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ITV News
5 days ago
- Politics
- ITV News
King Charles opens wing named after himself at Oxford's Centre of Islamic Studies
ITV News Meridian's Wesley Smith has been in Oxford to find out more. King Charles described the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies as a 'beacon of Islamic scholarship' when he visited to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the institution. Crowds gathered to watch the King open a new wing named after himself. His Majesty, who is a patron of the centre, was welcomed by its director, Dr Farhan Nizami and Lord Hague, the new Chancellor of Oxford University. The wing will host the 'King Charles III Programme', a new initiative to consolidate key activities inspired by his beliefs. Founded in 1985, the centre evolution has been closely followed by the King, even being granted a Royal Charter by his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, in 2012. The centre hosts a 'young Muslim Leadership Programme,' as well as conferences focused on global issues like the environment and sustainability, both close to the King's heart. Addressing the congregation, His Majesty said, "In this milestone anniversary year, I can only say that it is with enormous pride and admiration that I join you all here today to pay tribute to this remarkable centre. "The centre's ongoing commitment to objective scholarship and international co-operation, underpinned by principles of dialogue, deep understanding and mutual respect, is more imperative than ever in today's world." The visit was rounded off with a reception in the aptly named, King Charles III Garden with a chance to meet interfaith representatives, academics and trustees. The King has a history with co-founder of the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies, Dr Farhan Ahmad Nizami, as they first met when the king visited in 1993. The then-Prince of Wales gave a passionate lecture at the Sheldonian Theatre about the need for religious tolerance. Many saw it as a milestone in race relations. Speaking in 1993, he said, "If there is much misunderstanding in the West about the nature of Islam, there is also much ignorance about the debt our own culture and civilisation owe to the Islamic world. "It is a failure which stems, I think, from the straitjacket of history which we have inherited." Since then, the centre has found it important to work on the international stage to improve islamic relations. The centre's director Dr. Farhan Nizami said, "That is why we need these occasions more and more and that is why the relevance of the centre has increased over time. "There is now a bigger responsibility upon us but equally, this is a mark of the importance of these times that need to be addressed."
Business News Wales
14-07-2025
- Business
- Business News Wales
Worshipful Company of Distillers to Visit Wales for Historic Penderyn Inspection
City of London Livery Company The Worshipful Company of Distillers is set to exercise its right set out in its Royal Charter of 1638 signed by King James Ⅱ to inspect the Penderyn Distillery in Aberdare. The Worshipful Company of Distillers will be supported by Officers and members of The Worshipful Livery Company of Wales. All Liverymen will be dressed in traditional Livery dress of full Livery Gowns and Medallions. Nick Carr, Master of the Worshipful Company of Distillers said: 'The Worshipful Company of Distillers is looking forward to exercising its ancient right, granted to it under its Royal Charter signed by King James Ⅱ IN 1638 to 'Inspect' the Penderyn Distillery. Inspections today are entirely symbolic and a colourful reminder of the historic role of Livery Companies governing all aspects of their trade. The Inspecting Master (and Immediate Past Master of the Company), Mr Lorne Mackillop, will leave no sample untested.' Henry Gilbert, Master of the Worshipful Livery Company of Wales, said: 'We are looking forward to supporting our London colleagues in this visit to Wales as they carry out the first inspection of a Distillery in Wales in 400 years.' Stephen Davies, Managing Director of The Welsh Whisky Company, said: 'We are looking forward to showing the Worshipful Company of Distillers and The Worshipful Livery Company of Wales the world class facilities we have at our Penderyn Distillery including our unique Faraday whisky stills.'
