Bentley

Bentley Motors Limited is a British manufacturer and marketer of luxury cars and SUVs, and a subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group since 1998.
Headquartered in Crewe, England, the company was founded as Bentley Motors Limited by W. O. Bentley in 1919 in Cricklewood, North London, and became widely known for winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1924, 1927, 1928, 1929 and 1930.
Prominent models extend from the historic sports-racing Bentley 4½ Litre and Bentley Speed Six; the more recent Bentley R Type Continental, Bentley Turbo R, and Bentley Arnage; to its current model line, including the Flying Spur, Continental GT, Bentayga and the Mulsanne—which are marketed worldwide, with China as its largest market as of November 2012.
Today most Bentley models are assembled at the company's Crewe factory, with a small number assembled at Volkswagen's Dresden factory, Germany, and with bodies for the Continental manufactured in Zwickau and for the Bentayga manufactured at the Volkswagen Bratislava Plant.
The joining and eventual separation of Bentley and Rolls-Royce followed a series of mergers and acquisitions, beginning with the 1931 purchase by Rolls-Royce of Bentley, then in receivership. In 1971, Rolls-Royce itself was forced into receivership and the UK government nationalised the company—splitting into two companies the aerospace division (Rolls-Royce Plc) and automotive (Rolls-Royce Motors Limited) divisions—the latter retaining the Bentley subdivision. Rolls-Royce Motors was subsequently sold to engineering conglomerate, Vickers and in 1998, Vickers sold Rolls-Royce to Volkswagen AG.
Intellectual property rights to both the name "Rolls-Royce" as well as the company's logo had been retained not by Rolls-Royce Motors, but by aerospace company, Rolls-Royce Plc, which had continued to license both to the automotive division. Thus the sale of "Rolls-Royce" to VW included the Bentley name and logos, vehicle designs, model nameplates, production, and administrative facilities, the Spirit of Ecstasy and Rolls-Royce grille shape trademarks (subsequently sold to BMW by VW)—but not the rights to the Rolls-Royce name or logo. The aerospace company, Rolls-Royce Plc, ultimately sold both to BMW AG.
Cricklewood (1919–1931).
Before World War I, Walter Owen Bentley and his brother, Horace Millner Bentley, sold French DFP cars in Cricklewood, North London, but W.O, as Walter was known, always wanted to design and build his own cars. At the DFP factory, in 1913, he noticed an aluminium paperweight and thought that aluminium might be a suitable replacement for cast iron to fabricate lighter pistons. The first Bentley aluminium pistons were fitted to Sopwith Camel aero engines during the First World War.
W.O. registered Bentley Motors Ltd. in August 1919, and in October he exhibited a car chassis, with a dummy engine, at the London Motor Show. Ex–Royal Flying Corps officer Clive Gallop designed an innovative four-valves-per-cylinder engine for the chassis. By December the engine was built and running. Delivery of the first cars was scheduled for June 1920, but development took longer than estimated so the date was extended to September 1921. The durability of the first Bentley cars earned widespread acclaim, and they competed in hill climbs and raced at Brooklands.
Bentley's first major event was the 1922 Indianapolis 500, a race dominated by specialized cars with Duesenberg racing chassis. They entered a modified road car driven by works driver Douglas Hawkes, accompanied by riding mechanic H. S. "Bertie" Browning. Hawkes completed the full and finished 13th with an average speed of after starting in 19th position. The team was then rushed back to England to compete in the 1922 RAC Tourist Trophy.
Captain Woolf Barnato.
In an ironic reference to his heavyweight boxer's stature, Captain Woolf Barnato was nicknamed "Babe". In 1925, he acquired his first Bentley, a 3-litre. With this car, he won numerous Brooklands races. Just a year later, he acquired the Bentley business itself.
The Bentley enterprise was always underfunded, but inspired by the 1924 Le Mans win by John Duff and Frank Clement, Barnato agreed to finance Bentley's business. Barnato had incorporated Baromans Ltd in 1922, which existed as his finance and investment vehicle. Via Baromans, Barnato initially invested in excess of £100,000, saving the business and its workforce. A financial reorganisation of the original Bentley company was carried out and all existing creditors paid off for £75,000. Existing shares were devalued from £1 each to just 1 shilling, or 5% of their original value. Barnato held 149,500 of the new shares giving him control of the company and he became chairman. Barnato injected further cash into the business: £35,000 secured by debenture in July 1927; £40,000 in 1928; £25,000 in 1929. With renewed financial input, W. O. Bentley was able to design another generation of cars.
The Bentley Boys.
The Bentley Boys were a group of British motoring enthusiasts that included Barnato, Sir Henry "Tim" Birkin, steeple chaser George Duller, aviator Glen Kidston, automotive journalist S.C.H. "Sammy" Davis, and Dudley Benjafield. The Bentley Boys favoured Bentley cars. Many were independently wealthy and many had a military background. They kept the marque's reputation for high performance alive; Bentley was noted for its four consecutive victories at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, from 1927 to 1930.
Birkin developed the 4½-litre, lightweight Blower Bentley at Welwyn Garden City in 1929 and produced five racing specials, starting with Bentley Blower No.1 which was optimised for the Brooklands racing circuit. Birkin overruled Bentley and put the model on the market before it was fully developed. As a result, it was unreliable.
During the March 1930 Blue Train Races, Barnato raised the stakes on Rover and its Rover Light Six, having raced and beaten "Le Train Bleu" for the first time, to better that record with his 6½-litre Bentley Speed Six on a bet of £100. He drove against the train from Cannes to Calais, then by ferry to Dover, and finally London, travelling on public highways, and won.
Barnato drove his H.J. Mulliner–bodied formal saloon in the race against the Blue Train. Two months later, on 21 May 1930, he took delivery of a Speed Six with streamlined fastback "sportsman coupé" by Gurney Nutting. Both cars became known as the "Blue Train Bentleys"; the latter is regularly mistaken for, or erroneously referred to as being, the car that raced the Blue Train, while in fact Barnato named it in memory of his race. A painting by Terence Cuneo depicts the Gurney Nutting coupé racing along a road parallel to the Blue Train, which scenario never occurred as the road and railway did not follow the same route.
Cricklewood Bentleys.
The original model was the three-litre, but as customers put heavier bodies on the chassis, a larger 4½-litre model followed. Perhaps the most iconic model of the period is the 4½-litre "Blower Bentley", with its distinctive supercharger projecting forward from the bottom of the grille. Uncharacteristically fragile for a Bentley it was not the racing workhorse the 6½-litre was, though in 1930 Birkin remarkably finished second in the French Grand Prix at Pau in a stripped-down racing version of the Blower Bentley, behind Philippe Etancelin in a Bugatti Type 35.
The 4½-litre model later became famous in popular media as the vehicle of choice of James Bond in the original novels, but this has been seen only briefly in the films. John Steed in the television series "The Avengers" also drove a Bentley.
The new eight-litre was such a success that when Barnato's money seemed to run out in 1931 and Napier was planning to buy Bentley's business, Rolls-Royce purchased Bentley Motors to prevent it from competing with their most expensive model, the Phantom II.
Performance at Le Mans.
24 hours of Le Mans Grand Prix d'Endurance.
Bentley withdrew from motor racing just after winning at Le Mans in 1930, claiming that they had learned enough about speed and reliability.
Liquidation.
The Wall Street Crash of 1929 and the resulting Great Depression throttled the demand for Bentley's expensive motor cars. In July 1931 two mortgage payments were due which neither the company nor Barnato, the guarantor, were able to meet. On 10 July 1931 a receiver was appointed.
Napier offered to buy Bentley with the purchase to be final in November 1931. Instead, British Central Equitable Trust made a winning sealed bid of £125,000. British Central Equitable Trust later proved to be a front for Rolls-Royce Limited. Not even Bentley himself knew the identity of the purchaser until the deal was completed.
Barnato received £42,000 for his shares in Bentley Motors. In 1934 he was appointed to the board of the new Bentley Motors (1931) Ltd. In the same year Bentley confirmed that it would continue racing.
Rolls-Royce (1931–1970).
Derby.
Rolls-Royce took over the assets of Bentley Motors (1919) Ltd and formed a subsidiary, Bentley Motors (1931) Ltd. Rolls-Royce had acquired the Bentley showrooms in Cork Street, the service station at Kingsbury, the complex at Cricklewood and the services of Bentley himself. This last was disputed by Napier in court without success. Bentley had neglected to register their trademark so Rolls-Royce immediately did so. They also sold the Cricklewood factory in 1932. Production stopped for two years, before resuming at the Rolls-Royce works in Derby. Unhappy with his role at Rolls-Royce, when his contract expired at the end of April 1935 W. O. Bentley left to join Lagonda.
When the new Bentley 3½ litre appeared in 1933, it was a sporting variant of the Rolls-Royce 20/25, which disappointed some traditional customers yet was well received by many others. W. O. Bentley was reported as saying, "Taking all things into consideration, I would rather own this Bentley than any other car produced under that name". Rolls-Royce's advertisements for the  Litre called it "the silent sports car", a slogan Rolls-Royce continued to use for Bentley cars until the 1950s.
All Bentleys produced from 1931 to 2004 used inherited or shared Rolls-Royce chassis, and adapted Rolls-Royce engines, and are described by critics as badge-engineered Rolls-Royces.
Crewe.
In preparation for war, Rolls-Royce and the British Government searched for a location for a shadow factory to ensure production of aero-engines. Crewe, with its excellent road and rail links, as well as being located in the northwest away from the aerial bombing starting in mainland Europe, was a logical choice. Crewe also had extensive open farming land. Construction of the factory started on a 60-acre area on the potato fields of Merrill's Farm in July 1938, with the first Rolls-Royce Merlin aero-engine rolling off the production line five months later. 25,000 Merlin engines were produced and at its peak, in 1943 during World War II, the factory employed 10,000 people. With the war in Europe over and the general move towards the then new jet engines, Rolls-Royce concentrated its aero-engine operations at Derby and moved motor car operations to Crewe.
Standard Steel saloons.
Until some time after World War II, most high-end motorcar manufacturers like Bentley and Rolls-Royce did not supply complete cars. They sold rolling chassis, near-complete from the instrument panel forward. Each chassis was delivered to the coachbuilder of the buyer's choice. The biggest specialist car dealerships had coachbuilders build standard designs for them which were held in stock awaiting potential buyers.
To meet post-war demand, particularly UK Government pressure to export and earn overseas currency, Rolls-Royce developed an all-steel body using pressings made by Pressed Steel to create a "standard" ready-to-drive complete saloon car. The first steel-bodied model produced was the Bentley Mark VI: these started to emerge from the newly reconfigured Crewe factory early in 1946. Some years later, initially only for export, the Rolls-Royce Silver Dawn was introduced, a standard steel Bentley but with a Rolls-Royce radiator grille for a small extra charge, and this convention continued.
Chassis remained available to coachbuilders until the end of production of the Bentley S3, which was replaced for October 1965 by the chassis-less monocoque construction T series.
Bentley Continental.
The Continental fastback coupé was aimed at the UK market, most cars, 164 plus a prototype, being right-hand drive. The chassis was produced at the Crewe factory and shared many components with the standard R type. Other than the R-Type standard steel saloon, R-Type Continentals were delivered as rolling chassis to the coachbuilder of choice. Coachwork for most of these cars was completed by H. J. Mulliner & Co. who mainly built them in fastback coupe form. Other coachwork came from Park Ward (London) who built six, later including a drophead coupe version. Franay (Paris) built five, Graber (Wichtrach, Switzerland) built three, one of them later altered by Köng (Basel, Switzerland), and Pininfarina made one. James Young (London) built in 1954 a Sports Saloon for the owner of James Young's, James Barclay.
The early R Type Continental has essentially the same engine as the standard R Type, but with modified carburation, induction and exhaust manifolds along with higher gear ratios. After July 1954 the car was fitted with an engine, having now a larger bore of 94.62 mm (3.7 in) with a total displacement of . The compression ratio was raised to 7.25:1.
Vickers (1970–1998).
The problems of Bentley's owner with Rolls-Royce aero engine development, the RB211, brought about the financial collapse of its business in 1970.
The motorcar division was made a separate business, Rolls-Royce Motors Limited, which remained independent until bought by Vickers plc in August 1980. By the 1970s and early 1980s Bentley sales had fallen badly; at one point less than 5% of combined production carried the Bentley badge. Under Vickers, Bentley set about regaining its high-performance heritage, typified by the 1980 Mulsanne. Bentley's restored sporting image created a renewed interest in the name and Bentley sales as a proportion of output began to rise. By 1986 the Bentley:Rolls-Royce ratio had reached 40:60; by 1991 it achieved parity.
Volkswagen (1998–present).
In October 1997, Vickers announced that it had decided to sell Rolls-Royce Motors. BMW AG seemed to be a logical purchaser because BMW already supplied engines and other components for Bentley and Rolls-Royce branded cars and because of BMW and Vickers joint efforts in building aircraft engines. BMW made a final offer of £340m, but was outbid by Volkswagen AG, which offered £430m. Volkswagen AG acquired the vehicle designs, model nameplates, production and administrative facilities, the Spirit of Ecstasy and Rolls-Royce grille shape trademarks, but not the rights to the use of the Rolls-Royce name or logo, which are owned by Rolls-Royce Holdings plc. In 1998, BMW started supplying components for the new range of Rolls-Royce and Bentley cars—notably V8 engines for the Bentley Arnage and V12 engines for the Rolls-Royce Silver Seraph, however, the supply contract allowed BMW to terminate its supply deal with Rolls-Royce with 12 months' notice, which would not be enough time for Volkswagen to re-engineer the cars.
BMW paid Rolls-Royce plc £40m to license the Rolls-Royce name and logo. After negotiations, BMW and Volkswagen AG agreed that, from 1998 to 2002, BMW would continue to supply engines and components and would allow Volkswagen temporary use of the Rolls-Royce name and logo. All BMW engine supply ended in 2003 with the end of Silver Seraph production.
From 1 January 2003 forward, Volkswagen AG would be the sole provider of cars with the "Bentley" marque. BMW established a new legal entity, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Limited, and built a new administrative headquarters and production facility for Rolls-Royce branded vehicles in Goodwood, West Sussex, England.
Investment and company development.
After acquiring the business, Volkswagen spent GBP500 million (about US$845 million) to modernise the Crewe factory and increase production capacity.
As of early 2010, there are about 3,500 working at Crewe, compared with about 1,500 in 1998 before being taken over by Volkswagen. It was reported that Volkswagen invested a total of nearly US$2 billion in Bentley and its revival. As a result of upgrading facilities at Crewe the bodywork now arrives fully painted at the Crewe facility for final assembly, with the parts coming from Germany—similarly Rolls-Royce body shells are painted and shipped to the UK for assembly only.
Demand had been so great that the factory at Crewe was unable to meet orders despite an installed capacity of approximately 9,500 vehicles per year; there was a waiting list of over a year for new cars to be delivered. Consequently, part of the production of the new Flying Spur, a four-door version of the Continental GT, was assigned to the Transparent Factory (Germany), where the Volkswagen Phaeton luxury car was also assembled. This arrangement ceased at the end of 2006 after around 1,000 cars, with all car production reverting to the Crewe plant.
Bentley presented Queen Elizabeth II with an official State Limousine in 2002 to celebrate her Golden Jubilee. Production of the two-door convertible Bentley Azure finished in 2003. It was replaced by a large luxury coupé powered by a W12 engine built in Crewe and named Bentley Continental GT.
It was confirmed in April 2005 a four-seat convertible Azure derived from the Arnage Drophead Coupé prototype would begin at Crewe in 2006. By the autumn of 2005, a convertible version of the successful Continental GT, the Continental GTC, was also presented in the autumn of 2005. These two models were launched in late 2006.
A limited run of a Zagato modified GT was also announced in March 2008, dubbed "GTZ".
A new version of the Bentley Continental was introduced at the 2009 Geneva Motor Show: The Continental Supersports. This new Bentley is a supercar combining extreme power with environmentally friendly FlexFuel technology, capable of using petrol (gasoline) and biofuel (E85 ethanol).
Bentley sales continued to increase, and in 2005 8,627 were sold worldwide, 3,654 in the United States. In 2007, the 10,000 cars-per-year threshold was broken for the first time with sales of 10,014. For 2007, a record profit of €155 million was also announced. Bentley reported a sale of about 7,600 units in 2008. However, its global sales plunged 50 percent to 4,616 vehicles in 2009 (with the U.S. deliveries dropped 49% to 1,433 vehicles) and it suffered an operating loss of €194 million, compared with an operating profit of €10 million in 2008. As a result of the slump in sales, production at Crewe was shut down during March and April 2009. Though vehicle sales increased by 11% to 5,117 in 2010, operating loss grew by 26% to €245 million. In Autumn 2010, workers at Crewe staged a series of protests over proposal of compulsory work on Fridays and mandatory overtime during the week.
Vehicle sales in 2011 rose 37% to 7,003 vehicles, with the new Continental GT accounting for over one-third of total sales. The current workforce is about 4,000 people.
The business earned a profit in 2011 after two years of losses as a result of the following sales results:
On 23 March 2020, Bentley announced to halt production due to COVID-19 pandemic. In June 2020, Bentley announced that it will cut around 1,000 (one quarter of 4,200) job places in the UK as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
On 3 November 2020, Bentley announced that all new cars sold will be electric by 2030. This announcement also follows after the United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced in February 2020 that he approved legislation that will ban and phase out fuel combustion vehicles (including Hybrid and Plug-in Hybrid vehicles) from the UK by 2030 with hybrids being banned by 2035.
Deliveries, profits and staff.
Sources
Production.
Sources
Unsold cars: During the years 2011 and 2012 production exceeded deliveries by 1,187 cars which is estimated to have trebled inventory.
Motorsport.
A Bentley Continental GT3 entered by the M-Sport factory team won the Silverstone round of the 2014 Blancpain Endurance Series. This was Bentley's first official entry in a British race since the 1930 RAC Tourist Trophy.


