Archive 9
UkTabloid
The People's News Portal
Thursday 24th April 2008
Lib Lab Cons Britain
This is England but Pubs say '
'NO ENGLISH''
Allowed
Pubs banned English drinkers from marking St George’s Day with a pint yesterday but kept their doors open for Polish immigrants.
The Punch And Judy pub in Covent Garden, central London, barred anyone wearing the cross of St George, the English flag. Even a lapel badge was enough for a reveller to be shown the door.
In London, barred drinker Lisa Rathbone, 29, fumed: “We are not thugs, we have come out to celebrate St George’s Day and have a normal drink.
“Who the hell’s country is this now?”
A spokesman for Spirit Group, which owns the Punch And Judy, said: “We had problems last year.
A similar ban sparked a riot in Boston, Lincs – where a quarter of the population now are immigrants – after a pub put up a sign saying: “No English.”
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Petrol prices around Britain are continuing to soar as the strike threat to supplies from one of our biggest oil refineries intensifies.
More than a quarter of filling stations have increased their unleaded prices and four out of ten have raised their diesel prices since the Grangemouth crisis began on Friday.
Talks at the oil refinery near Falkirk continued yesterday in the hope of averting a planned weekend strike which could lead to fuel shortages.
Britain's oil producers said there had already been some "panic-buying" on Sunday and Monday causing up to 100 filling stations to run out.
Demand for unleaded fuel has risen by 68 per cent, according to the UK Petroleum Industry Association, a trade body for the industry.
Demand for diesel was up 40 per cent, it added.
To protect supplies, some garages have introduced unofficial "rationing", limiting, limiting customers to £10 of fuel. Continued
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One in three police forces tells cops not to arrest illegal immigrants – despite Government assurances they ARE locked up.
Instead, officers are told to give them directions to an immigration office.
Only last month, Immigration Minister Liam Byrne slammed the old system of giving illegals a map to the asylum unit at Croydon, South London.
He declared: “That was nonsense. Now we detain people immediately.”
Days later, The Sun revealed Bedfordshire Police had issued a “do not arrest” order to cops.
Officials branded the guidance out-of-date.
Now new research by the Tories reveals that nine out of 27 forces they contacted have a no-detain policy.
Bedfordshire cops are STILL being told not to arrest illegals – as are officers in Hertfordshire, Northamptonshire, East Midlands, Thames Valley, Suffolk, Hampshire, Derbyshire, and South Yorks.
Among advice to police is: “If asylum seekers make off from officers, no attempt should be made to detain them.” Continued
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A Catholic priest has urged his parishioners not to give money to foreign immigrants holding unauthorised collections outside his church.
Father Aidan Troy told the congregation at Holy Cross Church in Ardoyne, north Belfast, in his weekly parish bulletin to be wary of the beggars, as they are not affiliated to any church organisation.
He said they have not contacted him about collecting outside the church and said he wanted to assure parishioners they did not have to feel guilty about not giving them money.
He said: "I have nothing against it (asking for money] because I have to ask for money too, but people going in and out of mass were under an awful lot of pressure over whether to give money, and if this is genuine.
"The trouble is the people who come don't approach me and ask if we can take a collection. We never see these people between weekends, so we don't know where they are coming from."
It is thought the collectors hold holy pictures up while pleading for money. Fr Troy said he was concerned the beggars were being used "unscrupulously" as many of them are women.
"I hope they are not being used by somebody else," he said. "If I could find out if these people needed food or clothes or help with their children, I would be the first to say we need to do something about this."
The priest said the collectors have been appearing at every Saturday night mass and all Sunday services for about three months, and he believes it is something which is becoming more common.
He said he had read about a priest in Portlaoise who told parishioners not to give any money to similar beggars and moved them out of church grounds.
While he said he wouldn't go that far, he said his decision was for the benefit of his parishioners. "They come and can be quite persistent with some of the people, and I felt I should say something and give a little guidance."
He said the move was not racially motivated.
"There's always a danger that it looks like a racist thing, and it's not. "More fundamentally, you just don't want to see anybody from a different nationality being used." News Source
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More immigrants are needed to boost Birmingham's population by 100,000, Home Office Minister Liam Byrne has insisted.
Mr Byrne, Immigration Minister and MP for Birmingham Hodge Hill, said city council officials told him they were planning for the dramatic rise, which would increase the population by ten per cent over 20 years.
He said Birmingham's proposals showed there was a need for more immigration - because it was impossible to achieve this level of growth any other way.
Mr Byrne, who is also Minister for the West Midlands, was giving evidence to a House of Commons inquiry into community cohesion and immigration. He said immigration led to higher wages for the existing population, because they helped make the economy successful.
But he said the Government would limit the number of immigrants allowed into Britain to avoid overloading public services.
Birmingham's population is 1.001 million, according to the latest figures from the Office of National Statistics.
Mr Byrne told the committee he knew immigration was controversial, but people told him they wanted more of it. He told the inquiry: "There are some communities and some local economies which are ambitious for growth over the next decade. Continued
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So the demands of the few outweigh the needs of the many? Hmn' makes perfect sense. (Ed)
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Is it not time to lower the age of responsibility? It's time for teenage yobs to be treated as adults with adult severity and punishment!
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A former soldier was beaten to death in a drink and drug-fuelled attack by a gang of teenagers who wanted cash to buy more alcohol and cannabis.
Stephen Green was cycling home from work late at night when he was ambushed in an underpass in a disturbing echo of infamous Stanley Kubrick film A Clockwork Orange.
The 55-year-old was left for dead after being savagely kicked, stamped on and battered with a large stick.
A passer-by found him two hours later and he clung on to life in hospital for nine days before dying from a blood clot in the brain caused by his injuries.
His rucksack, which contained just £5.65 in change, was found discarded near the scene of the attack with the money still inside.
In court it emerged two of Mr Green's killers were on bail at the time for other robberies and one was serving a community punishment for attempted robbery.
On the night of the fatal attack, one was heard boasting: "Did you see his face? Did you see the way I was battering him?"
Nicholas Garland, 18, Shane Liddy, 19, Richard McNamara, 19, and Darryll Bennett, 18, all of Luton, Bedfordshire, are all now facing mandatory life sentences after they were convicted of murder.
Judge John Bevan QC told the group: "This is a dreadful and depressing tale. You all have such a warped outlook on life that you can brutally end the life of a hard-working man who was riding through an underpass at midnight.
"You kicked and brutalised him when he was defenceless and three of you have failed to show the slightest remorse or regret."
Bachelor Mr Green served in the Royal Army Ordnance Corps for nine years.
He rose to the rank of corporal and served in Belize, Cypress and went on four tours of duty to Norway. He also served on peace-keeping missions with the United Nations.
After leaving the army he joined a plastics factory in Dunstable and regularly worked nightshifts.
He was cycling home to Luton in the early hours of May 5 last year when he entered the dark underpass and was confronted by the teenagers who had been drinking beer and brandy and smoking cannabis.
Ringleader Bennett, then 17, stopped him, placed his hand over the bicycle light, and demanded "What have you got for me?" Mr Green was not given time to hand over any cash before the vicious attack began, however.
Tests on his cycling helmet later revealed he was subjected to "multiple heavy blows" in a "sustained, forceful attack". Their victim managed to tell police "Some yobbos did it" but died in the Luton and Dunstable hospital the following week. Continued
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They hunt in packs because on their own they are a insignificant Nothing! (Ed)
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Two drunken teenagers raped and murdered a mother-of-two before finally dumping her body in a river, a court heard.
Helen Maughan, 24, was found floating half naked in a river two days after the brutal murder, the jury was told.
The teenagers aged 13 and 16, who cannot be named for legal reasons, bragged to friends about the killing, it is claimed.
When arrested the defendants, now 14 and 17 years old, then blamed each other for beating up the 5ft 1ins mum and throwing her into the River Colne in Colchester, Essex, on May 18 last year.
The pair were interviewed by police after being recognised by friends from CCTV shots taken from the night of the murder.
When detectives questioned the younger boy, he claimed his pal had threatened to kill him if he did not keep quiet, the jury heard.
Chelmsford Crown Court heard how the day began with the boys guzzling wine and Stella lager with friends before a chance meeting with drunken Miss Maughan, who asked to share their alcohol. Continued
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One in four people now living in an English town are from Eastern Europe because of the “scale and pace of change” from immigration, Communities Secretary Hazel Blears revealed yesterday.
A quarter of the population of Boston, in Lincolnshire, are migrant workers and their families, who have flocked there from Poland and its former Eastern Bloc neighbours.
It is believed to be the highest proportion of migrants in any town or city in the country and is a sign of the huge impact Labour’s open door policy has had on our communities.
It came as a report from a Government-backed Community Development Foundation revealed “new patterns of racial prejudice” are emerging between settled migrants and newcomers.
Tensions even centre on competition over “race equality” resources, MPs were told.
The Foundation also said it was “unrealistic” to expect migrants to adopt a national sense of belonging – a blow to Gordon Brown’s push on citizenship.
Last night Sir Andrew Green, chairman of Migrationwatch, said: “It is incredible that the Government’s immigration policy should be so out of control as to permit such a massive transformation of an English town.”
Boston Council estimates its population at 70,000, meaning about 17,500 are from Eastern Europe. Continued
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Police were today hunting a rapist who attacked a woman in a vicious daylight attack.
The victim, a woman in her fifties, was on her way to the shops yesterday when she was approached by the suspect as she crossed a footbridge over a railway.
He threatened her with a knife, raped her and then made off across a car park and into the park.
The rape happened on a footbridge that leads to Kenton recreation ground from Francis Road, Harrow, just after midday and police are anxious-to speak to a man who was seen in Kenton Underground station after the incident.
Police today released CCTV footage of a man they wish to identify. The picture shows a man with a woman's bike in Kenton station. Detective Chief Inspector Alan Aubeelack, of Harrow CID said: "This incident has devastated the victim.
"I have no doubt that the person who carried out this most horrific of crimes is a dangerous person and needs to be caught before he attacks someone else." Continued
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A black teenager boasted he was a "murderer" in "rap music" slang to his friends days after he allegedly stabbed a father-of-two outside a pub on New Year's Day, a court heard today.
Nathan Dixon, 18, denies the murder of Paul Kelly, 32, who was repeatedly stabbed in an alleyway outside the Longacre Tavern in Bath on January 1, 2007.
At Bristol Crown Court today, Neil Ford, prosecuting, said Dixon, nicknamed Nitro, was seen to launch a "frenzied attack" on 32-year-old Mr Kelly, killing him.
Mr Ford said Dixon, of Cox Lee Drive, Bath, later told a friend "I'm a 187" - the Californian penal code for first degree murder. One witness, Jessica Jones, saw the defendant launch a "frenzied attack" on Mr Kelly, Mr Ford said.
Mr Ford said: "She saw him (Dixon) strike Mr Kelly several times to the chest and stomach areas.
"She describes the affect of the attack as seeing Paul Kelly take a couple of steps forward and then fell face down and didn't move again."
After the incident, Dixon "acted like a hard man" in front of friends and claimed to have killed Mr Kelly, Mr Ford said.
Mr Ford said: "He said 'I'm a 187' which is the Californian penal code for murder in the first degree - it's a term used in rap music.
"On another occasion the defendant said 'I'm a murderer, he got what he deserved."'
Dixon was charged with murder on January 19, Mr Ford said.
Months after the stabbing, poems about Mr Kelly's murder were put up around the city, it was earlier reported. Post-mortem examinations revealed Mr Kelly died as a result of multiple stab wounds to the abdomen.
The trial continues tomorrow and is expected to last more than two weeks. Continued
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A woman died after being run over by a prison van and dragged 20 yards along the road following a confrontation in the street.
The victim is said to have been blocking the path of the Serco security van in Brixton and goading the driver.
He was arrested and questioned by police on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving.
Witnesses told how the woman "danced" in the road and stopped the vehicle at the Brixton Hill crossing at 5.45pm yesterday, shouting at the driver and slapping at the bonnet.
Some claimed that, as the lights turned green, the van shot forward and hit her. An angry mob surrounded the van, banging on its sides, shouting "murderer, murderer", forcing the driver to lock himself in the cab.
Medical staff treated the woman in the road but could not save her. One witness, student Dennis Gyamfi, 18, said: "She'd stepped into the road and was gesturing at the van and other people. Continued
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John Prescott called Tony Blair a "little s***" during a blazing row, he claims in his memoirs.
The former deputy premier's autobiography also lifts the lid on the bitter infighting as relations between Mr Blair and Gordon Brown reached breaking point.
Mr Prescott, 69, even accuses the former prime minister of betraying Mr Brown by going back on a promise to step down.
His account of his time at the centre of power paints a damning picture of Mr Blair and his chancellor clashing repeatedly in their attempts to safeguard their legacies.
The frostiness even extended to their wives, with Mr Prescott accusing Cherie Blair of "pettiness" for allegedly refusing to greet Sarah Brown with a kiss at a reception.
The Hull East MP's revelations in his autobiography Prezza: My Story: Pulling No Punches come days after he confessed to suffering from bulimia while at Westminster. Continued
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A doctor obsessed with child pornography sexually assaulted a 13-year-old girl to satisfy his urges a court heard this morning.
Rashid Sandhu is said to have assaulted the girl at the James Paget University Hospital last June as he carried out an authorised medical procedure.
Sandhu, 30, and who was an A&E doctor at the time is alleged to have told the girl that she was pregnant and needed an abortion.
Norwich Crown Court heard that Sandhu took the girl to a hospital office room, asked her to lie on a desk and take her clothes off, he then inserted tubes into her private parts and rub her breast with gel.
At the beginning of the trial the jury heard that Sandhu had pleaded guilty yesterday to possessing more than 170 images of child pornography on his home computer.
The trial heard that Sandhu asked the 13-year-old girl to get on all four during the alleged assault replicating a pose of one of the images that was found on his computer.
Matthew McNiff, prosecuting, said that Sandhu had an unhealthy obsession with child pornography and used the girl to sate his urges. Continued
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The Council of Europe is urging all 47 member states to promote the integration of Muslim immigrants in an attempt to reduce poverty, discrimination and social exclusion, which according to the Council are the conditions that nurture extremism.
The assembly agreed that governments must crackdown on "speeches of hate" even if the authors use religious reasons to justify them.
Mota Amaral, a Portuguese Deputy said,
" It's important that we talk and make an effort to integrate moderate Muslims to give them a stake in society and allow them to enjoy the freedoms and benefits of European society. In return we expect them to accept the culture of the host without losing their identity."
The Council of Europe backed the call for Muslims to be allowed to partake in the democratic process at a local or regional level, to eliminate inequality in the areas of employment and education. Continued
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Euro MPs voted yesterday to keep secret a damning report exposing "criminal abuse" of a £100million expenses fund.
They refused to publish the internal audit, which revealed how some hired "ghost" staff and others employed family members on inflated taxpayer-funded salaries.
Last night, the British MEP who blew the whistle on the initial cover-up of the gravy train branded the move "shameful".
It came as MEPs desperate to improve their image backed a ban on employing close relatives - although it carries no legal force and has been dismissed as a gesture.
LibDem Chris Davies said: "These votes bring discredit and dishonour upon the entire Parliament.
"Far from cleaning up their act, a majority of MEPs seem intent on allowing greed and self-interest to triumph over the proper financial management of public money.
"On today's performance Europe's taxpayers could be forgiven for believing that there are more honest people to be found in prison that sit amongst in the European Parliament.
"The MEPs who voted to keep their citizens in the dark about the way taxpayers' money is used should face a brouhaha in their own countries."
The £125,000-a-year allowance is supposed to to be used by the 785 Euro politicians to employ secretaries, researchers and aides in Brussels and their constituencies. Continued - Please Read News in Full
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The undemocratic and biased BBC!
This is the statement of the BBC!
''Watch all the party election broadcasts in the campaign'' for councils across England and Wales.
This page will be updated each weekday evening until 29 April.
The Reality: however things are different on their site as the following letter written to the BBC indicates.
Dear Sirs,
I refer you to this page:
This page of your website states: “Watch all the party election broadcasts in the campaign for councils across England and Wales. This page will be updated each weekday evening until 29 April.”
The page has all the Party Political Broadcasts EXCEPT for the one by the British National Party, which the BBC has hidden away on a much less obvious part of its site.
I am absolutely appalled at this. Having been a PROPER Labour voter for much of my working life (and Conservative at my last opportunity), and seeing that the BBC is now as corrupt as its "PC" Labour Party Masters, I will now by voting for the BNP.
I will make sure that everyone I know (around 12,700 contacts on my mailing list, including my MP) gets this message this evening.
Yet again the BBC shows that it is actively subverting any attempts by the ONLY democratcic party in Britain to make its voice heard.
This is contrary to the BBC Charter and demonstrates just how out of touch it is with ordinary, indigenous British people (around 80% of the population, by the way), against whom it is institutionally racist.
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Completely accurate! We checked the site ourselves and every party is there on the page even the insignificant Green Party that wants to legalise Class A drugs! But surprise surprise' no BNP election broadcast! We have to ask ourselves what is it that the central government BBC is afraid of? (Ed)
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Binmen enforcing tough new recycling rules may get bodyguards after threats from householders.
Residents are angry that the capacity of their wheelie bins has been halved to force them to recycle more rubbish. And they have been banned from putting out extra bags with their weekly waste.
Now tempers have boiled over, with refuse workers taking the brunt of people’s resentment. Crews have complained to council officials that they regularly come in for a barrage of abuse on parts of their rounds in the small seaside town of Workington, Cumbria.
Some people have threatened the binmen with a beating for refusing to take away extra bags of rubbish. The local authority, which introduced the rules last November, is considering taking out court injunctions to restrain abusive residents.
Officials may also call on local police community support officers to escort bin wagons to prevent attacks.
The trouble emerged days after it was revealed that a man in a nearby town was ordered to pay £225 in fines and costs for overfilling his wheelie bin by four inches.
Father-of-two Gareth Corkhill, 26, of Whitehaven, was left with a criminal record after being prosecuted when he refused to pay a fixed penalty for the offence.
In Workington, council chiefs are also considering legal action to enforce their tough rules on refuse disposal. Continued
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THE true extent of the latest hammer blow to hard-pressed family budgets was revealed last night.
Soaring food costs are adding £15 a week to supermarket shopping bills, according to worrying research. A basket of 24 staple items of food is now around 15 per cent more expensive than a year ago.
This new blow to homes already struggling to make ends meet comes on top of rocketing bills for energy, petrol, mortgages and council tax.
The research, which graphically highlights how rising world food prices are hitting us hard, was released as Gordon Brown attended a summit about the mounting crisis.
The Prime Minister said global food prices were at their highest, relatively, since 1945, with rice and wheat doubling in a year. But he could offer little comfort to shoppers.
The research by MySupermarket outlined the punishing effect of the 15 per cent year-on-year rise in prices. An average family of four, which normally used to spend £100 on the weekly shop, now has to fork out an extra £780 a year – or £15 a week. Tim Newhouse, spokesman for price comparison site moneysupermarket.com, said that official inflation figures do not reflect the true increase in the cost of living.
“People need the basics of life to be affordable,” he said. “It’s easy to say ‘only spend money on the essentials’ but when the essentials are the things rising in price the most it is a dangerous situation.” Continued
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The Tory mayoral candidate was facing a Parliamentary probe today after it emerged that he had failed to declare shares in a TV company.
The Evening Standard revealed that Boris Johnson, a Conservative MP, had breached Commons rules by failing to place the shareholdings on the MPs' Register of Interests.
Mr Johnson holds a third of the shares in Finland Station - a firm which makes history documentaries which he presents - but MPs are obliged by their code of conduct to register any shareholding greater than 15 per cent.
After the Standard contacted his office, Mr Johnson moved to register his interests in full and claimed the matter had been an "oversight" for which he took full responsibility. He said he had not been aware of the rules on shares.
But Labour seized on the blunder as proof that Mr Johnson's "incompetence" made him unfit to run London.
The Henley MP has put at the heart of his mayoral campaign a pledge to keep City Hall's register of interests on the internet to prove just how transparent his administration would be.
Labour MP Karen Buck today referred the breach to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards John Lyon for a full investigation. Continued
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A senior Birmingham councillor who submitted 200 postal vote application forms 15 minutes before the deadline for registration expired has been accused of breaching guidelines designed to prevent ballot rigging.
City council cabinet member Ayoub Khan, who is defending his Aston seat for the Liberal Democrats at the May 1 council elections, contravened the Electoral Commission's code of conduct which warns against hoarding and delivering postal vote forms in bulk, according to West Midlands Labour officials.
They quoted Section 14 of the Commission guidance, which states: "If you are given a completed application form, you should forward it directly and without delay to the local Electoral Registration Office."
The ward has been the subject of several election petitions since 2002 alleging malpractice by both the Liberal Democrats and Labour.
The most recent petition, which led to a court case earlier this year, resulted in a judge accusing Coun Khan of taking part in a "scurrilous" plot to falsely accuse an Aston Labour councillor of witness intimidation.
Labour regional director for the West Midlands, Ian Reilly, said he believed Coun Khan was also in breach of Birmingham City Council's code of conduct, which says candidates, agents and canvassers should "advise electors that applications to vote by post or proxy should be returned without delay to the local Electoral Registration Officer at the elections office".
Mr Reilly found out about Coun Khan's bulk delivery after an official at the council elections office mistakenly phoned Labour's West Midlands headquarters in West Bromwich instead of the Liberal Democrat office in the Council House. The mix-up was described as suspicious by Birmingham Liberal Democrat MP John Hemming, who said some members of the council elections staff had a pro-Labour bias. Continued
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An unprecedented police operation is to take place on local election day in a bid to combat fraud at the polls.
