admission that a relationship with somebody like Epstein was terribly toxic. There was no idea that there were loads of victims of trafficking whose lives were completely ruined by Epstein. He didn’t seem to think that the association he had with that man was anything but positive. 

“I think his worst gaffe was obviously being in that interview and agreeing to it in the first place, for not realising that he’s actually going to be interviewed by a very, very good journalist who is going to ask him questions which he might not like.

“But I think what this has done is really shown how archaic Prince Andrew is in his opinions and thoughts.

“Read the room. He’s never read a room at all.”

a man in a suit stands next to a woman in a white dress
Reuters
Harry and Meghan attend the 2022 Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Ripple of Hope Award Gala in New York City[/caption]

Read More »

I’m a mum-of-two – I’ve been waiting a year to get out of my tiny council flat…meanwhile Bibby migrants are put in hotel

A MUM-of-two has been waiting a year to get out of her tiny council flat – while Bibby migrants are being put into hotels.

Hayley is finding it difficult to cope in her cramped two-bed council flat in the centre of Wolverhampton.

people walking in front of the britannia hotel
The Britannia hotel is currently shut to the public
The Sun
a man in a black jacket stands in front of the grand theatre
The Sun
Nigel, 68, said he can understand why people are so frustrated[/caption]

Cradling her three month old daughter, Hayley, 27, looks up at the nearby Britannia hotel – currently providing emergency accommodation for up to 150 migrants – and shakes her head.

She said: “I’ve been waiting all this time for the council to treat me with some degree of humanity, then hey presto, the state is suddenly able to find luxury accommodation for all these asylum seekers.

“It is just so unfair. I worked as a hairdresser since leaving school and I paid my taxes but now I can’t work because I’ve got young children and then when I need to lean on the state for a while, its ears are deaf to me.

“It just makes no sense that they have to take all these people off the Bibby Stockholm and spend a fortune of taxpayers money putting them up in a huge hotel in the city centre. It is utter madness.

“I’m not the only one this is happening too. I know at least half a dozen other people who have been waiting months and months for council accommodation and nothing is happening for them.

“Maybe if they turned up on the south coast in a boat and claimed asylum, the state could put us all up at this nice hotel too.”

Retired supermarket worker Nigel, 68, shared Hayley’s despair as he enjoyed a quiet pint across the road from the Britannia at a Wetherspoons pub.

He said: “I accept that we have a responsibility to give them accommodation of some sort, but does it really need to be a luxury city centre hotel?

“And how long are they going to be there? It seems to me that the process is the problem.

“Some of these guys could be here for years because it is just taking too long to establish whether or not these migrants have a legal right to be here.

“If they do have a legal right to stay in the UK, that’s fine with me, But if we have no legal obligation to allow them to remain here, we need to establish that quickly and say goodbye to them.

“It’s a shame they had the outbreak of legionnaires disease on the ship, because otherwise that might have been a viable solution, rather than the taxpayer, having to fund an open-ended, all expenses paid, stay at a smart hotel.

“I do appreciate that the migrants need somewhere to live, but for how long?“

Factory worker Linda, 62 was even more blunt about the migrant situation in her home city.

She said: “It’s disgusting.

“I’ve paid taxes into this country since I left school at 16, and I get nothing back, yet the government expects us all to pay for these migrants to live in a classy hotel.

“I’d rather the asylum seekers had been sent to Rwanda than taking up hotel accommodation in the UK.

“It does seem crazy that we spent all that money looking at Rwanda and getting everything in place, only to abandon it.

“The government needs to get a grip of the situation, because their incompetence is costing us a packet.

“What is also becoming clear is the UK is not doing enough to prevent these migrants coming here in the first place.”

Last night, the wooden double doors at the entrance of the Britannia hotel were locked.

When Sun journalists pressed an intercom buzzer, the door was opened by a security guard who confirmed the hotel was now for migrants only.

He did not know when it would reopen to the public.

In the hours that followed, scores of migrants went in and out of the hotel, some of them women with young children and even babies in pushchairs.

When approached, none of them was willing to comment.

the britannia hotel is located on lichfield street
The Sun
The Britannia hotel in Wolverhampton[/caption]

Read More »

Arsenal ratings: Leandro Trossard off pace in strike duo but Thomas Partey impresses out of position vs Newcastle

LEANDRO TROSSARD had a game to forget as Arsenal’s toothless attack meant they slumped to defeat at Newcastle.

