Tag: USA

Trumping Livingstone

Has Ken Livingstone become Britain’s answer to Donald Trump?

Father of five Ken Livingstone would no doubt hate the comparison but, putting him in perspective, he’s rather like a British version of the American father of five Donald Trump.

When Ken Livingstone doesn’t like what is said about him, he terms it “incredible lies”; Donald Trump, by comparison, prefers to reference such reporting: “Fake news!” Whereas Livingstone claims to have “no interest in managing [his] financial affairs”, Trump simply refuses to release details of his income. Here, in the form a reptile loving socialist and a four times bankrupt billionaire, are two bombastic politicians with not a care for books and history and here are two loudmouths who respectively suggest: “My only regret is the media’s obsession with the past” and that they believe themselves to be the “Ernest Hemmingway of 140 characters”.

Yesterday, whilst Trump decided to ridiculously try to blame President Obama for a gas attack in Syria, Livingstone – a man prone to pushing journalists over walls and accusing hedge funds donating to Labour being akin to “Jimmy Savile funding a children’s group” (in spite of taking £8,000 from a hedge fund himself) – managed to avoid being expelled from the Labour party in spite of being deemed to have brought the party into disrepute over remarks about Zionism, Hitler and anti-semitism.

That “anti-politician politician” Livingstone, like “anti-politician, real persona” Trump, has been able to get off scot-free speaks volumes. It is time such men were brought to book and it is time their ability to avoid being held accountable for their truly offensive views came to an end.

April 5, 2017
A Dutch Delight

New York’s “most impressive” Dutch colonial house for sale for £2.59 million in spite of needing updating

Built in 1735 and listed as a designated New York landmark in 1966, 126 West Drive in Douglaston, Queens is considered to be New York’s “most impressive architectural remnant of the early Dutch Culture”. It has just been listed for sale for £2.59 million ($3.25 million, €3.05 million or درهم11.94 million) through Daniel Gale Sotheby’s International Realty.

Overlooking Little Neck Bay, this “picturesque Dutch colonial house” features a salt-box roof, wooden shingles and oak beams and was built by Cornelius Van Wyck, a third generation settler on a plot of 125 acres. It was subsequently expanded in the 1770s and 1930s but despite now standing on a plot of just 0.65 acres is “one of the largest true waterfront properties in Queens”.

Extending to 3,876 square foot and including 4 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms, the Cornelius Van Wyck House has direct access to a sandy beach and is just 28 minutes from Manhattan.

April 2, 2017
Red Rollers

Pair of striking red Rolls-Royces with Scottish connections to be auctioned at the Imperial War Museum Duxford

Rolls-Royces tend to be noticed wherever they go but a pair to be auctioned later this month are especially stand-out examples in that they both come in especially bold shades of red.

The first car, a 1990 Rolls-Royce Corniche III convertible, is offered with an estimate of £50,000 to £60,000 ($62,000 to $74,000, €58,000 to €69,000 or درهم228,000 to درهم273,000). It was built to special order for a Scottish laird and features one-of-a-kind red paintwork said to match the colour of his family’s tartan. The 27-year old automatic, 6.75-litre vehicle comes with an original set of cut glass decanters and matching glasses and has covered just 64,900 miles.

The second comes in the form of a 1935 Rolls-Royce 20/25 limousine with coachwork by Hooper & Company of Westminster, London. It is presented in maroon and black with black upholstery up front and red to the rear. Originally owned by a Mrs Margaret Abercrombie of Castlehead, Paisley, the 3.7-litre long-wheelbase car subsequently spent 39 years in the USA before returning to the UK in 2003. It is offered with an estimate of £24,000 to £26,000 ($30,000 to $32,000, €28,000 to €30,000 or درهم109,000 to درهم118,000).

The cars will be sold by H&H Classics at the Imperial War Museum Duxford in Cambridgeshire on 29^th March.

March 18, 2017
Dine With Donald

Matthew Steeples suggests readers reject Donald Trump’s desperate plugs for an opportunity to win dinner with his own very sorry self

In the past twenty-four hours I’ve received four messages begging me to buy my way in to being in with a chance of winning a dinner with Donald Trump on Tuesday 21^st March in Washington, D.C.

In the series of email missives, ‘The Donald’s’ representative boast that the winner of this “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” will get to “attend the annual March dinner for FREE”. They list the benefits and amongst them are:

A trip to D.C.: FREE

A stay in TRUMP Hotel: FREE

A dinner with President Trump: PRICELESS

Though “making a contribution does not increase your chances of winning” nor likely your time getting to share “alternative facts” with Kellyanne Conway, entrants are urged to donate $10 to get one entry, $20 to get 4 entries, $50 to get 10 entries or $100 to get 50 entries. Whoever wins will be “President Trump’s guests of honor [sic] at the BIGGEST Republican event of the year”. Lucky them.