More than 100 officers and civilian staff will be on duty on May 1, including interpreters, with some drafted in from across the Cambridgeshire force.
The anti-fraud push – backed by the city council – will mean at least double the police presence at polling stations compared with last year's elections. Rest days for officers have been cancelled to maintain normal police cover.
The Central ward is to get special attention with fixed CCTV cameras positioned at two voting points. Two police CCTV vans will also be on patrol.
The crackdown follows the jailing earlier this month of three former Labour Party members for attempting to fix the Central ward result in the 2004 election.
Divisional commander for Peterborough Chief Superintendent Paul Phillipson said there was also evidence of voters being bribed in the past to back certain candidates.
He said: "This is the first time we have gone to this level of policing. Continued
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Gold-plated pensions for public sector workers will cost every family an extra £1,000 this year, it was revealed yesterday.
Figures sneaked out by the Treasury show the staggering cost of the benefits built up in only 12 months.
The bill for retirement benefits for public sector workers has already been estimated at more than a trillion pounds.
But in 2008/09, this is forecast to soar by £25.4billion.
The increase equates to each of our 25million households paying an extra £1,014.
Ironically, the majority of workers are not saving a single penny towards their own pensions.
And the extra cost comes as millions of lower earners will lose out from the abolition of the 10p income tax band.
To make matters worse, the figures, published on page 178 of the Public Expenditure Statistical Analyses 2008, show that the bill will keep on rising.
It is forecast to increase by £26.2billion in 2009/10 and £27.2billion in 2010/11. With the 2008/09 rise, this is a total of £78.8billion over three years.
The figures do not even include all public sector workers, because they relate to the "unfunded" pension scheme members such as doctors, teachers and civil servants. Continued
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Rice is being rationed in Britain as shopkeepers limit supplies to their customers to prevent hoarding.
Restrictions on sales in Asian neighbourhoods are reported as emergency measures are taken by governments worldwide to combat the soaring cost of rice and prevent outbreaks of food rioting.
Tilda, the biggest importer of basmati rice, said that its buyers had resorted to restricting their customers to two bags per person.
“It is happening in the cash and carries,” said Jona-than Calland, of Tilda.
“It’s to stop people from hoarding. I heard from our salesforce that one lady went into a cash and carry and tried to buy eight 20kg bags.”
According to Mr Calland, the retailers, who sell to the curry and Chinese restaurant trade as well as to families, are rationing their customers to two to four bags during the current fear over rice shortages.
Us retailers are also rationing rice, including Sam’s Club, the warehouse club operator that is part of Wal-Mart. Continued
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She owns no fewer than six multi-million pound properties in London as well as a country estate.
But perhaps Madonna should check with her husband before buying any more bricks and mortar on our side of the pond.
Guy Ritchie has made some scathing comments about wealthy foreigners he accused of flooding the property market with "new money". The 39-year-old film-maker complained that it is "now almost impossible" for natives to buy a home in the capital.
He seems to have conveniently forgotten about his U.S.-born wife's £20million worth of London property. Instead, he blames "Russian oligarchs" for "doubling the price on everything".
Ritchie said in an interview with the film magazine Empire: "House prices don't go down, they just go up. "The natives of England are sort of being left behind because the big money came in and if it wanted something it bought it and made a bigger fortune doing so.
"And as anyone who has tried to buy a house in Central London knows, it's almost impossible to do so unless you have ten million quid." Continued
The society the Lib Lab Cons created!
A Tooting benefit cheat has been jailed for two years.
Pervaz Kayani claimed thousands of pounds from taxpayers to help pay rent on a Gatton Road house he actually owned.
A fraud investigation was launched into his financial affairs after Wandsworth Council received information that he owned the £300,000 house.
On his housing benefit form Kayani said he earned very little and needed to help to pay his rent. But fraud investigators found when he bought the house he paid a substantial deposit on it.
In total investigators discovered he had fraudulently claimed £70,000 between 1999 and 2004. Kayani pleaded guilty to 16 counts of deception at Kingston Crown Court.
The council is now seeking a confiscation order to ensure the lost money is repaid. If Kayani does not repay the money his assets can then be seized. Continued
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Detectives have launched a new appeal trace a man wanted in connection with the murder of a Leytonstone man.
Kevin McFarlane, 27, of Hainault Road was killed February 8 in Stratford. Police are keen to talk to 35-year-old Delano Forbes, aka 'Lexus'.
He is described as a black man born in Jamaica. A £20,000 reward is also being offered for information leading to a sucessful arrest and prosecution.
Mr McFarlane was found with several stab wounds to the head and upper body by police, after a call from a member of the public. He was taken to hospital and died on February 10.
A post mortem at East Ham mortuary two days later gave cause of death as a stab wound to the chest. An incident room has opened under Acting Detective Chief Constable Stewart Hill.
Detectives believe Kevin and a friend became involved in an argument with two black men near the William Hill bookmakers in Plaistow Road. A fight broke out, during which Kevin managed to run off but was chased by the suspects.
He managed to seek refuge in a local shop further down the road but one of the suspects followed him in. A further scuffle ensued and Kevin received stab wounds.
The suspect left the scene and was seen walking into Geere Road shortly afterwards. Kevin was seen trying to wave down traffic in Plaistow Road and we would appeal to anyone who saw him to contact us.
Mr McFarlane was also black. A police spokesman said detectives think he knew the suspects but are keeping an open mind over any motive. Continued
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A Polish national has appeared in court charged with the attempted rape of a woman in the North Hill area of Plymouth in the early hours of Sunday.
Miroslan Kulinski, a power station engineer, appeared in custody before Plymouth magistrates yesterday. An application for 43-year-old Kulinski, of Lipson Vale, Mutley, to be released on conditional bail was refused by district judge Paul Farmer.
Kulinski was remanded in custody to be brought before Plymouth Crown Court on August 1 where he will eventually stand trial. News Source
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Nine people have appeared in court following raids on brothels in Streatham and central London.
Cuttima Khongpong and Kaewbenjarkarn Phanusak of Howland House, Leigham Avenue, appeared in City of Westminster Magistrates' Court yesterday charged with conspiracy to traffic women within the UK for the purpose of sexual exploitation, conspiracy to control prostitution for gain and money laundering.
They appeared with five men and two women on the same charges. All nine have been remanded in custody to reappear at the Old Bailey in June.
Police swooped on more than a dozen homes across London and Surrey during the operation targeting brothels operating via the internet which saw 30 women taken to a specialist centre staffed with interpreters, support and health workers. Continued
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Police are hunting a killer who stabbed a Chinese man at a hospital.
The victim, in his 20s, was pronounced dead 30 minutes after being discovered in a loading bay at Whipps Cross Hospital in Walthamstow, east London, at 8.30pm on Monday. Police said the victim may have known his attacker.
It is understood that the man was not a patient nor an employee at the hospital but may have been visiting someone receiving treatment. News Source
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Police are asking for Mercury readers' help in tracking down three men who tried to attack a standing safe in Priory Church, Deeping St James.
Money collected in this safe, ranging from donations to magazine payments, goes towards the upkeep and other running costs of the building.
The CCTV pictures show the men lurking in the church on the afternoons of January 24 and 25.
The vicar, the Rev Mark Warrick, said it would be impossible to know how much money was in the safe and that the thieves put something covered in adhesive through the safe slot to get at the money.
He was in church on the first occasion but did not see the men and was prompted to check the CCTV tapes after hearing them.
On the second day he walked into the church while the thieves were there but did not catch them in the act and they left soon after.
The Rev Warrick, of Church Street, Deeping St James, said: "Like another victim of burglary, you don't like the idea of money beng given for one purpose to be stolen for another.
"Theft is theft, it is always wrong and aways abhorrent."
Community beat manager PC David Bannister, who is based at Stamford police station, is appealing for information and is asking people to contact officers if they saw any suspicious activity near the church.
He said: "It is a despicable that certain members of our society have no respect for the church by pillaging it." Continued
.... Terrorism ....
Three men have been arrested in a series of early morning raids in London's East End by anti-terror cops investigating bomb plots.
The raids this morning (April 23) came a fortnight after the men were detained by immigration authorities as they arrived in Britain.
The men, aged 23, 24 and 25, were arrested at addresses in Bethnal Green Whitechapel and Walthamstow at 7am.
They were taken for questioning at a central London police station on suspicion of "the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism," said Scotland Yard.
They are still in custody, while counter-terror officers continue their searches at all three addresses in East London.
A fourth search connected to the inquiry is taking place at an address in Luton.
It is believed the three men are the same people who were detained under the 2000 Terrorism Act on April 8.
As the three tried to enter the UK at 8pm, they were detained under Schedule 7 Port and Border Controls, which is a section of the Terrorism Act.
They were not arrested and were released the following morning.
They are the latest in a growing line of men from Tower Hamlets who have either been convicted or suspected of having links with terrorism. News Source
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A terror cell leader plotting suicide attacks on passenger jets wanted to obtain a passport for his son, a court heard today.
Application papers signed by Abdulla Ahmed Ali, 27, on behalf of his baby boy were found at his Walthamstow home, a jury was told.
Mohammed Said Ali was nine-months-old when his father was arrested on suspicion of terrorist offences in August 2006.
Passport application documents and photographs were found during a fingertip search of the family home in Nash House, Prospect Hill.
Woolwich Crown Court heard earlier in the trial how a police bug captured Ali considering whether children should be taken on suicide missions.
Speaking to co-defendant Umar Islam, he said: "Should I take my lot on? I know my wife wouldn't agree to it, but ..."
Eight men are on trial accused of conspiring to murder by smuggling home-made liquid bombs on aircraft. They deny the offences. Continued
.... International ....
Nagy Ali Mohammed isn't worried about a water shortage in Yemen. He says God will provide what's needed for the craggy, volcanic land where he grows khat, a leaf chewed daily by most Yemeni men.
``There is Allah above,'' the 50-year-old said as a red truck pumped water into his fields. ``There always will be water.''
Yemen will need more than Nagy's faith in the divine to avert a crisis. The Middle Eastern nation's addiction to khat is sucking up scarce water resources. Cultivation of the mild stimulant has increased 13-fold in three decades and now uses 30 percent of the nation's water, according to the World Bank.
Khat is consuming water needed to meet growing demands as the population increases by 3.5 percent annually and people desert the countryside for the city. The capital, Sanaa, won't have enough water for its more than 2 million inhabitants within two decades, said Ramon Scoble, team leader for a water project run by German aid agency GTZ.
``It is not a matter of if it happens anymore, but a matter of when,'' he said.
The water shortage risks exacerbating other challenges faced by the Arabian Peninsula's poorest country, which doesn't have the oil and gas resources of neighboring Saudi Arabia and Oman. A surge in al-Qaeda attacks is driving away tourists. On April 11, the U.S. State Department ordered non-essential embassy employees to leave Sanaa.
Rising commodity prices will accelerate the annual inflation rate to 15 percent this year, the highest in the region, according to an Economist Intelligence Unit report. Continued
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Comeback queen Hillary Clinton kept her White House dreams alive with a resounding 10-point victory in the Pennsylvania primary early today.
Anything less than a double-digit win would have piled pressure on the former First Lady to step aside to allow Democrats to rally behind frontrunner Barack Obama.
But a triumphant Mrs Clinton once again defied her critics to bounce back with the blow-out she so desperately needed, beating the Illinois senator by 55 per cent to 45 per cent.
Although Mrs Clinton, 60, was the clear favourite, the margin was considerably greater than the four per cent difference predicted by the exit polls.
And the Clinton camp is counting on the victory to boost her depleted campaign coffers with a fund-raising surge to help finance a new offensive against Mr Obama just as he was hoping to clinch the Democratic nomination.
Perhaps even more importantly for Mrs Clinton, it resurrected her viability as a realistic candidate. Continued
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.... Money Matters ....
Families are having to fork out almost £800 more on their annual grocery bills as the highest rate of food inflation for a generation forces up supermarket prices, it was revealed.
A new survey shows that the price of a basket of 24 staple items has risen by 15 per cent in a year.
The study, from price comparison website MySupermarket.co.uk, said an average family who spent £100 a week on food shopping last year will now have to find an extra £780 a year to put the same items on the dinner table.
The survey tallies with the larger Daily Mail Cost of Living Index last week, which found the price of a basket of popular food and drink products has risen by 15.5per cent in a year.
The 15 per cent increase is seven times the rate of increase in the Consumer Prices Index, the Government's preferred measure of inflation, which is running at 2.5 per cent. Continued
.... NHS / Health ....
A vulnerable grandmother begged her family not to complain about the treatment she received at a nursing home, otherwise staff would take it out on her, an inquest heard today.
The claims of abuse and ill-treatment were given to a coroner investigating the deaths of three pensioners at the same care home.
Josie Little, 84, was left untreated, wore damp and soiled clothes for days and suffered from ulcers while she lived at Roselawns Nursing Home in Reading.
The family of Mrs Little told Berkshire coroner Peter Bedford how their mother begged them not to say anything to staff members after they saw how she was treated.
Patricia Abel, one of her daughters, said: "We told her she should complain or we would, but she told us not to because they would take it out on her later."
The grandmother was rushed to hospital on February 11, 2003, but she died days later in the Royal Berkshire Hospital, on February 17.
Daughter Maureen Allen recalled how she was forced to watch her mother wet herself because staff wouldn't take her to the toilet, despite asking for help for 15 minutes. Continued
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A row has broken out after an NHS trust in England started refusing to treat people from Wales.
Staff at North Bristol NHS Trust, which runs Southmead and Frenchay hospitals in Bristol, have been told to stop booking Welsh patients for outpatient and inpatient appointments.
The ban, which affects hundreds of patients, applies to all new and follow-up appointments, including listing patients for surgery. And the move will also apply to patients with cancer, kidney problems and neurological disorders who require specialist treatment.
Trust bosses said it is not being paid for treating Welsh patients and the ban was being put in place to safeguard their financial position.
A spokeswoman for North Bristol NHS Trust said: "The Welsh Assembly requires prior funding approval for Welsh patients receiving NHS treatment from English providers.
"North Bristol NHS Trust wants to ensure that we have this funding approval before Welsh patients are booked with us."
But Jonathan Morgan, the Welsh Conservatives' Shadow Health Minister, said: "This is absolute madness - we do not need the English NHS putting up a Berlin Wall between England and Wales because of the attitude of Welsh ministers.
"People who live on the border shouldn't have to be forced to be treated in Wales, we should be making good use of available capacity. Continued
.... Rest of the News ....
A swan that people thought had been stolen from Lincoln's Brayford Pool was actually being rescued by a member of the Swan Preservation Society.
The Echo was contacted by concerned eye-witnesses yesterday who said the man claimed he was planning to eat it.
But today it has been confirmed the bird was, in fact, injured and was being taken to be looked after.
Lincolnshire Police spokesman Deborah Tinsley had said: "Police were called to the scene at lunchtime after a man allegedly caught a swan and carried it off in a purple blanket.
"P>The Swan Preservation Society would not comment any further. News Source
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Wednesday 23rd April 2008
Today is St George’s Day when we celebrate England’s patron saint, this is surely a time to reflect on why we should take this opportunity to express our love of country.
As never before, St George’s Day is vital to our national identity. Multiculturalism is gradually sweeping away many of our traditions as government and local authorities bow weakly to political correctness.
Which is why more than ever we need to seize upon St George’s Day as a celebration of what it means to be English. It should be a positive statement, that for one day at least we unite to acknowledge what makes this country special, to have no shame in expressing patriotism and pride in everything that England stands for – freedom, dignity, pride, tradition and decency among them.
Most of us do not possess flagpoles in our back gardens, let alone a St George’s flag (with its red cross on a white background). Too often your local church will not have one either.
If they possessed one in the first place it has probably long been lost or fallen apart. That, or the vicar will forget to put it up tomorrow.
So, as a personal act of patriotism, find a St George’s flag (you can often buy them in sports shops) and put it in your front window as a statement of your Englishness.
The time has come to celebrate England’s national day. And we shouldn’t be cowed by the forces of political correctness who have prevented, for instance, a St George’s Day parade involving 1,500 school children in Bradford. Continued
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Livingstone has addressed a meeting co-organised by a "front" for a banned terror organisation - even though he had been warned at the highest diplomatic levels about the group's alleged terrorist links.
The Mayor sought backing from the British Tamil Forum at the meeting in Harrow on Saturday, according to its spokesman.
The forum is accused by the Sri Lankan government of being a front for the Tamil Tigers, which wages an armed struggle for a separate Tamil state in Sri Lanka and is banned in Britain under anti-terrorism laws.
A spokesman for the Sri Lankan High Commission in London told the Standard that the High Commissioner, Kshenuka Senewiratne, wrote to Mr Livingstone "early last week" to express her "concerns" about his intention to speak to the forum.
"The British Tamil Forum is one of the main front organisations for the Tamil Tigers in the UK," the spokesman said.
At a previous meeting organised by the British Tamil Forum, at the Excel Centre, Docklands, on 27 November, a video message from the Tamil Tigers' leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran, praising suicide bombing was played and a collection was taken for Tamil Tiger "martyrs". The meeting is the subject of a police anti-terror investigation.
The Tamil Tigers, officially known as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, pioneered suicide bombing.
They have been responsible for numerous attacks in Sri Lanka, including a military assault on the country's main airport in 2001 which caught almost 50 British tourists in the crossfire.
Although indiscriminate violence has also been carried out by the Sri Lankan government, Tamil Tiger suicide attacks alone have killed around 1,600 people, including the Sri Lankan president and the Indian prime minister.
Suren Surendiran, a spokesman for the British Tamil Forum, said that last weekend's meeting was co-organised by the forum and a local Tamil Labour councillor, Thaya Iddaikadar.
Yesterday, the Standard told how he had appointed a former member of a banned Sikh terrorist organisation, Dabinderjit Singh, to the board of TfL.
Last week it emerged that one of Mr Livingstone's leading Muslim supporters is closely connected to the Islamic militant group Hamas.
Mr Livingstone's campaign was not available for comment. Continued
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Labour's new gay hate laws suffered a devastating blow from rebel peers today.
They voted that no-one should face jail for criticising gay lifestyles or urging homosexuals to change their ways.
The rebuff for Justice Secretary Jack Straw means ministers must decide whether to launch a battle to push the law through - or accept a weakening of the rules which would enrage gay lobby activists.
Mr Straw's ban on homophobic hatred could see those found guilty of using threatening language on the grounds of sexual orientation facing a criminal prosecution and jail terms of up to seven years.
But a string of critics have called the laws unnecessary and warned they will damage free speech.
Those who have appealed to Mr Straw to abandon the legislation include comedian Rowan Atkinson, who successfully lobbied for free speech defences to Labour's earlier laws against religious hatred, and actor Christopher Biggins.
The need for new laws has also been questioned by prominent gay figures, including columnist Matthew Parris and campaigner Peter Tatchell. Continued
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On the 22nd day of March 2008 I personally went to Buckingham Palace to serve an Affidavit on Her Majesty the Queen.
My Oath, (which has been signed and sealed by a solicitor) states quite clearly, that I now give Her Majesty 40 days to dismiss the traitors that reside in the Parliament of this country.
I, John James Harris now declare my right under Common Law of England to Withdraw And Withhold all allegiance & obedience to the Person and Crown of Our Sovereign Lady, Elizabeth the Queen, and those who falsely claim to speak &/or to act in Her Name, and by such action, I will remove myself entirely from the authority of those Evil Persons who now seek to abuse & misuse me in the name of Elizabeth, the Queen and in absolute violation of the Common Law of the People to which I belong –
I hereby place on record of all persons that after said 40 days have expired, being the 1st day of May 2008 and the corrections I seek have not been made, by way of the dismissal of the Traitors in the House of Commons, then I John James Harris, will enter into Lawful rebellion under article 61 of Magna Carta 1215 and therefore will become a Freeman of England within the Freedom of Common Law.
I will then declare myself free from all chastisement, Laws, taxes accorded to the state and any obligations there unto, by way of second and final Lawful Affidavit signed, sealed and served.
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The Tories have issued a St George's Day rallying cry against plans by Brussels to "wipe England off the map" and create a United Europe.
A revised European map used to allocate funding splits England into three and lumps those parts together with chunks of other countries to create "transnational regions".
It is claimed these zones - which have been allocated their own budgets - are intended to boost trade between EU nations. But the Tories yesterday accused the Government of trying "to create a European superstate via the back door".
Under the programme, known as INTER-REG, counties along England's south coast form the "Manche Region" along with northern France.
The "Atlantic Region" takes in western England, along with Ireland, Wales and parts of Portugal, Spain, France and Scotland.
Meanwhile eastern England is part of the "North Sea Region", which covers areas of Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Belgium, Norway and the Netherlands.
The UK Government is fully behind the project, even though the words "England" and "Britain" are left off official maps of each area and the Manche Region renames the English Channel "The Channel Sea".
Each region, which will be given taxpayers' money to promote trade links, cultural ties, transport policies and tourism, is to be run by a "managing authority" of unelected officials overseen by a director.
None will be based in the UK, with Manche ruled by the French, Atlantic by the Portuguese and North Sea by the Danes.
The regions have legal status and Manche has a budget of £261million between 2007 and 2013, Atlantic £127million and North Sea £219million.
Every project funded by a region must have a publicity campaign which ensures "there is provision for flying the EU flag at least one week every year".
