Wales' papers: Tourism tax go-ahead and 'violent death' inquest
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Telegraph
20 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Dear Richard Madeley: My son's a gambler – how can I sidestep him in my will without being unfair?
Dear Richard, Last year I became a widow, and I now own outright a small cottage with a lovely garden. I live there with my 'prodigal son'. He was/is a gambler (officially he has stopped but I'm not so sure). My husband and I bailed him out many times until Gam-Anon informed us that this was 'enabling' – so we stopped. However after my husband's death he moved in with me. He is pushing 55 and has a low-paid job and owes God knows how much to the taxman; I ask for only modest contributions to our day-to-day expenses (so I'm still effectively enabling him I suppose). It's not an ideal situation but I wasn't ready to live alone and I do rather like having him around. I have four children in all; two of my three daughters 'married well' as we used to say and have plenty of cash; the third, my eldest, has not been so fortunate, but has always worked. I had intended to leave my cottage to her daughter, my eldest granddaughter, and the residue of my estate equally between my children. I have floated this plan to my children and they grudgingly accepted that there is a case for favouring the grandchild who currently has no expectation of an inheritance; but three of the four are clearly not happy about the idea. Should I instead just split my estate equally between my children, knowing that there is at least a chance my son will simply squander his share? – G, Wiltshire Dear G, First and foremost it's important to say that you are entitled to leave your estate to precisely who or what you want. If that happens to be the local duck sanctuary, so be it. But obviously you care what your children think about your plans, otherwise you wouldn't be agonising like this and you wouldn't have written to me. On the face of it, the proposal to leave your cottage to your granddaughter seems somewhat arbitrary. You don't offer any clear reasoning for this, and judging by your children's grumpy reaction to the news, they're puzzled and irritated by it. If it's simply a way of safely siphoning off a significant chunk of your estate so that your son cannot be tempted to gamble it away, that certainly does seem rather unfair on his siblings. Why should they miss out because of his past (and possibly present/future) fecklessness? I'm not surprised they're a bit miffed. I can only tell you what I would do, G. I'd split the lot four ways and leave equal shares to all my children, thus banishing any resentment or acrimony at a stroke. I may be tempted to put the son's quarter into some kind of trust, perhaps buy him an annuity, so he couldn't squander the lot in a spectacular fall from grace. But perhaps that's something you should talk to your lawyer about. Overall, though, I believe in treating children equally in a last will and testament, unless there are compelling reasons to favour one or some over others. I can't see that being the case here, so my advice is summarised in the acronym I've quoted here several times before: KISS. Keep It Super Simple.
Reuters
32 minutes ago
- Reuters
Power line that triggered major Czech outage was not over-burdened, operator says
PRAGUE, July 10 (Reuters) - A high-voltage power line that snapped at the start of a major power outage in the Czech Republic on Friday was not over-burdened at the time, grid operator CEPS said on Thursday, adding it was still investigating the cause. The outage hit about million customers, halted hundreds of trains, and shut down industrial sites including a major oil refinery. It also added to concerns about the vulnerability of European power grids after recent outages in Spain and Britain. Giving details about the sequence of events that affected the central European country's power grid - which is also linked to neighbouring countries - CEPS said the problem appeared to start at 11.51 a.m. (0951 GMT) when a cable on the 400 kilovolt V411 line in north-west of the country snapped. The reason for this is still under investigation, but there was no third-party interference, CEPS Chairman Martin Durcak told a news conference. The grid is designed to cope with such a failure and should not disintegrate, he said. However, the incident was followed less than two minutes later by the failure of unit 6 of the Ledvice power plant in the north of the country, which was running at around 300 megawatts. "We are looking into this with our colleagues (from Ledvice owner CEZ ( opens new tab), if there is any causality," Durcak said. At 11.59 a.m., network operators were forced to turn off the 200 kilovolt V208 high-voltage power line in the centre of the country after it became over-burdened, and after that an eastern substation failed together with the V401 high-voltage link. This created breaks in the grid, with insufficient power production across the north-east of the country and parts of the centre, and then the outage. The affected area included nine of the country's 45 substations, and about one sixth of all customers. All substations were back up within three hours, CEPS said, and by 10 p.m. the snapped cable was fixed. The grid was carrying large, but routine cross-border flows, as traders bought power from abroad due to lower prices there.
The Sun
34 minutes ago
- The Sun
I planned dream wedding to my soulmate then he almost died in horror crash, we tied the knot in hospital to save big day
A GROOM who is lucky to be alive after a horror motorcycle crash has tied the knot in hospital where he's being treated for life-changing injuries. Roddy and Polly McDonald thought they would have to postpone their big day on June 7 after Roddy suffered double-breaks in his arm and leg - as well as a fractured spine. 3 3 But they decided to go ahead anyway - since many of their close friends had travelled to Dundee from across the UK and as far away as Australia and New Zealand. Staff at the city's Ninewells Hospital Major Trauma Centre and the Spiritual Care team swung into action to help the lovebirds, both in their fifties, arrange a wedding in the hospital chapel. Stunning pictures show the happy couple, of Coupar Angus, Perthshire, smiling from ear to ear in the major trauma ward with Roddy donning a kilt as he sat in a wheelchair with his arm in a cast and wearing a supportive leg brace. Roddy, who is now recovering at home, said: 'The whole experience really was incredible. The hospital staff were outstanding, every single one of them went above and beyond to help us. 'We postponed the wedding after the accident as there was no way that we were going to be able to do it the way we planned but then someone mentioned that there was a chapel in the hospital and that we could get married there. 'We had so many of our friends and family here and we just took the opportunity to go for it. It was very special, Polly looked beautiful in her dress and I even managed to wear my kilt. 'I am very grateful to everyone who helped us. The care, the banter, the compassion shown by everyone was exceptional. 'I know that I have a long road ahead in recovery but I am a positive person and I will keep going forward. 'I know that I am very lucky to be alive and I am so happy that I got to marry my beautiful wife on the date we originally planned.' Polly said they ceremony was beautiful and emotional, despite being so different to their original plans. I tried stunning wedding guest dress at Dunnes Stores – it's the perfect staple to have in wardrobe for events at €40 She added: 'Roddy is my absolute soulmate and ours is a real love story. 'It really was wonderful, I feel like we've beaten the odds. At one point, I really thought I was going to lose him so to be able to marry him on the day we had planned was really special. 'All of the staff we came across were just incredible, from the consultants to nurses to the physios to the domestic staff, everyone has been lovely and were so supportive.' East of Scotland Major Trauma Network manager Fiona Hutcheson said: 'We were privileged to support Roddy and his family during his time in hospital and were delighted to help him and his new wife have their special day.'