Harry Eccleston

Harry Norman Eccleston, OBE (21 January 1923—30 April 2010) was an artist from Coseley, Staffordshire (now West Midlands), England. He was the first full-time artist and designer of banknotes at the Bank of England.
Artist.
He trained at Bilston School of Art, and in 1939, Birmingham College of Art, then later, after Royal Navy service in World War II, at the Royal College of Art. Although he lived in London, Eccleston interest in his native Black Country continued throughout his life as produced paintings and etchings of the industrial landscape. Eccleston made a number of drawings and studies of the people of the Black Country and the steelworks that he had been exposed to in his childhood. As a perfectionist his drawing are precise and mathematical, making him "one of the finest engravers of his day."
Banknote design.
He joined the Bank of England in 1958 as their first in-house artist-designer, and was the designer of the "D" series of British banknotes — the first pictorial notes. They all featured Queen Elizabeth II, as well as Isaac Newton (£1), the Duke of Wellington (£5), Florence Nightingale (£10), William Shakespeare (£20) and Christopher Wren (£50). The notes were issued in 1970 and in use until 1981. He retired from the Bank of England in 1983.
Recognition.
He was made Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1979. In 2003 he was given an honorary doctorate of arts, by the University of Wolverhampton, for his services to banknote design and printmaking.
He was elected as a member of the Royal West of England Academy and as an Honorary Member of the RBSA.
Art works.
Examples of Harry Eccleston's work are held in a number of public collections, including the Black Country Living Museum and Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery.