Eric Pickles, the Conservatives' communities spokesman, said: "We already knew that Gordon Brown had hoisted the white flag of surrender to the European Constitution.
"Now the Labour Government has been caught red-handed conspiring with European bureaucrats to create a European superstate via the back door.
"Gordon Brown literally wants to wipe England off the map."
But a spokesman for the Department for Communities and Local Government insisted: "It has nothing to do with altering names on maps.
"It is about support for business, helping boost employment and turning around deprived areas... helping firms in Kent do business with people in Northern France or promoting joint tourism initiatives between different countries." News Source
Disclaimer: This News Item has been duplicated in its entirety to serve as public information (Ed)
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More than 1,000 Moldovans, Ukrainians and Russians every month are applying for Bulgarian nationality - prompting claims that many are then heading straight to Britain.
The news comes after figures showed that the numbers of Bulgarians and Romanians visiting Britain rose by 77 per cent in 12 months.
They are allowed to visit as many times as they want after their countries joined the European Union in January last year. The number who can work here is strictly limited by quotas but the big rise in visitors fuelled suspicions that many were choosing to stay in Britain and work in the black economy.
Boyko Rashkov, Bulgaria's deputy justice minister, said more than 250 applications for Bulgarian citizenship were being processed by the Ministry of Justice in Sofia each week. Once they have been granted citizenship they are free to move around all 27 European Union states.
Many of the applicants, who declare that they are of Bulgarian origin, are from Moldova, Ukraine, Macedonia and Russia. There are also a large number of people from Asian countries applying for Bulgarian citizenship.
Sir Andrew Green, the chairman of MigrationWatch UK, said: "It is quite clear that these people seeking Bulgarian citizenship are doing so in order to obtain access to the European labour market.
"In many cases that market will be Britain since the controls imposed by the Government on Bulgarians and Romanians leak like a sieve." Continued
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More than 100 workers at a transport quango are earning in excess of £100,000 a year.
No fewer than 112 staff at Transport for London - which oversees the capital's bus, train and Tube systems - have six-figure pay packets.
The revelation comes from Tory mayoral candidate Boris Johnson, who said the average wage at the quango had shot up by 24 per cent in five years.
It is now £33,000 - much higher than the London average.
Transport for London's chief executive earns almost £500,000 - more than twice as much as the Prime Minister.
The bumper salary makes him one of the highest-paid workers in the public sector.
The organisation defended the salaries, saying it needed to pay commercial rates to attract the best candidates.
But Mr Johnson said: '"Hard-working Londoners will find it shocking that this many executives inside Transport for London are earning so much money. Continued
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Single issue MP
The UK Independence Party will today gain its first seat in Parliament after a former Tory MP agreed to join the single-issue party.
Bob Spink, the MP for Castle Point in Essex, who was expelled from the Conservative Party last month, will represent the Eurosceptic group after becoming "increasingly disappointed" with David Cameron's leadership.
The defection was heralded as a coup by Ukip, with its leader depicting Mr Spink as a "deeply principled" man. Last month, the Conservatives withdrew the whip from the backbencher.
But last night, Mr Spink, 59, launched a fresh broadside against his former party, telling The Daily Telegraph: "I have been increasingly disappointed with the Tory Party's failure to be honest with the public on a wide range of issues like pensions, crime, immigration and defence. Continued
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Martin McGuinness knew in advance about the Enniskillen bombing but did nothing to stop it, a TV documentary will claim tonight.
The 1987 Remembrance Day atrocity in Northern Ireland was thought to have been an unauthorised, one-off operation by a local IRA unit.
The IRA always insisted its leadership had not sanctioned the bombing, which killed 11 civilians gathered at a ceremony to remember their war dead.
But yesterday it was claimed the operation was actually "carefully co-ordinated" by three IRA units.
Journalist Peter Taylor claimed McGuinness, now Northern Ireland's deputy first minister, was the leading figure on the IRA's Northern Command at the time of the attack.
In addition, he said Northern Command knew about the bombing beforehand but did nothing to prevent it. Continued
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Scotland will have its first Muslim police association by the end of the year.
Officers in Strathclyde are setting up a special group to represent the faith within the force and advise senior staff on "cultural and religious sensitivities".
Their plans are understood to have the backing of Chief Constable Steve House, whose spokeswoman yesterday said they were still "at an early stage".
One of the leading figures behind the association is Constable Amar Shakoor, who was Scotland's first Muslim officer when he joined the force 21 years ago.
Police associations of Muslim officers south of the border already have some 1800 members. Continued
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Police are launching a drive to recruit more Muslims, with less than one per cent of the force currently a member of the religion.
As part of the plan the force has set up the Northants Muslim Support Forum and is considering engaging an imam to provide support for Muslims in the organisation.
The recruitment drive has come about because only eight of the 2,500 officers on the payroll are Muslims.
Assistant chief constable Derek Talbot said the organisation was using a number of methods to swell the ranks.
He said: "We are trying to engage more constructively with the Muslim community.
"The police is not typically seen as a good career opportunity for members of the Muslim community. We have got to deal with that perception and make the police more attractive to them."
He said they were attending events where Muslims congregate as part of the drive. News Source
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Police have arrested an alleged middleman in a fraud involving citizenship tests for would-be immigrants run from a training centre in Sheffield.
The Albanian was arrested in Dagenham and questioned over the swindle that involved hundreds of immigrants paying up to £700 each to ensure they passed the online test at Sheffield's City Wide Learning Centre. Detectives are also investigating links to other alleged middlemen.
A police spokeswoman said the 35-year-old man was arrested for conspiracy to launder money in connection with the inquiry and bailed until September.
l was raided in February last year and currently remain on police bail. Three of them are Sheffield-based directors of City Wide.
The Yorkshire Post has previously revealed that people travelled from as far away as Glasgow and Portsmouth to take the test in Sheffield where the pass rate was just under 90 per cent for the first-time entrants compared to an average 66 per cent. Continued
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Five security breaches a week have been reported to the privacy watchdog since the loss last year of two government discs containing details of 25 million families.
Richard Thomas, the Information Commissioner, said he had been notified of 94 data breaches over the past five months. Two thirds - 62 - were committed by government and other public sector bodies.
The material included a wide range of personal details, including health records. The data was recovered in only three of the 94 cases.
Mr Thomas described the scale of the incidents, which come after HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) mislaid discs carrying details of child benefit claimants in November, as "alarming".
He said: "It is particularly disappointing that the HMRC breaches have not prevented other unacceptable security breaches from occurring.
"The Government, banks and other organisations need to regain the public's trust by being far more careful with people's personal information." News Source
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George Galloway was left dazed and bruised today after being pelted with a rubber stress ball while out campaigning.
The firebrand Respect Party MP was on an open-top bus in central London when the ball was thrown from a nearby office block.
His aide, Kevin Ovenden, said: "It hit George on the left side of his head, on the temple. "He was momentarily dazed and because of the impact of the blow he lost his balance and hit the other side of his head on the side of the bus.
"There is a nasty bruise on the side of George's head, but he will continue campaigning for the local elections."
The missile - described as slightly smaller than a tennis ball and hollow - is believed to have been flung from the first floor of an office block on Procter Street, Holborn, shortly after 2pm.
Police were called, and made one arrest - thought to be a man working at a research company.
Mr Galloway, 53, MP for Bethnal Green and Bow, received medical treatment but was not taken to hospital. Continued
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Police have seized several computers after receiving complaints about "inflammatory" posters and leaflets displayed during a Muslim festival.
The posters, displayed during the annual "March for Mohammed" in Burton upon Trent on 23 March, apparently contained anti-US remarks, police said.
Five addresses in the town were searched and literature also seized but no one was arrested, a spokesman added.
Officers delivered letters to residents explaining why police were in the area.
The march was attended by about 300 people last month and is held to celebrate the Prophet Mohammed's birthday.
Police searched properties in Harlech Way and Kingsmead, in Stretton and in Sydney Street, Derby Road and Derby Street in Burton. Continued
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A series of sickening videos have been posted on the internet showing a man who claims to have deliberately "infected" thousands of women with AIDS.
Calling himself 'Trashman' and speaking with an American accent, the masked man says he has infected between 1200 and 1500 unknowing victims with the devastating disease.
He can be seen reading the names and ages of some of the women he claims to have had unprotected sex with in the video clips on website YouTube.
The videos - one of which has been viewed 195,000 times - also feature a web address to a "gangsta" portal filled with pornography and where Trashman has a profile.
In the first video Trashman is filmed reading from a list of women he claims to have infected. He gloats: "Today I’m doing a show about something that’s more important than killing rappers.
"This here (piece of paper) that I hold in my hand is a list of women who I actually infected with AIDS on purpose. "So if I call your name and if you just happen to be on my 'I got the AIDS from that n***er’ list', then God bless you."
He then goes on to name several women and their ages. President of People Living with HIV/AIDS, Brett Hayhoe, said the man does seem genuine in the video clips.
He blasted: It’s extremely disturbing (and) the guy needs psychiatric help. Continued
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As pitch invasions go, it was pretty sedate. But when police were called to deal with pensioners on a bowling green without permission, they left nothing to chance.
With sirens wailing and tyres screeching, four squad cars and seven officers arrived to get to grips with the imposters.
The bemused bowls team decided not to make a run for it and the strong arm of the law prevailed.
But yesterday they voiced surprise at the level of enforcement judged necessary to quell their rebellious behaviour.
Northavon Bowling Club has been denied permission to use the green after refusing to pay a 25 per cent rent increase enforced by Bradley Stoke Town Council in Bristol.
The gates were chained shut but, on finding the chains had been cut, around 50 club members decided to take advantage with a quick afternoon game.
An anonymous call to the police put paid to their enjoyment. lan Brackstone, 74, a retired printer and former club president, said the club intended to make a formal complaint about the waste of police time.
He said: "Sending seven police officers for a bunch of bowling pensioners was ridiculously heavyhanded. What did they expect us to do - run away?
"We had to take a stand. It is simply not right that the council are demanding so much money for a resource which keeps elderly people active and socialising." Continued
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Crackpot council chiefs spent £100,000 “rebranding” their town – and ended up with a big circle above the name Oldham.
Taxpayers in the town – motto “Dare to be wise” – yesterday savaged their local authority and branded its new logo a waste of money.
Retired labourer John Wrigglesworth, 64, said: “It’s a disgrace. Spending £100,000 on a giant letter O makes us look idiots.”
Housewife Victoria Kileen, 40, said: “They should have spent the money on things like hospitals, schools and roads.”
The TaxPayers’ Alliance said: “A logo does not improve people’s lives. Councils should focus on the job in hand rather than ego projects.” Continued
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Islamic fundamentalists have threatened Jemima Khan with death for supporting a Muslim think-tank which preaches religious tolerance.
Mrs Khan is a patron of the Quilliam Foundation, recently set up by two reformed members of the outlawed extremist organisation Hizb ut Tahrir.
The organisation has received death threats by phone and email for all involved - one has even referred to Mrs Khan by name, it is believed.
Meanwhile, comments on fundamentalist websites have condemned the 34-year-old's decision to get involved with the group.
At the think-tank's launch yesterday, Mrs Khan admitted that since the threats she had been "a little wobbly" about voicing her support for the foundation. Continued
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This goes beyond banana republic
Anyone who thinks that politics in this country has gone to the dogs may well be right. Just ask Bobby, the Yorkshire terrier who has received a polling card in his name to vote in the forthcoming elections.
The card reads 'Bobby Huckvale' and advises the three-year-old dog where to go to cast his ballot in the local elections on May 1.
His owner, Gavin Huckvale, said he intended to take his pet to the polling station to see if he was allowed to take part. 'I've no idea what's gone on, but it all seems a bit daft to be honest if you ask me,' added the 29-year-old from Swindon.
'We have two other dogs as well but neither have received a polling card.' Swindon Council said the dog was sent the card because he his details were on the electoral register.
He added: 'If he'd been named Gnasher or Spot instead of Bobby we might have noticed. Either way, he is ineligible because he's not 18. While this is clearly a prank, we should point out that knowingly providing false information on an electoral registration form is a criminal offence.' News Source
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Taxpayers are funding political parties to the tune of up to £1.75 billion between each general election, according to a study.
The public subsidies to politicians have ballooned over the last four decades as the costs of MPs', MEPs' and councillors' expenses and advisors have soared, the study said.
The total, calculated over an ordinary four-year electoral cycle, also includes free television advertising and Short Money paid to opposition parties to hold ministers to account.
While taxpayer-funded allowances are not meant to be used for party political purposes, the research paper asserts there is evidence that, in fact, much of it is.
It was written by political finance expert Michael Pinto-Duschinsky, a senior research fellow at Brunel University, for the Policy Exchange thinktank. He said it was a "myth" that financial aid to political parties by the state was low level.
Dr Pinto-Duschinsky said his approximate total of £1.75 billion every four years was an under-estimate as costs were growing all the time.
And he said the figure did not include benefits-in-kind like free premises or the use by office holders of official cars, telephones and "politically-motivated" public grants. Continued
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The bill to the taxpayer for public-sector pensions will soar by £25billion this year, the Treasury admitted last night.
The sum is equivalent to £1,000 for every household in the country.
Senior Tories warned the rocketing costs will mean massive tax rises for decades to come.
It was time the Government told the truth on bills being stored up for future generations, said Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury Philip Hammond.
He added: “It’s high time Gordon Brown came clean about the true cost of public sector pensions. This lack of transparency is just building up yet more problems for the future.”
The Treasury forecasts say that increases in the total public sector pension bill will keep on rising, hitting over £26billion next year and £27billion the year after.
The huge sums are the amount that the Government is promising to pay public sector workers when they retire.
Pensions consultant John Ball said: “One of the attractions of public sector pensions to employees is that they are guaranteed, and this security comes at a price.” Some estimates put the total “pension promise” made to public sector workers at over £1trillion or £1,000billion. Continued
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The widow of murdered Garry Newlove yesterday branded the courts system “utterly disgraceful”.
Helen Newlove said victims who deserved help and respect are instead left forgotten.
She accused the police of helping fuel Britain’s yob culture by failing to investigate minor crimes and relying too much on Labour’s “plastic bobbies”.
And one of the country’s most senior policemen warned that criminals being bailed by the courts before sentence are going on “offending sprees” before being locked up.
West Yorkshire chief constable Sir Norman Bettison blamed the prison overcrowding crisis for a growing trend in bail, warning it was “soul destroying”.
His remarks came as the son of a woman murdered by a Metropolitan Police inspector, who had been released on bail despite being accused of an earlier murder, blamed money and power for the decision.
Garry Weddell was freed because of his job and because his brother was a wealthy barrister, said his victim’s son.
The damning picture of justice in Labour’s Britain emerged as the trio gave evidence to MPs in Parliament yesterday. Mrs Newlove told the Home Affairs Select Committee that the already distressed families of victims are forgotten in the daunting legal system when they get to court to try and get justice. Continued
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A school's governing body is facing the sack for failing to stop the bullying of Polish students.
A formal warning has been issued to the governors of St John Fisher RC School in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, after a series of complaints from parents.
Poles at the 730-pupil school - 56 per cent of which are from an ethnic minority - claim they are the victims of physical assaults, verbal abuse and intimidation.
It is the first time Peterborough City Council has taken action under the Education and Inspections Act 2006, which includes allowing police on site to liaise with youngsters.
A notice sent by the council on February 27 to chair of governors Judith Jones and headteacher Mary Mihovilovic, requires them to take extra measures.
If they don't the council could remove funding, federate the school with a successful school and sack the governors.
But some parents accused the council of over-reacting to the Polish complaints.
Stephanie Hughes, 36, who has a 14-year-old daughter at the school: "From what I've heard, it's the Polish kids who do the bullying - maybe they're just being defensive.
"I think this is an over-reaction - my daughter was bullied in the first year, by a Portuguese girl, but the school put a stop to it, as soon as I told them about it. I really can't believe there's such a big problem."
The school refused to comment. Continued
Reader Submitted Link. Thank You
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A Nottingham pensioner raising thousands of pounds to build a girls' college in Pakistan has been left devastated after being robbed of cash earmarked for the project.
Mohammed Syed was in Rawalpindi changing £15,000 into Pakistani rupees to pay for building materials when he was attacked and robbed by two men who escaped on a motorbike.
Speaking to the Evening Post from Pakistan about his ordeal last Thursday, the 73-year-old said: "I am absolutely devastated by the loss of this money. I am an old man and in poor health and want to be alive to see this college built.
"We'd already built the ground floor and the money I was changing was going towards the cost of the other three levels. It would have taken builders just a month to finish the job. Now I don't know when it can be finished." Continued
Reader Submitted Link. Thank You
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Wearing a different Easter hat for each day of NUT national conference, Christine Blower attracts attention - and a few sniggers.
But her critics point out that there's little to laugh about over her entrenched socialist agenda.
She has been pursuing calls for strike action for years and was described by a former NUT general secretary, Doug McAvoy, as "to the left of Old Labour".
Mr McAvoy warned that she was "certainly the biggest threat to the stability of the union for the past decade and beyond" when she attempted - and failed - to replace him as general secretary in 1999.
He even went as far as writing to NUT members, warning them that Miss Blower was someone "for whom strike action is the only solution to problems".
He added: "She is controlled and supported by a group of extreme Left organisations including Militant, the Socialist Workers' Party, the Campaign for a Democratic and Fighting Union, and the Socialist Teachers' Alliance."
Blower, 57, a mother of two and founding member of the CDFU, a hard-Left faction within the NUT, denied his allegations of links with extremist parties at the time.
But her campaign statement declared that under her leadership, she would attack the country's remaining grammar schools.
Two years earlier, as president of the NUT in 1997, she attracted widespread condemnation when she revealed at national conference that she had withdrawn her then 11-year-old daughter from SATs in protest against the test scheme.
Miss Blower, who admitted she also planned to withdraw her six-year-old daughter from the tests, said she had not taken her stand as a professional, but as a parent. Continued
Reader Submitted Link. Thank You
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More than a million children have disorders ranging from depression and anxiety to anorexia, a report is expected to claim this week.
The fifth in a series of six reports by the Children's Society into the state of childhood is expected to disclose that pressures on the young to grow up too quickly are leaving increasing numbers with mental health problems.
Binge-drinking, drug-taking and pressure to look fashionable and attractive are all said to be contributing to the trend.
A Children's Society spokesman said the report, headed by Prof Stephen Scott of the Institute of Psychiatry at King's College London, represented a "snapshot" of views from experts about the mental and physical health of children. Continued
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Gordon Brown today called for coordinated international action to deal with a "world food crisis" as Britain announced a £455 million aid package.
The Prime Minister warned that hunger was now the globe's number one threat to public health.
Mr Brown spoke as International Development Secretary Douglas Alexander unveiled £455 million in aid to fight hunger internationally.
However, Mr Brown also indicated the Government's enthusiasm for biofuels was waning, amid concerns that the increasing use of farmland for energy crops is playing a big part in the global surge in food prices.
Writing ahead of a Food Prices Summit in London today, Mr Brown said that the UK would need to be "more selective" in its support for biofuels, which had been advocated to combat global warming.
Just days after Britain implemented the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation, requiring petrol and diesel to contain a proportion of biofuels, the Prime Minister said that the new-style fuels were "frequently energy inefficient". Continued
The society the Lib Lab Cons created!
A Bradford student has been jailed for almost seven years for smuggling heroin into the UK.
Ijaz Rahim, 25, studying for a management diploma at Yorkshire College in Manningham Lane, was desperate to raise cash to pay his second year fees, Bradford Crown Court heard.
Undercover officers intercepted the package of heroin and substituted the drug for sugar and flour before putting the parcel into his hands.
Rahim pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to importing the class A drug from Pakistan.
The student, whom the court was told to be of "impeccable character", was sentenced to six years and eight months in jail.
The court heard he fell prey in a moment of weakness to accepting delivery of the heroin, with a street value of up to £90,000. The 4.41 kilograms of heroin seized had a 62 per cent purity.
The judge said the heroin had a street value of between £60,000 and £90,000.
"We are awash with cocaine and heroin in West Yorkshire, as they are in other parts of the world, and courts must send a message out that drug crime is not worth it," he said. Continued
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A Girl aged just 14 was grabbed from behind and attacked as she walked through Crystal Palace Park.
The young teen was walking from the bus garage to Anerley Hill in the early hours of Saturday morning, April 18, when she was grabbed and thrown to the ground.
A man attempted to pull the victim’s trousers down, having pulled his own down, but was disturbed by a passer-by. The suspect then ran off towards the train station.
Police are appealing for information to try trace the man who is black, in his 30s, around 5ft 6inc tall and was wearing a blue hoodie and blue or black adidas tracksuit bottoms.
Police also want to speak to a white man in his 40s who disturbed the attacker and may have seen the incident. Continued
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A man was assaulted with sticks and a brick in an unprovoked attack.
The incident took place between 8.40pm and 8.50pm on Sunday (April 20) when the 25-year-old victim was walking in Kiln Way in Wellingborough.
Two offenders attacked him with bricks and a stick, leaving him with an injury to his upper lip and a swollen hand.
The offenders were of mixed race and one worearing a dark blue hooded top with a stripe in the middle. Continued
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Two men face charges of rape allegedly committed on Blackpool's Big One roller coaster.
The duo, who are charged with sexual assault involving four schoolgirls on a trip to the Pleasure Beach, have made their first appearance at court.
