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Betty MacDonald, the author of The Egg and I and the Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle Series is beloved all over the world. Don't miss Wolfgang Hampel's Betty MacDonald biography and his very witty interviews on CD and DVD!
Friday, April 8, 2016
Betty MacDonald, Maurice Sendak and a great winner
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Let's talk about Betty MacDonald fan club book cover contest.
We introduce a very beautiful book cover by famous author, artist and illustrator Maurice Sendak. You can vote for your favourite Betty MacDonald book cover. Deadline: June 30, 2016 Betty MacDonald fan club book cover contest winner will be owner of a signed first
edition of one of Betty MacDonald's books.
Great Betty MacDonald fan club ESC news will be published on Betty MacDonald fan club blog. It's a fact that Italy, Spain, Portugal and Germany have been robbed winning Eurovision Song Contest several times.
A
wonderful Betty MacDonald fan club ESC surprise for Betty MacDonald fan
club ESC fans from all over the world is waiting for you.
David Cameron was left dangerously exposed on Tuesday after repeatedly failing to provide a clear and full account about links to an offshore fund set up by his late father, as the storm over the Panama Papers gathered strength in both the UK and elsewhere around the world. The prime minister and his office have now offered three partial answers about the fund set up by his father Ian,
which avoided ever paying tax in Britain. The key unanswered question
is whether the prime minister’s family stands to gain in the future from
his father’s company, Blairmore, an investment fund run from the
Bahamas.
After Downing Street said on Monday that the fund was a “private
matter”, a journalist asked Cameron about it during a visit to
Birmingham on Tuesday. Cameron replied: “I own no shares, no offshore trusts, no offshore funds, nothing like that. And, so that, I think, is a very clear description.” He dodged the key part of the question about whether he or his family stood to benefit. Having failed to satisfy reporters, Downing Street issued a further
statement that Cameron’s wife and children also do not benefit from
offshore funds but again left the main question about the future
unanswered. The Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, who had called earlier in the day for an independent investigation,
told the Guardian: “Three times Downing Street has been asked to
provide a full and comprehensive answer. The public has a right to know
the truth. “We need to know the full extent of the links between Britain and the
web of tax avoidance and evasion revealed by the Panama Papers at all
levels.”
The leak of 11.5m files from the Panama-based Mossack Fonseca
continued to create uproar and upheaval around the world. The documents
were leaked to the German daily Süddeutsche Zeitung, which shared them
with the Washington-based International Consortium of Investigative
Journalists, the Guardian, the BBC and other media organisations. The latest developments include:
The German justice minister, Heiko Maas, said the country planned
to introduce a new national transparency register to make offshore
companies disclose their owners’ identity.
France’s finance minister announced that Panama would again be blacklisted as an uncooperative tax haven.
Pakistan’s prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, announced that he would set
up an independent judicial commission to investigate whether his family
was involved in anything illegal through ownership several offshore
companies.
Revelations that the president of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, has secretly built one of the single biggest offshore property empires in Britain, owning dozens of central London properties worth more than £1.2bn through offshore companies supplied by Mossack Fonseca.
The row embroiling Cameron picked up pace on Tuesday morning when
Corbyn responded to Downing Street’s assertion that the matter was
private by telling reporters: “Well, it’s a private matter insofar as
it’s a privately held interest. But it’s not a private matter if tax is
not being paid. So an investigation must take place, an independent
investigation, unprejudiced, to decide whether or not tax has been
paid.”
Later in the day, Cameron told reporters: “In terms of my
own financial affairs, I own no shares. I have a salary as prime
minister and I have some savings, which I get some interest from and I
have a house, which we used to live in, which we now let out while we
are living in Downing Street and that’s all I have.” Downing Street returned to the issue later. A No 10 spokesperson
said: “To be clear, the prime minister, his wife and their children do
not benefit from any offshore funds. The prime minister owns no shares.