Gamal Mubarak

Gamal Al Din Muhammad Hosni El Sayed Mubarak (, ; born 27 December 1963) is the younger of the two sons of former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and former First Lady Suzanne Mubarak. In contrast to his older brother Alaa, Gamal had pursued an active public profile and was starting to wield some influence on political life in the country before the revolution of early 2011.
Prior to the revolution, Gamal was deputy secretary-general of the then-ruling and now-dissolved National Democratic Party, and head of its influential policies committee.
In 2014 and 2015, he was convicted of political corruption for diverting nearly $20 million in state funds to private use, along with his father and brother, and sentenced to four years in prison.
Within the family, under his half-British mother, his name is "Jimmy", while his brother Alaa is "Alan".
Early life and career.
Mubarak's given name, Gamal, comes from Egypt's second president, Gamal Abdel Nasser. For his early education, he attended St. George's College, Cairo before entering the American University in Cairo. He graduated with a business administration degree and he also earned an MBA from the university. He began his professional career working for Bank of America.
Mubarak left Bank of America to set up London-based Medinvest Associates Ltd, which manages a private equity fund, and to do some corporate finance consultancy work.
Inheritance of power.
The grooming of Gamal Mubarak to be his father's successor as the next president of Egypt became increasingly evident at around 2000. With no vice-president, and with no heir-apparent in sight, Gamal started enjoying considerable attention in Egyptian state-run media. On 3 February 2000, Hosni Mubarak appointed him to the General Secretariat of the ruling National Democratic Party. Bashar al-Assad's rise to power in Syria in June 2000 just hours after Hafez al-Assad's death, sparked a heated debate in the Egyptian press regarding the prospects for a similar scenario occurring in Cairo.
Mubarak founded, and became chairman of, the Future Generation Foundation (FGF), an NGO supporting job training but which also served as a vehicle for Mubarak's political career.
Both President Mubarak and his son denied the possibility of any inheritance of power in Egypt. More recently, this claim was made in early 2006, when Gamal Mubarak declared repeatedly that he had no aspiration to succeed his father, but that he would maintain his position in the then-ruling NDP as deputy secretary general, a post he held in addition to heading the party's policy committee, allegedly the most important organ of the NDP.
In September 2004, several political groups (most are unofficial), on both the left and the right, announced their sharp opposition to the inheritance of power. They demanded political change and a fair, multi-candidate election.
On 26 February 2005, Mubarak ordered the constitution changed to allow multi-candidate presidential elections before September 2005 by asking parliament to amend Article 76 of the Egyptian constitution. This change in the constitution was seen then by some analysts and senior judicial figures as a ploy to seamlessly allow Gamal Mubarak to inherit the top position in Egypt. According to this view, Gamal Mubarak would be one of the candidates in a presidential elections and would be supported by the ruling party and the government-controlled media. Since remaining serious candidates would be disqualified by the NDP-controlled People's Assembly leaving only the less popular candidates, the inheritance of power would be accomplished through a "democratic" process. However these were all merely assumptions made by political activists, analysts, and opponents.
End of his father's presidency.
Some political analysts speculate that the alleged deteriorating state of the Egyptian economy in the last days of Hosni Mubarak's rule was caused by Gamal and his friends taking over as political advisers to Mubarak. On the other hand, a wide range of analysts credit Gamal Mubarak for reviving the Egyptian economy over the previous five years, from a stagnant, mostly state-run economy to a largely free market system that enjoyed five percent GDP growth.
During the first week of the 2011 Egyptian Revolution there were unconfirmed reports and speculation that Gamal might have left Egypt during the protests. However, on 3 February 2011, Gamal was present for an ABC News interview of his father in Cairo.
As the 2011 Egyptian revolution unfolded, newly appointed vice president Omar Suleiman met a major public concern when he announced on 3 February 2011 that Gamal Mubarak would not seek election.
Reuters Africa reported that a fight took place between him and his older brother, Alaa Mubarak. Alaa supposedly accused Gamal of ruining their father's last days in power and humiliating him.
Political corruption convictions.
Following the stepping down of Hosni Mubarak, media sources started to point to the 'suspicious' financial dealings of Gamal Mubarak. On 28 February 2011, the Egyptian daily "Al-Ahram" published a list of bank accounts allegedly belonging to Gamal Mubarak. "Al-Ahram" reported that the Chief Prosecutor of Egypt received a report that Gamal Mubarak inexplicably amassed significant sums of money that were deposited in these accounts. This allegation came on background of a decision from the Prosecutor General of Egypt to freeze all bank accounts belonging to the Mubarak family, including Gamal Mubarak. The Egyptian Appeals Court ordered that Mubarak's financial status is reviewed by the court on 5 March 2011. It is expected that the court will render a decision in that hearing whether to uphold the decision to freeze Mubarak's assets.
On 13 April 2011, Gamal was imprisoned for 15 days pending investigations for corruption, abuse of power, and for his alleged role in causing the fatalities and casualties of peaceful protesters during the revolution which was sparked on 25 January 2011. An official investigation accused Gamal Mubarak of using his influence in the National Democratic Party and as son of the president to award contracts to foreign companies in which he was a partner. He appeared in court, alongside his father and brother. Gamal and his brother still remained in prison, whereas their father was released from jail but put on house arrest for 15 days.
On 19 December 2013, Gamal was once again freed after he was acquitted of corruption along with his brother and Ahmed Shafik, ex-candidate of 2012 Egyptian presidential election.
On 21 May 2014, a Cairo court convicted Mubarak and his sons Alaa and Gamal of embezzling the equivalent of of state funds intended for renovation of presidential palaces but were instead diverted to upgrade private family homes. The court ordered the repayment of , fined the trio , and sentenced Mubarak to three years in prison and each of his sons to four years. They were retried and convicted again in May 2015. In October 2015 he and his brother were released from prison, based on time already served.
In September 2018, Gamal was arrested along with his brother Alaa and accused of stock market manipulation. The same month, Gamal's long sought chance of a political future ended after he became ineligible for any political office following the Egypt Court of Cassation's decision to uphold his corruption conviction. The corruption convictions of his father and his brother were upheld as well. Both Gamal and his brother were acquitted of the 2018 illicit share trading charge in February 2020.
On 12 March 2021, the European Union revoked the sanctions against nine Egyptian individuals including Mubarak family, adopted since 2011.
Personal life.
Mubarak is married to Khadiga al-Gammal, with whom he has two children, Farida and Mahmoud.


Eliza Monroe Hay

Elizabeth "Eliza" Kortright Monroe Hay (December 1786 – January 27, 1840) was an American socialite who acted as unofficial First Lady during her father James Monroe's presidency, as her mother's health kept her away from many White House duties. She was married to prominent attorney George Hay.
Early life and education.
Elizabeth “Eliza” Kortright Monroe was born to James Monroe and Elizabeth Monroe (née Kortright) in December 1786 in Virginia. She spent much of her childhood in Paris during the French Revolution, when her father was the American minister to France. She attended school at Maison d'éducation de la Légion d'honneur, the school set up by Henriette Campan, a former lady-in-waiting to Marie Antionette. While at the school, Hay befriended Hortense de Beauharnais, daughter of Josephine de Beauharnais and future mother of Napoleon III. Hay also "befriended many women of European royal families."
Career.
James Monroe assumed the presidency in 1817, when Hay was 31. During his administration, she often acted as unofficial First Lady when her mother was ill. Hay was "primarily remembered for her domineering style and insistence that every iota of protocol be followed." Her "influence over her father was marked." She was also rumored to be snobbish, difficult to work with, and to have "an already high opinion of herself." In the book "Executive Privilege: Two Centuries of White House Scandals", writer Jack Mitchell refers to Hay as a snob and "a bit of a society bitch."
Hay and her husband had a daughter Hortensia, whose godmother was her mother's close friend Hortense de Beauharnais. Hortense, by then Queen Consort of the Netherlands, would send Hortensia presents, including oil portraits of herself, her brother Eugene, and Henriette Campan. The friendship with Hortense did not afford Hay an invitation to a ball at Caroline Bonaparte's Château de Neuilly, as "the sister of an Emperor could not be expected to receive the daughter of an honest republican." Hortensia married Lloyd Nicholas Rogers of Baltimore as his second wife.
Personal life.
In 1803, at the age of 17, Hay returned with her family to the United States. By then, she was fluent in both French and English. In 1808, at the age of 22, she married attorney and judge George Hay, who was from Virginia.
On September 21, 1830, Hay's husband George died, followed by her mother Elizabeth two days later. Her father James died less than a year later, on July 4, 1831. Following this string of deaths, Hay moved back to Paris, where she converted to Catholicism and joined a convent. While she was living in Paris, Pope Gregory XVI sent her a bracelet he had blessed. The bracelet was "French silver-gilt, with a cameo setting of the head of Christ."
Hay died in Paris on January 27, 1840, and was buried in the Père Lachaise Cemetery.


Jean Dunn (diplomat)

Jean Dunn is an Australian diplomat and a senior career officer with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
From 2012 to 2016, Dunn was the Australian Ambassador to Poland. Dunn presented her credentials to Polish President Bronisław Komorowski on 17 January 2012.
Prior to her posting to Poland, Dunn was Australian Ambassador to Lebanon from 2009 to 2010 and to Turkey from 2004 to 2007, with earlier postings to South Korea and the United States of America.
Ms. Dunn holds a Bachelor of Arts degree with Honours in Japanese language and politics from Monash University. She has three children.


Belad Bechara

Belad Bechara, also spelled Bilad Beshara (), is a popular and historic name for a mountainous region in Jabal Amel in Southern Lebanon.
Etymology.
Some historians believe that the name "Belad Bechara" means the "Country of the Gospel" in reference to the teaching and revelation of Christ in the region while others believe it is in reference to an Ayyubid Prince by the name of Bechara.
Geography.
Belad Bechara is the mountainous region that lies south of the Litani River, extending southward to Upper Galilee, and including the Hula Valley, Hunin, and Tiberias.
History.
According to Abrahamic traditions, Belad Bechara is the northernmost part of the Promised Land, which was the division of the tribes of Azer and Naphtali, and later took the name of Upper Galilee.


