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Looking back, with a perspective that somewhat contradicts the impression at the time, one can see that Sir John Major’s premiership was marked by a single act of outstanding statesmanship — keeping Britain in Europe,
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The joint statement by Gulf foreign ministers and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the end of his tour of the region revealed a dramatic shift in the Trump administration’s policy on Gaza. “No
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With its low lighting, small plates, film projector and steel countertops, Cafe Kowloon, a chic Cantonese restaurant in the hipster area of London Fields, from the team behind Daddy Bao and Wonton Charlie, is easily
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The world has to play its humanitarian role by helping Venezuela’s people and government during this difficult time (“Desperation mounts as quake death toll rises to 1,430 in Venezuela,” June 27, Gulf Today website).Venezuela’s government
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When the ground convulsed beneath Venezuela on the night of June 24, toppling buildings across Caracas and burying the port city of La Guaira under mountains of concrete, the calls for help travelled fast and far. Among the first to respond was a small Gulf state more than 12,000km away — a country with no colonial ties to Latin America, no strategic foothold to defend, and no expectation of return. Qatar simply moved, as it has moved so many times before, on the conviction that human suffering admits no borders. The twin earthquakes, measuring 7.2 and 7.5 in magnitude and striking less than a minute apart, were among the most violent to hit Venezuela in over a century. The toll has been staggering: more than 1400 dead, over 3,360 injured, and tens of thousands still unaccounted for beneath the rubble. Into that catastrophe Qatar dispatched not words alone, but the full machinery of a rapid humanitarian response — and it did so with a speed that has become its quiet signature. The sequence speaks for itself. On Thursday, as the scale of the disaster became clear, His Highness the Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani and Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim al-Thani each placed calls to Venezuela’s Acting President Delcy Rodríguez, conveying Qatar’s solidarity and its readiness to help. These were not ceremonial gestures. By Friday, a Qatari air bridge was already airborne, carrying relief from the Qatar Fund for Development. By Saturday, that aid had landed — food, medicines, medical essentials and advanced shelter materials — alongside the Qatari International Search and Rescue Group of the Internal Security Force (Lekhwiya), with its certified urban search and rescue specialists, field hospitals and the heavy technical equipment needed to reach those trapped under collapsed structures. Three days from first contact to boots on the ground in a country halfway around the world. That is not improvisation; it is the product of long preparation and a settled national instinct. For Qatar, this is not a departure but a continuation. From the earthquakes that ravaged Turkiye and Syria to flood-stricken Pakistan, from Gaza to the Horn of Africa, Doha has built a reputation as a first responder to the world’s emergencies — pairing financial generosity with logistical reach and, crucially, with the political neutrality that allows it to operate where others cannot. The Venezuela mission carries that hallmark. It comes at a moment of acute diplomatic sensitivity around Caracas, yet Qatar’s involvement is pegged to nothing but need. The suffering of a family in La Guaira is reason enough. That principle — that aid should follow human need rather than political calculation — is easy to declare and hard to live by. Qatar has chosen to live by it. Its rescue teams now work shoulder to shoulder with crews from Mexico, Chile, El Salvador and the United States, part of a global mobilisation in which Doha has taken its place not as a peripheral donor but as a serious operational partner. The presence of trained Qatari rescuers, equipped to do the painstaking work of pulling survivors from the wreckage, matters as much as the relief flights that preceded them. There is something instructive in all of this for a fractured world. As multilateralism frays and nations turn inward, Qatar continues to insist that compassion is not a luxury to be rationed but an obligation to be honoured — promptly, practically and without precondition. In the rubble of Caracas, that conviction has once again taken tangible form. When the earth breaks somewhere, Qatar tends to be among those who answer. Venezuela is the latest reminder of why that reputation endures.