The Gunners are now winless in three Premier League matches, having lost consecutive away games.

a soccer player wearing a red emirates fly better jersey sticking his tongue out
Getty
Leandro Trossard had an off day as Arsenal slumped to defeat[/caption]
a soccer player with the number 5 on his jersey
Alamy
Thomas Partey was a rare bright spark[/caption]
soccer player wearing a red emirates fly better jersey
Getty
It was a frustrating afternoon for the Gunners[/caption]
a soccer player in a black and white jersey celebrates
AFP
Alexander Isak was a thorn in Arsenal’s side again[/caption]

Newcastle dominated the opening 25 minutes and were rewarded when Alexander Isak headed in a brilliant Anthony Gordon cross.

They could have increased their advantage but Arsenal defended resolutely while offering a threat via set-pieces.

But the Gunners offered little in the attacking final third with Trossard particularly off the pace.

The Belgian started in a rarely seen front two alongside Kai Havertz but produced just one shot, which was blocked, and lost possession 12 times.

Mikel Arteta’s attacking experiment did not pay off with Havertz and Gabriel Martinelli far from their best.

There were few positives to take although Thomas Partey impressed once again, initially at right-back before moving into the middle.

Here is how SunSport’s Jordan Davies rated the Arsenal display.

DAVID RAYA – 6/10

Great early distribution to go long over the Newcastle press but nothing he could do with Isak’s pin-point header.

BEST FREE BET SIGN UP OFFERS FOR UK BOOKMAKERS

Match Stats

Was barely troubled in the second half but was forced to watch a lacklustre Arsenal dawdle to another defeat.

THOMAS PARTEY – 7

Looks really comfortable in that role, even if it is only temporary, but obviously lacks an attacking threat of a full-back which hindered Saka slightly.

Moved back into midfield on the hour mark with Arsenal chasing the game.

WILLIAM SALIBA – 7

A welcome presence back in the defensive line following suspension. Covered his defensive partner well and kept his cool amid Arsenal’s frustration.

GABRIEL – 5

Lost Isak in the box for Newcastle’s opener and nearly handed the hosts another chance with a sloppy pass out.

Normally a rock, this was one of those rare jittery displays we thought were a thing of the past.

JURRIEN TIMBER – 6

Looked good in attack but arguably should have closed down Gordon’s cross before the hosts took the lead and struggled to contain the England winger in the first half.

MIKEL MERINO – 5

Unfortunate not to get on the score sheet against his former club from close range after a scramble from a corner.

But as a whole, he currently looks lost in his position, unsure of when to go and when to sit deep, meaning Newcastle were able to prize Arsenal’s midfield open.

Feels like we are not seeing the best of him just yet.

DECLAN RICE – 6

On set-piece duty, his delivery was unusually poor, failing to beat the first man on numerous occasions and struggled to impose himself in open play too, even if he came close with a deflected effort in the second half before fluffing a great headed chance in injury time.

If he is going to be the anchor of this team and dictate play, he has got to be a lot better.

LEANDRO TROSSARD – 5

Pretty anonymous other than a few surging runs. Another player that looks lost in a floating No.10 role behind the main striker.

The Belgian is at his best cutting in and using his blistering pace. He can do neither through the middle against a compact opposition set-up.

BUKAYO SAKA – 6

Looked to be getting the better of Toon right-back Hall early on but his game faded after that, along with his team’s.

GABRIEL MARTINELLI – 7

Showed glimpses of being back to his buzzing best, taking on defenders and stretching the game for Arsenal, but only lasted an hour before being taken off.

KAI HAVERTZ – 6

Never got a sniff, but got to put that down to a complete lack of service from Arsenal’s wide players. He was desperate to attack a decent cross that never really came.

SUBS:

ETHAN NWANERI (MERINO, 61) – 6

Given a nice welcome to Tyneside with a crunching tackle from Willock seconds after coming on.

Found some nice pockets of space and look sharp as he blazed one over from range, but was always a big ask for him to be Arsenal’s saviour.

OLEKSANDR ZINCHENKO (MARTINELLI, 61) – 5

Thrown on to bring tempo and control. Brought neither from an inverted left-back position.

BEN WHITE (TIMBER, 71) – 6

Had only completed half a session to prepare for this one having picked up a knock against Liverpool last weekend, so was a surprise to even see him at all.

GABRIEL JESUS (TROSSARD) – 5

Tasked with creating something special from out wide, but there is a reason the Brazilian is only a bit-part player nowadays.

JORGINHO (PARTEY, 86) – N/A

Read More »