“As has been previously reported, Mrs Cameron owns a small
number of shares connected to her father’s land, which she declares on
her tax return.” Downing Street also attempted to shift the argument back to Labour. A
source called on people “suggesting that Mr Cameron and his family are
benefiting from off shore trusts” to come forward with evidence. “The
onus is on them to put up or shut up. The prime minister has put out a
very clear statement.” As well as pressing Cameron, Corbyn called for a cleanup of Britain’s
overseas territories and dependencies, such as the British Virgin
Islands, which accounts for about half the companies named in the Panama
Papers, the Cayman Islands and Anguilla. He said the government should consider imposing direct rule on
British overseas territories and crown dependencies, which lie at the
heart of the allegations.
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The
government had already scheduled a meeting of G7 countries in London on
12 May to discuss the overseas territories and crown dependencies. Tax
campaigners, however, said that government officials had been
downplaying expectations for months, telling them that tax would not be
high on the agenda and that instead the main item would be corruption,
such as the low-level bribery of officials. The shadow leader of the Commons, Chris Bryant, who was responsible
for overseas territories and dependencies when Labour was in power and
was involved in a standoff with them over transparency, said: “There is a
great deal of power the government has if it chooses to exercise it,
even without the nuclear option of direct rule.” He said he had pressed them to be more transparent and tried to put
pressure on them by refusing to authorise loans, but the standoff ended
when the Conservatives took power. The City regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority, also responded
to the Panama Papers. It said: “The FCA has written to a number of firms
about this issue, including those on our systematic anti-money
laundering programme, and we are working closely with a number of other
agencies who are also looking at this. “As part of our responsibility to ensure the integrity of the UK
financial markets, we require all authorised firms to have systems and
controls in place to mitigate the risk that they might be used to commit
financial crime. We have also today published our annual business plan
which identifies financial crime and anti-money laundering activity as
one of our priorities for the year.” In
the US, Obama addressed reporters at the White House, making the
highest profile intervention yet in favour of the global reform of tax
avoidance. “There is no doubt that the problem of global tax avoidance generally
is a huge problem. The problem is that a lot of this stuff is legal,
not illegal,” he said. The US president said the leak from Panama illustrated the scale of
tax avoidance involving Fortune 500 companies, running into trillions of
dollars worldwide. “We shouldn’t make it legal to engage in transactions just to avoid
taxes,” he said, praising instead “the basic principle of making sure
everyone pays their fair share”. Only about 200 US citizens have been identified so far in the leaked
data, but the US justice department, which aggressively pursues cases
both domestically but internationally, issued a statement saying it
“takes very seriously all credible allegations of high level, foreign
corruption that might have a link to the United States or the US
financial system”.
Mister Tigerli’s Eurovision Song Contest Copyright 2013/2016 by Letizia Mancino All rights reserved translated by Mary Holmes
Are you saying that Mister Tigerli is in love with a new girl, Letizia?
You’ve got it, Betty.
And what’s happened to his beautiful Russian girl?
He
loves her. She was with him for two whole weeks when I was in the USA.
It’s just that Tigerli sometimes needs a bit of a change!
But he’s already got three girls.
He can still imagine having another.
But four would be enough!!
Not for the Casanova-cat. Oh Betty why is there in every cat a cock?
And why is there in every man a cock, Letizia?
Why, Betty?
My 'dear' Bob said that three hens is only the “hors-d’oeuvre” for a cock
Am I only an “hors-d’oeuvre”?
Who then is his new flame?
“Natalie Horler!”
Surely not! Natalie of Cascada?
Exactly Betty, she is Mister Tigerli’s new love.
A television love then?
She sings beautifully and she is wonderful to look at!
That cat has taste!
Let’s wait and see if our Mister Tigerli feels the need of a top-model or a tennis star?
Is there also a good woman vet on the list?
Whatever for? Tigerli is a picture of health, Betty. Love keeps him young!!
In
any case Tigerli is a clever cat: he is good at keeping his women
occupied. You pay the rent and for his keep, Renate works in his rose
garden, the Russian girl strokes him and licks his fur and Natalie…?
Natalie takes care of his entertainment!
A cat with a good artistic sense!
A
good artistic sense? Our Mister Tigerli? But Betty, what about my art? I
hardly get to do any painting in my studio these days because I have to
protect him from breathing in the turpentine fumes!
I thought it was his studio?
Yes, yes… but in the time before Mister Tigerli (b.m.t) I painted many oil paintings, but now when I sometimes do paint the pictures are covered with cat hairs!