Straits Times
26-06-2025
- Business
- Straits Times
BBC rolls out paid subscriptions for US users
The BBC has seen a fall in the number of people paying the licence fee in its home base in Britain. PHOTO: REUTERS LONDON - The BBC is rolling out paid subscriptions in the US, it said on June 26, as the publicly-funded broadcaster explores new revenue streams amid negotiations with the British government over its funding. The BBC has, in recent years, seen a fall in the number of people paying the licence fee, a charge of £174.50 (S$305) a year levied on all households who watch live TV, as viewers have turned to more content online. From June 26, frequent US visitors to the BBC's news website will have to pay US$49.99 (S$63.80) per year or US$8.99 per month for unlimited access to news articles, feature stories, and a 24-hour livestream of its news programmes. While its services will remain free to British users as part of its public service remit, its news website operates commercially and reaches 139 million users worldwide, including nearly 60 million in the US. The new pay model uses an engagement-based system, the corporation said in a statement, allowing casual readers to access free content. 'Over the next few months, as we test and learn more about audience needs and habits, additional long-form factual content will be added to the offer for paying users,' said Ms Rebecca Glashow, chief executive of BBC Global Media & Streaming. The British government said last November it would review the BBC's Royal Charter, which sets out the broadcaster's terms and funding model, with the aim of ensuring a sustainable and fair system beyond 2027. To give the corporation financial certainty up to then, the government said it was committed to keeping the licence in its current form and would lift the fee in line with inflation. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Daily Record
14-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Record
17th Century Scottish pub named among the best in the UK for live music
A much-loved Glasgow pub has been named one of the UK's top live music venues by Eat Drink Meet One of Glasgow's most cherished pubs has just been recognised as one of the best in the UK for live music, and locals won't be surprised. The Curlers Rest on Byres Road has earned a spot in the top 10 UK pubs for live music, according to Eat Drink Meet , a discovery platform that lets users filter pubs and bars based on everything from food to entertainment, Glasgow Live reports. Reviewers praised the west end institution, saying: 'Live jazz on Wednesdays, trad sessions on Thursdays, The Curlers Rest is where Glasgow's west end comes to life through music. "From 8pm each night, this laid-back yet lively pub sets the perfect tone for an evening of great tunes, hearty food and a proper pint.' The venue's eclectic vibe is part of its enduring appeal. 'With its quirky atmosphere and characterful interiors, The Curlers Rest caters to every occasion, from leisurely lunches and family dinners, to late-night catch-ups with friends. Add an extensive drinks list and a warm Glaswegian welcome, and you've got a pub that truly feels like home,' the review added. Dating back to the 17th century, the Curlers is believed to be the oldest surviving pub on Byres Road and one of several Glasgow bars that claim to be the city's oldest. Its long and colourful history adds to its character. Local history site Old Glasgow Pubs recalls that in 1858, the tavern was owned by James Sinclair, a coach hirer and manufacturer. Following his death, his wife briefly ran the pub until James Kay, a Maryhill native born in 1838, took over the licence. He and his wife Margaret raised seven daughters on nearby Ruthven Street. In 1910, John Green became the new landlord, paying £55 per year in rent. The pub remained in the Green family for six decades before being sold in 1970 for £160,000. The final Green to own it, Eric Green, passed the reins to Tennents Caledonian Breweries, who took over that summer and carried out a refurbishment in 1972. At the time, manager Vincent Paterson oversaw a team of around 40 staff. The pub's name pays homage to a local curling pond that was in use until the late 19th century, when the sport was a popular winter pastime. According to folklore, the venue originally opened as a 17th-century coffee house. One tale even claims that King Charles II once visited, and after discovering that the pub's licence didn't allow for Sunday trading, granted a Royal Charter to allow it. However, no official record of such a charter has ever been found. Join the Daily Record WhatsApp community! Get the latest news sent straight to your messages by joining our WhatsApp community today. You'll receive daily updates on breaking news as well as the top headlines across Scotland. No one will be able to see who is signed up and no one can send messages except the Daily Record team. All you have to do is click here if you're on mobile, select 'Join Community' and you're in! If you're on a desktop, simply scan the QR code above with your phone and click 'Join Community'. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. To leave our community click on the name at the top of your screen and choose 'exit group'. If you're curious, you can read our Privacy Notice. In the present day, the Curlers continues to charm regulars and visitors alike. The pub describes itself as 'the heart and soul of Glasgow's cosmopolitan west end,' offering 'pies, pints and tempting dishes.' Recent TripAdvisor reviews reflect the same warmth and welcome long associated with the place. One visitor wrote: 'Good food, friendly staff. This is a regular haunt because it's so relaxing and has customers of all ages. Would definitely recommend.' Another lucky guest stumbled into one of the bar's themed quiz nights and left delighted: 'What a lovely evening we had last week at the 'Game Show' themed quiz. Totally stumbled upon on our way back to the hotel. We walked in half way through and ended up getting seriously involved! Superb, very funny host. The bar staff were great too!!! Thanks, we will be back!'