The sex attacks on the four 13-year-old girls are alleged to have taken place in the queue for and on the roller coaster on September 7 last year.
Mechanic Asad Mahmood, 19, and Haqnawez Razzaq, 26, who are both of Oldham, each face one charge of rape and four charges of sexual touching.
During the hearing at Blackpool magistrates, Claire Hilton, prosecuting, applied for the case to be sent straight to Crown Court. This was not opposed by the defence.
The defendants were bailed to appear at Preston Crown Court on August 7. Continued
Reader Submitted Link. Thank You
.... Terrorism ....
Two men have been arrested and charged with terror offences, Scotland Yard said.
Mohammed Abushamma, 20, from Islington, north London, and Qasim Abukar, 20, from Tufnell Park, north London, were charged under the Terrorism Act.
Sources said the men were arrested after getting off an inbound flight to Heathrow.
It is believed the charges relate to alleged planned terror attacks overseas.
The charges state that between March 17 and April 18 the men "engaged in conduct in preparation for giving effect to their intention of committing acts of terrorism contrary to section 5(1)(a) of the Terrorism Act 2006."
The men will appear before City of Westminster Magistrates' Court on Wednesday. News Source
.... Asylum / Immigration ....
The Government wants councils to spy on supermarkets shoppers to find out where eastern Europeans are settling in Britain.
The proposal, which is sure to alarm civil liberties campaigners, comes amid concern about the strain being put on public services like schools and GP surgeries from immigration, because the Government does not know where migrants are going to live when they arrive in the UK.
Hazel Blears, the Communities Secretary told MPs today: "The Local Government Association has recently suggested that we look at footfall in supermarkets.
"They reckon Tesco has pretty good accurate information about the people who use their stores.
"I welcome that kind of imaginative thinking if it can help us to get a better and more accurate view at the local level of what the impact [of migration] is." Continued
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Nearly 100 languages are spoken in Cambridgeshire classrooms, with extra support and teaching for speakers of foreign languages costing £1.5 million over the last three years.
Figures obtained by the News under the Freedom of Information Act reveal 95 languages are spoken in Cambridgeshire schools, with numbers swelled by the massive influx of eastern Europeans following the expansion of the European Union in 2004.
Cambridgeshire County Council insists its funding lags behind other parts of the country, and has echoed Cambridgeshire Chief Constable Julie Spence's calls for extra cash to meet the rapid explosion of the county's population.
The most common foreign language in Cambridgeshire schools is Polish with 444 speakers, followed by Bengali and Chinese, spoken by 395 and 264 youngsters respectively.
Out of the 77,808 children at the county's nursery, primary, secondary and special schools in January, 4,625 had a first language other than English.
There are 22 languages which are only spoken by a single youngster, including Icelandic, Bikol (used in parts of the Philippines), Amharic (which hails from Ethiopia) and Catalan, which is spoken in north-east Spain. Continued
Reader Submitted Link. Thank You
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The scale of the migrant boom was laid bare yesterday with the revelation that Eastern Europeans make up a quarter of one town's population.
So many settlers have arrived in Boston, Lincolnshire, that 65 languages are spoken in a market town of only 70,000 inhabitants.
Hazel Blears revealed the figure yesterday in giving evidence to the Commons communities select committee. The MPs are examining the impact on community relations of the arrival of 800,000 migrants from the former Soviet Bloc.
Mrs Blears, the Communities Secretary, said some councils had been faced by "rapid migration" and had set up "myth-busting" units to ease local tensions.
"There are some communities that, because of the scale and pace of change that has taken place, are feeling the impact," she added.
"It is absolutely right that we acknowledge that."
She told the MPs that the Government was considering making employers pay for English lessons for their migrant workers in order to foster integration.
Figures from her officials show that only 38 per cent of Boston residents believe people of different backgrounds "get on" in the town.
Boston's is the lowest score in the country, making it one of ten towns where the figure is below 60 per cent. Continued
.... International ....
Zimbabwean church leaders say people are being tortured, abducted and some murdered in a campaign of political retribution that could escalate to genocidal proportions if nothing is done.
Leaders of all denominations are calling for international intervention to help end the post-election crisis.
They call for the immediate announcement of results from the March 29 presidential election that longtime President Robert Mugabe is widely believed to have lost.
In a joint statement, the leaders say "the nation is in a crisis".
The opposition Movement For Democratic Change also claim there has been a spate of stabbings.
Spokesman Nelson Chamisa said he visited a hospital in southeastern Zimbabwe yesterday and seen a pregnant women who had a "wound in her womb" after been stabbed.
He said he also saw an 85-year-old women whose legs had been broken. He attributed both cases to postelection violence. Continued
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Barack Obama faces the prospect of a rising backlash against his race and background as he inches towards the historic feat of becoming the first black US presidential nominee.
In a foretaste of things to come, a leading Republican said yesterday that the Illinois senator’s colour would be worth up to 15 percentage points for his Republican opponent John McCain in November’s election, while it emerged that a Pentecostal minister had posted a sign outside his church reading: “Obama, Osama - humm, are they brothers”.
Pastor Roger Byrd claimed he just wanted to pose questions to his congregation at the Jonesville Church of God in South Carolina.
“It’s simply to cause people to realise and to see what possibly could happen if we were to get someone in there that does not believe in Jesus Christ,” he said.
Asked if he believed Mr Obama was a Muslim, Mr Byrd told a local television station: “I don’t know. He says he’s not. I hope he’s not. But I don’t know.”
Despite repeatedly stating his faith on the campaign trail in a bid to quash rumours that he follows Islam, 15 per cent of respondents in a recent AP-Yahoo poll thought Mr Obama was a Muslim. Continued
.... Money Matters ....
The true extent of the latest hammer blow to hard-pressed family budgets was revealed last night.
Soaring food costs are adding £15 a week to supermarket shopping bills, according to worrying research.
A basket of 24 staple items of food is now around 15 per cent more expensive than a year ago.
This new blow to homes already struggling to make ends meet comes on top of rocketing bills for energy, petrol, mortgages and council tax.
The research, which graphically highlights how rising world food prices are hitting us hard, was released as Gordon Brown attended a summit about the mounting crisis.
The Prime Minister said global food prices were at their highest, relatively, since 1945, with rice and wheat doubling in a year. But he could offer little comfort to shoppers. Continued
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Home owners will not see a quick reduction in interest rates despite the £50billion pumped into the mortgage markets by the Bank of England, the Government was warned yesterday.
A group of the biggest mortgage lenders told Chancellor Alistair Darling that borrowers will have to struggle on for some time yet.
The warning was embarrassing for Mr Darling as it came during a top-level meeting between lenders and ministers aimed at reducing the burden on home owners.
The talks between Mr Darling, housing minister Caroline Flint and key members of the mortgage industry, including Michael Coogan, head of the Council of Mortgage Lenders, were supposed to have focused on helping borrowers who run into problems. Continued
.... NHS / Health ....
A chemotherapy drug used to treat thousands of cancer patients could cause serious brain damage with effects that are felt for years, research suggests today.
The drug, 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), which is one of the most commonly prescribed anti-cancer medicines, is used for tumours of the breast, ovary, colon, stomach, skin, pancreas and bladder.
However, tests showed that it destroys brain cells and could be responsible for side effects known as "chemo brain", which include memory loss, poor concentration, and in more extreme cases, seizures, impaired vision and dementia. Most chemotherapy drugs are toxic to some degree, often noticeable because of hair loss and nausea. They can affect healthy as well as cancerous cells.
Doctors have urged patients not to abandon the drug as it is an effective weapon against cancer.
The findings, reported today in the Journal of Biology, could explain some of the neurological side effects associated with chemotherapy. Continued
Tuesday 22nd April 2008
Few days ago we published a link to a news report on the cancellation of St Georges Day due to Health and Safety Issues. We didn't realise there was more to it than met the eye as this news item now reports!
A March to celebrate St George’s Day has been axed – because the authorities fear it could spark race riots.
About 1,500 children were due to take part in a parade to commemorate the patron saint of England on Wednesday.
The Truth Leaks out!
But council bosses in Bradford, West Yorks, have ditched the event over concerns it could upset the Asian community, many of them Muslim.
They feared a repeat of riots that hit the city in 2001, when an Asian man was stabbed by National Front supporters and 300 police were injured. Officials suggested making the route shorter to avoid areas where the riots took place.
Oh yes' we can see it now' School children running amok stabbing people!
But the Rev Tony Tooby, chairman of governors at St Philips Primary School, said: “We wanted the route to include where the riots took place to educate our young people.
“But the police and council proposed another route which was ridiculously short.
In another report from the Telegraph and Argus there was a suggested alternative date of July 1. So first of all, why would it be safer to hold it on July 1st and not April 23rd unless there was another reason? Secondly the reality is that it would have made no difference apart from the fact by holding it in July it would have taken away the meaning than if it was held on the appropriate day of St George, therefore destroying another English commemoration!
“The march would have been over before it began.
“Unfortunately, there’s a fear someone may have used it to cause violence.
“The day seems to have been taken off us because of fear of thugs.” Tory MP Philip Davies, 36, added: “This was a prime opportunity to promote integration in a celebration of being British.
“The police and council – whether it’s through political correctness or whatever – have failed miserably. Frankly, it’s pathetic.”
About 10,000 people were expected to line the streets.
But council leader Kris Hopkins, 44, said: “The council has not banned the St George’s Day parade.
“Given the involvement of 1,500 children, including six and seven-year-olds, we suggested a slightly safer route.
“We have got a responsibility to look after our children.”
Rubbish! Another Lame excuse to demise another English commemoration! Don't use our children in your pathetic excuses! (Ed)
Ladbrokes have cut the odds of St George’s Day being made a Bank Holiday after a flurry of bets by patriotic punters. News Source
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Selfridges has sparked controversy by refusing to light up its iconic store in the centre of Birmingham in red to mark St George's Day.
The store has been lit up in pink, gold and green for previous celebrations in the city marking everything from Gay Pride to St Patrick's Day.
But critics, including one of the last living descendants of Admiral Nelson, claim it has forgotten how to be patriotic because of its refusal to do the same for England's national day.
Selfridges have said they cannot illuminate the building in red because they do not have the right light bulbs.
But locals have rubbished their excuses, claiming the store has forgotten its roots.
Lord Nelson's great great great granddaughter, Anna Tribe, 78, said: "If they are catering for the gays and Hindus then they should do everything they can to light it up red for St George's Day.
"I'm all for celebrating St Patrick's Day but this is the country where Selfridges established themselves in.
"They should be lighting the side of it up red, white and blue. Continued
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Man behind the mask..
The true face of Ken Livingstone
Livingstone defended his decision to share a platform with a homophobic Islamic preacher as he and his challenger, Boris Johnson, were neck and neck in the race for the capital yesterday.
Yusuf al-Qaradawi has described homosexuality as an "unnatural and evil practice" and said the Koran permitted wife-beating in certain circumstances.
The Qatar-based Egyptian cleric has also advocated the use of Palestinian children as suicide bombers and once claimed that Asian tsunami victims were punished by Allah because their countries were centres of perversion.
But speaking on BBC1's Politics Show yesterday, the London Mayor insisted he was right to welcome the cleric to City Hall as an "honoured guest" in July 2004. He said that while he did not agree with some of his views, al-Qaradawi did not support terrorism against the West.
Mr Livingstone's liberal approach to controversial figures such as al-Qaradawi has won him a friend in Azzam Tamimi, a Palestinian supporter of Hamas, which is dedicated to the destruction of Israel.
Mr Tamimi is part of a group called Muslims 4 Ken, which is aiming to mobilise Muslim voters to help re-elect Mr Livingstone for a third term on May 1.
The group has accused Mr Johnson of being an Islamophobe and a racist. One article, written after the July 7 London bombings and entitled "Islam is the problem", has drawn particular criticism.
But Mr Johnson insisted yesterday that he believed Islam was a "religion of peace" and the problem was extremists taking the words of the Koran out of context.
"The problem is people who wrench out of context quotes from the holy book of Islam, the Koran, and use it to inspire evil in men's hearts," he said, during the Politics Show debate between the mayoral candidates.
Mr Johnson also used the opportunity to raise concerns about uncontrolled immigration to the capital.
Research commissioned by a Sunday newspaper now puts Mr Livingstone just one point ahead of Mr Johnson - on 45 per cent and 44 per cent respectively - but gives a dead heat, on 50 per cent each, when second preferences are considered. News Source
How can anyone in their right mind
vote for this man now?
As the far left are always keen to point out at others.. Guilty by association!
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And another one! How many more?
Livingstone has appointed a former member of a banned terrorist organisation to the board of Transport for London.
Until 2001, Dabinderjit Singh, a civil servant, was a member of the International Sikh Youth Federation, a UK-based group banned under British antiterror laws.
The then Home Office minister, Lord Bassam, said British-based ISYF members were a "threat to national security" and the group had carried out " assassinations, bombings and kidnappings" overseas.
The ISYF plotted a number of unsuccessful attacks in the UK and one of its members was convicted of the 1985 Air India bombing off Ireland, the deadliest single aircraft terror attack in history.
After it was banned the ISYF dissolved, creating a successor body, the Sikh Federation UK, whose executive committee and senior members - including Mr Singh - are largely the same as the ISYF's, and whose objectives are the same. Sikh Federation UK has received extensive support from Mr Livingstone.
The Sikh Federation UK's official 2008 calendar glorifies terrorist "martyrs" - including the assassins of Indira Gandhi and the mastermind of the1985 Air India bombing. Last June, Mr Singh spoke at a Sikh Federation UK rally - sanctioned by Mr Livingstone - in Trafalgar Square at which another speaker praised terrorism and suicide bombing and at which the banners of another banned Sikh terrorist group, Babbar Khalsa, were on open display. Mr Livingstone has worked closely with the Sikh Federation UK, meeting its leadership - including Mr Singh - as recently as six weeks ago.
According to a 29 February City Hall press release, they presented him with a shield in honour of "the work he has done in support of the Sikh community".
The press release described Mr Singh as a member of the Sikh Federation. He described himself to the Standard as an "adviser" to the federation's executive.
The Mayor also allowed the free use of City Hall and the London Assembly chamber for at least two events organised by the Sikh Federation UK - the "World Sikh Summit," on 17 September last year, and a conference on "making Sikhs visible to decision-makers" on 1 February 2006. Mr Singh spoke at both events.
Mr Singh has had at least one private one-on-one meeting with the Mayor - in September 2006 - and was appointed by him to the TfL board in the same month. He is paid at least £22,000 a year for this appointment. Continued - Please Read News in Full
Reader Submitted Link. Thank You Caroline
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The eyes of Europe are on Birmingham as it becomes the continent's first ethnic majority city, Britain's equalities chief has said.
Speaking at the same Birmingham hotel on the 40th anniversary of Enoch Powell's 'rivers of blood' speech, Trevor Phillips called for a fresh debate on immigration which he said was vital for the country's economic future.
Really Mr Phillips? We say it isn't! Take your pick from links below!
We think you are living in a fantasy land that exists only in your head! (Ed)
And he described how he thought Birmingham's unique ethnic make-up would eventually be the model for the majority of large cities in Europe
.Phillips, chairman of the Equalities and Human Rights Commission, described the prospect of ethnic minorities becoming the majority of Birmingham's population as "a very very big deal".
He added: "I think it's a very important issue. It's important because in Europe this won't happen in the way it has happened in America, where one lot of people takes over from another.
"There will be a lot of groups of different ethnicities, and that is going to take a new kind of thinking. This is what most European cities in 15 or 20 years' time will look like, and that's why I'm so interested in what's happening in Birmingham."
Calling for a new debate on immigration laws, Mr Phillips said mass immigration had led to a 'cold war' between ethnic communities in Britain, and failed immigration policies risked nurturing racism. Continued
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Wednesday is St George's Day; so how stands England? Is it, as Ross says when asked the same of Scotland in Macbeth, a case of "Alas, poor country! / Almost afraid to know itself"?
Or has a detectable upsurge of English national pride been awakened by devolution? More than that, is there not a feeling that England continues to be short-changed by the post-devolutionary settlement?
England remains in a limbo that does not enable it to reassert its nationhood, as Scotland has done, yet leaves it increasingly estranged from the historic Union of which it is the dominant part.
England was left out when Scotland gained a parliament and Wales and Northern Ireland an assembly. As an afterthought, ministers considered balkanising England into regionally governed entities until it became apparent, after the North East referendum, that these were not wanted.
Within the context of keeping a united kingdom, the biggest problem is what to do with England.
The English taxpayers' subvention to Scotland, never a serious problem pre-devolution, has caused disgruntlement south of the border ever since, and it can only get worse.
Scotland is over-represented at Westminster. And the so-called West Lothian Question is still unanswered.
In 1977, during the devolution debates in the Commons, Tam Dalyell, the Labour MP for West Lothian, asked: "For how long will English constituencies and English honourable members tolerate… at least 119 honourable members from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland exercising an important, and probably often decisive, effect on British politics while they themselves have no say in the same matters in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland?"
It was Enoch Powell, in his speech during the same debate, who gave Mr Dalyell's puzzle the status it now enjoys: "We have finally grasped what the Honourable Member for West Lothian is getting at," he said. "Let us call it the West Lothian Question."
Powell was probably being mischievous by imbuing Dalyell's badgering over the issue with historic portent. To call something a "question" conjured up those great issues that once preoccupied parliamentarians, like Schleswig-Holstein or, more pertinently, the Irish Question, which it most closely resembles.
We continue to ask the West Lothian Question in the context of Scottish devolution. Why should an MP sitting for, say, Motherwell, influence policy in Macclesfield but not in his own constituency? It is about accountability.
Scottish voters can eject a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) if they do not like the education policy he has supported, but can elect to the Westminster parliament an MP who is directly accountable to no voter for domestic decisions he takes affecting England.
Nevertheless, it is time for this question to be redesignated. It is now the English Question. How and when will England be invited to join the devolutionary party?
It is not possible to ignore the question, as the Labour Party chooses to, imagining it will eventually go away. As Mr Dalyell said recently: "You cannot have, on a stable basis, a subordinate parliament, in part, though only part, of a kingdom which, above all, you wish to keep united." Continued - Please Read News in Full
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One of London's biggest and most successful hedge funds has warned it could quit Britain and move its $22billion assets abroad in protest at the Government's "non-dom" tax reforms.
In a blow to London's status as the world's financial capital, Brevan Howard has told the Financial Services Authority it is considering the move following uncertainty over taxation.
The Government is to make foreign businessmen pay an annual £30,000 levy to stay in the UK. It is thought the Pall Mall-based fund's manager has held talks about a move to Switzerland.
A source said: "Brevan Howard has told the FSA in an informal meeting it could move out of London at the flick of a switch." It is thought at least five out of Brevan Howard's eight founding partners are registered as "non-domiciled" in Britain.
They are understood to be frustrated at the Government's campaign against their previously relaxed tax status. It is the latest sign that London's financial services community is losing patience with the non-dom tax proposals.
In February it was revealed nine senior US directors were considering leaving London. Dozens more working in the city's oil, electronic, automotive and telecommunications sectors were said to be considering the move.
The London Investment Association, the British Bankers Association, the City of London Corporation, the CBI and London First have asked the Treasury for a 12-month "cooling off" period for the plan, which came into effect this month.
CBI director general Richard Lambert said: "It is vital we do all we can to keep wealth-generators and their businesses in this country, not make them feel unwelcome and drive them out."
Brevan is run by Alan Howard, a Conservative Party donor who is also chairman of the Conservative Friends of Israel. News Source
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An illegal immigrant wanted for allegedly slashing the face of a young Plymouth mum evaded capture at the city ferry port as he re-entered the country, The Herald has learned.
Algerian-born Ahmed Shiri Ismain is wanted by police on suspicion of viciously slashing the face, neck and arm of the teenage mum as she stood with a friend at the junction of Royal Parade and Armada Way on March 14, 2007.
According to Trevor Philips ''UK told not to fear immigration'' Philips said ''The government says new measures will ensure Britain has tougher controls.'' Well the controls have certainly failed in the past as they will in the future!
She was left bleeding profusely from her wounds - which have left her with visible scars - as her attacker raced from the scene.
Plymouth detectives carried out a number of searches for Ismain, who openly admitted to his victim that he was an illegal immigrant.
Appeals in The Herald and on BBC's Crimewatch led officers first to Derby and then to the Swansea area. They were able to confirm he had been in South Wales, but was no longer at any of the addresses police checked.
Investigators say they believe Ismain was then able to leave the UK and make his way to the continent.
On November 30 last year, he re-entered England aboard a ferry arriving from Santander. Continued
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A Bosnian doctor is on the run after being charged with manslaughter for using "excessive force" when delivering a baby, a disciplinary tribunal has heard.
Hospital registrar Vladan Visnjevac is thought to be in Bosnia after allegedly killing the baby during the forceps delivery in May 2002.
He went on the run before he could be with manslaughter after the violent delivery in which he tried and failed three times to bring out the baby with the set of forceps.
The case against him was being heard in his absence today by a fitness to practise panel of the General Medical Council, sitting in London.
It heard how a woman who was 37-weeks pregnant, known only as Mrs W, was admitted to St Peter's Hospital in Chertsey in the early hours of May 24.
Visnjevac, an obstetric registrar at the hospital, tried throughout the night to deliver her baby - repeatedly removing and reapplying forceps to the little girl's head. The child was eventually born the following evening but died during the next night, the hearing was told.
Visnjevac, who was not represented, allegedly did not properly assess or record the level and position of the head before he tried to use the forcepts.