You paint using a mixed technique, Roman Nose! Very modern!
But Betty, no one in a hundred years would believe that I had ever painted those pictures!
You’re right. The art historians will attribute all your works to Mister Tigerli!
What bad luck!
Be
happy about it. That will be the only way that your pictures will come
into the museums. Cat art is very sought after! When art is not
innovative it has no chance!
Betty, why am I not a cat?
But now I want to know, Letizia, does Tigerli wants to get to know Natalie in person?
Naturally, and at once! He wants to practice with Natalie.
Does he want to chase mice with her?
No, he wants to sing with her!
What a wonderful idea!
You’re right Betty! In 2014 he wants to put on a performance with her!
No!!!
Yes, at the Eurovision Song Contest.
They will win!
He is already practicing the Eurowalk at home.
What is the Eurowalk?
Taking long strides in very high-heeled shoes.
That must be exhausting for a cat!
And how! He walks so slowly when we walk together round the house, he needs a whole hour to mark out his small territory.
We? You also?
No I don’t do that. Naturally he marks his area alone. But I’m there as his escort!
Yes, someone could kidnap him. He’s so famous!
At the beginning he was really scared of Natalie!
That’s how a great love can start to grow!
Oh the cat is cheeky enough. But he was afraid of her shoes!
He’s such a small chap.
He’s not so small! Have you seen the height Natalie’s heels?
Sky scrapers.
You’ve said it Betty. A woman becomes three meters tall.
A woman would have no trouble biting the heads of the men.
Have you seen how strong the soles are? Just a kick from Natalie and Tigerli would be dead as a doornail!
That would be such a tragedy. These shoes are really weapons against men!
Absolutely!
One kick from these shoes could put a man’s delicate lower regions permanently out of action!
Better that spraying pepper in their eyes!
Then
be careful when you both meet Natalie, Letizia. It would be best if you
carried Mister Tigerli on your back. Do you also wear high heels?
Unfortunately not, Betty. I wear only ballerina type shoes.
Then Tigerli will not be able to look into Natalie’s eyes!
That is a problem!
He’ll only be able to look at Natalie’s breast!
But that will certainly charm him.
And also her.
I have once had a delicate cat bite on my breast and I can only recommend that to any woman.
What a pity that Mister Tigerli doesn’t live in Seattle!
It is a pity, Betty! Your Bob and Don wouldn’t have been against it!
Happy Natalie!
Tigerli and Natalie Horler together will certainly win the next Eurovision Song Contest!
Yes I’m sure of it!
But Tigerli will change the name from “Cascada”.
Why, is he frightened of water?
No, but the name “Cascada” gives an image of water falling down, no
upwards zip. The group would have no chance of winning with that name!
Tigerli is right. What name will he give the group?
“Geyser”! That's good! Very zippy!!
Like when he marks the trees!
With this name Tigerli and Natalie will have no trouble in winning the Song Contest! Do you know which song they will sing?
Betty MacDonald Fan Club, founded by Wolfgang Hampel, has members in 40 countries.
Wolfgang Hampel, author of Betty MacDonald biography interviewed Betty MacDonald's family and friends. His Interviews have been published on CD and DVD by Betty MacDonald Fan Club. If you are interested in the Betty MacDonald Biography or the Betty MacDonald Interviews send us a mail, please.
Several original Interviews with Betty MacDonald are available.
We are also organizing international Betty MacDonald Fan Club Events for example, Betty MacDonald Fan Club Eurovision Song Contest Meetings in Oslo and Düsseldorf, Royal Wedding Betty MacDonald Fan Club Event in Stockholm and Betty MacDonald Fan Club Fifa Worldcup Conferences in South Africa and Germany.
Betty MacDonald Fan Club Honour Members are Monica Sone, author of Nisei Daughter and described as Kimi in Betty MacDonald's The Plague and I, Betty MacDonald's nephew, artist and writer Darsie Beck, Betty MacDonald fans and beloved authors and artists Gwen Grant, Letizia Mancino, Perry Woodfin, Traci Tyne Hilton, Tatjana Geßler, music producer Bernd Kunze, musician Thomas Bödigheimer, translater Mary Holmes and Mr. Tigerli.