State Kremlin Palace

The State Kremlin Palace (), formerly and unofficially still better known as the Kremlin Palace of Congresses (Кремлёвский Дворец съездов), is a large modern building inside the Moscow Kremlin.
Background.
The building was built at the initiative of Nikita Khrushchev as a modern arena for Communist Party meetings. Although the architecture of the projected building contrasted sharply with the historic milieu, building work started in 1959. The structure was opened along with the 22nd Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union on October 17, 1961. In 1962 the architects of the project, headed by Mikhail Posokhin were awarded the Lenin Prize for their work.
The building is a modern glass and concrete design, with nearly half of it (17 metres) submerged underground. The main hall is able to hold six thousand people and its acoustics were considered to be the most advanced at the time. Over the years this was the main place for mass state events (particularly party congresses). Presently it is used for official and popular concerts. American singers Mariah Carey, Tina Turner and Cher have played in the palace, as did Canadian poet and singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen. Additionally, it is the venue of the Kremlin Ballet Theatre. Also the Bolshoi Ballet was performing there while its historic building was closed for repairs. The number of individual rooms is well over eight hundred.
Externally the palace is faced with white marble and the windows are tinted and reflective, which makes the ancient architecture in the Kremlin appear particularly picturesque. However, from the start, the construction of a large modern public building in an historic neighborhood generated quite an uproar, especially since the building replaced several heritage buildings including the old neo-classical building of the State Armory and some of the back corpuses of the Great Kremlin Palace. Although this was hardly the first time that the Soviet government destroyed architectural heritage (notably the Chudov and Ascension cloisters) in the Kremlin and in the country in general, by the mid 1950s laws were in place effectively considering all pre-Soviet constructions as historical monuments and preventing their demolition, in someways making the construction illegal. Nevertheless, the Palace was integrated into the larger complex of the Great Kremlin Palace with walkways linking it to the Patriarchal chambers and the Terem Palace.
In popular culture.
In Tom Clancy's 1986 novel "Red Storm Rising", the building is bombed in a false-flag operation by the KGB to justify an invasion of Western Europe, with West Germany being framed for the attack. The building is depicted as being the meeting place for the Council of Ministers. Ordinarily, the Council convened in the Kremlin Senate, which is explained in the novel as being closed for repairs.


Foreign earned income exclusion

The United States taxes citizens and residents on their worldwide income. Citizens and residents living and working outside the U.S. may be entitled to a foreign earned income exclusion that reduces taxable income. For 2019, the maximum exclusion is $105,900 per taxpayer (future years indexed for inflation). Taxpayers filing a joint return are entitled to up to two exclusions if both have earned income.</ref> In addition, the taxpayer may exclude housing expenses in excess of 16% of this maximum ($46.42 per day in 2019) but with limits.
The exclusion is available only for wages or self-employment income earned for services performed outside the U.S. The exclusion is claimed on IRS Form 2555.
Qualification.
Only individuals are eligible for the exclusion. To qualify for the exclusion, the taxpayer's tax home must be outside the U.S. In addition, the taxpayer must meet either of two tests:
The bona fide residence test is not available to a resident alien, unless he/she is a citizen or national of a country with which the United States has an income tax treaty in effect. Further, the test is not met if the taxpayer declares to the foreign government that they are not a tax resident of that country. Such declaration could be on visa applications or tax returns, or imposed as a condition of a visa. Eligibility for the exclusion may be affected by some tax treaties.
Counting the days for the physical presence test requires a determination for each day separately. The IRS makes it clear in Publication 54 that each day can be in more than one 12-month period. A 12-month period may begin on any day of any month.
Amount of exclusion.
The maximum exclusion is $105,900 for tax year 2019 (future years indexed for inflation). The amount of exclusion that a taxpayer is entitled to is equal to the lesser of foreign earned income for the year or the maximum exclusion, divided by the total number of days (365 or 366) in the year times the number of "qualifying days". The exclusion is then reduced by half of self-employment tax.
The "housing exclusion" is the amount of housing expenses in excess of 16% of the exclusion limit, computed on a daily basis. It is also based on the number of qualifying days, and is limited to a specific dollar amount based on the location of housing.
The exclusion is limited to income earned by a taxpayer for performance of services outside the U.S. This includes salary, bonus, and self-employment income. Where income relates to services both in the U.S. and outside the U.S., the income must be apportioned.
Special rules apply to Foreign Service and military personnel.
Form 2555 required.
The exclusion is an election. Taxpayers may claim the exclusion only if they file IRS Form 2555 or Form 2555-EZ. The form must be attached to a timely filed U.S. Individual Income Tax Return (IRS Form 1040) for the first year of election, or an amended timely filed return. IRS regulations allow the election with late-filed returns in some cases. The election to exclude may be revoked at any time; however, once revoked the exclusion may not be elected again for five years.
Calculation of tax.
Although called an exclusion for historical reasons, since the 2006 tax year it is better described as a credit equal to the amount of tax that would have been owed on the eligible foreign income, without considering any deductions or exemptions. The effect of this is to limit the advantage of the exclusion to a reduction in tax of no more than the amount that would apply for a lower income taxpayer, even if the taxpayer is in a higher tax bracket.


Sergey Platonov

Sergey Fyodorovich Platonov () (28 June [16 June, Old Style], 1860 – 10 January 1933) was a Russian historian who led the official St Petersburg school of imperial historiography before and after the Russian Revolution.
Life and career.
Platonov was born in Chernigov and attended a private gymnasium in St. Petersburg until 1878 when he went to the Department of History and Philology of St. Petersburg University until 1882. He was a student of Konstantin Bestuzhev-Ryumin, who recommended that he be given the opportunity to "prepare to be a professor."
Platonov belonged to the "St. Petersburg school" of Russian historiography, which paid special attention to the study and publication of historical sources. Platonov gained his master's thesis in 1888 writing about Old Russian Legends and Tales About the Seventeenth-Century Time of Troubles as a Historical Source for which he gained the Uvarov Award of the Academy of Sciences.
Platonov's scholarly career was centered on the University of St Petersburg, where he was held in highest repute for his detailed studies of the "Time of Troubles" (1923) and Oprichnina. Platonov's history textbooks, impeccably written and easily readable, enjoyed such popularity that he was asked by the tsar to teach history to his children. In 1909, he was admitted to the Russian Academy of Sciences.
Unlike some of his disciples (such as Alexander Presnyakov), Platonov did not change his views after the Revolution and stood aloof from the mainstream Marxist historiography, as represented by Mikhail Pokrovsky. Nevertheless, he was permitted to administer the Archaeographic Commission in 1918-29, the Pushkin House (i.e., the Russian Literature Institute) in 1925–1929 and the Academy's Library in 1925–1928.
On 12 January 1930 Platonov was accused of taking part in a royalist conspiracy, arrested and exiled to Samara, where he died three years later. However, a number of his historical works continued to be reprinted later in the decade, and in 1967 he was formally rehabilitated.


Non-Habitual Resident

The tax regime for non-habitual residents (commonly known as NHRs or NHR Tax Regime), formally known as non-regular residents, was created with the approval of the Investment Tax Code, approved by Decree-Law n. 249/2009, of 23 September. It change the rules of the Portuguese Personal Income Tax, by granting a set of tax exemptions and flat rate taxation for a period of 10 years, in order to attract to Portugal, expat professionals qualified in activities with high added value or intellectual, industrial or know-how, as well as pensioners and other passive income earners.
Tax benefits.
Under the initial rules set in the NHR regime the following tax rates applied, in Portugal, to the income of those duly enrolled in it:
Critics and reform.
The above rules allowed for the double non-taxation on pensions, specially for those sourced in Scandinavian countries, such as Finland and Sweden, and in France. This situation lead to Finland and Sweden to revoke their taxation agreements with Portugal.
With the approval of the 2020 State Budget Law, by the Assembly of the Republic, the Portuguese Government addressed the vocal critics of other EU-Member States by implementing changes to the regime, namely regarding pension income.
Requirements.
Under the Investment Tax Code rules, the regime is available to anyone who fulfilling the following conditions:
Upon application, the Portuguese Tax and Customs Authority might request proof of tax residency abroad, such as tax residency certificates, tax returns and tax settlement notices.
Statistics.
Among the 27.367 beneficiaries, according to 2019 numbers, just over two thousand (8%) develop professions with high-added value, while the remaining were expat pensioners. The most common nationalities among pensioners were French, Italian, and Swedish.


V. N. Krishnamurthy

Dr. V. N. Krishnamurthy (born 12 January 1937) is the former Dy. Director of VSSC and Honorable Director of ISRO-UoP Interaction cell. He obtained his M.Sc. from Madras University and Ph.D. from Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore in 1967. He joined Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, (Indian Space Research Organization) in February 1968 as chief of analytical facility. He became head of the Propellant Engineering Division in 1976, Group Director Propellants Group in 1986, and Deputy Director in 1989 before retiring in February 1997. After retiring, he became the Honorary Director of DRDO-ISRO-UoP Cells, which coordinates the activities undertaken for ISRO and DRDO at University of Pune. His tenure was over in August 2004 and after that he worked as an editor for two different encyclopaedias. Now he spends his time writing books and doing special guest lectures at universities and colleges in India.
Research.
His main interests are in solid propellants for launch vehicles and sounding rockets, polymers and materials indigenisation. He was responsible for the development of propellants based on HEF20, ISRO polyol, PBAN, CTPB and HTPB for launch vehicles. He indigenised and scaled up all the polymers used as binders in launch vehicles. His important contributions are development of HTPB based propellants currently used in Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle and Geostationary Launch Vehicle stages, igniters and auxiliary rocket motors.
He established facilities for the synthesis and scale up of polymers and propellants used in launch vehicles and satellite systems for India. He planned, designed and set up the ammonium perchlorate experimental plant (APEP) at Alwaye and polymer complex at Veli Trivandrum. He planned, established and commissioned a pilot plant at Ordnance Factory Itarsi as a step towards indigenisation of equipments used in double base propellants.
He has published more than 150 papers in national and international journals and presented more than 150 papers in national and international conferences.
Awards.
He was given the NRDC award in 1994 for contributions to propellants and for the development of a new technology of making big solid propellant grains. He was presented with the FIE foundation award at Ichalkaranji for overall contributions to polymers and propellants development for space programmes. He was awarded the Materials Research Society (MRSI) award for contributions to materials research for space programmes in 1997.
Books.
Editor, The Fertilizer Encyclopedia,
Author, The Pesticide Encyclopedia,
E. V. S. Namboodiry and V.N. Krishnamurthy, Liquid Hydrogen as a Fuel for Ground, Air and Naval Vehicles, In "Progress in Hydrogen Energy" edited by R. P. Dahia, pp. 133–158,
A.J. Raghavan, & V.N. Krishnamurthy, Insulation, liner and inhibition system. In "Propellants and explosives technology", edited by S. Krishnan, S.R. Chakravarthy, and S.K. Athithan. Allied Publishers, New Delhi, 1998. pp. 227–44.