In London, a manager of a Chelsea restaurant, on hearing of the “opportunity” to share an over-cooked steak topped with ketchup with the 45^th POTUS, remarked: “I’d rather go with one of the local tramps than dine with that old mutt”.

An embarrassed American, sat nearby, laughed and added: “I’d rather eat wasps, nails and paving stones”.

If you really do desire an evening with a lunatic, click here to be in with a chance to win dinner with Donald Trump.

Twitter: @M_Steeples

March 18, 2017
The Big Bend

Billionaire living in New York might take a U-turn if a proposed skyscraper named the ‘Big Bend’ becomes reality

A 4,000 foot end-to-end conceptual skyscraper has been proposed in Manhattan in order to “potentially provide a solution to the height limitations imposed by city zoning laws” according to the anthropological New York website 6sqft.

Designed by the New York and Athens based studio Oiio, the “Big Bend” – as it has been endearingly named – would fit onto two narrow plots at its base and would provide luxury apartments aimed at high net worth individuals.

Of the proposed structure, on their website, Oiio state:

“If we manage to bend our structure instead of bending the zoning rules of New York we would be able to create of the most prestigious buildings in Manhattan. We can now provide our structures with the measurements that will make them stand out without worrying about the limits of the sky”.

Real estate developer turned 45^th POTUS Donald Trump’s views on the design are unknown but his favoured adjective “beautiful” is something that comes to mind.

March 18, 2017
Cooking-Up a Cock-Up

As Donald Trump is criticised for dousing over-cooked steak in ketchup, we take a look at Theresa May’s preference for dining at the favourite restaurant of a paedophile and her lack of interest in the “absolutely meticulously” recipes of Delia Smith

In 2008, Theresa May told The Guardian: “I’ve knocked on Rolf Harris’s door and asked for his vote” and in the very same article the now Prime Minister also cited the since jailed paedophile’s favourite restaurant, Maliks Tandoori House in Cookham, Berkshire, as her own hangout of choice too.

The dining habits of top-drawer politicians came under scrutiny again earlier this week when Town & Country’s Sam Dangremond analysed Donald Trump’s preference for eating well-done steaks topped with ketchup. The 45^th POTUS supposedly likes his meat to “rock on the plate” (according to his former butler) but in Britain, our somewhat clueless leader’s food choices are a little more specific.

Aside from loving Indian cuisine and her eponymous “red, white and blue Brexit”, Mrs May is a woman with a preference for a no doubt red, white (but not so blue) Kit Kat and recipes from the cookbooks of the throttled ex-wife of Charles Saatchi, ‘Highgella’ Lawson. In 2008, she remarked: “The other day I did a Nigella recipe for a mustard-and-caper sauce on purple-sprouting broccoli”.

The vicar’s daughter, it transpires, does not have Delia Smith’s books in her kitchen, however. Why? Not because the cook-turned-football-club-chairwoman is generally utterly smashed most of the time, but due to the fact she’s “absolutely meticulous”. The character of the government of Mrs May, thus, could be revealed in a cookbook; its title would no doubt be A Total & Utterly Unmeticulous Cock-Up.

Malik Ahmed with Theresa May

Rolf Harris with Alwyn Hughes and Malik Ahmed

A cartoon by Rolf Harris for Maliks restaurant

Donald Trump eating

March 16, 2017
Power Pays

That a convicted paedophile is able to avoid a jail sentence is an utter disgrace especially given pensioners get locked up for non-payment of TV licence fees; Old Etonian Andrew Picard shouldn’t be on the streets, he should be in the clink

Andrew Picard (AKA Andrew Laurence and Andrew Boeckman) was caught with 1,185 indecent images of children as young as eight on his computer. He admitted to possessing videos of a three year old being raped, children being forced to have sex with dogs and sharing indecent images on Skype with an undercover policeman yet he was spared jail and handed a derisory non-custodial sentence late last month.

Eton College, Berkshire and Williams College, Massachusetts educated former USA swimmer Picard – who changed his name from Andrew Boeckman to protect the supposed “good reputation” of his wealthy family during his trial – received a sentence of just 10 months imprisonment suspended for 18 months for ten counts of possessing child pornography in late February and thus, one must ask: “Why wasn’t he locked up?”

Justifying why he spared Picard of Probyn House, Page Street, Westminster jail and why he also decided not to place this privileged pervert and predator on the sex offenders’ register, Judge Peter Ross remarked:

“It has been said that you and your family have suffered deeply as a result of your arrest and public exposure. Your family didn’t deserve that… [Prison] would undo the counseling you have undergone”.

Sallie Bennett-Jenkins QC, defending, added:

“This is a young and very able man who has hopes for the future… He was able to have this opportunity [to seek help] and this was something Andrew sought for himself, by himself”.

In a country where our government actively pursues jail sentences for pensioners refusing to pay their TV licence fees, it is a disgrace that the son of a prominent American lawyer named Philip J. Boeckman manages to avoid prison in spite of the seriousness of his offences. This utterly contemptible decision is something that brings only shame on Britain.