Winnipeg Free Press
13-06-2025
- Business
- Winnipeg Free Press
Uncertain fate of Indigenous artifacts in the Hudson's Bay Co.'s Corporate Collection raises ethical questions during firm's liquidation
For a once-proud retail giant — built on a fur-trading empire so far-reaching it was known simply as The Company — it was an unceremonious end. In March, after years of hemorrhaging at the bottom line, the Hudson's Bay Company announced it would begin liquidating its stores across the country, with the doomsday clock striking zero on June 1. Shoppers driven by nostalgia and bargains flocked to stores for all things striped red, green, yellow and blue, the now iconic colour pattern of the three-and-a-half-century-old institution. MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS Michelle Rydz, archivist with Hudson's Bay Company Archives, lays out a 1921 map that shows the disposition of land in Manitoba. Savvier hunters, however, are still waiting on the sidelines and eyeing bigger prizes — HBC's private collection of 1,700 art pieces, 2,700 artifacts and even the company's Royal Charter are all slated for auction to help pay off creditors. The 355-year-old document not only birthed Canada's oldest company, it effectively laid a foundation for colonial Canada itself — empowering HBC to operate like a sovereign government over Rupert's Land, which encompassed about one-third of present-day Canada. The six-pages of imperial parchment, signed by King Charles II of England in 1670 and which gave HBC exclusive trading rights throughout the vast Hudson Bay watershed, could make a visually elegant trophy in a private collector's drawing room. And while no official valuation exists, clearly the collection's crown jewel stands to fetch more than a few beaver pelts at auction. Additional details on the HBC Corporate Collection are scarce. However, browsing @hbcheritage, HBC's official Instagram account for its heritage department, one gets a glimpse, finding images of Indigenous art labelled 'HBC Corporate Collection.' This includes a handful of Inuit sculptures by unknown artists from the turn of the 20th century. According to The Canadian Press, an unnamed source familiar with the auction process says items proposed for auction include 'paintings dating back to 1650, point blankets, paper documents and even collectible Barbie dolls.' Neither HBC nor its auction house Heffel Gallery Ltd., responded to the Free Press questions about the contents of the corporate collection. Nor have they identified publicly what's intended for auction. Many First Nations leaders worry Indigenous artifacts could be among the sale lots — items they feel rightfully belong to Indigenous communities, not in private mansions. MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS The Hudson's Bay Company Archives currently hold all nine original supplementary charters, which were signed to mend the 1670 Charter of Incorporation. By the 1880s, the HBC found that its original charter was inadequate for conduct of its modern business, especially with regard to land sales. The HBC petitioned the Crown for supplemental charters, the first of which was granted in 1884. There are also supplementary charters for 1892, 1912, 1920, 1949, 1957, 1960, 1963 and 1970. Unsurprisingly, that backlash is growing. Leslie Weir, the librarian and archivist of Library and Archives Canada, is one of many who feels the charter is too historically important to remain in private hands. And with HBC's deep historical roots in Manitoba — and much of its collection already housed at the Archives of Manitoba and the Manitoba Museum — several local organizations and public figures are opposing HBC's auction and argue the collection should come back to the province. 'Why don't they just make sure that these things that matter to the Canadian people, to Canadian history, to First Nations, Indigenous people … fall into the hands of the public?' Premier Wab Kinew said in late April. The Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs (AMC) has intervened to halt the auction. In court filings from April, Grand Chief Kyra Wilson said it's highly likely some of the items slated for auction are 'of profound cultural, spiritual, and historical significance to First Nations people.' The AMC has demanded a First Nations-led review of the artifacts, meaningful consultation, and repatriation of items of sacred and cultural significance for Indigenous peoples. They've made some progress. The Ontario Superior Court conditionally approved the auction but required HBC to first submit a catalogue to the AMC and the court for expert review through the Canadian Cultural Property Export Review Board. MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS Yet even if an item is declared 'cultural property,' that only restricts export, not domestic sale, and highlights broader regulatory gaps in Canada's heritage sector. In better times, the HBC made significant cultural donations. This includes more than 20,000 artifacts to the Manitoba