Bird Sim Coler

Bird Sim Coler (October 9, 1867 Urbana, Illinois – June 12, 1941 Brooklyn, New York) was an American politician.
Biography.
Personal.
Coler was born on October 9, 1868, in Urbana, Illinois, the son of William N. Coler and wife. The elder Coler established a banking house after the Civil War and brought his family to Brooklyn.
The younger Coler was educated at Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute.
Coler and Emily Moore, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin Moore, were married on October 1, 1888. He died on June 12, 1941, in Brooklyn, and she died on August 23, 1941, in the same hospital. They had a son, Eugene Bird Coler.
Career.
He established himself as a stockbroker in New York City, became prominent in municipal and State politics, and was first Comptroller of Greater New York, from 1897 to 1901. In 1902, he was the Democratic nominee for Governor of New York, but lost to Benjamin B. Odell, Jr., by a small plurality in spite of his enormous lead in New York City. In 1905 he was elected president of the Borough of Brooklyn, on the Municipal Ownership ticket. In 1918, he ran unsuccessfully on the Democratic ticket for New York State Comptroller.
He was the author of "Commercialism in Politics, Two and Two Make Four, He Made Them Twain," and other sociological works.
Legacy.
Coler-Goldwater Specialty Hospital on Roosevelt Island bears his name.


James W. Fleming

James Wheeler Fleming (February 15, 1867, in Troy, Rensselaer County, New York – April 27, 1928, in Troy, Rensselaer County, New York) was an American businessman, banker and politician.
Life.
He was the son of James Fleming, a political lieutenant of Senator Edward Murphy, Jr. The Flemings were in the wholesale liquor business, but James W. Fleming sold it after the death of his father. He attended Troy Academy, and graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
He was a director of the Manufacturers' National Bank of Troy, and of the Troy Gas Company. He was vice president of the Manhattan Navigation Company, and of the Casualty Company of America.
On June 15, 1911, he was appointed New York State Forest, Fish and Game Commissioner to replace Thomas Mott Osborne who had resigned. On July 17, 1911, he was appointed one of three commissioners of the New York State Conservation Commission, a body into which the Forest, Fish and Game Commission had been merged with the Water Supply Commission, the Forest Purchasing Board and the Black River Power Commission.
He was a delegate to the 1912, 1920 and 1924 Democratic National Conventions. He was Mayor of Troy, New York in 1920 and 1921. He was New York State Comptroller from 1923 to 1924, elected in 1922, but defeated for re-election in 1924 by Vincent B. Murphy.


General National Exhibition in Lviv

The General National Exhibition in Lviv (Polish: "Powszechna Wystawa Krajowa we Lwowie") was a national exposition held in 1894 in the city of Lviv (Polish: "Lwów") on the centenary of the Kościuszko Uprising. Its aim was to showcase the economic and cultural achievements of Galicia and to present the works of art of the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria as well as all other Polish lands under foreign rule.
History.
Preparations before the grand opening of the exhibition took around two years. Architects Julian Zachariewicz and Franciszek Skowron supervised the construction of the pavilions for the fair. They were assisted by Zygmunt Gorgolewski and Juliusz Hochberger. Prince Adam Sapieha was the Head of the Exhibition Committee while Zdzisław Marchwicki was appointed the Director of the Exhibition. It was held on the 100th anniversary of the Kościuszko Uprising against Tsarist Russia and was intended to present the economic progress of Galicia as well as to promote the national culture and works of art from all the Polish lands under foreign partitions. The monumental cycloramic painting "Racławice Panorama" was created by renowned artists Wojciech Kossak and Jan Styka to celebrate this event.
The ceremonial opening of the exhibition took place on 5 June 1894 after a religious service held at the Lviv's Latin Cathedral. It was attended by such notable figures as Regional Governor Prince Eustachy Sanguszko, Prince Adam Sapieha, Archduke Leopold Salvator of Austria, Archduke Karl Ludwig of Austria, Archbishops Seweryn Morawski, Sylvester Sembratovych and Izaak Mikolaj Issakowicz. The fair lasted over four months and attracted more than 1.1 million visitors, which was ten times the number of the city's inhabitants at the time. The exhibition included 129 pavilions subdivided into 33 major departments devoted to such fields as industry, science and technology, economy, arts, ethnograpny and agriculture. The site was located on an area of 50 hectares near the (Polish: "Park Stryjeński"). The most distinguished guest of the event was Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria.
During the exhibition, a number of conferences were held and an electric tram line was launched connecting the main Lviv Railway Station and the city centre with the fair grounds. Later, the line became an integral part of the city and remains a popular means of transport in Lviv until today. Another notable event was the inauguration of the first aerial tramway in partitioned Poland. The 170-meter long line was installed to help the visitors move around the fair grounds more easily. It was dismantled after the exhibition closed. One of the most popular attractions located at the exhibition site was the electric musical fountain illuminated with coloured lamps erected on the exhibition's main square and designed by Czech engineer František Křižík. The General National Exhibition in Lviv was also notable for having been the birthplace of modern football in Poland and Ukraine. On 14 July 1894, the first recorded football match was held between members of the Polish Sokół clubs from Lviv and Kraków with Włodzimierz Chomicki scoring the first ever goal in the history of football in Poland.
Among the few preserved buildings from the exhibition is the Palace of Arts (Polish: "Pałac sztuki"). Situated in the Stryj Park, it was designed by Polish architect Franciszek Skowron in the Baroque Revival architectural style. It features an allegorical sculpture representing Art created by Julian Markowski. Figures representing Sculpture and Painting were located on both sides of the entrance to the palace and were executed by Antoni Popiel. The pavilion housed three exhibitions: "A Retrospective of Polish Art", "The Antiques Exhibition", and "The Exhibition of Contemporary Art".
The exhibition also hosted a retrospective of Polish painting from all three partitions, which was organized by professors Marian Sokołowski and Jan Bołoz-Antoniewicz. It featured works by such artists as Szymon Czechowicz, Franciszek Smuglewicz, Tadeusz Kuntze, Jan Piotr Norblin, Zygmunt Vogel, Aleksander Orłowski, Jan Nepomucen Głowacki, Marcin Zaleski and Piotr Michałowski.
Significance.
It was the biggest fair in the history of the city and greatly contributed to its further modernization and initiation of numerous other infrastructure projects. The staging of the exhibition, which was also seen as a demonstration of the patriotic feelings of Polish people, was made possible thanks to the cultural autonomy enjoyed by Galicia within the multi-national Austro-Hungarian Empire. After the regaining of independence by Poland in 1918, the fair grounds were used for hosting the annual Eastern Trade Fairs (Polish: "Targi Wschodnie") launched for the first time in 1921.
Main pavilions.
Notable pavilions and structures constructed for the exhibition included:


Languages of Guyana

English is the official language of Guyana, which is the only South American country with English as the official language.
Guyanese Creole (an English-based creole with African, Indian, and Amerindian syntax) is widely spoken in Guyana.
Guyanese Hindustani are retained and spoken by some Indo-Guyanese for cultural and religious reasons. Guyanese Bhojpuri may be used by older generations, folk songs, or in a limited way at home, while standard Hindi is used in religious service, writing, and passively through the consumption of Hindi film exports from India.
A number of Amerindian languages are also spoken by a minority of the population. These include Cariban languages such as Macushi, Akawaio and Wai-Wai; and Arawakan languages such as Arawak (or Lokono) and Wapishana.
Second and third languages.
Due to the growing presence of Cubans and Venezuelans in the country, Spanish is heard more and more frequently, especially in Georgetown and Region 1. Portuguese is increasingly being used as a second language in Guyana, particularly in the south of the country, bordering on Brazil. Spanish, Portuguese and French are taught in most secondary schools.