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Britain’s King Charles reads cards and messages, sent by well-wishers following his cancer diagnosis, in the 18th Century Room of the Belgian Suite in Buckingham Palace, London, Britain, in February, 2024. (Reuters file photo) King Charles has become the first British monarch to reveal how much tax he pays, providing the most detailed insight yet into royal finances. The system of paying for the British monarch and the royal family is complicated, and has been developed over centuries. While the Windsors have said they want it to become more transparent, much still remains private. The king receives money in a number of ways to fund his official work as head of state, his personal expenditure and to cover the royal duties of his family. The sovereign grantEvery year the king receives the ‘Sovereign Grant’, paid by the government to cover the official duties of the monarch and his family, to cover the cost of the upkeep of royal palaces, other residences and historic buildings, and for travel expenses. It does not provide personal income for the royal family. The grant is calculated based on a percentage of profits from the Crown Estate, which is made up of massive tracts of land and most of Britain’s sea bed. Legally, the estate belongs to the Crown but since 1760 the monarch has sacrificed its revenues in return for an annual payment, and it is now an independently run, commercial business. The Sovereign Grant is currently set at 12% of its profits, which have soared in recent years due to offshore windfarm licences. In 2025/26 it was £132.1mn and will be £137.9mn in the current financial year. From 2027 to 2032, the grant will be cut to £100 million a year, partly as money will no longer be required for the £369mn refurbishment of Buckingham Palace, and because Crown Estate profits are expected to fall as revenues from offshore wind leases drop. The Duchy of LancasterSince 1399, the reigning monarch has received income from the Duchy of Lancaster, an estate of 41,910 acres including commercial properties in the centre of London and other cities. Its net assets in March 2026 were valued at £687.3mn. The sitting monarch cannot use any proceeds from sales of its land, but does receive the net revenue surplus. In 2025/26, this was £25.2mn. The money he receives is used to run his private homes and for the incomes of working royals who, while they receive an official residence at no cost in exchange for carrying out duties, are not allowed outside earnings. Currently, that list includes his sister Princess Anne, his younger brother Prince Edward and his wife, the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, the Duke of Kent and Princess Alexandra. Officials say having such private income means the monarch is not subject to any political pressures or outside influence. Charles’ younger son Prince Harry and his brother Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, while still members of the royal family, do not receive any public money as neither are working royals who carry out official duties. Other private incomeThe king also has personal undisclosed assets and investments, and receives income from his own large estates, Balmoral Castle in Scotland and Sandringham in eastern England. The income he receives from these has not been made public. The Duchy of CornwallCreated in 1337, the Duchy of Cornwall provides income for the heir to the throne, currently Prince William, and his wife Kate. The estate comprises 128,151 acres, spread across England and Wales, with net assets of £1.2bn at the end of March 2026. William receives the net surplus revenue, which in 2025/26 was £21.55mn. What tax do King Charles and the royals pay? By law, the British monarch is not obliged to pay income, capital gains or inheritance tax. In 1993 Queen Elizabeth agreed to voluntarily pay income tax at a time when the monarchy’s public standing had suffered after the “annus horribilis” when Charles formally separated from his first wife, the late Princess Diana, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor split from his wife Sarah Ferguson, and Princess Anne divorced her first husband. The amount she paid was never disclosed. As heir, Charles had also voluntarily paid an undisclosed amount of tax. Revealing these amounts for the first time on Friday, royal officials said Charles had paid £12.9mn in 2024/25, £11.7mn in 2023/24, and more than £30mn in total since becoming king. This placed him in the top 100 taxpayers in the UK, they said. However, no breakdown of the tax calculation was provided. Likewise, William’s office revealed the prince had paid £7.76mn in 2024/25, and £8.34mn in 2023/24. He had paid more than £20mn in tax since becoming the heir and Prince of Wales.
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The “red alerts” issued by the Meteorological Office are rare, serious, and speak just as much to the climate crisis facing planet Earth as they do to the immediate risks to human health in Britain,
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Lucy Easthope, The IndependentWhat a week. We have had both our hottest June day and night on record. Multiple hospitals have declared a critical incident and over a thousand schools have shut. Hundreds of people