Museum in the 1990s and more than two million historical documents to the Archives of Manitoba in 1974, known as the Hudson's Bay Company Archives (HBCA), one of the world's most comprehensive archival repositories of its kind. At the time, these donations were praised by many as enlightened acts of corporate social responsibility. Today, the mood's very different. As well as leaving 8,000 laid-off employees without severance packages, HBC argues they have a financial responsibility to their creditors and stakeholders and can't just give away such valuable assets. As of early 2025, the company owed approximately $1.1 billion in debt, leading to its filing for creditor protection in March. While discussions about Indigenous sovereignty intensify, the fate of HBC's collections raises thorny questions about who owns and controls Canada's colonial and Indigenous heritage alike. Once stewards of colonial Canada, HBC has spent the last century stewarding that history. MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS Almost every major western Canadian city, and particularly Winnipeg, has its origins as an HBC trading post. But by the early 20th century, rugged pioneers trafficking in fur pelts from armed garrisons were becoming store clerks selling perfume and silk stockings in glossy Bay department stores. HBC had sold Rupert's Land to the new Dominion of Canada for £300,000 in 1870 without, of course, Indigenous consent. The armed resistance it triggered — Métis leader Louis Riel's ill-fated resistance against the Canadian government's attempt to annex the Red River Settlement — was prime minister John A. Macdonald's problem and HBC could turn itself to new ventures. The company opened its first department store in Winnipeg, at the corner of Main Street and York Avenue, in 1881. Winnipeg's middle-class could take in this emblematically Canadian experience with the security that followed Riel's defeat and Manitoba's entry into Confederation. While HBC was helping to bring Canadians the luxuries of modern consumer life, it was also becoming more vocal about its historical role in modernizing the country. In 1920, the year of the company's 250th anniversary, HBC released The Romance of the Far Fur Country. One of Canada's first documentary films, it's a nostalgic picture of the fur-trade era whose Indigenous subjects were sometimes asked to strike a more 'traditional' pose to suit the camera's colonial lens. (Romance was considered lost until Winnipeg filmmaker Kevin Nikkel reconstructed the film with Peter Geller, using original raw footage unearthed at the British Film Institute.) It was also the year HBC launched The Beaver magazine, renamed Canada's History in 2010 and still active today. MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS A map of Manitoba from 1921 showing the disposition of lands in the Hudson's Bay Company Archives. Open an issue from 1920 and in between adventurous tales of traders, explorers and surveyors you'll find articles about HBC's purchase of 'Eskimo relics and Indian curios.' In 1926, the company opened its flagship downtown store at 450 Portage Ave., cementing its roots as a Winnipeg institution. The classical revivalist structure, radiating British imperial identity, still stands — although it was assessed at $0 in 2019 and required millions of dollars in upgrades to be brought up to code. The building was gifted by HBC in 2022 to the Southern Chiefs Organization, which is transforming the space into a mixed-use development and hub for Indigenous culture and community services. The handover ceremony included a symbolic payment of beaver and elk pelts. Also in 1926, HBC established a museum in Winnipeg, a showcase of its collection, other fur-trade materials and HBC lore gathered over the centuries. Today we know that very little provenance — recorded history of an object's origin and owners used to study its legal and ethical status — exists for artifacts acquired during this era. Like early editions of The Beaver, the museum was not only an absorbing record of colonial history, but served as a PR tool, portraying the company as a heroic and civilizing force on the Canadian frontiers. 'These two positions always go together: the power to rule and control lands, peoples and waters (and) the power to document and control history,' says Adele Perry, University of Manitoba history professor and director of the Centre for Human Rights Research. 