Scott Stringer

Scott M. Stringer (born April 29, 1960) is an American politician serving as the 44th New York City Comptroller. He previously served as a New York State Assemblyman, and as the 26th borough president of Manhattan.
In 1983, he became a legislative assistant to New York State Assemblyman and Congressman, Jerry Nadler. In 1992, Stringer successfully ran for a seat in the New York State Assembly vacated by Nadler, covering the Upper West Side. Stringer served as New York State Assemblyman for 13 years and six terms, from 1992 until 2005, when he was elected the 26th borough president of Manhattan. He won the 2013 election to become New York City's 44th comptroller, and began serving on January 1, 2014.
He is a candidate in the 2021 New York City mayoral election.
Early life and education.
Stringer is Jewish, and was born and raised in Washington Heights in Upper Manhattan. His mother, Arlene Stringer-Cuevas, was a cousin of former U.S. Representative Bella Abzug, and served on the New York City Council before working in the New York City Human Resources Administration. His father, Ronald, was counsel to former New York City Mayor Abe Beame. His stepfather, Carlos Cuevas, was at one time the New York City clerk and a Deputy Borough President in the Bronx.
Stringer attended Manhattan public schools, including PS 152, JHS 52, and John F. Kennedy High School (where he was editor of the school newspaper). When Stringer was still in high school at age 16, then-Manhattan Borough President Percy Sutton named Stringer to the Community Planning Board. Stringer graduated from the John Jay College of Criminal Justice with a Bachelor of Arts in Government Studies in 1986.
He has distant roots from Russia and Ireland, he has said, and his great-grandfather was from Poland.
Career.
In 1983, he became a legislative assistant to New York State Assemblyman, and future Congressman, Jerry Nadler. During these years, he supported Democratic candidate Governor Mario Cuomo.
New York State Assembly.
In 1992, Stringer ran for and won Nadler's New York State Assembly seat representing the Upper West Side, when Nadler replaced deceased Congressman Ted Weiss. Stringer served for 13 years and six terms in the New York State Assembly, from 1992 until 2005. During his Assembly career, Stringer served as Chairman of the Cities Committee, Chairman of the Real Property Taxation Committee, and Chairman of the Oversight, Analysis and Investigation Committee. He led the fight to end empty seat voting and reform the State Assembly's rules of operation. He authored anti-stalking legislation and was an advocate of affordable housing, and good government reform.
On August 28, 2001, "Village Voice" political writer Wayne Barrett wrote a piece entitled, "Mother Dearest & the Courthouse Cabal," in which he discussed Stringer's involvement in courtroom politics, specifically questioning how Stringer's parents had benefited financially from his political ties, and whether some of his campaign contributors had done unethical things. Barrett also raised questions about whether acting Supreme Court judge Louis York had attempted to gain Stringer's support in his bid for a full term on the court by appointing Stringer's mother nine times as a court evaluator and conservator. In 2001, while a member of the Assembly, Stringer explored a run for New York City Public Advocate.
Manhattan Borough President.
In 2005, he entered the race to succeed C. Virginia Fields as Manhattan Borough President. His candidacy was endorsed by "The New York Times". In September 2005, he won the Democratic primary against 9 other candidates and was later elected in the November general election. He took office as Borough President on January 1, 2006.
Stringer issued over 40 policy reports designed to raise awareness about local issues and improve New York City. These reports have led the charge in addressing many of Manhattan's most important challenges and issues, including: increasing community input and response to development and planning projects across the borough; introducing comprehensive reform and empowerment measures to Manhattan's Community Boards; leading the fight to maintain and create new affordable housing units and schools across the borough; empowering parents to better participate in the public school system; investigating and recommending policy action on the city's many transportation issues; and helping working families and small businesses access resources to become and remain self-sufficient.
Food policy.
In November 2008 and December 2009 as Borough President, he hosted day-long conferences on the subject of progressive food policy. For the second conference, attended by 1,000 New Yorkers, he joined with New York University and the not-for-profit Just Food to address the impact of food on the health of New York City's people and their environment. He released several policy reports on food policy, including "Food in the Public Interest", "FoodStat", and "Red Tape, Green Vegetables".
Bike lanes.
Throughout his tenure as Borough President, Stringer supported new transportation initiatives such as bike lanes. After numerous constituent complaints, in 2010 he undertook a survey, "Respect the Lane – Clear the Path", a policy report analyzing bike lane safety in Manhattan. During the course of the three-day survey, a total of 1,700 infractions were witnessed. The survey found that while bike lanes have a tremendous positive impact on New York City, the lanes were being misused by all parties; pedestrians, motorists, and cyclists. Working with community leaders, elected officials, local businesses, and local residents, Stringer worked to raise awareness about bike lane safety, and recommended an "increase in protected bicycle lanes, which are separated from traffic by a physical barrier and stepped-up patrol by traffic enforcement agents to ticket scofflaws, along with better signage," among other ideas.
Hydraulic fracturing.
Stringer led the fight in New York City against hydraulic fracturing in New York State. Stringer hosted many Manhattan Community Boards to discuss the potential problems associated with "fracking", such as contamination to the water supply. Stringer also released a policy report in 2009, "Uncalculated Risk: How Plans to Drill for Gas in Upstate New York could threaten New York City's Water System", a report highlighting the impacts of "fracking".
2009 re-election.
On November 6, 2008, Stringer announced his decision to seek re-election as Manhattan Borough President. His Republican opponent, David Casavis, a history professor and foreign affairs writer/commentator, got 16% of the vote on a platform to abolish the office. In an October 5, 2009 article in "City Limits", Stringer dismissed calls by Casavis and Mayor Michael Bloomberg to eliminate his office: "There are people who are going to call for the elimination of the public advocate office, borough president, the City Council. There are people who believe that we should have a king system here," says Stringer. "Borough presidents are part of a new era and a different kind of government. It has real responsibilities and it gives you a large footprint on the issues you get involved with. It's up to the individual to take advantage of that, that you might have an impact."
United States Senate consideration.
In Spring 2009, Stringer considered a primary challenge to incumbent U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand. However, he announced in May 2009 that he would not run. In his statement he said: "In light of President Obama's clear desire to avoid a Democratic primary in New York State, I have decided to focus on my re-election race for Manhattan Borough President and to suspend my exploratory committee and fund-raising efforts for the 2010 Senate race. I firmly believe that innovative thinking on issues like education and the urban environment must be joined with bedrock Democratic values on gun control and immigration if New York's interests are to be effectively represented in Washington."
New York City Comptroller.
2013 election.
Stringer was the Democratic nominee for New York City Comptroller in the 2013 election. He defeated former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer in the Democratic primary.
Stringer was considered one of several contenders for the 2013 New York City Mayoral primary before he announced in mid-November 2012 that he would instead run for city comptroller in the 2013 election. His campaign team included spokesperson Audrey Gelman, advertising agency GMMB, and pollster Mark Mellman. Stringer was challenged by former New York Governor Elliot Spitzer in the Democratic party primary. Stringer, originally thought to have the lead unopposed, trailed Spitzer in the polls until late August, when he took a two-point lead. Stringer defeated Spitzer in the September 10 primary 52%–48%. In the days prior to the Democratic primary, several media outlets published a piece describing Stringer's vote against legislation that stripped NAMBLA of its tax-exempt status.
Tenure.
In 2014, Stringer criticized the health department's response to complaints about rats in New York City as "weak", because they failed in their oversight and their inability to follow their own procedures.
In November 2014, Comptroller Stringer announced an initiative, on behalf of the $160 billion New York City Pension Funds, to give long-term shareholders the right to nominate their own directors at 75 U.S. companies. The "proxy access" initiative, known as the Boardroom Accountability Project, requests that these companies change their bylaws to allow shareholders who meet a threshold of owning three percent of a company for three or more years the right to list their director candidates, representing up to 25 percent of the board, on a given company's proxy. Proxy access is the ability for shareowners to nominate directors to run against a company's chosen slate of director candidates on the corporate ballot. The 75 proposals were filed based on three priority issues: climate change, board diversity and excessive CEO pay. Stringer called proxy access "the defining issue for the 2015 proxy season".
2017 election.
In 2017, there was no Democratic primary for the position with Stringer facing Republican Michel Faulkner in the general election.
2021 mayoral candidacy.
On September 8, 2020, Stringer formally announced his candidacy for Mayor of New York City. He was endorsed by a number of progressive politicians shortly after his announcement, such as Jerry Nadler, Adriano Espaillat, Jamaal Bowman, Alessandra Biaggi, Julia Salazar, Yuh-Line Niou, Jessica Ramos, and others. At his announcement, he criticized incumbent Mayor de Blasio saying: "We never closed the book on a tale of two cities. If anything over the last eight years, we've written more chapters."
In late April 2021, a woman alleged Stringer of sexual misconduct when she volunteered on his 2001 Public Advocate campaign. Despite loss of some supporters, Stringer maintained his bid in the mayoral race.
Personal life.
On September 3, 2010, Stringer married Elyse Buxbaum, an arts administrator at the time, who is the deputy director of development at The Jewish Museum. The couple chose to receive a marriage license in Connecticut as a statement of solidarity with LGBT couples who had not yet been given the right to marry in New York State. They have two sons, Max and Miles.