He is also accused of not reassessing the clinical situation after failure of the baby's head to descend with the first episode of traction. Continued
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An "arrogant" businessman who gouged a motorist's eyes in a horrific road rage attack was jailed for four months today.
Wealthy Hussan Shah, 23, set upon Grzegorz Polazek, 32, after the Pole asked him to close the door of his £100,000 Bentley as it was obstructing the road in Mayfair.
Shah refused and started spitting at Mr Polazek through his open window before yanking open the car door and repeatedly kicking him. Shah's brother Ali Shah, 36, then joined in by punching the victim in the face, Southwark Crown Court heard.
Mr Polazek, a bouncer, managed to fend off the blows by grabbing Ali Shah in a headlock. But furniture importer Hussan Shah reacted with fury, climbing into the back of the victim's car and stuck his fingers in his eyes.
Jailing Hussan for four months and giving Ali a suspended prison term Judge Martin Beddoe said: "Here was the arrogance that comes with wealth and fortune."
The court heard they had caused other drivers "irritation" by obstructing the road with the Bentley, preventing cars from passing through. Mr Polazek was trying to get home from work when his route was blocked by the luxury car.
He rolled down his window to ask Hussan to close the driver's door but ended up with spit on his face and needing hospital treatment. Continued
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Is there no end to the demands?
Muslim scientists and clerics have called for the adoption of Mecca time to replace GMT, arguing that the Saudi city is the true centre of the Earth.
Mecca is the direction all Muslims face when they perform their daily prayers. The call was issued at a conference held in the Gulf state of Qatar under the title: Mecca, the Centre of the Earth, Theory and Practice.
One geologist argued that unlike other longitudes, Mecca's was in perfect alignment to magnetic north. He said the English had imposed GMT on the rest of the world by force when Britain was a big colonial power, and it was about time that changed.
Sheikh Youssef al-Qaradawy, said modern science had at last provided evidence that Mecca was the true centre of the Earth; proof, he said, of the greatness of the Muslim "qibla" - the Arabic word for the direction Muslims turn to when they pray. Continued
Reader Submitted Link. Thank You
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Over two soccer seasons he refereed or ran the line at 67 matches.
And all that time Keith McNiffe was claiming disability benefit.
But his deception came to an end when McNiffe was secretly filmed by undercover officials from the Department for Work and Pensions as he officiated at one game, a court heard yesterday.
The former town mayor was warned he may be jailed after he belatedly admitted illegally claiming thousands of pounds from the taxpayer.
Sharon Knox, prosecuting, told magistrates McNiffe had been claiming disability and care benefits at the highest level.
That meant either he could not walk, or only with significant discomfort, and needed round-theclock help.
She said McNiffe was caught on camera refereeing a soccer match after an anonymous tip-off from the public.
Department for Work and Pensions staff who watched the game in March last year saw him running and walking the length of a soccer pitch.
"Video footage of the football match was taken," said Miss Knox. McNiffe stood down as mayor of Pembroke, West Wales, last month after vowing to fight the allegations against him. Continued
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As a community policeman Robert Hazon prided himself on being the friendly face of the law.
Unfortunately the 48-year-old regularly became over familiar in his dealings with attractive members of the opposite sex, a court heard.
The PC couldn't keep his hands to himself, touching several women in the "chest area" and pulling back their tops to peek inside, it was alleged.
He made sexually suggestive comments and was accused of trying to force himself on one woman over a coal bunker in the back garden after quizzing her about her sex life.
The women complaining about the beat bobby's behaviour hands-on approach included a police officer colleague and members of the public he came across in the course of his duties.
Hazon was charged with indecent assault when a teenage girl who lived near the officer in the Scunthorpe area accused him of inappropriate touching.
Richard Newbury, prosecuting, told a jury his case was not that Hazon was a "paedophile" who was attracted to the girl because she was a teenager, but "someone when he formed an attraction to women then he behaved inappropriately and he doesn't understand the boundaries." Continued
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Rising numbers of children are suffering from mental health problems because they are forced to grow up too quickly, a report will warn this week.
Binge- drinking, increased availability of drugs, family breakdown and pressure to look fashionable and attractive are contributing to the trend.
The latest report from The Children's Society inquiry into the state of childhood is expected to reveal that more than a million children have disorders ranging from depression, anxiety and anorexia to violent delinquency.
The report will call for action to prevent mental health problems wrecking the prospects of a generation of youngsters. It will also urge parents to do more to steer children away from anti-social behaviour and a life of crime and unemployment.
They are expected to be encouraged to praise their children more frequently instead of repeatedly criticising them, while also establishing clear boundaries.
The fifth in a series of six themed reports, the study to be published on Thursday will focus on children's health, examining their behaviour and feelings of self-worth.
The inquiry team is headed by Stephen Scott, professor of child health and behaviour at the Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London.
It is expected to refer to figures released by the Institute last year, which showed that the number of teenagers with emotional and behavioural problems doubled between 1974 and 1999, the latest statistical group available.
The problems of social networking sites such as Bebo and MySpace, which may increase pressure on children to be 'cool' or 'skinny' are also likely to be cited. Continued
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Role Models: One reason why today's children are as they are!
Amy Winehouse has long struggled to keep her drug habit under control, but now it appears she's not even attempting to hide it.
The troubled singer - who earlier today was nominated for three prestigious Ivor Novello Awards for songwriting - was smoking what appeared to be a joint as she arrived back at her Camden home after an evening of partying.
Her eyes were blood-shot and she looked dishevelled - a sight unlikely to impress her record company bosses, who reportedly threatened to stop her releasing any new material until she cleans up her act.
Earlier Amy was spotted stepping out with "Good" Blake Wood - clinging to a framed photo of jailed "Bad" Blake Fielder-Civil.
Despite wearing her trademark thick eye-liner and her beehive being very much in tact, the Back to Black singer looked tired and worn as she and her non-incarcerated Blake made trip to pick up kebabs.
She has confessed to self-harming in the past and although she seemed to have turned the corner to ditching her demons earlier this year, the star cut a forlorn, painfully thin figure on her after-hours taxi ride.
Wearing denim cut-off trousers and a shiny gold bomber jacket, the troubled 24-year-old had a raw-looking sore on her arm, which may re-ignite former concerns she is on the brink of another burnout.
She has confessed to self-harming in the past and although she seemed to have turned the corner to ditching her demons earlier this year, the star cut a forlorn, painfully thin figure on her after-hours taxi ride. Continued
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A man has been left £225 out of pocket after he was charged with overfilling his bin by four inches.
Gareth Wilson-Corkhill, 26, from Whitehaven in Cumbria, said he was in shock when he found out about the fine, issued by Copeland Borough Council.
He said: "I couldn't believe they would do that. I don't leave the rubbish on the floor. Every fortnight you can guarantee people's bins will be open more than mine."
He added: "I have my rubbish collected every fortnight. There are five people in my family, three children, me and my wife. Plus I have my daughter over on weekends.
"We recycle everything we can, including plastics, cardboard, tins, glass and paper. We have got a black box that is always full. "It's only an £80 fine for fly-tipping. I would have been better off doing that."
A council enforcement officer took photos of the bin in January and issued an on the spot fine shortly afterwards. Mr Wilson-Corkhill was offered the chance to pay a fixed penalty of £110 rather than be brought to court.
When he did not pay up he was fined £110, plus £100 prosecution costs and £15 surcharge. Continued
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Almost 100 breaches of security have been reported to the privacy watchdog since Revenue and Customs mislaid computer discs with the details of 25million child benefit claimants last November.
Information Commissioner Richard Thomas said yesterday he has been told of 94 data breaches - two-thirds by government or other public-sector bodies.
He described the loss of unencrypted laptops, paper documents, computer discs and memory sticks as "alarming".
Some of the breaches were due to theft and others due to items going missing in the post or a courier service. Lost data has only been recovered in three out of the 94 cases.
Mr Thomas said: "It is particularly disappointing that the HMRC breaches have not prevented other unacceptable security breaches from occurring.
"The Government, banks and other organisations need to regain the public's trust by being far more careful with people's personal information.
"Once again I urge business and public sector leaders to make data protection a priority in their organisation."
The Commissioner stopped short of naming and shaming the companies and organisations responsible for the failures, although several have already come to light.
They include the loss of a Ministry of Defence laptop, stolen from a car in Birmingham in January, containing the details of 600,000 people who applied to join the armed forces in recent years. Continued
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The bill for the London Olympics could soar by five times the original estimate to more than £12billion, MPs will warn today.
Ministers' failure to include "foreseeable major factors", such as tax and security, had already seen costs rise to £9.3billion.
But this figure excludes the £ 2billion cost of actually staging the 2012 Games and the £650million to buy land for the Olympic park in East London.
It also neglects to include the millions of pounds needed for transport and staff, the Commons public accounts committee will say.
It will add that the original bid for the Games gave an "unrealistic picture of the expected costs". When ministers put together the bid in 2003, MPs were told that the budget was set at £2.4billion.
It was then revised upwards to £4billion for the formal submission to Olympics chiefs in November 2004.
But that figure did not include policing and security, now put at £600million, tax of £836million, and a contingency fund of £2.7billion. Continued
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Now there's Irony for you.. Blair refused us a referendum and now..
One of Britain's richest men has hired Cherie Blair's law firm to advise him on a £750,000 High Court battle that could force Gordon Brown to hold a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty.
Stuart Wheeler will go to the High Court in London tomorrow to seek a judicial review of the Government's decision. The challenge could delay the ratification of the controversial treaty by months.
Mr Wheeler, 73, made more than £30 million from IG Index, the spread betting firm. He has raised £150,000 from 150 donors to pay for the action, which could cost £750,000.
He will claim that the EU Reform Treaty is almost entirely the same as the defunct EU constitution on which the Government had promised to hold a referendum and the Government should therefore hold a vote on the treaty.
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The Treasury is enjoying a £117million monthly VAT windfall off the backs of motorists forced to pay more for their petrol, figures out today show.
Britain’s drivers are the most heavily taxed in Europe, paying 65.2p in tax and duty for every £1 spent at the petrol pump – at least 23p more than any other European nation.
Campaign groups said the petrol price hikes are creating a growing sense of crisis among road hauliers and motorists.
The rises could spark protests this summer, one group warned yesterday.
Motoring organisations are calling on the Government to ditch its 2p per litre fuel duty increase due to take effect from October 1.
The average price of unleaded petrol is now 108.56p per litre – up 15.31p on last year, according to the AA. Diesel has surged even higher, with average prices up 22.75p per litre to 118.23p.
The increases mean £117 million extra a month in VAT for the Treasury, according to accountants Grant Thornton.
David Handley, chairman of Farmers for Action and former co-chairman of the People’s Fuel Lobby, said: “We are being pushed so far that I would not be surprised before this summer ends to see protests.” Continued
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The real rise in the cost of living for millions of households is way above the official inflation rate, experts warned last night.
Latest government figures say consumer price inflation held steady at 2.5 per cent in the year to March.
But in the real world, families are seeing the cost of running a household soar by at least nine per cent, it is claimed, as the price of petrol, gas, water, council tax and food soars.
The average household has seen their monthly outgoings rise by £148 compared to 2007, according to price comparison site uSwitch.com.
Petrol is one of the factors driving this increase, with prices rising about 20 per cent.
The cost of filling an average family car with 50 litres of petrol has surged by £7.66 in 12 months. That alone added £16.41 to the average household’s monthly bills, the AA said yesterday.
In addition, gas and electricity prices have soared by about 15 per cent since the start of the year.
Food prices have surged as higher production costs filter through to shop shelf prices.
Comparison website MySupermarket.co.uk says a family of four spending on average £100 on their weekly shop will fork out about £572 more on food this year than they did in 2007.
The official inflation measure tracks the retail prices of about 600 goods and services, excluding mortgage costs. Continued
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A police chief has said the smoking ban and cheap alcohol sold in supermarkets are to blame for an increase in domestic violence.
Chief Superintendent Peter White, based in Preston, Lancashire believes a change in people's social drinking habits following the implementation of the smoking ban last year, and some supermarkets selling alcohol for as little as 23p per can, is to blame for the increase in certain areas.
Figures for the last quarter reveal domestic violence accounts for as much as 40 per cent of violent crime in some suburban areas in the east of the city, with 23 per cent being the overall average in Preston.
Mr White said: "It would seem sensible that some people will stay at home and drink more because it's cheaper to do it that way.
"That may lead to dispute between partners and therefore domestic violence.
"I don't particularly think it's a leap of faith to suggest one of the reasons crime is going down in the city centre and not going down elsewhere might be people's social drinking habits are changing.
"We are having reported to us by the licensing trade that the smoking ban is really affecting business in pubs and we know from our patrols in the city centre the pubs don't seem to be as busy.
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Fears are growing today that Britain could lurch towards another fuel crisis.
As forecourt prices hit record levels and oil went above $117 a barrel, campaigners said they were secretly planning a series of blockades in an attempt to bring the country to its knees.
Angered by the Government's planned 2p rise in fuel duty, they pledged to recreate the chaotic scenes which saw tens of thousands of drivers panic-buying in 2000.
They said they would hold demonstrations across the country to coincide with a two-day strike being staged by workers at a major oil refinery in Scotland.
Up to 1,200 employees at the Ineos refinery will walk out on April 27 and 28 in a row over pensions.
And the operator was accused of "economic terrorism" today by the union whose members are due to strike. Continued
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A shadowy underworld boss known only as “The Librarian” is renting guns out to criminals by the hour on the estate where Rhys Jones was killed.
The heavily-protected gangster, who operates in Croxteth close to where 11-year-old Rhys was gunned down eight months ago, is known to police as a major supplier of weapons in the area.
Nicknamed “The Librarian” because of the ease with which he loans out weapons, the Liverpool gangster is both feared and respected in the close-knit neighbourhood where schoolboy Rhys was killed last August.
Last night an underworld source told the Daily Star Sunday: “The Librarian is a truly nasty character.
Last week a 17-year-old youth appeared in court charged with murdering Everton fan Rhys who was shot dead while walking home from football training last summer.
The teen-ager was accused of shooting Rhys in the neck on a pub car park in Croxteth Park on August 22.
In addition Gary Kayes, 25, Melvyn Coy, 24, James Yates, 20, a 17-year-old boy and two boys aged 16 are charged with assisting an offender.
Yates, who was charged separately from the others on Friday, is accused of “dumping the murder weapon” and “burning the killer’s clothes”. Continued
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The number of suspected child sex offenders that have been arrested has tripled in the past year, it was revealed today.
Nearly 300 suspects have been arrested in the last 12 months by officers from a dedicated unit.
Results published by the Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) Centre show 297 offenders have been arrested and 131 children protected from further abuse.
The centre has received 5,812 reports of abuse in the 12 months from last April - a 76 per cent increase from 2006/07.
Ten of the highest risk offenders were caught after their details were posted on the centre's 'Most Wanted' website.
Officers have also infiltrated and dismantled six paedophile rings - all of which had international connections outside the UK.
Almost one million images of child sex abuse have been examined in a bid to build up intelligence about offenders and bring them to account.
Officers were able to identify 18 victims from the images and help safeguard them from further abuse. Continued
The society the Lib Lab Cons created!
A man was jailed today after breaking into the home of a 12-year-old boy and cutting his throat.
Ryan Burston, 31, of Four Acres, in Withywood, Bristol, entered the boy's home through a faulty window before knifing him across his jugular.
The boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, needed 66 stitches to seal the wound, Bristol Crown Court was told. Mr Burston previously denied attempted murder but he was jailed today for a minimum of six years.
During the sentencing hearing, Mr Justice Jack said: "There is mitigation that the attack was due to misplaced anger which came out against this boy, against whom he brought no apparent ill-will."
The court heard how Mr Burston was seen dragging the boy into the kitchen by the victim's mother. Continued
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A man was jailed today after breaking into the home of a 12-year-old boy and cutting his throat.
Ryan Burston, 31, of Four Acres, in Withywood, Bristol, entered the boy's home through a faulty window before knifing him across his jugular.
The boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, needed 66 stitches to seal the wound, Bristol Crown Court was told.
Mr Burston previously denied attempted murder but he was jailed today for a minimum of six years.
During the sentencing hearing, Mr Justice Jack said: "There is mitigation that the attack was due to misplaced anger which came out against this boy, against whom he brought no apparent ill-will."
The court heard how Mr Burston was seen dragging the boy into the kitchen by the victim's mother. Continued
.... International ....
Mobs loyal to President Robert Mugabe have forced about 3,000 refugees to flee their homes as a national terror campaign gathers pace across Zimbabwe.
Gangs from the ruling Zanu-PF party are ranging across rural Zimbabwe, hunting down supporters of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). Their victims are fleeing into the capital, Harare, seeking safety and treatment.
Chingatayi Chimomo, 13, was separated from his parents when a Zanu-PF gang burned down his home, 120 miles north-east of Harare.
Chingatayi's father, John, was an MDC parliamentary candidate. "We ran into the forest and saw about 50 people burning our house down and taking all our things. My father was a candidate and he told us to run away and he ran away to another place," said the boy.
"It was midnight, a lot of people came and two had guns, and they put fire and broke everything and they took all our property. My father knows I am here but I don't know when we will go home. There is nothing left at home."
Chingatayi was safe yesterday in a Harare hospital. The staff will not send him away, even though wards are overflowing with victims of Mr Mugabe's thugs. Continued
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Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton were bashing one another with the most negative attacks so far in the fight for the Democratic presidential nomination as they bid for undecided voters in Tuesday's critical Pennsylvania primary.
Clinton was bristling over new Obama TV ads that claimed the New York senator's health care plan would force Americans to buy into the programme even if they couldn't afford it.
Obama was also striking out at Clinton, charging her with having cosy links to lobbyists. It was in response to her campaign claims that he was taking money from special interest groups.
With just ten pre-convention contests remaining after Pennsylvania, it appeared mathematically impossible for either candidate to gather the 2,025 delegates needed for nomination going into the party convention in August.
That leaves the nomination in the hands of so-called superdelegates, the nearly 800 party officials who can vote for either candidate regardless of state primary or caucus results. Continued
.... Money Matters ....
Gas and electricity prices leaped by a record one-day amount today as oil prices reached an all-time high.
The spiraling cost of crude oil – which reached $117 (£59) a barrel – triggered demand for other energy supplies to surge.
The price of a unit of natural gas jumped by 4.1 per cent, while wholesale electricity costs increased by 4.2 per cent by the end of trading.
The sudden price leap was partly caused after U.S. energy giant ConocoPhillips stopped production at its oil and gas fields in the North Sea due to an “operational problem”.
Meanwhile Prime Minister Gordon Brown today called for an emergency summit on the back of a warning that food and energy costs are “putting the world at risk”. Continued
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Some 6.8million households are in debt to their power supplier by an average of more than £100 each, a study claims today.
The problem is mainly due to customers not updating their direct debit payments to keep pace with recent price rises.
This means around one in four households will find themselves unexpectedly in arrears when their next bill comes to be paid.
Analysts warn the problem is likely to worsen as gas and electricity prices rise by up to 25 per cent by September.
Gas and electricity prices have already risen by 15 per cent this year, pushing the average dual fuel bill to more than £1,000.
Those whose direct debits have not kept pace with the price rises are in debt by an average of £114.
Meanwhile, a separate study highlights the growing number of households in fuel poverty - those who spend more than 10 per cent of their disposable income on power bills.
The research, published today by Age Concern and campaigning charities the Child Poverty Action Group and National Energy Action, shows the number in this group has soared in recent months by 600,000 to 4.5million.
This means the vast majority of single pensioners and loneparent families entitled to basic state benefits are in fuel poverty. Continued
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Germany's biggest bank today banned staff from visiting brothels on expenses and putting hotel TV porn channels on their company credit card.
The crackdown came in new rules issued to executives as Deutsche Bank cuts costs after losing at least £2billion so far in the global credit crunch.
"Deutsche Bank does not approve of any adult entertainments and such expenditures will not be reimbursed", according to the memo leaked to news magazine Spiegel.
According to Spiegel, the new edict was aimed at senior staff in the bank's communications and social responsibility department.
The memo further warns that the bank's credit cards must not be used for such purposes.
Whether the ruling was prompted by a recent upsurge in executives seeking erotic relief from subprime deals that have gone bad was not specified. Continued
.... NHS / Health ....
Two blind patients have been able to see their families for the first time thanks to Britain's first “bionic” eye operation.
It was revealed today how London surgeons carried out the pioneering surgery, which could transform the lives of thousands of people.
The operations were carried out by a team at Moorfields Eye Hospital in City Road. The patients' identities are being kept secret, but it is understood they are both men in their fifties.
The technology consists of a tiny camera and transmitter mounted in a pair of glasses. It sends a wireless signal to an ultra-thin electronic receiver and electrode panel implanted in the eye.
The electrodes are attached to the retina, at the back of the eye, and stimulate the remaining nerves, allowing signals to be passed along the main optic nerve to the brain.
In the brain, patterns of light and dark spots are perceived — giving the patient basic vision.
The procedure, aimed at those suffering diseases of the retina, is currently being tested in a clinical trial, but doctors hope it will be available on the NHS within a few years. Continued
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A pill that could prevent thousands of deaths from blood clots every year is now available in the UK from.
The drug Pradaxa has been licensed for patients who have had a hip or knee replaced, which increases their risk of suffering a blood clot for around six weeks after the operation.
Every year, clots kill around 25,000 men and women in hospitals across England.
