Prince Charles Launches Blistering Attack On Businesses That Ignore His Climate WarningsThe Guardian 28 January 2015
Jo Confino
Prince Charles has launched a blistering attack on companies that are actively seeking to delay progress on preventing runaway climate change. Highlighting the need for a radical shift in the way the economy is run, he said that over the past decade he has been met by either indifference from mainstream business leaders and economists, or outright opposition.
Pointing out that science had proved beyond doubt the terrifying impacts of inaction, he called on executives to collapse the chasm between how they acted at home and what they were prepared to do in the office.
“We need to start integrating the business public self with the private family self,” he told a meeting of the Corporate Leaders Group. “So that when you go home in the evenings, perhaps you think a little bit about what you are doing and whether it is the right way to go.”
A decade ago, the prince said few businesses were contemplating the transformative changes required to achieve sustainability, with the majority “actively delaying progress by equating environmental action with damage to their balance sheets.”
In the more than 100 meetings and seminars he has attended since then, the prince said he had “experienced every sort of reaction to the suggestions from myself and many others that time is running out. The negative reactions have ranged from polite indifference to the pronouncement by an economist – who else - that I was ‘the enemy of the enlightenment’.”
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4) The Man Who Sees Himself The Saviour King
The Independent on Sunday, 1 February 2015
John Rentoul & James Hanning
The Prince of Wales sees himself as a saviour, others think he’ll be a meddling monarch
Constitutional experts fear Prince Charles could provoke a political crisis.
Jo Confino
Prince Charles has launched a blistering attack on companies that are actively seeking to delay progress on preventing runaway climate change. Highlighting the need for a radical shift in the way the economy is run, he said that over the past decade he has been met by either indifference from mainstream business leaders and economists, or outright opposition.
Pointing out that science had proved beyond doubt the terrifying impacts of inaction, he called on executives to collapse the chasm between how they acted at home and what they were prepared to do in the office.
“We need to start integrating the business public self with the private family self,” he told a meeting of the Corporate Leaders Group. “So that when you go home in the evenings, perhaps you think a little bit about what you are doing and whether it is the right way to go.”
A decade ago, the prince said few businesses were contemplating the transformative changes required to achieve sustainability, with the majority “actively delaying progress by equating environmental action with damage to their balance sheets.”
In the more than 100 meetings and seminars he has attended since then, the prince said he had “experienced every sort of reaction to the suggestions from myself and many others that time is running out. The negative reactions have ranged from polite indifference to the pronouncement by an economist – who else - that I was ‘the enemy of the enlightenment’.”
Full story
4) The Man Who Sees Himself The Saviour King
The Independent on Sunday, 1 February 2015
John Rentoul & James Hanning
The Prince of Wales sees himself as a saviour, others think he’ll be a meddling monarch
Constitutional experts fear Prince Charles could provoke a political crisis.
The Prince of Wales' preparations for an activist monarchy have prompted a backlash, as a new book revealed a dysfunctional and divided court around him.
Someone who has worked closely with him said: "He is dying to have his go with the train set. He does cause concern with his outbursts. He'll struggle to restrain himself."
The book, Charles, The Heart of a King, by Catherine Mayer, claims he is a tortured individual who endures moments of "extreme despondency" and feels guilty about his privileged upbringing.
It says the Prince's court at Clarence House is riven by Wolf Hall-style intrigue and divisions. Wolf Hall is a book and TV series set in the court of Henry VIII. Mayer writes that Charles often creates unnecessary turf wars between courtiers by failing to set clear boundaries.
The Prince has stepped up the number of meetings with ministers and civil servants recently, partly in recognition of the Queen's advancing age.
The Supreme Court is expected to rule this month on whether his "black spider" letters to ministers should be published. But some observers are concerned he is pushing for a more active role in national life even before he succeeds to the throne. Someone with close links to the Palace said: "It is no accident that he writes all those letters to ministers. He does see himself as a kind of saviour of the nation, someone who can mend the broken country. Some might see that as presumptuously messianic."
Another said: "He tends to dash off his letters without a great deal of consideration. He is far too energetic for his own good."
Constitutional experts are concerned that he could provoke a political crisis, especially if he were to become involved in discussions in a hung Parliament after an election. Civil servants have had discussions about the transition to a new monarch, and are believed to have touched on the sensitive question of what should happen if the Queen's health fails.
The Fixed-Term Parliament Act has removed virtually all the remaining elements of royal prerogative in the event of a hung Parliament but there is some anxiety that the Prince is less likely than his mother to be a largely passive onlooker.
A senior official said: "He does seem more difficult to deal with the older he gets. The age of smooth relations between the Palace and politicians, when they were all of roughly the same milieu, is not as it was."
The Prince has let it be known that he hopes other religions will be included when he accedes the throne, and over the weekend stories have emerged suggesting he wants to modernise the honours system. Jonathan Dimbleby, the Prince's biographer, commented a year ago: "A quiet constitutional revolution is afoot ... I predict he will go well beyond what any previous constitutional monarch has ever essayed."
Someone who has worked closely with him said: "He is dying to have his go with the train set. He does cause concern with his outbursts. He'll struggle to restrain himself."
The book, Charles, The Heart of a King, by Catherine Mayer, claims he is a tortured individual who endures moments of "extreme despondency" and feels guilty about his privileged upbringing.
It says the Prince's court at Clarence House is riven by Wolf Hall-style intrigue and divisions. Wolf Hall is a book and TV series set in the court of Henry VIII. Mayer writes that Charles often creates unnecessary turf wars between courtiers by failing to set clear boundaries.
The Prince has stepped up the number of meetings with ministers and civil servants recently, partly in recognition of the Queen's advancing age.
The Supreme Court is expected to rule this month on whether his "black spider" letters to ministers should be published. But some observers are concerned he is pushing for a more active role in national life even before he succeeds to the throne. Someone with close links to the Palace said: "It is no accident that he writes all those letters to ministers. He does see himself as a kind of saviour of the nation, someone who can mend the broken country. Some might see that as presumptuously messianic."
Another said: "He tends to dash off his letters without a great deal of consideration. He is far too energetic for his own good."
Constitutional experts are concerned that he could provoke a political crisis, especially if he were to become involved in discussions in a hung Parliament after an election. Civil servants have had discussions about the transition to a new monarch, and are believed to have touched on the sensitive question of what should happen if the Queen's health fails.
The Fixed-Term Parliament Act has removed virtually all the remaining elements of royal prerogative in the event of a hung Parliament but there is some anxiety that the Prince is less likely than his mother to be a largely passive onlooker.
A senior official said: "He does seem more difficult to deal with the older he gets. The age of smooth relations between the Palace and politicians, when they were all of roughly the same milieu, is not as it was."
The Prince has let it be known that he hopes other religions will be included when he accedes the throne, and over the weekend stories have emerged suggesting he wants to modernise the honours system. Jonathan Dimbleby, the Prince's biographer, commented a year ago: "A quiet constitutional revolution is afoot ... I predict he will go well beyond what any previous constitutional monarch has ever essayed."
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