Constantine III of Scotland

Constantine, son of Cuilén (Mediaeval Gaelic: "Causantín mac Cuiléin"; Modern Gaelic: "Còiseam mac Chailein"), known in most modern regnal lists as Constantine III (c. 970–997), was king of Scots from 995 to 997. He was the son of King Cuilén. John of Fordun calls him, in Latin, Constantinus Calvus, which translates to Constantine the Bald. Benjamin Hudson notes that insular authors from Ireland and Scotland typically identified rulers by sobriquets, noting for example the similarly named "Eugenius Calvus" (Owen the Bald), an 11th-century King of Strathclyde.
Background.
The Scottish monarchy of this period based its succession system on the rule of tanistry. All adult male descendants of previous monarchs were eligible for the throne. The kingship regularly switched from one line of royal descendants to another, though they were all closely related. Constantine was able to rise to the throne, despite his cousin and predecessor having a son of his own. The next two kings (Kenneth III, Malcolm II) were his cousins, and killed their respective predecessor to gain the throne. The succession rule had the benefit of ensuring that there would always be an adult king on the throne, avoiding the usual problems of minority reigns. The various kings had their lands and power bases in different areas of Scotland, preventing any single region from claiming full domination of the others. This may have helped the country avoid significant secession movements. The downside was that any single king had to face adult rivals for the throne. His kinsmen had their own ambitions and would not wait for his death from natural causes to achieve them. The succession was often decided through acts of warfare and murder, resulting in early deaths and high casualty rates in the extended royal family.
During the 10th century, there were dynastic conflicts in Scotland between two rival lines of royalty. One descended from Causantín mac Cináeda (Constantine I, reigned 862–877), the other from his brother Áed mac Cináeda (reigned 877–878). Constantine III belonged to the second line. His royal ancestors included Áed himself, Constantine II of Scotland (reigned 900–943), Indulf (reigned 954–962), and Cuilén (reigned 967–971). Amlaíb of Scotland (reigned 973–977) was his paternal uncle. The alternation between the two royal lines seems to have been peaceful for a long time; Alfred P. Smyth regards this early phase as "a century of kingly coexistence". The armed conflict between the lines seems to have started in the 960s, when Cuilén challenged the rule of his cousin Dub, King of Scotland (962-967). The initial motivation behind the conflict is unclear. Smyth speculates that control over the Kingdom of Strathclyde might have been a major factor.
Reign.
According to John of Fordun (14th century), Kenneth II of Scotland (reigned 971–995) attempted to change the succession rules, allowing "the nearest survivor in blood to the deceased king to succeed", thus securing the throne for his own descendants. He reportedly did so to specifically exclude Constantine (III) and Kenneth (III), called Gryme in this source. The two men then jointly conspired against him, convincing Lady Finella, daughter of Cuncar, Mormaer of Angus, to kill the king. She reportedly did so to achieve personal revenge, as Kenneth II had killed her own son. Entries in "the Chronicles of the Picts and Scots", collected by William Forbes Skene, provide the account of Finnguala killing Kenneth II in revenge, but not her affiliation to Constantine or his cousins. These entries date to the 12th and 13th centuries. The Annals of Ulster simply record "Cinaed son of Mael Coluim [Kenneth, son of Malcolm], king of Scotland, was deceitfully killed", with no indication of who killed him.
In the account of John of Fordun, Constantine the Bald, son of King Cullen and Gryme were ""plotting unceasingly the death of the king and his son". One day, Kenneth II and his companions went hunting into the woods, "at no great distance from his own abode". The hunt took him to Fettercairn, where Finella resided. She approached him to proclaim her loyalty and invited him to visit her residence, whispering into his ear that she had information about a conspiracy plot. She managed to lure him to "an out-of-the-way little cottage", where a booby trap was hidden. Inside the cottage was a statue, connected by strings to a number of crossbows. If anyone touched or moved the statue, he would trigger the crossbows and fall victim to their arrows. Kenneth II gently touched the statue and "was shot through by arrows sped from all sides, and fell without uttering another word."" Finella escaped through the woods and managed to join her abettors, Constantine III and Gryme. The hunting companions soon discovered the bloody king. They were unable to locate Finella, but burned Fettercairn to the ground. Smyth dismisses the elaborate plotting and the mechanical contraption as mere fables, but accepts the basic details of the story, that the succession plans of Kenneth II caused his assassination. Alan Orr Anderson raised his own doubts concerning the story of Finella, which he considered "semi-mythical". He noted that the feminine name Finnguala or Findguala means "white shoulders", but suggested it derived from "find-ela" (white swan). The name figures in toponyms such as Finella Hill (near Fordoun) and Finella Den (near St Cyrus), while local tradition in The Mearns (Kincardineshire) has Finella walking atop the treetops from one location to the other. Anderson thus theorized that Finella could be a mythical figure, suggesting she was a local stream-goddess. A later passage of John of Fordun mentions Finele as mother of Macbeth, King of Scotland (reigned 1040–1057), but this is probably an error based on the similarity of names. Macbeth was son of Findláech of Moray, not of a woman called Finella.
The narrative of John of Fordun continues on to the reign of Constantine III. The day following the death of Kenneth II, Constantine the Bald, son of King Cullen usurped the throne. He had reportedly won the support of a number of nobles. The throne was also claimed by his cousin Malcolm II, son of Kenneth II, resulting in long-lasting division of the Scottish population, and conflict. Constantine III reigned for a year and a half [18 months], "continually harassed by Malcolm and his illegitimate uncle, named Kenneth, a soldier of known prowess, who was his unwearied persecutor, and strove with his whole might to kill him, above all others." The Chronicle of the Kings of Scotts ("Cronica Regum Scottorum", 12th century) shortens the reign to one year and four months (16 months). This source was a king-list compiled during the reign of William the Lion (reign 1165–1214), the last king mentioned in it. It has survived as the fifth text of the Poppleton manuscript. The existence of Kenneth, illegitimate uncle to Malcolm II, is not recorded in older sources. Charles Cawley suggests treating his existence with caution. John of Fordun had apparently listed this Kenneth as an illegitimate son of Malcolm I of Scotland. Skene noted that this could be an error, and suggested that Kenneth, son of Malcolm was actually Kenneth III (Kenneth, son of Dubh). Kenneth III was a grandson of Malcolm I, rather than a son. Robert Shaw also doubted Kenneth II having a brother, illegitimate or not, who was also named Kenneth, pointing out that Malcolm I would have no reason to give the same name to two of his sons. Alex Woolf accepted the identification of Kenneth, son of Malcolm with Kenneth III as a possible solution, but suggested a number of alternatives. Kenneth II himself was a Kenneth, son of Malcolm; his name could have been transferred to the killer of his successor by a faulty text. Or Kenneth, son of Malcolm could be an accidental reversal of Malcolm (II), son of Kenneth. Or the killer could be a Kenneth, son of Malcolm who was not actually a member of the royal family.
The Annals of Tigernach report that Constantine was killed in a battle between the Scots in 997: "A battle between the Scots, in which fell Constantine son of Culannan, king of Scotland, and many others." Another entry of the same year reports the death of Máel Coluim I of Strathclyde, though it is unclear if the two deaths were connected. A Chronicle of the Scots and Picts entry adds a number of details. Constantine, son of Culen was killed by Kenneth, son of Malcolm (see above) at "Rathinveramon". Constantine's body was transported for burial to Iona. An entry in the Chronicle of Melrose describes "King Constantine, Culen's son, ... slain by the sword" at the mouth of Almond in Tegalere. Again the killer is reported as Kenneth, son of Malcolm. John of Fordun's narrative is more verbose. According to it, Constantine and Kenneth, son of Malcolm met one day in Laudonia (Lothian), by the banks of the River Almond. They engaged in battle, resulting in great slaughter on both sides and the death of both leaders. The guards of Constantine fled to Gryme (Kenneth III), "colleague" of their leader, allowing him to win the throne. However, news of the battle and its results reached Malcolm (II) in Cumbria. He learned of the death of his "uncle and the rest of his faithful friends", and returned to gather reinforcements for his cause—though he was defeated in his initial conflict against Gryme.
John of Fordun consistently depicts Malcolm II holding Cumbria, emerging from it to combat Constantine III and Kenneth III (or his son Giric). In 1000, Malcolm reportedly defended Cumbria against the invasion of Æthelred the Unready, King of England. A relevant entry from the "Anglo-Saxon Chronicle" confirms that the Danish fleet which regularly raided England departed in 1000. This sudden relief from attack Æthelred used to gather his thoughts, resources, and armies: the fleet's departure in 1000 "allowed Æthelred to carry out a devastation of Strathclyde, the motive for which is part of the lost history of the north." But this indicates the limits to Constantine's (and Kenneth's) area of authority, and informs us that Cumbria/Strathclyde lay beyond them. The opponent of Æthelred is not however specified by the Chronicle. Benjamin Hudson notes that John of Fordun was at times confused when depicting events of this period. The conflict depicted could actually be one between Æthelred and Kenneth III, Scottish and Anglo-Saxon armies fighting over control of Strathclyde—Aethelred wanting to restore Anglo-Saxon control in an area once conquered by Edmund the Elder (reigned 939–946), his grandfather. Perhaps he was desperately seeking to add some revenue to his treasury. Kenneth and the Scots were naturally unwilling to lose an area under their own rule for two generations.
Location of death.
James Young Simpson, who had written several articles on archaeology, observed that there were contradictory accounts concerning the location of Constantine's death. While most accounts place the battle near the River Almond, there were two rivers of that name in Scotland, one in Perthshire and one in Lothian. George Chalmers identified the one in Perthshire to have been the intended location, but John of Fordun, the Scotichronicon, Hector Boece, and George Buchanan all point to the one in Lothian. The Chronicle of Melrose places the battle near the River Avon. Andrew of Wyntoun places it near the river "Awyne". John Lesley places it near the River Annan, and considers it part of an ongoing invasion of Cumbria.
There are also contradictions concerning the location of the battle in relation to the river. The Scotichronicon, Melrose, and Wyntoun placed the battle at the river source, Melrose also adding the word "Tegalere" to describe the location. This might be the same as the "Inregale regens" of the Scotichronicon and the "Indegale" of the "Liber Dumblain". Boece and Buchanan place the battle at a river mouth, where the Almond enters the Firth of Forth. That is where Cramond is located, called "Crawmond" in some editions of Boece. The "Nomina Regum Scottorum et Pictorum", discovered by Robert Sibbald at the St Andrews Cathedral Priory, places the death sites of both Domnall mac Ailpín and Constantine III at Rathveramoen (Rathinveramon), which etymologically derives from "Rath Inver Amoen", the ráth at the mouth of the Amoen/Amon (the Almond)--"viz.", the fortress Bertha in Perth, located at the mouth of the Almond. This is where the Almond joins the River Tay near Scone. Rathinveramon also lay at a short distance from Perth. Monzievaird, where Kenneth III was eventually killed, was about 15 miles from Perth. Forteviot, connected to Kenneth MacAlpin and his death, is also located in Perthshire.
Alex Woolf points out that the Chronicle of the Kings of Alba reports another location for the death of Domnall mac Ailpín: the palace of Cinnbelathoir, which was probably the same as the "Bellathor", mentioned alongside "Rigmonath" as the major settlements of their time. Rigmonath has been identified with Rigmonaid, another name for St Andrews. Since Rigmonath was a church-settlement, perhaps the same was true for Bellathor. Seeking a likely location in the vicinity of Rathinveramon, Woolf suggests that Bellathor was an older name for Scone. The location was used for the inauguration ceremonies of kings, pointing at the significance of the area. Earlier the same area, including Forteviot, had served as the population centre of the southern Picts. The lack of fortification at Forteviot could indicate that it too served as a church site, one associated with the kings. Already in 728, there is mention of a Pictish royal stronghold at the hill of Moncrieffe, where the River Tay meets the River Earn. The location lies just outside Perth, 8 km from Forteviot, close to both Abernethy and Scone, suggesting that the area long served as a "key royal centre", though the central location switched over time from Moncrieffe to Forteviot to Scone.
In the 18th century, there was a theory that the Cat Stane of Kirkliston could be connected to the final battle of Constantine III. The Reverend John Muckarsie alluded to this idea, in a text eventually collected in the Statistical Account of Scotland by Sir John Sinclair, 1st Baronet. In 1780, the founding meeting of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland took place. Its founder David Erskine, 11th Earl of Buchan mentioned the idea in his opening discourse. He noted an extant transcription of the Cat Stane's text, reading: "IN HOC TUM- JAC - CONSTAN- VIC- VICT". Where "Constan" was understood to have been Constantine IV (III). The speech was recorded in The Scots Magazine. The idea went that the Cat Stane was erected as a memorial for Constantine, at the location where the man lost his life in battle. The New Statistical Account went a bit further, suggesting that the stone marked the burial place of Constantine. Simpson strongly opposed this theory, finding it unlikely that such a monument would be erected for Constantine the Bald, a king who fell in a civil war, with no family legacy, and who was treated with contempt by primary sources. He examined other transcription of the texts, where the word "Constan" was absent, eventually dismissing the theory as based on a faulty reading of the original text.
Reputation.
The stanzas of The Prophecy of Berchán covering Constantine III give him a mostly negative assessment: "A king will take [the sovereignty], who will not be king; after him, Scotland will be nothing. It will be the weak following the strong; though true is what my lips relate. A king with reproach above his head; alas for Scotland during his short time! Feeble men will be about him, in the region of Scone, of melodious shields. A year and a half (a bright space), that will be his whole reign; from taking Gaels (hostages?) he will go to death; he falls, his people fall. He will fight great battles in Scotland; by the disgrace of his head he will destroy colours. He will be in communion of battle, from Stirling to Abertay. " Anderson suggested that this would be the area from Stirling to Tentsmuir (Abertay Sands), the traditional Scottish boundary with "Danish Northumbria" (Jórvík).
Berchán gave a negative portrayal of Kenneth II as well, calling him "the Fratricide", who "would bring danger on everyone ". Kenneth II "would attack his own people as well as his enemies ", probably alluding to Kenneth killing members of the Scottish nobility, people who were related to him in various ways. Hudson suspects that further details on the killings of Kenneth II could be found in lost works, part of an early Scottish literal tradition, which left only fragments in later works. While Kenneth II is depicted as a strong king, Constantine III is dismissed as a failure. The length of his reign (18 months) confirms that Constantine is the failed "non-king" intended, a king surrounded by weak men. The poem places his death by the River Tay, though this is not necessarily a contradiction to other accounts of his death (which place it by river Almond). The Almond flows into the Tay in a location not far from Scone, also recorded as the place of death of a previous king, Domnall mac Ailpín (reigned 859-862).
The ominous verse which has Constantine fall with his people might allude to the end of his family, as his line probably died with him. The name Grim/Gryme for his successor Kenneth III probably derives from "greimm" (Middle Irish: authority). Berchán calls this man donn: as an adjective it means "brown", but as a noun the meaning changes to "chief" (prince, lord), depicting him as a stronger king.
Legacy.
Constantine is not known to have any descendants and he was the last of the line of Áed (Áed mac Cináeda) to have been king. With his death, the rivalry between descendants of Causantin and Áed gave way to a rivalry between two new royal lines, both descended from Causantin. One line descended from Kenneth II and was represented by his son Malcolm II. The other line descended from his brother Dub, King of Scotland (reigned 962-967) and was represented by Kenneth III.
References.
"For primary sources see also " External links "below."


