Chancellor, who read history at Oxford, uses tale of King John and Magna Carta signing to mock Labour leader Nice one, chancellor. In offering budget support for celebrations to mark 800 years since the signing of the Magna Carta, the former Oxford history student could not resist a passing prod at Ed Miliband, who only read philosophy, politics and economics. "King John's humbling, centuries ago...
t imagine a way in which Neanderthals would have been able to force mammoths down this slope and then up again before they even got to the edge of the headland," said Beccy Scott, an archaeologist at the British Museum. "And they...
s fledgling parliament and the wealthy owners of the Telegraph Media Group, the Barclay brothers, may be harming Sark's future, an influential House of Commons committee is warning on Thursday. Five years after feudalism was banished and the island's first democratic elections held, the justice committee has produced a report claiming that divisions between the new parliament and Sir David and Sir...
s democratic reforms are incomplete and MPs' report fails to understand true cause of Sark's difficulties The Barclay brothers, owners of the Telegraph Media Group, have launched a fierce attack on the fledgling government of the tiny Channel island of Sark, claiming it is undemocratic and harming the local economy. Sir David and Sir Frederick made clear their views about the Sark government as a House...
s biggest confiscation order A Jersey court has ordered Curtis Warren to pay £198m after the drug dealer failed to prove he had not earned that sum in a lifetime of high-level criminality. Warren, a 50-year-old former bouncer from Liverpool famed as the only drug smuggler to make it on to the Sunday Times Rich List, will be handed a default sentence of 10 years unless he surrenders the whole amount...
highly defamatory' articles Jersey's former health minister has been sentenced to three months in prison after refusing to take down articles on his blog making serious allegations against a number of people on the island. Stuart Syvret, described by one judge as "a thorn in the side of the [Jersey] establishment", did not attend the court hearing in the royal court in St Helier on Monday but was arrested...
s incident at Les Ecrehous have been found." John Dowling, manager of the Priory Inn, said the five who were in the plane came into his pub with police after they had landed. "No one was injured, everyone was all right and that's the main thing, isn't it?" he said. "Of course they were shaken up. You would be too if you'd just crash landed a plane, wouldn't you?" The coastguard received a call at about...
s most notorious drug dealer and once headed Interpol's target list. In his first ever interview, he tells Helen Pidd at his prison in Jersey that he is 'anti-drugs', hasn't squirrelled away £198m – and is the victim of a miscarriage of justice There is only one prison on Jersey. La Moye is tucked away down an unmarked country lane and has to cater for everyone caught on the 14km-wide island: drink-drivers,...
s most notorious drug smugglers has been told to pay £185m – or face another 10 years in jail. Curtis Warren , the only drug dealer to make it on to the Sunday Times Rich List , faces a confiscation enforcement hearing this week in Jersey, where he was jailed in 2007 over a £1m cannabis-smuggling plot. Authorities believe the 50-year-old has benefited to the tune of £185m from a global empire of drug...
get our own houses in order' before G8 summit in June, where he claims tax avoidance will be a priority David Cameron has written to the leaders of Britain's offshore tax havens stressing the need to "get our own houses in order" as he pushes for international action to tackle avoidance schemes. In a message to 10 crown dependencies and British overseas territories Cameron said he backed their right...
s map of weather warnings, the country is wearing a large yellow shawl, signifying the third, "be aware", level of the standard four alerts. Jersey airport has been closed by snow that also caused long delays to local and London commuter trains in Sussex and Hampshire. Strong winds have caused traffic problems and road closures from Cumbria to Wales and the West Country, with the winds reaching gale...
why not make something original to the Channel Islands?'," she told the BBC. "One of my great delights has been watching the reaction of the artist who designed our tapestry. She has put in the stitches herself and felt that it was coming to life in a way that she had not possibly imagined and was thrilled by it." The Bayeux tapestry was commissioned by William the Conqueror's half-brother Bishop Odo...
s closure of a loophole allowing it to sell VAT-free CDs and DVDs from the Channel Islands Online retailer Play.com is to shut down its retail business following the UK government's closure of a loophole allowing it to sell VAT-free CDs and DVDs from the Channel Islands. The company is reportedly making 147 staff redundant in Jersey as well as 67 in its Cambridge and Bristol offices as a result of...
s Panorama will surely enrage the notoriously touchy Barclay boys. Sirs David and Frederick Barclay are media tycoons who like to stay out of the media spotlight. Often described as reclusive, the proprietors of the Telegraph Media Group dislike the term. They prefer to regard themselves as people who merely wish to be private. Semantics aside, the point is that they have a history of complaining whenever...
s chief minister says Channel Islands and overseas territories discussing agreement modelled on US arrangements The UK government is exploring whether it can force the British Virgin Islands and other offshore havens for which it is ultimately responsible to share far more information on owners of offshore trusts and companies. Jersey's chief minister, Ian Gorst, confirmed that Channel Island officials...
management and control' issue firmly outside a high tax jurisdiction." This allows the owners to claim the company is being run from an overseas tax haven, rather than from where they live. Hester says he is a genuine director. His lawyer said: "Our client has the right not to execute documents, can alter bank mandates, can enter into contracts, and is free to resign." The accountants and intermediaries...
family home. But inquiries reveal the family left town more than a decade ago. As neighbours and friends working within the local offshore financial industry in Sark scattered across the globe, the couple moved to the Caribbean. John Parker, the owner of a British incorporation agency, explained in an email: "Sarah and Edward Petre-Mears have dual residence – Sark and Nevis … The reason for this is...
James Ball travels to Nevis searching for Sarah Petre-Mears, who on paper controls more than 1,200 companies James Ball Ken Macfarlane Mariana Santos Mustafa Khalili Alex Healey Mark McCormick ...