Pradaxa, made by German firm Boehringer Ingelheim, is the first new oral pill anti-coagulant (blood thinner) in the UK for 50 years since the introduction of warfarin.
Warfarin must be monitored to ensure it does not thin the blood too much but Pradaxa needs no such checks.
Trials have also shown that Pradaxa is just as effective as Heparin, which is given by injection.
The drugs watchdog the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) is currently appraising Pradaxa for widespread use on the NHS but doctors will be able to prescribe it in the meantime at their discretion. Continued
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A grandfather who went into hospital with a minor infection was left fighting for his life after being sent home with two deadly superbugs.
Derek Rumbelow, 73, was told by doctors that all he needed was a course of antibiotics and a few weeks rest when he was admitted to hospital with a mild urinary infection.
But just days into his three-week hospital stay, the father of two developed severe diarrhoea and was left bedridden by a mystery bug.
Yet despite his deteriorating condition, the patient was sent home where he was later diagnosed with the potentially lethal bug Clostridium difficile by his GP.
The retired driving instructor was rushed back to Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge, but there was more bad news to come.
Doctors told his family that the pensioner was battling MRSA as well as C.diff and his condition had become "critical".
Initially it was feared that he would not survive, but the grandparent is now out of danger although it may be weeks before he is clear of the double infection. Continued
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Dogs should not be allowed to sleep in the same room as their owner in case they pass on diseases, one of the country's top vets has warned.
Acting Chief Veterinary Officer Fred Landeg urged people to be on the alert about pets because they can "transmit illnesses as easily as farm animals".
Among diseases thought to be carried by dogs are common food poisoning bugs such as campylobacter and salmonella as well as exotic diseases.
About 10 per cent of dogs are thought to carry the superbug MRSA. Continued
Monday 21st April 2008
And who is that says we have to move with the times?
The Marxist UAF and Searchlight do!
However, Instead of of us being accused of being dinosaurs, if they followed tradition and held onto our moral family values we would not be in this god forsaken mess we are in today! (Ed)
These and other modern-day "social evils" have destroyed traditional, shared values and left people feeling a deep sense of unease, said the study.
It criticises the Government, big business, religion and the media for the unwelcome changes which now shape our society.
The report, by social policy charity the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, also identified consumerism, drugs and alcohol, immigration and responses to it, crime and violence, poverty and inequality as the things people are most worried about.
Many of the evils were inter-linked, with the decline of community connected to increasing isolation but also individualism, with relationships "eclipsed by an excessive desire for consumer goods", said the report based on an internet survey to which 3,500 people contributed.
People also felt that Britain is more dangerous and violent than in the past. Child abuse and exploitation were highlighted as particularly damaging evils.
Some participants felt that local residents lose out to immigrants in competition for scarce resources. Continued
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Three cheers! At last the peddlers of doom have seen the light : bio-fuels do displace food crops and rain forests !
Starving the poor and destroying biodiversity to give us good conscience as we pour cereal-based ethanol into our tanks is not a smart thing to do. Even Greenpeace admitted it, while avoiding to mention they had much to do with that fiasco. (1).
But Eurocrats are not as smart : “there is no question for now of suspending the target fixed for bio-fuels,” said Barbara Helfferich, spokeswoman for EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas
- In other words, they’d rather cause starvation, and destroy rain forests, than admit they goofed.
Their rationale boggles the mind : “you can’t change a political objective without risking a debate on all the other objectives,” which could see the EU climate change and energy package disintegrate, an EU official said (1).
- It is all very clear : allowing a debate on public policy is what the European Commission fears most ; more than starvation in poor countries, more than widespread destruction of biodiversity, and more than economic havoc caused by their cherished “climate change” policy.
Will we, Europeans, tolerate this neo-stalinist behaviour ? It is not just a matter of bureaucratic arrogance : this time it has become obvious that we are dealing with dangerous lunatics.
The Eurocrats have everything to lose if they stick to their smoking guns any longer. A debate is dearly needed on everything they’ve been doing wrong, from bio-fuels to carbon trading, and from climate change hysteria to the destruction of peat and designated areas by expensive and redundant windfarms.
Reader Submitted Link. Thank You
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A University is at the centre of a row about how multimillion-pound donations from Saudi and Muslim sources are spent.
A report claims the cash may be used to spread extremist ideas among Islamic students at eight universities across the UK, including Durham.
Professor Anthony Glees of Brunel University’s Centre for Intelligence and Security Studies said more than £233.5million has been received by UK education establishments from these sources.
Durham University — which set up the Centre for Advanced Study of the Arabic World, in collaboration with Edinburgh and Manchester Universities — has received £2.25m.
Prof Glees alleges that sponsors exert influence over what is taught, which can amount to anti-Western propaganda. Meanwhile, a North academic and well-known author claimed he was “dropped” from his teaching position on a Saudi-funded course at Newcastle University.
Dr Denis MacEoin — who taught Islamic studies there around 20 years ago — claimed he lost his post because those funding the course disliked what he was teaching.
He alleged: “In 1986, the Saudis didn’t like some of the things I was teaching so I was dropped.
“But what is interesting, and shows the extent to which their money can influence things, is that I was replaced by a Saudi teacher — appointed by the Saudis — who had no qualifications in Islamic Studies. However, the university wanted the money so they didn’t say anything.” Continued
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Now they are taking the proverbial!
The head of the Equality and Human Rights Commission says the UK must not "cower in fear and fret" about admitting "clever foreigners".
Trevor Phillips was delivering a speech to mark the 40th anniversary of Enoch Powell's "rivers of blood" speech.
He said the public must not "confuse immigration and terrorism" and called for a new debate because of “creeping resentment" towards immigration.
And how do terrorists get in this country exactly Trevor if not use the open door Immigration system? Afterall Al-Qaeda sympathisers and members infiltrated the home office and Police via Immigration work permits!!! And you say don't fear Immigration!
The government says new measures will ensure Britain has tougher controls.
Yes you have been saying this for years and none of your assurances made one iota of difference! Do us all a favour and go and take a run and jump with your tougher controls, you have proven how inadequate you have been all these years (ed)
Phillips delivered his speech at the Midland Hotel, which is the same Birmingham hotel where Mr Powell sparked a major public debate in 1968.
The then shadow frontbencher warned of social tensions in pockets of Britain - such as Wolverhampton - if mass immigration continued.
He compared racial tensions in the United States to the Roman poet Virgil's description of "the River Tiber foaming with much blood" and said anti-discrimination laws were like "throwing a match on to gunpowder". Continued
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More than 40,000 pupils were so poor at English and maths last year that teachers refused to enter them for GCSE exams.
And a total of 60,000 were entered for less than five GCSEs.
The scandal of poorly performing pupils is a massive blow to the Government as Prime Minister Gordon Brown battles to maintain control of his party.
The inability of thousands of youngsters to grasp even the basics of reading, writing and counting blows apart the myth that Labour has done anything valuable for education.
Teachers admitted they were not even confident the youngsters could manage to scrape a G-grade in any subject ñ the lowest score available and well below the traditional 50 per cent mark.
Liberal Democrat education spokesman David Laws unveiled the figures, which are being described as an indictment of Labourís entire education policy.
Mr Laws said: ìWith thousands of 16-year-olds not even being entered for English and maths exams, there is clearly something going very wrong.
ìMinisters must get to grips with our education system which still sees far too many young people leaving school without basic qualifications.†
ìWe need a qualifications system which not only stretches the most academic pupils, but properly recognises the skills and talents of all young people.
A breakdown also shows that far more boys (eight per cent ñ up to 25,000) than girls (five per cent ñ up to 16,000) were barred from taking the exams. Overall, seven per cent were not entered for maths and English.
In addition more than 60,000 pupils were entered for fewer than five GCSEs, including maths and English.
The Government pledged more than a decade ago that all children would achieve at least five A to C grade passes, including the basic core academic subjects. But less than half (46.7 per cent) made the grade. Continued
Reader Submitted Link. Thank You Caroline
Reader Comment: This shows thet, even with dumbed-down exams, the education system is still failing our children.
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Ministers and education experts in Whitehall would not recommend the new schools diploma for their own children, confidential minutes reveal.
The minutes of a high-level meeting last month show that senior figures in the education world, who are designing the controversial qualification, are reluctant to back it personally.
The 23 people at the meeting were asked: "Was everybody round the table confident that they would recommend their child to take a diploma rather than existing qualifications?" Only one, who is not named, admitted encouraging a son to consider one. There is no record of anyone else responding.
Last week, Jerry Jarvis, the head of the exam board Edexcel, said the diploma could prove too difficult for many because there were so many compulsory components for pupils to pass, including basic maths and English tests.
Michael Gove, the shadow education secretary, said: "Ministers say diplomas could be the 'jewel in the crown' of the exam system. But the elite of the education establishment appear reluctant to recommend them to their own children." Continued
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An 'entire generation' of school children has been let down by the Labour government, a new study has claimed.
The report, by the Bow Group, reveals that almost a million teenagers failed to achieve even the lowest grade, a G, in five GCSEs since the party came to power.
While ministers have boasted about the rise in the number of pupils achieving five C grades at GCSE, they have failed to highlight the growing numbers at the bottom of the pile.
Over the past decade the number of teenagers walking away from school without five basic G grades, including in English and maths, has risen - despite billions of pounds of investment in education. Almost 90,000 pupils fell into the category last year, the highest figure since 1998.
The report - which covers English schools between 1997 to 2007 - also found there were 3.9 million pupils, close to 60 per cent of the total, who had not gained five C grades at GCSE, including in the core subjects of English and maths.
Although a G is the lowest pass possible at GCSE, achieving five C grades is considered a 'minimum benchmark' by employers.
The report, The Failed Generation; the real cost of education under Labour, which will be published tomorrow by the right-of-centre think-tank, has calculated that more than £70bn of taxpayers' money had been spent educating almost four million young people who fell short of the basic grades.
'Ten years after "education, education, education" became Labour's mantra, millions of pupils have failed to gain the qualifications they need under the government's watch,' said Chris Skidmore, chairman of the Bow Group and author of the report.
Last year, nearly one in six pupils did not even get five GCSEs of any grade - the highest figures since 10 years ago.
These pupils were five when Labour came to power. There are simply no more excuses for this level of persistent and sustained record of failure.
We have witnessed a decade of disappointment in which an entire generation of pupils have been let down.'
According to Skidmore, employers have warned that young people without five good GCSEs, grade C or above, risk not getting jobs. Continued
Reader Submitted Link. Thank You Caroline
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Parents driving "gas guzzlers" on the school run are to be charged £75 a year.
Those who use 4x4s and people carriers will be hardest hit by plans to start charging parents to park in bays outside schools.
The fees will vary according to how "green" a car is, and those in smaller vehicles with lower emissions will pay nothing at all.
The scheme is currently being tested in the London borough of Richmond Upon Thames.
If it proves successful, it will be rolled out across the country.
Campaign groups and motoring organisations yesterday reacted with fury to the plans.
Sheila Rainger, of the RAC Foundation motoring charity, said: "This is yet another stealth tax that is hitting the family budget. For many parents, it is necessary to have a large car as they have three children who need car seats.
"It is very worrying that tax bands linked to carbon emissions are being used more and more frequently as a means of penalising motorists.
"At a time when fuel is going up, many people don't have the money to pay for these additional charges.
"It would be better if there were incentives to drive smaller cars - such as parking closer to the school - than financial penalties for those driving larger cars."
Margaret Morrissey, of the National Confederation of Parent Teacher Associations, called the scheme "unfair and unrealistic". Continued
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The UK economy is set for a "rapid, painful adjustment" over the next two years, according to an influential economic forecasting group.
Growth will fall from 3.1% in 2007 to 1.8% this year and 1.5% in 2009 unless the government acts decisively predicted Ernst and Young's Item Club .
Employment will hold steady while manufacturing will reap the benefit of the strong pound, the report said.
But the outlook for the housing market and High Street is "bleak", it added.
House prices will fall by 10% in the next two years, while the number of people moving home will shrink by 40% , the report said.
And with consumers less able to borrow money because of lenders' stricter loan criteria, the growth in consumer spending will slow from 3% last year to 1% in 2008 and 2009, it predicted.
"This is going to be a rapid, painful adjustment and it will be a rough ride for a substantial proportion of the population. We are facing a massive sea change in the balance of the economy."
The report calls on the government to be bold in tackling the problems faced by the economy. Continued
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Government inspectors are to pry into the intimate details of more than 500,000 people a year, asking a series of probing questions about their sex lives and earnings.
Snooping officials will want to know about previous sexual partners, contraception, and how long couples lived together before marriage.
The 2,000-question survey from the Office for National Statistics will raise major concerns about privacy – especially as the data will be logged with the respondents' names and addresses.
Some of the questions seem remarkably insensitive. One asks: "Have you ever had a baby – even one who only lived for a short time?"
Interviewers are told starkly: "Exclude: Any stillborn; Include: Any who only lived for a short time."
Civil servants claim the sensitive personal information will be made anonymous once it is processed at the department's headquarters in Newport, South Wales – but that is not enough to satisfy privacy campaigners.
Doubts have also been raised about how useful the information will be, as people have a proven tendency to lie when quizzed about their sex lives.
Investigators conducting the new Integrated Household Survey – at a cost of more than £3.5million a year – will visit 200,000 homes at random each year and question each occupant – about 500,000 individuals altogether. Continued
Reader Submitted Link. Thank You Caroline
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House prices for first-time buyers have soared by more than 200% during the past decade, according to research from Shelter.
People taking their first step on to the property ladder paid an average of £159,494 for a home last year, compared with around £52,674 in 1997. However, the average weekly income of a family in the UK has increased by just 53% during the same period, to an average of £900.
As a result the charity said it was now 78% harder for first-time buyers to get on to the property ladder than it was 10 years ago. It warned that the situation meant a generation of young people were being "locked out of the housing market".
Shelter chief executive, Adam Sampson said: "These new figures show in full the true and worsening situation first-time buyers find themselves in. Every year the gulf between what first-time buyers can afford and the cost of housing is widening.
"Despite falling house prices, many lenders are increasing their mortgage rates, making an already desperate situation worse."
The group's research found that the average first-time buyer home cost 3.4 times average earnings at the end of last year, double the ratio of 1.72 in 1997. The average monthly mortgage repayment has also soared by 172% from £304.80 to £827.87, taking up 21% of the average working household's income, compared with just 12% a decade earlier. Continued
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Selfishness, greed and family breakdown are among the modern-day "social evils", according to a new report published.
Society has lost its "moral compass", with government, the media, big business and religion sharing the responsibility, the consultation by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation found. In 1904 the founder of the social policy charity identified poverty, war, slavery, intemperance, the opium trade, impurity and gambling as the "great scourges of humanity".
Today's top 10 evils, identified after a consultation with more than 3,500 people, were mostly linked to the breakdown of community and family, and in some cases a matter of dispute.
They were: the decline of community, individualism, consumerism and greed, a decline of values, the decline of the family, young people as both victims and perpetrators, drugs and alcohol, poverty and inequality, immigration and responses to it, and crime and violence.
The report concluded that people felt "a strong sense of unease" about some of the changes shaping British society. It said: "People are concerned about the way our society has become more individualistic, greedy and selfish, seemingly at a cost to our sense of community.
"The focus on greed as an issue reflects concern about the growing gulf between the rich and poor. Connected to all of these issues was the perception that we no longer share a set of common values and that we have lost our 'moral compass'." Many of the evils were inter-linked, with the decline of community connected to increasing isolation but also individualism, with relationships "eclipsed by an excessive desire for consumer goods". News Source
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Brown was facing more bad news today with signs that Labour’s bitter infighting is damaging its standing with voters.
As campaigning for crucial local elections enters its final phase, a poll for a Sunday paper found the party’s rating had slumped 3 per cent in less than a fortnight.
The Tories now have a 10 point lead, on 40 per cent, while the Lib Dems have gained two points at 19 per cent.
The research by Populus will cause particular concern in Downing Street because it suggests David Cameron’s team are more trusted to guide Britain through the credit crunch fallout, by 31 per cent to 29 per cent.
The survey was carried out on Wednesday and Thursday, while Mr Brown was in the US and senior Labour figures were openly sniping at his leadership and the decision to scrap the 10p income tax band. Continued
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Sixteen rural wards in the Harrogate Borough Council area are being contested by the main parties, as well as candidates from the UK Independence Party and the British National Party (BNP), on Thursday, May 1.
While the area is represented in Parliament by a Liberal Democrat MP, Phil Willis, the balance is a delicate one in the council chamber, where there are 24 Conservative councillors and 23 Lib Dems.
All the present rural incumbents are standing again on May 1, except for Nick Wilson, who has represented Newby, and Chris Lewis, from Ouseburn.
In Lower Nidderdale, a Conservative seat, a vacancy has arisen following the death of Elwyn Hinchcliffe. There are 13 Conservative and three Liberal Democrat seats to be contested.
The vast rural area includes not only villages such as Bishop Monkton, Killinghall and Kirkby Malzeard, but also embraces Nidderdale and lower Wharfedale, taking in towns like Pateley Bridge, Boroughbridge and Masham.
Issues remain relatively clear cut in the council's larger urban centres, where elections took place last year, they are less so in sparsely populated rural areas.
Harrogate Borough Council Election candidates
BISHOP MONKTON
(1 seat) Philip Stephen Barlow (Lib Dem); Ian Roger Galloway (Con).
BOROUGHBRIDGE
(1) Patricia Ann Foxall (Lab);Peter Phillips (Lib Dem); James Robert Windrass (Con).
CLARO
(1) William Anthony Alton (Con); Geoffrey Ronald David Foxall (Lab); Malcolm Arnold Howe (Lib Dem).
KILLINGHALL
(1) Paul Butters (Lib Dem); Andrew Philip Gray (Lab); Michael Harrison (C); Jennifer Hunter (UKIP).
KIRKBY MALZEARD
(1) Margaret Edna Atkinson (Con); Ashley Ainsley Colin Banner (BNP); Albert Jones Weidemann (Lib Dem).
LOWER NIDDERDALE
(1) Christine Ann Hill (Con); James Edward Thackray (BNP); Tom Watson (Lib Dem).
MARSTON MOOR
(1) Sam Matthew Clayton (BNP); John Savage (Con); Norman Ronald Walker (Ind).
MASHAMSHIRE
(1) Nigel Simms (Con); John Stockdale (Lib Dem).
NEWBY
(1) Nicholas Malcolm Brown (Con); Stephen John Jones (Lib Dem).
NIDD VALLEY
(1) Colin Trevor Banner (BNP); Howard Cohen (Lib Dem); Leslie Thomas Ellington (Con); John Randle Upex (UKIP).
OUSEBURN
(1) Peter John Fisher (Lab); Charles Martin Leather (Con); Clare McKenzie (Lib Dem).
PATELEY BRIDGE
(1) Joel Jack Graham Banner (BNP); Stanley Hugh Beer (Lib Dem); Kathleen Sewell (C).
RIBSTON
(1) Caroline Jane Bayliss (Con); Timothy John Hunter (UKIP); David John Tankard (Lib Dem). SPOFFORTH WITH LOWER WHARFEDALE
(1) Shirley Patricia Fawcett (Con); Michelle Catherine Shrubb (BNP); Matthew David Webber (Lib Dem); Richard Miles Wilson (Lab).
WASHBURN
(1) Nicholas Hugh Anderson (Lib Dem); Richard Grange (Con).
WATHVALE
(1) Bernard Arthur Bateman (Lib Dem); Chris Bratton Brown (Con).
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A Liverpool Labour councillor has been charged with child porn offences.
Cllr Ben Williams, 34, is alleged to have downloaded indecent images of youngsters and faces 12 separate charges under the Protection of Children Act 1978.
The Clubmoor Labour politician was arrested by police the week before Christmas at his then home in Childwall.
Officers went to his house, the council offices in the Municipal Buildings in Dale Street and his place of work at the time – Hugh Baird college in Bootle.
They seized eight computers in the raids. Officers from the hi-tech crime unit also looked deeper into the council computer network.
Cllr Williams, now of Norris Green, suspended himself from the Labour party after his arrest and declared he would not stand in the elections next month.
Cllr Williams, who was elected as councillor in May 2002 and had been chairman of the Clubmoor, Norris Green, and Croxteth Neighbourhood Committee, was also working as a supply teacher and part-time history lecturer at Hugh Baird college.
He was suspended after the allegations came to light. Liverpool Labour leader Cllr Joe Anderson confirmed Cllr Williams remained suspended from the party. News Source
Reader Submitted Link. Thank You
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The Lies of Ken Livingstone!
At the Anti-Racist Festival event organised by Ken Livingstone, Mayor of London and Chairman of Unite Against Fascism, he was asked about the teenage violence that had plagued London in 2007, Tim Donovan put these questions to the Mayor:
"Are you worried about this recent spate of teenage violence is it something new and alarming?... Tony Blair said, not long ago, that this was a black, cultural thing, do you agree?"
To which he replied:
"There is an element of that, particularly around the drug trade but NO! IT’S A LOT OF WHITE KIDS STABBING OTHER WHITE KIDS!"
Now that is as big a lie and not just a big Lie a blatant Lie!
In the year to 15 July 2007, when Livingstone claimed it was 'WHITE KIDS stabbing WHITE KIDS, 16 teenagers had been murdered in London.
Ten of the dead teenagers were black boys, three were black girls, one was mixed race and the other two dead children were white. At the time of Livingstone’s great lie, ALL OF THE KNOWN KILLERS AND THOSE SUSPECTED OF THE KILLINGS WERE BLACK.