Mansion tax

A mansion tax is a common name for an annual property tax on high value homes, although the term itself is widely regarded as a misnomer. The tax was only a proposal in the United Kingdom, but proved very controversial and received widespread media coverage. It did not go ahead.
Many US states levy a surcharge on the highest-value homes or have a progressive taxation in their real estate transfer tax system, sometimes referred to as “mansion taxes.”
Original concept.
In the United Kingdom, the concept of a mansion tax is widely attributed to Vince Cable. In its original form, proposed in 2009, Cable suggested that all properties valued at over £1 million would be taxed annually. He raised the proposed threshold to £2 million in January 2012.
Budget 2012.
In an accommodation with Coalition partners, the proposal was modified and a 7% rate of Stamp Duty Land Tax was levied on house sales over £2 million, following George Osborne's 2012 budget. In contrast to an annual "mansion tax", this one-off tax is only paid when a property is bought.
Liberal Democrat conference motion 2012.
Support for the original proposal re-emerged at the Liberal Democrat 2012 conference.
The motion called for "an annual mansion tax on the excess value of residential properties over £2 million as a first step towards wealth taxation designed to reduce inequality". It was passed in a vote of over 200 delegates, with two against.
Despite this, the Liberal Democrat's coalition government partner, the Conservatives, ruled out the introduction of a Mansion Tax; Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne said in October 2012: "We are not going to have a mansion tax, or a new tax that is a percentage value of people’s properties. Before the election they will call it a mansion tax, but people will wake up the day after the election and discover suddenly their more modest home has been labelled a mansion."
Labour Party embrace concept.
On 14 February 2013, the Labour Party leader Ed Miliband said that he would, if in government, introduce a mansion tax and then re-introduce a ten pence tax rate for low earners. However, there was no commitment to put this policy into the Labour Party manifesto and there was also criticism of the fairness and practicality of the proposal. However, Miliband reiterated this policy proposal at the 2014 Labour Party Conference and it is now a firm commitment. Labour claimed the policy would raise £1.2 billion a year which would be used to fund the National Health Service. Based on an estimated 100,000 homes valued over £2 million, this means each property would be liable for an average bill of £12,000.
On 20 October 2014 in response to widespread publicity about the proposal, the Shadow chancellor Ed Balls published further details. He confirmed properties valued between £2 million and £3 million would pay £3,000 per annum, but properties over £3 million would pay considerably more. Commentators have suggested that in order to raise the projected £1.2 billion, the mansion tax payable on homes over £3 million would have to be £28,000.
Liberal Democrat Party moves away from a mansion tax.
In October 2014, the Liberal Democrats abandoned plans for a new tax on high-value homes, opting instead for a change in the existing Council Tax system. Nick Clegg, speaking on the BBC during the Liberal Democrat Party Conference 2014, said: "I went off, big time, the idea that you have a fixed levy as a percentage over a certain value. The more I looked at it, the more I thought, 'That’s very crude.' It leads to eye-watering amounts of tax being paid. What we should do is go with the grain of the council tax system and apply bands to higher properties."
Autumn Statement 2014.
On 3 December 2014 George Osborne announced changes to stamp duty. These measures included large increases in tax for more expensive houses. A buyer of a house at £2 million would now have to pay £153,750 in stamp duty. In his speech he alluded to this being his alternative to Labour's mansion tax.
Criticism.
Critics have said such a policy would hurt pensioners, as according to analysis by the think-tank the Centre for Policy Studies, almost one third of all properties worth over £2 million have been in the same ownership for over ten years.
The phrase mansion tax has been described as a misnomer as 10% of properties in London valued at £2m-plus are one- or two-bedroom flats.
Labour review policy after election defeat.
After Labour's May 2015 election defeat, Labour leadership candidates began to distance themselves from the policy. Andy Burnham said the mansion tax had been too "symbolic" and played into a public dislike of the "politics of envy". Mary Creagh, another candidate for the leadership, said: "It alienated a whole bunch of people who said we were against them getting on and doing well".
Variants.
The tax could be structured in a number of different ways. One possible variant is to limit the scope to non-resident, non-British owners of property. This would be intended to discourage foreign ownership of dwellings and free up housing stock for residents. Such a modification to the mansion tax has been suggested by Mark Field, an MP in central London, where overseas ownership of property is commonplace. There are perceptions that the high cost of housing in London is in part due to a disproportionate amount of residential property being owned by non-resident, non-tax paying foreigners, and that a modified mansion tax may alleviate this issue. Limiting the scope in this way would also limit the valuation exercise that the introduction of a mansion tax would require, as fewer properties would be impacted.


Henry Hodge

Sir Henry Egar Garfield Hodge (12 January 1944 – 18 June 2009) professionally styled The Hon Mr Justice Hodge, was an English solicitor and Judge of the High Court of England and Wales.
Early life.
Born in Peterborough, Hodge was educated at Chigwell School and read Law at Balliol College, Oxford, graduating in 1965.
Career.
Hodge qualified as a solicitor in 1970. He then joined the Child Poverty Action Group, working as its solicitor and deputy director until 1977. In 1974, he became chairman of the National Council for Civil Liberties (now Liberty).
In 1977 he founded Hodge Jones & Allen with partners Peter Jones and Patrick Allen, where all three practised. He served as Deputy Chairman of the Legal Aid Board from 1996 to 1999. He was also a Vice-President of the Law Society.
Judge.
Hodge became a Recorder in 1993, and a Circuit Judge in October 1999, when he retired from his firm. He was appointed Chief Immigration Adjudicator in 2001, by Derry Irvine then the Lord Chancellor.
On 1 October 2004, he became the third Solicitor to sit as a High Court judge in England and Wales, after Sir Michael Sachs (appointed in 1993) and Sir Lawrence Collins (appointed in 2000). In April 2005, he became President of the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal.
Politics.
Hodge confessed that he was "married to the Labour Party", for which he contested the new seat of Croydon South in the February 1974 general election, but Sir William Clark won the seat for the Conservatives.
Hodge then became a Councillor in the London Borough of Islington, where he met his second wife, Margaret Watson (née Oppenheimer).
In the 1990s, he and his wife persuaded Tony Blair and his wife Cherie to move to the London Borough of Islington, with the couple eventually buying the house next to the Hodges'. During this period, Hodge and his wife assisted Blair and his team to formulate New Labour. As a result, Hodge became a member of the "1,000 Club" of leading Labour party donors.
Personal life and honours.
Hodge married first, in 1971, Miranda Tufnell; they divorced in 1975. He married Labour politician Margaret Hodge in 1978, with whom he had two daughters. Hodge was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to the Social Security Advisory Committee in 1993, and was knighted in 2004.
Hodge enjoyed motorcycling, and supported Arsenal.
Death.
Having suffered a series of heart problems from 2007 which had required regular hospitalisation, Hodge was diagnosed with Acute myeloid leukaemia in September 2008, which after four sessions of chemotherapy was followed by a bone marrow transplant in February 2009. Taken ill again in June 2009, he was admitted to University College Hospital, London, where he died of liver failure on 18 June 2009, aged 65.