March 12, 2017
Chop the Charitycats

As San Francisco socialite and clothes horse Joy Venturini Bianchi is highlighted to be an American version of her fellow former ‘charitycat’ Lady Meyer, it’s time that charities worldwide were better regulated

In Britain, in 2011, the “Chanel-clad” wife of the former British ambassador to Washington, Lady Meyer, faced criticism after The Telegraph revealed the majority of the income of the charity she was then running was spent on her very own pay. She subsequently ceased to be involved in that organisation in 2016 but now, in San Francisco, a similar scandal has come to light in the form of Helpers Community Inc. (formerly rather crudely known as ‘Helpers of the Mentally Retarded’) and its executive director, a wannabe lookalike of Iris Apfel named Joy Venturini Bianchi.

The so-called charity that “natty” Ms. Venturini Bianchi, a self-proclaimed “divorced philanthropist” runs, it was reported last Friday, must “repay the public tens of thousands of dollars after misleading city officials” according to the San Francisco Chronicle. The same paper had previously highlighted that Helpers had paid 78-year old Venturini Bianchi a base salary of £159,149 ($193,828), roughly £82,109 ($100,000) more annually than directors of similarly sized San Francisco non-profits and that supporters had been “disgusted with the way they were using this cause to raise money”.

Ms. Venturini Bianchi stands accused of raising “millions of dollars but failed to adequately distribute [them]” and that she is also attacked for not doing “much to fulfill [her non-profit’s] promise to donors” is, if correct, truly shocking. Just as with Meyer in England, the board of Helpers was composed from “longtime friends” and as state senator Mark Leno pointed out: “It would appear that the board is in need of a serious governance makeover”.

It is time the era of the ‘charitycat’ came to its natural conclusion. In Britain, America and elsewhere, for far too long, wealthy and connected individuals with little-to-no experience have been able to benefit from tax breaks, benefits, salaries and bonuses naïvely given by the public simply by taking over “a cause”. These amateurs should now be banished and running charities should instead become the domain of professionals.

Joy Venturini Bianchi with Iris Apfel

Joy Venturini Bianchi with Sir Elton John

March 12, 2017
Picture of the Week – Spying on Trump

As an image of Barrack Obama spying on Donald Trump in Trump Tower goes viral, we call on America to section the lunatic president

On Sunday, Florida based Michael Hussey, editor of the Pushing Rope blog, shared an amusing image of Donald Trump in his ghastly, over gilded Trump Tower apartment on Instagram. Outside the window –Photoshopped into the picture – is Barrack Obama suckered to the building and peering in with a pair of binoculars.

Though what Mr Hussey shares will certainly amuse many, Trump’s unsubstantiated claims on Twitter about being wiretapped are anything but. Here, again, all we see is evidence of a lunatic in charge of the asylum and now, one can only hope, the powers that will be will finally act: It is time for Donald Trump to be sectioned.

March 7, 2017
The Sky’s the Limit

Bonhams to offer what they call “the world’s most sought after Cadillac” at auction in Florida; it was originally made for the famed BRO^ADMOOR Hotel resort in El Paso County, Colorado

The BRO^ADMOOR – a name that is unique and copyrighted due to its little raised “A” – in Colorado Springs is a vast hotel at the base of the 9,570 foot tall Cheyenne Mountain, the location of the operations base for the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD). Built in the Italian Renaissance style and featuring 784 guest rooms, the complex has three golf courses, 18 restaurants and a fishing camp and is said to be the place where President George W. Bush decided to quit drinking after waking up with a hangover in the summer of 1986.

The Broadmoor Hotel.

The main hotel building.

The original owners of the hotel, the Penrose family, “wanted their guests to be escorted form the airport to the hotel and to be given tours of the area’s majestic beauty in the finest of luxury” according to the Bonhams catalogue entry on a 1959 Cadillac BRO^ADMOOR Skyview they are set to auction in March. It is the last of around 28 Cadillac limousines made for the hotel from 1937 and was built by the Superior Coach Corp., a now defunct Ohio based manufacturer of yellow school buses and hearses.

251-inches long overall, equipped with power steering, power brakes, a 390 cubic inch V8 engine and dominated by a vast plexi panel ‘Skyview’ roof, the car was designed to accommodate 11 passengers. It remained in service at the hotel until the early 1970s, was then was sold to a Cadillac collector in Branford, Connecticut and subsequently underwent a full restoration at the behest of its current owner.

Bonhams will sell this unusual vehicle at their Amelia Island auction on 9^th March at the Fernandina Beach Club. They have set an estimate of £140,000 to £200,000 ($175,000 to $250,000 or €165,000 to €235,000 or درهم640,000 to درهم915,000) and describe it as “one of the most exclusive Cadillacs ever built”.

February 20, 2017