'And that's one of the really powerful things about colonial archives and records, and that's why the struggles with them exist.' MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS The HBC Gallery at the Manitoba Museum includes a York boat, which was used by the Hudson's Bay Company to transport furs and goods along inland waterways. HBC's interests in land management and rugged outposts did not end with the 1870 sale of Rupert's Land. It continued to operate numerous posts across Northern and Western Canada well into the 20th century. These posts could act a little like an informal government arm, distributing food and goods allowances to remote communities, as well as supplying residential schools. Northern communities could also receive materials on HBC credit, to be repaid with furs or other items, a system managed at the discretion of local HBC officers that could lead to deep debt. Until the mid-20th century, HBC retained fertile land (known as the 'fertile belt') and extensive mineral rights in Western Canada, which spawned ventures including oil and gas exploration. This history can feel obscured by the company's public image as a modern retail giant. For many years, Winnipeg remained something of a Canadian nerve centre for the London, England-based company. As the 'Gateway to the West' at a time when the city still radiated economic promise, Winnipeg was well-positioned to help co-ordinate transportation and distribution across the Prairies and the North, and its downtown edifice was the company's flagship Bay store for decades. However, downtown Winnipeg's slow stagnation after the Second World War didn't bode well for 450 Portage Ave., and by the 1970s, HBC began to offload its guardianship of Canadian heritage to the Manitoba Museum and the Archives of Manitoba. MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS Amelia Fay, curator of anthropology and the HBC Museum Collection at the Manitoba Museum, displays a pair of waterproof gutskin pants. Established in 1974, the importance of the Hudson's Bay Company Archives to generations of researchers is hard to overstate. Driven by what historian Robert Coutts calls the company's 'fanatical penchant for record keeping,' the collection comprises some 2,000 metres of documents — London Committee minute books, servant records, daily journals of agents at Hudson Bay posts, ship logs and so on — alongside volumes of architectural drawings, photographs and maps, maps and more maps. 'To know that land, to map that land, is an element of control… That's the history of colonialism, in a way, right there,' says Kathleen Epp, keeper of the Hudson's Bay Company Archives. Plumbing the collection's depths, historians have grappled with colonialism's complexities and tragedies; climatologists illuminated the historical patterns of climate change; storytellers drew inspiration for yarns of war, historical romance and shipwreck; Indigenous researchers studied family genealogies and found evidence for land claims, treaty rights cases and status claims. Lined up neatly are all of HBC's successive charters until 1970 — each a marker in the company's 355-year history. But missing is the story's first chapter: the original 1670 Royal Charter. 'We know exactly where it belongs in our system,' Epp told the Globe and Mail. 'We think of (the charter) as part of our records in a way already because … we've got the rest of the story and so we feel like it makes sense for the charter to be here and to be as publicly accessible as any of the other records.' The year 1994 was another eventful one for the HBC's collections. That's when the company officially transferred the HBCA to the Archives of Manitoba, which had managed it for 20 years. MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS Drawers full of HBC blankets and sashes. It's also when The Beaver — whose triumphantly colonial tone had softened over the decades — became independent from HBC and when the company entrusted a vast but incomplete collection of its cultural objects to the Manitoba Museum. The most famous is the 16-metre replica of the Nonsuch, the ketch that sailed into Hudson Bay in 1668-69, commissioned by HBC to celebrate its tercentenary in 1970. It was gifted to the museum in 1973. But after visitors explore the ship's intricate carvings, cramped living quarters and muzzle-loading smoothbore guns, hopefully they'll wander over to the museum's HBC Gallery. There they'll find brass tokens used as currency in the fur trade, a Plains hide dress and birch-bark canoe, and an array of other Indigenous and colonial objects related to navigation, exploration, retail and trade — just a segment of the museum's massive HBC collection. Amelia Fay, curator of anthropology and the HBC Museum Collection at the museum, worries that if what's left of HBC's collection ends up in private hands it could hinder the study of key parts of colonial and Canadian history. 'To me, breaking up a collection breaks up that story,' she says. 