Now either Livingstone can't tell the difference between the many different ethnicities, or Perhaps he should have gone to Spec savers, most likely conclusion is the man is just one BIG LIAR and can't be trusted.
Livingstone is an old school Marxist, a PC propagandist who will say whatever he has to say in order to get the result he wants. The ends justify the means as far as commie Ken is concerned.
Neither Livingstone nor UAF and Searchlight have any credibility left, their arguments are being exposed as shams as Kens claims are! Get wise to the propaganda matrix!
London's teenage victims of violence
Youngsters who lost their lives
and the latest on the police investigations into their deaths.
Read the profiles of the killings some mention names others don't of the killers but then we know that the BBC aren't bias or so they claim that's why they omit names as much as possible because it would identify the ethnicity of the perpetrators in this politically correct (or is that politically corrupt) society we live in.
Come on Ken' you didn't seriously think you would get away with attempts to pull the wool over our eyes did you? Furthermore how are we going to stop let alone reduce such violent crime if you keep distorting the facts?
If the above wasn't enough he then LIES that crime has fallen under his Mayor administration:
Livingstone told the Commons home affairs committee that all crime in London, including violent crime, was going down.
But Boris Johnson, his Tory challenger in the forthcoming mayoral election, told the same committee that Livingstone was not acknowledging the full scale of the problem.
Livingstone told the Commons home affairs committee Quote: that all crime in London, including violent crime, was going down.
Livingstone said that crime had increased over a 50-year period starting in the 1950s and that it peaked nationally in 1999 and in London in 2003. Since then crime in London had gone down by 21%, he said.
James Clappison, a Conservative MP, said he had statistics from the House of Commons library showing that violent crime had gone up in London every year that Livingstone had been in office except for last year and that total
violent crime is now higher' than when Livingstone was elected.
Another porkie by Livingstone!
In response to a question from another Tory, Livingstone said he was using the recorded crime statistics and not the British Crime Survey figures, which show a less drastic reduction in crime. Source
Now that he has been caught out!
Livingstone called for tougher government action on guns and knives today as he finally agreed that Londoners were right to be worried about violent crime.
The Mayor has spent weeks insisting that gun crime has dropped by 20 per cent in recent years and even claimed that the media had wrongly focused on teenage murders with a motto of "if it bleeds, it leads" the news.
But in what appeared to be a major shift, Mr Livingstone today unveiled a new manifesto calling for longer sentences for anyone found carrying a weapon. He also said that there should be a presumption against granting bail where the police opposed it and called for shopkeepers who sold knives illegally to be subject to prison sentences. Continued
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Mothers who do not want to return to work could be paid to look after their young children, the Tories will say today.
The party is to unveil a report which says women should be subsidised to look after infants until primary school age.
Drawn up by the Policy Exchange think-tank, the study calls for a universal childcare allowance that could go to the mother and grandparents as well as to nurseries.
Maria Miller, the Conservatives' families spokesman, said: "Finding ways to support families in those very early years is critical yet remains a neglected area of Government policy.
"This report graphically shows that many families feel they have little choice in their children's earliest years as to how they structure their family life, with many women still struggling to balance work and family life despite significant levels of Government spending on child-care and Sure Start.
"We will be considering these proposals as part of the work we are doing to ensure families get the support they need."
The cost of the allowance could be met by scrapping payments aimed at the poor such as free nursery places for all three- and four-year-olds, the childcare element of the working-tax credit and the Sure Start maternity grant. Continued
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A 300-year-old law which gives males precedence in the royal line of succession could be abolished.
MPs are expected to use new equality legislation to guarantee a monarch's daughter equal claim to the throne.
Solicitor General Vera Baird said the male right to succeed ahead of an older sister was "unfair".
She told the Sunday Times that she also wanted to repeal the law forcing royals marrying Catholics to renounce their place in the line of succession.
The current law, the 1701 Act of Settlement, means male heirs take precedence over the British throne.
When Princess Anne was born she was third in line to the throne, behind her mother the Queen - then Princess Elizabeth - and her brother Prince Charles.
As her brothers Andrew and Edward were born she dropped down the line of succession, where she is currently tenth. Continued
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The popularity of 'functional' products such as pro-biotic yoghurt drinks has slipped as consumers turn to foods that are naturally healthy.
Shoppers are losing faith in faddy, miracle foods that promise much but deliver little, apart from lighter wallets. Consumers are choosing instead to eat more naturally healthy foods, new research indicates.
After years spent swallowing pledges from giant food manufacturers such as Unilever and Danone, consumers are mounting a pro-biotic backlash. The amount of money spent on "functional" yoghurt drinks promising anything from greater brains and beauty to lower your cholesterol and stomach gas fell last year.
The market for "functional foods" – products fortified with anything from omega-3 fish oils to plant oestrogens – barely grew in the 12 months to December 2007, in stark contrast to previous years, a Mintel consumer survey reveals. The findings will come as a blow for the food industry and follow last week's claims that some vitamin supplements could shorten your life.
Instead of buying products with ingredients that they barely recognise, consumers are embracing "real foods", analysts say. The inaugural Real Food Festival in Earls Court this week, billed as the country's biggest farmers' market, will bring together around 500 small producers from across the UK. Continued
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The study of humanism is to form part of the syllabus for a GCSE in religious studies for the first time, one of the biggest exam boards will announce today.
The subject has been added to reflect the rising number of people sharing humanist beliefs in the UK, the Oxford & Cambridge and Royal Society of Art exam board (OCR) said.
The move is part of a reform of religious studies as a result of which pupils can study six major religions (Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism and Sikhism) as well as humanism. In a separate philosophy and ethics paper, youngsters will also be encouraged to tackle modern moral issues and examine the perspectives that different beliefs have towards topics such as abortion.
Andrew Copson, head of education at the British Humanist Association, said: "Since the 1960s, the proportions of those whose beliefs are humanist has steadily increased. A Mori poll in 2006 showed that 36 per cent of the UK population shared humanist views on morality and knowledge."
The Government and the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority, the exams watchdog, have backed the inclusion of humanism. Continued
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Families are facing another crippling hike in energy prices, with bills set to soar by £250 for every household.
Fears over gas supplies and the rocketing cost of oil have driven up wholesale power prices, which will hit homes this summer, experts are warning.
The impending 25 per cent increase for gas and electricity could push annual bills beyond £1,250, with industry analysts predicting the credit crisis will be overtaken by an energy crunch.
Consumer groups say the move will be “catastrophic” for families already struggling with inflation-busting rises of about 15 per cent earlier this year.
It means fuel, energy and mortgage costs will leave the average family massively worse – even after pay rises.
Hard-pressed households have already suffered inflation-busting rises in council tax, prescription charges, water rates and television licences. Now they are being told to brace themselves for a second round of fuel bill rises.
Mark Todd, of energyhelpline.com, said: “There is no doubt that there is an energy crisis looming. This winter we have had the credit crunch. Next winter it will be the energy crunch. We feel it’s unfair that consumers are going to be hit so hard when the energy companies have been reporting such exceptional profits.
“The winter fuel allowance that is paid to the elderly should be extended to the poor, because it should be as much about stopping poor kids freezing in their homes as old people.” Continued
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Motoring organisations appealed to drivers to avoid stockpiling fuel as thousands began panic-buying petrol yesterday amid fears that an oil refinery strike will spark shortages.
Garages in the North of England and Scotland were mobbed by anxious drivers filling up ahead of the expected shutdown of the Grangemouth plant on the Firth of Forth from Friday.
Up to 1,200 workers at the crude oil refinery will walk out on April 27 and 28 in a row over pensions – a strike which experts fear could lead to shortages on petrol station forecourts.
Refinery owner Ineos said the action could cripple supplies for a month in Scotland and the North of England, while the Unite union claims the whole of the UK will be hit.
Motorists were warned not to panic-buy petrol after Ineos said it may have to close the Grangemouth refinery for a month on safety grounds.
Sheila Rainger, of the RAC Foundation, said: “We are quite anxious about the possibility of panic-buying. People will undoubtedly be concerned, but they should try to be economical with their journeys while this strike is on.” Continued
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Falling house prices could escalate into a crash if the mortgage crisis is not halted, a report warns today.
Traditionally, April is one of the best months to sell your home and prices usually surge.
But the property website Rightmove says that this April they are falling, for the first time since it started its survey in 2002.
Record numbers of homes are being put on the market, and failing to find a buyer, according to the report. Those who do find a buyer have had to wait for longer than before.
It says mortgage meltdown could cripple the property market if the Bank of England's £50billion emergency rescue plan does not work.
The Bank hopes its move will help end the credit crunch, which has forced banks and building societies to axe cheap mortgage deals in record numbers.
Miles Shipside, commercial director of Rightmove, said: "An ongoing lack of mortgage funds could trigger a price crash if an increasing number of sellers are forced to seek rarer mortgage-free cash buyers or those with large deposits.
"As well as being thinner on the ground, these buyers will be able to demand larger discounts."
Mr Shipside said the housing market was undergoing 'a reasonable correction' after an extraordinary boom which lasted more than a decade.
But it was "in danger of being taken to unreasonable extremes" if the mortgage market does not return to normal.
Across the country, asking prices fell by 0.1 per cent between March 16 and April 12. In previous Aprils Rightmove has seen an average price rise of 2.8 per cent. Continued
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Detectives are investigating whether a teenage terror suspect held in connection with possessing suspected explosives might be part of a wider group operating in the West Country.
An Army bomb disposal team carried out two more controlled explosions at the Bristol home of Andrew Ibrahim.
Two suspect packages were taken from the property to a nearby alley for detonation, as the 19-year-old continued to be questioned by anti-terrorism officers.
On Friday a container was taken from the flat and destroyed in a controlled explosion. Officers from Scotland Yard's Counter Terror Command have travelled to Bristol to help local police with the investigation.
Security sources are investigating whether the suspect acted alone or was part of a wider group.
A source said: "The arrest was not part of some long-running investigation. What we are trying to establish at the moment is whether this individual was working alone or was part of a team."
Avon and Somerset Police, which has not ruled out further arrests, said that the teenager had previously come into contact with its officers, but would not give details. Continued
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A Zimbabwean opposition leader has called on the international community to intervene in the mounting humanitarian and political crisis, saying the country was now "a war zone".
Tendai Biti, secretary-general of the Movement for Democratic Change, said violence since last month's elections had forced 3,000 families out of their homes.
Hundreds of people had been hospitalized with injuries and 10 people killed, he disclosed - a figure far higher than the two previously thought to have been killed.
Speaking at a news conference in Johannesburg, Biti called for humanitarian agencies working in Zimbabwe to be mobilized.
"They should move as a matter of urgency. They should move because Zimbabwe is a war zone," he said.
He said key members of the opposition's administration had been arrested and as a result neither he nor MDC President Morgan Tsvangirai could risk returning home.
"Do you want a dead hero?" Tsvangirai, who was badly beaten by thugs of tyrant Robert Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF party a year ago, asked.
Zimbabweans are still awaiting results of the presidential balloting. Continued
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The Bank of England will tomorrow reveal plans to inject £50 billion into the financial system in a desperate bid to stop Britain's mortgage meltdown.
Without the emergency rescue plan, the Chancellor warned yesterday there is "every chance that the situation will get worse."
Under the controversial plan, billions of pounds of taxpayers' money will be pumped into the banks which have been devastated by the credit crisis.
The most likely option is that the banks' mortgages will be swapped for government bonds, known as gilts.
It will be an unprecedented intervention by the Bank of England, but the current crisis, which has been compared to the 1930s Depression, requires urgent action, the Chancellor said.
Speaking on BB1's Andrew Marr show yesterday, Alistair Darling confirmed the Bank will make its long-awaited announcement tomorrow. Continued
Sunday 20th April 2008
The head of Britain’s race relations watchdog says lack of control over immigration has led to a racial “cold war” among rival ethnic communities.
Trevor Phillips, chairman of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), believes that the failed policy risks inflaming racism among millions of young mothers and working professionals.
In an address to mark the 40th anniversary of Enoch Powell’s infamous “rivers of blood” speech in which Powell warned of apocalyptic social consequences if the rising tide of immigration were not halted, Phillips will say that the predictions have not come true. But he will warn that mass immigration has caused a different form of “war” that is just as worrying.
“Powell predicted ‘hot’ conflict and violence. However, we have seen the emergence of a kind of cold war in some parts of the country, where very separate communities exist side by side . . . with poor communication across racial or religious lines,” Phillips will say.
“In essence, Powell so discredited any talk of planning or control that it gave rise to a migration policy in which government knew too little about what was going on. Ironically, Powellism and the weakening of control it engendered may have led Britain to admitting more immigrants than fewer.”
Phillips will also warn ministers that they are playing into the hands of antiimmigrant parties such as the British National party by failing to respond to justified concerns among large sections of the “settled” population about the impact of mass immigration on their daily lives. Continued
Well no other party is serious about Immigration, and even if they now said they would do something it's too little too late to believe them! (Ed)
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A Police officer is facing a disciplinary hearing for allegedly supporting the British National Party.
It is claimed he wore a badge linked to the far-right group while supporting a football team.
An investigation was started after Greater Manchester Police received information that the officer had items relating to the BNP at his home.
Shock Horror! String him up, throw away the the key, deport his family to Siberia!
The mind truly boggles at the ridiculousness and pettiness of the force!
They were supplied with photographs allegedly of the officer wearing the badge at matches.
A preliminary hearing was held into the case and he will now face a full hearing - for wearing an 'inappropriate' badge. GMP has declined to comment further until the investigation is concluded.
A police spokesman declined to say what was on the badge but stressed there was 'no evidence' that the officer was a member of the BNP.
One source said: "The case raises possible issues linked to the force's commitment to racial diversity and would therefore go straight to a misconduct hearing." Continued
Lets See now: A Police officer is not allowed to read material from a bona fide Legal political party or belong to the political party in question!
BUT:
Up to eight people believed to have links with extremists including al-Qa'eda are working for British police forces, it has been reported. The Daily Mail said that MI5 had helped to draw up a list of individuals working as officers or civilian staff for a number of forces including the Metropolitan Police.
EVEN:
A Home Office official exposed as a leading member of an Islamic extremist group will keep his £40,000 job!
AND?
The Government has drawn up a controversial phrase book on the language of terrorism and is insisting civil servants no longer blame fanatical extremism on Islam, for fear of upsetting the Muslim community.
The most laughable notion must be the way the word 'Extremism' is used, especially when referred to the BNP as an extreme right wing party. When we look at Labour's past record of running this country you can't honestly deny that there is a more extreme party than the Labour Party itself.
Lets Look at some of the facts.
Immigration: This must have been the most extreme act of extremism ever, to flood a country with mass Immigration in order to secure votes for their party! I won't bother noting the negative aspects as it would be too lengthy and you already know, many of you through experience.
Surveillance: This would come a joint first with immigration, the amount of surveillance and misuse of it would make any science fiction film look pale in comparison with Labour's surveillance policies. You can't get more extreme than this!
Affirmative Action: This itself is an extreme act. It is extreme discrimination against Native Britons where a persons skin colour determines the ultimate prize rather than merit or qualifications of a person. Therefore oppressing the majority and the very people they should be acting on behalf of.
Denial in a Democracy: To deny us the people of a ''so called democratic country' a referendum on the EU, is another example of extremism we have witnessed. Where there is no democracy there can only be a dictatorship and with every dictatorship extremism is a part of.
War on Iraq: Another example of extremism, invading a country based on Lies and misinformation where no weapons of mass destruction were found. About as extreme as one can get.
Yes the BNP is a 'Right Wing' Party there is no denying this, but extreme? They don't come close to the extreme actions of the Lib Lab Con Tri-Axis pact! We say Lib Lab Cons because the remainder of the Tri-Axis pact also had a say and supported the actions of Labour on many of the issues mentioned above. For example the lib-Dems want unrestricted open door policy on immigration which Labour seems to support even after the recent expose that not only Immigration is of no value but is a major drain on all our resources. If this stance isn't extreme' we don't know what is!
To define 'Extremism' the following Link is a good example where 'Death Threats' were made against two students after lining up the chairman of the British National Party to appear on their university radio show. Now the use of the word 'Extreme' would be justified to be used in this case not against the BNP but those threatening the lives of the students.
One more thing to bear in mind and question:
Many government connected groups such as Searchlight, UAF and LMHR campaign against the BNP, now ask yourselves why isn't there a 'single' dedicated group campaigning against Islamic Extremism, the worst type of extremism that costs lives? Or the Labour party that has dragged this country deep into the gutter? We're sure you will come up with the answer on your own! (Ed)
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Sunday is the 40th anniversary of perhaps the most significant speech made in British politics since the Second World War: Enoch Powell's "Rivers of Blood" speech.
It is also, therefore, near to the 40th anniversary of one of the greatest lies in British politics since the Second World War: that this remarkably accurate prediction of the dangers of enforced multiculturalism has "prevented" a rational debate on immigration, since anyone who seeks to engage in it will be branded as a "racist".
It would be a comfort if this position were merely ignorant. It isn't. Powell is used by the Left - and that includes many people in the Conservative Party - as a cynical excuse to conceal their own failures in imposing proper immigration controls and maintaining social cohesion.
They start by saying Powell was a racist, which is also a deliberate lie. They then say that anyone who mentions immigration will now be tarred with that brush, which must therefore be a lie as well. This is convenient for those who have betrayed the people of this country by imposing an immigrant community so large upon it that it struggles to integrate - and, indeed, who have betrayed many of those immigrants too. Yet it won't wash.
Long before Powell made his speech - which ought to be issued to every home in the land, since I rarely hear it quoted anything other than completely inaccurately - there was a code of silence about immigration. Long before we knew the term "political correctness", it was viewed as simply impolite to raise the subject.
Powell reported in his speech what he found to be the alarmingly strong views some of his constituents in Wolverhampton had about mass immigration, the way it was affecting their lives and the strain it was putting on local public services.
He said he knew there would be "a chorus of execration" that he could say such things. But he asked a more important question as an MP whose electors bring him a deeply unsettling problem: by what right, instead, would he have remained silent?
Powell had served in India in the 1940s. He fell in love with the country, its cultures and its peoples so profoundly that he wished to spend the rest of his life there. He learned to speak two Indian languages fluently. This does not stop point-scoring spud-thick politicians accusing him of racism, bigotry and other vices. A few months ago it did not stop the poseur who leads the Tory party sacking one of his parliamentary candidates for saying that Powell was right. Soon, Dave will be booting out people who say the Pope is Catholic.
Many of our immigrants have assimilated over the past 40 years. Equally, many have chosen not to. Four of them murdered 52 innocent people on London's public transport network nearly three years ago. Others, according to the police and the security services, are busily engaged in trying to repeat the incident. So far they have been thwarted: but for how long?
This is all the legacy of those who refused to take Powell seriously; of militant Leftists who mischievously cry "racism" to avoid any sensible debate on immigration; of well-heeled politicians who saw no harm in driving millions of poor immigrants into ghettos, with a perfect disregard for their welfare and for that of the people already living in those places; and of ministers in this very Government who for years saw no reason to enforce immigration controls at all, in the interests of deliberately destroying our national identity.
Powell was the greatest Conservative thinker in political life in living memory. He foresaw what were then unimaginable tensions caused by forcibly altering the character of a country. We should remember him tomorrow with enhanced respect. For he was right. News Source - Telegraph
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Disclaimer: This News Item has been duplicated in its entirety to serve as public information (Ed)
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A Pensioner infected by the C.Diff superbug then “neglected” after developing pneumonia has died at one of Britain’s newest hospitals.
Mum-of-three Irene Bueggeln, 81, went into the £40million flagship hospital for a routine hip operation.
But after the successful op she caught the superbug at Queen’s Hospital, Romford – opened just over a year ago.
Irene’s family claim staff failed to feed her or cover her with blankets as she sat shivering – which contributed to her developing pneumonia and dying a month after she was admitted.
Husband Henry, 82, of Hornchurch, Essex, was stunned by the treatment of his wife.
Daughter Trudie Lavender, 45 – a nurse – said: “The care was absolutely appalling and we blame the hospital entirely for her death. She was admitted with a fractured hip and due to the poor care she died from pneumonia.
She wasn’t fed and was left sitting out of bed freezing cold for hours on end.” Continued
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A pregnant woman has been raped in a Lancashire park by a man who she met hours earlier in a nearby pub.
Police said the 42-year-old, thought to be about three months pregnant, met the man in the Last Orders pub in Ashton, Preston, on Thursday evening.
When she left, he followed and dragged her into a wooded area of Avenham Park where he raped her.
The man is about 5ft 6in, bald and was wearing a black leather jacket and jeans at the time.
The woman ran off to Preston railway station, where she told a train passenger who then called police. News Source
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A Nigerian national is due to stand trial this autumn for the rape and murder of a Belfast mother-of-one.
Emmanuelle Alauya was charged last month with killing shop assistant Grace Moore in 2006.
Her body was found in the kitchen of the Erris Grove hoem she shared with her daughter.
Defence
At Belfast Crown Court on Friday Alauya's barrister argued for the rape charge to be thrown out.
Alauya, from Churchfield, Carlow, in the Republic, also denied stealing personal effects and household items belonging to the 38-year-old west Belfast woman.
Rape charge
After hearing the arguments, Mr Justice Hart said he was satisfied for Alauya to be charged with rape. News Source
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A Liverpool councillor was last night charged with downloading indecent images of children.
Cllr Ben Williams will appear in court in May accused of 12 counts of making the indecent images over a year-long period.
