THE GUARDIAN: Update to register of ministerial interests does not specify how much PM’s break last month was worth
Boris Johnson and Zac Goldsmith in 2019. Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA
Boris Johnson has admitted receiving a free holiday at a luxurious Spanish villa linked to Zac Goldsmith, the former MP who was given a peerage and job by the prime minister.
The latest update to the register of ministerial interests revealed that Johnson’s near week-long stay in the Marbella property in October was funded by the Goldsmith family.
It did not specify how much the holiday was worth but this is likely to be declared separately in the register of MPs’ interests. The property is marketed online for rentals, reportedly for as much as £25,000 a week[.] » | Rowena Mason, Deputy political editor | Thursday, November 4, 2021
Sunday, August 08, 2010
While Obama Preaches Sacrifice, His Family Frolics in Spain
Sasha, daughter of U.S. first lady Michelle Obama, bathes in the Mediterranean Sea in Estepona during their vacation in southern Spain. Photo: The Age
THE AGE: AS THE US economy endures high unemployment and a jittery stock market, President Barack Obama has preached sacrifice and fiscal discipline. But the pictures coming out of a sun-splashed Spanish resort may be sending a different message.
First lady Michelle Obama is in the midst of a five-day trip to a luxury resort along with a handful of friends, her younger daughter, aides and Secret Service. Her office said the Obamas would pay for personal expenses, but would not reveal the taxpayer cost for the government employees.
Elected officials - Democrats and Republicans - were reluctant to weigh in, not wanting to appear critical of the President's wife. But the trip provided fodder for television news shows, talk-show hosts and bloggers. Critics portrayed the foreign getaway as tone-deaf to the deep economic anxiety back home. Every first family takes vacations: the criticism aimed at Mrs Obama is that she chose to visit a foreign country rather than remain in the US and support its fragile economy. >>> Peter Nicholas and Katherine Skiba, Washington | Sunday, August 08, 2010
Material Girl Michelle Obama Is a Modern-day Marie Antoinette on a Glitzy Spanish Vacation
First Lady Michelle Obama smiles while she visits Marbella, southern Spain. Photograph: New York Daily News
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS: Sacrifice is something that many Americans are becoming all too familiar with during this economic downturn. It was a key theme in President Obama's inaugural address to the nation, and he's referenced it numerous times when lecturing the country on how to get back on its feet.
But while most of the country is pinching pennies and downsizing summer sojourns - or forgoing them altogether - the Obamas don't seem to be heeding their own advice. While many of us are struggling, the First Lady is spending the next few days in a five-star hotel on the chic Costa del Sol in southern Spain with 40 of her "closest friends." According to CNN, the group is expected to occupy 60 to 70 rooms, more than a third of the lodgings at the 160-room resort. Not exactly what one would call cutting back in troubled times.
Reports are calling the lodgings of Obama's Spanish fiesta, the Hotel Villa Padierna in Marbella, "luxurious," "posh" and "a millionaires' playground." Estimated room rate per night? Up to a staggering $2,500. Method of transportation? Air Force Two. Continue reading and comment >>> Andrea Tantaros | Thursday, August 05, 2010
Great comment by Yeaman:
Greetings from the Outback, in my case Texas. Secession talk is heating up. 33% of Texans want to bolt. In Arizona, the number is higher. Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahomans are increasingly fed up with the Indonesian in Chief and the Worst Lady. Laugh all you want libs, but we have the oil and the food. You need what we export far more than we need what you export, which is dirty bankers and vitriol. God Bless the Free Republic of Texas! Viva Tejas! [Source: NY Daily News]
Hotel Villa Padierna, Marbella
Hotel Villa Padierna, Marbella
Michelle Obama’s super-glitzy holiday with Sasha in Marbella is probably costing the American taxpayer at least one million dollars. Any estimates which are less than this are risible.
To any person with sound judgement, this is an incredible sum to spend on a holiday in these austere times, especially for someone in public office. The average American is hurting, and hurting badly. How sensible is it, then, for the Prez, or his wife, to go on such an extravagant trip abroad? The fact that it can be done doesn’t mean that it should be done.
Excuse me for asking, but what was the purpose of the trip? Was it to take Sasha on a nice short break? If it was, then Obama and Michelle are guilty of giving their children false values. As the leader of a nation which is broke, and in deep depression, neither he nor his wife should spend taxpayers’ money as though there’s no tomorrow; because at this rate, there really will be no tomorrow!