'And then, of course, there's obvious ethical concerns. If there are Indigenous belongings — those going without consultation (is) perpetuating a colonial harm that museums are grappling with today. We're trying to repair those harms by reconnecting communities to belongings and looking into repatriation and rematriation.' In May, the museum formally apologized to First Nations, Inuit and Métis communities for holding ancestral remains and belongings in its collections without consent. It further committed to repatriating more than 40 ancestors through its 'Homeward Journey' initiative. MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS Samples of wood carvings to be sold in the stores. As for its HBC collection, Fay explains that a key part of her job is doing detective work — piecing together patchy clues to trace the communities HBC employees visited in the 1920s while collecting for the company's new museum. Some pieces may have been purchased from their makers, but given the deep power imbalances, those deals can echo the dubious terms under which land was signed over to colonial powers. Fay says when her team tracks down descendants of the original creators, some ask for the artifacts back right away. Others want the museum to keep and care for them, at least for the time being. 'I think it's an important role museums can play: we can be this intermediary space where things can be safe, they can be publicly accessible,' she says. 'People can come and learn from them, and when the time is right, on the various levels that may be, then they can eventually find their way home.' While HBC has been ordered to hand over its auction catalogue to the courts and to the AMC, whether it will willingly return items widely considered sacred or rightfully belonging to Indigenous communities or the public remains an open question. Cultural property is often cited as one of the world's largest unregulated markets, and Canada is no exception. 'We do not have any legislative or legal framework in Canada at the national level for anything related to repatriation… which is what makes it a bit difficult,' says Janis Kahentóktha Bomberry, executive director and chief executive officer for the Canadian Museum Association (CMA). MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS The Hudson's Bay Company became maior distributors of contemporary Inuit art. A small number of carvings are represented in the museum collection. The association has vocally supported the AMC and criticized HBC's auction plan. 'But there are standards where we're asking for the full return of cultural belongings to occur with the involvement of appropriate Indigenous nations and as equal partners,' she says. Bomberry is referring to the CMA's 2022 report titled Moved to Action: Activating UNDRIP in Museums, whose guidelines surrounding repatriation reflect the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's Calls to Action. But like the international rights frameworks they draw on, the CMA's report is more of a moral manual than a rule book. This means the responsibility to research provenance, an expensive and chronically underfunded task, and pursue repatriation and rematriation falls primarily on collectors and museums. It's a bit like asking a company to bankroll an audit that could show it's been profiting from looted goods, and hoping their conscience kicks them into action. Not every museum or collector is going to show the right stuff. Still, Canadian law offers a window of hope to Indigenous and public stakeholders: depending on what the federal review decides, some of HBC's corporate collection could be designated 'cultural property' — blocking its export and keeping it in the country. At that point, it's feasible that philanthropists might step in, purchasing key works and donating them to back to the appropriate Indigenous parties or public museums and archives. HBC seems to be promoting this apparent 'win-win' outcome. MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS Travel boxes featuring personal items that may have been included in a York boat crew member's kit. Tuesdays A weekly look at politics close to home and around the world. Adam Zalev, managing director of HBC's financial adviser Reflect Advisors, notes in an affidavit filed in April that 'government and quasi-governmental institutions, museums, universities, and high net worth individuals acting on their own accord or as potential benefactors to certain Canadian museums and institutions, have expressed interest in the art collection.' Some still resent the possibility that priceless and sacred artifacts could be reduced to dollar values. The forthcoming sale leads to unflattering parallels between the company's grand entrance more than 350 years ago and its hobbling exit today. 'This is a moment where the Hudson's Bay Company is conducting itself differently than it did, say, 40 years ago, when they clearly engaged in good faith and created a lasting structure with both the Archives of Manitoba… and then the Manitoba Museum,' says Perry, the historian. 'Here we are reliving in a tiny way, the Royal Charter of 1670 and the transfer of Rupert's Land of 1869-70 (where) the thoughts and experiences of peoples in these places are of the most minor consideration.' Conrad SweatmanReporter Conrad Sweatman is an arts reporter and feature writer. Before joining the Free Press full-time in 2024, he worked in the U.K. and Canadian cultural sectors, freelanced for outlets including The Walrus, VICE and Prairie Fire. Read more about Conrad. Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber. Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