The 34-year-old was arrested last December by officers from Sefton Family Crime Unit and eight computers were seized in the inquiry.
He answered bail yesterday afternoon and was charged after questioning by detectives.
Cllr Williams is alleged to have made the images between December 13, 2006 and December 17, 2007.
Last night, Cllr Williams could not be contacted for comment but has previously vowed to clear his name. In December, he said: “I have done nothing wrong. Everyone who knows me, knows that I am wholehearted, a community person.” Continued
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Police chiefs ordered binmen to act as spies by sifting through rubbish to look for pamphlets produced by Islamic terror groups.
Town halls responsible for areas with large Muslim populations were summoned to London and told to get their refuse collectors to search bins for discarded documents or material that might identify and incriminate Islamic extremists.
The Mail on Sunday understands that the instruction was issued at a secretive summit hosted by the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) , attended by Ministers and Andy Hayman, who at the time was Britain's top anti-terror policeman and an Assistant Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police.
The meeting was designed to encourage the chief executives of 17 local authorities – including Manchester, Oldham, Leicester, Bradford and four London boroughs – to get their employees to play a greater role in addressing extremism and the terror threat.
They were told that the meeting, held at the Victoria Park Plaza Hotel in Central London, and its deliberations were to remain strictly confidential.
But the bin-searching instruction was deemed so potentially damaging to community relations that councils simply refused to carry out any sort of spying. Bradford City Council leader Kris Hopkins said: "We were asked to snoop on our own residents by getting our binmen to rummage around people's rubbish. Continued
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The Society built by the Lib Lab Con pact!
Police in the UK have caught 47 children under ten carrying guns in the past three years – but could give them only warnings because they are too young for prosecution.
They were seized with pistols, air rifles and imitation guns that had been converted into real weapons. In the same period, 127 under-tens were caught with knives.
The trend was described as outrageous by Shadow Home Secretary David Davis. He said: "These shocking figures show that Labour's failure to tackle violent crime and its causes – such as drugs and family breakdown – is betraying our young people to lives of misery.
"It is outrageous that Britain's tragic epidemic of gun and knife crime is reaching our primary schools to such an extent."
The figures were revealed by 34 police forces under Freedom of Information laws. Seven forces did not supply data.
Cumbria Police had the greatest number of offenders, with 13 under-tens caught in possession of a firearm.
Northamptonshire Police were the only force to provide details of incidents. Continued
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The spiralling costs of the London Olympics are being absorbed by an enormous emergency fund, say MPs.
In a report next week, they will savage ministers for failing to account initially for "entirely foreseeable" expenditure such as tax and security, causing the original budget to rise from £3.4billion to £9.3billion.
Tuesday's report from the Commons Public Accounts Committee is expected to say the Government has been either incompetent or acting in bad faith by hiding the true costs from the public.
Labour MP Don Touhig - a former minister who sits on the committee - said the multi-billion budget increase was likely to enter the Guinness Book of Records as the "most catastrophic financial mismanagement in the history of the world".
The report will also complain at the lack of financial controls in place to monitor the project. For example, a contingency level has not been set for each element of staging the Games in 2012.
The £2.7billion emergency fund - announced last year - is likely to be described as a safety net put in place to ensure the Games come in under the revised budget.
It has become clear in recent months that ministers are including the contingency fund in their overall estimates of what the Games will cost.
MPs on the accounts committee raised their fears while grilling organisers of the 2012 Games for their report, the second in a series of progress reports to be released over the next four years.
Alarm bells rang after an admission by Jonathan Stephens, a senior official at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, that the 'only safe assumption is to expect it [the contingency fund] all to be spent'.
It has become clear in recent months that ministers are including the contingency fund in their overall estimates of what the Games will cost.
MPs on the accounts committee raised their fears while grilling organisers of the 2012 Games for their report, the second in a series of progress reports to be released over the next four years.
Alarm bells rang after an admission by Jonathan Stephens, a senior official at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, that the 'only safe assumption is to expect it [the contingency fund] all to be spent'. Continued
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Bomb disposal experts have carried out a third controlled explosion at a home today after police discovered more "suspect" materials.
Residents have been evacuated from their homes following the arrest of the teenager, named locally as Andrew Ibrahim, which came after police received an intelligence tip-off.
The blast was the third carried out in the quiet cul-de-sac in the Westbury-on-Trym area of the city since his arrest on Thursday and is expected to be the last detonation to take place today.
The first explosion took place at 2am yesterday morning using a bomb disposal robot outside the property in Westbury-on-Trym, Bristol.
Residents in some houses near the cordon have now been told to stay well clear of their homes until further notice. Thirty residents were evacuated from 15 surrounding homes after the two suspicious packages were found by police searching the home of the 19-year-old terror suspect.
Ibrahim is not believed to be on the radar of counter-terror officers and security services but he has come into contact with police before.
Detectives have refused to confirm his name or ethnicity. But neighbours said he played loud Islamic music late at night and dressed in Arabic clothing.
"He played Islamic music, full of wailing and chanting, similar to what you hear in a curry house.Continued
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Abu Izzadeen, an outspoken Muslim activist who heckled former Home Secretary John Reid, was today jailed for four and a half years for terror-related offences.
He and fellow British-born Muslim convert Simon Keeler were both handed the same jail term after they were found guilty of fundraising for, and inciting, terrorism.
The charges relate to a series of rabble-rousing speeches made at a central London mosque by the two men accompanied by four other co-accused.
Keeler, 36, is the first white Muslim to be found guilty of terror charges in Britain.
Also sentenced today at Kingston Crown Court were Abdul Saleem, 32, for three years, nine months and Ibrahim Hassan, 25, for two years, nine months.
They were both found guilty of inciting terrorism yesterday.
Abdul Mahid, 25, who was found guilty of fundraising for terrorists, was jailed for two years.
He will serve this sentence once he has completed his current jail term for soliciting murder during protests against the publication of cartoons in a Danish newspaper depicting the prophet Mohammed.
Shah Jilal Hussain, 25, who absconded while the jury was deliberating but handed himself in at court this morning, was sentenced to two years for his part in the fundraising charge.
He was also sentenced to three months to be served consecutively for breaking his bail conditions.
Sentencing, Judge Nicolas Price told the defendants: "Long before freedom of expression was enshrined by statute it has been a well established principle of a free and democratic society.
"There must be room in such a democratic society not only for views which are favourably received but also views which shock, offend or disturb the state.
"Despite your apparent aversion to the tenets of democracy you have during this trial enjoyed this right."
But he said the men had "abused" the right and committed criminal acts. Continued
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Tory MP James Gray was at the centre of a fresh controversy last night after securing work for his 17-year-old son as an international election monitor.
Mr Gray, one of five British MPs on a taxpayer-funded trip to observe elections in Nepal this month, surprised other members of the group by linking up with schoolboy William in Kathmandu – then having him accredited by the British Embassy as a monitor.
One member of the party said: "It was bizarre – we are in one of the most remote parts of the world and his son happens to be out there too.
"Not many people get to check up on what their children are doing on their exotic travels courtesy of the taxpayer."
Mr Gray – who battled to keep his North Wiltshire seat after it was revealed he cheated on his 52-year-old wife Sarah as she fought breast cancer – says he asked Britain's ambassador in Nepal to include his son as an election observer because "we were a bit short of numbers".
The Foreign Office said the trip had been funded by the cross-departmental "Conflict Prevention Pool". Continued
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Lets not FORGET 2005
Six middle-aged Muslim men, all pillars of their communities, won seats on Britain’s biggest local authority in the most corrupt election campaign since the Victorian era.
Vote-riggers exploited weaknesses in the postal voting system to steal thousands of ballot papers and mark them for Labour, helping the party to take first place in elections to Birmingham City Council.
They believed that their cheating would be hidden for ever in the secrecy of the strong boxes where counted votes are stored, never suspecting that a judge would take the rare step of smashing the seals and tracing the ballots back to the voters. Election corruption has been so rare in the past 100 years that lawyers have struggled to find examples since the late 19th century, when Britain was adjusting to the novelty of universal male suffrage.
The elections last June were the dirtiest since the general election of 1895, when Sir Tankerville Chamberlayne, the Conservative candidate for Southampton, notoriously travelled by cart from pub to pub, waving and throwing sovereigns at the crowds. His election was later ruled invalid.
The Birmingham vote- riggers were more cunning than the flamboyant Sir Tankerville. They coldly exploited communities where many cannot speak English or write their names.
They forced what the judge called “dishonest or frightened” postmen into handing over sacks of postal ballots. They seem to have infiltrated the mail service: several voters gave evidence that their ballot papers were altered to support Labour after they put them in the post.
Proof that votes were stolen came when Richard Mawrey, QC, the election commissioner, ordered ballot boxes to be unsealed. Unknown to most voters, ballot papers can be traced back to individuals through serial numbers.
The judge was struck by how many had been amended, sometimes using correction fluid.
Voters were traced and asked if they really had voted Labour. It emerged that some had handed completed postal ballots to Labour supporters calling at their homes offering to post them. The envelopes had been opened and the papers altered, then delivered to the election office for counting.
One of the wards where corruption was rife covered Aston, an inner-city neighbourhood. This is the fiefdom of Muhammad Afzal, a city councillor for 23 years, regarded as the most powerful man in Birmingham Asian politics.
At midnight two days before the election, the police stumbled on what appeared to be a vote-forging factory. Half a dozen men were discovered in a warehouse with 274 unsealed postal votes for Aston ward.
Among them were Mr Afzal and his two fellow candidates. Mohammed Kazi is a longstanding Labour officer. He is a former postman and official of the postal workers’ union but says that this is irrelevant because he left the job in 1993.
Mohammed Islam is the trustee of a mosque.
A handwriting expert found that Mr Islam had signed 121 voting papers using five names and six addresses. Continued
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It would not surprise us in the least if senior Labour Party apparatchiks this weekend are watching unfolding events surrounding the recent election in Zimbabwe with great interest.
After all, they have clearly leant much concerning the finer points of election rigging from The Master, fellow socialist, “Uncle Bob” Mugabe. Clearly, as the ongoing Zimbabwean electoral farce demonstrates, there is much still to be learnt!
We could, of course, draw parallels between the Zimbabwean and the 2004 London Mayoral/GLA elections – where tens of thousands of votes – a surprisingly large proportion of them favouring the BNP - were found to be invalidated after “safe overnight storage” - through the simple expedient of having too many crosses - sometimes in different colours, or in ink and pencil - on the same ballot form.
Enough rejected votes, in fact, to prevent a BNP member being elected to the GLA! Of course, fraud on the scale of that in Zimbabwe and other “banana republics”, couldn’t happen here in Britain - could it?
Well, our answer to that is to quote from the Guardian of April 5th, 2005:-
A senior judge made a scathing attack on the postal voting system yesterday, condemning the government for complacency in the face of fraud which would disgrace a “banana republic”.
This particular incident saw no fewer than six Labour councillors convicted of “massive, systematic and organised” voting fraud! Many others have since also been convicted, including - most recently - a Tory!
A BBC report on the latest “ground-breaking” electoral antics of Labour electoral guru “Uncle Bob” Mugabe can be read: here .
Wherever Labour slithers, it leaves a slime trail of corruption in its wake! News Source
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Disclaimer: This News Item has been duplicated in its entirety to serve as public information (Ed)
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Boxer Amir Khan has been drawn into a political dust-up after an election candidate used his image on a leaflet without permission.
Amina Lone, who is standing in Manchester for Labour, put out a leaflet with a picture of her landing a mock blow on the Olympic medal-winner's jaw.
It included the caption: 'Amina shows Amir Khan who is the champion in Whalley Range'.
But Amir, who has never voted and refuses to endorse any political party, was less than amused. His representatives are understood to have contacted local Labour Party chiefs to express their anger.
Asif Vali, Amir's manager, said: "He did not know about it and no permission has been given for a picture to be used.
"He is not a political figure and I am surprised this has been done. They should have come through our office and the answer would have been 'no'.
"Amir is not involved in politics. He has not even voted."
Ms Lone, who works for the Race Equality Foundation, is hoping to unseat Lib Dem John Grant in Whalley Range on May 1. Continued
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Non-Political Lotto Quango promotes!
Yes we know the sort of causes Labour give to: Lap and Pole dancing springs to mind, or bailing the Olympics overspend which is not enough and is going to cost the tax payer some, and even Islamic projects. Hmn' a really deserving causes. (Ed)
The Labour-supporting head of Britain's Big Lottery Fund has been forced to make a humiliating apology to David Cameron after a shouting match with a senior Conservative politician.
Lottery chairman Sir Clive Booth said sorry to the Tories after claiming they would give less money to good causes than Labour does.
He was forced to climb down after an official investigation into a heated clash with Shadow Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt.
The dispute followed The Mail on Sunday's disclosure in January that Mr Hunt had demanded to know why Sir Clive's quango, which is responsible for handing out half of all Lottery cash to good causes, spends a staggering £77million on running costs.
Sir Clive responded with a ferocious attack on Mr Hunt, saying he planned to give him a "lesson in elementary maths" and that Mr Cameron's Tories were "stuck in a time warp".
He added: "I don't understand why the Opposition is so hostile to the voluntary and community sector. When Mr Hunt and Sir Clive met at the Commons, the Tory MP asked him to apologise for making a party-political attack."
But Labour Party member Sir Clive snapped: "I'll apologise if you apologise as well." Mr Hunt protested: "But I have nothing to apologise for." Sir Clive retorted angrily: "Yes you have, your figures are all wrong, all wrong."
Outraged, Mr Hunt made a formal complaint to Cabinet Secretary Sir Gus O'Donnell the next day. He ordered Jonathan Stephens, Permanent Secretary at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, to carry out an official inquiry. Continued
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The prevailing obsession with equality leads sometimes, like many good intentions, to cruelty and injustice, not least against people with learning disabilities.
Last week the newspapers were full of pictures of a sweet-faced boy with Down’s syndrome of about 18, looking much younger, who has been so unjustly treated by the police and the procurator fiscal in Scotland that, most unusually, the Scottish Crown Office has just apologised to his family.
This unfortunate young man, who attends the special needs department of a college in Lanarkshire, allegedly pushed or slapped an Asian girl with special needs on the same course. It was a very minor incident, rather like a playground spat, which I would have expected their course workers to sort out.
That did not happen. A notice was soon placed in a local newspaper - by a person or persons unnamed - asking for witnesses to a “racial assault” at the college on the day in question. Before long the young man was visited at home by the police and charged with assault and racial abuse. Gentle and cheerful as usual, he greeted them with smiles, agreed with everything they said and thanked them for coming to visit him.
Anyone who knows people with Down’s syndrome, as I do, will be aware that they tend to be cooperative and anxious to please, will often say what you appear to want to hear and agree with you enthusiastically, even though they may feel differently. Of course that isn’t true of everyone with Down’s, but it is widespread among them, as with other people with learning disabilities (LDs), for various reasons.
One reason is undoubtedly their sad experience that it is politic to agree with people who have power over them. However much professionals in the field may frown on the word suggestible, the truth is that people with LDs do tend to be suggestible. That could have explained this young man’s confessions to the nice police.
For seven months these charges hung over him. His family say he was terrified of going to jail. As it happened, the Asian girl in question soon admitted that she had scratched her own face to make marks and had referred to herself as a “black-face”. (One wonders what had persuaded her to do that.) Continued - Please Read News in Full
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Government inspectors are to pry into the intimate details of more than 500,000 people a year, asking a series of probing questions about their sex lives and earnings.
Snooping officials will want to know about previous sexual partners, contraception, and how long couples lived together before marriage.
The 2,000-question survey from the Office for National Statistics will raise major concerns about privacy – especially as the data will be logged with the respondents' names and addresses.
Some of the questions seem remarkably insensitive. One asks: "Have you ever had a baby – even one who only lived for a short time?"
Interviewers are told starkly: "Exclude: Any stillborn; Include: Any who only lived for a short time."
Civil servants claim the sensitive personal information will be made anonymous once it is processed at the department's headquarters in Newport, South Wales – but that is not enough to satisfy privacy campaigners. Continued
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Taxpayers are allegedly footing an annual bill of £300million in unnecessary sickness benefits because of Government targets.
Doctors are said to be under pressure to sign off every year more than 70,000 people who are perfectly fit to work.
The explosive allegation that the country is being swept by a sicknote culture lies at the heart of an employment tribunal case.The concern piles up even more woes for Gordon Brown, who has pledged to cut the cost of incapacity benefit.
The tribunal case is being brought by two doctors against a firm called Atos Origin, which has a seven-year, £500million contract with the Department for Work and Pensions to carry out all its checks on incapacity benefit applicants. Initially, patients are signed off sick by their GP. But after 28 weeks they have to be independently assessed. Atos doctors examine around 30,000 people a month to see if they are eligible for sickness benefits of up to £84.50 a week.
The two doctors say the firm was under “significant pressure’’ from the DWP to meet targets on the number of complaints from applicants about decisions.
The contract included severe financial penalties if cases had to be looked at again.
This allegedly led to Atos staff being pressurised to exaggerate the scale of people’s incapacity because the claimants would be less likely to object to the outcome.
The heart of the doctors’ case is that this bias in the assessment system leads to as many as one in five applicants being wrongly assessed as incapable of work – some 72,000 people. Continued
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Brown is facing more bad news with signs that Labour's bitter infighting is damaging its standing with voters.
As campaigning for crucial local elections enters its final phase, a poll for the Sunday Mirror found the party's rating had slumped 3% in less than a fortnight.
The Tories now have a 10 point lead, on 40%, while the Lib Dems have gained two points at 19%.
The research by Populus will cause particular concern in Downing Street because it suggests David Cameron's team are more trusted to guide Britain through the credit crunch fallout, by 31% to 29%.
The survey was carried out on Wednesday and Thursday, while Mr Brown was in the US and senior Labour figures were openly sniping at his leadership and the decision to scrap the 10p income tax band.
If the results were repeated at a general election they would give the Tories a narrow overall majority of 25 seats. Continued
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Their high-pitched skirl has put fear into the hearts of Scotland’s enemies and sent sensitive tourists reaching for the cotton wool.
Now, however, the bagpipes are to be quietened by an edict from Brussels.
From this month, pipers must adhere to strict volume limits or risk breaking European Union health and safety laws. Bands have been ordered to tone down or wear earplugs to limit noise exposure to 85 decibels.
Typically, a pipe band played at full volume peaks at 122 decibels outdoors, noisier than the sound of either a nightclub or a chainsaw, which rises to 116 decibels.
The prospect of more subdued bagpipes will be welcomed by some, but musicians have warned performances will suffer.
Pipe majors claim it is virtually impossible to play quietly or to tune a band when the musicians are wearing earplugs, raising the prospect of a cacophony at showcase events such as the Edinburgh military tattoo.
The rules in effect limit practice without earplugs to about 15 minutes a day.
While piping schools have begun issuing students with hearing protectors, pipe majors are preparing to make a stand.
Ian Hughes, head of the RAF Leuchars band at an airbase in Fife, claimed the new legislation in effect outlawed bagpipe playing for the first time in more than 250 years.
The last time was after the Jacobite rising of 1745 and the defeat of Bonnie Prince Charlie’s clansmen at the battle of Culloden. Continued
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A planned strike by workers at a giant oil refinery will lead to fuel shortages from next Friday and could cripple supplies for a month, its owners have warned.
Up to 1,200 workers at the Grangemouth site in Scotland will walk out on April 27 and 28 in a row over pensions.
The site's owner, Ineos, said that the industrial action could mean no fuel supplies in Scotland and the North of England for at least a month, although the Unite union has warned that the whole of the UK would be hit.
Ineos said it had been left with no option but to begin shutting down the site - Scotland's only crude oil refinery - immediately. And the company warned that fuel shortages were likely to start as early as next Friday.
Ineos said it had decided on safety grounds to start shutting down Grangemouth because it wanted the site to be safe during the strike period.
The firm said the measures were being forced on it because of the strike, which has been called in protest at plans to close the final salary pension scheme to new workers as well as other changes. Continued
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Borough sparks fury and accusations of targeting mums and children with its plans to charge cars at school gates.
Councils plan to charge parents up to £75 a year for parking permits allowing them to drop their children off on the school run.
A pilot project in the London borough of Richmond upon Thames starts in September, affecting 13 schools, and the Local Government Association says similar schemes are likely to be extended across the country.
In Richmond, where the plans have already drawn fire from families and motoring organisations, the permits will allow parents to park in bays near the school for 15 minutes.
The price will be linked to the car's carbon dioxide emissions - drivers of small, low-polluting cars will get a free permit, but parents with people carriers or four-wheel drives will be charged the maximum £75.
Previously, parents of Richmond schoolchildren could pick up a free permit from the school which allowed them to park on double yellow lines or in bays for 10 minutes.
Richmond was the first local authority in the country to link the price of residents' parking permits to engine emissions, in 2006, and the Liberal Democrat-run council announced last month that it would score another national first by switching its entire 200-vehicle fleet to biodiesel made from recycled cooking oil. Continued
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Tony Blair's chances of becoming the first president of the EU have been dashed under a secret veto deal Gordon Brown has struck with France and Germany, it emerged last night.
The former prime minister is said to be "interested" in the £200,000-a-year job if the terms are right. But the British, French and German governments have all privately agreed not to back a candidate if any one of them has objections to him or her, diplomats have revealed.
France's President Nicolas Sarkozy has lobbied on behalf of Mr Blair, but the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, is against the move. Mr Brown has said Mr Blair would make an "excellent" E